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		<title>The Most Important Interview You Will Ever Hear</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2011/05/27/the-most-important-interview-i-ever-heard/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2011/05/27/the-most-important-interview-i-ever-heard/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 May 2011 15:47:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=2650</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve been with me for any amount of time, you probably know I&#8217;m a great fan of the late Gary Halbert, widely regarded as one of the most successful marketers ever. His boys Kevin and Bond keep his legacy, and his newsletter alive over at http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/ They have just made available an interview so [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve been with me for any amount of time, you probably know I&#8217;m a great fan of the late Gary Halbert, widely regarded as one of the most successful marketers ever.</p>
<p>His boys Kevin and Bond keep his legacy, and his newsletter alive over at http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/</p>
<p>They have just made available an interview so valuable, so inspiring, so packed with absolutely priceless information that I can&#8217;t believe they are just giving it away.</p>
<p>Printed here with Kevin&#8217;s permission is their generous offer.</p>
<p>You simply MUST download and listen to this 2 hour interview. It WILL have a profound, lifelong impact on your success.</p>
<p>___________________________________________</p>
<p>THE GARY HALBERT LETTER<br />
7510 Sunset Blvd. #1020<br />
Los Angeles, CA 90046<br />
Kevin@thegaryhalbertletter.com<br />
323-851-8275</p>
<p>I am going to introduce you to the resume of a man that is<br />
going to sound almost unreal, but he&#8217;s real.</p>
<p>1. He took a company from $20,000.00 to 13 million in just<br />
12 months.</p>
<p>2. He took a company from $300,000.00 to 5 million in two<br />
years.</p>
<p>3. He took Entrepreneur Magazine from $800,000.00 to<br />
7 Million in 9 months.</p>
<p>4.  He has personally consulted with a founder of<br />
Federal Express, Success Magazine, Nightengale Conant,<br />
Investors Business Daily, 12 Inc Magazine Entrepreneurs of<br />
the year.</p>
<p>He has 14,000 success stories documented to his name,<br />
totaling over 9 (B)illion dollars in profit increases on a<br />
world wide basis.</p>
<p>He has influenced more off line and online marketers in the<br />
last 30 years than virtually anyone else.</p>
<p>There are a million results when you put his name into a<br />
Google search.</p>
<p>He charges $50,000.00 per day to consult with.</p>
<p>He is respected and admired from everyone from Seth Godin<br />
to people who work for Howard Stern.</p>
<p>He is an enigma, unclassifiable and in his own right rather<br />
remarkable and he did a 9 1/2 hour interview a few years<br />
ago with Tony Robbins (who&#8217;s also been his client), as well<br />
as Fran Tarkenton, Brian Tracy, the founder of<br />
Planet Fitness, the founder of Bow Flex, and more other<br />
outrageously successful companies than anybody can possibly<br />
count.</p>
<p>That 91/2 hour interview was distilled down two intense<br />
hours of pure marketing gold.</p>
<p>Tony Robbins probed, penetrated and grilled and drilled his<br />
mind at a level nobody ever has.</p>
<p>And sucked out of Jay&#8217;s brain ideas and concepts so<br />
powerful and enduring that you would be shamefully remiss<br />
not to listen to it and read the transcripts.</p>
<p>We have acquired the transcript and the audio for you&#8230;<br />
and shame shame on you, if you don&#8217;t take advantage of our<br />
very generous gift.</p>
<p>We are doing it because he was a great friend and ally and<br />
contributor to my dads work.</p>
<p>My dad was a great friend and contributor to his work.</p>
<p>He knows we are committed to helping people who resonate<br />
with my dad be more successful.</p>
<p>He generously gifted us the right to redistribute this<br />
interview to you gratis.</p>
<p>No strings.</p>
<p>No selling.</p>
<p>If you want to learn more ways to make more money easier<br />
and more consistently from whatever you do.</p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t take advantage of this offer I won&#8217;t say you<br />
are crazy, but I probably will say you probably need to<br />
have your brain examined.</p>
<p>Enjoy it while we&#8217;re still allowed to share it,</p>
<p>Kevin</p>
<p><a title="Reply to this email if you have any trouble logging into the site." href="http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=GFc7Q&amp;m=1aqdO5Xc7eVt_R&amp;b=.Fs5QSIEDb1dIvXpGxBjkQ" target="_blank">http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/jay2.htm</a></p>
<p>PS  Please Please reply to this email (Kevin@thegaryhalbertleter.com)if you have trouble<br />
logging into the site.</p>
<p>We want every one of our subscribers to experience this.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2011 NoMax Publishing Inc.  All Rights Reserved.</p>
<p>Copy &amp; Paste the link below to Read More Gary Halbert Letters</p>
<p><a title="Reply to this email if you have any trouble logging into the site." href="http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=GFc7Q&amp;m=1aqdO5Xc7eVt_R&amp;b=.Fs5QSIEDb1dIvXpGxBjkQ" target="_blank">http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/</a></p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Just check your email in box, we&#8217;ll send you additional<br />
issues regularly.</p>
