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/

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Dear Valued Clients who are DSL customers (or cable customers),

Let me first state that I am very satisfied with my DSL at home. Yesterday I received this message (way below) from AT&T. Because much of our B/F (break/fix) work comes from slow machines, virus infected machines, etc, I thought it might be beneficial for me to give you some background information before you jump on the FREE download below (or consider any FREE product), I want to let you know why I do NOT download the FREE software offered by my ISP (or Comcast either). Also just because you have a Mac, does not mean you are immune: http://www.macworld.com/article/135900/2008/10/antivirus.html

1. Free is not necessarily FREE. What do I mean by that? Just because something is FREE does not mean the time you spend wrestling with the configuration, having your machine slow down or trying to get customer support for the FREE product is going to be FREE. Many folks are excited about AVG for instance, and it too is NOT the best FREE tool on the market. (http://www.eset.com/products/comparison/)

2. Most vendors that push products do not support the products or even offer the LATEST version. For instance: http://community.mcafee.com/showthread.php?t=229267

3. Most users KNOW they need security and vendors KNOW you need security but that does not necessarily mean the product being advertised is the best one to give you the protection you’re going to need. http://www.eset.com/products/compare-NOD32-vs-competition.php (yes, this is a shameful plug for the product we offer and support – )

4. Most users click through menus/pop-ups without reading the fine print so that they can move on to other things. EULA (End-user license agreements) are great example. Many times ‘wizards’ are making decisions for you that you may not necessarily want to have decided for you. You find out later about this when a program does not work, or pop-ups plague your desktop when you attempt to complete tasks that you used to be able to do, that now are blocked by the security application.

5. If the vendor (McAfee in this case) has to issue a removal tool, you can rest assured that the traditional methods of “Add-Remove” are not going to work. 2nd This is also an indicator that it is doing things to your machine that require additional upper-level knowledge to fix (which most users do not have). I am using this tool: http://www.technibble.com/appremover-repair-tool-of-the-week/ which has all the needed vendor removal tools in one package.

6. What is the best security product? Most folks do not do the research but they do pay attention to advertising, which is why it is helpful to have a reliable ‘geek’ to assist. One of the best sites for reviewing Security Suite products is: http://www.av-comparatives.org/

7. Do not believe everything you read. I wrote earlier this year about how advertising and OEM loaded software give FALSE senses of security to consumers, and even the publications (pc mag, ect) we would think are reliable are usually swayed by the vendors who spend lots of $ for advertising with them. Sites like this one: http://internet-security-suite-review.toptenreviews.com/ claim to have the best reviews and might a first choice for many ‘researchers’ but again, caution is needed and I would check these ratings against #6 above.

8. Running 16 security suites and toolbars doesn’t mean you’re protected.

9. Letting a virus through cannot be stopped by the best security suite.

10. What are Security Conscious Industry Experts saying? http://www.virusbtn.com/index.

11. Know what you need and what you are looking for: http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/security-suite-software/checklist

12. Finally all these sites, references etc, are great for consumers, but I want (and you want) to know what the upper-level ‘geeks’ are using. Because there are many products on the market, many of us have preferences, but with most of them, they have been tried, tested, and have a baseline regarding some critical areas those of us B/F techies desire. Here are the questions I ask regarding a security suite:

a. Is it reliable (consistently working, updating, background scanning, and low software conflicts),

b. What is its system/network resources footprint? (how much of my RAM and other system resources are being drained away from my daily programs that are essential and is it hanging my system why it scans, bandwidth on the network),

c. Can I shut it off and easily turn it back on if need be?,

d. What is support like to include manuals and getting assistance? If you’re going to put me on hold, phone tree me, or tell me to turn my computer on and off, I am probably going to find another vendor.

e. Are you going to nickel and dime me to death with subscriptions, rates, fees etc?

f. What are the automatic features and manual features?

g. Is it going to nag me all the time regarding settings, applications, software, and websites I visit?

h. Can it be silently rolled out, hidden, in the background and kept away from ‘fiddling fingers’? You laugh, but many security suites do not work as they were designed because someone has ‘fiddled’ with something that probably should not have been fiddled with.

i. There are more, but these would be the drop-dead essentials for us (PI) and for many of our clients.

I realize that choosing a security product may seem overwhelming, but it is essential, and what I am trying to emphasize is that it should not be taken lightly. Being nailed with malware or a virus can take out a machine, your work place, affect your business, hobby, or non-profit org with expensive results. A security suite also does not prevent a good back up process/plan from NOT being an essential part of computing either.

Recommendation: If you do not have an experienced ‘geek’ (I say experienced here because there are many who ‘know how to do stuff’ or have a brother-in-law who successfully built a computer from scratch, but that does not necessarily mean ‘he’ or his FREE recommendation come from an experienced place that a professional might have as an advantage), find one and treat him/her well and respect their suggestions and time. Also make sure they are using the product they are recommending…

If you did not already know, Progressive Integrations, Inc. are ESET Partners, and have been since 2007. None of our clients have become infected or had security issues with the products we support and if you are in the market for#10 (above) solution, we can provide you with a FREE trial that does not require a removal tool, low on system resources, silently runs in the background and was rated #1 by the latest security vendors (http://www.eset.com/company/awards.php).

If you would prefer to try it on your OWN today, click here: http://progressiveintegrations.com/goodies.htm.

If you think you are already infected with malware/virus activity then you may want to check out: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/2875/remove-malware-quickly-with-malwarebytes-anti-malware/ if you feel comfortable doing it on your own or schedule an appointment with us today to get it taken care of.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve you.

Derek Iannelli-Smith
IT Strategist
Progressive Integrations, Inc.