Then you may want to partner up with other trusted business
advisers to help build a strong business and get great clients. Many
consultants neglect to seize the opportunity to work with other trusted
business advisers in their community like accountants, attorneys and
non-competing technology providers. These consultants fail to enjoy the
many benefits that come from establishing relationships with others
that provide high-end professional level services to business owners…
and that already have established relationships and a foot in the door
with the exact same kinds of prospective client small business owners
that you’re trying to reach out to.

The following 3 tips can help you become an IT consultant by leveraging partnerships with accounting firms in your area.

1. Partner with Accountants as Trusted
Business Advisors. You can certainly use your accountant partners as a
source for great, highly-qualified reference accounts; but you also
even may be able to develop a formal revenue-sharing arrangement where
your accountant would have a financial
interest in connecting you with his/her existing clients. You can
provide incentive through one or more of the following methods: a
finder’s fee; a referral fee; subcontracting you out; bartering
services. If you want to be less formal about incentives, you can also
offer items such as gift baskets, sporting events tickets or a lunch or
dinner. No matter which option you choose, make sure to work these
ideas into your IT marketing budget as you look to become an IT
consultant.

2. Find
Out if Your Accountant’s Clients Need Your Services. Ask if your
accountant gets regular requests from clients for IT-related help … and
how he/she handles them. If your accountant says, “We really don’t have
anywhere to send our clients,” then this statement is your cue, and you
need to propose a marketing partnership or joint venture that makes
sense. Part of becoming an IT consultant is developing real
relationships with trusted business advisors and proposing activities
that can help both of you and your clients, such as educational
seminars. Find a time of year that works for both of you and start to
plan ways to cross-pollinate your clients by co-sponsoring events so
you can both benefit from your relationship.

3. Know
How Joint Educational Seminars Work. A joint educational seminar is an
event that is sponsored by both you and a trusted business advisor.
Some suggested seminar topics are ways businesses
can better use their accounting systems or how businesses can better
protect their accounting systems by putting efficient controls in
place. On the business side, the accountant can talk about the
accounting issues, and you can represent the IT side and talk about
technology issues. Your main goal is to plant the seeds about
computer-related issues in the minds of your trusted business advisors’
clients as you become an IT consultant, so you can build your list of
potential clients. You need the personal referrals that can come from
working with accountants and other trusted business advisors to help
get a solid roster of highly-qualified prospects, customers and clients.