Computer Consulting Business Strategies for 2006

Own a computer consulting business?

If so, then NOW is as good of a time as any to talk about what it’s going to take to make 2006 your best year EVER for your computer consulting business.

Here are the 6 things you need to start working on right now.

Understand Your Business Model and Target Audience – Way too many computer consulting businesses make the mistake of trying to serve “everyone”… and end up specializing in virtually “no one”. Unless you have the marketing budget of Best Buy or CDW, you simply can’t afford to market to everyone. And while we’re on the subject of FOCUS, you’d better figure out what services you WILL and WON’T provide.

Dig the Well BEFORE You’re Thirsty – Regardless of whether we’re talking about finding prospects, customers, clients, staff, contractors, and partners, you MUST work on these activities EVERY week. Computer consulting business owners that procrastinate end up panicking and making stupid mistakes… that would’ve NEVER been made in a more calm, well-thought-out way of doing things.

Recognize That Quality ALWAYS Trumps Quantity – It’s not about having the biggest customer list. It’s about having the most PROFITABLE and stable client list.

Don’t “Train” Your Customers to Treat You Like Crap – Huh? Seriously, if you charge bargain basement rates, go on-site for 15 minutes of work, “eat” big blocks of hours on a regular basis (i.e. working for free), tolerate verbally abusive customers, downplay late payments, and allow customers to “own” you without signing a support contract, guess what you’ve just done? You’ve trained your customers to treat your firm like crap. Don’t do it. Enough said.

Make a Plan and Stick to It – No successful computer consulting business ever gets very far by accident. Although having a full-blown business plan is highly recommended, for most computer consulting businesses even a business development “to do” list (updated weekly) would be a HUGE step in the right direction. To work, your “to do” list must contain three columns: a) How much time you’re going to spend, b) how much money you’re going to spend, c) the start/end dates. Once this plan is done, get it on your calendar and stick to it.

Treat Your Time Like It Has Value – Finally, recognize that your time is essentially your inventory. It’s what you're selling. So you better know where every ¼ hour block of it is going each week. Is it a) billable, b) management/administration, or c) sales/marketing? If each ¼ block of your time doesn’t fall into one of those buckets, you’re in trouble. But at the end of the day, don’t forget to treat your time like it has value.

The Bottom Line on Computer Consulting Business Strategies for 2006
While it’s possible that you **could** have a good 2006 purely by accident, it’s pretty unlikely. Your computer consulting business can DRAMATICALLY increase its chances of making 2006 its best year ever though by simply following the very simple, field-tested PROVEN ways of growing a highly-profitable, stable computer consulting business.

To learn more about how YOU can make 2006 your best year ever in the computer consulting business, sign-up now for the free computer consulting business training.