This is the type of e-mail’s I get from others in the industry

Dan,

I need your help.

None of this crap works. I just finished reading posts on Technibble and Podnutz for the past few years and haven’t made a dime. I bought e-books, video courses, audio courses, key word tools, and complete businesses in a box and NONE of them work.

I am a member of some of the community groups in my town. I thought about going to a Chamber of Commerce meeting, but I bet they already have people there who are providing the exact same services I offering.

So, I thought about building websites, but everyone I know already has one. I thought about offering SEO services, but I can’t even remember what SEO stands for, so that’s probably not the service for me. Plus, I never update my own website, so I guess it really does not matter.

I was thinking off-site backups was a solution I could provide, but I looked at a whole bunch of them and too many to choose from so probably not worth doing it. Plus, nobody told me exactly how much I can make. I am not going to put any effort into it unless I am told specifics on how much money I will make.

Mobile marketing sounds really cool, but since I don’t have a cell phone I don’t know how I would show someone how to do it, or take advantage of it. Plus, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola and all those companies that use it probably don’t know what they are doing.

A newsletter seemed like a good idea, but then I have to have the time to create it every month or every few months. I am sure after the first time it is a real hassle and not really worth doing. Plus, if I send them to my customers they don’t need to read them, if they ever have another computer problem I’m sure they will remember me from last year or the year before and just call me again.

I was going to get a list of businesses in the area and make myself go to a few of them each and every week. But, then I remember I am not good with talking to people so I’ll just either mail them something or I am sure if they are having problems they will call me. Plus, if I go there then I have to have some material to give them or some business cards and that’s just a waste of money.

Even thought about getting some certifications but I am sure that the one proposal I did for a possible business contract really did not care if I had any certs or not. I think they were looking at experience. I guess I could of asked them, but did not feel like bothering them even tho I did put a few hours into that proposal. And if this business thing does not work out and I have to get a job somewhere I’m sure they will pay for my certs.

I am thinking maybe I will start keeping a planner or scheduler and each week I’ll try to plan my upcoming week and putting things in there to do such as area canvassing, working on marketing materials, meeting people, going to luncheon gatherings of small businesses, working on my website, and a variety of other things. But, now just looking over what I typed if I do all those things I’ll never get anything accomplished. I sort of like just getting up each day and seeing what happens and playing it by ear…

Oh never mind, forget it. Think I’ll go back to the tech section and see if there are any other ideas out there I might try.

Thanks!

Yoda

Started receiving these new e-mail scams just this week. I must admit I almost fell for it. Was using my new iPhone (yes it drops calls) and saw this email that had a “subject” line of:  “David Beckham died”

I thought to myself  “wow, I wonder what happen”, now this is the normal thought most people would have and that is exactly what the email is hoping for. But, once you open the email there is an attachment typically titled “news.zip”… And it had content in the email that said:

“Brad Pitt died along with 34 other people when the Air Force CT-43 “Bobcat” passenger plane carrying the group on a trip crashed into a mountainside while approaching the Dubrovnik airport in Croatia during heavy rain and poor visibility.
 Please see attachment”

Once I saw what it said and the attachment then I knew it was not real. but, I can only imagine how many people clicked on the “zip” file and opened it on their computer. Not a good thing…….

If you get one of these email then delete it the minute it comes into your inbox. I probably have received about 20 of them in the past week.

Keep an eye out for them, apparently they are still coming.

Dan
Association of Computer Repair Business Owners

Recently started getting a few calls into the shop from a person that said he was part of the “Verizon Win Back Team”. I have never heard of such a thing. So after letting him call a few times I decided to take the call. Come to find out what Verizon does is have a team and they are the “Win Back Team” and it’s for getting customers that have left advertising with Verizon Superpages to come back to them.

No to me this really does not make much sense, so in my mind I try to rationalize it out. If in my business I lose a customer due to something I did then I really do not think i’ll call them and tell them I am part of the “Win Back Team”. In business you typically get one chance to do things right and if you don’t then the way I see it you get what you deserve.

In this situation Verizon lost my business due to the way they went about running my ad in their Verizon Superpages one year without my approval of the ad. Now if you have never had the experience of dealing with Verizon or even Yellow Pages for that matter in a case of a problem then you are lucky becuase they will never take full responsibility.

