So you?re looking for quality accounts as you start your computer consulting business. What are the qualifying criteria for such accounts?Consider ProximityFirst, the potential client for your computer consulting business should be close to you, generally within a 30 to 60 minute drive from where you?re located. This is going to have some impact on the networking events you attend or anything else you do from a marketing perspective.Potential Client SizeIn starting your computer consulting business you will want to target potential clients that have 10 to 50 PC?s. The prospect should be big enough that they need a real server, which most of the time could translate to 10 to 100 employees.A good prospect for your computer consulting business would be companies that have $1 million to $10 million in annual sales. This information will help you in your marketing efforts, especially if you decide to do some direct mailing down the road.What Should Your Prospects Have in Use?In most cases, your computer consulting business? potential clients will have their own email domain. You will want to address how their users retrieve and send emails when meeting with prospective clients.In most cases, they?re going to have a dedicated server or dedicated Internet access, so this will help narrow it down. It also indicates that they have more serious IT needs.Ensure They Are Serious About ITIf a prospect for your computer consulting business doesn?t have a dedicated server, dedicated Internet access or they?re messing around with peer to peer and dial-up lines, they?re probably not for you.The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting BusinessAny prospect you are considering as a target for your computer consulting business should make IT mission-critical. Many times a potential client can end up being a good, strong prospect and future client because they?re in an industry where IT is critical.Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
As IT consultants, you may recall that in the early to mid-?90s, leading PC vendors began segmenting their product lines into two or three distinct tiers to meet the demands of the different needs of consumers.IT Consultants Have Different Component Levels to Choose FromAs the domestic and global market demand for desktop PCs, notebooks and servers began to soar, top PC vendors such as Compaq (now Hewlett Packard), Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard and IBM wanted to have PC products that would be highly relevant and compelling for various needs and budgets.The Different OptionsEnterprise customers, such as Fortune 1000 network man-agers, would pay premium prices but require incredible amounts of scalability, reliability and availability, stable and mature hardware configurations, as well as ease of manage-ability.Home users would need rock-bottom prices to entice first-time buyers, as well as bleeding edge hardware components for gaming, digital photography, video capture and other Internet-era hobbies.Small business users would need something in between — not too stripped down, not too loaded up, but a very good mid-range value.IT Consultants Can Compare SpecsFortunately, the PC vendors also have made identifying appropriate products easier for both you and your clients. When researching PC configurations online for your clients, PC vendors? Web sites almost always will have separate Web pages and sections for each of these three market segments. This helps to make sure IT consultatns inadvertently don?t recommend a PC with the wrong set of features.IT Consultants Can Profit From White Box Computer SalesA big percentage of small businesses Worldwide purchase white-box or clone PCs from local computer resellers, integrators and IT consultants. Visit the major PC vendors? Web sites periodically to see how your firm?s recommended small business PC configurations and price points compare to what the major PC vendors offer.Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Business Computer Consulting .com. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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 MyriadThere 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 AccountsYou 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 MindYour 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 BusinessOf 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.Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consultants Secrets. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
To be successful in IT consulting, you need to know about servers, hardware, and software, but more importantly, you need to know business skills.Learn How to Say “No”Anyone in IT consulting can tell you that, at first, you are going to get a lot of crazy requests. You’ll get a lot of people wasting your time with half-baked nonsense. They don?t have the money to pay for you or they ask for ridiculous things.Of course, all the customer service gurus will tell you that the word, “no” should not be in your vocabulary. Nonsense; you need to learn how to say no.Learn About Banking and Merchant AccountsYou will need to set up a business bank account. If you plan on reselling products, you’ll need to set up a merchant account. This gives you the ability to accept credit cards.Learn How to Manage Your FinancesYou need to make sure you get paid, get paid well, and get paid fast. You’re going to need to figure out your expenses, know how to balance your checkbook, know about credit and collections and how that ties in to your whole billing and invoicing system.Learn How to Track Prospects and ClientsYou don’t want prospects or clients slipping through the cracks. You’ll need to set up simple databases to track your prospects and clients. Fortunately, there are many off-the-shelf products that can help you do just that.Learn How to DelegateEven if you plan on your IT consulting business being “just you” for a long time, delegating skills are still important. At some time in your business, you are probably going to end up working with some business partners and contractors.You are going to have all kinds of vendor relationships. You need to know when to pass it off to them and you need to know how to successfully manage and delegate work.Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Business Computer Consulting .com. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
If you?ve been in the computer consulting business for a while, you know that influencing product selection is one of the more valuable services that your firm performs for its client base.Your clients depend on your firm to guide them toward reliable, cost-effective technology solutions. Along the same lines, your clients count on your firm to help them steer clear of “lemons”, or IT support “quicksand” in their IT spending.IT Spending: Newly Released Technology is Often Not a Smart PurchaseIf the first year?s depreciation cost of IT spending on the latest and greatest PC hardware doesn?t deter your clients, this might. If your clients purchase PCs with processors that have just been released, new kind of motherboards, revolutionary kinds of graphics accelerators or updated chipsets, they may get some very unpleasant surprises.IT Spending: Your Clients May Blame YouClients generally don?t like unreliable PC hardware. Many clients will even blame you, the highly paid computer consultant. Peeved clients with major hardware headaches can be huge threat to your firm?s survival.Protect your clients’ IT spending plan and your company?s future by being very careful when it comes to being an early adopter with bleeding-edge PC hardware.IT Spending: Shielding Your Clients from Early Adopter RisksAs the PC industry continues to experience unprecedented financial pressures, a lot more products are being rushed to market prematurely.In early 2001, leading IT market research firm Gartner Dataquest, announced that the U.S. PC market shrank by 3.5 percent, compared to the same period a year earlier. This was the first industry contraction in seven years.One only can wonder if as the hardware giants reduce headcount, expenses and R&D, will consumers become their extended R&D facility? This revelation is really nothing new to the PC industry.IT Spending: It Takes Time to Fully Test New ProductsFor at least a decade, PC owners and small businesses have had to consider their IT spending with a continuous stream of updated hardware device driver software and reprogrammable firmware updates.The trouble is, from the time problems are first reported, analyzed, diagnosed and ultimately fixed through updates, your clients have to suffer with unreliable hardware products. If you?re looking to help clients control their IT spending, you don?t want your clients to be a hardware vendor?s guinea pig.Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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