<p>NoMax Publishing Inc., 7510 Sunset Blvd. #1020, Los Angeles, California 90046, USA</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Get Paid On Time… Every Time!</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2011/03/04/get-paid-on-time%e2%80%a6-every-time/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2011/03/04/get-paid-on-time%e2%80%a6-every-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:23:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=2632</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Collecting receivables… Getting paid on time for services rendered… It’s a challenge to just about any service business that extends payment terms to their customers. And for us as providers of IT Support to the SMB market, our customers generally expect monthly invoices. Now, even if you run a very tight ship, and are responsible [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Collecting receivables… Getting paid on time for services rendered… It’s a challenge to just about any service business that extends payment terms to their customers. And for us as providers of IT Support to the SMB market, our customers generally expect monthly invoices.</p>
<p>Now, even if you run a very tight ship, and are responsible enough to consistently mail all of your invoices out on the first of the month, it doesn’t mean in any way that your clients will be putting a check in the mail to you on the 2nd.</p>
<p>As a small business owner yourself, you&#8217;re going to have financial responsibilities of your own that you&#8217;ll be required to meet on a regular basis. Regardless of how hard you work to make sure that your receivables are sufficient for meeting your expenses, it won&#8217;t do you any good if your invoice for that hard work winds up sitting in your client&#8217;s &#8220;to do&#8221; box, for weeks or even months.</p>
<p>Fortunately, there&#8217;s a very simple solution for making sure that you receive payment for your services ON THE VERY SAME DAY YOU GENERATE YOUR INVOICE.</p>
<p>A Factoring Company can purchase your receivables from you.</p>
<p>Once a month, or more frequently if you wish, you can email or fax a copy of each of your invoices directly to your factoring company. On the same day, the factoring company will deposit up to 85% or more of the total amount of your invoices directly into your bank account.</p>
<p>Then, once your client delivers payment to your factoring company, you will receive the remaining 15% of your invoice, minus the fee charged by the factoring company. The fees will vary depending on when payment was received. Fees can range from around 1.2% for payments received within 30 days to 1.6% or more for invoices left outstanding for longer than 90 days.</p>
<p>I believe these fees are well justified, for the simple fact that I will know at the start of each month, EXACTLY how much money I&#8217;ll be receiving and EXACTLY on what date!</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also great not having to deal with making collection calls.</p>
<p>If a client is slow in paying an invoice, the factoring company acts on your behalf as your outsourced &#8220;receivables department&#8221;. They will make the initial collection attempts, and they will typically do it in a very professional and effective manner.</p>
<p>If an invoice ultimately goes unpaid, it becomes the responsibility of the computer consultant to repurchase the invoice from the factoring company and find a resolution with the client independently.</p>
<p>Another great benefit of factoring receivables is the ability to generate additional income outside of the regular, monthly billing cycle.</p>
<p>For my small business clients, my primary service is a Proactive Maintenance Plan, for which I charge a flat, monthly fee. For this fee, I provide round-the-clock network monitoring and remote computer support. These receivables are generally invoiced for and collected on or around the first of each month.</p>
<p>But very often, I&#8217;ll make recommendations for new projects that won’t fall under the scope of the regular, monthly maintenance plan.</p>
<p>For example, installing a new firewall.</p>
<p>This project would be billed in addition to the regular, flat monthly fee. If installation of the firewall is completed to the client&#8217;s satisfaction on the 15th of the month, an invoice for the project can be created on the 15th, submitted to the factoring company, and be funded to my bank account all on the same day.</p>
<p>Having consistent and reliable cash-flow is critical to the survival and growth of any business. Especially to a young MSP who’s yet to build a significant capital reserve to cover the unexpected (or even regular) expenses. Factoring receivables can provide the financial stability necessary for running a healthy business.</p>
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		<title>The Independent Computer Consultant &#8211; Easily Convert Clients from Hourly Rates to Managed Services</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/the-independent-computer-consultant-easily-convert-clients-from-hourly-rates-to-managed-services-the-independent-computer-consultant-easily-convert-clients-from-hourly-rates-to-managed-services/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/the-independent-computer-consultant-easily-convert-clients-from-hourly-rates-to-managed-services-the-independent-computer-consultant-easily-convert-clients-from-hourly-rates-to-managed-services/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:12:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1293</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When small business owners are accustomed to paying hourly rates to have a computer consultant come in whenever a problem occurs, how can you convince them that using your flat-fee managed service will be a more cost-effective solution for them?

