I have been in the technology consulting business for about 7 years now. If you count high school, a bit longer but I'm talking serving customers professionally and helping people solve their computer problems to put money in the bank. Over the last year I've grown and added an associate to help me with the volume, and even had an assistant for some time handling the phone calls and scheduling.
The hardest thing about this business is delivering a consistent service level and getting customers to understand that service level. We offer onsite service that can be same day depending on volumes, but our pickup and deliver service is usually a 3-5 day return time (not including the time it takes to receive parts). We typically return sooner than this but its always best to give a worst case scenario to set expectations. The reason we set these return times is because of volume. We may have 5 machines waiting to be serviced and the machine that gets dropped off on Thursday might not get touched until Tuesday (3 business days). I'm contemplating having an up-charge for customers that want to pay to move to the front of the line.
As a consumer, I'm a huge fan of these fees. When I have to pay these fees I love it because typically I'm realizing tremendous value. If I have to pay to overnight a book from Amazon becucase I want to start reading it tomorrow, I feel great. If I have to pay to stay at a hotel onsite at Unviersal because in doing that I'm able to skip the lines all day long at the park I feel like a million bucks. I love instant gradification.
Our pricing structure is going to be modified, I'm sure of that. Most likely with increases as well as higher fees for same day, evening, and weekend appointments and to have your machine "bumped" to the front of the repair queue. If we have to re-arrange our typical operating procedures, we have to charge a premium. That way we aren't always rushing around to put out fires.
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