That customer who changed how I handle slow PCs

I used to just run a quick malware scan and call it good when someone brought in a slow computer. But about 6 months ago, a retired teacher named Mrs. Patterson came into my shop in Des Moines with a 7 year old Dell. She sat down and asked me to explain exactly what was taking so long, step by step. Watching her face as I showed her the startup programs list made me realize these folks don't need a speed fix, they need to understand why it happens. Has anyone else had a customer who made you rethink your whole approach?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.derek29d ago

Yep @olivia_rivera88 the "brain" analogy is gold, I used it three times this week.

olivia_rivera881mo ago

Maybe it's just me but I've definitely had that moment where you realize folks just want to feel like they're not getting ripped off, not just a faster machine. Last week I accidentally spent 20 minutes explaining RAM to a client before they finally said, "So it's like my brain but for the computer?" and I realized I need to dumb it down way more. Idk, seems like a lot of us tech types forget that not everyone grew up messing with startup tabs and task manager.

umamartin19d ago

Oh man, this is getting deep for a computer repair shop. I get it, people want to feel like they're not getting hustled, but spent 20 minutes on RAM? @olivia_rivera88 I think you could have cut that down to 2 minutes with "your computer's short term memory" and moved on with your day. I had a guy once ask me why his car made a noise and I just said "it's old, that's what it does" and he nodded and left happy. Sometimes folks don't need a full lesson, they just need you to not act like a jerk about it.