If you’ve read pretty much any of my former pieces, you know I’m a big fan of repair entrepreneurship. And I don’t make my case without cause. A wealth of respected industry reports distill the same insight.
Our present, latter-day, phase of COVID, in particular, renders this reality even plainer. No ambitious hustler, then, can afford to ignore its business growth implications. Nor can they chance to lose sight of the trends prevalent and evolving within the domain
But like in any business, it’s important for field entrants to know what they’re getting into. Especially if they don’t already have a technical background in the niche.
Repair isn’t something you wake up all adept in on one fine day. Under typical circumstances, it can take a few years to get right. The refinement of working processes is what begets service quality. And here, nothing compares with the repair shop solution afforded by software automation.
Through the five pointers detailed below, we’ll explore all these issues and more. Information that will help you optimize your marketing and sales strategies. Keep you ahead, or at least on par, with the competition.
So without any further ado.
1. Work Grounding, Objectives Fulfillment via Analytics
Data, of course, is the new-age currency that spells success for any commercial venture. On the flip side, remaining aloof from its callings can spell competitive disaster! Because that is something your industry peers will certainly not do.
Now, ‘analytics’ pertains to the algorithmic business of making minute sense of data. Through numbers, it gives a raw, unfiltered picture of the ground situation. Connecting its dots in customized ways, further, provisions a variety of stories. Business narratives you can cash in on to shore up your repair shop’s bottom line.
These days, repair business software tends to come with in-built analytics interfaces. Modules that impart real-time scoop on your shop’s day-to-day workflow. Your handy diagnostician, as it were; relied upon to keep everything in check.
As a business owner, you want to ensure your workers keep on towing the set line. Make certain that their executions don’t diverge too much from laid down objectives.
Analytics can help you achieve just that.
Even if your business is a one-person affair, it can inform you of:
- What’s working,
- What’s damaging your operations or stifling growth
In 2022, most repair businesses in America and elsewhere are ‘analytics-entrenched’. A fancy way of saying that they’re fully invested in data tracking – scoring new opportunities.
So, if you’re not already on the bandwagon, the prescription for progress is clear. 👇👇
2. Contactless Customer Conveniences
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the importance of non-contact exchanges. For businesses, these have been successfully mediated over the last two years through:
- Online, No-Cash, Payments
- Doorstep Deliveries & Pickups
- Remote Service Assessments
In the repair trade, the outfits offering these amenities have recorded booming sales. Especially the ones that have incorporated POS software to expedite digital transactions. A not-so-surprising result, given the field cliche:
Device users who don’t break their gadgets – at least once – are a civilizational oddity. The bulk of these humans hasn’t been born yet.
The situation is somewhat like that of the medical profession. Physicians are never short of ailing patients. In the same way, repair techs don’t go many days without incurring device salvaging orders.
Contactless customer conveniences simply facilitate the work.
3. Repair Certification Accreditation
In recent years, the repair field has seen an avalanche of entering newbies. This uncontrolled influx has led to rising calls for centralized accreditation. Issued, out of qualitative concern, by both domain vets and customers.
Sizing this growing need for standardized validation, many vocational training e-channels have been quick to catch up. And the industry stakeholders have responded to their offerings in droves!
Based on my merchant outreach, I know of several repair business owners who either:
- Demand certifications from hire prospects
- Provide certified training to upskill their existing workers
Many even choose to publicly emblazon their acquired credentials. They consider the practice to be a good customer magnet.
A few field experts have even quipped the ‘lowering of the median field income’ argument. They attribute this concern to the increased labor supply that unrestricted domain access brings. In these old-timers’ opinion, stringent regulations are necessary to curb the downwards payments trend.
4. Video Documentation of Repair Gigs
The medical analogy cited above can be extended here as well.
Nowadays, more and more repair customers are demanding techs to videograph their operations. For insurance claims and warranty retentions, they want in on the minute details of how their gadgets are fixed.
These recordings, it is easy to note, also make for great bargaining collateral.
For instance, if a device undergoing repairs becomes more damaged through tech negligence, the customer can demand a refund.
Such a business allowance puts added pressure on the business to perform, for sure. But in the long run, it makes for a stellar service marketing strategy.
5. Inventory Automation
This is the practice of streamlining shop inventory management for more efficient ordering. Fewer parts supply lags directly translate into a faster workflow. This, in turn, bolsters the revenue stream.
The global software market is currently weighed under a deluge of online solutions. But the steep learning curve inherent to their successful business onboarding presents a challenge.
The subscription decision, however, is an investment. Because the scale promised by the mechanization beats the traditional – complacency-ridden (read: completely human) – scenario.
Novelty, borne through experimentation, is 👑 in business. And here, the repair trade is no different.
So my suggestion to the good reader is this:
Do not shy away from its pull.
In the final analysis, you alone are the best judge of your particular market conditions; because your capital is on the line.
Any generic advice given, either here or elsewhere, to expand your business, then, needs to be made your own to work.
So you have full liberty to tweak the above actionables per your informed discretion 👍.
