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Further
Reading ...
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Aliens Help Me Earn $10,000 per Month Online - Stephen Brennan
What are you laughing at? Are you laughing at all? I wouldn't be too surprised if many weren’t the least bit ‘tickled’ by such a headline. After all, I’ve seen claims that are as ridiculous, or almost as ridiculous, describing one Home Based...
The 3 Elements You Need For Successful Home Business - Jim Noel
Product, Leads, and Advertising - the 3 most important elements of any successful home based business. For this article we will focus on leads. Leads are people that are interested in making money from home. How do we know this? For starters,...
Building a Relationship---the key to raising venture capital - Mike Sage
A venture capitalist reveals what you need to know By Mike Sage Founder of Capital Now and author of Capital Now Complete Free Trial copy available at http://www.venturecapitalguru.com The mere sound of the words "venture capital" can elicit a...
10 Ways Your Chamber of Commerce Can Help Your Business Grow - Rena Klingenberg
Joining your area's Chamber of Commerce can be a smart move for your home business. Because businesses that participate in this group promote each other and work together, your own business can grow and prosper quickly. Here are just a few ways...
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Computer Consulting Profit Secrets
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Written By:
Joshua Feinberg
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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.
Origins of the Problem
While focusing on your computer consulting profits may sound simple enough at first glance, this business-focused discipline often eludes many a computer consulting firm.
This usually happens because many computer consulting business owners fall in love the technology gadgetry, and get seduced by seemingly attractive reseller channel programs, at the expense of their business’ profit.
At the end of the day however, your computer consulting company is a business... not a charity and not a hobby. And your computer consulting company must be run like a business.
Profit Secret #1: Show motivation with your small business computer consulting clients.
To avoid being labeled as just another clueless geek, you need to position your computer consulting services to be more in line with those of a virtual CIO for hire. So always be on the look out for new ways to enhance your clients' businesses... not just fix broken desktops and servers.
Profit Secret #2: Be dedicated to the task and relentless in your pursuit to improve the status quo.
Because it takes a lot of work to land the best computer consulting clients, you need to focus on lifetime customer value... not just one-shot-deal sales. So always remember that your proposed or recently implemented computer consulting technology solution isn't a one-shot deal. This kind of long-term vision and planning requires tremendous staying power and perseverance... which often escapes many computer consulting business owners.
Profit Secret #3: Don't be afraid to be creative with your client engagements.
Small business technology solutions often need to stay within relatively modest budgets. And your computer consulting solutions must work without the need for in-house IT staff. To satisfy these challenges, don't be afraid to think outside of the box when appropriate.
Profit Secret #4: Evaluate how your clients' systems, both paper- and computer-based, function today.
As part of your virtual CIO role, look at how these existing clients systems are meeting or not meeting present and future needs. Most of this work will be done during IT audits... another key computer consulting profit secret that can really help to separate you from the pack of mediocrity.
Profit Secret #5: Put yourself in your clients' shoes and think about what THEIR clients need from them.
Yes, as a computer consulting business owner, you need to have good people skills and a certain degree of empathy for your clients’ business problems. But an even more advanced computer consulting business owner - continued below ...
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doesn’t just stop at understanding their clients’ business problems. The virtual CIO really digs in and learns about their clients’ customers’ business problems... one layer down on the value chain.
Profit Secret #6: Keep up with advances and new versions.
As virtual CIO for your computer consulting clients, your clients depend on your firm to advise them on what tools can better help their businesses grow. So while you can’t allow this R&D and training to consume and devour all of your scarce weekly schedule, you do need to stay a few steps ahead of your clients’ IT needs at all times.
Profit Secret #7: Summarize and share that information with your clients.
The essence of your R&D and training should focus on one major objective: will this new platform or tool add value to your computer consulting clients’ existing or future installations? And how you can best summarize this information, in layperson language that non-technical clients can understand?
The Bottom Line
Your computer consulting firm’s needs to be your client’s virtual IT department can often be at odds with your computer consulting firm’s need to be profitable. A big part of this problem happens because computer consulting business owners fall in love with technology, at the expense of their marketing and sales activities.
To make sure you don’t fall into this same strap, which can kill your computer consulting profits, don't go overboard with your training and R&D activities. Be sure to keep business development activities in your weekly schedule... EVERY week. If you want to keep your computer consulting profits as healthy as possible, make sure that you’re proactive in your marketing and sales activities... dig the well for computer consulting profits BEFORE you’re thirsty. And a great way to start is by listening to the profit-generating secrets at http://www.computer-consulting-101.com
About the Author
Joshua Feinberg is a 15-year veteran of small business computer consulting and has appeared in CRN, VARBusiness, Microsoft Direct Access, TechRepublic, American Express OPEN, Entrepreneur, Inc, SCORE, Small Business Computing, and USA Today. To get immediate online access to Joshua’s free proven strategies for growing your company’s profits, sign up now for the free training at http://www.computer-consulting-101.com
Copyright MMI-MMV, Computer-Consulting-101.com, All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}
About the Author
Joshua Feinberg is a 15-year veteran of small business computer consulting and has appeared in CRN, VARBusiness, Microsoft Direct Access, TechRepublic, American Express OPEN, Entrepreneur, Inc, SCORE, Small Business Computing, and USA Today. To get immediate online access to Joshua’s free proven strategies for growing your company’s profits, sign up now for the free training at http://www.computer-consulting-101.com
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Ingredients for business success - Nelson B Babs
Now, you want to go into business, you have a product or service to sell . . . I would strongly advice that you go into a business you love, a business you enjoy. A business you know something about or that you are good at. If you don't know or...
Clearing The Cobwebs - Lonnie Amirault
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Can you afford Not to look After your Personal Finances? - Mika Hamilton
Investing is a subject a lot of people don’t want to think about. And there is good reason for that. Investing seems scary. It either sounds like something only the rich do or something that only a skilled professional can do. But the truth is that...
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