Convert downtime into dollars and show them just how expensive hourly support can be when the real problems occur.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To operate profitably, today&#8217;s Independent <a title="computer consultant" href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">Computer Consultant</a> must function on a Managed Service Model, providing proactive monitoring and remote support for a flat-monthly fee. But when so many of today&#8217;s small businesses are still accustomed to the outdated model of hourly support, it can be a challenge to convince them that preventing downtime through daily monitoring is less expensive in the long run than only having the consultant in whenever a problem occurs.</p>
<p>How do you make your case to your prospective (or current) small business customer that moving to a flat-fee, proactive model makes sense?</p>
<p>Convert downtime into dollars and your point becomes easy to see.</p>
<p>According to a recent survey from International Data Corporation (IDC), the average small business generates a revenue of approximately $3.6 million dollars annually. As we Independent Computer Consultants tend to serve clients on the smaller side, let&#8217;s round that number down to $2 million to be safe.</p>
<p>If the client has 10 employees, we can estimate that each employee generates $200,000 of revenue per year. With 260 working days in a year and 8 hours per day, that breaks down to approximately $96/hr. per employee. Maybe that doesn&#8217;t sound like a tremendous amount on the surface, but add up the total number of service calls that might be made over the course of the year, and then couple that with the cost of doing repairs at an hourly rate, and the expense can really add up.</p>
<p>But let&#8217;s take a look at the big picture and consider the type of firm-wide problems that can be prevented. What if a hard-drive in the server were to fail and the backup hasn&#8217;t run in weeks, or a virus spreads across the network, or a hacker hijacks the server and sets it up as a spam relay. Issues like these affect millions of small businesses every day and can bring the entire company to a halt. With the cost of downtime for the entire company for a day being approximately $7680, plus the cost of repair at an hourly rate being approximately the same (assuming an average rate of $100/hr.), the true cost of a day of downtime is almost $16,000.</p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t take into account the possibility of lost sales, lost data and lost time required to recreate lost data, damages to customer relations, etc., which could multiply that cost even more and in some cases be financially devastating to the small business.</p>
<p>Considering that a Managed Service Plan for a small company costs on average $1200/mo. or $14,400 annually and that any one of the above mentioned potential problems could easily be prevented with your included system monitoring, it becomes very easy to see how your Managed Service can provide a much greater value to a small business than an hourly support consultant who&#8217;s simply standing by waiting for a problem to occur.</p>
<p>Now tack on the benefit of being able to provide instant customer response through your remote support utilities (rather than having the customer wait for hours for their computer consultant to arrive), the increased productivity that will be gained by keeping the systems current, and the overall peace of mind that&#8217;s gained by knowing the network is being monitored around the clock, and it can be very difficult for a responsible small business owner to not switch to your Managed Service Plan.</p>
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		<title>Can You Maintain A Small Computer Network? Then Why Aren&#8217;t You Your Own Boss?</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/can-you-maintain-a-small-computer-network-then-why-arent-you-your-own-boss/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/can-you-maintain-a-small-computer-network-then-why-arent-you-your-own-boss/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:06:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1289</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you have the skill and ability to maintain a small business computer network, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to start a computer consulting business of your own and become your own boss. I can promise you from personal experience, there is no more rewarding career choice that you can ever make than to become successfully self-employed.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you have the skill and ability to maintain a small business computer network, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn&#8217;t be able to start a computer consulting business of your own and become your own boss. I can promise you from personal experience, there is no more rewarding career choice that you can ever make than to become successfully self-employed.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s extremely easy to build a profitable client base when you build on a managed service model, and once you do, you will have an unmatched level of job security, no limit to the salary you can make, tremendous freedom in your daily schedule and more free time for your personal life than you can ever expect to have if you&#8217;re working for someone else.</p>
<p>With so many potential benefits, why would you choose to work for someone else?</p>
<p><strong>Don&#8217;t think you can get enough clients?</strong><br />
Nonsense! If you setup your business under the correct model of flat-fee managed services, each of your clients will pay you a set fee each and every month (and I can show you how to guarantee to collect this fee on the FIRST of every month! No waiting 30, 60, 90 days for payment!) Small businesses with an average of 10 employees will gladly pay a managed service provider a fee of $1200 a month or more to know that their systems are monitored 24&#215;7 and that support can be provided instantly (you can easily do both by using inexpensive, web based utilities). Just FOUR small clients can generate a stable, reliable salary of almost $58,000. ANYONE with a desire to succeed and a few decent pieces of marketing materials can land four or more small clients very quickly and easily.</p>
<p><strong>Worried you can&#8217;t sell?</strong><br />
Let&#8217;s say instead of starting your own business, you chose to look for a new job instead. How different do you think going on an interview is from selling a potential client on your managed service? I&#8217;ll tell you how different&#8230; Selling to a potential client is WAY EASIER!</p>
<p>On a job interview, you&#8217;re probably competing with dozens, if not hundreds of other potential candidates. Many of which will probably have an equal if not greater level of experience than you do. But when you&#8217;re talking to a potential client for your computer consulting service, you&#8217;ll be competing with two or three other candidates at most. And if your potential client came to you through a referral (the greatest way to find new clients by the way), odds are, you won&#8217;t be competing with anyone!</p>
