.: Joshua Feinberg Profile and Articles
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1). Computer Consulting 101 PC Troubleshooting AdviceWhile most small businesses really do need to find a good local computer consulting business to take care of their computer problems, there are some computer problems that are simple enough for even a technophobe to handle. At Computer Consulting 101, we've found there's one very simple piece of advice that often doesn't get communicated to non-technical small business end users: When in doubt, reboot first.
2). Partnering: Finding Your Strengths and Weaknesses
In partnering, the first thing you need to do is figure out your strengths. What it is that you do best? What does your store enjoy? What’s financially viable? What you’re planning on doing for the next six months to a year? You really want to make sure that you’re not partnering with someone that’s going to be a direct competitor of yours and vice versa.
3). IT Sales Calls: Getting Past the Gatekeeper
IT sales calls require connecting with the right person in order to be successful. However, getting past the gatekeepers is no easy feat. In this article, you'll learn some techniques to help get you in touch with the person you need to for your IT sales calls.
IT Sales Cold Calls are Difficult
How do you get past the secretary gatekeeper/screener who only takes your name and number and says we’re not interested? This typically happens when you are cold calling so you may want to try another method of gaining new clients.
4). How a Computer Consulting Business Can Help Your Company
While many small companies only call in a local computer consulting business when something computer-related breaks, there's a lot to be gained by forging a proactive, long-term relationship with a local computer consulting business in your area.
Consider Getting Advice from a Computer Consulting Business
If you need to get advice once-in-a-while on how your computers can be better utilized, or you have a specific computer-related problem that needs to be solved, a computer consulting business is generally the way to go.
5). Small Business Computer Consulting: Additional Qualifications for the Sweet Spot
To find the ideal clientele for your small business computer consulting, you want to target small businesses by their number of PC's, (10 to 50) as well as their revenue. Generally, companies that have anywhere from 1 million to 10 million in revenue are the sweet spot of small business computer consulting. In this article, you'll learn why you should target this type of business.
6). IT Specialists: Finding Your Niche
Finding a niche is an important step in becoming an IT specialist. In this article, you'll learn about how to develop your niche.
A Horizontal Niche
Instead of all your ideal clients being in the same industry (a vertical niche), maybe you realize that most of your clients' main contacts are office managers. What do you do next? Take an informal survey.
7). IT Marketing: Postcard Case Study
Sometimes you won't get the results you hoped for with your IT marketing. In this article you will learn about some common problems with postcards and how to avoid them.
IT Marketing: The Case
“I've sent out over 300 postcards offering general computer troubleshooting services, automated online data backup and wireless home networks. From a marketing standpoint, I purchased lists of area businesses broken down by revenue, credit rating, years in business and number of PCs.
8). Partnering Beyond Other Technicians
In partnering, don't just look for people you can bring in on accounts. A lot of times other non-IT business providers like management consultants are in a position where they’re constantly being forced to be able to refer other professionals to their clients. This may be done as a favor to their client, or set up as a revenue sharing arrangement.
Partnering.
9). IT Marketing: Using Speaking Engagements
Speaking at business organizations is another great form of IT marketing. In this article, you'll learn how speaking can help you connect with your potential customers.
Speak at Other Groups' Meetings
The great part of speaking at other people's meeting is you have a captive audience there. They're already going to the chamber of commerce breakfast.
10). Small Business Computer Consulting Freeloaders... and How to Avoid Them
If you've been in the small business computer consulting industry for more than 10 minutes, you've probably already encountered a fair amount of freeloaders.
Regardless of whether you call these folks moochers, tightwads, cheapskates, tire-kickers, cherry-pickers, or time vampires, left unchecked these vultures can wreak financial and emotional havoc on virtually any small business computer consulting firm.
11). Partnering: Achieve Your Goals By Creating a Prospecting List
The way to create a partnering goal is to construct a partner prospecting list. Take out a piece of paper and write down the next 12 months on the year on there. Start with this month and finish 12 months from now. For each month, either put down one of the following:
the name of a person
the name of a company
the type of role they play
Now if you knew 12 people that you wanted to partner with, you’d probably be doing it already, but you surely know a couple of people to put down in some of those slots.
12). Partnering: Where Can You Find Good Partners?
One of the best places to find new partnering relationships is through client referrals.
If you’re taking on a new client and you get introduced to someone who’s a very deeply niched expert, invite them to lunch or coffee. You could say, “We should really get together and talk about whether we have any clients that could use your expertise and vice versa.
