New YouTube Video on PC Repair Job Secrets

Friday, February 12, 2010

Are you tired of dead-end, thankless, revolving door PC repair jobs?
The one-shot deal is for amateurs. Professional insist on working with long-term clients.

Think like a business-owner and send surveys out to your prospects to build long-term client relationships.

This brief YouTube video presents tips that help you use each PC repair job as a stepping-stone to long-term clients.

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Becoming an IT Consultant? Ask Your Prospects These 4 Key Questions

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

One of the most important parts of becoming an IT consultant is making sure you know which type of small business clients you want to attract.

How can you find the prospective clients that will most benefit from your services long-term?

Look for companies that are big enough to need your services on a regular basis. So these potential clients are candidates for signing on-going service contracts, that bring you the steady revenue that will be the foundation of your business. Doing this successfully, as you are becoming an IT consultant, means you absolutely need to know the major qualifying questions inside out and backwards, like the back of your hand.

1. Geographically Desirable? Because most small business clients need a lot of hand-holding, potential clients need to be located nearby to you. Look for prospects located within a 30 - 60-minute drive from your location. If you live in a large urban area, for example, your service area may shrink considerably, as there will be a high concentration of viable prospects very nearby. Also think about proximity as you attend networking events and develop your marketing campaigns.
2. Big Enough, But Not Too Big? Think Goldilocks: not too big, not too small. As you are becoming an IT consultant, target clients that have 10-75 workstations. At this size, the prospect is big enough to need a real, dedicated server … but not so big that the prospect needs a full-time, in-house IT department. Another way to think about this is that the prospect will likely have $1 million - $10 million in annual sales, or your local currency equivalent. Know this type of information about your potential clients, so you can develop much more powerful, affordable, and cost-effective marketing strategies.
3. A Platform You Can Support? Before you get too far into the sales process, be sure to properly qualify prospective clients based on their installed platform of OS's and NOS's. For example, if your specialty is Windows-family OS's/NOS's and a prospect is 100% standardized on Mac's, you should refer that prospect elsewhere.
   
4. Serious About IT? If you come across a small business prospect for your IT consulting business that doesn’t have a dedicated server, because they're messing around with peer-to-peer ad-hoc networking, you probably want to run the other way. Before you spend too much time on a potential client, make sure the prospective client is really ready for your solutions.

In this short article, we talked about 4 simple, but very powerful qualifying criteria for prospective clients. By consistently asking these questions, you can more proactively manage the selling process and utilize your limited time more effectively. Learn more about becoming an IT consultant and attracting steady, high-paying clients now at http://www.BecomingAnITConsultant.com

Copyright (C) BecomingAnITConsultant.com All Rights Reserved.

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Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Preview Webinar

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Learn how you can get more of the best, steady, high-paying small business clients in your local area. This free live preview event is exclusively for those who are not currently owners of the Computer Consulting Kit™ Home Study Course. As no recording will be made available, this event is only available live. Registration is limited to the first 100, first-come, first-served.

Sign-up now so you don’t miss out!

Title: Computer Consulting Kit™ Home Study Course Preview Webinar Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Time: 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/239429297

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Open a Computer Repair Shop with the Right Priorities

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

If you are planning to open a computer repair shop, you need to remember that “slow and steady wins the race.”

When it comes to starting a repair shop, you can’t just go in there with guns blazing on Day 1 of business and expect to get instant clients just by being aggressive and talking about how great your services are.

What can you do to build trust among your customers and really get your business started on solid footing as you open a computer repair shop?

Remember Computer Repair Marketing is a Systematic Process.

Maybe you feel like you’re doing everything right when it comes to marketing your repair company. You’ve joined some organizations, gone to some networking meetings, met some non-competing business owners in the IT field, and have been giving out your business cards everywhere … but you’re still not getting any response.

What’s the problem? Likely, you haven’t given your efforts enough time to produce results. Merely joining an organization is not enough to get people through the doors of your shop. However, if you have been active with your marketing activities for six months and still nothing is happening, you probably need to try another organization and some other marketing approaches.

Your Computer Repair Shop is Built on Personal Relationships.

As you open a computer repair shop, take everything slowly with new customers and let relationships evolve naturally. You usually can’t expect to go to one or two meetings and make a $25,000 sale. And if you do seem to have that beginner's luck, go right out and buy a lottery ticket because the odds are just about the same. Sometimes an unexpected client project windfall will come up and literally land in your lap because your timing is perfect, but most of the time you really need to work on building the essential “know, like and trust” of personal relationships.

