Could a ... work

[Dufman]

could a small time computer repair company grow into a large franchise, given that they offer great service, do excellent work, and offer a wide gammut of services.

just wondering...

 

[T2T III]

Possibly. However, "Geeks on Call" has several areas covered. But, the basis for their plan is trying to push service plans to customers.

 

[InverseOfNeo]

Its slightly possible.

 

[Dufman]

does anyone want to master mind this with me

i am serious. i have good plans and ideas

 

[n0cmonkey]

Yes it could work.

EDIT: clarification.

 

[Dufman]

what services do you guys think would work best

would you do a cyber cafe. house calls, bench repairs, reselling, upgrading, repairing...etc.

 

[Kadarin]

It could work, but you need a business plan that will accurately gauge the stupidity of the average computer user. You might also try targeting the corporate/small business market.

Edit: This is reminding me of those idiotic AOL commercials with those teenage girls watching the screen as some AOL wizard "checks for problems" and reports back with "problems fixed".

 

[Gunbuster]

For the big stuff you will end up fighting Unisys and Wang

(I just wanted to say wang)

 

[Dufman]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
It could work, but you need a business plan that will accurately gauge the stupidity of the average computer user. You might also try targeting the corporate/small business market.

what kind of business plan would accuratly gage their stupidity? how often they would fvck their computer up?

i dont think i would develop solutions, just fix and build things.
and small business will be a main key in it, if i decide to do it

 

[T2T III]

and offer a wide gammut of services.

Keep in mind that offering too large of an amount of services could be quite costly. If you have to maintain certifications in such areas - and you only have a need to provide such a service twice a year, it might not be worth offering that service.

I think the trend will go towards smaller companies providing more services. After all, Dell can sell computers for under $500, but providing service within that price point will be nearly impossible. Or, if service is offered, it will be "half-assed" or very hard to provide. If an individual or small company knows that they can count on you, your company will be quite successful.

 

[Dufman]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

and offer a wide gammut of services.

Keep in mind that offering too large of an amount of services could be quite costly. If you have to maintain certifications in such areas - and you only have a need to provide such a service twice a year, it might not be worth offering that service.

I think the trend will go towards smaller companies providing more services. After all, Dell can sell computers for under $500, but providing service within that price point will be nearly impossible. Or, if service is offered, it will be "half-assed" or very hard to provide. If an individual or small company knows that they can count on you, your company will be quite successful.

that is true, but how much retention is there in computer repairs. once a computer is fixed, and fixed properly they wont be comming back, until it breaks again. so a targeting small business would be best becasue they are the end users that have the most at stake, so they will be a better source of buisness than consumers. but you cant ignore indivdual users, becasue they can be a huge source of income.

 

[DWW]

There is a big area that needs to be filled.

First, if you ran something like geeks on wheels or something and stored a decent amount of parts in your geek mobile and did house calls to repair computers. Have spare machines, laptops etc for diagnostics, recovering and whatnot. Now, repairs themselves aren't the only big business. Afterall there are tons of people who do that.

What you need is a SERVICE for people. Everyone that bugs me for PC help says one thing and one thing only "your the only person who can train/teach me how to use this...want to just spend an hour or two with me?". People have no one else to turn to. They don't want to sift through the huge manuals techies (good ones) read. They don't have time for that.

I've done tons of house calls and made money without even MARKETING myself as a computer knowledgable person. These are just family friend types. There is indeed a large area you could fill and I'm willing to bet you could pull in a decent amount of bank on that if you marketed yourself right and tried.

Edit: Once your name gets out there people will be knocking on your door. I forgot to mention that I often turn people down. I don't want be in that business (want to start a contract programming business), so often my only recourse is to tell them I can't. There is definitely a huge need.

 

[Dufman]

i would like to hire people to do training for people, then i can still work on what i want to, and pull in cash from my employees training people.