<p>When looking for new clients, you should be going to places where they are actually out looking for you (business networking, through referrals, through job ads the client placed, etc.). These businesses are already anxious to use your service. As long as you can show how your service can provide a benefit and value to this potential customer, you can make the sale.</p>
<p><strong>Not sure if you&#8217;re qualified to run your own business?</strong><br />
If you can maintain a small business computer network, you&#8217;re qualified to run your own computer consulting business! Thanks to the inexpensive system monitoring and remote access applications available today, you can easily support a small but very profitable base of small business customers. Because you&#8217;ll be able to maintain your clients systems without having to run on-site for every little issue, and because you&#8217;ll be able to ensure a much more stable operating environment through your monitoring, you will be able to support your entire client base on just a few hours a day. Starting a computer consulting business as an Independent <a title="computer consultant" href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">Computer Consultant</a> requires almost zero startup capital and very little monthly overhead. By leveraging the use of current technology, there are few business opportunities available that are easier to start than that of an Independent Computer Consultant operating as a Managed Service Provider.</p>
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		<title>The Independent Computer Consultant &#8211; What&#8217;s Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/the-independent-computer-consultant-whats-your-usp-unique-selling-proposition/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/the-independent-computer-consultant-whats-your-usp-unique-selling-proposition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:01:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1287</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you're an Independent Computer Consultant, for you to compete against the larger MSP's and IT Service Providers for your target small business customers, you need to offer something that sets you apart. Well, it's the fact that you're an Independent Computer Consultant that will set you apart and give you a very distinct advantage over your larger competition.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re an Independent <a title="computer consultant" href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">Computer Consultant</a>, for you to compete against the larger MSP&#8217;s and IT Service Providers for your target small business customers, you need to offer something that sets you apart. Something that makes you unique that the other guys simply can&#8217;t or don&#8217;t provide. This &#8220;something&#8221; is called your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP.</p>
<p>The Managed Service Model works and is the only way to operate an IT Support Company profitably and successfully. Eventually, all support providers will move away from hourly support an onto the Managed Service Model. But when everyone is offering essentially the same thing&#8230; 24&#215;7 monitoring, remote helpdesk support, flat-fee billing&#8230; what can you as an Independent Computer Consultant offer that&#8217;s different?</p>
<p>Well, it&#8217;s the fact that you&#8217;re an Independent Computer Consultant that will set you apart and give you a very distinct advantage over your larger competition.</p>
<p>I get calls all the time from small businesses owners inquiring about my service because they&#8217;re unhappy with their current provider and looking to make a change. What do you think is the #1 reason usually given for wanting someone new?</p>
<p>Their current provider isn&#8217;t responsive enough! The client often feels like they&#8217;re being treated as a lower priorty than some of their IT Provider&#8217;s larger clients. Or their consultant is continually late or reschedules on-site appointments. Or they simply don&#8217;t receive the level of communication they would appreciate and believe they deserve.</p>
<p>Why is this such a problem for so many larger Support Providers to address? Because there&#8217;s typically a large amount of overhead needed to support a large IT Support Firm. To remain profitable, they must maintain a large client base, while keeping expensive internal staff members to a minimum. It&#8217;s a difficult balance to achieve and often the consultants are simply spread too thin.</p>
<p>But an Independent Computer Consultant operating under a Managed Service Model only needs to maintain a very small client base to remain profitable. In fact, I&#8217;ve proven time and again how a single computer consultant can generate a full-time income while supporting only 4 small business clients and working a total average of about 10 hours a week, a large portion of which is performed remotely.</p>
<p>Because as an Independent Computer Consultant you now only need a few clients to thrive as a successful business, and you can maintain these clients on such a flexible schedule, it&#8217;s very easy to provide a level of dedication and attention to your customers that your larger competition simply can&#8217;t match.</p>
<p>You can approach a potential new client and state, &#8220;I currently maintain a client base of &#8220;(number of)&#8221; clients, all of which will be glad to provide a glowing recommendation. I never maintain a base of any more than (number of) clients at any one time, so that I can be sure to give each and every one of my loyal customers the level of dedication and attention they deserve.&#8221;</p>
<p>You can easily show that you can provide the same level of monitoring and remote support that any large provider can offer. But it&#8217;s this level of personalized support that the small business owner craves, and knowing that they will have an expert IT Support Person who&#8217;s dedicated to them is what will help you win the contracts and beat out your competitors every time.</p>
<p>Of course, your clients will want to know how you intend to support them when you&#8217;re sick or on vacation. This is easily accomplished by creating a partnership with another consultant or support provider. But this is a subject for another post.</p>
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		<title>The Independent Computer Consultant &#8211; How to Sell Clients on Managed Services</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/the-independent-computer-consultant-how-to-sell-clients-on-managed-services/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/03/22/the-independent-computer-consultant-how-to-sell-clients-on-managed-services/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:56:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1284</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
When small businesses are accustomed to paying low hourly rates for reactive IT Support, how do you convince them that proactive monitoring and remote support through a Managed Service Plan is more efficient and cost effective support solution?

