• Annual managed services revenue (2008)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2008 vs. 2007, in dollars)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2008 vs. 2007, percentage growth)
• Percentage of overall revenue from managed services (2008)
• Devices managed (2008)
• Devices managed, annual growth (2008 vs.2007, in raw numbers)
• Devices managed, percentage growth (2008 vs. 2007)
• Full-time technicians (2008)
• Managed services revenue per full-time technician (2008)

Through this index, we ensured that the MSPmentor 100 includes a healthy mix of small, midsize and large managed service providers worldwide. If you are a computer repair professional looking to break into the managed service industry, or if you are looking to grow your existing managed services offerings, a great place to start is to study the following companies who are already at the top of their game…

Top 100 Managed Service Providers In The World

Home-User Market
Certifications are most important for establishing credibility, so if you are working with home-user clients, at the very least, you are going to want to be A+ certified.

Small Business Market
If you are working with small businesses, it gets a little tricky because you have many different certification options to choose from. Many software and hardware vendors offer certifications with their products. When choosing which vendors to support and specialize in, you should also strongly consider going through their certification program.

The first place to start is to begin researching the available hardware and software solutions that are out there.  Pick one or two hardware and software vendors and stick with them.  Be sure to get certified by the manufacturer because then in your marketing you can explain to clients:

“Hey. I specialize in this software. I am CERTIFIED by the manufacturer and my competition is not. This should be important to you because in order to get certified, there is a high level of qualifications you have to meet.

There are certain standards that I have to abide by that your existing IT firm isn’t responsible for. Nobody is holding them accountable.  You don’t want to trust anybody with your server who could potentially cause problems if they are not certified with that server’s manufacturer.

If your server goes down then your profits are going to go down, your productivity is going to go down, and your competitive edge is going to vanish.”

Top 9 IT Certifications To Consider

1. CompTia A+
   This certification is hands down at the top of the list for individuals looking to break into the computer biz. CompTia A+ will certify you as a computer technician in hardware, OS, and networking. It is recommended that you get a minimum of 6 months experience. There are 2 exams involved.
2. Microsoft Certified Professional
   This is the first step to getting certified with Microsoft. After the first exam you will be MCP certified and will then be qualified to take Microsoft’s more advanced certifications like MCSD, MCSE, etc.
3. Microsoft Certified Desktop Service Technician (MCDST)
   This certification requires two exams. If you like troubleshooting, than this certification will be ideal for you. It will certify you on desktop computers.
4. CompTia Security+
   Security is vital now with the sophistication of technology and the internet. It is recommended that you have 2 years of experience before taking this exam. The Security+ certification works as a prerequisite for the MCSA and CNE.
5. Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) Associates
   This internet technologies exam covers html, dhtml, networking, graphics, and internet history. After you take the associates exam you can advance to the Professional and Master CIW levels.
6. Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)
   This is step 1 in Java certifications on the Java 2 Platform.
7. MySQL
   This certification requires just one exam. You will need a basic understanding of SQL and MySQL. If you have more advanced skills, you can take a professional level exam for a higher certification.
8. CCNA and CCDA
   These two certifications require dedicated training (especially if you are new to IT). Cisco certifications are popular and well respected. After you pass these certifications and then receive experience to back them up, you will be able to advance to higher level Cisco certifications.
9. Microsoft Office Specialist
   Microsoft provides certification on their Office products, such as Word and Excel. You will be required to take several exams and have a comprehensive knowledge of the products.

I see this happen all the time with startup companies. Lack of research up front is the #1 contributor to small IT firms failing within their first year.

It’s absolutely critical to the life of your business that you do the necessary research up front to determine the most ideal market for your services. You want to do this BEFORE you spend money on marketing or dedicate any time to establishing your business.

The definition of what computer repair market is “right” for you is going to differ depending on what area of the country you’re in, and what services you offer.

The first step to targeting the right computer market is to pick a market that you think you might want to focus on, and perform the following research to determine if it is ideal for your business.

Once you pick a market to research, you are going to want to look up the demographics and psychographics of that market.

