Computer Repair Franchise Pros

• Benefits that come from aligning yourself with a bigger company
• Benefits that result from an available peer support group
• Extra resources that you may not be able to afford on your own
• Extensive help with any issues that arise

Computer Repair Franchise Cons

• Extensive initial investment of both time and money
• Required to pay a monthly royalty to the franchise owner
• Certain restrictions will be placed on your creative business choices

Computer Repair Franchise Alternative: The Independent Computer Consultant

Starting your own computer repair business does not generally carry a huge financial burden and it is a great alternative to owning a computer repair franchise. However, it is a very time consuming process. It is not uncommon to spend upwards of six months getting the word out about your business, building your contacts and setting an adequate number of appointments.

Timeline to Building a Moderate Income

While it can take anywhere from three to six months of diligence and hard work to see positive financial results for your business, there are a few steps you can take to speed this process along.

First of all, you will spend a lot of time in the beginning simply getting the word out about your business. You want as many people as possible to know firsthand about the existence of your business, the services you offer and how you plan to look after your clients. Don’t wait for this to happen gradually over time. Instead, take the time and spend the effort actually going out and talking to people about your business and what it can do for them.

Second, don’t overlook the importance of attending local events that will allow you to meet new people. This networking step is an essential part of building your contacts and getting new appointments set with clients.

Lastly, follow up on sales calls regardless of how time-consuming and repetitive the process is. By following up on any interest shown, you’ll maximize your potential for getting enough clients to keep you busy for the foreseeable future.

In spite of all this work, it still is likely to take you a number of months to obtain a steady flow of cash for your business. During this time, it is best to keep normal business expenses as low as possible to reduce any pressure and stress on yourself. By keeping expenses within a modest range, you’ll feel comfortable spending a great deal of energy and time on building a steady and lasting business.

In business, you get out of it what you put in from the beginning. You can’t expect to start a computer repair business without putting any effort or capital into marketing. So, you should consider spending a little money on advertising and promotion to get your business off the ground and running. The first step in starting a successful business, is you have to make your business look successful. I know that sounds like the chicken and the egg problem, but it really isn’t. The best way to start is with some professional looking business cards and a clean, professional website. The next step to looking like a successful business is to add credibility by posting testimonials from your friends and family. Ask people you’ve helped in the past to record a quick testimonial video. That is always more powerful than text-based testimonials. You can also join the BBB and your local chamber of commerce, and post their logos on your website. This will boost your credibility as well and deliver the right message to people in your community. Make sure to get a thousand or so copies of your business card, so you can seriously hand it out to enough people to get your name into the community.

The most common method of promoting a computer repair business is through word of mouth. That can help on a small scale, but it will never be enough by itself to sustain your business. Consider putting a small 4 line ad in your local newspaper. Most papers feature a services section on the classifieds page. The cost is only about $60/month and it is well worth it. You can also post to Craigslist for free in the gigs section.

Also, the majority of the people that tend to call for computer repair services are older retired folks. That is why a major selling point is to go onsite and fix the computer at their home. Retired people, especially those who live in rural areas, don’t want to have to go into town just to get their computer fixed. It’s a hassle, and unnecessary work.

The majority of the problems you will fix will be related to viruses, spyware, adware, and general Microsoft Windows errors. Viruses and spyware are the greatest thing to happen to the computer repair industry. They keep thousands of computer techs in business and repeat work is almost guaranteed within 6 months. You will find, that the majority of the work you do will involve re-installing Microsoft Windows, as this is the most effective way of getting rid of serious problems related to viruses, spyware and adware. If you are considering starting a business just upgrading and replacing hardware, you won’t find too much of a demand for it. The majority of the money is in software-related problems within Microsoft Windows. Most people are just want a computer to get on the Internet and check their e-mail. It’s always a good idea to be willing to setup a new computer online. Also, setting somebody up with Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail and Mozilla Firefox for Internet is a pretty fool-proof system.

