How to handle consulting on a part time basis!

[wisdomwarrior23]

I have a regular 9-5 job in which I perform IT work, but I also have started an IT consulting firm with some colleagues of mine. What is the best way to handle support issues that come up during the day from your clients. I want to provide the best service but my time will only allow me to do it after work. Sometimes my clients are forced to call Microsoft when I'm not available!

 

[needcoffee]

Have you written a business plan/model or did you throw together a few clients that you knew of to form this endeavor. There are a few things you and your colleagues should determine as soon as possible.

What line of support to offer (PC, Server, Networking)?
What level of support per line offered?
Best response time to an issue? Meaning from time of intial call until time to first adressed by support staff.
What is your oncall or work schedule for this support company?
How are you charging your clients, hourly, monthly fee, hourly w/retainer, etc.?

All of these issues should be discussed with your partners. You will still have to do some negotiation with your clients after you lay out the business but it will make service objectives eaier to manage. If you cannot meet their expectations or unclear about what service you are providing, you will not have this extra business for long.
Unless a business critical app or server dies during the day, most small buisinesses won't have a problem waiting until afterhours for PC support and server maintenance.

Here's my recommendation:
If you want a few side jobs to get some extra money, divide the client list up evenly and provide support to your list. If you want a business doing this, quit your jobs and do it.
Hunger is a great motivator.

needcoffee

 

[wisdomwarrior23]

I'm the type of person that is always looking for ways to improve, when I started my consulting business It wasn't very thought out, I just started helping clients, recommending things, fixing things-you know the normal consultant bit. But I hadn't made certain things clear which is why I bring this discussion up. Needcoffee that is very good advice indeed, I'm going to put that into effect immediately. My clients do value me and they've been very good and patient, but they also know my work status so it hasn't been a big deal. But I hate to hear about my clients having to call someone else instead of me. Thats my fault though, I need to tighten up my business starting with some basic steps and offer some solutions in case things like this happens during the day when I'm not available. Thanks fellas.

 

[dkediger]

Also make sure your present employer doesn't have policies restricting off hours work of the same nature as your 9-5 job.

 

[wisdomwarrior23]

Oh yeah I'm good in that department, I can work after hours IT stuff.

 

[manarth]

I think you need to flesh out - preferably by way of a contract - what support services your firm will provied, by what means (telephone / onsite / etc), and when....

Discuss with your colleagues what hours will be feasible, who'll take on what responsibility (or who'll do "callout duty" on what days), obviously ensuring anyone taking on responsibility has the skills to meet the requirements.

At the moment, your clients obviously value your work, but my guess is that you're also an unknown variable - they have no idea what your availability will be, and how this could potentially impact on their business performance.

And consider quitting your day job to move into the consulting business full-time...you sound like you can make a real go of it

Good luck!

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please give feedback on what works / what doesn't[/li][li]need some help? how to get a better answer: faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[AnanthaP]

If you're really into business and you need to support clients during your current employer's office hours, I would suggest that the only real way is to get some trusted sub-contractor to TAKE the call and act upon it.

Also you might like to consider what your current employer thinks about your receiving calls during his time.

Note please: Maybe you can work after office hours &quot;stuff&quot;, but what about receiving calls?

End

 

[tj63069]

Hi wisdom, maybe you would share some with me? It sounds like I have a similar situation and I don't want to change the subject but,
I work a full time job and I have been approached by several people wanting to start a consulting business. My background is manufacturing improvement and have created some pretty good Inventory Control programs. My knowledge comes from hands on experience. Self taught and very good with Access,Excel, Word and Powerpoint. One of the contacts includes a serious Inventory Control expert that has 25 years experience with the Government (PX and Commissary). Have a network guy and a Salesperson. Our desired target would be small business that cannot afford the $$$$ inventory control systems. Any start up suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JeremyNYC]

It's all about communication. Early, thorough, honest communication is what makes friends and builds steady working relationships. You have to manage your clients expectations, and keep _every_ promise you make. Underpromise and Overdeliver may be an overused phrase, but it's an undervalued philosophy.

Do you have a good relationship with your boss at your day job? Would it be possible for you to cut back to four days a week? Would it be possible for you to build a deal where you watch the time you take out of your work day to deal with client emergencies, and make that up to your boss in unbilled overtime? What if you phrased it in terms of taking a longer lunch break than usual?

Also, do people really still call Microsoft? I haven't done that in years, nor heard of people doing that. I have to think your clients would benefit greatly by paying you to give them a one-hour lesson on how to use the KB to search for answers, and how to phrase an e-mail to you in such a way that you can give them meaningful answers.

It's often pretty easy to steal 10 minutes out of your day to answer a client question, rather than using that ten minutes to check Ebay or Tek-Tips. Someone else suggested splitting your client list. I think that makes a lot of sense. It might also make sense to set up a helpdesk e-mail address for your clients to use. That addy could forward to your whole team, and if someone has ten mintues to put into researching it, he or she can let the rest of the team know &quot;I'll look into it&quot; and hten get back to the client. Again, though, you'll have to set expectations, so your clients know how long they'll have to wait for an answer.

Jeremy



==
Jeremy Wallace
AlphaBet City Dataworks

http://www.ABCDataworks.com

Affordable Development, Professionally Done

Please post in the appropriate forum with a descriptive subject; code and SQL, if referenced; and expected results. See thread181-473997 for more pointers.

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

JeremyNYC uses a line I love &quot;manage your clients expectations&quot;. When you have a potental customer and you are upfront about what level of support you can provide you'll find in a good spot. As long as you are competative that is. If they know they can't get the same value for dollar anywhere else and they can live with you schedule then there is no problem.

My current car machanic has me as his customer because he managed my expectations very well and he came out best value for my dollar.

 

[Stevehewitt]

Hey,

I've been running a sort of consultancy firm (just me though!) for the past 4 years whilst working at a firm as the tech guy. If you know you are going to have a reasonaly steady flow of customers and you and your boss get on then ask for real flexitime - no harm in asking?! Make sure all clients have your mobile (or ideally one that who ever is on call in your new business can have) so your contactable nearly always. If giving mobile numbers out and/or answering then try a Operator Sub-Contractor. Give your clients a landline number, when they dial it goes to a call center - they know its for &quot;Really Good Computers Ltd&quot; or whatever and will answer professionaly. They can then send emails to your, SMS, Fax, VoiceMail and even try your mobile. - Sorted

Good Luck,


Steve Hewitt