Service Agreements for SMB Consultants - Revised Edition: A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services

Everyone knows it - spoken agreements aren't worth the paper they're written on. The IT Consultant today is facing changes we never imagined a few years ago. Managed services are everywhere. Franchised tech support is everywhere. And now big corporations are trying to compete in the Small Business Space. Whether you like it or not, you need to make some changes in order to meet the challenges of the next few years. Service agreements literally define your business. If you're not using them, you need to start today. If you are using them, great! Just make sure that they truly represent who you are and how you want to define your business. Whether you sell your services hourly, in blocks of time, or with a Managed Services plan, you need a good service agreement. You need this book! As with his other books, Karl gives you more than just the forms. This book includes best practices and lots of great information to help you run your business more prosperously! Includes downloads of all the critical forms and agreements!

If you want to offer service agreements to your IT customers, or are not sure of the value of selling service agreements, buy and read this book. When you are finished, you will be able to start offering service agreements - it's as simple as that. Thanks to Karl, I'm in the process of proposing 4 service agreements. The $40.00 for the book will be paid for by the first one so it's definitely money well-spent. On that note, I appreciate the short, concise format because that made it that much easier and faster to read. Technology books with hundreds of pages are more often than not nothing but fat. Not with Karl's book - lean and right to the point. Whether you know nothing, something, or a lot about IT service agreements, this book is an excellent resource. It will show you nearly everything you need to know about service agreements, from the perspective of someone who is obviously very adept at running his own IT business. In the past when I tried to come up with something on my own, I just stared at a blank screen. Although I could come up with a handful of bullets of what should be included in a service agreement, Karl points out many things I hadn't thought of, including what not to cover. He also provides actual frameworks and examples of the agreement language. I really like his practice of having more than one type of agreement. --Schyler Jones (Hillsboro, NH)

This is the book to have on your shelf. Karl will walk you through how his contracts are setup, what the parts mean, and the basic structure of delivering managed services via a contract vehicle. You can't get this kind of consulting help this easily, and Karl will give you everything you need. I highly recommend it. --David P. Sobel, Evolve Technologies

Wow! This book gives me all the info I need to offer clear managed services contracts to businesses that just want their computer system to work. Mr. Palachuk tells how his company structures their contracts, but also gives you all of your options, because as he says, everyone is different and has to be comfortable with the services they offer. His writing style is excellent. He uses humor, but there are not so many jokes that you get distracted. He is clear and organized. I give this book my highest recommendation to anyone in the I.T. service business, whether you want to offer contracts, blocks of hours, or provide service on an as-needed basis. It doesn't matter if you're just starting out or a veteran. This book has many golden nuggets of knowledge for you! --Suzanne Naranjo, Santa Rosa, CA