Offer them a 30-Day Trial to your Managed Service and let them see for themselves!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To be a successful Independent Computer Consultant in today&#8217;s economy, you need to be giving your small business clients more of what they want, which is:</p>
<p>- Greater reliability from their systems<br />
- Higher productivity<br />
- Faster response when they have a problem<br />
- Less loss due to unexpected downtime<br />
- Predictable and affordable support costs</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re in the habit of charging hourly rates to support your customers, you probably know by now that it&#8217;s a very inefficient way to meet the above needs, and a very difficult way for you to be generating a reliable, steady income.</p>
<p>The best way to ensure that you give your small business client everything they want, and maximize your own profitability at the same time is through offering a Managed Service Plan at a flat, monthly rate. Your plan should include round the clock system monitoring and remote computer support, both which can be provided through very low cost or even free support utilities.</p>
<p>With system monitoring, you can get instantly alerted 24&#215;7 via email or SMS when potential problems arise, such as:<br />
- Failed backups<br />
- Failed AntiVirus updates<br />
- Hard Disks running low on space<br />
- Windows System Service failures<br />
- Overutilization of system processes<br />
- Firewall hack attempts or multiple unauthorized login attempts<br />
- Event Log errors or alerts<br />
- and more&#8230;</p>
<p>By monitoring for these types of events, you&#8217;ll be able to catch potential problems early, or prevent them all together and therefore better satisfy all of the needs that your customers have. And because you provide these services for a flat-monthly fee, you&#8217;ll be able to create a stable income that you can rely on month after month.</p>
<p>But when so many small businesses have become completely accustomed to paying hourly rates to have their computer consultant come running whenever a problem arises, how do you convince them to switch to your Managed Service model, which on the surface might appear to cost more than they&#8217;re currently paying.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s easy enough to show a business owner that just one major issue over the course of a year can easily wipe out any savings they thought they were getting by paying low, hourly rates. A single hard drive crash (which might have been caught early and prevented through monitoring) and discovering that the backup hasn&#8217;t worked in days (again, could have been caught early), can cost a small business customer very substantial fees to repair, on top of potentially devastating financial and productivity losses due to lost and unrecoverable data.</p>
<p>A single incident like this can easily cost far more than a full year of your low cost, managed services.</p>
<p>But the reality is, unless a problem is actually occurring now, or unless one had occurred recently and is still fresh in the customer&#8217;s memory, then they might have a hard time accepting that a truly serious problem is very likely to occur in their future unless they take steps to prevent it.</p>
<p>So how do you convince them to move to your managed service?</p>
<p>You offer them a free 30-day trial to your monitoring service! &#8220;Let&#8217;s see just how healthy your network really is.&#8221;</p>
<p>Very simply, offer to install your monitoring software on their server for 30 days. There are several very inexpensive monitoring applications available to you that will take up very little server processing overhead and provide you with many great options, such as a web-based monitoring dashboard that can easily identify at a glance any problems on the system.</p>
<p>Give your potential customer full access to their dashboard so they can see for themselves on a daily basis where their problems might be. I can assure you that unless a qualified computer consultant maintains the system regularly (which almost never occurs on the hourly-support model), that the monitoring dashboard will identify multiple problems that require attention, and should continue to identify new problems throughout the course of the month.</p>
<p>By providing this simple proof that their network is not nearly as healthy as they might have hoped or expected is generally evidence enough that regular monitoring is a necessary and valuable support option.</p>
<p>Once your 30-day trial completes, you will not find a better opportunity to continue maintaining this business as a new Managed Service customer for your computer consulting business.</p>
<p>For valuable information on starting a computer consulting business as an Independent Computer Consultant, including free video training, sales and marketing tools and materials, business documents, contracts and more, visit <a title="computer consultant" href="http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com">http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com</a>.</p>
