Archive for the ‘Business Consulting’ Category
Computer Consulting Business: Nail Down the Vendor Support Options
No computer consulting business can afford to be sitting at a client site, running up a big bill, staring at a blue-screen-of-death, facing an angry mob of irate users and sitting on hold for two hours with tech support.
This scenario is your absolute worst nightmare in running a computer consulting business and can be the kiss of death to your client relationship.
The Need for Good Vendor Technical Support
Good vendor technical support will preserve your credibility as a computer consulting business during times of crisis. No matter how experienced you are at PC hardware troubleshooting, calling on a specialist is a necessity.
Understand What Is Offered
Rather than get an unpleasant surprise when you need help the most, get the lowdown on vendor technical support before you make the purchase recommendation. Although many top PC vendors have similar capabilities and services, ask about included technical support services, and preferably get a description of them in writing.
Ask Questions
As a computer consulting business, you will want to ask questions to determine the reliability of PC vendor technical support. Find out if they are available by phone, if the technical support phone number is toll-free and if the support is free or not.
Also, find out if there are different technical support phone numbers for different products.
In operating your computer consulting business, you will also want to know if vendor technical support has 24/7 support in case you have a need for emergency support. Ask if online tech support resources are available as well.
Deal With a Specialist
As a computer consulting business, you want direct, rapid access to a specialist who deals with nothing but that particular product all day. So test the technical support group’s responsiveness at a time when your heart isn’t racing in the heat of a client server-down emergency.
Also, PC Magazine (http://www.pcmag.com/) regularly evaluates PC vendors’ technical support quality, so this is a good resource to look into.
Computer Consulting Business: Find the Right Clients
If you really want to make a decent living and want to have a good, successful, viable computer consulting business, sooner or later you have to narrow down your focus and develop a keen intuition. Additionally, you have to become good at spotting the best small businesses accounts.
The Small Business Myriad
There are millions of small businesses in the U.S. and there are millions of small businesses abroad. There’s a pretty good chance that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of companies that would qualify as small businesses in your local area.
The sad fact is, if you latch onto the wrong ones, you’re not going to have a very good computer consulting business.
Finding the Best Accounts
You need to know where to find these best accounts. In the computer consulting business you also need to know how to say “no,” and when to say “no.”
It’s extremely important that you know where to look, and how to verify that a small business is going to be a gratifying client for your computer consulting business.
You obviously want to feel a certain sense of career satisfaction. That’s probably one of the reasons you’re looking at starting your own computer consulting business as opposed to sticking with a traditional corporate IT career.
Keep the Financial Aspects in Mind
Your computer consulting business also has to be lucrative financially because you need to have a profitable business. You want it to be a stable source of recurring revenue.
Remember, all small businesses are not created equal. Your job is not to be the Mother Teresa of PC support. You are not starting a computer consulting business as a charitable organization.
The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business
Of course, you want to have empathy for the people you support and you want to do a great job for them. At the same time, you have to look out for your own interests to make sure you’re going to be there for them six months to a year down the road.
Computer Consulting: Should You Work With Micro Businesses?
When it comes to computer consulting with micro businesses, look at the margins issue. You will always have a certain amount of hours that you’re forced to eat because you can’t bill for it. When you have a larger base of computer consulting clients to spread it over, a loss is a lot easier to swallow.
“Eating” a Loss is Easier with Big Clients Than Small Ones
For example, if you have a customer that’s billing $2,000 a year with you and you’re forced to eat a $500 job, you’ve sacrificed 25 percent of your billing for that customer. If you have someone that’s billing $10,000 a year with you and you’re forced to sacrifice a $500 job once a year, that’s no big deal.
That’s a very small percentage. The bigger the client, the more you can afford to do things like that.
Are Micro Business Distracting You From Finding “Sweet Spot” Clients?
Is computer consulting for micro businesses taking away valuable time from cultivating more lucrative business? Only you can answer that question.
You have to make sure that you have enough time to go after the solid B2B small businesses where there’s at least 10 systems, a real server and they can afford at least $5,000 to $10,000 in IT services a year on an ongoing basis.
Focus On The Larger Computer Consulting Clients
Phase out your dependence on micro small businesses. As you start taking on additional larger clients, you’re going to find you have to make tough decisions anyway.