Computer Service Company Sees A 834% Increase In Revenues

Client Profile: Five-year-old Computer Service Company looking to increase its B2B service contract business.

Opportunity: The company reconfigures computers, which allows them to run more efficiently and reduces the risk of a hard drive crashing. They also have an anti-virus program that detects viruses that other anti-virus programs miss. The company was unsuccessful in expanding their B2B market. Previous attempts using direct mail, telemarketing, and display advertising had failed.

Target Market: We chose to target small sales organizations with sales forces who were highly dependent upon their computers because they were not likely to have an in-house IT person.

Strategy: We offered computer cleaning, a 76-point diagnostics check, and a complete virus scan for $29.95 per computer. A sales letter was mailed to targeted companies explaining the slow deterioration of computers that were poorly configured (most computers were poorly configured when purchased from the manufacturer) and how many viruses went undetected by the most popular anti-virus software.

The complete service was performed on site. Once completed, the technician was instructed to review the results with the owner or sales manager. In 98% of the cases viruses were found that were not caught by their existing anti-virus detection software. Also, the technician would point out problems with the way the computers were configured and explain the problems that were occurring with the computer that might have gone undetected by the user. Most importantly, the consequences of not addressing these problems were reviewed.

Result: 76% of the time the technician was able to sell an annual service contract. The average service contract was worth $14,000 to the computer service company.