Do you make these Small Business Server mistakes?

Does your consulting firm resell and install Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS)? Or have you considered adding Small Business Server to your supported configurations?

If so, then you’ll DEFINITELY want to pay close attention to these 3 often-overlooked tips for avoiding VERY common Small Business Server mistakes so you can maximize YOUR Small Business Server consulting revenue AND profitability.

Background on Small Business Server

Now just to give you a little background — over the past several years, Microsoft Small Business Server has gained traction as a pretty widely-respected Small Business Server networking suite.

As a result, many small business computer consultants, systems integrators, and value-added resellers have jumped on-board the Microsoft Small Business Server bandwagon.

However, before you go ahead and bet YOUR consulting company on Microsoft Small Business Server, consider the following three Small Business Server business tips… so you can maximize YOUR Small Business Server consulting profitability.

(1) First you need to remember that most small businesses in your area have not EVER heard of Microsoft Small Business Server.

Although there may be hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses in your area that would be EXCELLENT candidates for Microsoft Small Business Server, don’t make the ultra-common mistake of assuming that the typical non-technical small business owner even knows what Microsoft Small Business Server is.

If you want to maximize your consulting profitability and avoid commodity price wars, you’re MUCH better off leading with a pitch for something that’s more universally recognized, such as getting rid of computer viruses, preventing computer security breaches or fixing whatever computer problems are currently driving them nuts.

(2) Second, unless you own a time machine and can transport your consulting firm back to the long-gone yesteryear of 1999, you need to sell your small business prospects on YOUR company and YOUR brand first.

The real money in Small Business Server is NOT in reselling the Microsoft Small Business Server software licenses, certainly NOT as a lead product. The real money comes from selling the RELATIONSHIPS with local small businesses. So your company essentially becomes your clients’ outsourced IT department.

Remember, no small business owner is going to wake up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, craving Small Business Server. However, small business owners DO constantly lose sleep over what will happen to their companies if their computer systems fail them.

So your company needs to become the solution to this more primal, survival instinct and you’ll get plenty of chances to sell Small Business Server, once you’ve established a SOLID client/consultant relationship.

(3) Microsoft doesn’t value their really small non-certified computer consultant "partners" as much as it sometimes portrays.

(However, Microsoft has done a MUCH better job generating the "warm and fuzzies" among small resellers than most other software and hardware vendors.)

Little known fact: the first version of Microsoft Small Business Server, planned way back in 1996 and released in 1997, was code-named "SAM", because Microsoft’s goal was for Small Business Server to completely bypass their value- added-reseller channel and be sold at "Sam’s Club" kinds of warehouse clubs (Costco, BJ’s Wholesale, etc).

So the product team had the mandate to make the Small Business Server product SO simple that a non-technical small business end user could purchase Small Business Server at the warehouse club and have the Small Business Server suite running in their office that same day.

Shortly after the first-version shipped, Microsoft realized that the most cost-effective way to reach small businesses with Small Business Server was through the value-added reseller channel. And since then, Small Business Server resources have flowed toward the channel.

However even today the mixed-message still lingers, as you can find 5-user versions of Microsoft Small Business Server in some retail stores.

So the point: Microsoft isn’t putting all its Small Business Server "eggs" in one basket, so why should you?!?

You need to look out for YOUR firm’s bottom line first and foremost, which brings us back to points one and two.  Most non-technical small business owners aren’t actively shopping for a Small Business Server. So instead of "selling" a Small Business Server per se, you’re MUCH better off selling a small business on YOUR company first, BEFORE you sell Microsoft Small Business Server.

To learn how you can generate the highest-quality leads that will be natural candidates for Microsoft SB, ad learn how you can most effectively QUALIFY those leads, to avoid wasting your time on cheapskates and ingrates, and to learn how to shift your mindset away from degrading "bidding" processes and time-consuming "price quotes" toward a more consultative approach, so you can get the professional hourly billing rates that your firm deserves, and to learn how you can PROFITABLY structure projects with new customers and how you can ultimately turn those new customers into STEADY, high-paying clients,  head on over right now, and read through and listen to, the really critical field-tested, PROVEN business development training tips from the Computer Consulting Kit.
 
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"Dear Joshua, The Computer Consulting Kit has turned my reseller/consulting business, with the emphasis on ‘reseller’, into much more of a consultative approach … where we actually get ‘paid’ to pick the products, which we then ’sell’ to the customer… in addition to being ‘paid’ to develop and supply a service agreement, with even more revenue. The Computer Consulting Kit has turned a losing proposition into a serious winner! Thanks,"

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- Derek Anderson, Rocky Mountain Data Networks (est’d 1989), Lakewood, Colorado

So if you’re tired of selling Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) like a rookie and rank-amateur and you’re ready to capture the best, STEADY, high-paying small business clients in your area by using the same field-tested, PROVEN strategies that have helped Walter, Spencer, Charles, Jason, Thomas, Michael, Phil, David, Jeffrey, Nick, Geoffrey, and Derek, as well as computer consulting business owners in all 50 United States, 8 Canadian provinces, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and some 31+ other nations around the globe get more steady, high-paying consulting clients now at the Computer Consulting Kit download center.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit