Service Agreements for SMB Consultants
By: Karl W. Palachuk

Service Agreements for SMB Consultants

A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services

Revised Edition

by Karl W. Palachuk

From the best-selling author on Managed Services

For IT Service Providers who want:

Streamlined Contract Creation: Get easy-to-use templates and expert guidance to create clear, legally sound service agreements that protect your business and your clients.
Simplify Your Sales Process: Learn how to structure agreements that not only set expectations but also make your service offerings more attractive to small and medium-sized businesses.
Increase Profitability and Security: Use Karl W. Palachuk’s industry-tested strategies to ensure your service agreements are profitable, minimize risk, and secure long-term client relationships.

Paperback | Ebook | Kindle + Downloadable handouts and templates

All I can say is “WOW!” I am blown away at how you were able to take a book about contracts (not an exciting topic by any stretch of the imagination) not only readable, but even somewhat enjoyable. Not only that, I was able to take your contracts and make relatively minor modifications and get them through the lawyer with very little change (another amazing task as most lawyers like to justify their worth by making a final copy look nothing like the original).

- Mark R. Haake (Click to read full review)

The following is the letter I sent to Karl regarding his book. This is without question a must read for anyone implementing or considering the Managed Services model.

******************

Karl,

I wanted to pass on a quick note regarding your book “Service Agreements for SMB Consultants.”

I received this book as a prize during Amy Luby’s SMB road show in Cincinnati. At first I didn’t appreciate the value of what I had won.

Not being a “computer geek T-Shirt” kind of guy, I was happy to have won something else. Even though I was not familiar with your writing, I thought it was certainly worth checking out for free.

We have jumped head first into the Managed Services realm of IT. Since going live two months ago [July 2006] we are generating a lot of interest in this arena within our professional circle here in the Cincinnati area. It’s a great concept (as proactive concepts always are) and it’s a real win-win situation for us and our customers.

Your book was certainly an invaluable asset as we were researching and trying to figure out how to swim in these murky waters. I should also add that Amy Luby and her team were also a great inspiration for us. We had stumbled upon a loose version of this concept about a year ago and were struggling with a way to formalize it and make it work. Between your book and Amy’s experiences we were able to come up with a solid foundation to tie all the loose pieces together.

So, to sum it all up…thanks! I look forward to reading more of your work in the near future.

– Mark R. Haake

A lot more than sample service agreements

Everyone knows it – spoken agreements aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. The SMB Consultant is facing changes we never imagined a few years ago. Managed services are everywhere. Franchised tech support is everywhere.

And big corporations are trying to compete in the SMB 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! A download with the critical forms and agreements is included!

THIS BOOK IS GUARANTEED TO IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS

Don't just take our word for it..

Hear from a few successful IT Business owners that utilized Service Agreements for SMB Consultants to support their success.

See what’s inside Service Agreements for SMB Consultants.

Section 1

Defining Yourself and Your Relationships

1. Define Yourself
2. Define Client Relationships

Section 2

The Language of Service Agreements

3. The Service Agreement Construction Kit: Understand the Parts
4. Boilerplate: A Sample Credit Agreement for Clients Without a Service Agreement
5. A Sample Service Agreement for Hourly Services
6. Flat Fee or managed Services Parts and Sample Agreement
7. Sample Managed Services Agreement

Section 3

Getting Help and Managing Agreements

8. Getting Help
9. Managing Your Service Agreements
10. Conclusions

Section 4

Resources, Acknowlegments, etc.

Resources
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Keeping up with Karl

Downloads

Associated Handouts

Most books by Karl come with downloads that are immediately customizable and usable by you. Handouts generally include Word documents, Excel Spreadsheets, PDFs and more.

Hear from more IT Businesses, just like yours

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

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 $50.00 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.
Karl walks you through a series of exercises to build, package, sell, and convert customers. His down-to-earth style of writing is like having a consultant working personally with you. This is a great first step to getting into Managed Services.

Schyler Jones

Hillsboro, NH

Wow! This book only cost me $50, and as far as I can see, it 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!
I was a little nervous about the undertaking of putting together a package to present to a prospective client. It felt much more manageable and doable with this book as a guide. After my first sit-down with a prospective managed service client, the client commented on the quality of the presentation. They signed a contract a week later. Of course your mileage may vary, but I feel the help I got from this book was invaluable in steering me in the right direction.