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		<title>The Independent Computer Consultant &#8211; Using Flyers to Market your Business</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/11/the-independent-computer-consultant-using-flyers-to-market-your-business/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/11/the-independent-computer-consultant-using-flyers-to-market-your-business/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:48:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[computer consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[independent computer consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[starting a computer consulting business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1274</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Using a flyer can be a very effective sales-support tool – if it’s used properly for your specific computer consulting business.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Using a flyer can be a very effective sales-support tool – if it’s used properly for your specific business.</p>
<p>Businesses that are looking for dozens, or even hundreds of new customers (like a cleaning service or a copier repair center) can invest heavily in printing and mailing tens of thousands of flyers in the hopes of getting a return of just a small percentage of interested customers.</p>
<p>But for you as an Independent <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">Computer Consultant</a>, the cost to embark on a large campaign where you’ll print and blindly mail hundreds of flyers (especially if you&#8217;re just starting a computer consulting business) would not generate the sales quickly enough to justify the large expense. </p>
<p>Your flyer WILL be effective however if used to support your other sales efforts. </p>
<p>Primarily as either:</p>
<p><b> &#8211; A leave-behind (along with your business card and a note) when making a door-to-door cold call.</p>
<p> &#8211; An attachment to an email following an initial phone conversation with a prospective new client.</p>
<p> &#8211; As A follow-up mailer to a prospective client who&#8217;s requesting “more information”.</p>
<p> &#8211; or even as an offer for something like a free on-site evaluation of their computer support needs.</b><br />
(A great way to sell them exactly what they might need  &#8211;  which isn&#8217;t always the same as what they THINK they need)</p>
<p>Because you will be handing or mailing your flyer to a limited number of recipients, your production costs can be kept very low. You can print your flyers inexpensively on your own inkjet printer (assuming you have a decent printer and use quality, heavyweight paper),or you can have small production runs produced by a web-based printing service.</p>
<p>The purpose of your flyer is to get your prospective customer to take a specific, desired action. </p>
<p>Just as with your other sales and marketing efforts, your intention is to help your target recognize that they have a problem in need of a solution and Show them how your service will solve their problem.</p>
<p>The components of an effective flyer are:</p>
<p><b>1. A Compelling Headline –</b> This is where you’ll either capture their attention, or have your flyer deposited in the trash bin. </p>
<p>Your headline should contain a benefit or it should generate interest. How about&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8220;5 Reasons why John Smith Should be Your computer consultant!&#8221;<br />
“Here’s How You Can Have a Full-Time IT Department for Less Than a Part-Timers Salary!&#8221;<br />
&#8220;If You&#8217;re Tired of Worrying About Unexpected Computer Problems Hurting Your Business… Then One Simple Phone Call Can Prevent Them From Ever Occurring in the First Place!&#8221;<br />
&#8220;The Secret To Having A Trouble-Free Computer Network In Your Office…&#8221;</p>
<p><b>2. YOUR MESSAGE</b> </p>
<p>This is your list of services, which can be presented in comparison to other types of service solutions.<br />
Your job is to show what your Unique Selling Proposition is. What makes you the best option available?</p>
<p><b>3. A PROMOTIONAL OFFER</b></p>
<p>This is where your flyer becomes an effective marketing tool.</p>
<p>Direct your reader to take action by giving a specific instruction and providing a compelling offer, such as one of the following examples:<br />
“Call before Oct. 31st and receive 30 days of server monitoring absolutely free!”<br />
“Call now for a FREE 27-Point Network Evaluation”<br />
“Until Oct. 31, get 5 free hours of on-site support when signing up with our Daily Monitoring Plan”</p>
<p>While the content is key when creating your flyer, design is equally as important. A photocopied flyer with black courier text and some clipart isn’t going to cut it. A very professional flyer can be designed inexpensively and easily in any of today&#8217;s standard desktop publishing or word processing applications. But if graphic design isn&#8217;t your strong point, there are many options available for outsourcing the work to a freelancer (check elance.com) or a web-based printing and design service.</p>
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		<title>Earn More by Working Less</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/11/1270/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/11/1270/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:44:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1270</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you're an Independent <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">computer consultant</a>, you know by now that you need to be charging flat, monthly rates for proactive maintenance.