A great place to get computer parts is from Newegg. Older parts you can get from eBay. Most of the time, new parts are not necessary to fix the problem but it is a good idea to carry a small stock of common upgrades like DVD burners, hard drives, memory, etc. The next time you are on-site and you notice the computer could use a few upgrades, having these parts on handy dramatically increases the possibility that you will upsell the client and get the added work.

In terms of hardware, power supplies are the biggest culprit of failure issues.  You will replace more of these than any other part. Having a few of these around is a good idea, and make sure they are at least 350 Watts with a P4 connector and a 20_14 pin connect. That way they are more versatile. When you sell parts, sell them slightly over retail and charge a small installation fee. Don’t charge too much for parts, but don’t try to cut your clients a deal. After all, they are hiring you to perform a service and will gladly pay accordingly.

While I cannot provide everything you need to know about starting a computer repair business in one article, I hope that I’ve given you enough tips to get started. If you have a love for computers and technology, consider starting a computer repair business. It is a very rewarding career to establish for yourself. You will be helping a great deal of people and making their lives more enjoyable and stress-free.  Seeing someones reaction to their computer running fast again never gets old. It is very rewarding.

This presents a great opportunity for us to discuss the advantages, risks, and rewards of advertising your business. From our experience working with computer repair shops across the globe, we’ve found that while consumers respond to the marketing campaigns we provide to our Windows Renew partners, the platforms in which they respond to vary from region to region. In other words, a 3 month newspaper ad campaign may bring in a flood of new business in Arkansas, but may fall on deaf ears in Michigan. That same ad, or marketing message, when placed on Craigslist in Michigan, may bring in the flood of business that Arkansas experienced. This is due to the fact that consumer habits vary from region to region. New Yorkers may prefer their news on their mobile devices, where as someone in another part of the county may prefer a physical newspaper in their hands.

The point is, in advertising, you must always test.

There is no way to ever know for sure what will work or not work. The only way to know ahead of time would be through divine inspiration, and you and I both know that is not possible. The best way to approach advertising is to make the best educated guess you can based on the consumption habits of your local market, and go out with a test campaign.

At Windows Renew, we’ve had the privilege of testing campaigns, strategies, and varying messages across 150 different markets around the globe. Our past experience and test campaigns have led us to a solid understanding of what will work and what will not work. That helps our partners a great deal; however, the task of testing and measuring never stops. The market is always changing and it is critical to run stride for stride with your target market.

This brings me to my next point:

When you test, you must measure obsessively until you find the “code breaker.”

It’s not enough to simply launch an ad and track the sales. You must measure every step of the sales process. Consider measuring the following through an excel spreadsheet each week:

• How many people saw your ad? What is the circulation of the publication/platform?
• How many phone calls did you receive each week as a result of your ad?
• How many emails did you receive each week as a result of your ad?
• Are you asking every prospect that emails or calls you how they heard about you?
• What is your sales process? How many times do you follow-up? Via phone, email or both?

I cannot stress enough the importance of measuring each step along the way, because you may find that your ad is not what is failing you, it may be your sales process!

Your ad may be generating enough leads to produce an ROI (Return On Investment), but you may not be following up properly. You may not be following up enough times. Your prices may be too high, or worse, too low. You may not be effectively communicating the value of your services to the prospect and, as a result, you lose the sale.

Another common problem I see is when companies that advertise fail to have a cohesive brand across their marketing, website, and other points of contact with prospects.

I cannot tell you how many times I see an ad, then go to the website, and the website is completely different from the ad. The colors are not the same, the fonts are different, the over-all feel is not the same. This inconsistency is confusing and will cause prospects to write you off as “unprofessional” and continue looking elsewhere. You may actually be driving a lot of traffic to your website (which you will only know if you measure your analytics) but prospects may leave due to your confusing, boring, or inconsistent brand.

That is why measuring is critical. You must track each step of the sales process to determine where you are lacking, where prospects are falling through the cracks, and then hunt down and correct the culprit.

Continue to test, measure, and tweak the entire sales process until you generate ROI (Return On Investment).

Once ROI is achieved, you duplicate the campaign on a larger scale to gain more business. This is what we refer to as the “code breaker.”

I have one final lesson for you when you advertise: Never give up too soon.

