My New Rule

[PSG-Samuel]

Hello,

I must admit if family referred someone to me I felt obligated to give them a wee discount, a recent job has be came a pain in the backside and 4 hours work later for very little I am just about done. So my new rule to family is to tell people that they can contact me but to expect to pay the going rate!

50% my fault 50% my families fault

-Sam

 

[callthatgirl]

haha, good rule.

My new rules:
1.) If I can't answer with yes or no, I put in a ticket or request an appt.
2.) Email answers are now billable. Yep, years of free answers

I can't even think of all the free long winded answers I have given out

 

[Rayspcsolutions]

I can't even think of all the free long winded answers I have given out

I am guilty of this too ... now when I catch myself giving a long winded answer ... I stop short and say something like "well this is probably confusing you, would you like to schedule a remote session or bring it in so that I can look at it?" more times than not they sure lets do it ... But sometimes some will say go ahead and finish what you were saying... ... then when the call is done I go smash my head against the door jamb and yell to myself .."STOP DOING THAT!!!" ... Hopefully I will stop before I knock the wall down ...

 

[callthatgirl]

Yep, it kills me when I give away money!

I also now say in a consult, "well, I could give you all the details, but then you will go and do it yourself and not hire me, so if you want more, I have to start billing"

Kill or be killed. Works some of the time, but I have stopped telling people who I vend with/what products I am selling them, until I sell it.

Girl gotta live!

 

[cypress]

Hello,

I must admit if family referred someone to me I felt obligated to give them a wee discount, a recent job has be came a pain in the backside and 4 hours work later for very little I am just about done. So my new rule to family is to tell people that they can contact me but to expect to pay the going rate!

50% my fault 50% my families fault

-Sam

We've learned the hard way. Unless they are related to me or very close they are pretty much getting regular rates. Because then everyone will want a discount. Then where is the money?? lol

 

[lan101]

About the only free advice that I give that is getting very old is "My internet isn't working" Then I say unplug modem and router for a few minutes blah blah blah...but some people just dont understand that. They'll unplug the ethernet cords or unplug it for 1.2 seconds etc. So I just say anything that looks like a phone cord DO NOT TOUCH lol.

But yes, anymore I just give a simple yes or no or a very short concise answer. Anything else is a onsite job or a remote session. I use to do the same things like emailing long answers or even providing links to things. How silly is that when you think about it. No auto mechanic has ever done that for anyone I know. Why should I do it?

 

[nlinecomputers]

I only give discounts to people that pay in advance with blocks of time. Any thing else just draws in cheap o clients. And family or friends that are also cheap are the worst.

 

[frederick]

With break fix clients, you call, I open a ticket.With SLA clients, some advice is free but not all. If it envolves help fixing something, I open a ticket.

Family amd close friends get a discount with some limitations. I'm working too much too give out free work right now.

When its my day off, as in we are closed, or after hours then I open a ticket if they need it now and charge after hour rates. We don't work on sundays anymore unless we have to. I need time for myself and my family.

I don't jump through hoops to make clients happy anymore. I still perform miracles, I still work hard to get what they want accomplished. But not at the sacrifice of my health and family.

Those are my rules.

 

[Dave1320]

haha, good rule.

My new rules:
1.) If I can't answer with yes or no, I put in a ticket or request an appt.
2.) Email answers are now billable. Yep, years of free answers

I can't even think of all the free long winded answers I have given out

Last night I wrote a three paragraph answer for a question being nice. Free. I'm sure I'll never hear from them again.

 

[altrenda]

Many of my business clients ask if the assistant or intern can watch so they can do it themselves next time. I now smile and say Sure, but my regular rate is $100 an hour and Training is $200 an hour. Some think I'm kidding, until I stop smiling.

 

[kwest]

Friends and family get one freebe. After that it is regular rates. Some are smart and save it for something big and others waste it on a simple thing. It has worked very well. When a meet a new friend and they get excited that I can help them I tell this

 

[Mainstay]

OK - so this is also something I've been working on.

Less wordy emails and less wordy voice calls.

HOWEVER, when I call somebody back to say that their 8 year old XP machine is fubar and I really wouldn't spend anything more on it I am on the phone for ON AVERAGE, 20 minutes.

We have to cover:

• 8 years isn't old. Why, my car is 15 years old and going strong. Why can't they build computers that way?
  
• What HAPPENED? It's only been coughing and choking and grinding away for the last two years. But no, specifically, what exactly happened? (to which I provide technical information that goes right over their heads).
  
• They build in obsolescence, right?
  
• MS really is just M$, you know.
  
• It's just awful (environmentally speaking, cost speaking, etc.)
• Should I go Mac or should I stick with Windows?
• I hear W8 is pretty bad, what do I think about it?
• How big, how fast, how this, how that?
  
• Should I get a laptop? My friend Steve says that laptops aren't near as powerful.
• I hear Dell employs child workers, I couldn't possibly buy from them. HP doesn't do that, so I'll look at their systems.
• Sally, you know Sally, she works with Denise, she says that I can do everything I could ever imagine right on an iPad, what do you say to that?
• and on and on.

