What do we get paid for?

[Omnicef]

I had an experience the other day. And I believe my response may be what saved the situation. So I thought "I should post this on Tech Nibble and see what the guys think!"

I was working on a server and the customer was in the room. I was reviewing the event logs and saw an entry I wanted more information on. I fired up the web browser and went to eventid.net. After researching the error I fixed the problem within 15 minutes.

The client got upset that I was "surfing the web" for answers... He asked me "What am I paying you for?"... I told him this...

"Let's be honest for a minute. You don't expect me to know what every log entry for every type of operating system means do you? I am under the impression that you pay me, not for knowing everything, but for being effective at finding solutions. I am a problem solver and not a know it all. Would it be better if I was afraid to admit I don't know the answer and spent 2 hours playing with different settings until I figured it out?"

He thought about this for a minute and said "Yeah... I guess you are right. If you would have trying to figure it out on your own, you would have made more money. Thank you for putting me (the customer) first."

Bottom line is this... Our customers don't expect us to know all the answers... they just expect us to be good at finding them.

 

[basic]

Of course you are right. Customers expect you to know every single manufacturer, model, version, etc. ever made that has anything to do with computers. It's kind of amazing that they'll come up and be like "i bought this <device>, by <manufacturer> <model number>" and expect you to know everything about it on the spot. They'll even get mad or frustrated if you don't know and question your technical abilities. I guess they just don't realize the amount of stuff out there. I think you approached it in the right way.

 

[Jory]

I had someone tell me this story once, it's probably not true, but funny:

A manufacturing company was having financially hard times so they layed-off a lot of the highest paid workers. A couple months after that a machine started producing bad parts and nobody in the plant knew how to fix it. They called the people who designed the machine and they offered to fly a guy out, but it would take hours. The plant manager decided to call up one of the layed-off workers to see if he knew how to fix it.

The layed-off worker showed up, looked the machine over for a few seconds, and then proceeded to turn a screw about a quarter turn. The machine started producing parts as expected and the plant manager was ecstatic and told the man to send them a bill. A couple weeks later a bill shows up that says "machine repair $1000". The plant manager thought this was ridiculous and called the man up and explained to him $1000 for turning a screw seemed like a lot of money. The layed-off worker agreed to send another bill.

A couple weeks after that a new bill shows up that said:

Turning a Screw $1
Knowing Which Screw To Turn $999

Add in a line about how the layed-off worker looked at the manual before turning the screw and that's how I feel about the situation. I don't need to know the answer to everything. I just need to know how to find it.

 

[usacvlr]

Yup only traditionally it's a joke about a plumber knowing where to turn the wrench... Still if I system comes in the shop and it's fixed in 5 minutes sometimes it helps to call the customer the next day to say it's ready..

 

[Heriberto t.]

thats true.

 

[Tiddle]

Yup only traditionally it's a joke about a plumber knowing where to turn the wrench... Still if I system comes in the shop and it's fixed in 5 minutes sometimes it helps to call the customer the next day to say it's ready..

Yeah i never want the customer to feel like theyre getting ripped off.
If i can fix the problem ill still sit there and try to figure out how i can improve their performance.

 

[Majestic]

heh I had this exact situation with a printer I "Fixed..." I had a call from a new client that contacted me because their printer was not working. I walked in, looked at an older hp printer that would print nothing and just spit out paper. Obviously the printer had run out of ink. I told them to get new ink and that was it. They asked me what they owed me and I told them the minimum hour BUT that if there are any other issues they still have me for that hour and I could provide whatever technical services they required in that hour. They said they didn't have anything they needed me to do. I collected my $50 and off I went.

Majestic

 

[NYJimbo]

Yup only traditionally it's a joke about a plumber knowing where to turn the wrench... Still if I system comes in the shop and it's fixed in 5 minutes sometimes it helps to call the customer the next day to say it's ready..

True. We always keep the machine at least overnight. Sometimes we fix it in a few minutes the same day after a drop off, but we dont call the customer until the next day. Only if a customer requests an emergency repair and needs it back the same day will we do a quick call back.

But even when we do a quick fix I really like to leave them on the bench running for a while and go back a couple times and test them or start some kind of stresser/memtest/scan just to be sure.

 

[abe]

The title of this thread should have been "How do we explain to the costumer what we get paid for"

I for myself know what I get paid for, I'm a professional that took courses studied and spends hours researching and testing hardware and software so that when I get there I know which screw to turn.

I just took my daughter to the doctor, waited for like an hour then saw the doctor for 2 mins and got my prescription, the doctor got his money, and I didn't say "oh why do you charge xxx for diagnosing the problem".

why is it that when it comes to IT people think there getting ripped of and treat it like a second rate job, my brother work as IT for a hospital, he's on call for emergencies 24/7 , they need him like they need the Doctor if the computer doesn't boot the doctor can't do his work.

WE ARE PROFESSIONAL AND WE SHOULD TREAT OURSELVES AND BE TREATED AS SUCH

WE GET PAID TO INSTALL WINDOWS ON ASUS EEE PC'S
WE GET PAID TO GET ALL THOSE ICON'S BACK WHERE THEY WHERE
WE GET PAID TO "GET THE INTERNET WORKING"
WE GET PAID TO RECOVER VIRUS INFECTED COMPUTER
WE GET PAID TO DO ANYTHING THE COSTUMER WANTS, WHICH WAS PROBABLY CAUSED BY THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I get real angry when I hear IT guys treated like garbage.

P.S. Does anyone know of an insurance company that pays for IT to fix computers, like when you go to the doctor or optician insurance pays.

 

[Omnicef]

P.S. Does anyone know of an insurance company that pays for IT to fix computers, like when you go to the doctor or optician insurance pays.

I don't know of any, but what an interesting concept. Not sure if it would be helpful for us or more of a problem!

 

[abe]

it may mean we will haveto get certified and realy know ehat we are doing, which would make the whole profession a little more profeessional and you won't have 15 year olds fixing computers cos' the owner gets his a professional IT guy paid for by the insurane company.

just imagine going ot on a job diagnosing a broken mobo and giving a "prescription" the mobo arrives next day an you install everyone happy.

I think it would be great and we would be looked at and treated a little better.

Abe

ps i dont have spell check on my asus eee pc 900a yet just set it up this morning so mind my spelling

 

[Skyhooker]

P.S. Does anyone know of an insurance company that pays for IT to fix computers, like when you go to the doctor or optician insurance pays.

If you work for a company and do warranty repairs you're doing insurance work, essentially. An extended warranty, such as you buy when you purchase a new computer (or anything else) is a pure insurance policy. Some companies are big enough to self-insure, setting aside a portion of their profits to pay for repairs, but others buy the policies from third-party providers.