Compete against immatures

[iMayne]

When Im placing ads I see alot of computer repair guys. But the thing is, are they a registered company/business? Are they trading? Are they paying taxes? How about expenses?

How can a IT guys charges (using $) $15 to remove virus of customer's computers? Now when I get calls, they the customers expect me to stoop down to that level and charge $14.95; hail no! I feel as though these IT guys are not a registered company/business nor they're trading. This is why they can charge "school kids" money.

Proper business has to think about their family and expenses. So there is no way we can charge the petty cash. Anyone here facing what I'm facing?

That's why I love when a customer says: "but but but why are you charge so much when abc IT is charging $15?" I'm so happy when they give me the "company's" name so I can check them out and MOST of them are not trading?

It's like trying to sell some mp3's when someone says: "I have limewire".

[Blain]

* Don't worry about the lowballers. They will not be around for the long run. Someone will always be doing business on the cheap. Focus on quality work and customer satisfaction.
* If a customer asks you about your rates vs their's, simply tell them the truth, that you don't know if those guys are legit and that your prices reflect a rate that ensures you will be doing business for the long term.
* If they are haggling over price too much, tell them that maybe they should try out the lowballer and see if his service is worth what he charges.
Honestly, do you really need a customer that's so caught up with price that they don't value the quality of your work?

* Let's face some facts...
1. Lowballers will always be a gnat bothering us.
2. Lowballers will always have customers that care about price vs quality of work
3. We can't and shouldn't participate in a race to the bottom on rates.
4. If we do high quality work and keep customers satisfied, we will garner a loyal customer base.
5. We don't need every person that contacts us as a customer.
6. Customers grow to trust us with some of their most sensitive information (data on their PC). We should do everything in our power to uphold that trust. A swap-meet, discount barn pricing structure does nothing to aid that situation.

[iMayne]

Hi, Blain.

At first, to be honest, they used to bother me. But now, I look at my QOS and they are no where near my standards. Now I understand that in the world there are two types of customers:

1 Customer that wants cheap service

2 Customer that wants QOS service

I personally do not market to persons that want to pay less and expect to get higher warranty and QOS. And yes these "lowballers" will not last long because they cannot handle complaints.

[doortodoorgeek]

Simple answer

I tell my customers "I can tell you one thing for sure, in this case you get exactly what you pay for, I am sure you would get a 12 year old kid that will do a very half-ass job and try and to override your standards with his own, thus making your computer either very vulnerable or very difficult to use, I know what I am doing with 10+ years of fixing and cleaning computers and can not only fix your issues but have expert knowledge of my own and from many online communities I interact with to offer you the best answers to any questions you might have ……. And if you opt for a kid to fix your computer I can not guarantee my rate will not alter based upon how much of his shortcomings I have to cleanup/fix”

[iMayne]

Yup.

I say the same thing.

[mcnallyhomepc]

This has happened to me as well. I always educate any potential customers that want to go with the cheap guy and let them know of all the disadvantages of doing so.

My price is my price and I never discount it.

I've had folks that have come to me after going to one of the fly by night operations to fix their PC....typically, they are so bodged up I almost always recommend a reinstall instead of trying to fix some 12 year old genius's handiwork.

The best jobs are the ones where the client spoke to me first, then when to the cheap guy and then has me fix his original problem and all the problems caused by the pizza tech.