The truth is, if you base your business around just cabling jobs or quick fixes, you will attract customers that aren’t really looking for long-term relationships. And you’re going to need a ton of these little one-shot-deal projects to bring in the kind of money that will keep your business afloat. While Fortune 1000 giants might be able to handle these high-volume logistically-complicated operations, a small business using just one, two or three technicians to provide services will never be able to serve the number of clients per year necessary to keep the company afloat on just one-shot-deal customers.

The solution is usually to combine traditional cabling jobs with more complete Virtual IT solutions, so you can attract steady, high-paying clients that will help bring you sustainable service revenue.  Plus you and your staff will get the satisfaction that comes from working on complex business problems with the same businesses on a regular basis.

Granted, some cabling firms eventually add-on router configuration, DSL installations, wireless networking, and Voice-over-IP phone systems.  However those cabling firms with the greatest long-term vision grasp that small business owners want and need… even crave… end-to-end, soup-to-nuts outsourced Virtual IT solutions from a single point of contact.

Consider these 4 reasons why you and your small business clients need to work closely together on more than just plain-old cabling jobs.

1. Small Businesses Want to Enjoy the Same Benefits as Fortune 1000 Companies. In a Fortune 1000 organization, the CIO or IT director is usually responsible for being the IT visionary. This person will spot trends and keep projects on track. This means that if you are providing merely cabling jobs to your small business clients, you need to rethink your strategy. In the small business world, clients rely on their trusted technology provider to act as an IT visionary in the same way as an IT director, but on a much smaller budget. This means you have to be a Virtual CIO providing all the oversight and maintenance services of a larger IT department but on an outsource basis. What’s at stake if you don’t choose this path? Your small business clients will find that single point of contact solution that inevitably already has a cabling firm partner.
2. Small Businesses Crave a Single Point of Contact for Technology Support. Most small business owners won’t want to call multiple people to take care of their technology needs. They don’t have the time or the budget. Instead of someone to just do cabling jobs for them, another to purchase and provide hardware and software, and yet another to provide on-going maintenance for their networks and systems, they need a single point of contact for all their IT support. This is why there is so much opportunity for you in the small business space if you choose to provide complete business solutions and not just quick installations. Your clients want you to be the hardware provider, software reseller, network integrator, application developer, Web site designer and IT manager. Your firm becomes the Virtual IT department for companies too small to hire their own full-time IT staff.  So what are you waiting for?  Start finding local specialists in your community with which to partner.
3. Small Business Clients Are Non-Technical and Thus Naturally Inclined to Think of Price First. Most small business owners will think of technology as buying a bunch of PC’s and software at the lowest possible price. Even the best clients might start out thinking this way, which is why you can’t be just a commodity broker providing cabling jobs to succeed in this space. One of your basic responsibilities as a Virtual IT organization is educating clients on the real benefits of different solutions … in business terms. Help them overcome price objections by showing them the value of planning, consistency, standardization, testing, training, on-going maintenance and regular re-evaluation of their needs.
4. Make Your Clients See the Big Picture. Many small business owners will be inclined to make small impulse purchases for computer hardware, software and peripherals. This piecemeal approach is usually very short-sighted. Planning should be a normal part of their technology acquisition and implementation process. Without proper planning, small business owners almost always make haphazard purchases that rarely work well together.

In this brief article, we looked at why simply providing cabling to small businesses isn’t enough to satisfy clients’ cravings for complete IT solutions.  Learn more about how you combine basic cabling jobs with high-margin outsourced small business Virtual IT services, so you can get great steady, high-paying clients now at http://www.CablingJobsAdvice.com

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Turning away IT consulting work is an important part of having a successful, profitable business as a pro services provider.  But in order to get to a point where you CAN turn away work, you have to have better opportunities in your sales funnel all the time.

What Do You Do When You Have to Turn away Work?

Sometimes you just CAN’T take on new IT consulting work.  When this happens, you have to call the prospect back right away and tell him/her.  You can also give the prospect some options and a respected colleague to call that you know would have time and be a better match.  This protocol will help you build your reputation in the community and give good word of mouth, even when you aren’t taking on someone as a client.

An Informal Network is Important

You should set up an informal network of consultants that do what you do but don’t compete directly.  This will help you cross refer IT consulting prospects when you have to because of skills and specialty OR capacity.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Tip #1:  Boost Marketing and Sales

Many involved in computer consulting don’t spend enough time on marketing, sales and business development.  These important tasks are not only critical when things slow down, but all the time throughout the life of your business.  Because the sales cycle for large consulting projects can be very long, waiting too long to get started with marketing, sales and tending to your business can be fatal errors.  

Tip #2:  Think about Time Management

Making your computer consulting business more efficient is often very much about time management.  Every consultant needs to track his/her time and be able to label every single hour as one of three things:  billable computer consulting work; sales/marketing/business development; administrative work.  

Tip #3:  Take Accountability for Marketing

A really crucial part of computer consulting is taking accountability for marketing.  This means that every hour and dollar invested in each campaign needs to be tracked and analyzed.  If you join and get active in a local organization, you might spend $1,200 over the course of the year and 20 hours of time.  When the year ends, you need to be able to say definitively how many leads, clients and dollars were generated from that $1,200 expenditure and 20 hours of time.  You need to do the same thing with direct mail, display ads, trade show attendance, booths, etc.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

Small businesses (clients’ businesses and computer consulting businesses) that are too small to have an in-house accountant on payroll should always use an outside accountant and back it up with accounting software.  

Which Accounting Programs Work Best for Your Computer Consulting Business?

Intuit QuickBooks and other similar programs can help small business owners with little accounting experience understand invoicing and bill payment.  A more advanced expert in accounting – such as the outside accountant you hire to help you – should be called at least two – four times per year in order to do end-of-year tax projections and tax return preparations.   

The Disadvantages of Outsourcing Completely

When you send all your accounting and bookkeeping procedures to an outside person with your computer consulting business, you can run into some problems.  This process can be very expensive, but it can also totally separate you with the daily financial realities of running your computer consulting business.  

The Bottom Line about Accounting and Your Computer Consulting Business

Your best bet when it comes to accounting is to use a combination of in-house accounting software and an outside accountant to help you manage your computer consulting business affordably and efficiently.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg