I.T. Overdrive

I.T. Overdrive focuses on insights, strategies, and current information technology systems and tools which help small to medium-sized business avoid IT nightmares, solve confusing problems, and gives them peace of mind. Are you struggling with your office I.T.? You got into business to do what you love, not hassle with networks and failing PCs. Stop letting I.T. make you frustrated and overwhelmed. Is your data safe? Most businesses don't know if they are secure or not. A data breach is always very expensive. Is your network not working for you? The fix could be simple. How old is that server you've got in the closet? Upgrading isn't as expensive as you think. A lot rides on your I.T. Employees report being happier and getting more work completed when they're not wrestling with I.T. issues. Downtime is costing you real money and productivity. Is your data safe? Gain peace of mind when you know it is secure. Each episode of I.T. Overdrive features informative tips and current best practices provided by Kellly Herrod, a veteran I.T. expert and founder of Herrod Technology. Kelly maps out successful I.T. strategies that leave business owners and office managers going to work not thinking about I.T. We want to keep it that way. We believe that I.T. should just work, so that you can be successful at business. For notes and more episodes, go to ITOverdrivePodcast.com.

Author: Kelly Herrod

Language: en

Genres: Business, Management, Technology

Contact email: Get it

Feed URL: Get it

iTunes ID: Get it

Get all podcast data

Listen Now...

Having A Great Relationship With Our Customers Is Key
Episode 16
Wednesday, 15 September, 2021

I can't remember any meeting I've ever sat in with a potential client who asks us about our certifications. Most of our clients don't even know what those certifications are, or what's required to get that certification, and how it applies to them. When I was at EDS, yes. I had to get certified on certain things, you had to have specific certifications to move into different groups, to be able to do different things because they were so specialized in what they did. You don't see a lot of guys going to work there with a kind of a general knowledge. It's very specific and they must have those certifications. Conversely, we rarely hire people coming from corporate or enterprise jobs. We find that their focus is a little too narrow and they don't have the kind of well-rounded knowledge that our clients require. You know, our guys, our techs have to be able to clean a virus off a computer, as well as configure a firewall for security, and everything in between. So we tend to try to look for those guys that maybe know a little about a lot, as opposed to a lot about one or two specific things. They can learn the things they need to learn to do our job. So our clients, on our level, don't typically care about certifications. They never ask. We don't really require them when we're looking to hire people. I'm not saying they're bad. They're great. Any kind of training you get is great. Any kind of certification proves that you're willing to learn enough about something to be able to get that certification. Most of our clients, they assume since we've been around 20 years, we know what we're doing on the tech side. At that point, it's more of a, "How do we feel about each other personally? Do we get the "warm fuzzies?" Can we call your other clients? And talk to them?" We pride ourselves on our personal touch that we have, even with our remote clients, the ones that aren't here in the metroplex, that we don't get to walk in their office as much anymore with the remote access, and the video calls. We still get to see them stay in touch and still have that personal interaction with them as much as we can without being on site. It's funny, when I'm talking to new potential clients, I talk about that, that aspect of our business, about our personal relationships that we have with our clients. And it's so much so that, I've got keys and garage door codes to a lot of businesses and maybe even the owners house. They'll email and say, "Hey, my WiFi at home isn't working, or my wife's tablet can't do this..." Or I've gone into a client's house after Christmas and hooked up their kids X boxes on their network, or put in a wifi booster so they could watch Netflix in their bedroom and things like that. So we have that personal relationship with a lot of our clients. We know their families and we really work with them on that personal level. A lot of these clients, I've known personally for a long time. We were friends before we were business associates and business partners. But you know that kind of trend translates down to all my engineers and techs as well. And I try to make sure they understand that's part of the business too. I'm a small business owner myself. And so, I understand the struggle. What they're going through. So, I get it, I can empathize with them and realte to the challneges of owning and running a small business. I think a lot of them appreciate that as well. Do you need help, or have any questions? Give us a call! Get all the links, resources and show notes at https://itoverdrivepodcast.com/16