Blue Elevator Blog

Becoming Top of Mind

Rick wasn’t just another smart computer guy.  He is a really smart computer guy.  It’s just that only some people knew it.

Rick has experience spanning decades. He was and is the “go to” guy for large municipalities that need his help establishing and maintaining extensive computer networks.

But, with a heart as big as Texas, and computer knowledge out the wazoo, he wanted more.  He wanted to help more people.  He wanted to focus on helping the “little guy.”  And, his timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  After the economic downturn in 2008, thousands of solo entrepreneurs and small businesses would begin to enter the marketplace.

The growth in small businesses would be fueled in equal parts by the massive downsizing experienced by mid-size businesses and the eliminations of scores of mid-level management jobs.   And so, R & J Computer Services was birthed – or at least its focus on helping small business.

We met Rick and his cohort, Jeff (hence, R & J), in early 2013.  All of us understand what it’s like to not be able to connect to the Internet.  And, much worse – to have your computer give you the blank blue or black stare with a bunch of gobbledygook dashes across the screen.

Rick and Jeff had this going for them:

• They knew how to help people and fix computers.
• There were plenty of people that were going to need their services.
• But, the challenge was that opportunities were few and far between.  And, they weren’t top of mind.

God willing, becoming top of mind is pursued through what Blue Elevator™ calls the Rules of Seven.

What was the challenge?

Computers do fail – and they do fail every day.  But thankfully, for single users, people’s computers don’t necessarily fail every day.  For argument’s sake, let’s say the average computer lasts two-to-three years before it takes a dive.

The challenge was this: Rick and Jeff would “market” to computer users – and earn their trust.  The problem was, three years later, when someone’s computer died, the user would have about zero chance of remembering Rick and Jeff.  They might have met them three years prior.  Rick and Jeff weren’t necessarily top of mind.  If you, the reader, don’t remember what you had for dinner three nights ago, what are your chances of recalling a couple of computer guys from three years ago?

What was the opportunity?

We like this saying: “For every challenge, there is an opportunity.” – Ken Moll

And, if you’d rather here it from someone whose name you might recognize, we could say it like this:

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” – Harry Truman

And thank God that Rick and Jeff are optimistic guys – because they engaged with Blue Elevator™.  God-willing, it was time to change the challenge into an opportunity.  The rest is history, so they say.

The obvious real problem

At face value, the problem for Rick and Jeff was that there was just about zero chance of being top of mind for a computer user at the exact time of a computer failure.  And, let’s face it, for as much time as we all spend on our machines, a computer failure means your life has just about shut down.

So, being top of mind was a problem.  And, consequently, their phone didn’t ring so much.  When your computer fails, you might try to remember someone from three years ago, or you might just reach for something like 1-800-FIX-MY-PC-NOW (Don’t call that number – we just made it up).

The not-so-obvious real problem

Rick and Jeff are good at what they do – actually, great at it.  So, if they were within earshot of a computer failure, they could either fix or replace someone’s computer “quicker than two shakes of a lambs tail.”  But, there was an even bigger problem.

Whereas fixing or replacing the computer was a no-brainer, there was often a sad story behind most of the cases.  In a lot of the cases, they were NOT able to repair or replace all of the customer’s lost data.  It wasn’t their fault, either.  It’s just the byproduct of the user rarely doing what everybody knows he/she should do.  Namely, to do a backup – everyday – of 100% of personal- and business-critical files.

A picture is worth a thousand words

And, so it was.  Machines got fixed or replaced.  But lives and businesses were being significantly impacted.  How would you feel if all of your irreplaceable pictures and irreplaceable and proprietary business data were irretrievably lost?

A new dawn for a new day

So, here’s what we did:

• Fixing or replacing a computer was easy – no problems here.  They were great at it.
• We began re-positioning the company from a “break-fix” repair company to a data protection company, actually a service company.
• To wit, we established a platform, whereby users could ensure that all of their critical files and images were protected for that inevitable future breakdown.
• Most people knew they should be doing a daily backup.  The challenge – er, opportunity – was that very few people were actually taking the time to do that.
• Now, in the future, when a customer’s machine breaks, they would enjoy two things:
• Thing #1.  The customer would call Rick and Jeff.  They would not be forgotten – because the customer was already engaged with them for their daily backups.  They would be top of mind.
• Thing #2.  The customer’s temporary inconvenience of “machine down” would be met with “no problem.”  The machine could be repaired or replaced quickly, like before, but with a different end result.
• The customer – together with all of his/her critical personal and critical business files – would be back up and running right away.
• Why? All of their software and data files were intact and easily and seamlessly loaded onto their better, stronger, and faster machine.
• Rick and Jeff went from being seldom remembered to never forgotten.
• But, more importantly for their customers, each story had a happy ending.  People were back up and running in no time – pun intended.

But, wait … there’s more

Not only were Rick and Jeff’s customers happier and better served, Rick and Jeff enjoyed some nice fringe benefits:

• Instead of doing business with a customer once every three years, they did business with their customer each and every month.
• Instead of just meeting people, Rick and Jeff could engage with people (and begin monetizing their engagement) right away.
• Their revenue began to grow – and grow each month.
• The monthly service plan revenue would be a constant reminder for business and customer alike, that all of their needs were being tended to.  Data would be protected.  And, Rick and Jeff would be top of mind and never be forgotten.
• But even more so, as part of their monthly service plan, Rick and Jeff were available to their customers 24/7 for all of their computing needs.  The proverbial one stop shop for all things computing.  They morphed from damage control to service provider.

Sailing off into the sunset

We are very privileged to work with Rick and Jeff.  They possess a very rare trait for these times.

They believe in continuous improvement.  Whereas this is a non-negotiable for being a client of Blue Elevator™, it is neither presupposed or taken for granted.  Rick and Jeff, to this very day, continue to innovate their growing company – even to the point of spinning off another company with a new brand that is designed to a) better resonate with consumers and b) convert all of their “would be” competitors into referral partners.  But, that’s another story (e.g., case study) for another day.

Well done, Rick and Jeff.

What is your challenge – er, opportunity?

Onward and upward, as they say!

Like Rick and Jeff, if you have a challenge that you would like to turn into an opportunity, we’d love for you to contact us.