If you have a warm personality and are friendly and charismatic, you will be able to build great personal relationships. Working in computer repair means working with people; you can’t be a loner, or hide in the back room and expect to do well when you open a computer repair shop.

Also, remember that with personal relationships, first impressions are really important. You need to build a rapport with the people you meet by dressing professionally and working on building your business chemistry. Make sure to also send business their way if you find someone that needs their services.

In this short article, we talked about 2 ways to ramp up your computer repair marketing and customer relationships as you set the stage for a new business. Learn more about how to open a computer repair shop that will attract steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) OpenAComputerRepairShop.com All Rights Reserved

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Computer Repair Contracts that Keep You Profitable

Sunday, June 28, 2009

If you are trying to set up profitable computer repair contracts for your small business clients, you might have some questions about their real benefits, or at least how to clearly explain these benefits to non-technical small business decision makers.

Many small business technology providers choose not to use on-going agreements and build their business around customers that have short-term needs or need immediate emergency services. If you fall into this category, you need to start thinking about your business realistically and planning long term. Unless you intend to spend a lot of time and money on aggressive marketing tactics or hire a huge number of employees to handle thousands of clients every year, you’re just not going to build sustainable revenue. You need to be prepared to build a solid foundation for your business, and this means focusing on long-term, sophisticated repair and support needs that will require you to enter into on-going relationships with clients that will pay you predictably a certain amount of service revenue each and every month.

Consider the following 3 points when building a solid foundation for your business on computer repair contracts.


1. Computer Repair Contracts Are Essential to Your Business. On-going agreements formalize your working arrangement with clients and provide your company with very highly profitable recurring consulting revenue. This is nothing like the commodity-oriented managed services business that puts you into a low-margin "box-pusher" mentality. Repair agreements contribute to your longevity in a way that no number of quick fixes or short-term solutions can, because they represent your commitment to cater to the real long-term needs of your small business clients … and most importantly, your clients’ commitment to pay you regularly for your expertise and high-end premium services.

2. The Customer is Not Always Right. Just because a large potential client wants to have his/her attorney rewrite your entire agreement doesn’t mean you should go along with it. If you have done a really good job of building a relationship with each client, you will not likely run into this situation. Start out each new customer on some kind of mutual proving ground project to make sure the relationship will work before you present the idea of your computer repair contracts. And there will be a certain amount of faith and good will build up between the key people in your company and the key people in your client’s business. Most of the time, the only reason a client will ask for a contract revision is because he/she senses weakness and the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Of course if you focus on the legal niche, it often becomes a matter of price and ego for your customers to bully-you into adopting their one-side contract mentality. So unless your clients are power-hungry attorneys, just follow a set, step-by-step sequence for engaging with new customers and clients, and the issue of a client that wants and demands a total rewrite will usually be a moot point.

3. Be Prepared. You need to have your entire computer repair contracts package planned out and ready to go, because you never know when a new customer or client will be ready to sign. Delaying for a few weeks will not only kill your credibility, but it will also potentially make you miss a valuable opportunity to strike while the iron’s hot.

In this article, we detailed some important points about building a plan for long-term agreements with clients. Learn more about how to build compelling, mutually-beneficial, highly-profitable computer repair contracts that will attract steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerRepairContract.com All Rights Reserved

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Printer Service Business Tips for Service Company Owners

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Does your company provide printer service to small businesses?

And if so, would you like to build a recurring service stream from more long-term clients, rather than constantly chasing down one-shot-deal customers?

Many owners of printer service companies cringe when they think about the complexities of setting up payment policies, terms and credit/collections. However, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Just make sure you take into account your own unique business model and the types of clients you serve when you are determining how to set up important items like credit and payment plans.

The following 3 pieces of advice will help you establish sound printer service payment terms.

1. Seek Help from Your Accountant to Set Up Credit Policies. Your accountant will be in a great position to help you set up a system to evaluate completed credit applications and credit reference letters. Make sure you have credit policies in place so you can safely extend credit to your clients and ensure that you get paid. In addition, be sure to discuss how you’ll arrive at, monitor and enforce established credit limits with your important clients. Writing off debt can be extremely painful, both financially and psychologically. So you really need to spend serious time discussing important credit issues with your accountant and setting up procedures and controls. Because credit and collections can also cross over into legal issues, you should also consult with your attorney before finalizing procedures.

