Are you trying to build your Information Technology service company? Sometimes in order to provide complete, fully-integrated, end-to-end solutions to your valued clients, you have to rely on subcontracting and partnering.
Subcontracting and partnering can be an excellent way to grow business and improve your relationships with clients. But many professionals in the technology business do not quite understand the difference between the two concepts or how to work them into their plans for working with small businesses.
The truth is, subcontracting and partnering can improve your ability to work with clients and help you efficiently run your business . It also frees you up for your most important business-growth activities so you have enough time to focus on important administrative, sales and marketing activities that will keep your sales funnel full of viable prospects, customers and clients.
The following 3 tips can help you better understand how to use subcontracting and partnering as you build your Information Technology service business.
Understand the Difference between Subcontracting and Partnering. There are several key ways that subcontracting differs from partnering. With subcontracting, your client has a single point of contact with your firm. The subcontractor primarily communicates with your firm, with only minimal direct communication with your client. Basically, the subcontractor functions as an extension of your firm, and the client does not necessarily even have to know that some of the larger project is being farmed out. With a subcontractor, the client gets one proposal, one contract and one invoice from your firm. Subcontractors also get paid by your firm, not the client. If your Information Technology service company is talking about partnering, you are working with another non-competing technology provider that is retaining its own corporate identity and presenting its own credentials to a mutual client. The client is aware there are two or more distinct technology providers involved in the project, and your partners communicate directly with the mutual client. The client communicates with the main contact person at all partnering computer consulting firms and gets proposals, contracts and invoices from all of them. Clarify which Party Handles which Details. With partnering and subcontracting, you need to clarify which party is handling which details of each project. In a master contractor/subcontractor relationship, the master contractor (your Information Technology service firm) will handle most, if not all administrative and management tasks. Unlike a partnering arrangement, you won’t need to spend a lot of time with your subcontractors reaching a common ground on whose billing and administrative procedures you will adopt. When you are a master contractor, you call the shots. However, whether you are working with subcontractors or partners on a project, you will still want to create a planning document that helps you define the rules of engagement and spells out individual responsibilities so everyone is always on the same page. Take Stock of the Skills You Are Retaining. Most of the time when you seek out a potential partner or subcontractor, you’re looking specifically for a certain skill set. After all, you’re trying to enhance your own offering so you can best serve your clients’ needs. For example, if client of yours needs a relational database designed to track wedding bookings for their catering business and this is not a skill you have in house, you will probably be looking for a subcontractor with expertise in the appropriate database platform and front-end design. Make sure as you engage with a new subcontractor or partner that you get an idea of his/her baseline level of knowledge on a variety of products and platforms beyond his/her specialty. You can create a skills inventory worksheet that you use with all your subcontractors and partners to collect information efficiently and consistently.
In this article, we talked about some of the most important differences between subcontracting and partnering, and how you can use subcontracting and partnering to grow your Information Technology service business. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients to your Information Technology service firm now at http://www.InformationTechnologyServiceHQ.com
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By: Joshua Feinberg
Posts Tagged ‘Relationships’
Information Technology Service Tips for Subcontracting and Partnering
January 28th, 2010Information Technology Business Plan For IT Support Contracts
January 9th, 2010If you are trying to come up with a good Information Technology business plan, you may be wondering about what your focus should be. Usually the top priority is creating a plan that will help you get great clients, so you can effectively manage and grow your business.
Many Information Technology consultants make the mistake of thinking they can just get by on one-shot deals and fly-by-night customers. But in reality, this type of approach just leaves you frazzled and worried about where you will get your next big project or next paycheck. You need to build a stable business based on on-going relationships with long-term clients that will pay you each and every month, and bring you predictable service revenue.
The best plan for developing a strong Information Technology business plan is to insist that every one of your clients sign a support contract. The following 4 tips can help you understand how to build your business plan on the solid foundation of support contracts.
Support Contracts Are Key for the Busy Information Technology Consultant. If you are like most IT consultants, your time is incredibly valuable. When you choose to base your Information Technology business plan on support contracts, you help better manage your time, particularly when you have many clients that all need service at once. When you insist upon support contracts, you maximize your utilization rate while still having enough time to deal with client emergencies when they occur. Better Manage Emergencies. When you base your business model on support contracts, you can prioritize your clients’ emergencies. When you have a bunch of clients all with emergencies at the same time, you can’t be everywhere at once. You need to narrow down the list of who gets your immediate attention and who will need to wait. Basically, those people that have committed to you long term get the royal treatment and those that do not have to accept that you will get to them when you have the time to spare. Force Customers and Clients to Make a Decision. You need to base your Information Technology business plan on support contracts in order to force those you are serving to make an important decision – are they "in," or are they "out"? A solid plan based on long-term relationships with clients weeds out those that are just testing the waters and are not serious about working with you long-term. Manage Expectations. A solid Information Technology business plan based on support contracts also helps you manage your customers’ and clients’ expectations more effectively. Those that have a support contract know they are top priority … and those that don’t know you have clients with support contracts and that they are the ones that will be responded to first.
In this brief article, we discussed 4 tips to help you create a strong Information Technology business plan, so you don’t have to stress out about being everything to everyone. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with an Information Technology business plan built around support contracts now at http://www.MyInformationTechnologyBusiness.com
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By: Joshua Feinberg
