Contact form questions

[jfm]

How do you guys deal with those messages from your contact form (zopim included)?

I often get page long messages with so many specific questions and price inquiries.
I instantly almost get mad and answer as briefly as possible, like please call us for for details.
And most of the time I never hear from them again.
I feel I get around 1 out of 10 message that ends up in a call, feels like a waste of time so far...

 

[trevm999]

If you're not going to provide the same level of service that you would provide with a phone call, why provide a contact form at all? I know that talking to someone often makes their issue clearer than an email, and people who call are usually more serious shoppers. However, you don't have to answer all their questions in the email, but you have to make your pitch, otherwise they will choose one of the other 10 shops they emailed. If they are only talking about price, explain how your billing works and then steer the conversation around to quality.

 

[fencepost]

I often get page long messages with so many specific questions and price inquiries.

If you're getting messages with multiple questions or it feels like someone's trying to get free support through your contact form, reply back with something like

"It sounds like you're seeing multiple problems, but it's hard for me to determine via email whether they're actually separate issues or are all caused by just one or two underlying problems. From the questions you're asking, it sounds like this may be a software problem, we can often address those remotely. You can arrange for a remote support session through our website or we can send someone to your home or business. Our remote support rate is $30 per half hour; our in-home rate is $65/hour and our on-site business rate is $90/hour. Depending on your location, there may be a travel charge of up to $25 for in-home or on-site visits."​

Obviously you'd change this (and possibly omit the remote information) if what they're describing sounds like a hardware problem.

You might also throw in something about "If we start with remote support but are able to quickly determine that the issue(s) require physical access to the computer/network/printer/etc. then we can book an on-site visit and there won't be a charge for the remote support investigation."

As a secondary note, are the rate buttons on your "Tarifs" page supposed to do anything? It may be how I have my browsers locked down, but they did nothing for me in either Firefox or Chrome (including after I turned off uBlock Origin in Chrome and disabled site filtering in uMatrix on Firefox). If they don't do anything, then you really need to get rid of the arrows on them and the button-style hover color change because right now it just looks like your site is broken.

Also, in the top right corner of your site is a little "+" image, when you click that it includes a bunch of TEST1 TEST2 information from your theme or widget setup.

 

[jfm]

Thanks alot for the input.

You're right Trev, about not giving the same level of service, good point.
I do value them alot less it's true, do you guys get good leads out of those ?

Thanks Fence for the tips on the website, yea actually those buttons are misleading. I will correct them.
Also aware of the + with some junmk in there.

I'm at a point in my business that I can barely answer to 75% of all incoming work.
A good problem you will say but It's hard to focus with too much work.

 

[fencepost]

I'll chime in first with "If you're getting too much work to handle, your prices are probably too low." Since you're in what I'd consider a metropolitan area (Montreal) and you're charging $65/hr residential and $90/hr business, I'm going to say that your prices are definitely too low unless the market up there is a lot weaker than I'd expect.

 

[jfm]

I'll chime in first with "If you're getting too much work to handle, your prices are probably too low." Since you're in what I'd consider a metropolitan area (Montreal) and you're charging $65/hr residential and $90/hr business, I'm going to say that your prices are definitely too low unless the market up there is a lot weaker than I'd expect.

I actually raised my prices from 50$ residential and 65$ business to what you saw, 65$-90$ about 3 months ago.
I do have a 25$ moving fee too if you did not notice.

I did some anonymous calls to check the competition and they're about the same and often lower.

One thing I hate, is those showing pricing for 15mins, like 17.50$ for 15 minutes, and they end up taking 3 hours to remove a virus. And they do that remotely.
We do that under 1 hour onsite. We SEEM more expensive but are mostly just more efficient

I'm about to post in general about how I manage my calls tomorrow, me and my tech are just too fast I think

 

[cypress]

I actually raised my prices from 50$ residential and 65$ business to what you saw, 65$-90$ about 3 months ago.
I do have a 25$ moving fee too if you did not notice.

I did some anonymous calls to check the competition and they're about the same and often lower.

One thing I hate, is those showing pricing for 15mins, like 17.50$ for 15 minutes, and they end up taking 3 hours to remove a virus. And they do that remotely.
We do that under 1 hour onsite. We SEEM more expensive but are mostly just more efficient

I'm about to post in general about how I manage my calls tomorrow, me and my tech are just too fast I think

If you find that you are doing repairs that quickly on site, then you way want to flat rate some services that are pretty automated. Turn that Virus Removal in what you would do in 1 hour and bill out around 1.5 - 2 hours. So if you are doing $65 an hour at least charge $100 - $130.

I looked over my tickets from last year as the year was winding down in December and I noticed I left a lot of money on the table on quick jobs. Had I just flat rate some jobs, I would make a better profit. So far this year I have averaged at least 40% more on each ticket.

 

[jfm]

If you find that you are doing repairs that quickly on site, then you way want to flat rate some services that are pretty automated. Turn that Virus Removal in what you would do in 1 hour and bill out around 1.5 - 2 hours. So if you are doing $65 an hour at least charge $100 - $130.

I looked over my tickets from last year as the year was winding down in December and I noticed I left a lot of money on the table on quick jobs. Had I just flat rate some jobs, I would make a better profit. So far this year I have averaged at least 40% more on each ticket.

Good point Cypress, that might be the only solution.
75% of my onsite calls takes under 1 hour, and I wouldn't feel honest to tell my tech to slow down.

I subcontract other techs form time to time and they do those jobs in 3 hours average.

I'll try those flat rates and see the client's response for a while.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

How do you guys deal with those messages from your contact form (zopim included)?

I often get page long messages with so many specific questions and price inquiries.
I instantly almost get mad and answer as briefly as possible, like please call us for for details.
And most of the time I never hear from them again.
I feel I get around 1 out of 10 message that ends up in a call, feels like a waste of time so far...

Messages too long? decrease maximum input for the form. Want to try to make a sale over the phone from a message left on a contact form? turn it into a call back form.