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Small Business Consulting: Overcoming Client Denial

When working in small business consulting, your clients may ask, "Why do I need something as big and powerful as the network you're recommending? We're just a seven person company and our network works great, at least most of the time."

Laptop Battery "Sell" Fear

Potential Client Size In starting your computer consulting business you will want to target potential clients that have 10 to 50 PC's. The prospect should be big enough that they need a real server, which most of the time could translate to 10 to 100 employees. A good prospect for your computer consulting business would be companies that have $1 million to $10 million in annual sales. This information will help you in your marketing efforts, especially if you decide to do some direct mailing down the road.

Thinkpad In this situation, to overcome denial, you often have to "sell" fear. Be ready to talk about a small business consulting client that trusted their PC-savvy bookkeeper so much, that the bookkeeper was covering her trails daily and able to embezzle $50K before getting caught during an annual audit by their CPA.

Four years ago, Phil Christensen, CPA, offered payroll services to only one of his small business clients. "Today, I serve 79 payroll clients and earn 45 percent of my revenue from payroll. I would tell any accounting professional serving small business clients; they can easily take advantage of the payroll revenue opportunity using PayCycle. I earn $800 or more annually from each of my small business payroll clients, " commented Phil Christensen, CPA and owner of Christensen Consulting.

Microsoft Only naïve clients believe in trusting every employee and for that matter every non-employee who has physical access to the building.

And then, of course, we have the Standalone Server product, which is called Acronis True Image Server for Windows or Linux and that will manage a single standalone server. What type of computers can we back up, because in a medium to a large sized, even some small sized businesses, who knows what kind of computers they have They may have laptops, they may have desktops, they may just have anything and everything

Laptop Computers Get Clients Thinking about Security

What Should Your Prospects Have in Use In most cases, your computer consulting business' potential clients will have their own email domain. You will want to address how their users retrieve and send emails when meeting with prospective clients. In most cases, they're going to have a dedicated server or dedicated Internet access, so this will help narrow it down. It also indicates that they have more serious IT needs.

Laptop Computer In reality though, small business owners rarely think about IT security until it's too late. Make sure you get your small business consulting prospects and clients thinking about how much access should be granted.

Ensure They Are Serious About IT If a prospect for your computer consulting business doesn't have a dedicated server, dedicated Internet access or they' up lines, they're probably not for you. critical. Many times a potential client can end up being a good, strong prospect and future client because they're in an industry where IT is critical.

Desktop Computer Get your prospects and clients thinking about sensitive files such as credit card numbers, social security numbers (in the U.S.), trade secrets, payroll data or annual employee reviews.

Notebooks Determine Client Needs

Lenovo When small business clients say they think your proposed client/server network is overkill, they might not be thinking of the big picture. That's all the more reason to take the small business consulting client through a comprehensive initial consultation, needs analysis, IT audit and site survey.

Hard Drive Many times a small business owner might ask just for file sharing or e-mail. If you press further, however, you'll discover they also really need a contact management system, group scheduling, network faxing, a company Intranet and secure, high-speed Web browsing from each desktop.

Travelstar The Bottom Line about Small Business Consulting

Gateway If small business consulting clients insist they have no need for data security, you probably haven't probed deeply enough. Find out where the client stores its client lists, proprietary pricing models, payroll forecasts, bonus calculations, credit card data and social security numbers.

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About The Author:

Hard Drives Joshua Feinberg, co-owner of Computer Consulting 101, gets computer consulting businesses more steady, high-paying consulting clients. Now you can too. Just sign-up now for your free access pass to these field-tested, proven computer consulting secrets at Computer Consulting 101.

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Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, shows computer consulting business owners get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for your free access to field-tested, PROVEN Computer Consulting 101 secrets.

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