First Call Out

[slither556]

My business is nearly up and running, just having a few confidence issues
i.e first call out, what to do if i cannot resolve the problem etc.

does anybody have any advice / a few pointers ?

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Stay calm, they can smell fear.

 

[YOCS]

I would say just be yourself. If the issue has you stumped don't act like you know the answer the customer will be able to tell that you don't. None of us know the answer to everything. There's nothing wrong with saying I'll have to research this and get back to you. Who knows you may end up being a rockstar and have the problem solved within 2 minutes... good luck!

 

[4ycr]

depending on the problem and if it is situational i.e. their broadband connection, I sometimes just say I can't fix it here and need to take it away to work on.

 

[Bryce W]

I would say just be yourself. If the issue has you stumped don't act like you know the answer the customer will be able to tell that you don't. None of us know the answer to everything. There's nothing wrong with saying I'll have to research this and get back to you. Who knows you may end up being a rockstar and have the problem solved within 2 minutes... good luck!

This. Confidence also grows with experience. Just get out there and after a few successful fixes you'll feel much better.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

The way I used to look at it was, if I really can't fix it and have no clue what I'm doing then all I've lost is a bit of time and I won't get paid.

If you're really stuck, see if you can take it back to your workshop to work on at your leisure and without the pressure of the client looking over your shoulder.

 

[brandonkick]

Pretend like you've been in the business for years, that you know what your doing and your shop has been top notch with great customer service and satisfaction. Believe this as if it were the truth, and then take all the steps necessary to make it a reality.


Don't take on jobs that you can not handle. You know what your capable of and you know what your not capable of. Don't sign a managed service contract with a mid sized business if you know little to nothing of business grade networking or servers. Don't take in a macbook for repairs if you've never touched one before in your life (or at the very least don't advertise you can do it, maybe offer to take a shot at it and let them know you haven't done them before).

If and more like when you do get into a situation where the customer isn't thrilled, do everything "reasonable" to correct the situation. If you find that your complete and thorough with your check in system, invoicing and fine print then you should have very little unhappy customers.

Best advice I think is: Don't take jobs that are out of your league. And don't be afraid/embarrassed to let the potential customer know. I'd rather be told "I can't perform that work" instead of "I didn't know what I was doing and now there is a big problem".

 

[Ccomp5950]

Does it have an error message? Google it.

Does it have a symptom? Google it.

Do you know of a way to make the problem repeat? Repeat it. Or have the customer do so, this also rules out problems of "lost in translation" ("Hurr, I flimflangled the whatchamacallit on the modem (*points to the desktop case*) and it only whamdoozled").

Is it a third party program you can quickly reinstall? Reinstall it.

Check the Windows Event logs System and Software, System usually if it's an actual Windows problem and not third party software. If you know how to repeat the problem clear the event log and repeat it then check it.

Printer? Is the print spooler running? How about stopping it and deleting every file in C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers\* (Do this as admin from command line) then starting the spooler service again? Have you decided to curse Billy yet?

Random restarts? Check if it's overheating (fan clogged? How about blown capacitors while you are in there?), check if it has memory problems (Memtest 86+ atleast through the third test on site, through the complete battery of tests if you have it at your office), then check if it has a hard drive problem through a bootcd and whatever program you like that can read SMART info (UBCD4WIN / gparted).

Can't connect to the wifi? Has anyone messed with it lately? Log in using default passwords through a wired in computer or look on the side of the modem for the wifi login information.

and on and on and on and on.

Did I mention google it? Yeah, learning how to google a problem and filter out the bs is a technician skill that should be listed on peoples resume. I might talk to Comptia about that...Google+ it's a cert now, not a failed facebook replacement.

 

[carrcomp]

My business is nearly up and running, just having a few confidence issues
i.e first call out, what to do if i cannot resolve the problem etc.

does anybody have any advice / a few pointers ?

I used to use this when I was new and wasn't as confident.

http://goosh.org/

 

[HCHTech]

What the others have said: Be honest if you don't know the answer. Say "you know what? I don't know the answer to this, but I'll bet Google does!". There are literally millions of error messages, you can't be expected to know them all. Just treat it as part of the process, not as a failure. As long as the customer sees you work through the problem, they never complain that you didn't know the answer right away.

I remember my first call like it was yesterday. Unfortunately the appointment was made by the actual customer's son, who wasn't there when I showed up. The woman spoke spanish with only a very rudimentary and broken capability for english. What I SHOULD have done was apologize, reschedule when her translator could be there and leave.

Unfortunately, what I actually did was to struggle with her computer for an hour, replace a NIC that I probably didn't need to, all with her hovering above me and convinced that I was ruining her computer. She did pay me after a 20 minute debate (including a phone call to her son with a heated conversation in spanish), but I was so anxious to get out of there that I didn't realize until I got home that I completely forgot to charge for the part.

Today, this would probably be a 10-minute job, but looking back, I'm surprised I didn't just pack it in after that experience. She never called me back, btw.

I've done about 10,000 calls since then, and I can count the "unfortunate" ones on one hand. They make good war stories, though.

 

[Martyn]

As others said if youre not sure take it back to your workshop.

Things to remember:

They know less than you
If they knew someone who could fix it for free they would have got them
The more you do the more confident you will get

 

[mr m]

The hardest part is the first step of which you already taken by hanging up your own shingle. As others opined the confidence will come with experience.

I'd bet you will find that dealing with the fickle public and running a business is much harder and stressful than repairing a recalcitrant computer.

They hire you because you are the expert so always exude confidence even if you are stumped. If you hit a wall say something like I have to bring this back to my shop for extensive testing and evaluation.

When quoting prices or estimates ALWAYS look them in the eye, be confident and don't stammer. If you hesitate or make excuses for you prices you will lose customers.

After 36 years and probably well over 10,000 service calls the only thing that gives me the jitters is dealing with unreasonable people. You will be fine! Welcome to the forever morphing PC repair biz!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

The issues you can run across are nearly infinite, don't be afraid to pull the "I gotta research this" card in front of your client.

I've been working on clients computers , including SMB clients, since the dial up days and Windows 3.x was still popular, and I still run across issues that I don't have the answer from in my brain right away. No matter what your experience level, you will run into some that you need to further research.

So your options are things like:

*Utilize some "Google-Fu" and look stuff up right there while you're onsite, yes possibly with the client looking over your shoulder. Don't be afraid of the client looking over your shoulder and seeing you look things up on Google. If you take your car to some mechanic, or have a furnace tech guy come look at your heating system...do you jump down their throat or think less of them if they bring out schematic diagrams or refer to something about error codes they see? I doubt it.! What's important is that you as a tech understand symptoms and how to apply results or fixes. Sure you can say any home use can look errors up on Google. But can they apply fixes? Can they safely edit the registry, learn how to rename/replace system files, properly uninstall drivers and reload the latest ones, stuff like that.

*All else fails, take back to your office. Sometimes you gotta do this. Just isn't enough time while you're onsite with them hovering over your shoulder, or maybe you're uncomfy with them hovering over your shoulder, or perhaps you'll do better with tools available at your office.

 

[Metanis]

...

Did I mention google it? Yeah, learning how to google a problem and filter out the bs is a technician skill that should be listed on peoples resume. I might talk to Comptia about that...Google+ it's a cert now, not a failed facebook replacement.

I agree! Even a failed Google search will frequently give you more insight regarding a problem. Productive web searching is an important skill for any technician. (Over the years I've tried Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and Dogpile but I hate to admit that Google gets better results.)