But in a time where small business customers still want to know what your hourly rate is, how can we convince them that a flat-fee is the best solution for them?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As an Independent <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">computer consultant</a>, naturally you&#8217;re hoping to earn as much income as possible while maintaining a very satisfied and loyal client base.</p>
<p>The problem faced by the vast majority of independent computer consultants today however is that they still base their income on the number of hours they&#8217;re able to bill in a day, week or month. How can this model possibly provide either a reliable income or a happy customer?</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re billing by the hour, how can you possibly count on revenues being steady on an ongoing basis, when the need for your services is so volatile? </p>
<p>By providing &#8220;reactive&#8221;, hourly support, you&#8217;re basically waiting for things to break to be able to keep yourself busy. If things aren&#8217;t breaking, your clients will be reluctant to pay additional hourly charges for you to just &#8220;check things out&#8221; and make sure everything is running ok. </p>
<p>If you have only a few clients, they&#8217;re going to have to each provide a significant amount of hours to meet your financial requirements. In a time when small business owners are trying to reduce expenses wherever possible, squeezing them for the hours you need to survive will be challenging and will not help client satisfaction.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re able to land many clients, where it should be easy for you to maintain a busy schedule, you can be sure that more often than not you&#8217;ll have more fires to put out than you can handle at one time and customer satisfaction will again suffer. Plus, from personal experience I can assure you that there will be many times where you&#8217;ll be putting in far more working hours than you would ever want to fixing a serious problem that you wish you could have prevented in the first place.</p>
<p>Fortunately, there&#8217;s an easy solution for today&#8217;s Independent Computer Consultant. Stop billing by the hour and charge flat, monthly fees for a proactive maintenance plan, with which you can provide round-the-clock monitoring, remote computer support and on-site service (for which I personally charge an additional hourly fee).</p>
<p>Billing your clients a flat, monthly rate can provide you with a stable income that you can rely on, while requiring you to work far less hours to do so.</p>
<p>If you use a reliable monitoring application (which can be done very inexpensively), you&#8217;ll be able to identify potential problems early and reduce the unexpected emergencies that keep the hourly-rate consultant so busy (and their clients so unhappy). </p>
<p>A bulk of the daily service requests are minor end user issues, which if addressed remotely can often be resolve very quickly. The daily support requests from a full client list of about 4 or 5 small business clients (40-50 end-users) can be supported remotely in about 1-2 hours a day, including monitoring their system logs.</p>
<p>On-site support can be provided for this handful of clients in about 2 hours a week each. This is a number most small business owners find acceptable, fair and manageable. If you charge an additional hourly rate for these on-site hours, you can supplement your flat-rate income nicely. </p>
<p>Because you&#8217;re working proactively, your clients will have fewer problems and higher productivity. Your remote support services will increase your response time dramatically, also improving your clients productivity. And they&#8217;ll see you less often. </p>
<p>All these things will contribute to INCREASING customer satisfaction.</p>
<p>If you structure your base, maintenance plan fees properly, a small client base of four small business customers can provide an Independent computer consultant with a full-time income, while requiring you to work about 10-12 hours a week.</p>
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		<title>The Independent Computer Consultant &#8211; 3 Benefits of Proactive Monitoring</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/11/the-independent-computer-consultant-3-benefits-of-proactive-monitoring/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/11/the-independent-computer-consultant-3-benefits-of-proactive-monitoring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:56:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[computer consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[independent computer consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[start a computer consulting business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1267</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For many Independent <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">computer consultant</a>s who continue to operate on an hourly-rate billing model, being proactive in maintaining their client's networks can be a challenge. But proper proactive maintenance of a network will improve your client's productivity, increase the reliability of the systems, and quite possibly save them money in IT support costs. How do you shift an hourly-support client to flat-fee maintenance?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For many Independent Computer Consultants who continue to operate on an hourly-rate billing model, being proactive in maintaining their client&#8217;s networks can be a challenge.</p>
<p>Rationally, the small business owner is aware that to get the most out of the network, it should be monitored and maintained. But when there&#8217;s an hourly fee involved to do extra work when everything seems to be working just fine, emotions overtake rationality and proactive maintenance is often put off.</p>
<p>Proper proactive maintenance of a network will improve your client&#8217;s productivity, increase the reliability of the systems, and quite possibly save them money in IT support costs.</p>
<p>For me, my Proactive Maintenance Plan includes:<br />
 &#8211; monitoring all server event logs<br />
 &#8211; monitoring for proper AV updates and activity<br />
 &#8211; monitoring backup status, whether on-site or remote<br />
 &#8211; monitoring firewall activity, hack/spam relay attempts<br />
 &#8211; monitoring system bottlenecks (system processes, processor/ram utilization, etc.)<br />
 &#8211; monitoring application services (Exchange, ISA, IIS, etc.)<br />
 &#8211; Real-time Inventory collection and web-based reporting<br />
 &#8211; remote support for most issues</p>
<p>Monitoring is performed 24x7x365 by configuring the hosted software that you select to perform these tasks to send you an email or sms alert whenever an event occurs that needs your attention. The software I use, GFI Max, performs all of these tasks as well as provides many more features not listed above for a low monthly fee.</p>
<p>The benefits your client gets from having this level of monitoring is:</p>
