How to Start a Consulting Business in IT

When you are learning how to start a consulting business in the IT field, you will probably have a lot of questions about how you will actually be able to sell services to clients. If you have very little previous sales experience, how can you attract potential clients that will need you on an on-going basis?

When you’re figuring out how to run your own consulting firm, you will need some basic IT sales skills to effectively get your small business prospects, customers and clients signed on for a sophisticated network solution. Because businesses are often resistant to change, you will have to be prepared to discuss the benefits of what you're proposing in bottom-line business terms. In other words unless you're selling to IT managers, avoid IT jargon at all costs.

The following 3 pieces of advice can help you learn how to start a consulting business by working on your sales techniques.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Know Your Clients’ Hot Buttons.

2. You Don’t Have to Be a Natural Sales Person to Start a Consulting Business.

3. No Matter What, Do What Makes You Feel Comfortable.

Tips & Warnings

• Know Your Clients’ Hot Buttons. When you are selling to the decision makers at your potential client sites, you need to figure out how to speak directly to the hot buttons, sometimes called points of pain, that drive them crazy about the current way their business operates. You also need to relate this message to return on investment (ROI) and bottom-line savings potential. Unsure where to start? Start by asking, "what's the single biggest Information Technology problem that your company currently has?"
• You Don’t Have to Be a Natural Sales Person to Start a Consulting Business. While being a natural sales person certainly can help most of the time, anyone with the proper motivation and training who's starting a consulting business can certainly learn how to sell IT services effectively. If you are the type that is a little nervous about selling or not a natural, figure out where your areas of weakness are in the sales process and work on them.
• No Matter What, Do What Makes You Feel Comfortable. As you start a consulting business, you need to adopt a sales style that you are comfortable with … even if initially you find the sales process painful. You will not be effective in your sales meetings if you are going against your personality. So you have to find your strengths when it comes to sales and focus on developing those to their fullest. For many that are a little shy or introverted, it makes sense to focus your business development efforts on connecting up with other shy, introverted decision makers... perhaps accountants, engineers, scientists or others in highly-technical fields.

Resources

• .HowToStartAConsultingBusiness.com