As each passing day goes by, we zoom in further and further into our techie worlds, completely absorbed in it’s miniature workings. We focus on the tasks at hand: fixing this network, solving that virus infection.

It’s easy to get engulfed in tasks that we give ourselves. We check off one thing after the other and pat ourselves on the backs for meeting client deadlines and moving the needle forward.

But, we often forget that we are in business, and business does not prosper from linear tasks we set for ourselves. Business is strategy. Business is like a chess game. You cannot zoom in and focus on moving your pawn one space forward. You have to zoom completely out and look at the entire chess board. See your whole arsenal of attack. Think about how each piece is an invaluable component to a grand scheme that is your company.

Most business owners I work with for the first time don’t zoom out. They don’t know how. Many of them wouldn’t know what to do once they did zoom out. That’s why they become a Windows Renew partner. They need the guidance. They need specific direction, set strategies, and a blueprint to follow.

To be successful with your technology consulting business, you must zoom out, observe where you are in the game, observe which pieces you have,  and which pieces your opponents have. You must look ahead to predict obstacles, and strategize your series of moves.

You cannot walk around with your head to the ground and expect to move in a straight line. You also cannot expect to zoom in and out of your business with ease until you begin to do so every day and allow it to develop as a skill. You must look into the distance, change your path when needed, and never accept defeat.

If your technology business is suffering, it’s because you have missing pieces in your chess game. You may not be thinking enough about your client’s experience with you. You may be failing to “wow” them with an idea, service, brand or unique approach. Your return calls may be lacking. Your deadlines may be fuzzy. You may be marketing the wrong message through the wrong platform to the wrong market. You may not even HAVE a real marketing message even when you think you do. Your service offering may be inconsistent. Your brand may be too confusing. All these things will negatively effect the spread of word-of-mouth and lose you new business that is in your grasp.

These are the macro details you should be investing your time on every day. These elements will explode or crush your company. They will be the difference between millions of dollars or pennies in profit. You are the driver of your company. Where you end up solely depends on you. Be smart in your path, diligent in your approach, and learn to consider yourself a master of chess.

A USP answers the question, “Why should I choose you over your competition?”

The Dangers Of Not Having A Solid USP
The reason a USP is so important is because if you can’t tell somebody or convince somebody in a short statement why you are better than your competition then they can’t differentiate the two of you, and you become “more of the same”.

When you are the same as your competitor your service becomes a commodity – which is the last thing you want to happen.

Getting Shopped On Price
When your service becomes a commodity you start getting shopped on price. If your marketing, service, and unique selling proposition are all the same, the only thing that makes you different IS your price.  Prospects have to make some kind of decision on whom to go with and if price is the only differentiating factor, that will be the one used to hire you or not. This is a worst case scenario. The last thing you want is for someone NOT to focus on the value you can provide them and instead force you to compete on price and lose profits.

How To Stop Getting Shopped On Price
The quickest way to get someone to not focus on your price is to get them to focus all of their attention on your service, on what makes you unique, and on how you can solve their problems.  Doing all of these things will make people willing to spend more money with you than with your competition because they feel confident that you can give them what they need.

Developing Your USP
An important aspect of a USP is it needs to be easy to understand.  It has to be so obvious that your grandma could read it and know exactly what you do and why that is useful to her.

6 Example USP Categories
Now, I am going to give you a few different topics that you could base your USP around.

1. How you deliver your product.
   Maybe you deliver your service different than your competition. I know of a few companies that only provide remote support. They do 10 to 15 work orders a day specializing in this niche.
2. A different kind of business model.
   You could focus your USP around providing a unique offering like a free computer crisis hotline or a pick-up and drop-off model.
3. Financing you provide
   While other competitor’s in your area are charging full price up front, you may find success offering high-end solutions and putting together financing options to make it easier for clients to spend money with you.
4. A niche market you focus on
   Many tech companies specialize in nice markets like the health industry. If you do work for a law firm or accounting company, you may find that targeting similar companies can provide a profitable marketing solution.
5. Response time
   Think Dominos. They guarantee their pizza within 30 minutes or it’s free.  You too could build your USP around your response time. Determine what response time you can realistically commit to and consider using that to stand out from the crowd.
6. Money back guarantee
   I am a huge, huge, huge fan of money back guarantees, especially in the tech business, and any other business where trust is a big issue.  For example, with my computer consulting business-in-a-box I have a one-year money back guarantee.  I have this because trust is very important; you have to build that with your clients.  When you provide IT services and you offer a money back guarantee, you will find that sales will go up because less people feel there is a risk with hiring you for the first time.

USP In Action
I was just at GNC the other day, buying different supplements, and I wasn’t aware of their return policy. There was a product I wanted to try, but it was expensive and I was afraid of spending the money. Then the clerk told me about their guarantee which states that I can use as much of the product as I want and if I don’t like it, no matter how much is left, I can bring it back for a full refund.

