Many times I received the same questions from my students and friends asking whether electronic repair service line is a dying trade. My answer to them was it depends on how you treat your electronic repair business. In other words, how do they run their electronic repair business. I do know that at current situation many consumers prefer to buy a new set rather than repair because electronic equipment is getting cheaper and cheaper. This is only true for certain types of equipment but not all equipment!
Let me ask you some questions, would you buy a new LCD TV set if your LCD TV have a sound problem? Would you buy a new Monitor if there is a color problem? Would you buy a new LaserJet printer just because of paper jam? Or would you buy a new dot-matrix printer just because of alignment out? If you talks about the cheaper range of equipment such as a VCD or even a DVD (none branded), yes the users might just throw it off to the rubbish bin and get a new unit with a one year warranty-free of troubles and hassle sending the machine to a repair shop. If the equipment cost several hundreds or thousands of dollars, definitely the users have to send it for repair unless the users are very rich. Base on the current economic situation, many users are willing to send their machine or equipment to repair compare to buying a new unit unless the equipment is beyond repair such as no spare parts, lightning strike and etc.
I would like to share a true story with you. Few years back, my sister bought a cheap none branded 21″TV which was half of the branded TV price. After two weeks, the TV front panel press button broken, not only that, the remote control not working as well. Due to these problems, she can't adjust or change the TV setting. I tried to repair it but inside everything was so fragile. The quality of the picture produced was so dull and lack of contrast. Since from that experienced, I've learned my lesson and would not buy any none branded equipment in the future.
The new 32″ LCD TV set that I bought few months back was a LG brand. Although there are some cheaper none branded LCD TV (cheaper by RM1000.00), I don't buy it because I know the quality is far less superior than the branded one. The reason I told you this story is time will tell when the behavior of buyers change. That's mean, consumers is getting smarter and may reject something that would not last long and low in quality. Would you buy a new TV and expect it to run for a year and then replace it with another one? I don't think so because the amount of money you spent on buying a TV is to expect it to last as long as it could and give you the satisfaction in term of quality wise, am I right?
If majority of the consumers are turning back to the branded equipment and don't mind spending a little bit more, in the long run, it would benefit us as an electronic repairer. Why? Because we would be getting more things to repair (consumers never scrap off their equipment) and the profit margin is higher.
Now, assuming the customers send the faulty equipment for you to repair, how fast can you repair it and how good is your communication (people skills) with your customers (either end users or dealers) would really affect your business. Even if you are the best electronic repairer in the world and don't know how to communicate or talk to your customer, your repair business may end up losing to your competitors. In today's competitive business environment, you need to build a strong relationship with your customers more than ever before. I understand that most of us as an electronic repairer that like technical stuff have some difficulty in facing with customers (communication). The way we convince our customers is not as good as those born with natural gift (like a good salesman) that they can easily treat any customers like their friends. I'm not here to ask you to compare with them but we have the choice of improving ourselves. Many of us like to dwell in our comfortable place (technical department) and concentrating doing our repair job and at the same time ignoring what happen to the surrounding (including of entertaining your customers) am I right? My friends, if there are no sales and no customers; there would be nothing for us to repair. Without sales, there would be no activity in your company!
I've met up some of my repair friends who had given up their electronic repair service business and find other jobs due to the strong competition in this repair field. When I asked them why do you want to quit your repair business? The answer that I got from them was less things for them to repair nowadays and the income can't sustain their daily spending. I asked them again, did you go to search for new customers such as faxing, visiting electronic or computer shops, distributing flyers and etc. The answer that I got really surprised me and you. It is no! You see, as mentioned above, if there are no sales coming in, your repair company will surely have to close down. Not only that, most of them do not have the people's skill to convince their customers. Sales won't come in into your doorstep on its own unless it is recommended by your friends or customers. Why those big corporate engage lots of salesman? Because no sales means no business!
I admit that I once have lack of people skills too but this would not stop me from improving myself. The best book that had changed my way of thinking and approaching customers and teaches you on how to start a conversation was “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. The information inside I had absorbed and now I have the courage and confident when meeting new clients and customers. Besides this book I read other books as well like “The Millionaire Mindset” by Gerry Robert, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T Kiyosaki, “Who Moved My Cheese” by Dr Spencer Johnson and many more. Those books really changed my mindset and thinking and you can use their ideas and apply it into your repair business. Please don't just read technical books only, open up your mind and start reading books that can improve your life, business, sales and etc.
I have a friend who is a millionaire and currently making thousands of dollars everyday told me that whenever he goes to work everyday he must learn new things or otherwise he's actually not working! Wow! That was a powerful quote by him and his word really sparked and motivates me to improve myself everyday. One cannot be stagnant for the rest of their life otherwise even if after 10 to 20 years your life would be the same. One should always learn and improve themselves to excel in their life. Don't wait for things to happen, you make things to happen! This friend of mine actually went broke 15 years ago and now if he choose not to work the money still keep pouring into his bank account. He never show any sign of giving up during that time of difficulty. Winner never quit!
Charge your customers with reasonable price, build a good relationship with your clients or customers, do not cheat, work hard and smart, improving yourself and learn how to get sales and with the perseverance in you , I don't see why a person can fail in his electronic repair business. At this moment, my company still has lots of customers sending faulty Monitors and Printers for us to repair and lately LCD Monitor repair is a blessing to us because we can charge a higher price.
Lastly, if you serve your customers satisfactorily, you will soon have a large base of loyal customers who will promote your organization or company, making you feel satisfied, happy and most importantly making profit which is your ultimate aim in setting up an electronic repair service business. It is now your choice whether you wish to change and improve yourself or to remain where you are because ‘Success is a Choice'.