Most advertising takes repetition to sink in with your target market and generate sales. I can remember getting phone calls from individuals who cut out our newspaper ad 6 months prior and were finally calling us to schedule an appointment. The thing about any service-based business like computer repair is that both you and your target market never know when they are going to be in need of your services. You can’t predict when a computer is going to be infected by a virus or experience a system crash. Your ad may be hitting home with your target market, and you may be producing “top of mind” with them, but they may simply not need your services at this precise moment.

That’s ok. It is to be expected.

That is why you must stick it out and give yourself at least 2-3 months of regular, consistent advertising. You are better off running a 1/4 page ad 4 times per week and running a full page ad just 1 time per week.

As for our Entrepreneur Magazine ad, time will tell whether it’s effective or not. We will test and measure until we know the precise results moving forward. That’s the only way a company can grow.

Local New Haven Ct Computer Repair. $20 Off w/This Tweet. http://www.dredisonscomputermedicine.com

January 1, 2011 4:25 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Dr_Edison

dr edison

This is a great example of how to make your social media followers feel privileged for following you by rewarding them with specials and interesting content.

Based on my experience developing Social Media marketing strategies for companies of all sizes (from small startups to the Fortune 500), I have personally witnessed the unrivaled power a CEO’s personal brand can bring to an organization’s marketing efforts. I often split-test our social media strategies to compare company profiles to upper-level executive profiles. I have found that whenever my social media efforts are infused with the personality and leadership of the company executives, the community that forms around the executive’s social media profiles is much larger, more engaging, enthusiastic, and responsive. This phenomenon occurs regularly, regardless of the industry or size of the company.

I attribute these findings to the belief that people are inherently drawn to other people far deeper than they could ever be drawn to a “company” or a “brand.” When you add the idea that high-level executives exude a degree of celebrity and leadership that company prospects would likely admire, you now amplify the effects of a personal brand. If you simply glance at the top 50 most followed Twitter accounts, the first 28 accounts are all individuals. In fact, only 9 out of the top 50 accounts represent business entities.

Social media marketing has ushered in an era of hyper-personal marketing. Consumers and businesses are less responsive to faceless companies that lack personality. They have come to expect a personal relationship with the brands they support and have grown weary of companies that hide behind a corporate facade. The more a consumer can feel personally connected to a company, the greater success that company will achieve through social media.

High-level executives are a company’s greatest marketing asset, even if that company is a one-man-shop. The business owners who choose to pass on this opportunity are giving up the ability to create personal relationships with a mass group of people who are capable of turning into loyal super-fans.

So stop hiding from social media. Fully embrace it, and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. That is exactly what your clients are looking for from you.

There are two missing components that most computer consulting business owners fail to look for in new candidates:

1. Marketability
2. Personability

Yes, technical skill is critical, but it is also a no-brainer. You don’t hire based on technical ability. You require technical ability, but hire on someone’s ability to make you money. This is an intangible quality.

What do I mean?

In essence, a computer technician who can effectively communicate problems to a client and convincingly suggest recommending solutions is going to upsell each sale and bring you more profit. Would you rather have someone working for you who brings in $200 per appointment or $250 per appointment? That’s a 25% increase to your bottom line. That’s the difference between doing $2.5 million a year in sales and$3.125 million a year with the same clients, same sales, and same efforts.

When most computer consultants set out to hire new IT staff, the typical place they look is on Craigslist or Monster.com, and the obvious litmus test they use revolves around the candidates technical strengths and weaknesses. This approach will work, but there is a secret that the best hiring professionals use:

The top place to look for hiring qualified, skilled, and socially talented computer technicians is on your competitor’s payroll!

If you’re struggling to find the right applicant, schedule a consultation with 5 to 10 of your competitors in the surrounding area and see their technicians in action. You don’t have to worry about padded resumes and fake references when you are testing a potential hire out in a real-world situation. When you find that “diamond in the rough” you were looking for, offer them a position.

Remember that technical skills are always a necessary requirement when hiring a computer technician or network troubleshooter, but don’t forget to look for qualities that show someone who is personable, presents him- or herself well, and possesses solid communication skills. These are elements your company simply cannot afford to overlook.

