Are you looking for a more long-term, stable IT contractor job, but you’re not sure how to turn your one-time customers into a more lucrative, predictable business?

The truth is, you’re not going to build a profitable business on a foundation of one-shot deals and quick fixes.  You’re going to have to invest some real time into building relationships with your customers and turning them into clients that need your help on a regular business.  You will not make a real living off your IT contractor job if it’s just a bunch of thankless, revolving-door, dead-end projects.

If you really want to be successful starting up an IT business, you need to focus on building long-term relationships with clients and really solving their complex business problems.  You must get away from emergency break/fix work, software trouble-shooting and quick repairs, and move towards long-term planning with your clients to make their IT assets work better and improve their companies’ bottom line.

Where should you focus if you want to turn an IT contractor job into a real long-term small business IT consulting opportunity?

• Find the right decision maker or contact person at each of your prospective clients’ companies so you can be more efficient at the lead generation.
• Market directly to the larger small businesses, so you can make the most of your limited marketing budget by only going after the small businesses that will need your specific type of IT support long term.
• Differentiate yourself from others in your local marketplace so you can really stand out from the crowd and attract more steady, high-paying clients … and move beyond the one-time IT contractor job mentality.
• Identify the real hot buttons of clients that will be able to pay you $1,000 – $2,000+ per month regularly for on-going IT support. You’ve got to pinpoint exactly when to pursue an opportunity and when to move on.
• Go around gatekeepers that will thwart your attempts to deliver your proposal to small businesses that could really use your expertise and solutions.
• Make the most out of all opportunities to build solid relationships with small businesses that will need you next month, next quarter, and next year, so you can stop wasting time on wishy-washy prospects and focus on pursuing those that will make the best clients for your business long-term.
• Determine the unsolved problems of small businesses in your area (hint, hint: survey says…), so you can dominate a niche. Get your prospects to tell you exactly what they need and develop a real IT problem-solving value proposition that will be impossible to refuse.

In this short article, we talked about ways to change your focus from short-term IT work to long-term IT support and consulting clients.  Learn more about how to move away from just doing an IT contractor job and go towards building relationships with great, steady, high-paying clients now at http://www.ITContractorJob.com

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Joshua Feinberg is the author and editorial director of the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course, which helps computer consultants, VARs, integrators, solution providers, and managed services providers get more of the best, steady, high-paying small business (SMB) clients.

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