Companies grow. Small businesses lock onto big ideas, and before you know it, they have lucrative patents! Then they start working on huge projects and everything changes. At GoComputek, we found ourselves in this exact situation. One of our clients, SIW Solutions, was purchased by a larger company and transitions needed to be made. It is not easy to make transitions. But be confident because we’ve created tips for growing with your customers just for you.
Below are some lessons we learned in the process of our own client’s transition that any small IT company might find helpful.
1. Your Team is Everything.
As a boss or a team leader, it’s imperative that you hire the right people. You have to trust the people under you. If you don’t, you end up trying to do everything yourself—which leads to burnout and failure. One person cannot do everything—despite how much technical skill they have. This is the most important tip for growing because skill can be taught, but character is what to look for when growing your team.
2. You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know. Don’t Worry, Change.
Even the best-laid plans can have holes. As SIW grew, we uncovered missing pieces in their IT infrastructure—an infrastructure that we built. These gaps existed, but there was no way of knowing that until the expansion got underway. Suddenly, we had to update our timeline. We figured out how to incorporate new architecture and stay within budget. We realized quickly that we needed to adopt an attitude of adaptability. The project was going to change, and we had to change with it.
3. Presence is Assurance. Make Sure You Can Be There.
Clients need to see you in the office every day. This prevents the client from becoming worried. Worry frays working relationships. Regardless of how small your team is, someone must be at the project site all the time until the project is completed. Don’t downplay the importance of this as you understand the tips for growing with your customers because they want to have a relationship with you. It is essential to build trust!
4. Don’t Complain, Communicate and Negotiate.
Sometimes it feels like the project isn’t making the kind of progress you thought it would because requests start coming in–some of them in opposition to work you’ve already finished. Then you can end up doing and undoing the same portion of the project two and three times. As a result, frustration ensues (and that’s ok!). Rather than complaining, communicate with your client. Therefore, make sure that their needs and expectations are being met and offer them solutions that both facilitate their goals and a timely completion of the project.
In a digital world, where IT powers every aspect of business from finance to production, IT service providers must be ready for large and small-scale shifts as their clients’ businesses grow. Thus, adaptability saves time and money. Most of all, it fuels success! Learn from our experience and take advantage of our tips for growing with your customers.