As each passing day goes by, we zoom in further and further into our techie worlds, completely absorbed in it’s miniature workings. We focus on the tasks at hand: fixing this network, solving that virus infection.

It’s easy to get engulfed in tasks that we give ourselves. We check off one thing after the other and pat ourselves on the backs for meeting client deadlines and moving the needle forward.

But, we often forget that we are in business, and business does not prosper from linear tasks we set for ourselves. Business is strategy. Business is like a chess game. You cannot zoom in and focus on moving your pawn one space forward. You have to zoom completely out and look at the entire chess board. See your whole arsenal of attack. Think about how each piece is an invaluable component to a grand scheme that is your company.

Most business owners I work with for the first time don’t zoom out. They don’t know how. Many of them wouldn’t know what to do once they did zoom out. That’s why they become a Windows Renew partner. They need the guidance. They need specific direction, set strategies, and a blueprint to follow.

To be successful with your technology consulting business, you must zoom out, observe where you are in the game, observe which pieces you have,  and which pieces your opponents have. You must look ahead to predict obstacles, and strategize your series of moves.

You cannot walk around with your head to the ground and expect to move in a straight line. You also cannot expect to zoom in and out of your business with ease until you begin to do so every day and allow it to develop as a skill. You must look into the distance, change your path when needed, and never accept defeat.

If your technology business is suffering, it’s because you have missing pieces in your chess game. You may not be thinking enough about your client’s experience with you. You may be failing to “wow” them with an idea, service, brand or unique approach. Your return calls may be lacking. Your deadlines may be fuzzy. You may be marketing the wrong message through the wrong platform to the wrong market. You may not even HAVE a real marketing message even when you think you do. Your service offering may be inconsistent. Your brand may be too confusing. All these things will negatively effect the spread of word-of-mouth and lose you new business that is in your grasp.

These are the macro details you should be investing your time on every day. These elements will explode or crush your company. They will be the difference between millions of dollars or pennies in profit. You are the driver of your company. Where you end up solely depends on you. Be smart in your path, diligent in your approach, and learn to consider yourself a master of chess.

In your computer repair company, that “action that causes a reaction” is the marketing and business systems you put in place to service your clients and promote your business. The equal and opposite reaction, ideally, is when your business propels forward to improved service offerings and greater profits.

It kills me whenever I talk to struggling computer repair business owners about the health of their company. Their first reaction when profits are down is to tighten up the belt, cut spending, turn down the heat, and pray for a new day. That’s the same thing your body does when you starve it. During a hunger strike, the human body begins to hold fat to a greater degree. It’s a downward spiral of weight gain that ends with you waking up one morning realizing that you are worse off than you were in the beginning of your hunger strike.

Once you’re fat and you realize you need to go on a diet, your nutritionist will tell you that the way to stay healthy and slim isn’t to starve yourself, but to feed yourself regular portions of healthy food every three hours. It’s consistency that’s key. Eating small portions every three hours keeps your metabolism turning and your fat burning machine on overdrive.

Your computer repair business operates the same way. When business is down, you can’t starve your company from healthy marketing and expect any real change. Starving your company will put you in a downward spiral of weight-gain (a.k.a. bills piling up).  In marketing, as in health, consistency is King. One ad on craigslist once a month won’t do you any good. What about one ad a day, every day, for a month? Now you’re talking! The same principle applies to paid advertising. You will have more success with a small, daily print ad, than you will with one big, weekly print ad.

Your computer repair business is a living organism. It needs consistent portions of healthy marketing to survive. Do this and your profit-engine (a.k.a. your business metabolism) will run on overdrive.

You start with healthy marketing. You follow with a consistent effort. You end with new clients and higher profits.

Now go make Einstein proud.

Where’s the personality? Where’s the human element? Where is the anecdote that I can actually relate to as a potential client? Its not there, and that’s a problem.

