One of the most difficult tasks for new independent technology professionals is creating strong computer business plans. Many consultants make the mistake of starting their own businesses before they have all their ducks in a row and a clear sense of direction.
For computer consultants, failing to develop computer business plans can mean a lot of struggling and often the death of their companies before they’ve even had a chance to begin. Before you open the doors to your computer consulting business, you need to follow important steps to make sure you plot out your goals. Consider the types of clients you will need to attract and create a written-down plan for your business.
The following 4 tips can help you build strong computer business plans as you move forward towards your start date.
1. Get Your Business Cards Printed. Even if you don’t think your business cards will last you forever, you need to get them printed. You can always change your company name, phone number or address in the future and re-print cards. But you must start acting professionally and get momentum going by giving business cards to friends and family members and those you meet in networking situations.
2. Become Active in Your Local Business Community. You need to get involved in organizations that will help you meet local small business owners. Talk to people, offer to speak on important technology topics and generally be proactive about participation. Some organizations to consider include Chamber of Commerce groups, related user groups, and industry-specific trade groups.
3. Start with a Niche You Know. Pick an industry focus to help you design strong computer business plans. You can always branch out once you’ve started your business. But if you start with a niche you already know, you will have some credibility. Starting where you know also makes coming up with a strong marketing message, that appeals to your target prospects, easier than when you market yourself as a “generalist.” And when you are a specialist in a niche you know, you will help ensure you are memorable. You will not be like every other consultant in the phone book.
4. Evaluate Your Niche to Make Sure that There are Enough Prospects. Before you choose a niche and start marketing your business, you need to be confident there are at least 500-1,000 prospects close to your location. Your knowledge will be a big hit with key decision makers and individual PC users in your target small businesses … but only if there are enough of them in need of the solutions you are offering. You can increase your chances even further by putting your industry focus in your name and building your computer business plans around it. For instance, if you choose to target companies in the health care industry, you can add “health care systems,” “medical office systems” or “medical office technology” as part of your company name.
In this article, we discussed 4 tips to help you develop strong computer business plans. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients by creating better computer business plans now at the attached link.
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If you are running your own IT consultancy, you know that finding the time to do everything required to keep your business going can be very challenging. You are not alone. Most consultants face serious time management issues at nearly every stage of their businesses.
The fact is, no matter what, you need to focus on building relationships with prospects, customers and clients to get steady, on-going revenue that will sustain you into the future. But how can you devote time to finding long-term clients for your IT consultancy if you’re already working 60-80 hours per week?
The following 4 tips can help you manage your time so you can focus on getting long-term clients for your IT consultancy.
1. Get Your Time Management Under Control. Look at where you spend most of your time with your IT consultancy. Write down your responsibilities and how much time you spend on each task per week. Are there some tasks you can afford to delegate, automate or eliminate? For example, perhaps you are sitting there building PCs and putting in motherboards and power supplies for your clients 10 hours per week. These low-level tasks could be delegated to other staff members or contractors. If you own an actual retail computer store and find yourself minding the retail traffic often, that’s something else that can be done by someone else, at least part of the week. Many computer consultants also spend excessive time on administrative tasks. A virtual assistant or a part-time employee can take over a few hours of clerical work per week for you, so you can focus on marketing and networking to build your client base.
2. Delegate (More) Responsibilities to Make Time for Business Development. Once you write down and analyze how you spend your time each week, think about delegation with your IT consultancy. What can you safely delegate based on the staff you already have? If it is just you, are you at a point where you can hire additional staff to free up some time? Often delegating tasks can very quickly free up as much as a day to a day-and-a-half per week to start actively cultivating long-term clients.
3. Use Your Time Wisely. When you analyze the time you spend each week, you need to make sure you are using your newly “free” time well. Go out to networking events, plan your marketing efforts, focus on sales calls and following up with prospects, customers and clients. These are great uses of your time and can help you build the relationships that can last for the entire life of your IT consultancy.
4. Become Friends with Like-Minded Non-Competing Technology Providers and Trusted Business Advisors. No, you don’t necessarily need equity partners or employees to grow your IT consultancy’s team. Simply look around for non-competing IT consultancy owners in complementary niches to yours, as well as trusted business advisors, such as accountants, attorneys, and management consultants. Network with them. See how you can help each other. Become friends. The professionals can become an informal, but extremely valuable part of your growth plans. They also can become great resources to introduce to your prospects, customers, and clients. And don’t forget… on the flip side, these like-minded professionals can also introduce you to their prospects, customers, and clients.
Unfortunately, if you’re already working a ton of hours and don’t yet have the option of hiring additional staff or contractors, you need to make time to build relationships for your business. Think carefully through time management challenges and know where you really spend the bulk of your time. Chances are, you can find some ways to free up a few extra hours for marketing, sales, and business development.
In this article we discussed 4 tips for finding long-term clients for your IT consultancy. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients for your IT consultancy now at the attached link.
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As a computer consultant, technology assessments are an important part of your sales cycle. These assessments help gauge your new customers’ needs, so you can develop comprehensive solutions and strengthen future client relationships.
The following checklist can help you get started fast with your technology assessments, so you can easily and rapidly create an appropriate, semi-customized plan for each and every new customer.
1. Physical Security. Make sure the right physical controls are in place to secure all servers, networking and telecommunications equipment to prevent unauthorized access.
2. Logical Security. Ensure that appropriate software security controls are in place so you can prevent viruses and unauthorized data access.
3. Logistical and Environmental Controls. All technology assets have to be housed in facilities that offer the right environmental conditions – temperature and dust regulation, furniture, racks and physical equipment organization.
4. Configuration Management. Ensure systems are installed and configured according to established requirements and standards.
5. Systems Administration Procedures. Security systems and administrative procedures need to be well-defined and assigned to specific staff members.
6. Hardware Inventory Management. You need to make sure all hardware is properly inventoried and that the warranty and maintenance records are diligently updated and tracked.
7. Software Licensing. Make sure all software usage complies with licensing agreements and that these records are well-maintained.
8. Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Procedures. Data backups must be made and tested on a regular basis so that important information can be recovered in case of systems failure, data loss or any other disaster.
9. Documentation. You must make sure that systems, procedures and policies are well-documented and regularly updated. Also, make sure that your clients maintain systems reports, error logs, help desk records, and other related problem logs.
10. Performance and Capacity Planning. All systems must perform according to required levels. Think about uptime, system availability, bandwidth, data storage and archiving older data files.
11. Change Management. You need to be sure that all major changes are documented, tested and verified before they are implemented.
In this article, we introduced you to a short checklist that can get you started faster with your technology assessments for small business customers. To learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free tips on how to sell more Technology Assessments now at the attached link.
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If you are a computer consultant, you may think that all you need to be great at your job is a love of computers and at the high end, a greater degree of technical skill than anyone on the planet.
What you might not know is that while technical skills are important, they are not enough to make you a successful computer consultant. Strong relationships that are essential to the future of your business cannot be based on your technical knowledge. Many have discovered the power of the tips offered by the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course and learned how to rise above the “techie” status to become true virtual IT consultants.
Listen to what Anthony Coleman of Sanaa Computers and Information Services in St. Louis Missouri had to say about expanding his business beyond just a tech shop for his customers and clients:
"When I started my computer consulting business, I thought all I needed to have were good technical skills.
But I quickly found out that I needed more.
Armed with the Computer Consulting Kit, as well as Joshua Feinberg’s school-of-hard-knocks method of teaching all of these skills, I’m now ready for the business of being a computer consultant for small businesses.”
To learn more about the Computer Consulting Kit and how to become a strong computer consultant, visit the attached link.
Blogged By: Computer Consultant
