The VAR Guy

Solution provider account executives, salespersons and business development specialists are all looking for the little magic blue pill of success. Many are coming up short. There is a gusher of leads and referrals available. You just need to go find the gusher and harness its energy and resources. Here are seven steps to get started.

Many business owners attempt to be “everything to everyone.” This is not a winning formula. In fact, the ‘right’ things you need to do include narrowing your solution offerings and becoming focused on core competencies. These will be the real winning strategies for today’s IT service firms.

Now that Microsoft has launched Windows Server Foundation it begs the question: Which Microsoft server option is the most ideal fit for your small business? Here are some key decision points to consider.

Once an afterthought too many businesses, marketing is rapidly becoming important as sales pipelines dry up, the phones have stopped ringing, word of mouth referrals are no longer propagating and the unemployment rate starts to rise.  How does the average small business professional continue to build a business, keep their heads above water and weather this recession storm that is coming onto shore with a tsunami like storm surge?

General crankiness with technology appears to be on the rise. Is it because of the stress in the US financial marketplace, are people in general just overworked? Are they getting what they were promised?  Were they promised something and didn’t get what was asked for? Here are five ways to prevent customer crankiness from spoiling your revenue stream.

Where do you see this world in the next five to 10 years? How did the last five or 10 years play out for you? Like you expected? The world as we know it is constantly changing, new economic factors are affecting the way we do business, the price of energy is creating second thoughts in the minds of a lot of people, demand on an individual’s time combined with many other factors are shaping the way we look at our lives and our business.

Twenty minutes — that is all it takes to become “a knight in shining armor” in your client’s eyes, adding stickiness in all of your business relationships. What do I mean by the 20-minute miracle? The 20-minute miracle is something that all successful IT Professionals can perform automatically. Let me explain.

Conventional wisdom says profits and revenues are the two most important metrics for measuring your business success. I believe in a completely different metric, however.

How can you use a blog to generate new business opportunities and keep your clients informed? Here are four great tips to ensure your blog attracts the right clients to your business.

Just like have the wrong employees on your team, the wrong clients can hurt your business and create a lifestyle you don’t enjoy. So, how can you attract the clients you want, avoid nightmare customers, and have a fulfilling and satisfying business life? Here are seven tips to get you started.

Many small business professionals toss and turn in the middle of the night, losing valuable hours of much needed sleep worrying about making a key decision. So, what can the average small business IT pro do to make better decisions at a faster pace? Here are some recommendations.

There is no secret sauce to help you thrive in uncertain economic times. But IT professionals can follow nine simple and effective principles — which will serve you well regardless of the economy around you.

Trash talking in high-tech can generate lots of headlines. From Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs to Sun Co-founder Scott McNealy, some of the best leaders in high-tech know how to creatively bash their rivals. But should small solutions providers ever talk negatively about their competitors?

Goal setting — or the lack of goal setting — is a hot topic in today’s IT professional community. Many of us just get up in the morning and make our way to the office and tackle the first thing that appears in our inbox or the take care of the user who screams the loudest. Here’s how to break out of that pattern.