When you work in computer consulting, you are selling time. Because your time is valuable, you need to qualify each customer service call before making it so you can decide if the need is urgent enough, financially feasible and if the client is truly in pain. As someone in computer consulting, your time is being sold above personality and business knowledge, so you can’t afford time wasting prospects and clients. You should be accounting for each hour spent, billable or non-billable. Every hour is valuable, even those not dedicated to sales. Prospecting, administrative and other types of hours need to be efficiently used.
IS IT AN EMERGENCY?
If you want to truly get rid of time wasting clients, you need to gauge the level of urgency when you first speak to them via phone, email or in person. A client may have a down server that is destroying work for 27 employees, and this definitely qualifies as an emergency. However, the client may be dealing with a dysfunctional link between a PDA and a salesperson’s computer; a one-person emergency is not the best use of your time.
COMPUTER CONSULTING BUDGET
You need to know clients’ budgets going into the project. If the company is broke, it will be a waste of your time to even consider doing work. Put these people on a follow-up list and call back in three or six months to find out how much IT money is available.
YOUR TACT AS A COMPUTER CONSULTING PROFESSIONAL
You have to be careful when speaking to prospects about computer consulting support. Ask questions about previous and present computer consulting support. If you find they have only used volunteers or moonlighters offering bargain prices, you will know how big the IT budget is. You may find that a company is already working with another provider, even someone you think of as competition. This will let you know the client is able to afford your services and willing to pay for them.
WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF PAIN?
If you can identify the amount of pain a prospect is in, you will be better equipped to pitch the right solution and sell your computer consulting services.
Added By: Computer Consulting Kit
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