I know it sounds crazy for an IT support firm to turn away business, but there really are reasons to not give us a call. Some hurdles, try as we might, are not something my team can overcome. And in these cases, it has nothing to do with our professional services.
1.) You’ve lost a server or critical PC and have no backup
We can’t undo the past. Sure, you can pursue data recovery, but that’s never cheap. Once the fire is out, the prospect figuratively feels burned. They overlook the fact that the only surefire way to survive equipment failure is to have a backup.
Even if our resourceful team was mostly successful, when the invoice arrives for the data recovery and our time, the prospect is upset about not retrieving it all. Then, KME somehow gets blamed for not protecting a client we never met prior to their emergency.
2.) You have no money for an IT budget
It’s possible you have zero room in the budget, I understand that happens, but asking KME to support you, fix issues, and provide business continuity is impossible without spending some money.
Imagine you’re trying to start your car. Even if you have a turbocharged engine, you can’t blame it for not working if it doesn’t have enough fuel to start. The same applies here.
This is not a scenario where clients aren’t getting the full value for their money. If a prospect refuses to replace a 20 year PBX that keeps breaking or still uses Windows XP because they cannot afford a few $400 PCs, it’s almost certain we’ll fail to prove our value.
3.) You have a cousin/niece/in-law/friend/brother who knows IT
These days, it’s hard to find anyone who isn’t somehow connected to an IT professional. And I’m sure you know some very smart folks, but unless they truly understand your business processes and the long term implications of deploying a certain technology, you’re in for trouble.
I remember a prospect who told me his high school age son was going to support him instead of KME. He said his business had 30 PCs and his son could work after school hours and on the weekends. He felt his son was smart (which he is) and that was enough. My counterpoint to him was that you need smarts and experience to succeed in business, but the prospect said “I’ll roll the dice.” Which was fine for me. I’m not interested in working with a client willing to gamble the future of his or her business on “knowing a guy.”
4.) You don’t have processes in place for your business
KME Systems takes pride on having fast, proven, reliable processes to deliver strong IT services to our clients. That level of excellence has come through years of learning new techniques, unlearning bad habits, documenting best practices, and growing with the market.
If you haven’t taken the time to figure out your own business, there’s nothing concrete I can do to help you improve it. Since I don’t like failing a client, we tend to stay away.
5.) You know you have illegal software
This is a deal breaker for us. When we walk into a prospect’s facility and determine they have unlicensed and/or illegitimate software, we’ll need to do one thing first: help correct the issue.
Just because you feel a software manufacturer charges too much, doesn’t mean you can pirate the software. I always use a Ferrari as an example: you may not like that one costs $200k, but you know it’s illegal to go to a dealership, give them $20k, grab the keys, and drive off. We won’t and can’t support illegal software and you shouldn’t accept it either.
6.) You simply call us for fixes, not guaranteed, proactive support
We call this “break/fix” work. If something breaks, you’ll call us when the pain gets too high. Those who do it feel they save a lot of money this way, but they don’t.
They’ll switch from one professional IT support firm to another like a Vegas dealer shuffling cards, feeling underserved and neglected by every provider they hire for this break/fix work. Then, they wonder why that server constantly has issues? It’s like auto maintenance. It’s cheaper to care for your vehicle properly than to wait around until something breaks.
KME still does “break/fix” work, but it’s the wrong business process and we know it. Our hope is to give the right prospect a glimpse of our true value and encourage them to choose to keep their business expertly tuned.
For everyone else…
If these 6 items aren’t familiar, let’s talk. KME can provide cost-efficient, superior quality IT services to the types of businesses that know what they want and are willing to do what it takes to get there. Give us a call at 949-462-7001 or send us a message here.
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