<p>1. Improved productivity &#8211; Most problems display warning signs of some sort before becoming critical issues. Check the event logs of any unmonitored server and I would bet good money that they&#8217;ll be more than a couple of red X&#8217;s that warrant some level of attention. Same goes for the odds of an unmonitored backup system having more than an acceptable amount of failed backups. Or an AntiVirus system that hasn&#8217;t updated in weeks. Or even the possibility of having a hard drive in a drive array completely failed without anyone being aware.</p>
<p>Any one of these examples, or countless others, if gone unchecked could easily develop into a crisis situation where there could be very serious and possibly unrecoverable losses to productivity and to the finances of the company. Proactive monitoring gives you the ability to prevent these unexpected emergencies.</p>
<p>Besides being able to save the day from disaster, you&#8217;ll also be able to improve performance on a day-to-day basis.</p>
<p>Too often, performance of equipment is allowed to degrade to the point where the device is no longer functional or usable. You&#8217;ll be improving your client&#8217;s productivity by more closely examining inventory reports for outdated or inadequate equipment or applications and performing upgrades before productivity can suffer.</p>
<p>2. Improved reliability &#8211; If you can identify and correct small problems early, before they have a chance to develop into larger problems, and most small problems are addressed by you remotely and therefore immediately, your client will have very few complaints about their systems. Providing that you keep your client constantly informed about the status of their network and the services your providing through excellent reporting (a MUST!), they will have little reason to ever consider replacing you (and a lot of reasons for recommending you to someone else).</p>
<p>3. Save them Money &#8211; Hourly based, reactive support for a small business customer is typically unstable. There will be very busy months, often off-set by quiet periods where everyone (including the <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">computer consultant</a>) is just happy that things seem to be working nicely for a change. And once in a while, one of those crisis situations I mentioned earlier will occur and the consultant delivers an invoice that could be relationship changing. This is a tough pill for the client to swallow after suffering through whatever downtime was just experienced.</p>
<p>Average out the cost of hourly support long-term, taking into account both the good and the really bad times, and the average monthly costs should actually be somewhat reasonable from both the computer consultant&#8217;s and the customer&#8217;s viewpoint.</p>
<p>If proactive monitoring can be delivered at a similar cost to hourly, reactive support, there is little reason for a small business owner to opt for the old model of hourly support.</p>
<p>Factor in any financial benefits as a result of increased productivity, or the prevention of a single disaster, and a flat-fee, proactive monitoring plan should be easily justified as a valuable and cost-effective solution.</p>
<p>If you can convey this to your potential customers when starting a computer consulting business of your own, you should be well on your way to expanding your client base.</p>
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		<title>Independent Computer Consultant &#8211; How to Sell Clients on Managed Services</title>
		<link>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/07/independent-computer-consultant-how-to-sell-clients-on-managed-services/</link>
		<comments>http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/2010/02/07/independent-computer-consultant-how-to-sell-clients-on-managed-services/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:38:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[computer consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[independent computer consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[remote computer support]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[start a computer consulting business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com/?p=1265</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you're an Independent <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">computer consultant</a>, you know by now that you need to be charging flat, monthly rates for proactive maintenance.
But in a time where small business customers still want to know what your hourly rate is, how can we convince them that a flat-fee is the best solution for them?.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re an Independent Computer Consultant, you know by now that you need to be charging flat, monthly rates for proactive maintenance through a Managed Service Plan and should no longer be relying on how many hours you can bill in a month to generate an income.</p>
<p>But in a time where small business customers still want to know what your hourly rate is, how can we convince them that a flat-fee is the best solution for them?<br />
You need to show VALUE!</p>
<p>What will they get for this predictable and affordable monthly fee?</p>
<p> &#8211; Greater reliability from their systems.<br />
 &#8211; More productivity.<br />
 &#8211; Less losses due to downtime.<br />
 &#8211; For about the same or less than they&#8217;d pay for hourly, reactive service.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll be able to accomplish this by monitoring their systems and providing remote computer support.</p>
<p>Monitoring your client&#8217;s systems 24x7x365 is easily done with low cost software like GFI Max, which is able to collect real-time inventory reports as well.</p>
<p>Through monitoring, you can immediately identify problems such as failed backups, system event errors, virus activity, hacker attempts, etc. By preventing errors, you will reduce unexpected problems and increase their productivity.</p>
<p>You can provide remote support to all of your client&#8217;s workstations and servers for free by using software like LogMeIn Free. By providing remote computer support, you can increase your response time to most issues, large or small by about 100%. </p>
<p>The biggest complaint small businesses have when it comes to their computer consultant is having to wait for him or her to arrive, and not being notified when the consultant is going to be late.</p>
<p>With remote computer support, as long as the computer (or user) with the problem has Internet connectivity, you should be able to log on and work as if you were deskside. You can actually respond faster than an internal IT admin could make it across the office.</p>
<p>By providing basic proactive maintenance and support, you can generate an income based on predictable and reliable monthly fees, while dedicating a greatly reduced number of work hours on site at your clients. They honestly don&#8217;t want to see you very often anyway. And they&#8217;ll be happy to pay a fair rate to ensure that the less they see you, the better.</p>
<p>For complete information on how to succeed at starting a computer consulting business as an Independent <a href="http://successfulcomputerconsulting.com">computer consultant</a>, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com.</p>
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