Small Biz Tech Talk ™

How do you find your sweet spot computer repair business prospects among your leads?  The first sign is their annual sales.  You need to look at businesses with at least a seven-figure annual sales volume with 10-25 employees. What are some other criteria to help you find clients for your computer repair business?

Computer Repair Business:  Good and Bad Signs

Some industries are more focused on IT than others.  There are good signs and bad signs when it comes to a business hiring you, and as you go along you will figure out whether a business is going to be up for spending $1,000-$2,000 for computer consulting services.

What is a good sign?  If you go to meet with a prospect and find out the prospect is already working with another computer repair business in your community but is dissatisfied.  If the prospect is dissatisfied and looking for someone else, that says that the company is willing to pay you or anyone else for sophisticated services.  

What is a bad sign?  If you go meet with a prospect and discover he/she is working with a moonlighter, friend or family member who helps out occasionally and gets paid in pizza or pats on the back.  Any price you quote this type of lead is going to seem high when the alternative is free.  

Sweet Spot Clients for Your Computer Repair Business Hang out Together

Sweet spot clients willing to spend $1,000-$2,000 per month on IT services will have relationships with trusted business advisors in the local community like accountants, attorneys and management consultants.  They may even be working with other niched tech providers, which works to your advantage when it comes time for referrals.  

When you can recognize favorable characteristics of prospects and clients for your computer repair business, you can find more prospects that can turn into great relationships.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Recently Microsoft announced it would be providing more assistance for small business solution providers in the form of new local business development managers.  As the company has re-envisioned its partner programs, it seems to be responding to some past complaints from the small business sector about its support and the structure of its programs not always being small-business friendly.    

IT consultants and other solution providers in the small business sector have expressed concern about Microsoft’s partner programs and about the fitness of Microsoft solutions to their unique business model, particularly in light of the new focus of the large company on its “Software as a Service” offerings.  Microsoft says it will put 10 new local business development managers across the United States to help solution providers enhance their services to small businesses.  The managers will assist with marketing support and demand generation and will also provide organized events for small business solution providers.  

Mark Crall, president of the Charlotte Tech Care Team, a Microsoft Small Business Specialist located in North Carolina is excited about having some of his fears quelled.  He thinks that this new initiative for solution providers shows that Microsoft is genuinely interested in the small business sector.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Have you ever received a very nice looking piece of junk mail or misdirected IT marketing collateral?  Chances are the person that created it spent a lot of money (upwards of $1,000).

IT Marketing and Bad Positioning

In order to avoid positioning problems with IT marketing, here are some tips for avoiding some of the major problems with a lot of ads.

As an example, I received an IT marketing ad in the mail with a headline that said, “Computer Repair, I Come to You.”  This particular benefit of making “house calls” is no longer really a benefit.  Yes, if you are doing retail, it can be nice … but, with B2B, people just don’t haul their 25-node LANs into a shop for work, so having someone that will come to them is pretty much expected.  

If you have a bad headline with IT marketing, you’ve just missed a chance to get someone’s attention that could be a potentially great client.  

Why Not Mention Price?

The ad in question next said, “Computer Repair A+ and Microsoft Certified Professional, Repairs, Upgrades, One-on-One Lessons and Tutoring.”  Again, none of this is unique in the computer business world.  But, the most disturbing part of the ad was the part in big letters that mentioned price:  “Don’t pay $40, $60 or $80 an hour for computer repair!  Call us!”  The price mentioned was $20 … which is really not even possible for anyone that wants to make any sort of a living in computer consulting (or be at all respected for the specialized services they provide).  

The Big IT Marketing Mistakes

1.     The IT marketing ad has no target.  The company is trying to go after about 7 million businesses.  The ad doesn’t even narrow its focus to the small business segment.  And the company is basically promising it will do everything from pulling out stuck disks to repairing a $79 printer.  

2.    The company is advertising price.  $20 is not a sustainable price for a computer consulting business.  Even at 75% utilization rate (which is unlikely given this IT marketing campaign), the company will not make it.

3.    The company is expressing nothing unique.  If you want to be successful at an IT marketing plan, you have to think about what makes you unique and narrow your focus and specialization.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

ING Australia recently announced that it would be improving its virtual IT support and also appointing new senior positions to its customer systems business unit.  This entity will bring together virtual IT, operations, e-business and customer service into one location.  

This step marks the first in a two-year transformation program that will help it build a more stable and secure virtual IT department and e-business capacity.  The new unit will be run by COO Fred Bertram, who will start his post on March 26.  Previously, he was managing director of ANZ’s operations, technology and shared services divisions in India.

Virtual IT expert and CIO Greg Booker will lead the customer systems technology group and will be responsible for ING Australia’s IT delivery and transformation initiatives.  Currently, Booker is the CIO at St. George Bank and has more than 20 years’ experience working with IT and in the virtual IT industry.  He will begin on April 21.  

Also appointed is Robert Liong, who will be the head of the e-business program.  Formerly, he was head of strategy and business architecture as well as corporate channels at the company Westpac.  His 16 years’ experience in strategy, transformation and various virtual IT-related business work will help him with this new challenge.

ING Australia was formed in 1994 and has headquarters in Sheffield as well as offices in London and Sydney.  For more information on further appointments to this new virtual IT plan, please visit the attached link.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

When you are thinking about how to start a computer consulting business, how do you decide whether or not to buy a franchise?  There are some strong pros and cons with franchises, and you need to carefully consider them.

Pros of How to Start a Computer Consulting Business as a Franchise

1.    You get the perks of being part of a larger company.

2.    You get a built-in peer support network.

3.    You get a lot of tools and resources.

4.    You get people to match problems.  

The Cons of a Franchise

There is an opposite side of the coin too when it comes to deciding how to start your computer consulting business and starting it as a franchise.  The biggest problem is that you have to make a pretty large capital investment in order to get going.  You will also be giving up a percentage of your revenue or profit every month as a royalty to the franchiser.  You will also have some restrictions on what you can and cannot do with your business.  

Computer Consulting is about Time More than Money

When you are figuring out how to start a computer consulting business, you have to think about the fact that just starting a non-franchise business or any business at all is a lot more of a time investment than a capital investment.  You might spend anywhere from three to six months (or even more!) developing your contact and prospect lists and getting enough projects in your sales funnel to get to a 50-60 percent utilization rate (20-24 billable hours weekly).  

Revenue?

When you decide how to start a computer consulting business, even when you are going to all your local networking events, on sales calls and really active in the process of starting, you will have to wait probably up to six months before you start to see significant cash flow.  If you want to get to a point where you can hire more staff members and sales people, the process might take years.  

You need capital in order to pay your business expenses.  Make sure to keep your overhead low so you don’t have unnecessary stress.  Think carefully when you decide how to start a computer consulting business for yourself and consider whether or not a franchise is really the best option.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg