Fastest way to bring new business for Offline Local Biz?

I would second the idea of networking


BNI can be good but it is pretty expensive, also really depends on the strength of the group that you join JMO. Be sure to visit a few to see what they offer


Most cities have other networking groups - google them....and get up and out there


Join facebook groups but not ones about Computers - don't compete with others




LinkedIn could be another good avenue

Here is a post from MRomeo09 that you may find helpful.

MRomeo09 - I owned a pretty large computer repair business, we had offices in a dozen cities.

Your money is in commercial repairs. That's where you make your money. The residential stuff is just for keeping you busy during odd times. What worked for me is the old fashioned way. Just get out there and meet people. Most computer people are sitting there waiting for people to call them. Get out there and meet every business owner in a five mile radius. Give them your card, introduce yourself, ask them if they need any help. If you cold call and introduce yourself to 20 business owners a day, every day for 6 weeks you'll be busier than you can handle.

Yes I dominated Google, yes I killed it with PPC ads, yes I made money on craigslist, etc. Where I REALLY made money was with all of the contacts we made in the first six weeks from opening up our locations. You need around 200 businesses who have you as their "computer guy", that's usually enough to keep 2 techs busy most of the time. Roughly for every five business clients you talk with, 1 will do business with you in 90 days.

If you can figure out how to do work in restaurants for POS systems, there is really, really good money in that. And the restaurants will pay whatever to make sure they stay up and running.

Eventually you're going to want to find ways to start getting recurring income. Offering things like backup solutions, etc. There's a whole trend towards upselling to continuity programs in this marketplace. I can't remember who it is who offers these type courses, I'll have to think on it. Man, it's right in the back of my brain. I found a "guru" who sold stuff for computer repair businesses that looked really good.

Ask for referrals. This business is a lot about who you know. A really good and loyal business client will refer you to 2-5 other business clients in 90 days.

Keep up communication. I like email newsletters. Can you find interesting things that are important for small business owners that are computer related to send out? Newsletters are super important. I just bribed them to opt-in and then gave them really good information in my newsletters.

None of your competitors are doing this, if you do it you'll have the best chance to succeed. Sorry it wasn't more "high tech". But this isn't theory, it's what got me from one shop in Atlanta to shops in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Miami, D.C., Boston, etc.

Managed Services Sales | Computer And IT Marketing | Technology Marketing

the things we did that worked
-networking
one of the biggest boost to our business was joining BNI a networking and referral group. It helped me flesh out who we were and what we did.

-we started offering business service contracts.
I hated the idea of hoping someone's computer would break so we could pay the rent. So, I developed service contract where we regularly scanned, cleaned, and maintained the companies computers. At first we would go to the clients office and go from computer to computer starting scans and made loops around the office until we finished everything, then I found a remote service that would run the scans at night and we did not need to go onsite unless they had a breakdown. We also found a online back up company that we could white label a back up service.

We also offered free PC tune ups and always found viruses that we offered to remove for a fee.

After a few years we reviewed our business and found that by moving from our $1,500 a month store front to a $600 a month office would save us money even if we lost all of our walk-in repairs. The majority of our business became the business contracts. We also built custom PCs for our clients.

I would suggest looking at GFI MaxFocus. I've used more advanced modules for businesses I managed in the IT world including Kaseya which are more fleshed out and customizeable. However, I found that MaxFocus (it was called MaxEssentials or something like that when I used it last year) was EASY to use and really cheap to sell.

We are talking a few bucks a month per computer added to it. It provides full monitoring of desktops, patch management, antivirus, backup, disaster recovery (to restore the backups saved to a "cloud" environment back down to another machine).

Due to the price associated it can be beneficial to sell to home users, but more likely be a very lucrative product to up-sell to small businesses. Manage all their desktops to pro-actively eliminate any issues before they occur for whatever you want to charge ($50 per desktop per month would not be out of this world to offer if you pitch it correctly).

Also, look into becoming a Microsoft Partner to sell something like Office 365 and as someone said before - get in good with your local chamber of commerce. Offer them these services for free and if you are able to offer something like Office 365 to a local business nearby it can get you some upfront revenue and monthly reoccurring commissions from Microsoft.

I mainly focus on these items because they are things you can offer without any investment on your part. Easy low-risk. But make sure you have a policy/agreement that will reflect what happens in the event of data loss. Make sure you do not get sued.

your supposed to click the sig

I believe it is like an ad auction, buying ads....IMHO the person who posted that is just a spammer and IF you decide to go that route (why?) please go do your own research and deal direct...


now...you said YOU were hired by a computer repair shop, you are NOT doing the work yourself, so you have to get paid by them - hopefully weekly salary plus maybe some commission or bonus right?


so really some of the spam suggestions make truly zero cents for you as a middle man....for instance, YOU can place your own craigslist ads, not hire someone else.


IMHO the poster who used to have a computer repair shop gave you good honest ideas. Target businesses near the shop. Get promo material geared to that. Email them, cold call them, walk in on them.


Go to networking events near his biz and make connections. Set up a page on Linked in for yourself and one for the biz owner and make local local local connections


Use facebook wisely - don't spam but join strategic groups. Maybe start a group for him? Put up a biz/fan page for him


Maybe he could "host" a biz breakfast and invite local office managers and biz owners to attend - perfect time to sell his services


You did not say what else you do....websites, seo or ? social media marketing?
printing services? all of these would be good to sell to the biz, or you could get an arrangement with other locals who offer those services and get a commission from the, and also maybe work out something for them to refer computer biz to YOUR guy.
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IMHO if you get him some nearby "IT person" accounts your position will be secured. Lots of small /med size biz want to have a go - to person to handle IT issues , nearby realiable,


I am not sure what your role is ....consultant, advertising director, social media, etc? how did you approach him to get this job and what did you offer/propose, or tell him you could do?

I personally use site scout, which is now bidable.com. US UK and the EU AU and asia are covered.

It looks like cheezy spam to me - forum posting by people we never saw before


never saw YOU before yet you are here to trail behind me LOL




The OP - 'judo" is NOT the biz owner - he is being paid to promote the business...so YOU think he should outsource "craigslist" ads? Oh please


Your drift is ridiculous.....small biz hires marketing person (judo) ....who then oursources that to people he never met on this forum....oh so much money to be spread around LOL>..this is such a joke

Carpet bombs? Get out....


I happen to have a very large social network....I didn't carpet bomb anyone


I know these people - and yes I went over 500 in 4 days on Linked in


I had a lot of people who were asking me to "join" it so when I finally got busy with it I had all these invites and I brought up my email lists and asked to connect with people I know


I am really getting sick of you stalking me


~~~~~~~LQQK here at MY sig - No phony azz report or plan or guru crap~~~~~~~