13). IT Marketing: Get Your Expertise Across
Two powerful tools to influence your target audience are case studies and your website. These tools show your potential customers that you are their best solution. In this article, you'll learn how to use case studies and websites to help with your IT marketing.
Case Studies
A case study is a really fancy testimonial. It usually has the picture of the client with their logo, their full name, address, and other contact information.
14). Computer Consulting: Take Some Action
Before you open the doors to your computer consulting business, you need to get your ducks in a row. You'll need to pick a company name and get your business cards printed. Then you'll need to consider what types of customers you want to pursue and where you can meet them. In this article, you'll learn how and why you need to accomplish these steps.
15). IT Marketing: Find the Decision Makers
The best way to grow beyond your customer base is to do some more IT marketing by getting out there in the community and meeting other people that are the decision makers. The key thing is to find the people that are most likely to be your decision makers. In this article, you'll learn how to connect with decision makers for your IT marketing efforts.
16). IT Marketing: Good Elevator Speeches
IT marketing requires you to give “elevator speeches,” or short little descriptions of your business. In this article, you'll learn how to get the maximum effectiveness from your elevator speech.
If you go to a chamber of commerce luncheon, you might find yourself (and everyone else) having to give their 30 second commercial. If there happen to be two or three other computer service companies there at that same event, you want to make sure that your elevator speech resonates to make this aspect of IT marketing effective.
17). IT Marketing: Rewarding Referrals
People in some professions, like accounting, can be great people to partner up with. You may even be able to develop a more formal revenue sharing arrangement where your accountant would have a financial interest in connecting you with their existing clients. This could be in the form of:
o A finder's fee
o A referral fee
o Subcontracting you out
o Bartering services
Other less formal ideas include a gift basket, sporting events tickets or taking them out for lunch or dinner.
18). IT Marketing: Your Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is basically a quick introduction that doesn't sound too canned. You want to work on fine-tuning something that is anywhere from ten to twenty seconds. You use this speech whenever you meet a prospect that you meet at any kind of event. Your pitch should talk about what your company does, what makes you unique, and why they want to consider you.
19). IT Service Agreements: Know Your Clients
In addition to knowing your skills and being moderately qualified, keep an eye on the size of companies you want to target for IT service agreements. Going after 60 stations, 100 stations, or 150 stations is not the best place to start.
Start Small
Start with something that’s more comfortable and more approachable for your technical skill set. This will probably be someone in the 10 to 35 PC range with one or possibly 2 servers.
20). IT Audits: Capitalizing on Current Events
Worms and viruses are actually a good thing for your marketing. When they are mentioned in the news, there’s an excellent chance that the small businesses that you’re targeting are feeling the pain and feeling the pinch. There’s nothing like a massive blackout to raise tremendous awareness!
Events like these raise awareness of the need for power protection and orderly shutdowns and backup generators.
21). Computer Consulting: The Initial Consultation
You have to think of the sales process as more of like a pre-sales consultation and with an emphasis on consultation. You really want to convey your professionalism and stand out from the other computer consulting "professionals" out there who want to act like used car salespeople.
In this article, you'll learn that this can be done by taking a sincere.
22). IT Marketing: Join Organizations
In IT marketing, personal referrals you're going to find are by far the most powerful way to get great prospects. Personal referrals are already in a lot of ways pre-sold and they already trust you. In the IT services business, unlike just selling a product, trust carries a tremendous amount of weight. In this article, you'll learn how to get more personal referrals for your IT marketing.
23). IT Sales: It's about Relationships and Benefits
IT Sales aren't automatic--you have to put in the time and effort to make the sale. In this article you will learn that showing your clients the benefit of your services and developing a relationship with them will help your IT sales.
What Benefit Can You Give Them?
If your prospect has an IT problem you can't solve, then to get IT sales you need.
24). IT Marketing: Finding Prospect Lists
After you write your long sales letter, you need to know who to send it to. In this article, you'll learn where to find an advertising list and trade organization listings to help with your IT marketing efforts.
Advertising Lists
For list selection, you have many choices. If you're looking for recommendations, especially in the U.S., it's really simple.
25). Partnering: How It Benefits Your Computer Consulting Practice
Partnering is really the only way that you can do virtual IT the right way in small business computer consulting. It provides three extremely compelling benefits.
Partnering Advantage #1: You Can Broaden Your Bench
You can broaden the skills you offer to a potential client and your existing clients, and provide a more complete solution. This is absolutely critical if you’re selling to non-technical small business owners that don’t put up with finger pointing.
