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Dealing with Cheap Competition in the Tech Industry
You’ll find them in most metro areas – the ‘technicians’ who post on Craigslist or use other forms of low cost advertising, who often perform bad work and make obvious mistakes. They might only charge $20 for their work, and sometimes it’s good, but often it’s bad, when it’s not a simple repair task. How can experienced technicians compete with cheap inexperienced competition?
Should you use uniforms? Nametags? Snappy business cards? What can distinguish your professional and experienced service from the ‘fly-by-night’ operations that plague many communities and create cheap competition issues for you?
This isn’t a simple black and white question and answer. For instance, in some communities, the most professional technician service doesn’t make use of uniforms or nametags, but rely on word of mouth and reputation from years of service to well known clients. Often, it’s been my experience that the service that makes use of uniforms and nametags often spends too much on making their technicians look professional and not enough on either training their employees or hiring experienced workers. This leads to professional looking but inexperienced technicians performing badly on the job. What you can make use of to distinguish your professional service from the competition may depend on several factors and is of course subject to your discretion based on your community and what is considered professional locally.
Uniforms
If uniforms are often used by other professional services in your area, it might be good to invest in some uniforms to reflect a professional tone. There is no set dress code for the computer technician. Often, work can vary from dragging ethernet cable around an attic or second story business building to sitting down and offering consulting services with business partners in suits and ties in a meeting room. One suggestion for reflecting a professional tone for varying work is to pick up a professional looking badgecard holder, and place your vertically designed business card inside, or have a nametag designed for you.
If you decide to go for uniforms, make sure they look professional but don’t constrain your movements when you actually need to get down to working. It could be as basic as a simple polo shirt with your logo and name displayed on it. There are numerous ways of doing this, such as embroidery, patches, pins, or having your logo implemented in the actual design by a uniform service.
Professionalism
Professionalism covers a vast area when it comes to technician work. Again, it’s not a simple answer. What may be considered professional in one community may be considered snobbish or pretentious in another. However, you can manifest a professional tone in the way you conduct your business in certain ways.
When you invoice your customer, do you just use a generic invoice form with a stamp for your business or do you use an invoice that makes use of your logo and business name? More and more businesses are going paperless, and invoices can now be sent out from CRM’s with your logo and business name via email, eliminating the need for you to send out a printed invoice or even request a paper check as payment, utilizing online payment services instead. As an example, Siwapp is an online open source CRM you can host yourself, and you can send customized invoices to your clients via email.
Do you have a toolbox you bring with you to the job? Does it appear professional or does it look like it was your grandfather’s tacklebox that you recovered from a lake when you had a drought a few years back? Is it neat and well organized or does it seem like you can never find anything in it when you need it? Depending on your work area and your range of coverage, you may not need to bring absolutely every tool with you on every job, and often a simple toolkit with the basics will do just fine, especially for troubleshooting and simple repairs.
When you pull tools out of your toolbox, are they clean and taken care of, or do they look like they were left out in the rain and sun for a few years? It may seem like a little thing to some people, but the state of your tools is often a reflection on you as an individual and it often reflects on the quality of your work. While it’s not always the case, as I have seen rusty beaten up tools in the hands of a master tradesman perform superb work, it is something to keep in mind, if you’re concerned about appearing professional.
When you converse with the client, do you manifest a professional tone? This covers aspects such as how you discuss matters regarding other clients you do business with. You could make jokes about other clients and their quirks, or you could be positive about every client you perform services for. Which seems more professional?
There are many other areas in which you could manifest a professional appearance, but there isn’t enough room to discuss everything here. Hopefully I’ve given you something to consider, and based on the tips here, you may come up with other ideas and things you can improve to contribute to a professional appearance on the job.
Discussions With Clients
Finally, it comes down to the actual competition when you’re discussing your services with your client, and the client brings up the ‘technician’ who will come fix his problem for $20, that he saw on Craigslist. It may come down to the point where the client wants to do it anyway, and you can advise him that if the $20 ‘technician’ comes and fixes it, great. But if he doesn’t fix it, or worse, destroys the computer or the operating system, it will be much more costly to repair, and he could lose extremely valuable personal and/or business data in that machine, when you could have fixed it for him and eliminated the worst case scenario in the first place, and the cost of the final repairs would have greatly exceeded the original estimate of your services in the first place. Sometimes, it all comes down to how willing the client is to risk their money and their valuable computer, and that is beyond your control.
If you have any tips about how you manifest a professional aspect on the job, drop a comment below! We would love to hear it!
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This I must disagree. Yes you are having trouble, but think about the story behind it. They are cheap, small business that may just started out. People don’t have perfect circumstance to start up a big business that is starting with 100 clients from day one. You are being negative to those who are starting out and whinging about how cheap their prices are. You expect them to make really expensive prices to what? Accommodate you? Hell no. Just coz there cheap, don’t mean they are crap either. People also these days would rather technicians to piss off for high prices and aim for new computer. Customer feedback quote “great technician with reasonable price”. Consumers hearing a company that I’ve found that charge $100 per 30min taking 3-4 hours to fix something for a home user. Do you really think that will make a customer excited? Nope. Be careful what and how you say things that van make or break your business.
Thank you for helping illustrate the mindset thinking of a pizza tech.
The biggest issue with the pizza techs are: they think they are doing everyone a favor with charging rock bottom prices. But if they had built a solid, or semi-solid business plan to begin with, they would realize that there are costs that are going to run them out of business charging those super low prices.
I am starting on a shoe string budget, and I am not able to afford everything in this list, but, I am more following the line of looking professional and using my ingenuity for the rest. If any of you did not have ingenuity, none of you would have become successful.
The man is right to a certain extent. I’ve been tinkering with computers since I am was a kid, I am 49 know. Don’t make a living as a tech because I hold a very well paying day job, but I can accomplish most anything a tech can and more.
I hate it when I see people hire a tech, pretty well known ones at that, to fix a problem to not only NOT fix the problem completely but charge absorbent fees and try to angle the customer into a new system, hardware, software or what have you.
One tech charged my mother in law a $350 charge just for cleaning up a slow computer, then to top it off tried to nail her for another $100 for “cleaning software”, this is when she called me, turned out all she needed was CCleaner ….. 100% Free.
I look at it this way, you can hire a high profile tech, pay for all his/her overhead, nice ride and duds and buy his/her expensive hardware, software or what have you, then after you do all that, I’ll show you how to fix the very same problem on the cheap or for absolutely free and I won’t charge you a dime.
As already mentioned, thank you for proving a point.
The Answer is very simple to dealing with this issue “Honesty” and that’s it.
Because You don’t need to a uniform or professionalism for that!
If you know what you do and explain your work and perform it well then customers will trust you which will mean good business for you versus cheap competition.
I agree with you 100% Chris!
It seemed like there was an article quite some time ago about starting out as a computer tech and inexpensive forms of advertising on Craigslist.
While there are good points in this article, it also seems relevant that the advice in the older article made it a point not to charge $20. or too low of a price for tech work because that could hinder getting repair jobs for being too cheap.
I’ve done many repairs at a low price where other competition in fancy storefronts have charged $400. for repairs consistently and not repaired the pc, later claiming it was something the client had done.
All in all I believe the best point of the article here is how word of mouth will be important and people will pay whatever the price is to get their pc done right unless they just can’t afford it and take a chance on a techs low price!
No matter large or small, new or old we have little control over the number of customers who call us, come through our doors or we meet. For this reason professional techs tend not to give away their services.
Whatever your number of customers per week is 3, 10 or 20 which guy is more likely to survive, the one charging $20 per hour or the one charging $100?
Which one should you be?
well a nice article all around with some good questions and thoughts about the subject, some valid arguments and some good pointers to where one can point it’s staring or established small to medium business and as you stated first of all it’s up to the tech to take a good look at it’s own surrondings and usual customers and make the right choices. congratulations
I have to agree with the author of the article. Right now, this country is at a crossroads in the labor industry. Everyone, in one way or another, is threatened by the onslaught of low wage help inundating our factories and service industry. Either they come to this country through illegal channels, or are employed in far-off lands. Whichever way it is, we are finding it harder to compete.
What is the alternative if professionalism and good customer relations are not able to persuade potential clients to use your services? I see only one other choice–cut your prices or hang it up.
If you decide to cut your prices, then you will be joining the rest of the working population as they too make a last ditched effort to continue on in their chosen fields. However, that will only cause the living standards in the United States to decrease over time. Not only will people be unable purchase as many items as they once did, they will forgo basic necessities such as medical care and healthy foods. This will have a detrimental effect across the landscape as every business takes a hit due to lack of sales.
On the other hand, if you decide to give up the business totally, then you may find yourself looking for government assistance or working for less money somewhere else. There is an ever growing crisis here as well. The number of people relying on the government or underemployed continues to rise. This too will cause the economy to stagnant or worse.
I understand that a new business must try to compete with those already established. But, don’t undercut your prices to do it. This only causes more harm to the industry as a whole. Quality of service may suffer because knowledgeable technicians will refuse to do work outstanding work at lower costs. Or, many good companies will close their doors because they cannot afford to pay their bills or make payroll.
If you want to open a business, then do your research and decide how you can out compete without lowering your prices. Offering exceptional service is one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd. Don’t be like our Asian “friends” who undercut prices on manufactured goods to drive out the competition. Because once their competition is gone, they won’t care about the quality they provide. No one will be around to offer better.
Here’s a blog I recently wrote on this subject:
“A customer recently recommended a new client to us from Chicago. After several discussions she decided she wouldn’t make the long trip, so she took her computer to a local discount “technician.” He told her, “Go and get a bite to eat, and I’ll have it ready in 2 hours,” and he was only asking $50! She was delighted, until she got it home and discovered he had wiped her computer and recovered it to factory specifications. All her picture, music, emails, documents, favorites had been wiped irrevocably.
This is what you get with most computer repair services. They don’t even ask or inform. If you haven’t backed up your critical files, it’s your problem. It’s a quick way to make a few bucks and customer loyalty isn’t even considered.
You might pay a little more by coming to TP Technologies (though we’re far from the most expensive out there), but you can rest assured no technology company will provide better service! This is our promise above all others.
On a different note, we’ve had a number of customers tell us recently, “I’m sorry to bother you on a weekend,” or “I hate to call you on a Sunday,” and I told them “I wish more people would come in at weekends!” Please remember that we are open 7 days a week, and weekend customers are always welcome. Just call ahead to make sure someone is available is all I ask.
Tony David and Michael.”
From: http://tpteq.com/wordpress/whats-new-at-tpteq/why-you-should-choose-tp-technologies-over-a-discount-service/
The 2 most prominent threats we see in service, not only for the individual, but for the small businesses in our area are these:
1. ‘Rouge’ Geek Squad techies
These are often low paid, entry level young workers with a minimum level of experience & training. I’ve been told these this by more than a few clients, cutomers, & friends who have experienced the following: A customer calls the Geek Squad for OnSite service. Geek Squad, working out of Best Buy, dispatches an “agent” to the customer’s home or business, who then performs a minimal service at company standards. Often times its sub-par, but not always. What happens next is the “agent” gives the customer his personal cell phone number and tells them to call him instead of the Geek Squad and he’ll do any work for half price. It’s never reported because the customer is quite happy to get work done at half price, and they don’t feel as if they’re doing anything wrong. Sooner or later, they end up calling in a professional, when the work done “on the side” by the Geek Squad ‘dude’ fails, or falls short. I assume the Geek Squad has strong policies against this, but there’s no way to enforce it because it’s rarely reported.
2. An out-of-work friend, relative, neighbor, etc.
We’ve all experienced this one before. How many times have we walked into a new, or even an exisiting client’s office, and within minutes of the initial evaluation, find so many things wrong, its obvious it was done by an inexperienced and untrained person. Things like poor or no security protocols on servers, routers, VPNs, desktops, etc., poorly configured servers & no reliable backups. Out of date software (not patched, or updated), ineffective freebie antivirus software and more. And the worst offender of all, bootleg (illegal) software such as Office, Windows, and even server O/S’s. When brought to the customer’s attention, as is our obligation to do so, the typical reply is, “well my son’s friend knows computers… he did it.” I politely tell them “we’re not the Microsoft police…”, then go on to explain the risks associated with not having legal licensed software, not just legally, but functionally. To date, I’ve never seen anyone care. “Can you just make it work?” is the usual response. I have no choice but to decline. It’s not worth risking our reputation.
Again, with so many out of work, they’ll just find another kid who will do it. And I’m not talking about the mom and pop deli, but doctor’s offices, insurance companies, even law firms.
These are just a few signs of these tough economic times. People will drive on bald tires until they can’t. Our challenge is to convince the client that cost effective solutions done properly will not only make them more productive and secure, but actually save them money in the long term by virtually eliminating down time.
I remember a while back, a client contacted me regarding removing a ukash ransomware virus.Every thing was corrupt and even safe mode. I would normaly charge £65 for virus removal as we know it can take a few hours depending on the type of virus and after removal damage.
I lost this client due to a cheaper tech charging £20 to remove this nasty. I He was most welcome to get a headache and i do not think he is trading now.
The problem i have found is you charge to cheap, you can get a lot of headaches and problem customers.
You charge just right and you get the best clients.
Honestly I think the onset of cheap computer service has come about because the market is changing dramatically, and the tools are getting easier, and more powerful. It’s getting very competitive, and I expect it will continue as long as we have to compete with a computer program that might be able to achieve the same results. The industry is moving to place that will make our skills obsolete. With cheap disposable cloud based hardware solutions, and mobile OS based devices the outlook is not good unless you adapt. If we fail to see this, and hold on to our old ideas of what computer repair use to be. We will find ourselves out of business pretty quick. In the age of the $1.99 app on the $199 consumption device the $400 repair job really doesn’t make much sense unless it’s a server. Let’s be realistic here. No one cares about desktops anymore unless it’s a workstation,gaming machine or server. People want to buy devices that don’t need service. Most android tablets don’t need to be fixed or serviced, and they deliver the content most people want. Cheap enough to replace regularly, and get that new device rush. I think we need to be focused on where things are going to understand why these $20 technicians even exist. There providing what the people want, or expect in today’s marketplace.
On the topic of price I think the key here is *Value* No matter what the price is it must be a good value. What are you getting for $20, or $99? You can make $99 look more attractive then $20 if you project value. It’s the same as pricing with any other industry. They are business models. Do a lot cheaply and fast, or do a few really well and charge a lot more. It the same question every business has to address for it’s products. It’s marketing.
Honestly I think the thing that is always overlooked in these discussions is the fact that there will always come a shift in every industry when some smart people figure out how to do things better, cheaper and more efficiently then the rest. In the end it comes down to ingenuity, and how well and how fast you can perform a task. A really smart person could create a program and write a script that allows him to do the same quality work in a fraction of the time. This person may already exist, and charging $20 per job that only takes 10 minutes of his time. That’s $120 an hour to him, and very inexpensive for the customer. Now you can call him the pizza guy, but he’s running circles around your old way of thinking and doing things. Perhaps attacking his quality might help you sleep at night, but I think to be safe we should keep educating and learning new tricks if we want to survive.
We can’t assume that because someone is cheap they are inferior. They may just be a lot smarter, and defining their own business model that works for them, and the customers.
I think you nailed it Lonnie
Lonnie,
I have owned and operated a half dozen stores over the last 20+ years and have seen many things. I believe I am one of the first to fully automate backups over a network and automatic restores also from an installation server. It takes 20 minutes of tech time but still takes the 3 1/2 hours of bench time.
If I charge 20 minutes for this service it would be $20 but if I charge value based 3 hrs it is $180.
That is not brain surgery and I think you spoke the obvious that we all know. I would be surprised if in 2013 more than one or two guys do not know how to do this or at least download a utility to do it for them.
You miss the real point. What are you worth? What is your service worth? What is the perception of value of your service? These Pizza techs are not making millions buying two homes and two airplanes. At least I challenge you to show me those who have.
These pizza techs are here to day, gone as soon as they figure out that they cannot find a way to get the 2000 customers a week they need to make $4000 a week to pay for even a tiny organization with overhead and a bit left over for themselves.
So with their 3-4 customers a day making $20 they are lucky to get $80 per day. That is not even a job let alone a business. Get real.
If the pizza tech methods worked we would all be doing it and their wouldn’t be a new bunch of idiots every time the lay off roles come around again. And they wouldn’t flood to the next get rich quick opportunity after a few months of making slave wages.
Even the really smart people who took the time and effort to fully automate online computer repair charge $60. You might convince me that they make a little money but not the bozos down the corner charging $20 on Craigslist.
What you really have are a bunch of guys who have no self worth, do not know how to run a business, do not know what it takes to maintain a business. any person with a 7 year old mentality can begin a business, they just cannot keep it running for very long, just like your pizza techs.
There are a minuscule amount of “techies” that are stupid to $20 everything. But mainly, you are going a bit overboard with thinking all cheap techies charge extremely low.
Lonnie
“Honestly I think the onset of cheap computer service has come about because the market is changing dramatically, and the tools are getting easier, and more powerful.”
Problem is lonnie the tools will not sort a corrupt bootloader in windows 7 and 8, and even when the master disc will not repair the bootloader.
The pizza tech will be stuck as he does not have the skillset to get back in to windows, and using a linux distro will not even cut it.
The master techs know how to repair the bootloader and get back in to windows 7/8. I recently had to sort this, as the cheaper guy was stuck.
I think 1 point to make clear is people who charge something like $20 for something is probs just wanting some cash on the side. If they are serious about a business, they will need to make sure its a price that gets clients, can pay for there personal stuff if they are doing it full time, and pay for business stuff and prepare for future growth. Something might be considered to you as $20, since it may take like 3 minutes to deal with. I don’t think anybody here would think a client would be happy paying $75+ bucks for that short fix. Also, almost everyone commenting has to stop associations with low payment = crap technician.Again I’ll make my point from last comment, techies facing this as their business and living with home clients but you will see it with businesses, if its too expensive, they will buy a new computer/s and may not consider you if you can accommodate.
Chris I agree with you on some points but I can tell you from experience cutting corners and trying to accommodate a customer can in the end cause more harm than good. I am many other techs have came behind others that did not take time to address fully all of a clients concerns and have had to play “clean up” on a major mess. Unlicensed software, jacked up cable runs, data loss. All because a tech did not want to give a client a real world estimate of what it cost to maintain their environment. I am not the least expensive tech in the area but my clients value my time and they know that I value their business.
I understand, but one thing to point out, we don’t know how the pizza techies do business, they might not cut corners and give cheap prices coz they have other jobs that allow them too still profit. Also at times I reckon pizza techies ask for high price, clients annoyed and don’t wanna pay, so they go “fine, I’ll do it for this much” client happy, tech does dodgy job to show what happens when you decline realism, see if they realize and call you back not realizing they called someone else in for which they must pay a high price. I find that more realistic for a “business”, most cheap techies I see are those who make a quick buck from their limited knowledge. If they are serious, then they got a lot to learn about income vs expense. But those cheap techies will most Likely have another job. My friend is a sparkie and he has a well paying full time job plus does his own independent jobs for clients for much cheaper. He is good but can afford to be cheap. In really trying to push that cheap don’t mean crap
This is all a matter of perspective. I agree that there are techs that charge low prices for work, however I doubt they are doing it as an every day business. The basic premise here and what everyone must understand is you charge what YOU think YOU are worth. Some of us with higher degrees of experience and more of a “owner” mindset will charge more. I know before I set my prices I looked at the market in my area and kept myself within range for the client base that I wanted. The old adage you get what you pay for can in some respects still be true. If you want to be serviced by a business you go to a professional business. If your cousin or a friend will suffice for $20 bucks by all means go to them. There is customer for everybody. To each his or her own.
I am a “techi” working from a home office in Adelaide, South Australia. I have been providing a quality service for over 20 years. I have plenty of competition in my area. There are technicians available from as low as AU$17 per hour (with a “no fix no fee” policy!) right up to the large professional outfits like Geek’s 2U, Jim’s Computer Service, and Dr PC. There are also the huge SuperStore places like Harvey Norman, JB-HiFi, Radio Rentals etc that sell new, heavily discounted computers. They also offer fix-it services.
Time and time again I have been called to jobs to fix someone else’s mess! One of the most common complaints is that the previous “expert” charged something like AU$150 to fix the problem using System Restore!
I get customers constantly complaining that their computer “was never the same” after getting service work elswhere, their data is missing, (deleted usually) or that AU$99 virus removal that they got last week didn’t seem to get rid of the viruses! They take it back to the store to be told “this is a new infection!, it will cost you another $99”! Yeah right!
My point is that I have based my business model on providing a service that I would expect if I was a customer in need of assistance! People store some very personal and sensitive data on their computers so they want someone they can trust that wont delete, or worse, steal their data for whatever means!
My charges are not the cheapest nor the most expensive, but I beleive they are fair for the work I do. Also, I treat ALL my customers with respect, no matter what their level of “computer savviness”.
It seems to have worked for me for 20+ years.
I’m sorry no other way to say it but Cheap Means Crap! No exceptions.
I started with $1500 and converted my garage into a mini retail shop. I charged the same prices as the big shops in town and have now grown to a real retail location and am now moving to a larger location. I could not have done this @ $20 an hour. I provide a quality service full of value that people are willing to pay for. Our town is full of pizza techs. They all come and go.
Long time since I posted here, but since the last time I was here, I’ve seen probably 20 so called PC shops come and go. Pizza techs aren’t really a bother here even though the $20 techs are everywhere. I’m too busy fixing the $400 big box pizza tech screw ups – and they have pretty uniforms, shiny cars, and fancy pirated software on their CD’s
Tony, things change, you either change with them or you get left behind. Consider that the business model you’ve been using for years is no longer the only business model, and that there are other viable solution out there for people smart enough to figure them out. If you can come that far you might be able to figure out what they are.
The question isn’t what our time is worth anymore. That is an outdated notion. The question is what is the value a customer is willing to pay to fix outdated hardware when they can buy something inexpensive, new and cool that will do the same job for them? You need a new better equations for this problem. The old formula doesn’t work in today’s market when people have a lot of inexpensive options. You can keep using that old formula but I can tell you, you wont survive long.
Oh Lonnie.. so naive. The question isn’t what our time is worth? Really? You actually think people prefer a crappy cheap solution over quality? When you are done ‘servicing’ your customers, feel free to leave them my contact info.
btw.. haven’t survived as an overpriced old formula business for 10 years now. Glad I’m no-nexistant. Oh.. can I get extra pepperoni?
Naive…that’s funny Hah
Look guys this is all just shop talk. I’m no $20 technician I can promise you that, but it doesn’t hurt to play the devils advocate here for the sake of learning, and understanding why they exist, and why lots of companies are adapting new business models.
I don’t know what to tell you, If you think you can survive the next 10 years using that same old formula…go for it! If you can honestly look at your numbers at the end of the month as still feel comfortable with where your company is at compared to ten years ago. More power to you for living the dream until the very end.
Personally I saw the need to adapted years ago, and we make more money then we ever did doing repairs, and get this… We don’t even have to do repairs…lol
I like how some of you older guys think you know it all because you’ve been around the block. Just remember that after a few times around the block eventually you get old and forget where you are. That’s something that I remind myself of every day. I’m not young by any means, probably older then a most of you. I’ve been around the block several times myself. I worked my entire career in Silicon Valley with the best companies and people to back me at many start ups. I was there when Steve came back to Apple. I stood in Googles small one room office with their crappy little server backing them when they convinced me they were going to rule the world. I know a thing or two about adaptability, and survival in the tech industry. I’m still here and very involved after 25 years. My entire family is spread out through the industry as VP, and CEO’s of major corporations that I am sure you all know and use daily.
I’m not some spring chicken coming here and throwing a wrench in your dream. I’m trying to give you some solid advice on why you shouldn’t just count someone out because of their business model. Especially when your own is getting dated and more and more are using new and different business models over yours. It’s not about the $20 technician at all, it’s about the consumers that want a $20 fix, and lots of them! That is valuable information. It means that they are giving the people what they want, even if it is bad service. Data is data and you need to put it to good use not shrug it off, because it will come around and bite you in the ass. You need to be smart enough to see that, and capitalize on this behavior that is all around you. Craig’s list wouldn’t be going crazy with these guys if that wasn’t what people wanted, right? If the people want inexpensive service, find a away to give them inexpensive service without sacrificing your quality. That is my point here. If you don’t figure it out people like me will, and have! That’s what your tasked with as a modern service company. You’re going up against people like me that have a lot of money, and connections to make these things happen, and on a large scale.
I’m retired, this is just a project to keep me busy. Imagine if I was 24 years old and fresh out of business school. Home much more motivations and ambition I might have. Then realize that there are thousands of graduates from business schools every year with an idea that is going to render you obsolete.
Take a look around. How many mom and pop shops have closed down in your city this year alone? What makes you relevant to survive where they failed?
No one says you have to sell yourself short to be smart and flexible.
You remember why you don’t post here and then you come back and post again…Go back to your other sites that tolerate your “BS”….
and now I remember why I stopped posting here….
To further my point, and this conversation I will just ask this.
What is your ten year plan?
Explain how your current business model is going to survive the next ten years?
10 year plan? Do I look like a corporate giant? 10 years ago I was doing penetration testing and never even thought about fixing computers. I’ve already mutated through being a server company, forensics and data recovery, retail PC sales and service, was The iPod Guru doing iPod repairs for a bit while that was hot, did printers before they became so cheap people buy new ones, and now I’m doing cleanup on all the failed $20 tech repairs when they break things trying to fix viruses. And our hot business right now? We do SEO work, writing and posting to social media for clients. I have 5 employees doing just that (and the occasional graphics job). Anybody that makes a plan in this business is either incompetent or a fool
end of an era for MCSE
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047982/microsoft-ends-top-masters-certification-exams-for-it-pros.html
Dealing with cheap wanna-be-techs is easy. I just sit back and wait.
“Wait for what?” you ask? “Wait for the client…who that cheap tech think he stole…because the client will come back to me.”
I’ve been doing SMB IT for….oh I’m closing in on 20 years of doing it.
I’ve seen this time and time again. The answer isn’t in wearing fancy uniforms…heck I’ll never wear a uniform and look like some geek squader. I usually wear jeans!
The answer is “Know your products well, and use top grade products, no cheap stuff, learn what the next hot products and services will be, learn them well…and charge what the market can bear for it!”
Yes..you’ll loose out on the “cheapo clients”…but you don’t want them anyways. Leave those bottom feeders to the cheapo pizza techs. You want to cull your client list to be a list of clients that wants great service, the best in products, and is willing to pay for it.
I’ll tell a quick story…and this story has basically repeated itself many times over many years for me. Going back to the Windows 95 and NT 4 Server days, when “DSL was first coming out”. The first couple of hundred Linksys befsr41 routers had rolled off the assembly line, their very first version of firmware. A potential new client needed to have their dial up replaced with DSL. I went in, looked at the job, gave her my quote. I didn’t hear back from her for a few weeks. About a month later, I get a call from her to come in. They had been down (no internet) for weeks. I told her “Why didn’t you call me sooner?” She told me they thought I was too expensive, and that they tried 3x other IT guys because they were cheaper…and all of them failed…one after the other. Well, I got them up and running that day…and I still have that client.
I can type stories like that from my career for hours and hours. But the above story is typical.
Along similar lines…I’ve had existing clients leave me to go to cheaper IT guys. Many of those clients came back to me after bad experiences with cheap techs. LOL funny quick story…I can quickly think of 3 times that I’ve had those cheaper techs call me on behalf of my clients and hire me to do tasks that were above their skill level. That’s fine. So the cheap client hires the cheap tech to do basic desktop stuff, and I still get called for the “big guns server work” at my full server price. Works for me!
I always say…”You get what you pay for!”.
I understand what Lonnie is saying in his above posts. And much of that is true for the “home” market. Big expensive computers are dying in that market, being replaced by throw away items like tablets, smart phones, cheap desktops. Not worth the price of what we would bill. And that is why I do not go after the home user market. We focus on the SMB market, because that is where the money is. Yes there are cheap potential clients in the SMB market too…let them pass you by, let them fall into the hands of the cheap techs. You want to focus going after the SMB clients that want the best of the beste, high end stuff, stay ahead of the curve, demand fast and top notch competent service.
What kind of clients would you rather serve:
*A small list of clients that want the best and are willing to pay for it? They practically hand over their checkbook to you and do as you advise.
or
*A long list of cheap clients that constantly whine about prices…and make you duct tape together a cheap network.
I’ll take the smaller list of good clients…hands down. They’re out there..just have to learn how to find them.
1. When it comes down to cheap service is what is
when you put a VALUE on your TIME LEVEL OF EXPERTISE, TRAVEL, AMOUNT OF WORK.
2. $20 for 1 hr of work any business owner that understands your in business to make money or you just have a hobbie
$20= travel(gas) labor
I’ll give you the secret to my success. I run a home-based business (yes, a legitimately licensed business). Less than 2 years ago I was making anywhere between $2k-$3k per month. Today it’s typically $15k-$20k per month. I’ll admit that I was somewhat of a “pizza box” tech back 2 years ago. Not quite, but I was there. Pizza box techs in my area typically charge $30-$60 flat rate for a job, and I was about $80-$120. I’d bend over backwards for ALL clients. I dealt with a lot of crap and clients that were just horrible. But I gradually increased my prices and itemized pretty much EVERYTHING. This allowed me to wrack up pretty large bills and waive certain things or offer “discounts.” People love to think they’re getting a discount. But I also changed the way I do business and interact with clients. I’ve discovered that clients will pay for perceived VALUE rather than your time or effort put into a problem. I replace almost every client’s hard drive that comes through the door with a brand new one. It just makes sense if the computer is 2 years old or older. And the client likes that they can squeeze additional life out of the machine.
I’ve also realized that most client’s expectations are a LOT less than they were before. Crappy disposable phones and tablets (and laptops) have made clients expect a lifespan of 1-3 years out of their computers, rather than the 7-10 years they used to expect. So if you can tell the client that there’s a very good chance they can get another 2 years out of a 3 year old machine and charge them less than it is for a new one (and it doesn’t even have to be a lot less), they’re satisfied 99% of the time.
Combine this with perceived value. Spend time with the client. Make sure they think you have their best interest at heart. Clients want something that’s quality and they don’t want any problems. Most are willing to pay for that, and pay dearly. Do some research. Know what the good stuff is (it changes constantly as none of the manufacturers actually make their own crap). Seagates used to be excellent hard drives and WD’s were absolutely TERRIBLE. Like, dead off the shelf terrible. But now WD’s are making a comeback and Seagates are getting pretty bad.
Another thing I try to do is sway clients into getting desktop computers. They’re great. I’m able to convert about 60% of my clients to desktops. And if they don’t convert immediately, all it takes is some massive bill to fix their laptop, and then I tell them what it would cost them if it was a desktop. Their eyes light up and at that moment they wish they had a desktop even if it’s less “convenient.” 90% of people don’t need laptops. They buy them because they think they’re the same quality and specs as desktops. We as techs need to educate our clients appropriately about desktops vs laptops. Some people need laptops, and that’s fine. But if you don’t absolutely need a laptop, then there’s no reason to pay all the extra expenses and get a crappier computer in the end. It’s sort of like replacing a big-screen TV with a pocket TV. It just doesn’t make sense for most people.
If a client wants to spend $100 or less to fix their computer, just forget about them. That type of client isn’t what you want. Unless of course it’s a simple problem like a key that came off a laptop keyboard or something. Anyone with a foreign accent I just quote an outrageous price and they hang up. This is a GREAT way to avoid major problems and cheap asses that don’t want to pay anything. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but not enough to justify the heartache. I’m not racist or anything. I know it’s just their culture. But out of 200 people I’ve serviced from the past that were from India, only 1 of them was actually willing to pay anything. The rest are like “it’s not $20?! EXPENSIVE.” Screw ’em. I’ll let my competitors deal with them. They can have ’em.
So long as you’re willing to listen to a client’s problems and actually appear to care (and you SHOULD care!), they’ll listen to your suggestions. Don’t be too commercial. They’ll feel like they’re being taken for a ride. There’s a difference between “professional” and “commercial.” Choose the route that won’t necessarily yield the lowest repair cost today, but what will save them money in the long run. I’ve found that If I can get clients over to a desktop, I can repair future issues for very little (usually less than $100). With the money they saved, they’re usually more than willing to upgrade the unit with a new power supply, processor, motherboard, hard drive, whatever. They’re MUCH more willing to drop $300-$400 because the value is going BACK into the computer. They begin to see their computer as an investment rather than a throwaway appliance. This is where you want to get them. Most of them actually ENJOY coming to see you. They’ll actually keep up on maintenance and will actually come in when nothing is wrong to see if there’s anything they can do to “upgrade” their computer. Not because it’s slow or anything, but because it’s FUN. Most clients absolutely LOVE having fast and powerful computers. And if they buy it from you with a clean install of Windows with no garbage, they can never believe how fast it is. Some attribute it to it being a desktop, others the software work, and others because their units are so amazingly upgraded and powerful. Whatever they attribute it to, they’re more than willing to upgrade. I have some clients that I have to turn away because I tell them there’s nothing we can do to upgrade it that would make sense (a Facebook user doesn’t need an i7 4770k or any more than 3GB of RAM, and they certainly don’t need a dedicated graphics card). And despite my efforts to turn them away, some still want to upgrade. Whatever, it’s their machine.
Business clients are pretty much the same except they’re willing to pay more for “24 hour turnaround” or “weekend service” or whatever. The quickest they can get it back, the better. And if there’s anything they can do to make the computer more reliable so they don’t have to see you for at least a few more years, they’ll do it. Most will do anything to not have to buy a new machine. Even sink $400 into a Pentium 4. I just had a business client that was still running Windows 95 on a computer from 1991. He paid out the nose to get the sucker fixed because “it just worked.”
Basically, you have to define your target market. Basic business planning 101 here. If your target market is cheapskates that want to pay $30 to have their computers fixed, you’re in trouble. My target market is people in the upper middle class that work from home. I also target business clients as well of course (though they’re technically almost the same thing). I also target the more wealthy people that want their computer fixed NOW rather than tomorrow and are willing to invest in their computers. Most of my business clients have all desktops. My work from home clients have about 70% desktops and 30% laptops. My home clients have about 10% desktops and 90% laptops. I convert about 60% of them to desktops with enough encouragement. It really is what’s best for everyone. I can still get a decent profit, and rather than pour money into a pit hole (a laptop that will never get any better and will just keep chugging along only to have the whole motherboard blow 6 months later), my clients get to invest their money back into their computers and keep them pretty much forever.
There are some people that are opposed to buying a desktop (or trading in their laptop for a desktop). And even after they get the unit home they’re not happy. But after a few weeks, they turn around. I’ve never once had a dissatisfied client that wasn’t happy with switching to a desktop. I personally do a follow-up call a few weeks after purchase to see how things are going. I get responses like “it wasn’t fun setting it up, but now that I’m using it, it’s great! I really like it!” The clients frequently call me back and say things like “I can’t thank you enough for convincing me to buy a desktop. It’s so fast and nice to work on with the big 24″ screen and the full keyboard and mouse. I don’t know how I lived with a laptop for as long as I did. I just used my friend’s laptop and I couldn’t even use it. It was horrible. I didn’t even realize how bad laptops were until I used a desktop again. They really have changed a lot since I my last desktop in 2003.” The worst response I usually get is “Well I really love the new desktop, but I realize now that I need a laptop too when I need to do bla bla bla. You sell laptops too right?” LOL. It’s great. I’ve hit a sweet spot. Right now I have about 100 laptops and just 5 desktops left. It’s like this all the time. I get so many laptops in trade it’s insane. And I sell about 1 laptop for ever 5 desktops I sell. I’ve got to head off to the recycling center to buy more. I almost want to just sell my laptop inventory wholesale to another tech, but I don’t want to help my competition. :)
I looked around my local market and saw what everyone else was charging and charged more. I work from home almost as a consultant and go to professional offices for onsite service. I carved out a niche by charging higher rates and selling to a certain segment of the market. I was doing that before I realized it was under served anyway. So (for me) I simply charge what the market will bear and no more or less. The other guys around town have issue with timeliness, cleanliness and professionalism. I try to improve my appearance and service every time I arrive on site. The customers would love to get the service for free but they pay the bill and they tell me that I “fit in” to their offices. That is because I am observant and take a look at the culture of the office and modify my conversation to accommodate them if it doesn’t compromise my personal character standards. I know that I fit in because I take time to ask the tough questions:
How did I do today?
What would you have asked me to do differently?
Would you consider calling someone else if I had not completed the task at hand today?
and other such questions. The first “professional” company I replaced out of Tallahassee Florida in a particular Primary Healthcare office charged WAY too much and the “TECHS” were coming in in shorts and flip flops…..
Appearance and a little bit of conversation and friendliness goes a long way to developing relationships that lasts years and year at rates between $90 and $185 per hour.
The way I see it, you gotta deal with it. All these “experienced” people on here getting annoyed at the cheapo people are probs facing a situation where old and new clients are seeing the same thing you do, but cheaper and yet still claim the same professionalism as you, the higher price man/woman… Then you start losing clients. That’s the fear. Just like some comments have said, I’m not super cheap, I’m a mid range price compared to competition… I have had clients using me from the “pros” claiming they were to fix something they never did or did worse. I fixed it, they immediately were happy, they assumed I would annoyingly ask the same price of $347, I said nope it $X amount and they tipped me higher coz I was excellent… So stop saying cheap is crap coz some if you higher priced people also screw up