Q:  Why CSC or David Nelson, Consultant?

A: There is a trend towards flat-fee centralized support that contracts with local technicians for on-site service.  It is a volume based call center support model.  Ten years ago I saw that model coming and had to make a choice - quantity vs quality.

We know our clients, their business and technology - inside out.  We don't hire tech's at minimum wage + 25%, if we contract or hire anyone, we hire consultant level people, not employees.  There is a BIG difference.

While other's think they know what "pro-active" is (i.e. they monitor things), we do much more than that.  Most of that is automated, we do that too, but we dig deeper.  

Some issues have to be tracked and researched - and there are no immediate solutions.  Call centers use "case tracking" systems.  When our clients have an issue, even an ongoing one - a real live human being is researching it, testing it, monitoring it, thinking about it, pondering it.  

You cannot commercialize or volumize that level of personal attention or support.  Call center support personel get bonuses for getting you on/off the phone as fast as you can.  We know our clients, our clients know us.

OUR TYPICAL CLIENT?

Our clients are individuals and small businesses that need a "team player" on their team, but most likely cannot afford, nor need an IT consultant on staff.   Most small businesses do need an IT person in their systems and networks several hours a week.  It is the only way to stay "pro-active" and head off failures.

Home based businesses, law offices, dental offices, chiropractic offices, dr. offices, anyone with an office with 1 or more PC's or server(s).  Pre-purchase decision making and deployment is big part of what we do.   We want our clients to be able to budget their IT expenses and simply use their technology in a way that serves how they work, how they want to work and how technology can help them.

Oddly enough - one of the things we most often do - is simplify the technology, shielding our clients from having to deal with techie things.

Q: So what is your approach & model?

Years ago we decided we'd rather have fewer quality clients, than pursue a volume of clients.  The volume (and reactive model) is more profitable IT business model.

We enjoy the work we do and the personal contact and relationships we establish as part of what we do.  We have no intention on being the least cost solution for our clients.  We do want to be the best solution for our clients. 

Our goal/objective is to be the highest priced, most expensive, even outragously priced consultant(s) in our area.  We want our clients to be powerfully profitable and successful.  We know that proper utilization of IT resources by someone who both understands the "technology" and the "business side" of technology is a powerful and profitable combination.

We work towards keeping the technology deployed "simple".  We make our recommendations based on what is best for our clients rather than any affiliate or partner comissions that are available.

This may seem odd - but from an ethical perspective - we want everyone to pay full retail and even pay tips and bonuses as part of a life approach to business and living.  

Why?  The least cost "bean counter" approach has its place, example UPS saved millions by changing their delivery routes with an emphasis on "right turn" only routes.  That is an example of a good decision.  Just because I can hire someone for minimum wage, when I can afford to pay them double that, and their value to my company supports that, and I am in a position to do that - I would rather over pay, than underpay for quality (anything).

It is an attitude of prosperity backed by action which attracts more prosperity.  A real life example - I needed a new starter on my vechical.  I found a place that diagnosed the problem, and repaired it in about an hour.  The cost, labor, plus part was $120.00.  It didn't seem right, and the people that did the work was amazing.   I paid them $150.00, and told them they were underprice, but I appreciated that, and asked them for the opportunity to pay more than what was asked.  It took them a few minutes to figure out how to accept more money than they asked.

It's the world I want to live in - so I create it where ever I am, and I teach this and other business and life coaching contexts to my clients, friends and family.  I love what I do in helping people and businesses.  When I take care of my clients - what they receive is more than just "technical" support.

Q: What are your rates, how much is a typical service call?

A: We adjust our rates on a case by case, client by client basis.  Normally new client's offices/systems are a mess.  Frankly - they can't afford to get them cleaned up at our "full rate".   We make an assessment and a flat rate 90 day proposal to get things taken care of and brought up to CSC standards.  We make an investment with our time and knowledge into our client's business and technology.

The costs depend on number of systems, what needs to be done, network status, etc.  Let me give you an example:  A new client in the naturalpathic industry that had multible systems, network, and a variety of issues - needed about $20,000 of work.  We proposed a 3 month, $1000.00 month flat rate to clean up a 5 page list off issues.  By the end of the 90 day period of time, we'd be able to give a proposal for weekly pro-active care, which once those issues were taken care of, would ideally be about $200 to $250/system per month.  Every client and situation is different.

We have in the past invested in client businesses with our knowledge and time.  Once someone is a CSC client - we work hard to establish a relationship of mutual benefit, and we take care of our clients.  They are quite spoiled actually (laugh), after a few years of being with us - they don't want anyone else.  We loose clients to "death", or "retirement".