26). IT Sales: Determine Your Clients' Needs
When you first meet with IT sales prospects, you'll want to get them talking about their top 3 problems. You may learn that the problems your prospects have aren't ones you or your network of partners or subcontractors can help with. In this case, you are barking up the wrong tree and should move on. But it's very important to get your prospects talking if you want IT sales.
27). IT Support: Are You Wearing Multiple Hats?
In the early stages of developing an IT support business, the owners typically wear all the hats: the sales hats, the technical hats, and the administrative hats, until the company has established enough of a client base that it can justify delegating certain things to a salesperson or a couple of different technical people. In this article, you'll learn why you need to wear so many hats in the beginning and when to start handing the hats to someone else.
28). Technical Staff- Protect Your Business
If you're not really careful with how you hire the expert technical staff on your payroll, you could end up training and nurturing a future competitor. In this article, you'll learn how to minimize your risk.
Consider this example:
Your firm (ABC Consulting) hires a technical person and pays for their Microsoft, Cisco, or Citrix training. This person gets really skilled and get lots of great field experience.
29). IT Marketing: Benefits Focused Sales Letter
No matter what niche you're in, you should write a benefits-focused sales letter. In this article you'll learn how this letter can improve your IT marketing.
Your high school English teacher probably told you that when you're writing a business letter, keep it nice and short and sweet. Put that advice away. (Your high school English teacher probably.
30). IT Marketing: The Benefits of Direct Mail Postcards
The great advantage to using direct mail postcards is you don't have to worry that they'll get tossed in the trash without being read. They are already opened. Additionally, postcards are less expensive than other types of direct mail thereby saving on your IT marketing budget. In this article, you'll learn how to make your direct mail postcards work best for your business.
31). Computer Consulting Profit Secrets
Do you own or manage a computer consulting company? Are you having trouble growing your computer consulting company's profits?
If so, then you must learn how to focus on your computer consulting firm's profit and bottom line.
In this article, we'll look at 7 profit secrets and strategies you can use in your computer consulting business, to ensure that you are able to balance your clients' small business IT needs against your own computer consulting company's profitability challenges.
32). IT Marketing: Finding Your First Clients
Once you have some clients under your belt, IT marketing becomes easier. In this article, you'll learn the best ways to find the crucial few first clients to help your IT marketing. Here are the steps to this point:
o You want to pick a startup date.
o You want to print your business cards.
o You want to tell everyone that you know
o You need some reference accounts
o You need to get referrals
IT Marketing: Volunteer with a Catch
Do some kind of closed-end volunteer job, with an organization that you feel some affinity for.
33). Computer Consulting Time Constraints
Where can you find time to do it all? How can you devote time to finding long-term B2B computer consulting clients when you're already working 60, 70, 80 hours a week? There's no easy answer. In this article, you'll learn some possible options for finding long term clients in computer consulting.
Do a Time Study
Really looking at where you spend most of your time and figure out if there are some things that you're doing that you can afford to delegate (or automate or eliminate).
34). Consulting Contracts with National Service Organizations- Good idea?
Don't do it. Why not? You'll spend a lot of money and a lot of time getting certified and learning all the latest platforms and technologies. But the reality is that hardware repair is a commodity - a low margin business. And it's becoming more and more of a commodity service every year as the components become more disposable and more replaceable than repairable.
35). Consulting Firms: Should You Be a Product Reseller?
In this article, we'll explore the two schools of thought on whether computer consulting firms should resell products.
Pure Computer Consulting Firms Defined
Some consulting firms want to be pure consulting firms. They believe that they are never going to make a penny off product margin and that there are potential conflicts when reselling products.
36). More Computer Consulting 101 Hiring Tips (Part 2 of 2)
Does your company need to retain the services of a competent computer consulting firm, but you have no idea how to really evaluate “competence”?
In the first part of this two-part series on Computer Consulting 101 hiring tips, we looked at why small businesses find it so difficult to hire good computer consulting companies, as well as four basic questions that you must be addressed when searching for a new computer consulting vendor.
37). IT Emergencies: How To Plan For Them
In a perfect world, there should be no IT emergencies, but it doesn’t work that way. Handling IT emergencies are critical to maintaining your customer base and a great opportunity to acquire new business. You cannot afford to staff up to every peak, nor can you afford to fail to meet the needs of an existing client.
Don't Overschedule Your Staff
Generally, you want to schedule at about 75 percent capacity for technical people that don’t have sales responsibilities or management responsibilities.
