The following 4 points can help you think about the future of IT resellers, small business computer consulting and which products and services you want to offer your clients.

1.    Think About What Pure Computer Consulting Firms Do. Those that do not want to be IT resellers usually choose to be pure computer consulting firms. They believe they will never make a penny off product margin, and that IT resellers are less profitable than those that choose to focus purely on selling consulting services. They decide not to resell hardware, software or peripherals, though they do help clients decide exactly which products they should purchase and what the specs will be. Making these decisions helps pure computer consultants have control over the overall solution and provide better services to their clients.

2.    Consider the Concept of a Fee-Based Purchasing Agent. Another variation on the pure computer consulting business model is the idea of acting as a fee-based purchasing agent for clients. Independent, fee-based purchasing agents are not IT resellers; but they do purchasing for clients and bill them for a couple of hours for this function. Their job is to review quotes, place and track orders, and guide clients through the product purchase.

3.    Know What Hybrid Consulting Firms Do. Hybrid consulting firms are basically part-time IT resellers. They may sell desktops, servers and notebooks. When you are deciding whether or not to resell products, you need to think carefully about whether or not these functions fit into your business plan and contribute to your company’s goals. You also need to consider whether or not this type of part-time reselling will be a good use of your time and resources. Also, think about how much net bottom-line profit you will actually earn as a result of reselling.

4.    Carefully Consider Whether or Not You Really Want to Resell Products. Your decision to resell products depends on where you want to spend your time. Do you want to invest time trying to get incremental profit off product sales? Or do you want to put your energy towards pure consulting services revenue and building solutions for your clients? No matter which decision you make, you have to remember that those that decide to become hybrid IT resellers/computer consultants cannot succeed if they lead with commodity-oriented product sales. You have to sell comprehensive business solutions that can truly help your clients’ companies thrive.

In this article we discussed 4 items that can help small business computer consultants weigh the pros and cons of being IT resellers. Learn more about how IT resellers can get great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

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   1.  Write Down Your Business Plan. Write down a clear business plan that takes into account your goals for your computer repair shop. You also need to decide which problems you will solve and how you will handle day-to-day operations. You need to make important decisions such as whether or not you will sell parts, or just do the repair work. What will your hourly rate be? Will you offer on-going service agreements? You need to set clear parameters for your computer repair shop before a client even enters it. This way, you can stay consistent, be professional and achieve your revenue goals.

   2.  Think about Marketing and How You Will Get Clients. What are the common characteristics and problems of your target prospects, customers and clients? Once you know this, you can easily develop a marketing plan that will speak to these potential clients and their points of pain. Think about which strategies you will use and what your main marketing message will be. You need to diversify and track several strategies at once to find the ones that generate the best results. If you have a specialty or work with a specific industry, you can use this to design a very personalized marketing campaign that will help your computer repair shop stand out from the crowd.

   3.  Don’t Forget About Your People Skills. Even though running a computer repair shop involves a lot of technical work and skills, you need to think about how you can build and add value to relationships. Most successful computer repair shops have very strong technical skills. But what will set you apart is if you can be phenomenal on the repair side, and the sales and relationship-management side. The best technicians have good people skills that really help get through major projects and retain clients for many years. In a situation where you are installing a network or doing very complex projects, you will need to coordinate with many vendors and subcontractors. A lot can go wrong if you are not good at account management and communicating with others to get the job done.
 
In this article, we looked at 3 simple business development tips to help you grow your computer repair shop. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients for your computer repair shop now at the attached link. 
 
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Many that own a computer repair business struggle to replicate their successful clients. Often, they are not taking the time to identify their best clients or use a focused marketing plan. To approach this the right way, you need a consistent plan to qualify all leads and prospects, and weed out the problematic small businesses before they become clients. The following 4 tips can help you move towards your goals of running a stable and rewarding computer repair business.

   1.  Replicate Your Best Clients. You need to find more clients that resemble your current best clients. To accomplish this, take your active client list and place it into a spreadsheet. In the first column, enter the client name. In the next column, enter the client’s revenue for the last 12 months. Then divide by 12 to figure out the monthly income of each of your clients, so you can discover who your most valuable customers currently are.

