Veteran Owned Electronic Repair & IT Services Store Looking For Help (live, cost of)

[xboxhaxorz]

Our store was started to offer the surrounding community quality repairs for not just pc and laptops but electronics. We launched our store in 2012 and have done quite well and generally most of our customers are delighted that we are around.

Our main focus has been game console repairs simply because nobody else really does them. Many of the local game stores refer customers to us since we dont actually sell games therefore no direct competition. Lately with the news of the new consoles being released our businesses has started to decline.

I am not a super skilled marketer by any means but i have done a decent job with our online presence. I want to promote more laptop, pc, tablet, cell phone and tv repairs to increase our customer base but i fear the time it will take to achieve that will be too late.

The business has pretty much been operated by me, so time is not on my side as i have to be in the store and any meetings or networking events are during the store times of operation. If there are any suggestions that could help that would be great.

My goal is to keep the company going and to continue growing in the community, it would be simpler for me to just close shop and start a services company going after government contracts with my SDVOB status but that would not really help the people therefore i would prefer to go that route after this company remains a part of the community and flourishes.

[Carlingtonian]

I think you should advertise on IT and gamer sites and offer your services via mail-in. You could tell people you'll apply the shipping cost to the cost of the repair--which you could do if you charge a healthy (but reasonable) repair rate.

Otherwise, I think it will be a lot harder to make a go of it locally. But for local presence, you might advertise on the various blogs like ArlNow and whatever its equivalents are in other NoVA jurisdictions.

[BarqCider]

if I still lived in nova I would be interested but als, not anymore

[Jon_In_NOVA]

You want to scope your services clearly. What services are you offering besides Xbox Hacks? There are a tons of IT people in the area (especially those with cyber sec specialties) which would make your marketing harder to sell. I would simply recommend marketing services in your AO that are needed by local consumers. Once upon a time I wanted to create a start-up with a buddy that build custom PCs (Windows, Linux flavors) and have custom overclocks. Good thing we didn't because as PC architecture enhanced OC'ing became a lot easier thus minimizing projected business.

As a service disabled vet, I wish you all the best.
All the way, Airborne!

[xboxhaxorz]

Yes we focus primarily on repairs. When we have advertised it was primarily for repairs only and not other services.

Our website is built to focus on repairs. Our business cards focus on repairs as well