We have clients who have moved to different states, and have asked (almost demanded) that we figure out how to support them.  We have and we do! (laugh)

Our Full Consulting rate: is $200/hr during normal business hours.  $300/hr on nights/weekends, and $500/hr during holidays.  The typical "Geek" in our area charges about $125.00/hr.   Depending on the project/situation - we often normalize our charges to a 1/2 day, or daily flat rate.  $1,000/day, based on two 4 hour segments, and include up to 2 hours of travel time + fuel expense.

We charge more because we do more, and are more effective.   When I've examined actual results - we accomplish more in one hour, than your typical geek accomplishes in 4, the problem is, the typical "Geek" doesn't know what we know, and often times fixes one problem while creating 3 more.  

I've trained some of these geeks (laugh) so I know there are a couple of good ones out there.

We have a new client coming on board that within 5 minutes we identified why they were having network stability issues, their $125/hr "geek" that works for a larger support "company" in 24+ months couldn't resolve the problems, even by replacing/updating systems (they over paid about 30% for those systems) and had some legal liabilities due to policy and compliance issues - a serious smoking gun that most businesses have and they are not aware of it.

Not all "geeks" are created equal.  Which is why we are called "Guru's" and "Computer Whisperers".

DISCOUNTS:  Our Established clients get discounts off from those full rates.  Our full rates are based on the highest rate in our area for the highest level of quality and service.  David personally reviews all invoices for fairness and value

There are various "gotcha" approaches to billing I see my collegues use.  Example: $50 (for the 1st 15 minutes - minumum 4 billing units), I see really cheap rates in the nickle ads.   My rule of thumb is if it's too cheap, there is a reason for it.   Our clients run their lives and businesses on their computer systems.  It is one area of their business they need to really take seriously in order to actually do their business day to day.

There are a lot of security, access, government compliance, liability and trust considerations when you allow anyone to touch your systems.  That is the business side of things that most "Geeks" are clueless about.  If you don't combine a "technical" consultant with a "business" consultant - you may have vulnerabilities that could put you out of business...or even in jail.  When CSC takes care of you, you get the benefit of two consultants for the price of one!

FAIRNESS POLICY: Ultimatly - we have a "fairness" policy.  If our client(s) are not satisfied with the value received we let them adjust their final invoice.  We've never had a client do that because if they are unfair to us, we let them go as clients.

EMERGENCY -MELT DOWNS: Our clients don't have these anymore, once their systems are up to our CSC standards.   Until then, sometimes things happen - and when they do - we do not "stick it" to our clients (not even our new clients), we have interest free, in-house financing for our labor.

We do require pre-payment for our hard costs.  We don't deal with collections issues with our clients.  We take care of them, they take care of us.  If there is an issue, we work through it.

Sometimes serious things happen that are beyond your control.   It is very easy to rack up a $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 to $20,000 IT bill (even $40 to $60kl if you have 10 or more systems networked on a server with HIPAA considerations!).   We have never not worked anything out with our clients.  We've had clients go through "hard times", we still took care of them, regardless of their ability to pay.

Have you ever been taken advantage of? Yes, we've had some folks try to take advantage of us.   We don't deal with negative issues or predators.  What we do for our clients is so filled with value that it is a powerful edge and advantage to have us as part of their business team taking care of their technology, on-line marking, A/R policy & proccedures.  Those that do not understand or appreciate that - we do not keep as clients.  They identify themselves pretty quickly.

We had one of those show up last year.  We did our 90 day program.  We hit all of the 90 day objectives 60 days early (we like to "kick butt" and get results.  Part of what we were doing was taking this clients business which was invisible on the web - to being in the top 3.

They guy was a jerk, and a predator and he didn't appreciate anything.  Not only that, he argued his flat rate invoice even though we exceeded all expectations and milestones set.  (It was actually the most odd and weird thing I ever experienced.)

We stopped taking care of him.  His marketing disappeared and I already know that systems not maintained become glitchy within weeks, sometimes days. 

I heard his office manager left, some legal issues were surfacing, he's invisible online.  His office manager made sure we received some payment.  We generally do not "sue" clients or send them to collections.  We are a positive focused business where we want everyone to win!  His real loss was losing our support.  We wish him well, but I must admit, there is satisfaction when predators fail.

We had a client unleash a virus on his own system.  Times were tough for his business.  We did $10,000 of work for him.   We were doing well in other areas of our business.   We had a "client appreciation" billing for him, and zero'd out his invoice.   Why?  He's been a client for over a decade, in fact I sold him and his family their first computer.  His business has come full circle.  

We have a huge tool box of solutions backed by experience in everything we do.