What happens is you get every reason of how the problem happened and then you are told that the best they can do is knock like 15%-20% off your monthly advertising bill. To me again this makes no sense. You sign up for something and then you do not get what you were told. My mind tells me I do not pay, not that I pay at a reduced rate. But, then again I am not Verizon so maybe being a billion dollar company that is how it’s suppose to go.

I keep things simple….If you lost my business for reasons you brought upon yourself then do yourself a favor and do not call me and tell me you are part of a “Win Back Team”. Trust me “It Won’t Work”!

Dan
Computer Medics of Northern Virginia LLC

Paradigm Shifts for Techs Part 5:  Cheap Clients-hardware is a commodity, excellent customer service is not

By Derek Iannelli-Smith, IT Strategist, Progressive Integrations, Inc.,

Question:  What do you think my approach should be to introducing this new service (managed services) to “cheap” customers?

You make some great points, and I am quite familiar with them.  Considering most of our clients are consumers, I hear them regularly, which is why educational marketing is the key (http://computerrepairblog.com/paradigm-shifts-for-techs-educational-marketing.html). 

Nickel-and-diming clients are easily handled with proposals/quotes, and a good disclaimer statement upon acceptance of 80/20, for instance my proposals and quotes state:  “If you accept this proposal/quote, we require 80% up front and 20% upon completion of the project.  If you would like to pay by credit card, we can also accommodate that for you, please touch base with billing/finance to work out details.”  Why do I do this?  For the exact reasons you mentioned (not paying their bills after repair/project), but also because I already wear enough hats, and bill collector on top of tech/sales does not lead to a good relationship.  I used to spend more unbillable time discussing billing/finance than actually doing work in some cases which caused me to shift away from being bill collector.  Further, I want to be their tech (good relationship) and ‘rescue them’ which most of the time turns into a billable hour versus having to deal with distractions.

I recently fired a client because he was exactly like you described (client went on Amazon and tried to nickel and dime us and jeopardize our Cisco relationship) and I said the following to him;  “It sounds like we are not a good fit, and I can recommend many other companies in the area for you who seemed more suitable to your needs and demands.  If you decided to use Progressive Integrations, Inc., for your networking, know that our prices are final, our relationships with our vendors supersede potential clients and are not up for negotiation.  We appreciate your understanding with this.”  He sent me another email, and made another call (both non billable) and I deleted them and moved on to other venues.  The $1600 quote was not worth it for the hours of whining and complaining I had already dealt with.

Bryce at Technibble wrote on this very topic at the beginning of the year:  http://www.technibble.com/surviving-in-a-world-of-cheap-hardware/

Question:  Which remote desktop client should I use for increasing my bottom line with clients?

Personally, being an ACRBO member, I do not use the logmein as the subscription price was horrendous compared to team viewer (who are now partners with us).  1x fee, and I install the ‘free’ version all over the place and copy my client’s (with their permission) log on id, and I can do so much more than logmein.  Further with a registered version, I can retain an automatic entry of the machine, and with one-click, I am on their machine.  I minimize my overhead so that I am not always concerned with the bottom line and can focus on customer service versus paying bills.

For instance, my first goal when I was given leeway to develop an IT Business for our company was to cover my expenses.  I found that the only way to do that is to do managed services, as it is reliable reoccurring revenue that pays the bills while I spend my time on marketing, break fix, and block hour clients.  To directly address your ‘cheap customer’ problem.  I educate them, and when they refuse, I gladly remain firm with my flat hourly rate ($139) and realize (as Dan Hand and I agree) they will come back after geek squad, uncle ferd, or when they mess up their machine, and what they are going to have to learn is that I told the truth in the first place.  Good client testimonials remind you (and them) that you are a professional, not eBay.  This too is very similar to the ‘bartering’ question, and I thought “Freelance Folder” also affirmed and expressed similar sentiments as well:  http://freelancefolder.com/what-would-you-tell-this-client/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Been getting these emails recently from Fast Certifications .  Here is the way it works:

“100% Pass Without Any Test (exam) Or Study, Our professionals will help you to take your tests (exams) In pearson VUE and Thomson Prometric. No risk, payment through Paypal, moneygram, western union, Moneybookers, Xoom.com and bank wire transfer. Check your Results on Vendor official website first, then pay Us. ”

Now after you pay the money you can login to Pearson Vue or Prometric and see your test results. I have no doubt that you will pass the test. I also have no doubt that you “WILL” get caught.  It might not be that day, but you will be caught doing this.  Actually I am really not sure how exactly they are pulling this off.  Some test require you to sign and have a picture taken. Now to me that picture better match up with a previous picture or it will raise a flag. The signature could also do this, but I think the picture would really do it.

Running a test center ourselves I am very familiar with the security that is put into place in order to make sure this type of testing does not happen.  So it’s a guess but I am thinking they are outside the U.S. and in time will be shut down.

Plus, if you look at the pricing WOW. You are actually better off buying a book, doing a bit of studying and taking the test. Even if you were not fortunate to passt he first time you could then re-test. All-in-all it’s still going to be cheaper than paying FastCertifications.

In the end it will end up being like the movie “Taken” with Liam Neeson:
“I will look for you, I will find you, …..”

You will get caught, you will lose any certifications you have,  you will be ruined….

Easy resolution to this…..”Don’t Do It!”

Dan
ACRBO.COM

Business: Certified Tech PC and MAC Computer Repair Services of Peterborough, NH
Website: www.ctechrepair.com
Owner: Jeff Bruere

Family: Single

First Job: Farm hand

Where did you grow up: Tewksbury, MA

What did you want to be when you grow up: I didnt know

How did you end up owning your own business: Entrepreneur at heart

What is the biggest decision you are wrestling with now: Pricing

What is one thing you would change about your job: Relocate to more urban area

What do you like most about your job now:  Troubleshooting

What motivates you: Learning and Fixing

What do you do for fun: Yoga

What do you consider your greatest achievement so far: Bachelors Degree in Business Science

What the best career advice anyone has given you: Do what you want to do not someone else

I visit alot of forums and one thing that remains constant is the amount of business owners that talk about marketing and what is working and what is not working.

The one thing you always read is “what can I do that is guaranteed to work”….I always read that and for some crazy reason I will read the next few replies actually thinking to myself  “I’m going to find out the REAL answer” . Well as you can guess, I never do find out. The reason for this is there is NO real answer when it comes to marketing. Every business owner must decide for themselves how much they can afford, what their area supports for advertising and basically what does and what does not work in their area.

I’ve known some businesses that can put out a few road signs and they get business daily. I know other busiensses that can spend 5K a month on advertising and just barely break even.

I think what is important is that you have to continually advertise. You can’t just advertise “when you want” and have it work. Advertising has to be done each and every day of your existence to some extent in order to have it be productive. There are literally thousands of ways a business can advertertise and nobody is going to try each and everyone of them, but you have to have a starting point.

Check around in your area and see what others are doing for advertising. Look and see if others are doing pretty much the same sort of advertising each and every month. If you can track what others are doing you at least have a starting point of what actually “might work”. But, until you actually start doing it yourself you will never know.

To compile a list of possible advertising I don’t think is needed there are entirely too many locations on the net that you can find those types of list. To me keep it simple and do the things that you can easily do with little or no upfront cost.

1. Work on your website not only for content but for meta tags, descriptions, image tags, cross linking, blogs, etc.
2. Utilize social media such as facebook, linkedin, myspace, etc.
3. Utilize SMS marketing (yes new advertising means, but who do you know that does not carry a phone with them)
3. Look for community forums in your area to joing and give feedback to others (who knows you might become the expert)
4. Volunteer to give classes at community centers or other locations that they will advertisie for you

Marketing your business should be a daily ritual and one if done properly will pay off in the long run

Dan
CmoNova.com
Acrbo.com

Featured Business
Business: Mid-Iowa Computers, Inc.
Website: www.midiowacomputers.com
Owner: Noah Deters

Family: My lovely wife of 8 years and a smart and sassy daughter

First Job: Retail computer sales

Where did you grow up: Central Iowa – So I know the area that I am trying to serve.

What did you want to be when you grow up: I wanted to either run my own business or try and be a high end specialist in computers

How did you end up owning your own business: While working my full time position I had a large number of people asking me for computer help, and after I reached a certain customer base decided to formalize it into a company.

What is the biggest decision you are wrestling with now: How to grow the business while still having a balance between family and my full time career

What is one thing you would change about your job: I would like to become fully employed by my business and still provide the same lifestyle for my family.

What do you like most about your job now: It’s exciting to deal with small businesses and learn the way they use computers to complete their jobs.

What motivates you: I have a pure excitement for life and for technology, and seeing my daughter grow up normalized to the internet, smartphones, and all the things I didn’t have when I grew up.

What do you do for fun: I love going fishing on my 16′ flat bottom boat, swimming and spending time with my family.

What do you consider your greatest achievement so far: Landing my full time position at age 23 and proving to the organization that I could be trusted with the responsibilities they needed me to handle.

What the best career advice anyone has given you: Always be responsible and try to work with the situations that have been put in front of you. You never know when the worst week of your professional life will turn into an amazing opportunity.

“Mid-Iowa Computers, Inc. Serving Ames, Des Moines, and Surrounding Communities”

Burning Bridges

Some of you that are not youngsters probably have heard these words at some point or another. Typically it’s used in sentences such
as “Don’t burn any bridges”…Basically what that means is to think before you do something because if you don’t you won’t be able
to correct it.

Now, don’t get me wrong in my 40+ years I have “burned bridges” and even pulled a “Bridge on the River Kwai” (if you have never seen
it great WW II movie), where I went well past the burning of the bridge.

In hindsight I have never looked back as any that I burned and wished I could correct or made amends. That is not to say it is a good thing, burning any bridge is never a good thing in life or in business. Maybe if I had burned them in my earlier years I would of had regret due
to a number of situations that can arise. That is why it’s so very important to make the “right” decisions before you do anything
with the full understanding that there are consequences to everything.

Bottom line is most times in life, if you make a decision, then you best be willing to stick to it.

Paradigm Shifts for Techs: Customer Service – Part 4
By Derek Iannelli-Smith, IT Strategist, Progressive Integrations, Inc.,
The birds are singing, your coffee is just the right temperature, and your favorite song is playing on Last.FM. You are working in a software package and all of a sudden, the computer locks up, fades and the top-most window bar says, “Not responding” and it’s the 4th time that has happened today with this particular program. What are you thinking? Maybe you have felt like this guy did?

Maybe one more applicable to us techs? It is one of those days at the IT shop, finally, able to catch up on some of the details in the inbox, and one of your fellow employees says, “Can you come here for a minute, my computer is acting weird, and I wanted you to see it before I did anything.” As you get the end-user’s desk you notice the familiar package that consistently causes problems and you take a deep breath as you get ready to work your magic the whole time thinking… “Why are we using this program again…?”

Two separate perspectives, yet involving the same level of high emotional content. Frustration and anger at an inanimate object, software package, etc that is preventing you from completing your task. Here are some items I have learned in giving exceptional customer support;

1. Thank the client/employee for calling/writing/ etc, they pay your salary.
2. Reflect empathy to the client/employee over the predicament/incident.
3. Actively listen and press for specifics about the incident/situation.
4. Paraphrase client’s/employee’s details and specifics reflecting active listening not active passivism.
5. Keep watch of the time! Their time is valuable just like yours. I have a rule, if you cannot solve it over the phone in 30-minutes or less, schedule an appointment or get back to them.
6. Avoid words/phrases like;
a. “I have 100’s of clients with XXXX, and none of them are having any problems.”
b. “I have been doing this for XXXX years and I … (on and on ad-nauseaum about your experience, resume, and how you desperately need a hug from your mom, your toenail hurts, etc).
c. “When I installed it, configured it, gave it to you, left yesterday, etc, … it was working just fine… what happened?”
d. “You always… You never… “
e. “It cannot be the upgrade, patch file, etc, as I have tested it and it works just fine on my computer, my software, my iPhone, etc.”
f. “If you had a backup, you might not be in this situation…”
g. “Did you follow the instructions I sent?”
h. “There are only three ways a file, database, system, software package, etc could get corrupted and there is nothing wrong with the programming, therefore you must have XXXX somehow.”
i. “It seems to me we have had this incident before and previously you elected to XXXXX.”
7. Take ownership of the incident and let the client/customer know that you are going to invest resources in solving this incident to their satisfaction.
8. Explain solutions, resolutions, and estimates in 4th grade English (the same level most newspapers are written) not geek speak or programmer lingo filled with acronyms etc.
9. Ask if they are satisfied with the results and if there is anything else you can do for them.
10. After situation is solved to client’s satisfaction, strongly consider NOT sending a bill (unless of course it has been discussed, clearly within contract confines – even then a discussion is warranted, not taken up considerable time, etc). That does not mean that you train your clients to blow up at you so they don’t have to pay, I am just saying, sometimes going the extra mile by not sending a bill, can be the one ‘pay-it-forward’ that may just be the glue that keeps them loyal to you.
11. If it ends up being your fault, fix it, ask for forgiveness and go the extra mile to make it better.
12. Remember, they are angry with a machine, software, etc, not you (in most cases), therefore your role is to join with them in solving the problem not making them part of the problem.
13. Qualify your clients, vendors, partners on the front end. I have found ways to test support results with most of the vendors, clients, and partners we use on the IT side of our business. Many times, within the first email, phone call, letter, I am informing the vendor, client, etc, that they are not the only ones I am considering, that customer service is a deal breaker from us, and if there is ONE failure or lack of communication, their product, good, or service is a commodity in a service based economy and we will find someone else. I did this with CRM vendors for our IT business and Autotask ended up being our vendor of choice due to the fantastic customer service. If I mentioned the others who failed miserably the trials I gave on the front end, you would be very surprised. Our hosted Kaseya Company, Virtual Administrator is also another vendor we qualified with exceptional customer service for our managed services.

Just so you don’t think we do not have our own wounds and scars, we have a vendor we do business with that says all of the items in #5 above to us regularly. Essentially what we are hearing is very similar to “Nick Burns: Your Company Computer Guy” (you have click on this link). When the vendor started the repeating record recently, I said, “Look! These terms and tone are not helpful and we are more interested in solving the problem than blame shifting or giving a defense for everything. Can you help us with that?” Deathly silence. “Can you help us with our problem or not?” I did not belabor the point, and we continued on to solve the problem. I remember one time with another client, after the 3rd email back and forth with blame-shifting, I finally said, “We can do this for the rest of the day, and I can send you a bill for wasting my time, or I can help you solve your problem. I am going to call you shortly; I look forward to the opportunity to serve you.” That client recently referred us new clients!

Here is my point, I was not (and neither should you) their emotional bean bag and I am a person and deserve dignity and respect. Regarding the vendor I mention above, we pay you few hundred bucks a month subscription fee for the software to work! Our sore spot is we cannot fire the vendor because the proprietary software is currently the only one in our industry that does what it does (I think), so we swallow the poor customer service, condescending attitude, and bills. Every time the vendor asks to get on our machines, I run recording software to document that we have not indeed intentionally damaged or sabotaged the product it in any way. There is no forum, knowledge base, best practices etc. The manuals are outdated and the excuse is… “it is changing all the time and we have so many changes regularly requested it would be impossible to put a manual together.” Trying to get self-empowering knowledge to stay functional without being billed or harassed about it, is like pulling teeth. Every correspondence with the vendor is based upon fear of seeing a bill appear. Most of the time, the problems we have are developer issues (yes we do mess stuff up too), but no apologies, nothing. It is a customer service and time consuming nightmare. That is not customer service, that is bondage. We are looking for another vendor and we sent out a message recently on all of our social networks asking for ideas for replacement software.

I wish a vendor like the one I describe above on everyone. Why? Because some of us need the reminder that we just might be giving that kind of service to someone else. Also, an entity like the one I described above also spurs a person on like me to be determined NOT to do business like that. I was reading up on Patrick Lencioni’s “Getting Naked” and realized that my customer service model is a lot like he is talking about. The problem is, most folks in the technology industry are in bondage to the 3 fears he talks about (fear of losing business, fear of being embarrassed, and fear of feeling inferior) that we are perpetuating the Nick Burns (see video link above) situation, just like our vendor I mentioned.

Many of us are small businesses trying to act like enterprise businesses. The reality is, we are not. However, we can control our integrity, how we do business, who we do business with and how we respond to being wronged much faster than enterprise. I tell folks, “You only have one chance to make a good impression.” I think we all need a reminder of the wisdom of SCORE:

60-Second Guide to Establishing Great Customer Service

I said something earlier, which I want to conclude with. We are in a service economy not a commodity economy. That means the best service wins, not the best widget. I am not fearful of the competition in our area because I know I provide the best service. I do not chase after penny pinchers, compete with lower prices, nickel-and-dime people to death, because I know I provide the best customer service. The vendor above that I mentioned still thinks we are in a commodity economy. They obviously have not checked out the top-10 customer service trends of 2010. Make a commitment to blow your clients minds with customer service and you will have a lucrative business. Bottom line: treat others like you want to be treated, I am not telling you something new, we all know it, maybe we just need a reminder now and again.

2.http://www.score.org/60_guide_customer_service.html