38). Play Blackjack Like a Pro
If you don't have much Blackjack experience, it can be daunting stepping up to the tables for a game. You can, however, hide the fact of your inexperi
39). Computer Consulting: Do Your Homework
Beware of vendors who ask you to explain what you do in your business. Instead, give a basic explaination of what your computer consulting business is all about so a client can determine if he has any product or service that’s in your picture. Rather than be reactive, go to the interview being proactive! Know what they are doing before you go in and be prepared to help them with their needs.
40). IT Specialists: Are Non-Profits a Viable Market?
Yes, non-profits are viable. But there are certainly more financially rewarding sectors for IT specialists. Let's first take a look at the pros of non-profits.
o It's easy to reach non-profits because they belong to trade groups and you can get your hands on the publicly available directories.
o You can get a lot of tremendous emotional satisfaction and gratification knowing you're helping a particular cause.
41). IT Marketing: Sell Your Expertise
How do you differentiate yourself from others in your local marketplace? One of the best ways is by focusing on your unique expertise in your IT marketing. Your clients are really buying you, not a box or a server or a software license. In this article, you'll learn how to differentiate yourself.
Don't Become a Commodity
Commodities are cheap and everyone is out price shopping.
42). Partnering: Joining a Formal Partner Program
Formal partnering programs. They can be good, bad, and indifferent. They just aren’t that huge. In this day and age, most people aren’t choosing to join partner programs just based on the benefits that they looked for 10 years ago.
Formal Partnering Programs Benefits
These benefits include: high margins, dedicated partner representatives, unlimited toll free support, four percent MDFs, market development funds, 30-day end user money back guarantee, no quotas, no inventory stocking.
43). IT Service Contracts: Recurring Revenue is Absolutely Critical
One-shot deals are for amateurs. The pros insist on IT service contracts. Otherwise you’re going to have a whole bunch of people that call you once or twice a year and in the meantime, you’re sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring.
You’re doing nothing proactive. They’re taking none of your advice. They’re doing no long-term fixes to make their networks any more reliable.
44). IT Audits: Documenting Licensing Issues
One of the biggest issues you will run across during IT Audits is software licensing. If you find any such issues during IT audits, note them in your report. You might want to say something like: “These are deficiencies that I have found. Do you have the documents around to prove you own it?”
It’s that simple, and any small business that is dealing on the up and up recognizes that.
45). IT Emergencies: Use Them as Ice Breakers
When prospective clients have IT emergencies, you have an opportunity. In this article, you'll learn that two important factors come together during IT emergencies
How IT Emergencies Help You
First, the customer feels the threat of having neglected IT issues. Often a new, widespread, and deadly virus hits, and the customer discovers that renewing the anti-virus license was overlooked or there were no procedures for updating the virus definitions.
46). IT Certifications: What Types of Support Do Your Clients Need?
Sweet spot small businesses have distinct support needs-strong desktop support skills and light LAN skills. In this article, you'll learn what skills and certifications are most important to your sweet spot business clients.
What Specific Tasks Will Your Clients Need Help With?
These sweet spot clients are looking for help with popular desktop applications like Microsoft Office, Intuit QuickBooks, and Interact ACT! and help doing hardware upgrades.
47). IT Marketing: Ways to Grow Awareness of Your Company
In order to sell a solution, you have to build awareness that there is a problem. Once you have built that awareness, you need to build awareness that your firm can solve that problem. Then you need to build awareness that your solution is relatively pain-free, seamless, affordable, and gives companies good return on investment. This article will show you ways to do that.
48). IT Support: What Expertise Do You Need?
When it comes to small business IT support, expertise is relative and exists at all different levels. In this article, you'll learn more about expertise within your IT support business and what other skills are desirable for you and your employees.
You'll find experts at every level of IT support
In a big-enterprise IT organization for example, you find everyone from level one help desk technicians up to senior systems engineers, all the way up to the CIO.
49). IT Certifications: Are They Important?
Most of your sweet spot small business clients are just starting to gain awareness of the value of certifications. But most sweet spot clients don't know enough about IT to appreciate and pay for the differences in different levels of certification. In this article, you'll learn what your clients are looking for with your IT certifications.
What Do.
50). IT Audits: The Next Step
With most of your clients, once the relationship is established and IT audits are complete, you should move into a project plan mode where you set up a spreadsheet and organize it on a monthly basis.
During IT audits, you’re going to find that some things have to be done this month; some can wait until next month, and many things should be added to a wish list.