I was blown away, and I bought the product I was considering because there was no risk involved.  Because of their return policy, I knew that GNC was confident in their product and so I ultimately became confident in the product too. Ultimately, that was enough to convince me to buy.

Famous USP’s To Study

1. FedEx – “Overnight delivery guaranteed.”
2. AAA – “24 hour roadside assistance.”
3. Ford – “Built Ford Tough.”
4. Walmart – “Always Low Prices.”

Conclusion
Every major, successful, multi-million dollar business in the world has a unique selling proposition.  That is specifically why they are making a lot of money and outselling their competition. They have a strong brand, and that brand makes them unique.  So, I urge you to start thinking about what your unique selling proposition is, and how it ties into your marketing message.

3 Key Elements Every Marketing Message Must Have:

1. Element #1 – You need a specific target market
   
   It’s important to identify specifically who your ideal client is. Determine the demographics and psychographics of your client-base so you know who you will be targeting your marketing message to.
   
   
2. Element #2 – Identify your target market’s problems and emotions
   
   You can uncover this information by talking to potential clients on the phone and subscribing to the same publications. In doing this, you are going to discover what problems your target market is dealing with, what emotions they experience (e.g. – are they frustrated with slow computers), whether or not they know how to make smart technology decisions, and what problems they have with their business that technology can help them solve.

3. Element #3 – Explain the benefits of your serviceA big mistake that I see IT business owners make all the time in their marketing is they list out what their service IS but they don’t list out what their service DOES.The reality is, people don’t care what your service IS – they hire you for what it DOES. They hire you because they have a problem and they want it fixed, but they don’t care what you do to fix it.The easiest way to determine what the benefits are of your service is to first list out all of the FEATURES that your service provides and then list the BENEFITS of each feature.  For example, if you are marketing a virus removal service, example features might be the amount of time it takes you to do the work, a special technique you use to perform the work, steps you take to remove the virus, and your response time to emergency calls. For each one of these features, you would then list out the benefits they provide your client.  Example benefits might be an end to your client’s frustration or the productivity that your client gains due to their computer running faster and more efficient. Once you discover the benefits of your service, list them in bullet point form in your marketing. Use the benefits of your service as the centerpiece for your marketing, because they will generate the largest emotional response from potential clients.

KEY TIP  - Whenever possible…market to PROBLEMS! Marketing to problems is powerful, especially in the IT industry, because problems are “hot – buttons” that motivate buying behavior.  This is due to the fact that we all endure problems and we are “wired” to want to solve them.  When you talk to someone about problems in your marketing, 2 things happen:

First, you grab their attention by talking about something they truly care about. Second, just the fact that you can identify the problem they are experiencing makes you more credible because they will assume that if you know what their problems are then most likely you know how to FIX their problems.  This will make them much more inclined to hire you.

For a complete “paint by numbers” system to starting up, growing, and running a profitable computer consulting business, consider investing in my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box.

But don’t believe everything you hear! The truth is, poor economic conditions are the BEST time for small business owners and start-ups to get in on the game and leapfrog their competition! While huge corporations are stuck with mind-boggling overhead and klunky business models to manage, fresh start-ups use nimble business strategies and innovation to become the next big thing in their industry.

The same is true for the computer consulting industry. If you implement frugal operating practices and aggressively innovate, you can outgrow your competition and end up in a better position when times are good. My Computer Repair Business In-A-Box clients are experiencing tremendous growth right now during this recession.

The key is to ‘recession-proof’ your business. When it comes to computer consulting, there are 4 important steps to take to stabilize your income and build predictable wealth and market dominance.

Here Are 4 Steps You Can Put In Action Today:

1. Focus on accessibility. Successful companies are moving their focus away from making their products moresophisticated, and are instead focusing on adding more value and affordability. In a down economy, people are looking to either save money or get MORE for their money. It’s no coincidence that inexpensive netbooks are outselling their more expensive competitors. Study the graph to the right to learn more about 3 important movements that are going on right now in the computer consulting industry. Companies are adding more value to inexpensive products and reducing the price on their premium products. This is putting pressure on the middle market and squeezing them out of their market share.

So start thinking of ways you can add more value to your product while keeping your prices affordable to people with a tight income. You could bundle your services together, offer free upgrades, provide flat rate pricing (instead of hourly fees), etc. Making your computer consulting more affordable to low-income families will allow you to jump into an untapped market and dominate. Plus, if you build a loyal client following now with this low-income market, just imagine how profitable they will be when the economy picks up, they start making more money, and go to you for all their computer work!