From my experience, businesses become stale like this because the owners are afraid of taking a chance. They don’t want to appear unprofessional. They are usually one-man-bands who suffer from what I call the “Entrepreneurial Napolean Complex.” Many times, they are so afraid of appearing small that they do everything in their power to appear “big.” What’s interesting to me is that, in actuality, appearing “big” or “small” is directly related to your company’s social footprint.

Think about this:

Why does Apple come across to you as such a big presence? Yes, they have thousands of employees, and Billions of dollars in revenue, but you don’t see that those employees or have access to their bank account on a daily basis. So how do you know it’s there? You can just “feel it,” right? What is it about the consumer experience with Apple that makes us feel Apple’s gigantic size? It has to do with your experience with Apple’s social footprint! It’s being on the train and seeing 3 iPads around you in action. It’s about going into the office and seeing co-workers viewing  a freshly designed company brochure from a Mac monitor. Its about pulling up the news and seeing an  article about a new Apple product. Its about social interaction!

Business doesn’t drive people. People drive business. People are the key factor in whether a business appears big or small. That is because your perceived size directly relates to your popularity!

The more people that use your company, talk about your company, comment on your Facebook page (you DO have a Facebook page, right?), friend you, follow you on Twitter, etc., etc., the more “popular” you become. The more popular you become in your town, the more business you will bring in.

It’s so ironic too, because, many times, in an effort to try and make a computer repair business seem larger, the owner ends up making it look “smaller” with stale marketing, boring web copy, and an energy-less brand! There is a reason why Facebook, the most socially interactive website in existence, is also the most trafficked.

Your clients want to do business with real people. They want to connect with you, relate with you, share their computer frustrations with you. They want to know that you care about them, that you care about their precious data, that you will fight to the death to see to it that their digital lives are fast moving, productive and stress-free.

They don’t want a salesman. They don’t care about your certifications, or your flashy website navigation. They will run for the hills if you start spewing out technical jargon and preach to them about system over-clocking and hard drive re-imaging.

They want a real person.

If you’re a one-man-band. BE a one-man-band. Promote it! Celebrate it! Own it! Showcase your advantages. Highlight them. After all, because you are a small company, you can provide more personalized service. “Forget the Geek Squad!” Your overhead is lower, so your prices are cheaper. You care more, because each day you are fighting to pay the bills.

People love a good story. They root for the underdog. They relate to him. They want him to win. They PROMOTE him! Wouldn’t you like people to do that for your company?

So start letting people see you are real and authentic. Start interacting with them online. Share in their personal lives. Let them see pictures from your last vacation. Post pictures of your clients on your website. Let them post comments.

And for Pete’s sake, take down that boring corporate mumbo jumbo and replace it with your story!

Your business is a movie script, and, to quote the great Seth Godin, “marketing is nothing but great storytelling.”

So what kind of story do you want your business to tell? That B-list story on daytime television? Or, Schindler’s List, which wins you 7 Oscars at the Academy Awards?

It searches your PC for nonexistent and outdated Windows drivers. The company is called Slim Drivers and they provide an “Automated Driver Updates” service. The company boasts that you can “keep your drivers on your system up-to-date, assess driver problems and fix them automatically, safely remove outdated drivers and their components, get access to round-the-clock technical support, and access a cloud-based driver database.”

I did a scan of one of my PCs and it worked perfectly.

Why would you want to update your system drivers?

Well, updating your computer drivers makes your PC run faster. It prevents device errors and can lend quicker repairs to future problems. The software is also designed to automatically repair problems with the update and install processes, taking the hassle out of unforeseen errors and incompatibilities.

Some of the drivers you can update include:

Display Drivers
Audio Drivers
Sound Drivers
Graphics Drivers
Video Adapter Drivers
Modem Drivers

Network Adapter Drivers
Printer Drivers
Video Drivers
TV Tuner Drivers
Input Devices
Scanner Drivers
Digital Camera Drivers
Wireless Internet Drivers
Optical Disk Drive Drivers
SCSI Drivers
SATA Drivers
External Hard Drive Drivers
Motherboard Chipset Drivers
Other Devices
and much more…

You can find out more about this product here: http://www.slimdrivers.com