Started FullTime IT Job.. Need Opinions

[Edge Tech NY]

Whats up guys, long time since I posted.. I started working in a school district as an IT Technician. Before this I was very unexperianced with the business oriented part of IT repairs. Now I'm learning all about VM's, Sunray's, servers, ghost, active directory etc. I still do residential on-site calls after 5 PM but I'm money hungry and looking to make more. I'm thinking of breaking more into the SMB area and having monthly contracts etc. For those that have this, do you work full time also? Did you do mailouts to companys in your area, or did you knock on there door and introduce yourself? Thanks for the advice.

Eric

PS - What are the types of services SMB's have you do when they need your help? I dont want to get in over my head here. thats why I ask.

 

[Mushin]

Whats up guys, long time since I posted.. I started working in a school district as an IT Technician. Before this I was very unexperianced with the business oriented part of IT repairs. Now I'm learning all about VM's, Sunray's, servers, ghost, active directory etc. I still do residential on-site calls after 5 PM but I'm money hungry and looking to make more. I'm thinking of breaking more into the SMB area and having monthly contracts etc. For those that have this, do you work full time also? Did you do mailouts to companys in your area, or did you knock on there door and introduce yourself? Thanks for the advice.

Eric

PS - What are the types of services SMB's have you do when they need your help? I dont want to get in over my head here. thats why I ask.

For SMB you will almost have to be 100% full time and then some. Businesses need you there fast and with a job that can be next to impossible. You will really need to take a close look on the amount of time.

Knock on the door, do mailings, network with people. Don't expect success overnight. I will send you a Private message with some marketing advice.

Thanks
Phil

 

[ProTech Support]

For SMB you will almost have to be 100% full time and then some. Businesses need you there fast and with a job that can be next to impossible. You will really need to take a close look on the amount of time.

Knock on the door, do mailings, network with people. Don't expect success overnight. I will send you a Private message with some marketing advice.

Thanks
Phil

Though that is true, I have heard of people here who have made it work. One of the things I recall them saying is to fully disclose that you will only be available between 5 P.M. - 7 A.M. (or whatever the case). Maybe offer them a discount for this factor.

What I would do in this situation. Start off by picking up 1-2 long term contracts (as in a year or more) using the limited hours. This way you have some guaranteed income, but not enough work where you will be bogged down. You should not have a problem doing this, as not ALL business's rely heavily on computers, so they can deal with you coming past 5. A perfect example would be a small car dealership. I had a contract with one guy who could still do his job without his computer (he was the owner). Try to find business's like this.

Once you have some of those contracts, start pitching full service contracts to new prospects (obviously that is where the money is). If you can land 1 of those in addition to your (2) part time contracts, it should be enough to start moving away from your full time job.

I think the moral of this story is, if your going to do this, you need a plan. You also need to realize there will come a point where you need to choose fulltime job vs. your business.

 

[ATSCF]

I have the same problem. I am trying to get as much residential service as I can to help make the switch and of course still do SMB stuff without contracts.

 

[Edge Tech NY]

Ok, I know this has been asked before, but when it comes to doctors offices or any type of office with about 5-10 comptuers whats your rule of thumb for the monthly price.. Things included would be a certain amount of hours credited in price (maybe 5-8?), and that gurenteed 1 day a month maintnence appointment.. I would charge SMB about $80/Hr. Thanks a lot!

 

[Reset]

Its depends on how you look at it i have a contract with a doctors office and he has 3 locations. At each location there's 6 desktops and one server and 2 laptops. All the offices are connected together by a vpn. the system is very complex when there is a problem im there with in a 2 hr time frame sometimes i have a guy at each location fixing a problem. They will take up a lot of your time. So make sure youll be able to handle the work load i had to hire a new tech just for this contract. So make sure to take the contacts slowly you do not want to spread your self to thin. Ive done it before and i have 4 other guys working for me.

 

[Mushin]

Ok, I know this has been asked before, but when it comes to doctors offices or any type of office with about 5-10 comptuers whats your rule of thumb for the monthly price.. Things included would be a certain amount of hours credited in price (maybe 5-8?), and that gurenteed 1 day a month maintnence appointment.. I would charge SMB about $80/Hr. Thanks a lot!

A good way to do this is to drop the monthly price because of the perception of the client. They might figure that a monthly price is "too much" or that they may not need a "montlhy appointment"

Instead... Sell them a block of time (Pre Paid) that can be used as needed and provide them with your recomended maintenance schedule for a six month or year period. This maintenance schedule will deplete x number of hours per month but still leave room for unexpected issues. Each month call to setup their monthly maintenance or just book the next months appointment while you are there.

This is better then a monthly fee because it is no longer a monthly looked at a monthly obligation and you have less chance them canceling. Once they have paid for the block of time they will expect to use it all up.. eventually they will become dependant on you for the services.

A word of caution.... keep it a maintenance and support contract only and don't allow for new implementations to consume the prepurchased hours. This way you have the ability to sell them additional services or implementations that you will recomend as you continue to do business with them. In turn they will find that they will probably need more maintenance hours the following years. As they grow, you grow with them.

 

[Edge Tech NY]

Genius! haha Thanks a lot for info.. Now is this something I would need a lawyer to write up or I have technibbles contract package, should I use that or is that completely geared towards a monthly thing

 

[Mushin]

Contract

Genius! haha Thanks a lot for info.. Now is this something I would need a lawyer to write up or I have technibbles contract package, should I use that or is that completely geared towards a monthly thing

The contract does not have to be complicated but should clearly state what the client is buying.... a block of hours to be used for... List Items

Also list what the hours can not be used for (This is something many people forget.

Clearly state your hours of service. 9:00 a to 5:00p and weather or not you guarentee same day or next day service. Also state what an emergency service call is such as after hours or same day and how that will impact the number of hours they purchased... for example "any service call after after our regular service hours will be applied a 1.5 times or 2 time the normal rate.

You may also want to spell out that hours are consumed in a minimum of x amount of "30" minutes or "60" Minute increments.

Also think about what a minimum service call would be. "A minimum of 2 hours will be applied for each maintenace visit." You will have to determine this.

Now I recomend that you set these as a standard for your maintenace contract and don't deviate from it for future maintenance contracts... otherwist you have to account for each different customer. Instead if you want to negotiate with them just negotiate on the up front price per hour. This is much easier to track.

You should also have a log book kept on site where the tech records their arrival time and departure time and notes on what was done. Have the client initial arrival time, ending time and what was performed.

That should get you started. Take some time upfront to really set this up and then in the future you can re use it for all future contracts.