CleverCare Technology Blog: Archive

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All Your Eggs in One Basket

In the early days of the business I had one client. One huge client called Sasol. They had thousands of PC’s. At one stage I had more than 20 technicians working permanently for them on-site. Then government regulations changed and my company did not comply with their sub-contracting criteria. Sasol did offer to employ all my people, but the fact of the matter was that I lost a huge amount of...

Oct 25th

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Business Automation Myths and Legends

Before I continue, I would like to debunk an irritating little myth that has been hampering my progress for years. There is no single magic bullet that is going to solve all your automation procedures. You need to see your business as one large machine that consists of individual cogs and bearings and processes, each contributing to the success of the entire system as a whole. If you manage to get...

Oct 25th

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The Shock and Awe Package

Robin Robins introduced me to the concept of a Shock and Awe package. This little package that you put together should be handed to the prospect on the first appointment and should literally “Shock and Awe” them on how fantastic your company and services are. The contents of my Shock and Awe package: • Press releases and articles written about my company. • An e-book on “What Every Successful...

Oct 25th

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Packaging Your Technology Service Offering -...

Yes, we all like to have a look at the menu. At one of the local restaurants, they have two offerings of the same dish - as a starter and a main. I tend to always go for the starter version as I can then have a couple of dishes at a cheaper price. I started out with a service offering that looked a little bit as follows: And guess what? Clients always went with the “Mud” offering...

Oct 25th

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Is Your Next Employee a Madman? Use DISC to Find...

So you need to hire someone new? [Sigh] The entire process is fraught with potential stumbling blocks. The largest investment in time and capital that you will ever make in your business is your staff. And a wrong decision may take months to rectify. You MUST get this right. My primary concern is always whether the new guy will fit in with the rest of the team. Will (s)he gel? What is her...

Oct 5th

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How I got Stumped in 30 seconds: My First Role...

So we’re waiting to be let into the big chief’s office. It’s a new prospect that found us by clicking on our Google Adwords link. I have a new sales guy with me. He has watched me do this pitch a couple of times. I’ve given him training on the seven steps of the sales process, building rapport, exposing the problem etc. Today it is his turn. We get ushered into the office and my...

Sep 29th

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Brainstorming Workshops: Meetings on Steroids

Okay, so business is going well. You’re conducting your weekly meetings like clockwork. And still… At the back of your mind something is bothering you. Getting to work on your business and not in your business has one serious drawback - operationally, your not dealing with the issues that your staff get to work on daily. You’re not in the trenches anymore but controlling the...

Sep 27th

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Working On Your Business and Not In Your Business

You need to extract yourself from your business. In the beginning (to me at least), solving PC and server problems was fun. Leaving the server room to an ovation and encores because you managed to remount the Exchange Information Store is inspiring and heartening. However, you are going to find that it doesn’t pay the bills (well, not all of them). Trust me, I know. Being disturbed on a Sunday...

Sep 21st

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Less Is More…Keep Things Simple…Relax

I have always been a computer tech at heart. I would solve technical problems by tackling them in an orderly and chronological sequence. There are a couple of ways to solve a problem, but usually only one or two correct ways. Unfortunately, running a business doesn’t always work that way. Random things happen to upset the ordered apple cart. Clients have bad days and take it out on you and you...

Sep 21st

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Get Pronto Marketing To Build You A Cool Web Site

I know that this isn’t a prerequisite to running your practice, but I firmly believe that you should have a good web site to enhance the image of your company. As far as the tools to build the web site is concerned, I tried them all, from FrontPage to Joomla, WordPress and Weebly. It just lacked that special “something”. That “X Factor”. I had to admit to myself that I’m not a professional...

Sep 18th

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Preparing the Monthly BOMB Report

Please note that the bomb report is a summary of the Executive Summary Reports in the SAAZ Portal, it will probably take between 1-2 hours PER BOMB REPORT to complete correctly. The bomb report is an intelligent human’s summary of the entire computer generated data. You will be going through reams and reams of reports to actually compile the nicely summarized bomb report. We call it the bomb...

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We need your help!

Hi Guys, Please could you do me a favour! I need a young guy/girl who is a student/needs part-time work. I’ll need them to do business card drops at complexes and get a couple of details for me: 1. The Owner/CEO/FD’s details 2. Details needed are Postal Address, Email Addres and Telephone Number We usually ask the receptionist for all this info and they give us a complimentary...

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Dec 11th

4 Do’s and Don’t’s Every Business Owner Should...

Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating system, just released last month, and with all the advertising buzz that Microsoft has created, many business owners are looking to know more about it. Here’s a list of Do’s and Don’ts for helping to determine whether or not a Windows 7 upgrade makes sense for you. DO – Find out if all your software programs will be compatible. Anytime Microsoft creates a new...

Dec 11th