Demographics are the physical or tangible aspects of a potential client. Examples of demographics are average income, typical education, how many kids someone has, what neighborhoods they live in, etc.

Psychographics are the intangible or emotional aspects that your potential clients share or have in common. Examples of psychographics include common interests, places your clients like to frequent, websites they visit often, similar problems they experience at work, etc.

4 Critical Questions To Ask When Researching A Computer Repair Market

1. “Is my particular market easy to identify?”For instance, lets say you decide that you want to focus on accountants. Maybe you worked on an accountant’s network and you feel like you could specialize in doing IT work for other accountants. In the example of an accountant, it would be easy to identify who the accountants are in your area.
2. “Are they easy to locate?” In other words, is it easy to locate your target market in your community. Can you easily lookup where they work? Are there organizations they might belong to?  Do you have access to their contact information for marketing purposes?If you’re targeting a group like lawyers or home users, it would not take much effort to find lists of contact information.
3. “Are there enough people in my community to sustain my business?”Before you start your business, you’re going to want to sit down and write out goals – financial goals – for yourself that you want to achieve. Lets say your goal is that you want to make $60,000 in a year with your new business. You then need to break this figure down to determine how many sales you need to make and then how many clients you need to hit your sales goal.Most importantly, you’re going to want to know what the lifetime value is of a client over the course of a year. The lifetime value of your client is equal to the average amount of money you make from that client. For example, lets say you’re doing a virus removal service and you charge $150, and lets say that the average home-user hires you twice a year – your lifetime value of that client would be $300. So if each client that you get is typically worth $300 to you and your financial goal for the year is $60,000, then you would need 200 new clients.If you need 200 clients and you are targeting accountants, you better make sure there are at LEAST 200 accountants in your area to turn INTO clients. If there are less than 200 accountants in your area then you need to either increase the lifetime value of your clients or pick a different market to target.
4. “Do they have enough capital to buy my services?”It’s really important to know if your target market has enough money to hire you, or if they even DESIRE the services you offer.  The only way that you can find out if they’d be willing to hire you or how much they can afford to spend on IT projects, is to conduct one-on-one questionnaires with actual people in your community who fit the market you are considering targeting.

Conducting Telephone Research

Pick 10 to 15 potential clients, get them on the phone, and ask them questions to get the answers you need.  Ask them what websites they frequent and what church they go to. Ask them what their income is – if they don’t feel comfortable telling you their income – ask them what income BRACKET they are in. Find out what neighborhood they live in, how many kids they have, how often they outsource IT work, etc. Make sure to find out who they are currently hiring to do their work. You want to find out who your competition is.

Quick Tip - An extremely powerful technique to conducting telephone research with potential clients is to RECORD THE CALLS. Make sure to ask permission.  That way you will not drive yourself crazy trying to take down a lot of notes. This will allow you to really just listen, and then at the end of the call you can review the recording, write down their responses word for word, and then turn around and “spit it back out” in your marketing.  What better way to communicate to someone than to use THEIR OWN WORDS to do it!

2 Great List Building Websites

1. ZapData.com
2. SRDS.com

Both of these sites are list sites; you can buy lists of target markets in your area.  You can go on and search for any type of client in your area, and you can purchase lists of potential clients that you want to start marketing to.  These are also great places to get a free count of how many potential clients are in your area, and this will really help you to decide whether that is the right target.

Also, another really good recommendation that I have is for you to find out what local and national organizations your target market is most likely a member of.  You can contact these organizations, and ask them for a list count of how many people in your area belong to that organization.

Furthermore, if you join these organizations, you can get your foot in the door for marketing to these people.  For instance, if you are specializing in accountants, and you are also a member of the same organization as them then you have common ground – you have something you can talk about on a cold-call.

Additionally, I always recommend that you subscribe to their publications.  Find trade journals that are specific to that industry.  Not only do you need to be good with the technical side of things, but also you need to understand their industry, and you need to understand their concerns.  The more of this information that you can arm yourself with the more you will be the clear choice over your competition. Because you are specializing in their market, you will prove to them that you know what you are talking about, and that you can help them specifically.

