Start & Run a Computer Repair Service (Start & Run Business Series) (2012)
11
On-Site Service Calls
Very often, customers will call, asking to arrange an on-site visit. The conversation usually begins like this:
Customer: “My computer is not working properly, can I have someone come and fix it?”
Technician: “Sure, when are you available?”
If the technician fails to get any further information before arranging the on-site visit, he or she is doing a disservice to the customer and himself or herself. For instance, is it a problem the technician can fix? We don’t know. The problem could be that the Internet is down or could be another mundane problem. While most technicians will charge a customer just to travel to his or her home to give him or her this information, the customer will resent it. We meet people every day that complain about their previous technicians because they were charged for a service call like this.
When a customer calls, take the time to ask a few questions. Find out what the problem is and let the person know what you think caused the issue and what you think will fix the problem. While you don’t want to commit to anything (let the customer know this is just a guesstimate), you do want to show that you understand the problem.
1. Discuss Payment Terms
Before you agree to go on-site, let the customer know the on-site service price and the minimum service charge. Also, ask how he or she will be paying. Believe it or not, there are customers who request on-site services and don’t ever intend to pay.
For example, one customer called us about a computer she purchased from us a few months earlier and requested we come to look at it. When we asked the question, “How will you be paying for this today?” She replied, “Paying? Why should I pay for this, the computer is under warranty?” We then had to explain that the warranty policy did not extend to free on-site service and, if she wanted a warranty repair, she would have to bring the computer to the store. She immediately cancelled the on-site.
2. Whether or Not You Should Go On-site
Once you know what the problem is, you may realize that the problem will take too long to handle on-site. For instance, reloading a Vista operating system (OS) can take hours. Installing the OS, completing all the updates, and finding all the necessary drivers is a long process. However, a simple driver update can be done remotely without you ever being on-site. So, how do you know what to do?
In general, if you won’t be spending the majority of your time “working” on the computer (you will be waiting for scans to run or something similar), we recommend completing the work at your location and charging a flat fee. If you spend all your time focused on one computer, an on-site or remote repair is appropriate.
Our technicians usually tell our business customers when we think they would benefit from an in-store flat service versus an on-site hourly service. If the in-store service is less expensive, we also offer the option of us coming to pick up the computer and dropping it off again (at our usual hourly rate), or allowing the customer’s employee to drop it off instead. In general, most companies prefer to drop it off themselves than to incur our pickup and delivery charge.
As you learn more about your individual customers and get more experience with the types of calls you will receive you will be able to tune your business model to meet your customers’ needs.
As a business owner, you can turn down a customer at any time. If you have reason to believe a customer won’t pay, has threatened you or another employee in the past, or seems overly hostile, simply turn down the on-site. Never go into a situation if you aren’t comfortable with the customer.
3. Tools to Bring to Every On-Site
In general, you should have a toolbox for your on-sites. This will allow you to make sure that you bring what you need to every job. If you try to pull tools that you use every day in your repairs from your on-site toolbox, odds are good that something will be missing when you go to leave for a job. Therefore, make an on-site toolbox and make sure that the tools remain with the box.
Before you leave each job, use the toolbox checklist to ensure that you have gathered everything from the on-site visit. Using such a checklist may seem silly, but it will save you money compared to purchasing additional “lost” equipment or paying for gas to return to a customer’s home to pick up the forgotten part. We lost a very expensive DeWALT powered screwdriver because one of our techs forgot it at a job.
3.1 Up selling with additional items
Once you are at an on-site, you may find that the computer is not running as well as it could. Maybe the hard drive is almost full or maybe it doesn’t have enough RAM to run the user’s applications. Whatever it is, some of these problems can be solved quickly if you have the products on hand for the sale. Some items you may want to take with you to up sell to the customers include:
• Antivirus: As you start working with customers you will find that many people don’t have or don’t use antivirus. If you are there to do work, you should always check the customer’s antivirus status and offer him or her antivirus with installation for some fixed cost.
• RAM: Customers constantly complain about slow computers. One of the easiest ways to fix this problem is with additional RAM if you have it. Make sure to bring multiple types (e.g., DDR, DDR2, DDR3) in multiple sizes. It may seem like a significant investment, but it will cost you less than $500 for your “full stock” and will allow you to make additional sales with little additional work.
• Hard drives: While you probably don’t want to reimage a hard drive at a client’s site, if he or she is running out of space, it is easy to offer to add an additional drive to the desktop. In general, you only need two or three hard drives and only desktop models. Once again, this is covered with an investment of as little as $200 and is a simple installation that can earn extra dollars.
• Flash drives: Bring one or two flash drives with you to sell. Sometimes they are necessary.
• External hard drive cases: Occasionally, a customer has an old computer which he or she no longer wants, but the person does want the data. Keeping an external hard drive case on hand lets you give the customer his or her data without having the work and risk of a data transfer. Plus, you can offer to recycle the rest of the old machine for him or her (which can bring you additional dollars).
• Surge protector and voltage regulator: If you run into a power supply that is blown (which you will), chances are the customer doesn’t have a surge protector on the system and he or she certainly doesn’t have a voltage regulator. Either way, to prevent a recurrence, the customer should get one or the other.
Make sure that all of your items available for resale are properly packaged and labeled. Your customer will be more comfortable buying these products from you if he or she realizes they are new and still in the box. Also, do not feel like you have to take all the products into the customer’s site. It is perfectly acceptable to leave them in your car and just bring in a price list to aid in your discussions.
4. Special Order Items
Of course, there are other items, such as computers, laptops, and servers that you can have your customers order. While many customers may want to buy a computer, in general, it is better to leave these at your business location. If they want a computer, you can offer complete delivery and installation for an additional charge (we usually charge one hour of labor for this service).
Also, if the customers are ordering custom equipment that you don’t normally keep in stock (even if it is just a new computer), make sure to get some part of the payment in advance. If you think it would be easy to resell, you can take a deposit of just 50 percent. However, if it is a custom part that is very specialized (e.g., laptop battery or slimline power supply), the customer should prepay the full amount. Too often, people order items and change their minds. In the case of custom parts, this can be expensive for a small business.