Student market - worth bothering?

[JoyDivision]

I run an IT services company mainly specialising in PC repairs, virus removal and wireless network installations.

Do you wrecken its worth designing a leaflet especialy for the students and targeting them areas?

I am not sure if they have the money or not. My best customers have always been lecturers or self employed people as both them seem to think nothing of paying £25 an hour.

 

[spidersites]

They may not like you charging by the hour. a Fixed cost and no fix no fee policy might help so they know what the cost is upfront.

 

[mumper]

It might be worth a go. I'm quite busy at the moment proofreading student dissertations which I do at a reduced rate. Reducing your hourly rate for students may bring in more work for you.

 

[Rusty]

Hi

Just my opinion, based on the fact that we have 2 students in Uni at the mo, but they probably don't have any spare money. Also they probably have plenty of friends and family willing to have a go and sort problems. As I said just my opinion based on my experiences, my son is studying Computer Science so he probably has a head start and Tin's daughter frequently turns up on the doorstep with a dodgy laptop for Dad to fix.

 

[JoyDivision]

This is the problem, there are areas where I have done half the street (usualy wealthy ones) and other entire areas where I have not had done a single job.

One drop I did 200 leaflets, got 5 jobs from it, one time did 2000 got nothing.

I guess its worth a go but at a fixed cost basis. There is only limited services I could offer at a fixed cost basis though.

E.g a DVD drive replacement can take anything from 10 minutes to 45 mins depending on the PC.

 

[telemax]

Hi

Why not just go and put a flyer on university notice boards, or in the student union and see what kind of response you get.

Doesn't need to be anything fancy, just a printed sheet with what you do and your phone number.

That would be the best market research

Jonathan

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I tried freelance computer repair once. Charged £10 for the first hour and £5 an hour after that. Jobs usually took around an hour and I probably made close to £800, I had to stop due to lack of transport.

 

[JoyDivision]

£10 an hour feck I charge £25 for the first then £20 after that and that is still on the low side.

You cannot make profit on any service charging £10 an hour its stupid its costs more than that just to get to the jobs half the time.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

£10 an hour feck I charge £25 for the first then £20 after that and that is still on the low side.

You cannot make profit on any service charging £10 an hour its stupid its costs more than that just to get to the jobs half the time.

That's the thing though, I'm only 16 years old. However because of my cheap prices and 'no fix-no fee' policy, as well as a high success rate I get a lot of work by word of mouth. I must of spent about £100 on Marketing and made back £800 like I said, But I suppose if it was a proper Business you wouldn't make as much when you subtract overheads, tax etc.

Sometimes cheap isn't as bad as you think if you get the right balance.

Of course a 'handsome young lad trying to make some pocket money' is a big hit with the older folk

 

[Donnash]

Students will want cheap services. But more and more students are being given credit (monetery kind) so don't worry about them not having money to spend.

Do some research at local uni's and colleges to find out what services students will want and how much they are willing to pay.

 

[Jayne]

Not all students are short of cash. When I went to college, lots of them had well off parents. You should start to think of everyone as equal, not well off ones and poor ones. My Gran says.. don't judge a book by it's cover and that is 100% true.

Personally I think £25 for the first hours is steep, but i'm from Yorkshire and we are tight here...lol

Jayne

 

[10Yetis]

I think this would be an interesting one to try and market by setting up a profile on MySpace and Bebo etc?

I do think there is a market for it, especially with PC World being quite expensive.

 

[mattk]

I'd say

a) students almost always have no money

and

b) students almost always know someone who'll fix it for free

 

[Mattk1983]

wireless internet set up at a fixed price could be a real goer. but you will have to get leaflets out ASAP as they'll all be moving into their new houses in the next few weeks and wanting to get things set up.

people say £25 or whatever is a lot, but if theres a few living in the house they'd probably be willing to split it and pay it