Small Biz Tech Talk ™

The simple answer is, “NO.”

You will end up spending a great deal of money if you get involved in consulting contracts with national service organizations and a lot of time getting certified and learning necessary platforms and technologies.

The truth is, hardware repair is a commodity and a very low-margin business.  And as hardware and software pieces are becoming more “disposable,” replaceable and repairable, it is getting to be more of a commodity and not a unique service.  That is just one of the big reasons consulting contracts with national service organizations are a bad idea. 

Replaceable Computers

An example is a $600 consumer-grade PC.  Who will spend money to repair a $600 PC not under warranty?  Or, similarly, who will spend money to repair an old $400 laser printer?  Small businesses will probably not be willing to spend the money you are worth or the money for consulting contracts on these types of services. 

There Are Low Labor Allowances for National Service Organizations Looking for Consulting Contracts

Because many national service organizations will be dealing with warranty repairs of pretty inexpensive hardware, they will probably not give up much money for the repair of a $1200 notebook.  Big hardware vendors are also fairly cash strapped and on the verge of going out of business (unless they are Dell, HP or IBM). 

Profit Margins and Repairs Under Consulting Contracts

What can you expect to make on a repair?  The answer is probably not more than about $200 and possibly closer to $50.  You’d do better finding small businesses in your area that need high-level professional services on an on-going basis.

Consulting Contracts with National Service Organizations Are Not Money Makers

When you act as a subcontractor for a national service provider, you can never run a profitable business.  You can’t be in eight different offices each day or do what you want and just be in one or two rewarding places per day.  You want to be able to bill out at $100 or $150 per hour and not just making $65 total to replace an entire system board, even if it takes hours.

Repairing and troubleshooting and providing consulting contracts for national service organizations is not rewarding work and will reduce you to a commodity.  You can’t confuse this type of repair work with high-end consulting contracts.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

According to Gregg Larson, CEO of Clareity Security, the computer business should brace itself for a lot of new purchases in the coming year.  Many consulting clients are planning hardware replacements, most of them interested in the new Microsoft products.

Larson recently detailed some perks about computer business products and how computer consulting clients can plan technology purchases in the coming year.  He particularly focuses on Vista.

According to Larson, Vista has a lot of great security features such as better Firewall Defender and a Malicious Software Removal feature.  He also says that computer business Microsoft has designed the product so companies can better control software installations and prevent many from downloading pirated software.  For those that have some technology expertise, the new computer business Vista has downloadable security templates that make computers more secure (though he advises against businesses installing this feature without the help of a responsible tech professional).  

However, according to Larson, despite Vista’s new security options, these options don’t come straight out of the box.  Computer business Microsoft does provide a great guide that can be downloaded from the Microsoft site (for details, see the attached article).   

Larson also speaks about Windows Server 2008, a new operating system that can be installed for specific tasks and customized depending upon the needs of a particular company.  This feature makes the product more efficient and also secure by getting rid of unwanted and unnecessary options right off the bat.    

For more information on this computer business story and advice from Larson about important security issues facing many computer consulting clients and also computer consultants, visit the attached link to the full article.

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

While you’re growing your business, you might think the concept of turning away clients is ridiculous.  But when you are an IT specialist, you have to be selective and gear your marketing efforts towards a very targeted group of prospects.  

For example, if you know that your best clients are accounting offices, you can do a search to determine how many small accounting offices are within an hour of your location.  To find out this information, you can contact one of that industry’s top trade groups or work with a mailing list broker.  

As an IT Specialist, Market to a Niche

When you market to a niche, you will have an easier time finding prospects that are qualified because you will know precisely in which trade publications to advertise.  You shouldn’t waste time and money on generic ads in newspapers, on the radio or in the phone book.  Because you are an IT specialist, you need to narrow your focus to your niche.  

Once you have an expertise, you will be worth more to potential clients.  Your marketing message will ring true with the person picking up the phone, looking at your long copy sales letter, postcard or the person that wants to attend your seminars.  

You Can’t Speak to the Masses

You absolutely can’t find a message that will speak to everyone.  If and when you do, you end up competing on price.  You will be a commodity, and the prospects you attract will be the type to open up the phone book and call 30 companies looking for dirt-cheap prices.  

Where Will Clients See You?

If there is a newsletter or magazine that prospects all read, you can put a targeted ad in it or write an article.  You can also become active in an organization by volunteering or speaking at events for the group.  Be sure to mention that your company offers fantastic IT solutions for that very industry in order to establish yourself as a trusted IT specialist.  

What Else about Being a Specialist?

There are a lot of ways you can get into being an IT specialist, but the main way to do it is to find something you really enjoy doing that will make you enough money to be worth getting more clients within the industry.  A targeted marketing plan works well for an IT specialist working in just about any arena, but you have to find a real niche.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Technology companies 3M and Himax Technologies, Inc. announced they would be joining together to provide LCOS mobile projectors.  3M is a leading company in optics technology and Himax is a leading solution provider for flat panel displays.

The technology companies will be offering a mobile projector with improved efficiency and image quality that also is affordable and works with many different types of mobile devices.  3M developed the LED projection engine that uses a single-panel color filter and Himax provided the LCOS display along with electronic components that help completely the package.

Vice President of 3M Display and Graphics stated that getting involved with projectors and mobile devices will help the company keep up with the wave of technology.  The company is excited about working with other technology companies, most particularly Himax.    

President and CEO of Himax, Jordan Wu stated that the relationship will help them with marketing to customers and providing better technologies.  He expects the new projectors to be used in mobile phones, digital cameras and portable multimedia players.

The technology companies will showcase the new product in the Advanced Display Technologies Zone at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 7 – 10, 2008.

For more information on these companies and the new product, visit the attached link.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

How can you do everything with your computer contract job schedule?  You need time to devote to finding long-term computer consulting clients, but you will be already working 60, 70 or 80 hours a week.  

A Time Study

With a computer contract job, you need to look at where you spend most of your time and determine if there are some things you are doing that you could delegate, automate or even eliminate altogether.

As an example, maybe you are sitting around building PCs and putting in motherboards and power supplies 10 hours per week, which is something you could delegate.  If you are minding retail traffic in a retail computer store and you have someone else that can do that for a day per week, this is another good way to manage time.  

Delegation is Key

You need to consider which computer contract job tasks you can delegate based on your staff.  Then you can give yourself a free day to a day-and-a-half per week to work on cultivating business-to-business clients.  

What Should You Do with Extra Time?

With free time earned through delegation of computer contract job duties, you can go to networking events, plan marketing strategies, go out on sales calls and make follow-up calls.  

The Main Idea

If you are already working way too many hours, even with some computer contract job delegation and time management, you just need to find the time to get everything done.  Look out for where you spend computer contract job time and see if you can delegate a few things to free up some time for important marketing and networking tasks.

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg