5 things you wont/will do again in your business

[frederick]

Here is something productive for the forum, and hopefully there is some good input from us all. I'm looking for 5 things you wont ever do again, like a lessons learned, either with your business or clients, or both. And then 5 things you've done right, planned or not, that have helped it out and you'll do again or continue doing.

5 Things I won't do again:
1) Tell a customer a fixed scheduled time. Say they call up, need X done, I say sure, I'll be there at 1100 tomorrow, or whatever. You have a job scheduled at 1000, that you thought would have taken 20 minutes, but ended up taking over an hour. We've all been there. So now I give them a time frame, say, between 0900 and 1300.
2) I did this when I first started....went down to Kinkos (the UPS store), and printed off fliers. Oh what a mess in-deed. After I corrected my mistake a few weeks later, and got professionally done up ones, those neighborhoods I hit up started calling, with many saying "your first flier put us off as being cheap". Noted kind sirs and ma'ams.
3) Try to do taxes myself. Did this last year, to include the sales taxes. Overwhelming. I can keep track of my incomes and expenses, but through it on a tax form...never again I say. I screwed them up one after the other. Then I got a CPA, and my numbers have looked better.
4) Buy direct/retail. I still do here and there, but for small things that I can get cheaper than through a dealer because of volume or whatever. Having those resell accounts, or distributors has saved me so much money, and as a result, my clients. Because after our markup, things I bought direct were priced way higher than say Best Buy. Things I buy direct now are small in quantity (like one or two things), and I don't have a distributor for or can't find one. Retail obviously is already expensive.
5) Deal with "problem" clients. I'm not talking about the one who gets angry cause their computer has a virus again after you cleaned it up 2 days ago, and now it's re-infected. Yeah they blame me, but after they calm down, they realize they are the ones who cause the re-infection, or their friend. These clients I call the understandably irate customers. I'm talking about the ones who demand you now without a care you are with another customer, call at all weird hours of the night because they couldn't access their email two days ago, constantly call wanting free advice and troubleshooting over the course of a 2 hour phone call, and then when you send them an invoice for after hour or even normal hour rates, complain about the costs and don't understand why they should pay you that much. These clients, after a short while I inform them that we are unable to provide them services or make them sign a service level agreement stating what the rates they will pay, etc, etc, etc. Depends on their attitude towards us. It's not worth arguing over, or getting stressed out.

So now some 5 positive things I will do again or continue to do:
1) Offer a discount to customers who advertise us. I've got a client who asked us to make them a flier to put up on their counter, and we've gotten a few calls from that. We've had customers call us and say "hey, this person needs help here is their number." These clients get gift cards, discounts, etc., all for being loyal and referring us out. Most of our customers are through referrals, we don't advertise all that much, so it's good to know we are doing good enough through referrals to make referring people pay. This is something I think we will continue to do for awhile.
2) Never bad mouth the competition to a lead or customer. I've never done it. I've made comments of "this is isn't safe and should be changed" when I've seen a cable laid out across the floor for someone to trip over. I don't care if it is the customer or the previous tech, I'm not going to bad mouth either one. I will point out things though that are obviously wrong or unsafe in a positive manner where no one looks or feels like the bad guy. This has helped me out a lot, because I've had customers ask me about certain competitors, how do I feel about them, or think about their work. My response is always the same. "I can tell you I'm not them. I can't confirm anything about their company or employees, but I know that me and mine are trained, certified, experienced, and very competent. And if there is ever a problem with any of my techs, or you have a question about something we did, you call me or my office manager, and we will get it fixed for you. We are not satisfied until you are happy."
3) I don't charge for my mistakes. To include my techs. If I goofed, or they goofed, or someone goofed that was on my time, I'm not charging for it. I'm going to pay to fix it. I've had to call a customer and say "there was an incident involveing your computer, don't worry, we have saved your data, and are currently waiting on a replacement to arrive, so it will take an extra day or two." Of course they respond with "well how much is this going to cost me?", and I will reply as happy as I can possibly sound "Sir/Ma'am, we are taking care of it. Don't worry about having to pay for this service. It's our fault, and you shouldn't have to pay for something we screwed up." Honesty ladies and gentlemen. It's gotten me that extra mile with the customers.
4) Hire a lawyer, CPA, HR/Payroll company. My lawyer is mostly on retainer, on gets "hey I got a question" phone calls before I think I'm about to do something stupid. My CPA keeps me in line. And the HR company has done us wonders with issuing payroll, background checks and employee manuals, and they work directly with my CPA for no extra charge. It's great, cause there is so little I have to do. And my lawyer also works with my insurance (kinda) to make sure that what we are covered for is going to cover what we do.
5) Spend time with my family on the weekends. Most weekends these last few months have netted me a happier family. We've been going place and doing things, and helping to keep my stress levels low.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Good stuff..

One thing...I firmly believe in buying direct...because down the road a bit...you'll be ahead of the game after you build sales volume/history. Your discounts get much deeper over time. By buying through retail outlets...you're stuck at that entry level minimal discount. Put in your dues are a reseller...not far down the road, you'll benefit multiple times and it's permanent..and growing. Your margins get much MUCH larger.

Spending time with family...priority for me. Gone is the desire to work work work, 5 oclock comes and it's home and cooking dinner for the family.

*correct item 3 in second group.."Don't" charge time for mistakes.

 

[untoldtech]

1) never buy expensive items (in my case over $100+) without prepay, been burned many times by people saying 'yes I want it' then they dont pay for it and never show up again to pay for it

2) as you said promise specific times as people use this for leverage to complain, now I say 'I think I can have it done tomorrow afternoon but give me a call to follow up to see what progress we have made'

3) trust 1 employee to handle things, spread responsibility among multiple people to prevent someone from stealing from you, this mistake ended up costing me about 4k in business+

4) allow people to belittle me or my employees, if you curse you get tossed to the curb, getting upset is one thing but cursing is the line that I draw.

5) not take someone's word that they'll pay me for repair later without having their info on file, even then, no device leaves the shop without full payment.

 

[frederick]

Posted me edits. Thanks YeOlde.

Right now, I think because we don't buy in enough bulk when it comes to systems it's not worth it. I've tried getting a Dell and HP reseller thing going, and they wanted more than we were willing to try and market. I tell a lot of people, we don't focus on retail, we focus on service. We do however have a resell through a few companies, one being ASUS because those things are moving right now for us. We can still get systems for a nice discount through our distributors on systems, but the volume needed for some of these guys is just not realistic. I think this might change in the next few years, as a lot of our clients have a lot of newer equipment right now. And during the heavy load of migrations from XP, a lot of clients said no to Dell and HP. They wanted ASUS, Gateways, and a few straight up said "build them yourself". HEHEHEHE, that tech hated me for a week straight, but let me tell yeah, he's a pro at building computers now. Only thing we really bought in bulk were the HP servers (only thing I could really sell my clients on in a lot of cases for getting HP's), and our distributor gave us a better discount than HP was willing to give.

@untoldtech, our Office Manager handles all that stuff. She tracks everything. Whats even better, it's my wife, so she would only be stealing from her husband and husbands best friend. Having her keep track of everything means only one thing, and it's the best thing, one person to blame. "Why does it say we made $4k profit, but I'm only showing in our bank account $2k?" is something that never comes up. The only thing that is spread out is obviously the actual workload. When I was taking a lot of time off these last 2-3 weeks, we'd appoint a new stand in for me every couple of days and this really got us to see who needs professional development and in what areas. It was there time to shine, but our office manager still chased them down with a big stick. We joke that I'm in charge only on paper, and she is the one who actually runs the company. Truth is, she does.

 

[HawkinsPC]

I will never....

1. Never let sob stories dictate my prices. Discounts to college kids or good customers I don’t mind, but I can’t give 50% off for everybody on a fixed income.
2. Never sell anything for cost. The time I spent ordering an item is worth something.
3. Never give a set time-frame for a repair. It’s an instant curse.
4. Never offer to do something for free for the landlord. Not only will you not get a break off the rent, but he’ll expect free repairs and advice all the time.
5. Never tell a customer it’s running slow because of malware--always mention the need for a full diagnostic to rule out other issues.

I need to...

1. Examine the machine when it’s dropped off for physical damage and make a note of it immediately.
2. Be more patient when there’s a problem customer. Medication may be required.
3. Be at work more during my posted hours. Rainy day Tuesdays are not a reason to stay home.
4. Be committed to making every customer sign the in-take form; even repeat customers.
5. Follow other shops’ prices. Being too cheap hurts.

 

[Eric@noware]

Thank you for this challenge frederick, it was a very revitalizing exercise.

5 Things I won't do, do again, or do anymore:

1. No more "freebies" or "quick looks" for window shoppers. Either they bring it in for a diagnostic or they don't.

2. Never promise a job can be done by specific time, you never know what could come up to prevent meeting that deadline. Instead give a time frame, and try to deliver on the lower end of that estimate. (Think of Mr. Scott's "lesson" to commander LaForge*)

3. Never never NEVER badmouth your competition. It just makes you look like an idiot, and you may accidentally say something that you might later regret.

4. Speaking of competition, don't bother trying to "destroy" your competition. Instead, put that effort into becoming the best at what you do. Besides, with nearly everyone and their grandmother owning a computer there's more than enough work to go around for everyone.

5. Don't just "waste time" between clients. When you're not busy it's a perfect opportunity to market yourself and your business.

5 Things I will keep doing or need to do more of:

1. When a potential customer calls it's my job to get them in the door. It's easier to sell my services face to face than it is on the phone.

2. Document EVERYTHING! Condition of the device upon receipt, scan results, any unusual observations, etc. This can be helpful when discussing needed repairs and even future prevention with the client.

3. Never let your customer feel stupid for making a mistake that ends up requiring your services. Remind them of the old adage "to err is human, but to really screw thing up you need a computer".

4. On the note of customers, remember to be patient with them. Don't let their lack of knowledge get to you. If they knew as much about computers as you do, they wouldn't have to pay you for your services.

5. Keep learning! The very fact that you're reading this shows that you're willing to take the advice of others, and use that advice to better yourself and grow your business. Awesome! Keep it up! The willingness to learn is a quality that you'll need to stay ahead in the ever-changing tech field.

*Link for the forgetful: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708764/quotes?item=qt0349432

 

[jzukerman]

Won't do again (in no particular order):

1. Use a terrible business name for 5-6 yrs of being in business.
2. Wait so long to file for incorporation.
3. Give out my house phone number instead of getting VoIP from the get-go. Clients keep old business cards, like forever.
4. Do contract work for a competitor who had a known track record of being sketchy. Did some work for a competitor, blowing off the rumors I had heard thinking it was just that, a rumor. Turns out all of the rumors were true.
5. Let clients dictate how to perform repairs.

Will continue to do:
1. Have lawyer & accountant handling my business needs.
2. Getting help from a local SCORE representative, gaining valuable business tips and mentoring.
3. Keep my business name, even if it is a bit long.
4. Slowly expand my business.
5. Investigate future options like branching out into other technologies like VoIP, etc.

 

[neotechnet]

Excellent Topic

1. Let a client push me into rushing something and then I'm the one in the hot seat, this is a lesson I can't seem to learn. When you inherit a problem situation the client is already impatient, anxious and will push to getting it done which just leads to mistakes. I have learned to push back nicely, explain what's involved and we need to plan. People respect that.

2. Tell a user the magical "I just needs 5 minutes" rule when you need to work on their computer. If I need 20 minutes I tell them 30, or an hour if it's 45 minutes. This way they aren't coming back to me in 6 minutes asking "are you done yet?"

3. Do any IT consulting work without a written agreement. A few months ago I was referred to a company and the owner was a real jerk. I rushed over against my better judgement because he had 40 computers so I thought it was a big opportunity. It wasn't, he was just looking for a cheap fix but regardless I need to learn to get a paper signed first, even if it's a principal agreement.

4. All too often I rush through things, make mistakes and have to go back anyway. I have been trying really hard to create check lists for myself and stop trying to "remember" everything, it doesn't work. This past week I migrated to an exchange server and it went well because I put in the time to plan ahead.


One thing I have started doing -

I bring treats to clients. A box of chocolate or cookies or something, it goes a long way. At the very least it's a nice gesture but it helps break down the barrier of me being just a vendor or consultant. Just today I bought a box of chocolates for less than $20, walked into a newly signed client and said here is "it's almost Friday chocolate" to help pass the day. They really appreciated it and it sets me apart from other services.

 

[frederick]

One thing I have started doing -

I bring treats to clients. A box of chocolate or cookies or something, it goes a long way. At the very least it's a nice gesture but it helps break down the barrier of me being just a vendor or consultant. Just today I bought a box of chocolates for less than $20, walked into a newly signed client and said here is "it's almost Friday chocolate" to help pass the day. They really appreciated it and it sets me apart from other services.

I do this here and there for my clients. Not every time I see them. We have some promotional products that our clients go nuts over, and they love it when I bring them in. So do their employees. I've brought in chocolates for valentines day for some of my clients, holiday cookies, etc. I do agree that this really does help break the barrier.

 

[300DDR]

Good stuff..

One thing...I firmly believe in buying direct...because down the road a bit...you'll be ahead of the game after you build sales volume/history. Your discounts get much deeper over time. By buying through retail outlets...you're stuck at that entry level minimal discount. Put in your dues are a reseller...not far down the road, you'll benefit multiple times and it's permanent..and growing. Your margins get much MUCH larger.

4) Buy direct/retail. I still do here and there, but for small things that I can get cheaper than through a dealer because of volume or whatever. Having those resell accounts, or distributors has saved me so much money, and as a result, my clients. Because after our markup, things I bought direct were priced way higher than say Best Buy. Things I buy direct now are small in quantity (like one or two things), and I don't have a distributor for or can't find one. Retail obviously is already expensive.

Do you guys have a source for buying external hard drives? I've tried looking into this before, but no one was cheaper than Amazon.

 

[Rocco]

Do you guys have a source for buying external hard drives? I've tried looking into this before, but no one was cheaper than Amazon.

If you buy one at a time, amazon is cheaper. External hard drives, ram, I have no problem moving, so in quantity from a distributor is much cheaper. I still read all the amazon reviews before I buy anything however, even from someone else.

 

[frederick]

Do you guys have a source for buying external hard drives? I've tried looking into this before, but no one was cheaper than Amazon.

Looking for bulk or individual?

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Guess you could order bulk internal drives and some enclosures. I know I just bought a little 2.5 inch sata enclosure for 4.85 on eBay from China. Takes a little while to come in, but plastic, snaps together and seems to work ok.

 

[Kaizen]

If you buy one at a time, amazon is cheaper. External hard drives, ram, I have no problem moving, so in quantity from a distributor is much cheaper. I still read all the amazon reviews before I buy anything however, even from someone else.

Are you getting 500gb drives for less than $50

 

[altrenda]

regarding the original question -
Any service or recommnedation I make will be based on benefit to the customer first, then on how profitable it will be to me. This is not just doing right, but I find it's better for business.

Many times, when faced with a choice, I chose the route that would make me more money, but not be as good (but still acceptable) for the client, it wound up biting me and costing me either money or a satisfied client.

Doing the best for the client almost always pays off better in the long run. I'm not here to lose money, but it's easier to build the business giving better value to the customer.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

If you pay your attorney that much I would recommend a business law class at local university or community college. They really give you more than you need to handle almost everything we do. Plus during the class you can ask all the questions you want. They are always taught by lawyers so you get a semester of free advice on top of a framework to understand the way laws are applied which helps you more definitely know what you are doing and when you are near areas that might blow up or not.

You can even audit the class so you do not need worry about tests or grades.

Similarly everyone should take the $59 Jackson Hewitt tax class. If you have time you should take a personal tax class from local community college as well more in-depth.

 

[unclemarv]

5) not take someone's word that they'll pay me for repair later without having their info on file, even then, no device leaves the shop without full payment.

Once had an attorney yell at my office manager (wife) because I wasn't available. I call my contact at their firm and saw that no one yells at my staff but me. The attorney was not the main attorney at the firm or I would have called them directly. I also told my contact that if it happens again, they can expect to no longer receive service from us. Of course I would have hated this because this client is worth at least $3K per month.

The attorney apologized and has been nice ever since, and has even called for personal stuff for his home when he was unsure about another tech's work.