Tim Kenna
We like to highlight our all-star customers, and Tim Kenna is an all-star. Tim represents Russ Technical Services, which provides IT Services to the Mount Isa area in Australia. He’s been a valued RepairTech customer for over a year, and has contributed tons of helpful feedback and advice to our development team. Ian recently sat down with Tim and asked him about his business, in hopes that others can glean some knowledge from his successes.
Ian: How did your company come into existence?
Tim: This business is not originally mine. I bought it from the previous owner and since have added additional services to it but keeping the same original passion. To not rip people off in a small town. Prior to the previous owner and friend there were multiple computer stores who were overcharging and under delivering. He sought to make a difference and opened up his own shop. Since then, nearly all the competition has faded away and there are only two businesses now in Mount Isa who are your basic sales and book-in job style with a shop front and two mobile / work from home techs.
Ian: What type of clients do you serve mostly?
Tim: Primarily residential. I do a few businesses but I do not do much on-site business work at the moment due to an agreement with another store here. For jobs that the other store are not capable of doing I get outsourced to attend those sites.
Ian: What services does your company provide?
Tim: Computer Repair, Sales and Support. Remote Support, Cloud Backup, Laptop and Desktop Repairs and Upgrades, Custom Built Desktops, Virus Removals, TuneUps / Services / Optimisation, etc. and we sell a small amount of Anime, Manga and Comic Book Merchandise and we sell on ebay as well.
Ian: What types of marketing efforts have been most successful, and least successful for you?
Tim: The least successful for me would be Cinema and Club advertising but probably only due to being a small town. I shortly realised that in a small town where these promotions were they would be frequented by the same people leaving only your visitors and new to town for exposure. For what it cost, most certainly the least successful. Advertising in the local paper occasionally increases response a little so I would consider that medium or partial success although I would emphasise occasionally. Flyers, mail drops, social media and word of mouth would be what I believe to be the most successful combination of marketing. Flyers and mail drops point to your physical address, website and social media whilst word of mouth and recommendations are what get most people through the door.
Ian: What do you think your business does differently that makes you successful?
Tim: We pump the jobs out. Haha. Put better,we have a good turn around time, we are crystal clear and honest in our operations and pricing and very thorough with jobs.
Ian: What services or software do you use that helps make your business more automated or efficient?
Tim: I use the whole TechSuite provided by RepairTech daily and it is the most frequently used among my toolsets. I also use RepairShopr (integrated with TechSuite, also) for CRM. The second most frequently used would have to be PartedMagic. I also have the ISOstick and FixMeStick and have a large personal collection of utilities I keep on USB Flash Drives and rewritable DVDs.
Ian: What do you hope to improve about your business over the next year?
Tim: I am confident I have got the Servicing and Repair running smoothly and efficiently, so, I would like to focus on more sales both in store and online.
Ian: How has TechSuite impacted your computer repair process?
Tim: TechSuite has made a huge contribution to the overall proficiency of my business. I pride myself on accurate diagnostics and testing and no matter how good of a technician you are, some jobs simply take longer than others. Having the ability to automate both simple and complex jobs allows me to breeze through these jobs whilst spending time on the more daunting and time consuming. Multi-tasking, minimising time and optimising work flow is key to big and small business alike. All in all, staying on top of everything with a great toolset, automation, reporting plus integration with my CRM, I’m just punching jobs out like a boss. Haha! Looking foward to seeing what RepairTech show us next.
We hope this was helpful, it’s the first in a series of customer interviews we’ll be sharing. If you’ve got some of your own secrets for success that you’d like to share with other techs, feel free to drop us a line.