Owners
of IT consulting businesses usually have very valuable technical skills.
Yet these same IT consultants often fall short when it
comes to business know-how, and specifically how to attract clients.
This lack of marketing and sales knowledge can be a huge
problem for IT consulting businesses because billable projects for
clients are what "pay the bills".
In this article, we'll look at 5 proven client
attraction secrets that you can use to generate new business and breathe
new life into your IT consulting practice.
1. Know the Difference Between IT Consulting and
Computer Repair. While a computer repair business might opt for a
big promotional presence in phone books, coupon packs, and retail
signage, an IT consulting business tends to be more focused, precise,
and reserved in its marketing activities. While a computer repair
business will typically service anyone with a “broken” computer, IT
consulting businesses usually look for more long-term business clients,
with more substantial and sophisticated IT needs. This sharp distinction
must come through both in your chosen marketing campaigns and your lead
qualification process.
2. Think More Strategically and More Long-Term in
Your Marketing Activities. The sales cycle for a home business
customer that needs an inexpensive memory upgrade will be short…
almost an impulse buy. However if you’re looking to acquire clients
with 10-100 workstations and five-figure annual IT consulting budgets,
the sales cycle can be anywhere from a few weeks to several months. As a
result, you need to think more long-term in your prospective client
nurturing and follow-up activities. In other words, a client that spends
$300 with your company just about every week ($15,000+ per year)
requires an entirely different mindset and long-term vision than a $300
one-shot-deal customer.
3. Have a Small Proving Ground Project in Mind When
Courting New Potential Clients. Often the owners of IT consulting
businesses get frustrated when they have a number of large outstanding
sales proposals that they just can’t seem to get client commitments
for. While it’s certainly admirable and advisable to be pitching
$25,000+ network installations and upgrades, it’s usually not the best
place to start with a new customer or client. Many IT consulting
businesses find a much greater level of success in selling something
small initially, with a well-defined beginning, middle, and end, for
$250-$1,000 as a proving ground project for new customers and clients.
That way your new customers and clients can try out how they like
working with your company in a relatively low-risk way, while you prove
your value to them. Along the same lines, it gives your customers and
clients the chance to “prove” their value to you and that they’re
not unreasonable control-freaks, cheapskates, or deadbeats.
4. Always Bundle in Your Ongoing Support Agreement
with Every Major Project. Once you’ve successfully completed your
proving ground project with a new customer or client, the follow-up
project is almost always some kind of remediation project, or major
upgrade or installation. When talking about the parameters for this
larger follow-up project, be sure to ask, “Have you thought about how
you’d like to handle this new systems’ ongoing support and
maintenance needs?” At which point, you’ll usually want to discuss
the benefits and advantages to retaining your IT consulting business
through your ongoing support agreement.
5. Let Your Satisfied Clients Do the Selling.
Since no one knows how good you are until after they’ve hired your
company, you need to vividly paint the picture of just how great things
can be when potential clients hire your company. To do so, you’ll
almost always want to leverage the kind words of your existing clients.
This is most often done through testimonial letters, audio/video
interviews, and case studies.
Owners of IT consulting businesses often struggle to
find client attraction methods beyond word of mouth. This is a shame
because proactive marketing and promotional activities, that create
awareness of your firm, are one of the most important things that you
must do to ensure that your business survives and thrives.
In this article, you’ve been introduced to 5 proven
client attraction secrets that generate new business and breathe new
life into your IT consulting practice. To learn more about how you can
attract a steady flow of great new clients to your IT consulting
business, go sign-up now for the free Sample Tips and Excerpts below
from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course.
Sample Tips and
Excerpts
One of the best ways for you to experience the sheer
time-savings and revenue-generating power of the Computer Consulting Kit
Home Study Course is for you to experience it yourself.
To help you do so, we’ve made available extensive
sample tips and excerpts, of the easy-to-customize document templates,
audio training programs, Module workbooks, and special bonuses.
To get started now with free Sample Tips and Excerpts
from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course, just fill in the
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