There are no dead giveaways, but there are some signs that will let you know that a business is a good candidate for IT consulting. In this article, you'll learn some of these signs.

Is the Company Expanding?

When a business opens another office, they need PCs, other servers, and telecommunications lines. That presents you with a great IT consulting opportunity if they don’t already have someone in place.

What Communications Technology Do They Have?

Does the company have a phone system like a PBX system? You can build relationships with local phone retailers and that can lead to referrals and partnering in IT consulting.

Does the company have an email domain? If they are looking at retrieving emails between spam, filtering and firewalls, there is a huge opportunity for IT consulting. Does the company have a dedicated server, and dedicated internet?

Do Your Clients Depend on Online Sales?

Once they move beyond the micro small business and start to add the real server, then they start to have more sophisticated IT needs that make them a sweet spot IT consulting candidate. Is the company required to do things online with their vendors, with their customers, with their regulators?

If their systems are down, they’re losing a heck of a lot of money. You want clients like that - clients that are in the position where if their systems are down for a day they stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars.

When they are big enough and have that kind of critical importance on IT, they're going to recognize the importance of what you do and follow what you recommend. In companies like that, IT is as critical a need as an accountant on April 14th.

What Industries are Good Matches for IT Consulting?

Healthcare, financial services and natural services are very dependent on IT consulting. That doesn’t mean you should exclude other industries. But that can tip the scale in terms of making them a stronger sweet spot candidate for IT consulting.

Do They Have More than One Location?

Do they have a branch office or any remote locations? The more offices and the more people they have working remotely, the more sophisticated setups they need like VPNs or remote access. That's where your IT consulting practice will come in

Is the Company Used to Paying for IT?

Has the company used technology providers or professional consulting firms in the past? Have they worked with Bars, solution providers, or integrators that shows they were willing to pay money for IT services? If so, that's good. If they spent money once, they are probably willing to spend money again.