
Ask HN: How to get customers for a new IT services company? - rbprado
Since the company I currently work was not happy with their IT services provider, I made a gamble and offer them to provide them the services they need through my own company (yet to be created at that time). To my surprise, the gamble worked and they accepted.<p>Now I have a new company with exactly one paying customer, providing the following services:
- Basic help-desk
- Local network and server administration
- Cloud management (EC2 instances and other AWS services, Office 365, Web)<p>I have rudimentary marketing and business knowledge, knowing my target market, pricing, business models and such, but I am no salesman, therefore I would like to ask HN on ideas to grow my company and reach new potential customers.<p>Some options I am considering:
- Content market (articles on the company website and social networks)
- Professional networking groups (BNI International is quite strong in my country)
- Some sort of weekly newsletter&#x2F;briefing&#x2F;clipping on IT for business owners and CEOs.<p>We are nearing the end of this year, so I have some time to get a plan ready to go by January and any insights would be tremendously helpful.<p>Thanks a lot!
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ocdtrekkie
IT services companies are everywhere. Why would Joe Schmo entrust his entire
business to you, and not someone else (with a more established history, larger
business, etc.)? What is your selling point? Is this a single-person business
(and intended to stay that way), or are you looking to hire people and expand?

~~~
mtmail
Being local can be the best selling point. There's 1000s of lawyers in the
country, but only those living nearby will come to your office on short notice
in an emergency.

I know a single-person IT company. He does helpdesk and server work. And has
to drive by his customers' office to fix a printer or install a replacement
part. His website is more or less a business card. Content marketing, or
advertising outside his city makes no sense for him. Instead calling up
companies locally and word-of-month.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
Sure, but even _locally_ you can barely walk outside without tripping over an
IT services company. If there are a dozen IT services companies within a
couple miles of a place (there probably are), what is his focus to bring
people in the door? Expertise? Cost?

Being the second customer is an enormously risky proposition for any potential
customer, and I'm not joking when I said picking your IT services company is
deciding who to entrust your entire business with.

Which is to say, yes, I don't think a lot of advertising/marketing strategies
are going to be that useful, the parent needs direct referrals.

~~~
rbprado
The main reason I decided to pursue this path is the fact the my first
customer was not being well-served by the previous supplier (which has way
larger customers by the way). After some talks with other business owners in
my region, it became clear there is a lack of proper suppliers here.

I guess I need some awareness, and, besides the social networking, I think I
need some digital voice as well.

