Website feedback

Diggs said:
Woa! Don't push anyone towards the business side of things without the requisite background of domain controllers, active directory, group policy, Exchange servers, networking (layer 3 switches) and firewalls, etc. Quickest way to get a bad reputation is to go into businesses unprepared. Most techs in this area have mentored under a couple of good IT admins before attempting to service their own. People have their lives and livelihoods (payroll, assets, debts) on those computers. Be sure it's right and you are insured. (Personally, I don't like the stress of supporting businesses so I tend to residential and home offices.)
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I would not feel comfortable doing any business IT support as not experienced or knowledgeable in the area and would rather stick to residential and home office customers, I understand it's tougher to get residential customers though
 
Diggs said:
Woa! Don't push anyone towards the business side of things without the requisite background of domain controllers, active directory, group policy, Exchange servers, networking (layer 3 switches) and firewalls, etc. Quickest way to get a bad reputation is to go into businesses unprepared. Most techs in this area have mentored under a couple of good IT admins before attempting to service their own. People have their lives and livelihoods (payroll, assets, debts) on those computers. Be sure it's right and you are insured. (Personally, I don't like the stress of supporting businesses so I tend to residential and home offices.)
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I disagree to a point. M$ server OS's in the SMB market place is shrinking, especially on prem. Everything is going cloud with the LoB app providers managing that part. I can say for certain the OP would easily be able to handle several of my customers. No AD. If they have local storage it's just a Synology. AV is a no brainer. LoB apps? Got most of my customers trained to pay for support contracts which are cheaper than paying my rate.

You have to start small. Look for local, small businesses. The world is full of companies staffed by me, myself, and I's.
 
Markverhyden said:
I disagree to a point. M$ server OS's in the SMB market place is shrinking, especially on prem. Everything is going cloud with the LoB app providers managing that part. I can say for certain the OP would easily be able to handle several of my customers. No AD. If they have local storage it's just a Synology. AV is a no brainer. LoB apps? Got most of my customers trained to pay for support contracts which are cheaper than paying my rate.

You have to start small. Look for local, small businesses. The world is full of companies staffed by me, myself, and I's.
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I am thinking of providing small business IT support as could handle small businesses offering IT support. What sort of services would they look for, could it be just small things like remote support when needed, setting up printers, computers, networks etc. as can do that sort of stuff.
 
Ian Haney said:
Would that be a good idea as did read online that it's good to display prices on a website to give customers a idea. I agree though with competitors could be on my site and undercutting me.

Regarding the diagnostic fee, is £15 reasonable and is it best to get that when they drop off and then deduct it from the final repair cost?
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Of course it would be a good idea. Since your diagnostics is £15, and if you think you must have a price on your site, then simply state "Starting at £15". On my site, there are only 2 places you can find the prices - and that was simply for transparency and the fact that I am 1 of 2 shops in the city. One is on my Managed Services page for obvious reasons and the other is deep within my terms and conditions. Though this will all change soon as I am almost done with my new design.

As for your £15 diagnostic, if it takes you less than 30 minutes to find the issue, then that may be reasonable considering the competition. Any longer and your losing money IMO.

One thing to note that no one has asked is that with the competition around you, are they licensed? Insured? I dont know about the UK, but here is states you have to have a business license and certificate of occupancy if you have a retail location or a DBA if you have a home business. And to charge sales tax (VAT in your case I believe) you have to have a Sales and Use Tax license. Since I have a home business, I have a DBA, Sales and Use Tax license and I am also insured.
Ian Haney said:
What sort of services would they look for, could it be just small things like remote support when needed, setting up printers, computers, networks etc. as can do that sort of stuff.
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Check my managed services page and also @Barcelona web site and @McFarland IT web site to get a rough idea.
 
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Your PCMD said:
Of course it would be a good idea. Since your diagnostics is £15, and if you think you must have a price on your site, then simply state "Starting at £15". On my site, there are only 2 places you can find the prices - and that was simply for transparency and the fact that I am 1 of 2 shops in the city. One is on my Managed Services page for obvious reasons and the other is deep within my terms and conditions. Though this will all change soon as I am almost done with my new design.

