Читать книгу Start & Run a Computer Repair Service - Lynn Spry - Страница 17

The answer to where to locate your business is extremely simple in this day and age. Everyone uses computers so you can have a successful business almost anywhere! Some places are better than others, but no matter where you go, it’s possible to create a successful business model that is flexible enough to take advantage of the local demographics. Your fundamental goal is to provide a service that the local population can’t easily replicate.

Tailoring your services to the demographics of the area can help you become successful in any environment. The only requirement is that there are people who have computers. Everything else is up to you!

One common issue people raise is the presence of some of the larger computer stores in a given neighborhood. Don’t let that stop you. No matter what other businesses are in your area, large or small, there are still opportunities for a profitable computer repair business. For instance, one of our stores is right around the corner from one of the “big-box” computer stores. The store has tens of thousands of square feet of floor space, hundreds of associates, and nearly any component you can imagine for sale, often with multiple alternatives. No point in trying to compete, right? Wrong!

Big-box stores are very different from smaller, more agile shops. There are huge differences between the large, impersonal store and the close and personal service of a small store. Instead of the larger store hurting our sales, we found that many of our customers find us as they are driving to that “other” business! They know that the prices at large box stores are often very high for computer repair and they may decide to try a local business instead. Imagine that; we get customers because there is a big-box store in the area that does computer repair. Also, many customers like the idea of dealing with the same person all the time. That’s unrealistic to expect in a store that employs a hundred or more people, so in our smaller store our customers get the value of familiarity.

Another thing that people often worry about is that a large retailer will take all the computer sales from the business. What we have found is that this is not the case at all. We actually have a business in a Walmart shopping center. While there is the risk of losing business to a large store such as Walmart, we still find bargain hunters that buy our products instead of theirs. Being a small repair shop, we have the opportunity to tune our offerings to compliment the large behemoth (e.g., we don’t compete on new laptop prices with Walmart). While Walmart does sell computers, they don’t build custom systems with high-end parts. As a result, Walmart employees have actually been known to send us business!

In other places, there may be no other store or competition, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t need computer repair — just the opposite. In some areas, a lack of businesses may mean a golden opportunity to fill a real need in your community; in this case, there is even less need to start a retail store at first. If there is no competition, it means that people are either living with problem computers or they are driving dozens of miles just to get to a repair store! You may find that your store will grow quickly just from word of mouth!

Wherever you are, one of the best parts of being in the computer business is that it is a business that can exist in any town, in any part of any country. With the low entry costs and high immediate return, it is easy to test an area before you commit!

If you have experience running a retail store or have significant capital, starting with a storefront may be the way to go. We only recommend this if you have significant financial resources and are sure this business is for you. It may be months until you’re profitable and you don’t want to put all of your money into a venture, sign multiyear leases, hire employees, buy equipment, get everything set up, and then realize you don’t actually want to do this as a profession.