2. Know How You Will Get Paid. Regardless of how you set up and communicate your payment policies for long-term printer service contracts, you must have a firm grasp on how you will get paid by your clients. Those in the computer business are literally all over the map when it comes to payment terms, credit policies and billing procedures. Some insist on cash-on-delivery (COD). Others trust their gut feel or a handshake and just assume all the financial risk. You need to have a really good plan for ensuring you get paid ... or you’re not going to last long.

3. Explain Your Payment Terms and Retainer Deposits. You’ll do fairly well with printer service contracts if you explain your payment terms and require up-front retainer deposits. Attach firm due dates to payments and make sure your clients understand that your policies and expectations are not just suggestions. Don’t even think about granting any substantial amount of credit to a client without first securing and processing a completed credit application. Your payment policies and retainer deposits need to be worked clearly into your contracts and discussed before you agree to work with any client.

In this brief article, we presented 3 tips to help you establish payment policies with your clients so you ensure you get paid on time and in full. Learn more ways to improve each printer service contract and attract great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PrinterServiceContracts.com All Rights Reserved

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PC Repair Price Best Practices for Those Billing By-the-Hour

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Are you trying to set a fair PC repair price that will also bring you enough revenue and profitability to grow and sustain your business?

PC repair prices vary from business to business, as there are a lot of different fee structure options. One popular choice is to use billable hours, sometimes called time and materials, to estimate and quantify your time spent servicing clients.

As you develop a more long-term relationship with your clients, you will definitely want to get their commitment to on-going services through a PC repair service contract, as this will ensure you get on-going, steady revenue for your business. And for your clients, they'll have peace of mind knowing that you'll be there to take care of both their urgent and ongoing PC repair and other IT-related needs.

But as you are starting out and doing initial projects to gain trust and establish a good working relationship, setting a sustainable, profitable precedent for your PC repair price and billable hours is important.

Consider these 4 tips and best practices to make sure that you select a PC repair price structure that's a mutually win-win for both your company and your clients.

1. Understand Billable Hours and Hourly Billing. Your PC repair price can be based on a variety of fee-structure options. If you decide to use billable hours, you need to do your homework. You need to ensure that clients find your rates fair, but also that you can sustain your business profitably on the rates you set. The basic concept behind billable hours is that you set an hourly rate for your work. When the project is completed, you get paid for the number of hours you spent on the project. This often works well for consultants because it abides by the philosophy that time is money (which it most definitely is in the PC repair business), and it helps ensure those that use this structure are compensated for their time. From your perspective, it's important to note that billing by-the-hour, again often referred to as time and materials, is by far and away the most popular option for most PC repair businesses with diverse client lists.

2. Know How to Start a Project Using Billable Hours. The most important tip to remember when you estimate a PC repair price to your clients is to be upfront about all costs. There should be no surprises. Before work begins, plan carefully and provide a written estimate calculating the amount per hour that will be charged. Also make sure you include a fair projection of the number of hours you will need to finish the project and be very clear. For instance, you could say, “Client agrees to pay $100 per hour for 6 hours of work.”

3. Be Prepared if the Project Goes Over Budget. Often a project is bigger or more time consuming than you originally expected. Before beginning work, you need to address this contingency in the written estimate and include it in your PC repair price estimate. A clause can be added that the client must approve additional hours. This is often called a “change order” and is critical to ensuring that you get paid appropriately for the time you spend.... especially if the client introduces additional requirements after the original PC repair price is quoted. When working on long-term projects, make sure you keep your client informed of your progress with a regular detailed report of any additional costs or schedule changes. This will help you build solid relationships and decrease the chances of disputes over fees.

4. Track Your Hours Well. Before you set a PC repair price in stone for a project, discuss all details with each client. Will you be charging for travel time, documenting time, research time and phone time? And regardless of which software or service you use to keep track of your billable hours, you need to keep careful track of your hours expended and make sure that you are taking into account all possible time and financial costs.

In this short article, you were introduced to how to manage a pricing structure based on billable hours. Learn more about setting a PC repair price structure that will be mutually beneficial for both your clients and you now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PCRepairPriceSecrets.com All Rights Reserved

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