Getting more consulting clients

[Dallascisco]

I currently provide consulting to about 75-100 on the side but right now it is feast or famine. i either have a whole bunch or nothing at all. I'm looking for ways to get the word out to more people in my area about my services. I currently use my facebook page, craigslist, local county forums, and simple word of mouth. Any suggestions are appreciated. I'm located in the Washington DC area.

 

[manlymatt83]

Inbound Marketing: http://www.hubspot.com

Find people to take on the work you do (subcontractors) so in your busy times, the work is always getting done. Make a bit of money off the spread and use that for a rainy day.

 

[kranky]

Offer incentives to current clients if they refer new ones to you. And just ask them directly if they know anyone else who might benefit from your services.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Maybe you could hire a consultant to help you with this problem.

 

[Skitzer]

What's your area of expertise?

 

[skim milk]

Get public sector clients. Every consulting company is milking the government right now. For example, when the Dept of Treasury basically wrote Fannie and Freddie a blank check, every major consulting firm was there trying to suck it dry. Lots of money there to be made.

 

[Mike Gayner]

What kind of consulting?

 

[Dallascisco]

IT consulting, most of my current clients are home users or home based businesses.

What kind of consulting?

 

[kranky]

IT consulting, most of my current clients are home users or home based businesses.

What local organizations have these people as members? There are probably some which are targeted at these types of businesses, so they have places to network.

 

[BoberFett]

75 to 100 clients? Perhaps rather than finding more clients, you should focus on increasing the size of the clients you service.

 

[sygyzy]

IT consulting, most of my current clients are home users or home based businesses.

How does a home user or even home business utilize "IT consulting?" Are you really a consultant or someone who provides tech support to friends and family? I am sure you have a legit business but there's a difference:

SMB trying to figure out VOIP/teleconference issue. Need help deciding on a solution (Cisco?), pick a vendor, meet budget goals - Consultant

Grandma's printer doesn't work - NOT a consultant.

 

[zanejohnson]

flashy ad in community specific newspapers..

 

[zanejohnson]

How does a home user or even home business utilize "IT consulting?" Are you really a consultant or someone who provides tech support to friends and family? I am sure you have a legit business but there's a difference:

SMB trying to figure out VOIP/teleconference issue. Need help deciding on a solution (Cisco?), pick a vendor, meet budget goals - Consultant

Grandma's printer doesn't work - NOT a consultant.

hehe give the guy a break... there's good money in being the local family/friends tecnologically inclined friend..

but yeah, run a few newspaper ads.. it's cheap, and you'd be surprised at the amount of business it can drum up..

 

[shiner]

 

[BoberFett]

hehe give the guy a break... there's good money in being the local family/friends tecnologically inclined friend..

No, most people have found there's very little money in that.

 

[iGas]

IT consulting is a pretty vague term.

IMHO, a business must have a focus to be successful.

Such as Networking/security, Database (POS & Financial, Data mining), software implementation & supports, etc...

 

[iGas]

No, most people have found there's very little money in that.

More power to the OP if he can do it.

My brother in-law & I set up a company that sells computers and hardware/software (PC/Apple/Amiga) support back in 1990~93 and there were more headache than money.

 

[Dallascisco]

That's a good idea, problem is I only have evening/weekend availability currently. This "consulting", "side work", whatever people want to call it is a supplement at the moment. I have a full time sys admin job. I've found most larger businesses/clients will require day time availability and that isn't something I can support right now.

75 to 100 clients? Perhaps rather than finding more clients, you should focus on increasing the size of the clients you service.

 

[Dallascisco]

Call it whatever you want. Notice that I said "most" are home user or small business. That doesn't mean that all I do is home service. I do have a few clients that require coporate level IT support such as the catering business I set up 15 new machines and a server for a few months ago or the investigative business I migrated from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 and fixed the Symantec backups for.

I'm happy to fix grandma's printer or do server work. If that makes me "tech support guy" instead of "consultant" to you then ok. I'm not sure what neuron I tripped inside you to get the response I did.

How does a home user or even home business utilize "IT consulting?" Are you really a consultant or someone who provides tech support to friends and family? I am sure you have a legit business but there's a difference:

SMB trying to figure out VOIP/teleconference issue. Need help deciding on a solution (Cisco?), pick a vendor, meet budget goals - Consultant

Grandma's printer doesn't work - NOT a consultant.

 

[Dallascisco]

This is very true, the home user market isn't enough to keep a computer guy/business afloat. especially in my area (Washington DC). You have to have a good portfolio of business clients who provide a steady amount of work and supplement with the residential stuff.

My situation now is I'm building a client base to potentially move to having my own business as a full time job. At this point I'm not comfortable that I have enough of a client base to prop me up if I chose to jump in full time.

No, most people have found there's very little money in that.