IT Consulting: Search for Sweet Spot Clients

There are some clues that will tell you if a prospect will make a good sweet spot client for your IT consulting business. In this article, learn some of the tip-offs that a prospect is a good fit.

Does the Company Have a Website?

A prospect's website is important because you can search for it. Go to Google and put in the name of the town where you are, your zip code, your postal code area codes, prefixes and get a list of businesses in your area. Start to look around for potential clients for IT consulting.

Can You Meet The Leaders of the Company?

If you look on their company information or about page, you may decide they are a good prospect for your IT consulting business. Does the company belong to a local or regional Chamber of Commerce organization? You can join the organization to meet with them or go as a guest to some of them.

Make sure, though, you know the right way to get the most out of your time and financial investments for networking expenses. You need to measure and track every minute and you can justify every dollar you spend. You want to get the maximum return on your investment to grow your IT consulting business.

Where Else Can You Find the Company?

Does the company attend local B to B Expos? If so, you can attend expos to network with those sweet spot IT consulting clients.

Does the company get covered in the local newspapers, local papers, business journals, regional business journals, and magazines? You can subscribe to those or read back issues at the library or online.

By studying up on a company, you can find out how much experience they have, how many employees, and their annual revenue. You can also find out if they are about to open another office.

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Phone Sales not Ready to Yeild to the Internet

There is no question that the internet has revolutionized business. Many people are not only paying their bills online, but also ordering products and services at an ever expanding rate as well. Businesses with a web presence have opened themselves up to new market where many consumers take advantage of the ease of shopping from pages visually no different from a catalog. Despite all that has changed in the last ten years, most companies that do business over distance and do not rely on local storefronts still see a large majority of their business come from the telephone. Several years ago, many business forecasters were predicting that the internet would have eclipsed the phone as the marketplace of choice by now. So why hasn't that been the case?

There are two primary reasons why the telephone will always be necessary to consumer sales oriented businesses. The first is that while it is getting harder and harder to find a person who does not have a personal computer at their disposal, either at work or at home; it is practically impossible to find a person without a telephone. The second is about human interaction. Many people prefer to order from a person over the telephone. That issue in itself may have to do with perceived notions of security and fraud risk, personalized and efficient customer service, or simply the desire for human confirmation that a transaction has taken place. In any case, some businesses have gone to great lengths in recent years to become a major presence in their industry on the world wide web while neglecting to update their antiquated phone systems. What companies need to realize is that while web based business will result in an overall sales increase as a result of consumers who use the internet as their primary marketplace, it will not do so at the loss of phone business if a capable phone system is in place. Keeping a phone system up to date and ready to handle customer volume should be a top priority for any business.

Home Based Business Insurance Do I Need It?

Well, that all depends If you have insurance, you probably won t
use it. If you don t have it, you ll probably be sorry.
Insurance is just one of those necessary evils. Keep the
following points in mind when you consider whether or not you
need home based business insurance.

First, will you be obtaining a business license of any kind? If
so, you will need to check the licensing requirements. Some
local governments require that you maintain a certain level of
liability insurance especially if people will be coming to your
home during the course of your business. If your local
government doesn t require home based business insurance, then
you must look at your individual situation and make that call.
You may want to consult a licensed insurance agent to advise you
of possible affordable options.

Will you keep an inventory in your home? In that case, you will
probably want to insure it against a potential loss. Most
homeowners insurance policies do not cover the loss of business
supplies so check with your local insurance agent to find out
the best option for your home based business insurance needs.

If you will use your car consistently in your business, you will
probably need to contact your auto insurance agent. Premiums
usually increase when you drive your car for regular business
use. One thing to keep in mind is that business use of a car is
often tax deductible so this can help defray the added home
based business insurance cost.

Many people run their businesses without any type of insurance
sort of under the table if you will. This is probably fine if
you run a fairly small operation and don t mind replacing any
materials that you lose. However, if you anticipate people
coming to your home or maintain a significant inventory,
wouldn t you rather be safe than sorry? Starting a business is
hard enough without risking the loss of all of your hard work
because you didn t invest in home based business insurance.