This is for the SMB IT companys only..

[frederick]

This sounds similar to what I've done in the past with some success. The biggest challenge has been always having the perfect Sys or Net Admin to fill that role. Sometimes you can easily afford them and sometimes you can't. And sometimes even though the Sys Admin is brilliant he's not always the best customer service guy to represent your company. My next step is to do something similar but actually have a sales rep or account manager go out. He sells the contracts, makes sure the customer is happy, asks for referrals, and makes sure the technical team is delivering to the customer's satisfaction. What I am doing right now is having my senior engineers walk, inventory, and re-evaluate every site (only the contract customers). It's been amazing to see what a 2nd set of eyes can often see that was missed by the last person.

Salesman are great, but they couldn't tell me what the customer said the problem is without me having to call the salesman and JAFO. A good sys/net admin is hard to obtain and keep. So train them, slowly get them involved in social events, and doing things like community service as part of your company.

A team building exercise I did years ago was I took my soldiers (other techs), and told them to invite 2 people each from the unit to go to applebees every friday night after work. After a couple of months, these guys got social skills going.

 

[lsi]

Salesman are great, but they couldn't tell me what the customer said the problem is without me having to call the salesman and JAFO. A good sys/net admin is hard to obtain and keep. So train them, slowly get them involved in social events, and doing things like community service as part of your company.

A team building exercise I did years ago was I took my soldiers (other techs), and told them to invite 2 people each from the unit to go to applebees every friday night after work. After a couple of months, these guys got social skills going.

To each their own I guess. Obviously you don't go out and hire a sales guy with no networking knowledge - there are plenty of technical sales positions out there so there are guys who have technical backgrounds but understand that sales careers have way more potential than engineer careers. Just look at the board of most major corporations. It's more rare to find someone who worked their way up from being an engineer. Most of them have finance or sales backgrounds. I firmly believe these are the types that will take my business to the next level. I'm going to give it a try at least. I haven't had the best of luck doing it the other way.

 

[frederick]

To each their own I guess. Obviously you don't go out and hire a sales guy with no networking knowledge - there are plenty of technical sales positions out there so there are guys who have technical backgrounds but understand that sales careers have way more potential than engineer careers. Just look at the board of most major corporations. It's more rare to find someone who worked their way up from being an engineer. Most of them have finance or sales backgrounds. I firmly believe these are the types that will take my business to the next level. I'm going to give it a try at least. I haven't had the best of luck doing it the other way.

Let me know how it goes for you. I'd love to be kept to speed on this. I get your view and points, I'm just fearful of using salesman.

 

[unclemarv]

Depends on the client - depends on you

I have to say that I have gone back and forth over the past several years on the amount of clients/computers my company has managed. I currently am down to just me as the tech with a part time office person to help with the books, customer calls, ordering, etc. I do use sub-contractors when necessary, but have had up to two full time techs at one time going back just a few years.

Despite not having another full-time tech, I am managing two large smb clients that require daily service; about 20 other clients that require monthly or weekly service; and then another twenty or so as needed. The total number of computers is about 30 servers and 350 computers.

The two larger customers do employ a desktop technician, but I maintain the servers and oversee those techs as the do the desktop maintenance. The rest of my clients are serviced only by me, but I do most of it remote and utilize a ton of tools that allow me to leverage my time.

Of course, this is possible because the clients are willing to pay for my expertise and tools. I raised my rates a few years ago and justified the increase by explaining to my clients that I have the experience, tools and resources to properly support them. I invested a lot of money in network analyzers, monitoring tools and remote access software.

The more complex the network, the more work it will need... it can be as simple as that. I have a client that doesn't want there staff doing anything including the installation of software... so that clients requires a lot more time. Clients that also don't want me to lock down and secure their network (limiting user rights, virus/malware protection, Internet content filtering) also require a lot of time when I have to clean a computer once or twice a month.

As you can see by the other posts, there will be some that can manage more or less by themselves. But it will mostly depend on how much your client needs. You'll get great support from other techs here... enjoy the reading and good luck finding and utilizing what you find that works best for you.