This exercise is critical because it helps you evaluate (in very objective terms) …

      a) who should get the highest levels of customer service.
      b) client retention and who is worth keeping.
      c) profitability and who is really paying the bills for your computer repair business each month.

   2.  Put Your Clients into Categories to Find Patterns. Once you complete the exercise detailed in tip #1 to define characteristics of your best clients, look among your best and most active clients and customers. Figure out who falls into the micro category (fewer than 10 systems), who falls into the Sweet Spot Clients™ of IT consulting (10-50 PC’s), and who is so large that you might not be able to continue servicing them without hiring additional high-level technical staff.

This exercise helps you determine where your expertise is, so you can replicate clients that best benefit from your unique type of services. Once you figure out commonalities between your biggest and best clients, you can decide on a specialty which will help fine-tune your marketing campaign, and bring you new prospects and clients with much less effort.

   3.  Fine-Tune Your Industry Focus. Once you narrow down your industry focus as part of your computer repair business plan and communicate it in all of your marketing materials and business solutions, you will stand out as an industry expert. No matter which industry you choose, you become a specialist focusing exclusively on a specific industry (i.e., dental offices, accounting firms, etc.) and give yourself the opportunity to grow and build on your skills.

   4.  Evaluate Your Professional Background. Once you figure out where your industry expertise is within your computer repair business, you can use that expertise as a springboard to build a killer marketing plan and really comprehensive solutions. When you present your message to prospects, you will already know about their field of business, which will be reassuring to them and help build the trust necessary for long-term relationships that will sustain your company. Small business prospects that trust you will be more likely to choose your firm over someone who is sending out “generalist” marketing materials with no industry focus.

In this short article, we looked at 4 steps to build your client list for your computer repair business. To learn more about how you can get great steady, high-paying clients, go sign up for your free computer repair business tips now at the attached link.

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As a small business computer consultant, there are a lot of challenges you will face as you build your business.  One of them involves marketing and selling your services to highly qualified business owners that understand and embrace the value of your sophisticated IT solutions.  The following 3 tips can help you set yourself apart from the competition and avoid price-sensitive buyers.

1. Leverage Your Expertise. When you are selling IT services, your expertise will set you apart from the competition.  There are hundreds of people who can do the easy work of an IT “generalist.” But you need to make it your business to do the hard work and show you know the industry better than they do.  You need to be an IT “specialist” and be one of only a couple people in your area that can do what you do.  When you can truly leverage this concept of being a specialist, you will move away from price sensitive buyers and towards those that understand the concept of a sophisticated IT solution.  These tend to be the same clients that are willing to pay higher hourly billing rates for relatively scarce, high-value, results-focused expertise.

2. Sell Knowledge, Not Commodities. If you want to have a successful IT business, you need to stop selling the same old products by themselves and start selling the real value of your services… and the bottom-line business value they provide.  You aren’t going to get very far by selling IT services to product-only customers or competing on price alone.  You need to bundle in value-added services and add real value in order to substantially grow your company and survive for many years.  Think about the concept of selling “You, Inc.”. Remember, your value proposition includes everything you know and are good at, as well as the personalized relationships you build with your clients.  How can you transform your whole marketing approach, so it’s not about just reaching potential customers and clients?  Rather, think about reaching long-term clients, who will need you for many months and years to keep their IT systems up and running.  Stop thinking about how to market “low, low prices” and start really selling your specific solutions that solve real business problems and are different from the solutions of any other IT service provider in your area.

3. Sell Unique Benefits. When you are selling IT services, think about which benefits you can give your clients that will be different from the average generalist consultant in your area.  You need to differentiate yourself from the competition to increase your base of high-paying, steady, long-term clients.  Think about the benefits you offer as part of long-term relationships with clients.  For example, what are the terms of your service contracts, and how do they benefit both you and your loyal clients?  Or is your location – close to clients – something you can leverage with a guaranteed response time during regular business hours?  Think carefully about exactly what you offer clients that no one else can and then stress these unique benefits in all your marketing collateral.

In this article we talked about 3 valuable tips that can help you when you are selling IT services.  To learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free tips on Selling IT Services now at the attached link.

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