Why My Computer Repair Business In-A-Box Guarantees You A Flood Of IT Sales
I’ve literally logged hundreds of hours researching small businesses and consumers in various markets across the US, UK and Australia. I’ve uncovered what hot buttons get small business owners and home users to buy technology services and pay premium prices. All of my research and knowledge is packed into my Computer Repair Business In-A-Box, along with 1 year’s worth of “done for you” marketing campaigns that have already been proven to generate millions of dollars in new IT sales for my past clients.

Shortcut your path to success and guarantee future income by investing in my Computer Repair Business In-A-Box.

Computer repair consulting is profoundly different from this concept.  There are only so many billable hours in a day, and only so many clients in a week you can service.  Clients who buy my Computer Repair Business In-A-Box quickly learn to avoid these mistakes and implement a business model that services profitable clients and allows for turbo growth. (Remember growth is not just financial. It includes broadening your scope of services, working with higher-level clients, enhancing your reputation, and offering more sophisticated solutions.)  For the techie whose lifeblood is sustained by cheap break-fix services, the attitude tends to be “All business is good business and I’ll never turn down a paying client.”

There are a few things wrong with this mentality, but they are all deadly because:

1. Reputation works in all directions. If you are known as an “inexpensive solution,” your services will be judged accordingly and the average prospect will assume he/she will never have to pay a lot for your work nor receive anything of value that’s above your cheap asking price. Your reputation will build as such and will pigeon hole you into a corner. Imagine McDonald’s trying to break into fine dining. McBottle Service anyone?
2. Quality, not quantity, is the sole measure of success. A friend of mine, Dan Turner, has built a million-dollar web design business from scratch. A couple years ago we collaborated on a few projects in which he commented that common approaches to direct mail were off base. “Most people look for a response rate of around 2 percent to represent success,” he pointed out, “which is simply a number. If you mail out 5,000 pieces, all you need is one very high quality response.” Dan based his entire business on this concept–find one high paying client and do a great deal of work their rather than find 10 clients and do a little work for each. As a technology consultant you are far better off doing $10,000 in business with one client rather than do $500 in business with 20 clients. You’ll work less, make the same amount of money, and you’ll be working with high paying clients that can get you more high paying clients to do this kind of work for.
3. Sales effort is equal across all technology price points. From my experience in the IT industry, I’ve discovered that it takes the same amount of time to sell a $200 service as it does to sell a $10,000 service. The amount of advertising, number of calls, number of questions asked, amount of pre-sale research preformed by the prospect, are all surprisingly consistent. The only difference is the attitude of the consultant. So, if you are trying to close business and it takes the same amount of effort to close a $200 client as it does to close a $10,000 client, which would you rather spend your time pursuing? This isn’t rocket science, but do you get my point? The effort it takes to attract, sell, close, deliver, and administer small IT projects is the same for large projects, so you are not making up in volume what you could be doing in size. By continuing to accept anything that comes along, a technology consultant is doomed to poor time management and lack of growth.

So here’s the cold hard truth: Every time you raise your fees or pursue more sophisticated work, you will lose the bottom 15% of your market. Million dollar technology consultants regularly abandon the bottom 15% of their market as a growth strategy to free up time to pursue  the upper reaches of their market.

Every 2 years or so you should be able to look back and identify work that you would no longer accept. If you are accepting the same type of work with the same fees as you did 2 years ago, than you probably have not abandoned your bottom 15% and therefore have not expanded into the top 5% of your market (which is far, far more profitable).

You cannot accept all types of business and expect to grow. Continuing to take on everything means that your expertise and reputation are not expanding.

If you are looking for a complete system to repositioning your computer repair company and your services so you can stop being shopped on price and actually RAISE your rates over time, consider my Computer Repair Business In-A-Box.

Due to the longevity of XP, millions of users rely on their local computer consultant for support and advice regarding the operating system.

So it’s your responsibility to do your due diligence with the operating system, understand the emerging market trends and decide what you feel the best solution is. I’ve been teaching my Computer Repair Business In-A-Box clients how to put a system in place to transition towards a Windows 7 solution while guaranteeing future profits.

