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Reselling - Skills Needed?

Posted by rgroves, 08-20-2001, 03:22 AM
What would be the general skill set one should have in order to handle reselling? I have just gotten into design and after reading about reselling in these threads, I figure I can make $$ in two places (hosting and design) instead of just one (designing). Do you need to be an admin in order to handle the technical side or are there tools given to monkey-fy technical tasks? Also, what books would you recommend for someone wanting to gain some knowledge in server setups, hosting, etc. Thanks for your help.
Posted by m6.net, 08-20-2001, 03:30 AM
I think you are right that you can make money two ways. In fact it will be good for you if you can offer complete solution from designing to hosting to your clients. Skills required for reselling will depend up on company you choose to resell. Some company will offer technical support for your clients, which means you don't have to be technical person (if you are is a bonus). Some hosts will ask you to support your clients yourself and in this case you need some technical knowledge or a person with those knowledge. All the best.
Posted by Dogma, 08-20-2001, 11:53 AM
I think many people don't realize what is invovled in hosting. I am looking to do a smilar thing (resell hosting to my design clients) and have kinda looked at this. Basically, you need[list=1][*]To be ppl friendly[*]Be able to help, support, guide, etc. your clients[*]Be able to lose sleep supporting your clients[*]Have thick skin for when the servers go down at 3 am and everyone calls you![*]Have a billing, support system set up[*]Maybe have someone help you provide support when you can't[/list=1] This is kinda what you need and a checklist. It isn't complete, but a beginning.
Posted by Jaiem, 08-20-2001, 01:08 PM
Dogma has it right. Tech skills are definately secondary to good customer relations and communication skills. And a good business sense helps too. You can always find a company to resell for that has good tools to make your tech life easier.
Posted by m6.net, 08-20-2001, 07:28 PM
I agree that good customer relationship and communication skill are important but no way technical skill is secondary. Your clients will not eat your words, if you can't bring the site up, for which you will need technical skill.
Posted by SoftWareRevue, 08-21-2001, 03:27 AM
So, you're saying technical skills first; then people skills??
Posted by Palm, 08-21-2001, 06:05 AM
Everything should be first. Don't put them in order.
Posted by rgroves, 08-21-2001, 01:31 PM
Sounds like it should just be stated as "Customer First" as it is with any good business. Thanks for your input.
Posted by m6.net, 08-21-2001, 08:27 PM
Hey again. Lets take an example. There are 2 hosts A and B. Host A, very polite and fully customer oriented with limited technical knowledge. A client came with a problem and "A" apologies several times for the problem, gave full detailed what exactly happened, keep informing that he is looking into the problem and it will be fixed soon. He manages to fix the problem in 4 days due to his limited technical skill, but contacted/informed the client 5 times in these 4 days. Host B, technically perfect with limited customer relationship skill. Client informs host B about a problem. In next day client received an email from host B "Thanks for informing us about the problem. It was a small error is dns, which has been corrected. You will not face the same problem again in future." Which one will you prefer? One who feed you with all the good words all the time and taking more time to fix the problem or another one who manage to help you in lot less time but is not very good at writing beautiful words? Me... Of course I value the Host B far far far better then host A. NOTE: People skill is important but won't help you long enough if your product/service is not serving the purpose. I agree with Palm, Don't put them in order.
Posted by Dogma, 08-22-2001, 02:43 AM
If u have a 2 man operation..get a type A and type B. Type A deals with customers and type B deals w/ machines
Posted by m6.net, 08-22-2001, 02:46 AM
Perfect