Relocating a 25-year PC repair business to home

[billybob99]

pot noodles

One for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

[John Chase]

You should just close your business tomorrow and move on if you can't compete with curry's know how repair. If you consider them as a serious competitor you should not that kind of business.

Wanted to throw passion in as well but somebody did that already.

Common £30 - £40k salary for a failing business and you wonder why it is failing and goes nowhere. You inherited that business 2 years ago, it took me much longer than that to pay myself a salary like that. Back to business beginnings pot noodles and 1/3 of that salary.

i'm not making 30-40k, i would be if i moved home, as the hit in revenue would mean i could de register for VAT which would enable me to pay myself those numbers mentioned. at the moment i just about break even, sometimes small losses due to legacy debts outgoings etc.


yes i admit my heart is not in the PC repair business, most people who run a PC repair shop or business are actually doing the repairs them self. if however i saw potential in this market to make ££ then i would have some passion to scale it. in this game you only make real money in volume you would never make decent money from just owning one shop. and currys know how have the upper hand, they simply have economies of scale which is why they have best prices on computers and repairs, yes they dont have the boutique, intimate service we offer, but in a declining market i believe repair industry will be extremely hard to scale, franchise or make any real money out of apart from some beer money

 

[Lester Wilson]

Hello my fellow business friends, i am in much need of your wisdom and expertise. i stepped in to running my family business 2 years ago after the passing of my father which he founded 25 years ago ,we are an established computer repair shop located in a prime location in the town centre and people have always known of us to be there as you would expect. we have over 5000 customers on our database and we also sell the odd accessorise in the shop front as well as laptops and PC's. our main source of income comes through labour charges from our workshop. however computer repairs are not has big as they used to be in terms of volume which is getting me to the break even point each month + working 6 days mainly due to operating expenses, rent, rates, etc. i'm now considering to close the shop and relocate the workshop to my home which would save me around £17k a year.i have factored in that even if i lost 30% of trade from relocating it would still be worth the move. now my question is, would you say this is a big risk even though i can keep my customers in the know about the move? is 30% of lost trade realistic? i understand i would lose passing trade and the odd bit of inventory i sell in the shop but would it make an issue for customers to come to me as i live in a residential area and not town centre? your responses would be highly appreciated,

Regards

John Chase

 

[Lester Wilson]

Hi John,
Wake up and smell the coffee..
“You’re sitting on an absolute goldmine,and don’t even realise it”

With a database of 5;000,you can make an absolute fortune, if you know what you’re doing.
It so happens that I do, and I can show you how simple it is to do.

With 15 plus years in various kinds of sales,marketing,and automated systems.
I can see the potential to literally glean gold from your database.
And they will gladly embrace you...

If you are interested, contact me a.s.a.p.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

“You’re sitting on an absolute goldmine,and don’t even realise it”

Not sure what marketing is smoking today but this is just a rubbish response.

If you do the math 5000 customers over 25 years is poor performance for any shop. Thats less than one customer job / day.

 

[billybob99]

If you do the math 5000 customers over 25 years is poor performance for any shop. Thats less than one customer job / day.

Assuming that every single customer provided their email address, especially 25 years ago

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Assuming that every single customer provided their email address, especially 25 years ago

There could be loads of aol.com email addresses on there

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

If running a business means doing office type peperwork in the dinning room and no customers visit then it is legal.

If it menas customers visit on a regular basis then no not legal

They'd have a field day round here then!

Opposite we have a chiropodist working from home all day every day, down the road an obvious signed outbuilding doing therapies, massage etc., Round the corner another doing nails. Two doors up a lady doing ice treatments. On the housing estate a guy does key cutting and lock repairs from his garage, been there for years.......and some years ago I set up doing t-shirts and signage from a converted dining room.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Not sure what marketing is smoking today but this is just a rubbish response.

If you do the math 5000 customers over 25 years is poor performance for any shop. Thats less than one customer job / day.

Maybe they've only been collecting customers details for 5 years

However, I think it's irrelevant. We have 70 customers who spend money with us 8 times a year. It doesn't matter how many we've had in the past.

Back on topic. The one man band computer repair guy I know, has a customer base of businesses who receive priority treatment when something goes awry for which they pay an annual retainer. Not quite 24/7 coverage but over the phone or online help from someone they trust and speedy repairs without getting ripped off is the order of the day.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

What are you going to do with this database as presumably it does not match GDPR regs for most items, and you would probably get better results just doing blanket leaflet campaign as the existing customers already know you and presumably would come back for any new repairs