When you're starting a consulting business as a computer consultant who supports small businesses, the utilities that will be most critical for your success will be those that allow you to monitor your client's systems, and that will allow you to provide instant, remote support for whenever an issue arises.

1. The Successful Computer Consultant
The Best... And Most Affordable Utilities to Use
When Starting A Consulting Business
By Robert Peretson
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Best... And Most Affordable Utilities to Use When
Starting A Consulting Business
When you're Network Monitoring:
starting a
consulting business For monitoring my client's server(s), I use
as a computer GFI Max RemoteManagement. Current
consultant who pricing is about $13/mo per server
supports small monitored. You can monitor the
businesses, the workstations as well for as low as an
utilities that will be additional $0.10 per workstation per
most critical for month.
your success will You have the option to completely
be those that allow you to monitor your modify the dashboard and all reporting
client's systems, and that will allow you collateral with your own logo and
to provide instant, remote support for branding.
whenever an issue arises.
If an error occurs on the server or if an
alert is generated in the event logs, you
Fortunately today, the utilities that are can get an instant email alert. You also
available to perform these functions are have the option to have the alerts
not only completely reliable and delivered via SMS. You can also deliver
extremely effective, but they're incredibly these messages directly to your client, so
affordable... even to the independent they can see for themselves the activity
computer consultant who is just starting and support needs on the server.
out. GFI Max also gives you a web-based
The following are the utilities I use in my dashboard, where you can easily see any
own consulting business and the ones I problems on the network (backup failures,
recommend to anyone starting a low disk space, hack attempts, etc). You
consulting business of their own. can give your client viewable access to
this dashboard so that they can see for
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2. themselves how healthy you're keeping proactively monitoring their system. Then
their network. If they're having server you can show them how monitoring can
problems, it helps you to show them why increase their productivity and reduce
an on-site (billable) service call might be expensive, unexpected downtime.
necessary.
Remote Support:
You can use GFI Max to collect a
workstation and server inventory in real- For logging onto my end-user's
time, which you can make accessible to workstations or to quickly check out a
your clients at any time through the GFI possible server problem, I use LogMeIn.
Dashboard. Besides helping to justify
your monthly fee, this inventory is very For many years after starting a consulting
useful when regularly reviewed to find business of my own, I used LogMeIn
anything that might be outdated, which Free. The product is completely free, it
will help to generate additional, billable supports an unlimited number of
projects. workstations, which are easily organized
and divided by client.
You can also generate daily, weekly or
monthly health status reports to send to The LogMeIn client must be installed on
your clients to show them how great of a each server and workstation you want to
job you're doing (or how unhealthy their access, so you will need to do an initial
server might be during their free 30-day on-site setup of the application. But once
trial of your maintenance plan). the product is installed, as long as the
client computer is on-line, you can
All of this regular communication is an quickly log onto it and work as if you
excellent use of your IT Marketing were sitting at the desk side-by-side with
strategy. the end-user.
GFI Max offers a free 30-day trial. I A few years ago, I upgraded to LogMeIn
suggest that if you have even one client Central, which is about $300/yr. It works
with a server and small network, that you almost exactly like the free product does,
tell them that you're starting to move to a with one very useful addition... I can give
managed service model. Offer to install every end-user their own access code so
for them a free, no obligation trial of your that they too can access their office
monitoring system and let them see for computers remotely. (Without LogMeIn
themselves how many problems they may Central, if a user wanted to access their
be facing because you're not currently computer from home, I would have to
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3. remove their workstation from my Whether you are just starting a consulting
LogMeIn account and set them up with business, or you are already an
their own LogMeIn Free account, or I established IT support provider, these two
would have to setup an entirely different utilities can provide a very effective... and
remote access product for them to use). affordable foundation for providing
reliable managed services to any small
Besides LogMeIn Central, I also use business client base.
LogMeIn Rescue for $129/mo. This
product, while a little pricey, has come in Robert Peretson invites you to discover
handy on many, many occasions. Rescue the massive rewards
that await you when
allows you to access any computer with
you start your own
an Internet connection, without you
highly successful
having to install the client software computer consulting
beforehand. You simply have the end- business. Give
user go to the website yourself the ultimate
http://logmein123.com, they enter a six- advantage by arming
digit code that you generate for them and yourself with the
you have instant access to the desktop. exact same tools, IT
marketing materials,
On many occasions I've had people (non- IT templates and personalized training
customers) call me up out of the blue to that have helped hundreds of Independent
tell me about a computer problem they're Computer Consultants to fire their bosses
having and asking if my company can fix and create a life of personal and financial
it. I've said, "Would you mind if I took a freedom.
look right now, just to get an idea of Get FREE instant access to 9 of our most
what's going on?" and using LogMeIn powerful training videos... and for a very
Rescue, within 30 seconds or so, they limited time, receive a massively effective
were watching the mouse pointer Sales Prospecting Letter written by one of
magically float around the screen as I the industry's top copywriters, valued at
fixed the problem before their eyes. $597... just for visiting
http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
This little IT Marketing technique landed
me new clients on more than one
occasion and has easily made back the
monthly fee many times over.
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