User Power
Value/Post Ratio
278%
- Nov 23, 2014
- 336
- 935
- 34
As promised buddy.
I used to work almost 2 years in a similar company. Started as an intern in Marketing and then became head of Customer Service for 3 different markets. So keep in mind that this is where my experience is.
First of all I want to say that you seem like a genuine nice guy and this market is filled with money hungry sharks without any conscience at all.
My company had the best intentions - to help people with their problems with their computers. However, once you hire sales people everything changes.
My ethics and conscience did not last long in the end and I had to quit that company. So please do not make the same "mistakes" as they did.
Basically when you work with the B2C segment in this market your target group is 55+ (or more probably 60+). Most elderly people do not have any idea about what is going on with their computers.
The thing is that almost everyone has a relative that can actually help them. So you have to keep in mind that at least once a week (or day depends on how many customers you have) you will get an angry phone call from that relative asking why in the world you sold a huge expensive package to their dad/grandad etc.
This was hell. Elderly people are the easiest victims for sales people. They trust everyone and in the end they do not even know what they buy. Man, I had 85 year old people buy 5 year Antivirus and Help & Support packages for crazy prices. Our sales people were cold and heartless and I could feel how bad my support team felt everytime they had to explain what they had purchased.
Kudos for my team. They went above and beyond for the customers. In the end we got so sick of the sales department though. It felt like they were not providing value, but just scamming people.
What I learned about the elderly segment is that they will not call you and ask for help when there is something wrong with their PC. They will instead call you once a week and pretend there is something wrong with their PC in order just to talk with a person.
They did not buy this support package because they needed help with their computer - they bought it because they spoke with this nice sales person and got the opportunity to call 24/7 and speak with someone. So at some point I felt that my team were more psychologists than IT-experts.
Most of our sales guys had absolutely no idea about computers. Yet it was easy for them to sell as their 65 year old customers knew even less. So all shit came back to our team in Customer Service.
I do not regret these years. I did a great job and my team did the same. I still remember a lot of my customers who I spoke to almost 3-4 times a week (they really called so often pretending there was something wrong with their computers). Heck, I even had a coffee with one of my 68 year old customers after I quit the job. Bonus fact, we even busted 2 pedophiles after discovering horrible stuff on their computer. So we did some good things!
I honestly think if you want to keep your sanity and your conscience you have to go B2B. You seem to good to be in this business and I know that you really want to help people - but you will get killed by the people without conscience who just want to earn money.
The market potential is there, but it is a really tough business model B2C. If you want to work on the B2C market I will recommend you to do something with groups (teach elderly people with their computers).
If you will charge 200 USD a month I think you can expect the same things as I described earlier. Your clientele are most likely having computers they bought 10 years ago for 400 USD and now they will spend 200 USD a month for your services. You will most likely get calls from one of their relatives asking why in the world your are scamming them (even though I know you are not).
My friend works B2B for a company that does almost the same. They chose a niche and now they are driving around in their area and doing all related IT-work for that niche. This is what I would recommend you.
Do not want to take your courage away. I know you will bring value to your customers, but the B2C market in this is very very tough. And you seem to good of a person to make it there.
This is just my experience though. There might be many better ways around this. Just wanted to share my experience, so you do not make the same "mistakes"
PS: This was written after 12 beers after my friends birthday so apologize if this reply is totally horrible haha!
I used to work almost 2 years in a similar company. Started as an intern in Marketing and then became head of Customer Service for 3 different markets. So keep in mind that this is where my experience is.
First of all I want to say that you seem like a genuine nice guy and this market is filled with money hungry sharks without any conscience at all.
My company had the best intentions - to help people with their problems with their computers. However, once you hire sales people everything changes.
My ethics and conscience did not last long in the end and I had to quit that company. So please do not make the same "mistakes" as they did.
Basically when you work with the B2C segment in this market your target group is 55+ (or more probably 60+). Most elderly people do not have any idea about what is going on with their computers.
The thing is that almost everyone has a relative that can actually help them. So you have to keep in mind that at least once a week (or day depends on how many customers you have) you will get an angry phone call from that relative asking why in the world you sold a huge expensive package to their dad/grandad etc.
This was hell. Elderly people are the easiest victims for sales people. They trust everyone and in the end they do not even know what they buy. Man, I had 85 year old people buy 5 year Antivirus and Help & Support packages for crazy prices. Our sales people were cold and heartless and I could feel how bad my support team felt everytime they had to explain what they had purchased.
Kudos for my team. They went above and beyond for the customers. In the end we got so sick of the sales department though. It felt like they were not providing value, but just scamming people.
What I learned about the elderly segment is that they will not call you and ask for help when there is something wrong with their PC. They will instead call you once a week and pretend there is something wrong with their PC in order just to talk with a person.
They did not buy this support package because they needed help with their computer - they bought it because they spoke with this nice sales person and got the opportunity to call 24/7 and speak with someone. So at some point I felt that my team were more psychologists than IT-experts.
Most of our sales guys had absolutely no idea about computers. Yet it was easy for them to sell as their 65 year old customers knew even less. So all shit came back to our team in Customer Service.
I do not regret these years. I did a great job and my team did the same. I still remember a lot of my customers who I spoke to almost 3-4 times a week (they really called so often pretending there was something wrong with their computers). Heck, I even had a coffee with one of my 68 year old customers after I quit the job. Bonus fact, we even busted 2 pedophiles after discovering horrible stuff on their computer. So we did some good things!
I honestly think if you want to keep your sanity and your conscience you have to go B2B. You seem to good to be in this business and I know that you really want to help people - but you will get killed by the people without conscience who just want to earn money.
The market potential is there, but it is a really tough business model B2C. If you want to work on the B2C market I will recommend you to do something with groups (teach elderly people with their computers).
If you will charge 200 USD a month I think you can expect the same things as I described earlier. Your clientele are most likely having computers they bought 10 years ago for 400 USD and now they will spend 200 USD a month for your services. You will most likely get calls from one of their relatives asking why in the world your are scamming them (even though I know you are not).
My friend works B2B for a company that does almost the same. They chose a niche and now they are driving around in their area and doing all related IT-work for that niche. This is what I would recommend you.
Do not want to take your courage away. I know you will bring value to your customers, but the B2C market in this is very very tough. And you seem to good of a person to make it there.
This is just my experience though. There might be many better ways around this. Just wanted to share my experience, so you do not make the same "mistakes"
PS: This was written after 12 beers after my friends birthday so apologize if this reply is totally horrible haha!