PC Repair Training: A Necessity or Luxury for IT Pros?

If you own a computer service or repair business, you might think that very technical PC repair training is needed to do a great job with clients. While you certainly need some level of technical expertise to work with your clients, even more important than training and certifications is being able to be an effective project manager, so you can build solid business partnerships and client relationships.

 

The truth is, to be successful at running a computer repair business, you need to be great at building mutually-beneficial relationships with your clients. When you get steady, high-paying clients that rely on you to manage their IT assets, you go beyond the basic break/fix mentality that comes from focusing too heavily on PC repair training and become a true asset to your clients’ businesses.

 

If you want to start building relationships with great, long-term clients, take to heart these 4 tips, so you can focus your business on total IT solutions, and stop obsessing over PC repair training and certifications.

 

1. Adopt a Real Marketing and Sales Plan. In order to go beyond just advertising your PC repair training credentials and certifications, you need to a real marketing plan for reaching prospective clients. Because small businesses are often resistant to change, you need to effectively and persuasively explain what you will offer them as part of an on-going, long-term relationship. You need to explain why they need to go beyond just hiring you to fix things that break and move towards adopting a whole new proactive, results-based, ROI-driven technology plan. Devise a plan that speaks to prospect hot buttons, so you can overcome objections and truly explain how working with you will help prospects grow their businesses and better serve their own clients. You need to adopt a real marketing plan and find a sales style that works for you, even if you initially hate the idea of selling.

2. Analyze Your Prospect, Customer and Client Needs. The bottom line is, your clients don’t necessarily need you to have fancy certifications and extensive PC repair training to meet their business needs. In fact, when you are working in the small business market, your typical client will not have a clue what different levels of training and certifications mean. They will expect you to help them maintain and support their IT infrastructure, and solve their IT business problems by showing them how to use their computer systems to their best advantage.

3. Make Sure You Are Selling to the Real Decision Makers. You need to know who you are talking to when you are selling your computer repair services to small business prospects. Sometimes the small business owner will not necessarily be the primary decision maker for the company. A lot of times the person you really want to sell to is the internal computer guru – some times the office manager, controller, vice president, owner’s spouse, etc. You need to know who is interested in the true bits and bytes of your prospects’ businesses and who cares how much it will bottom-line cost. If you are proposing on-going services to anyone but the person that understands the needs of the small business, no amount of business skills or PC repair training will matter, as you will be met by the ears of someone that doesn’t care about or know anything about the type of solutions you are proposing.

4. Understand Small Business Hot Buttons. Knowing the real hot button issues of small businesses in need of computer repair services has absolutely nothing to do with PC repair training. You need to really find out what worries your clients about running and growing their businesses if you are going to design the best solutions. And this often has nothing to do with training at all. Take the time to talk to your prospects and understand what drives them to make investments in technology and business solutions. When you meet with clients, make sure you get them to tell you about their top three to five IT business problems. Also find out what bothers them most about their existing technology or former technology provider. Get to the heart of small business challenges if you really want to provide effective, on-going technology support.

In this article we talked about 4 tips that can help you build important soft skills beyond basic PC repair training, so you can best serve your small business clients. To learn more about how you can attract great, steady clients by balancing PC repair training with crucial business skills, go sign-up now for the free Sample Tips and Excerpts below from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course.

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