Suzanne Naranjo

Santa Rosa, CA

Thanks for the great book. It has really been helpful. We have spent the last year getting our tools up to speed, phone systems in place and a number of other things we didn't have or added. We are in the finalization of things when we found your book. So we took a few steps backward and it has been really helpful.

We are now also reading Service Agreements for SMB Consultants. With a few more ready to order.

I feel like we looked forever and just never found these resources. I am very grateful for these book recommendations and the ideas in your book.

Tim Nyberg

The Mac Guys

Nice work on this book Karl. After I finished it our general manager read it and could not believe the resources contained within. It is not only a book about service agreements for the SMB consulting space but a great tool relating to all aspects of your business practices. We are now in the process of having our lawyer (as you suggest) reviewing our new contracts. Keep putting out these little gems!!

Sean P. Kendrigan

Karl is amazing. He has the ability to cut-to-the-chase and provide immediately effective ideas to improve non-existent or mediocre processes. I recently decided to re-organize my business and improve our internal day to day processes and thereby improve our service delivery while increasing our ability to handle more of the right types of clients. He was able to coalesce what I have known for many years into a simple lock step process that is guiding us towards make the changes we desire. If you are new to the business, follow these steps and start our right, if you've been at it a while, take a look at his ideas and you will find your head nodding yes as he affirms what you already know on some level and then you will discover some very practical ways of improving your current situation. Also - in this day and age of hype - It was VERY refreshing to purchase something that delivered as promised and didn't attempt to tease you into other purchases for deeper insight. Because of all this, in truth, I did find myself purchasing other books by Karl on additional topics I wanted to explore. I am a satisfied customer!

M. Patrick

Orlando, FL

I just completed this book and I found that it had many good ideas... and not just about SLA's. It seems that most books in this sector (Managed Services) are on the expensive side, but I believe that the content of the book as well as the CD make it a fair price. The key for me is how well/easily I can implement the idea's contained within this book. If I have the time I'll do a follow up to this review. But for now, as far as an informative read goes, this book is worth the time and money.

Daniel P. McCarthy "DannyMac"

Aurora, Colorado

This is the only book that I have purchased in the last ten years. That is because it was not available (and there was nothing like it) at the public library. Karl writes books that are custom specific for IT service and support providers like myself. I recommend this book if you are self employed as an IT service support person like myself.

Dave Duggan

Sacramento, CA

I found this book to be helpful. If you have never consulted before then this is a must buy. I had consulted in another line of work so this book added to my knowledge base as was worth the price.

Owen M

Sacramento, CA

This book has been very helpful. I reads quickly and easily, and the CD provides great templates. Within a week I was able to standardize my existing contracts and reduce the need for customization with each new client. Great Work Karl!!!

B. Matthew Dillard

Fairfax, VA

It's hard to find good information on the business side of IT consulting. We started a year ago with decent technical skills but not much in the way of business training. Since then we've built a company which is supporting us, but couldn't see how to take it to the next level. I purchased Managed Services in a Month and a week later had converted two break/fix customers over to managed services contracts worth thousands every year in recurring income. This book is not cheap, but it is extraordinarily good value. It's cost is still less than one billable hour (at least if you're pricing yourself reasonably, something this book teaches you to do) and you'll make it back tenfold with the first contract (included with the book) that you get signed. If you're an independent IT pro dealing with small business networks or servers then this book will help you take your business to the next level. Highly recommended, and I'll be buying other books from Great Little Book Publishing very soon.

G. S. Price

Orlando, FL

TAKE THE CLASS | IT Service Provider University

Service Agreements for SMB Consultants

Based on the best-selling book Service Agreements for SMB Consultants, this course covers everything you need to know about developing your service agreements. And the book subtitle is important, too: A Quick Start Guide to Managed Services.

Free “Service Agreements” E-Book included

About Karl

Karl W. Palachuk has been an IT Consultant since 1995 and is one of the pioneers of the managed services business model. He is the author of 19 books, most of which are also available as audio books.

He is the host of the SMB Community Podcast and maintains four blogs, including Small Biz Thoughts and Relax Focus Succeed. Karl has owned several small businesses, including two very successful Managed Service companies in Sacramento, CA.

He received his first Microsoft certification in 1995 and his first MCSE in 1999. He was an active, hands-on Systems Engineer until January of 2017.

Karl has been a featured speaker at conferences and seminars over the last ten years. He is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with a Bachelor’s Degree from Gonzaga University and a Master’s Degree from The University of Michigan. He is also a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, and is an original member of Microsoft’s Small Business Specialist Advisory Panel.

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