As for your £15 diagnostic, if it takes you less than 30 minutes to find the issue, then that may be reasonable considering the competition. Any longer and your losing money IMO.

One thing to note that no one has asked is that with the competition around you, are they licensed? Insured? I dont know about the UK, but here is states you have to have a business license and certificate of occupancy if you have a retail location or a DBA if you have a home business. And to charge sales tax (VAT in your case I believe) you have to have a Sales and Use Tax license. Since I have a home business, I have a DBA, Sales and Use Tax license and I am also insured.

Check my managed services page and also @Barcelona web site and @McFarland IT web site to get a rough idea.
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I decided to take the prices page off altogether and just kept the diagnostic fee of £15 mentioned in my terms and conditions.

Most of the issues can be diagnosed within 30 mins. Regarding the £15 fee, in my terms I have put that it is deducted from the final repair cost or would it be better if I not put that and charge the normal cost on top instead of taking £15 off, I am thinking the latter would be better.

I have looked on competitors sites and see no mention about being insured/licensed on any of their sites so not sure if it is required in the UK. I am not VAT registered as the threshold is £69000 I think in the UK and is no way I would reach that. Would be nice one day haha

Thank you, I'll check out the links you mentioned
 
Quick one, what is the best software for computer monitoring? (free if possible) as am tempted to do small business IT support for a monthly cost for various packages
 
Ian Haney said:
Quick one, what is the best software for computer monitoring? (free if possible) as am tempted to do small business IT support for a monthly cost for various packages
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There's a variety of solutions and everyone has their favourite. Right now I'm using syspectr in a small way but it's already saved my skin a bunch of times and it's the right price. They have a bunch of other products that I'm also exploring.
 
Ian Haney said:
(free if possible)
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The only free ones I can think of are syspectr and comodo one.

The "fun" part is if you are residential getting clients to go for a paid plan. Home end user thinking is "I have been paying all this money over the last year and I don't see the value in this"
 
Porthos said:
The only free ones I can think of are syspectr and comodo one.

The "fun" part is if you are residential getting clients to go for a paid plan. Home end user thinking is "I have been paying all this money over the last year and I don't see the value in this"
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I am going to offer the small businesses and home offices the monthly paid plans and keep residential to quoting per job
 
I have finished doing the IT support page if could get some feedback on it https://www.it-doneright.co.uk/it-support-basildon. I am not sure on the prices yet as don't wan't to be too cheap and don't want to be too expensive, should I increase them slightly?

I am looking at finding a cloud storage provider. Are there any recommendations for the UK? I was looking at crashplan or livedrive but the online reviews don't seem that good.

I am thinking of also embedding google my business reviews onto the site as well as from what I read online, it does help with SEO
 
Ian Haney said:
I am looking at finding a cloud storage provider.
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I would assume that BackBlaze would be offered in the UK.
Ian Haney said:
I have finished doing the IT support page if could get some feedback on it
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While your plans seem good, the issue I see is the £50 / month for up to 5 computers. What will you do if a client has 1, 2 or 3? On a 2 plan like you have, I would think that have the 1st plan be £10 / month per computer up to 5. Then on the 2nd plan, £75 / month up to 10 computers.

Granted, this is ONLY if your using O&O. If you were using something like Pulseway where you are paying for it per machine, than obviously prices would be a bit higher like 1st plan £15 / month per computer up to 5 then on the 2nd plan, £100 / month up to 10 computers.

Also, you have to consider the cost you will be shelling out for the anti-virus. If you pay say £30 for AV per computer and have a client leave after 3 months, then you've not made any money. That's £150 for 5 computers so you charge £150 for the 3 month term. See what I mean?
Ian Haney said:
google my business... it does help with SEO
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Very little. Reason is, hardly anyone uses it. You want help and a boost with your SEO? Use Facebook and create a business page.
 
Unlimited remote support? :eek:
Make sure to put some fair-use clause on that. I don't do business support. I do some software development as a consultant, so this really isn't my area of expertise.

I would personally go this route:
  • 10% or 20% off on in-store or on-site maintenance
  • 3 incidents or 5 incidents
  • free support on any managed service provided by you (backup, antivirus, etc.) as long as there aren't any evidence of tampering

The incidents and discount only covers the asset that is being maintained.
 
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