The dawn of the digital age made having a website a must for any business. Every business guru will advise you on the importance of having a website as a tool for capturing the attention of prospective clients. Well, all of these facts are indeed true in case you own an e-commerce site or a business venture that solely runs over the internet. So is web design for IT consultants a waste of time?
The service sector is not the same, especially if the firm is related to consultancy in the IT industry. A website could prove to be a big distraction for anyone running a company that provides IT consultancy services. Maintaining the website, periodic updates on the progress, etc. deviate the focus of the entrepreneur from the primary job at hand: acquiring clients!
Below are five tips that explain why web design for IT consultants is a waste of time.
5 Reasons Why Web Design for IT Consultants is a Waste of Time
1. Build contacts before quitting your day-job
In recent years, start-up businesses saw maximum growth and the idea of leaving your day-job was becoming viral. Freedom of work schedule, travel flexibility, and the absence of a boss were the unique selling points that added fuel to the fire! People resolved to quit their day jobs and set up shop for their ventures and ideas.
It is advised not to do so. Making mistakes, taking risks and facing losses is inevitable when you start something new. Isn’t it the best idea to face difficult times and lose some capital while you still have a steady income at the end of the month!?
The Proper pitching of ideas, putting together convincing proposals, attractive packaging of services and appropriate pricing of products are art forms that need a lot of trials and errors.
Word to the wise, before you go full time on your side business, going through business management classes online, listening to success stories on TEDtalks, experimenting and improving your proposal writing skills is of utmost importance.
2. Develop skills and give back
Suppose a person is from a literature background, with a Master’s degree in Physiology. Now imagine the same person is thinking about starting a consultancy firm for the corporate sector. Impossible, you say? No sir!
People often believe that business ventures are for people who are good with numbers; individuals with an insatiable hunger for money. None of these clichés is true. ‘Business’ is a complicated word on its own, to simplify this change in perception is advised. If the term business is replaced by the phrase ‘problem-solving’ and the ‘transactional’ goal is replaced with a more valuable ‘adding values’ approach, the whole game changes.
If a person from any educational background, starts thinking about what people need rather than what he can do, then the entire concept of owning and running a business becomes simplified.
3. Empathize with your clients
Implementation of the above two points in the overall business approach can change everything. If the overall service packaging and quality are up to the mark, pushing clients to do business is not necessary. To establish and strength professional rapport, all you need to do is analyse the problems that your client might be facing and offer to solve them.
Typically, business pitching is all about talking why your company is best in doing a certain task. If you are pitching yourself as a service provider, the most generic approach is to come up with all the possible reasons that make you the best among the others. The most unprofessional and clichéd approach is to advertise why an IT professional has all the answers. Another reason why web design for IT consultants is a waste of your time.
How Best to Win Clients?
A unique way to achieve success in an entrepreneurial venture is learning the art of keeping quiet while the client does all the talking. Asking questions to customers about their problems is the new sales pitch. Empathize with the daily problems they might be facing in their data infrastructure and ask whether they need analysis of their data or management services.
At the end of the discussion, summarize what you learned from the client and provide them with a solution. Articulating someone’s problems leads them to entrust you with the resolution. The key to being a successful IT consultant is to let the client trust you and to establish trust, empathizing with them by listening to their issues is crucial.
When customers trust their service providers, they keep on coming back!
4. Focus on generation of sales
In business terms, it is called direct selling or, more technically, ‘direct to the source.’ Approach the customer directly and offer them a solution for their data breach crisis or flaw in data infrastructure. The goal for any IT consultancy company or professional in the initial years should be client acquisition instead of brand-building. Web design for IT consultants is a lost cause.
This idea would present itself as a contradiction to a person from the marketing background. It is best to give this recommendation a go before throwing it out the window. Plan on getting clients that pay by directly approaching them and provide solutions for their problems. Avoid using business cards, company logos, and every possible stationery that can act as a potential advertising material. These items will only deviate you from the primary goal: acquiring paying clients.
Once you establish a healthy rapport after a successful transaction, that visit to the client could lead to multiple referrals.
5. Everyone is a customer – Keep this in mind
One thing that could be bugging you is how you’ll make people sit in a meeting with you. The answer is, you can’t! Enduring through failures, disappointments, and patiently holding on is key. You are not the only one in that situation, remember that!
The one mindset that can keep an entrepreneur going is the simple idea that every person is a potential referral source or a prospective client. Combining this idea with ‘what can I do to help you?’, the approach could result in helping you see all possible opportunities for business.
