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Previously, we published an article titled “How to Start Your Own Service Center?” outlining what is necessary: furniture, equipment, legal documents, finding a location, and more. However, before starting your first workshop or service center, you need to conduct specific preparatory work. Without it, your grand opening may quickly turn into a sad closure, leading to significant losses.
The first step is to set your priorities correctly. Understand what is most important versus what is secondary, which skills and knowledge you can manage without, and which ones are essential for building a successful business. What do you think is the most critical aspect of the electronics repair business? Skills and experience in repairing modern devices? No. Access to suppliers of original spare parts and the lowest prices on those parts? Also no. Having your own premises and significant startup capital? Not that either.
The most crucial element in the modern electronics repair business—and in any other business—is the ability to attract customers. In other words, lead generation and marketing. The bottom line is that if you do not have clients, if you cannot attract them, then everything else becomes irrelevant. Some may argue that if a service center provides poor customer service, uses low-quality spare parts, or sets high prices, customers will not go there. Yes, undoubtedly, these factors are important, but they are not the top priority. If you cannot establish a steady flow of clients to your company, who will evaluate the level of service? One or two customers a day—such a seemingly insignificant number is often hard to achieve for most newly opened workshops. Such companies start up, operate for a month or two, and then close with losses.
Before starting your own business, it is essential to:
- take an educational course in web marketing and analytics,
- gain basic knowledge in SEO and contextual advertising,
- learn about all existing channels for attracting customers,
- develop practical skills in working with these channels.
Such knowledge can be obtained online for free or by enrolling in paid courses to further your education.
So, first and foremost, acquire practical knowledge in web marketing and become a competent specialist. Second, gain practical knowledge of the operational activities in the area where you wish to open your business.
If you have worked in a service center repairing printers or multifunction devices but wish to start a business repairing mobile phones and laptops, it is recommended to get a job in that field and work in it for at least six months. This is because every niche has its peculiarities and nuances—so-called hidden pitfalls you must understand. Therefore, it's crucial to gain some experience in the sector where you want to establish your company.
Finally, alongside your training, start developing your website. Carefully work on the design, structure, semantic core, and select a good trusted domain. You will also learn many other nuances during your training that you can apply practically at the same time.
This is how you should spend your first six months if you want to become the founder of a successful service center. During the day, you will be working, in the evenings attending web marketing courses, and on weekends, you'll be developing your website.
