How to Handle Personal Emergencies in Your Computer Repair Business

Sometimes when you run your own business, a personal emergency develops that you need to take care of. Your clients need you as well. Fail to respond to their needs and your business will suffer. Coming up with a detailed business continuity plan helps you manage both your personal and professional life.

Short-Term Emergencies

These are unpredictable situations that take up your time and need your full attention, but you can stabilize them. Examples I’ve seen or experienced are a fire at your home or a death in your family. You’ve focused all your energy on the emergency and haven’t taken time for your clients. When clients leave messages, they aren’t getting call backs in the time frame they need. They’ve got emergencies too.

• Voicemail
  I’ve got a preset script on my mobile phone so I don’t have to think about what to say. The message is simple, “Due to a personal emergency, I’ll be unable to provide service today.” Clients understand. They’re human beings and they know stuff happens in your life. They can’t be understanding if you don’t tell them. No need to go into details.

  If you don’t have time to change your voicemail or you’re too emotional to record a professional message, ask a trusted associate or friend to change your voicemail. Give them the script, your voicemail password and ask them to change your message. You can always change the password after the emergency. I’ve got an mp3 recording of my outgoing emergency message.

• Referrals

  The next line in your message must be a referral to a trusted colleague clients can call with an emergency. Clients need service and they may not be able to wait until tomorrow. Your emergency couldn’t wait and neither can theirs.

  Before the emergency happens, find a local company or individual you trust with your clients. Refer your clients to this company and offer same coverage to them if they have an emergency.

  If you can’t find someone local, tap into your network. That’s where Technibble Forums, LinkedIn Groups and other professional associations come in handy. With remote computer support, your emergency provider doesn’t have to be local. Sure, they can’t do hands on stuff like replacing a hard drive or installing memory, but they can at least stabilize a situation over the phone.

  The last thing you want is to leave it to the client to decide. If they go to an aggressive competitor, you’ve lost the client long-term. Manage the situation with advanced planning.

Mid-Term Emergencies

These are situations expected to last a few weeks or even a few months. Most likely you don’t know when you’ll be returning to work. You’ve been in a car accident or have a serious illness and you’re in the hospital. You can’t do service calls or assist your clients. In a short-term emergency, clients can wait until you return. In the mid-term emergencies, they’ll need to contact someone else.

• Voicemail

  Your voicemail message needs to say you won’t be providing service right now, but you expect to return to business. You might be a bit more specific and say it was due to illness. Again, clients understand that an illness doesn’t mean you’ve closed the business. They’ll likely to return to you when you open up shop again.

• Referral

  If you emergency service provider is local, then you should be ok mid-term. In this situation, you might ask the emergency provider for a small commission for the business you’re sending their way. Realize they may be unable to handle the influx of business and their existing client needs may come before yours. Clients could decide to switch to another provider long term. They’ll need certainty and you aren’t clear when you’ll be returning to your company.

  Your emergency provider will need to any stored client information on your systems: passwords and logins primarily. If your clients decide not to use your emergency provider, you and the emergency provider have an obligation to give that stored client information back to the client. This means you need accurate records and can’t store this information in your head. Document these items before you have an emergency.

  In the fireproof safe in my home, I have a letter that details where I’ve stored my client information and how to access it. Only very trusted members of my family have access to that safe. If I’m incapacitated, they’ll know how to give this information to my backup provider so the provider can give the information to the client.

• Letter

  Also in that safe is a letter I’ve pre-written to my clients thanking them for their business. The letter explains I’ll be unable to serve their needs for an indeterminate period of time. The letter also introduces my emergency provider and says that the provider will have access to my records. Finally the letter states I’ll understand if they don’t want to do business with that backup provider, that is their choice. We’ll assist them in finding a new provider. This last line is critical. The client needs options and they can’t feel trapped or pressured to stay with you. Giving them this “escape clause” helps them to return to you later on and refer you to others.

  The clients you take care of need to know in advance about the situation. Don’t let them find out when they call for service. They also need time to plan a provider transition. This professional letter keeps your reputation intact and shows respect for the client needs.

Long-Term Situations

Finally, if you know you’ll never be able to serve their needs again, the clients need to know. This includes if you’re dead. It sounds morbid, but you don’t want your reputation tarnished postmortem. Your family may want to sell the business and client list. If word gets around you don’t return phone calls, not everyone will realize it’s because you’re dead! Unfortunately, I’ve received calls from potential clients complain their current provider isn’t returning phone calls. I always research why the provider may not be returning calls, and sometimes it’s because the provider’s deceased. The client had no idea and the provider’s voicemail didn’t explain.

• Voicemail

  The message should tell clients you aren’t able to provide service. Include a brief explanation why; you’ve passed away (obviously have some else record this), you’ve moved out of the area, accepted a new job etc. You don’t want clients to think the business has failed. Again, this reduces your chances of selling the business.

• Referral or Sale of the Business

  The details of selling a business are beyond the scope of this article. You’ll need to decide if you want to sell the entire business or just get a residual from the referrals. Typical issues are sale of assets like the business name, phone number, web site and client list.

• Letter

  Whatever the reason you’re leaving the business, you need to notify clients. Like the mid-term emergency letter, I have a letter that goes out to clients if I’ve died. Again, they need to know in advance instead of finding out when they call you.

  The letter is like the mid-term emergency letter. The letter explains why I’m not in business, who my recommended provider is, and my assurance that any information I have on file for them will be returned.

Hopefully these emergencies never happen. Odds are though as we all age, these catastrophes are likely to happen. Advance planning prevents these situations from harming your business reputation or your clients’ needs.

Written by Dave Greenbaum