Many
successful IT consultants use service level agreement templates to
streamline their businesses and make sure they are presenting themselves
professionally and consistently.
Still, if you are just starting out as an IT consultant,
or just starting to offer service level agreements to your clients, you
may be confused about some of the basic features that should go into a
solid IT consulting service level agreement document.
Disclaimer: Before you finalize your service level
agreement templates, be sure to consult a qualified local attorney. I'm
not an attorney. I don't play an attorney on prime time TV. And this
article is most certainly not presenting legal advice.
Now with that out of the way, you need to make sure that
you are taken seriously as a trusted business adviser. Which pieces need
to go into your final service level agreement templates to make them
appealing to your customers and position you as a professional IT
consultant offering high-end services?
Consider these 3 service level agreement template
components that can help you grow great client relationships.
-
A Cover Page on Your Company Letterhead. Many
consultants don’t realize how important official letterhead can be
to all aspects of their businesses. Letterhead serves many purposes,
but accomplishes two important goals: letterhead provides important
contact information that makes getting in touch with you easy for
your customers and clients. Letterhead also shows that you are a
legitimate company with a unique identity, a location, a phone
number, a Web site address and e-mail address. Letterhead can help
establish your identity and your unique brand in a way that will be
memorable to your potential clients long after your service level
agreement templates have been signed and filed away.
-
A Change Order Policy. Because inevitably
something will almost always come up as an “Oh, by the way” from
your clients during the course of a major project, you must make
sure to establish your policies regarding these changes. If you don’t
create a change order policy for your long-term clients and present
it clearly as part of your standard service level agreement
templates, you risk having your projects regularly derailed by
things that are outside of your control. Change orders protect both
you and your clients from unanticipated changes and help you both
take responsibility for important projects.
-
A Section Detailing Principal Contacts for Major
Projects. Both you and your clients need to know who is
responsible for what when it comes to major projects. So as part of
your service level agreement templates, include contact information
for the main decision makers at both your companies . This should
include the major financial, technical and billing contacts as well
as any additional employees that will be involved in details of the
project. This helps everyone involved take full accountability for
their part in achieving project goals and also gives you someone
specific to call when important decisions must be made.
In this article we talked about 3 parts of your IT
service level agreements that will help you build professional
relationships with your valued consulting clients. To learn
more proven secrets about how to design effective, profitable,
mutually-beneficial service level agreement templates that get you
steady, high-paying clients, go sign-up now for the free
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