Don't Ask / Don't Tell

Recently I sent an email to a friend of mine to let him know of a new service offering (and offered my assistance) and experienced what most MSP’s (Managed Service Providers) and consultants experience all the time…that dreaded “oh you just want to replace me” or “you just want my job” type of push back.

It got me thinking about why people are so fearful of me…at first anyway.

I won’t go into specific details about today’s experience but will attempt to address the larger, overall fear that some have when it comes to IT “consulting” firms, educate you on what it is we do, and why you should consider taking time to hang out with me.

First off, let me just say (to the unknowing) that I’m passionate about business, technology and helping other people out (ie: consulting). That’s why I’ve been doing what I do for so long. Second, it’s not about me…it’s all about YOU. Third (and the reason for this post), if you never ask for help, you’ll never get it.

Ever since I left the workforce to do my own thing (and started up my own consulting firm), I’ve always had a problem getting meetings with IT Managers and Directors. C-Level execs, small business owners and even office mangers offer much less resistance and are usually willing to see me to discuss their options.

But not IT managers…I’ve heard just about every push back to consulting that there is. And still I’m shocked every time I hear them... I got it under control, I don’t need your help, we can’t afford help, and one of my personal favs, “you people” are useless.

So, what’s the fear? Where does it come from?

Well for most of them the initial reaction to my call, email or letter is one of job replacement. I know this now after years of being a consultant and talking to my clients that are actually IT managers. But, no matter how I change my pitch/delivery the fear is always that I’m there to take over their job or worse, to replace them altogether.

BUT, nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve been a CIO, IT Director, IT Manager and trust me, I don’t want their job. What I want is simple… to help them keep their job, make their lives easier and to make THEM (not me) the rock star. If I do my job, they will be seen by the company as, INDISPENSABLE.

So, how can I help them? Easy….by taking off their plates, anything and everything that “prevents” them from doing their job. Tech support is a good example.

Say a company with 40 employees has an IT manager (we’ll call her Gail) and she is tasked with “everything” IT related. She does absolutely everything. She works 12-14 hour days, is on call after hours and can never take a day off…and don’t even think about a vacation.

And to make things worse, she’s now being asked to put in even more time (weekends) and to start contributing to business meetings by researching and making technology recommendations for individual departments. This is not good and her family life is suffering because of it.

Her passion however is really with networks and IT “management” and not “tech support” or even “server administration”. And at this rate, she’d need to hire 3 people just to keep on top of everything…one to handle technical support calls, one to manage and maintain the servers and one to take care of all the misc tasks like general desktop maintenance etc…

Well, with the economy the way it is, and the fact that the company can’t afford to hire 3 more people, she’ll just have to make more sacrifices and do more with less. Right? Not at all….we can help (for less than the cost of hiring one FTE) by taking over server related tasks, desktop support and any other tasks that slow her down and keep her from growing, monitoring, managing and maintaining that network she loves so much.

Not only that, but now she has a team (which SHE manages by the way) that she can work with and if she wants to take a day off or go on vacation, she can. Plus, with all the free time she now has, she can focus some of that time on researching new technologies that could help the company grow and generate additional revenue.

And her 14 hour days are a thing of the past too. Now she gets to spend more time with her husband and 3 kids.

So that’s just one example of how we can help. Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell? Yeah, if she wouldn’t have asked for the help, she wouldn’t have received it. And if she wouldn't have given me the time of day (when I called), I couldn’t have told her of all the different ways I could “help” her out.

So, can I help YOU out? You'll never know unless you ask. Call us today at 651-319-4030