Many articles are springing up about how much faster and more resourceful Windows 7 is compared to Vista and XP. The reality is, Windows XP is 10 years old and will not be compatible with future hardware products.

Yet, despite all the good feedback circulating about Windows 7, many computer repair administrators are not planning to migrate. The bad ecomony is a major factor that is contributing to these statistics. 35% of companies say they are skipping upgrades or technology purchases (PC World). So what can you do?

While there are many articles online discussing Windows 7′s features, there isn’t a lot of talk about profitability for the technology service provider.  You have several angles you can take:

1. Do Nothing. Push Security. Many computer repair consultants will choose to not support Windows 7 until Service Pack 1 is released. If you’re one of them, you should educate your clients through email, your website, and ad campaigns regarding the security issues that Windows 7 will have. You can offer a security service and software package as an economic way of securing XP and keeping clients current with new security threats.
2. Sell A Solution To Bring Windows 7 Features Into XP. If your area is hit hard by the economy and you forsee a long uphill battle educating your clients and convincing them to spend the money on Windows 7, you can offer a service to install all of the features that Windows 7 boasts on XP or Vista. There are many free programs and online services that your clients can use to achieve similar functionality without having to spend money on an upgrade.
3. Push a Windows XP to Windows 7 Upgrade. It’s no secret that upgrading from XP will be very difficult for end users. It’s also no secret that Microsoft does not support XP anymore. Microsoft is actually recommending that people simply buy a new computer if they want Windows 7 rather than try and upgrade from XP. Surprised? The problem is, again, the economy. There will be a large market of people wanting to upgrade who cannot afford (nor should they have) to buy a new PC. You can offer a service that specializes in performing the upgrade.

It’s important that you have a plan. If you support Windows 7, you’ll want to know exactly why and how you are going to profitably make that work for your business. The same holds true if you decide to wait on supporting Windows 7. The key to any successful marketing campaign is educating your clients and then motivating them to take a desired action.

The average end user is not going to spend months researching the development and release of Windows 7. They will be relying on you to do the leg work and make a recommendation for them. They are also going to rely on you to educate them about the new operating system and why it may or may not be the right choice for them. If it is not the right choice, they are going to need to know what is.

If you still need to brush up on Windows 7′s features, compatibility, and other questions, visit this useful resource forum.

I am constantly seeing a huge mistake managed service providers are making that is costing them from closing thousands of dollars in contracts. While they are offering the right services and are fully capable of doing the work and wowing their clients, they are failing to convince existing and new clients to actually sign on the dotted line and make the move to managed service contracts.

Do you know what mistake they are making? Emotional justification. Let me explain…

We only buy something for our own selfish desires. We don’t purchased things because it’s the right thing to do, it’s a smart decision, or it’s something we need. If we did we would all be taking our vitamins, eating healthy, and saving our money. We would also get rid of nasty bad habits that cause us to be broke and fat.

Even when we donate money to charities we do it because it makes us feel better about OURSELVES!

So what does that mean for selling managed services?

Well, first off you have to ask yourself what will motivate someone to buy your services? Obviously, if it’s someone whose server is constantly crashing they are more likely to buy your services will less effort. For this type of client you have to demonstrate why they can trust you to fix their problems and why you are the clear choice over your competitors.

By the way, I always recommend to my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box clients to implement a ‘keep in touch’ marketing program, and I give them a couple campaigns that they can use to get started. Staying in touch with your prospects on a regular basis is a great way to build trust and establish credibility. Plus, since you don’t know when their network is going to go down, or when they are going to have the ‘last straw’ with their existing tech guy, you want to always be in front of their mind so that the moment they are ready for a solution they immediately think of you!

Ok. So what do you do if the prospectis not experiencing constant network crashing? How do you convince a prospect to fix something that isn’t broke?

Basically, you need to ‘scare the crap’ out of them. You have to show them what a network crash can do to their data, to their security, their business operations. They need to be educated about the problems that can creep up with bad practices of an unmonitored network and poor security. Next, you have to educate them on how YOU can help them prevent all of those problems from happening, and just like the prospect who is already experiencing issues, you have to demonstrate why they can trust you.