2. Establish recurring income. The single fastest way to ‘recession-proof’ your computer consulting business is to capture reliable, recurring revenue streams to sure up your expenses and save you when business is slow. The easiest way to do this is to take your existing services and package them into proactive monthly maintenance plans. Managed services is a cash cow market, as is emerging cloud computing opportunities. Start looking into these markets and put together a monthly plan of your own that you could offer small businesses and home users in your area. Clients will contract to pay you monthly for unlimited support, scheduled backups and audits, and included upgrades. It’s a win-win because it guarantees you business (even if your client’s systems are healthy) and it gives your clients peace of mind that they never have to worry about their system going down or a catastrophe occurring that could have been prevented.

If you also provide web design (which some computer consultants do), web hosting and online email marketing software plans are a great way to establish recurring monthly income.

3. Go lean. To grow your business and build market share you have to be a lean, mean operating machine. That means cutting corners with expenses as much as you can. Make sure you are documenting EVERY PENNY you are spending on your business. You’ll find things like eating out, going over on your cell phone minutes, printing on paper when you could go digital, and wasting unnecessary electricity can all add up to a dollar amount that could ultimately break you. Imagine what you could do with an extra $400/month in advertising to get new clients. Do that every month for 2 years and you are talking about tens of thousands of dollars in extra business (not including the word-of-mouth these new clients will generate for you). Positive growth happens exponentially.

4. Learn to multiply by dividing. Most computer consultants are one-man-bands, but the fastest way to more money is to partner strategically. If you take a small slice of a much bigger pie you’ll make out in the end. It’s very easy to partner strategically with other companies when the economy is tight, because everyone is hungry for new money-making opportunities. Don’t be afraid to work together with someone locally. When you help others make money, you make money too!

The bottom line is…

Successful companies know that the best time to get ahead is to innovate when their competition is tightening their belts and closing their wallets. Now is the time to think creatively and act on it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You can get your company quickly off the ground and running with my Computer Repair Business In-A-Box.

The #1 question technology consultants ask me in regards to the Geek Squad is “How can a little shop like mine compete with big box retail giants like the Geek Squad when they have millions of marketing dollars to throw around and I have virtually none?”

The answer is: There are many, many ways you can profitably compete, but you need to do your research and learn how to educate your prospects on what makes you the clear choice.

You can educate prospects through your website, your marketing, and day-to-day conversations. You have to make a list of specific points that make you the superior choice and then craft your message into short, easy-to-remember, easy-to-understand, answers that you can use the next time someone asks “So, you’re like the Geek Squad?”

Once you begin to educate your community, word of mouth will spread and you will find that your clients will begin educating their friends and family members for you. This is exactly why I dedicate several of the marketing campaigns and business systems included in my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box towards educating prospects and positioning my client’s business as THE ‘go to’ choice over the Geek Squad and other competitors in the area.

One aspect you can compete with is security.

If you do a search online regarding the Geek Squad’s operating procedures you will find articles that reveal that:

“The Geek Squad outsources some of the repairs via a remote access application (AKA AJU or Agent Johnny Utah). These people are in countries that have no similar privacy laws that are in the US. So in other words, your computer with your saved bank passwords, government contacts, ETC; are being accessed by ‘Bob’ in India, Pakistan, and various other countries around the world.” – Consumerist.com

Identity theft and personal privacy are huge concerns that consumers and businesses have when hiring someone to fix their computer. You may have even been asked to sign a release form guaranteeing that you will not keep or distribute any information contained on the clients machine.

If you have not signed such a release form, you should consider adding it to your standard procedure when you first sit down with your clients and fill out a work order.

4 Ways You Can Use Security To Bring You More Business:

1. Write a consumer awareness report that educates consumers on the importance of having a security release form signed by their computer consultant. Give examples of articles covering cases of identity theft and explain what your company does to ensure this does not happen to your clients.It will not cost you anything but your time to write and distribute a report and it will instantly bring you trust and establish you as an expert in computer service consulting.
2. Add a statment to your “X Reasons To Hire Us” list on your website. You do have one of these right? Whereever you list out why a prospect will want to hire you over your competition, make sure you include a statement that explains your security procedures and policies.
3. Add a bullet to your marketing ads. On your fliers, in your newspaper ads, direct mail, business cards, etc. make sure to include a bullet point showcasing your security.
4. Focus your newsletter around security. If you send out a monthly newsletter (through mail or email), focus one month on security. You can include examples of identity fraud, tips your clients can use to protect themselves, and then detail your own security policies.

These are just a few examples of how you can use security to educate prospects to hire you over the Geek Squad.  There are many other reasons they should hire you as well, but you have to do the work by researching your competition, making a list of areas you are superior, and then include them in all of your communications with people in your community.

For a proven, field-tested, marketing system that is designed to differentiate you from your competitors and easily steal valuable business away from the Geek Squad, consider investing in my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box.