How Best to Earn the Trust of Small Businesses for Your IT Consulting Company

IT consulting is an important factor for just about any company, regardless of the kind of business that they do. And that is one of the reasons why we do what we do - namely, small business IT consulting. Because while it may be a very important thing to do, it is not necessarily an affordable thing for that company to do. Some small businesses can barely manage to cover the areas that they need to in order to do the basic operations of their company, so how can they worry about paying another company to offer IT consulting, especially a bigger company that expects other bigger companies to pay even bigger costs? Well, that is where companies like yours and mine come in. We understand the perils that a small business faces, both on a financial level and an operational level, so we try to tailor our services to their needs. In doing so, we have become a very popular business for these kinds of companies in our area. Through successes and failures, we have been able to cultivate a culture that helps our customers deal with the disadvantage they face against their bigger competitors. And what we are going to do today is offer you a few points of advice that will, hopefully, help you and your company figure out how you can master working with small businesses as well.

 

Treat your Small Business IT Consulting Customers with Respect

No matter what, your customers need to be treated with patience (within reason). So long as your customers are not behaving in a terrible manner to you or your employees and they are paying what you ask them to pay, then you should do your best to remain patient if they do not understand. If you are good enough at your job, you should be able to help them figure it out and do just as well are you perhaps!

Price Your Services Accordingly

One of the biggest mistakes I see in my respective industry is to see people pricing their company's services in such a way that simply does not do them any good. There are two ways that they go about this mistake: they either price their services too high or too low, both directions which can prove fatal. If you price your services too high, your customers - being small business owners - are less able to afford your services, even if they are indeed valuable. And if you price your services too low, you may find that your bottom end is suffering as a result. Either one may affect your reputation as well; if you price yourself low, you're a "budget service." If you price yourself too high, you're a "luxury service" (an even worse perception if you do not have luxury-quality services).

Do Your Best to Make Things Clear

 

While you do not want to have to explain every little detail about the work that you are doing for them, it is important that they understand and are able to understand what you are doing. After all, if your small business IT consulting work does not help them become self-reliant as far as their IT work goes. Essentially, you want to ensure that when your consultation is finished (whether it is a short one or a long one), you want them to be able to do things themselves. Not only does this ensure that they will trust you with future work that they may have for you, it also ensures that your clients, who are satisfied by your quick and quality work, will recommend you to their business partners and generally give you glowing recommendations.