I have tried so many ways to politely end the session. They have questions and I have answers... but I can't find a way to have either a SHORT "I'm sorry to tell you, but your computer is dead" conversation, or schedule some sort of a consult appointment.

And usually by this point, I have spent several hours of bench time assessing and diagnosing their equipment. And I'll be discounting it all down to a single 1 hour charge. So I can't really add on the call time, because it all just is 1 hour.

On average these calls are 20 minutes and they consume valuable in-office time.

I've had my secretary do it, and she's great, but they always want more details, so I will have a note to give Customer X a call.

I have written blog posts and have directed people to read that... but without a computer they can't... or without a brain, they can't understand it.

I've even tested a ringing phone in the background and have said, "OK, I need to take that..." but they just keep talking and talking... and talking.

Maybe it's my client base... but RARE is the time that someone takes the DOA call and it doesn't take an age to complete the call.

 

[altrenda]

After your first 2 questions, which should take about 2 minutes, the rest looks like it has turned into a sales call for a new computer.
Be prepared with options and prices. If they are ready to buy, good for you. If not, just the ,mention of prices should end the call quickly.

 

[Mainstay]

We stopped selling computers because people held us responsible for EVERYTHING that could EVER go wrong with it. Our systems lasted, on average, 8 years, and were usually pulled due to XP being retired, not hardware failure. And still people bitch.

I advise them to talk to an Apple rep or London Drugs sales agent etc... but still, 20 minutes later.

I want to get the transfer and setup labor fees for their new system, but I have to repeatedly go through this fuc*ed up song and dance routine.

I think I am too forgiving of time and information... but the few times I've been succinct and quick, I never hear back.

My customers want my advice on where they should go next (i.e., in terms of their digital life - mac, windows, etc.) and I KNOW them and what they SHOULD do... so I feel I need to tell them... but it takes a long time, every time.

 

[HawkinsPC]

haha, good rule.

My new rules:
1.) If I can't answer with yes or no, I put in a ticket or request an appt.
2.) Email answers are now billable. Yep, years of free answers

I can't even think of all the free long winded answers I have given out

Last week I tried the "let's take a look at it on the counter in front of the customer and see if we can fix it" approach. Fixed both machines both times in less than 5 minutes. Ticked me off. Everything goes on the bench now. I don't have the volume to give away service.

 

[buzzcut]

Friends and family will get 20% off but they go to the back of the line. Clients paying full price have priority, so far my family understand.
I will spend 5 minutes on the phone with a potential client to answer a couple of questions.
If they want it repaired bring it over or let's make an appointment, if not then I brush them off. (nicely)

 

[Krynn72]

HOWEVER, when I call somebody back to say that their 8 year old XP machine is fubar and I really wouldn't spend anything more on it I am on the phone for ON AVERAGE, 20 minutes.

I have found that if you plant a seed of "its not going to be worth fixing" in their head at the check in, usually the resulting "its not worth fixing" conversation is a lot quicker. With XP machines, or other old machines, or systems with lots of physical damage, I usually say up front that its possible the damage isn't worth fixing, the price could be high enough to warranty a new computer. Recommend a new system, etc. If they still want me to diagnose, then when I call back to confirm my initial suspicion then a lot of times its just "Ahh, ok then. What do you have for sale..." with no further explanation needed.

 

[frostbyte5014]

@Mainstay
OMG! I just had this exact conversation with a customer this morning. When I read your post my jaw dropped. LMAO! They had an 8 year old system kick the bucket this past weekend. I have been warning them repeatedly for several years that they need to replace it. I was called out about a month ago to clean it up and I told them they better replace it asap. I also told them they better have good backups or let me back it up. They wouldn't hear of it. So this morning we had the exact conversation you described and I thought I was never going to get off the phone with them. BTW, they lost all of their data.

 

[NETWizz]

I am guilty of giving out too much free advice too. I look at what we do as highly-specialized networking type stuff not computer stuff, so I look at giving advice as *unrelated*.

What it means is when we are paid to do job XYZ, folks ask us about ABC, which we are NOT contracted to do. Suffice it to say we get dozens of questions about stuff we didn't set up, do not manage, and do not want to touch.

I would MUCH rather tell a client to hire one of you all for the individual computer stuff, BUT customer service prevails.

 

[drnick5]

I sort of keep a loose rule when it comes to this. The only people I do work for 100% free of charge is my parents and my sister. (neither of them bother me very often with problems). For close friends, I'll usually work for Beer or dinner if its something easy like a malware cleanup. If its an actual repair that needs a part or something, I treat it pretty normally but usually give them a break on the labor.

For anyone else, I have them drop it off and check it in like any normal customer. If they need a remote, I have them schedule it with my office manager. The way I see it, if my friend was a mechanic, I wouldn't call him and say "hey man, can you change my breaks and do an oil change for free?" The older I get, the more I realize that time is valuable, the more you give away for free, the less valuable people will see it.