This is exactly how to sell managed services profitably and successfully, yet I keep seeing technology firms focusing on what managed services are and what they do. This is not going to convince anyone to sign up because there is no emotional draw or selfish motivation. You’d be lucky if someone looked at your flier for 3 seconds before moving on. You have to educate them on a regular basis through teleseminars, direct mail letters, free reports, audio recordings, etc.

If you do that and constantly hammer your message home consistently, prospects will (eventually) sign up. It’s hard to say exactly when someone will be ready to buy, because everyone’s circumstances are different. You will; however, give yourself the best possible opportunity to close very profitable managed service contracts.

If you are serious about managed services, you should consider my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box. It includes ‘done-for-you’ managed service marketing campaigns, proposal contracts, and step-by-step training on how to approach, close, and run your own managed service business.

I want to give you one of the biggest pieces of advice you will ever receive: RAISE YOUR COMPUTER REPAIR RATES!

Pretty wild right? That’s why I get paid the big bucks. Go ahead and just try it. The only one that may have any anxiety afterwards will be you. Your clients won’t care. Their response will be mild at best and you will not lose any business.

Why raising your computer repair rates can INCREASE business:

Consumer’s subconsciously associate value with price, and this only makes sense. After all, a $98,000 home does not have the same perceived value as a $325,000 home of the same size in a different neighborhood.  Before even seeing the homes, we immediately associate the more expensive one with finer, polished, more luxurious features. We associate the inexpensive home with the opposite.

The same is true for your business. If you are advertising $15/hour while your competitor’s all charge $65/hour, you will more than likely get LESS business.

Prospects will assume that your prices are so cheap because you either:

1. Are not good at what you do- or -
2. You are not confident in your own abilities

If you demand higher prices, you are demanding higher credibility, and sending a message that you provide a quality of service that is superior to your competitors.

Even though I am suggesting that you raise your rates, I do not want you to price yourself out of your clients buying range. A $10 to $20 hourly rate increase will not break the bank, but a $40 to $50 increase might.

The best thing to do is test.
You have to test your prices and your clients response. I suggest you take 30 days for each pricing structure to give yourself enough time to collect accurate results. Document the following:

1. Your profits
2. The number of calls you receive a week
3. The number of calls that turned into clients
4. The number of calls that did NOT turn into clients
5. How many clients expressed concerns about your new price.

What you will most likely find is that business either stays the same or increases slightly and you do not lose any clients.

Consider my own example…
In my own computer consulting business I advertised a Total Recovery service that included a Windows reinstall, data/drivers/settings backup, and program reinstall. I originally charged a flat $125. I decided to experiment with higher prices, so I raised my rate to a flat $197 for the service.

The results? I almost doubled sales and had virtually no objections when I told clients the new price over the phone.

I have advised dozens of other computer consultants through my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box to raise their prices, and have never witnessed a negative affect on their business. In all instances, sales went up.

Make Sure You Deliver and Justify
If you are going to raise your rates you must always deliver on your abilities and wow your clients with your work and customer service. If you take care of every person who calls, emails you, and walks into your store, they will have no problem spending a little more with you than with your competitors.

What About The Bad Apples?
If you do have a few clients leave because of your new price, chances are they are bad clients and you should have fired them anyways. The clients that work with you are the ones who appreciate what you do and will gladly refer you to all of their friends.

Conclusion
The bottom line is, you will never know until you try. The worst that could happen is you raise your rates, decide its not for you, and lower them back down. But if you do not try to raise your rates, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table.

So go ahead, give it a try.

Post your answers to these questions as comments below:

What rates do you currently charge? How does that compare to your competitors? When was the last time you raised your rates? If you’ve raised your rates already, what was the result?

For a full-proof solution on how to increase sales AND raise your rates, consider investing in my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box. The marketing campaigns and business systems I provide you are designed to sell prospects on the VALUE of your services which, in turn, justifies your higher prices and makes it easier for them to see you as the ‘clear choice’ when choosing a provider.