The cell phone repair business has numerous advantages: its structure is relatively simple, repair services are in demand, and prolonging device lifecycle contributes to environmental sustainability. Besides, such a business is a perfect option for tech enthusiasts keen on electronics and interested in the industry's latest trends. Today, we share a guide on how to start a cell phone repair business. We will cover the business plan, attracting customers, and providing high-quality repairs. Follow along!
How to Make Money in the Repair Business?
Let's start with the basics. Sure, people pay you for repairs. However, the equipment, phone details, rent, and your time are costly expenses that make the business less marginal. To keep it profitable, you need to focus on three main actions that actually bring you money:
- Lowering the processing time. Everything should be done quickly in this industry, as time is money. Customers rely on their devices and want to have them repaired as soon as possible. For you, each hour spent on the device raises the cost of repair significantly.
An efficient way to save time on device diagnostics is to implement Reeva, a unique phone testing robot. It completely automates processing, eliminating human errors. The robot quickly performs over 50 tests to detect over 100 possible hardware defects, allowing you to provide fast and accurate services. Look at our case study with iTek NI, a repair business based in Northern Ireland, where they share their experience implementing Reeva into their workflow. - Increasing the customer traffic. The more customers your business has, the higher your turnover and, therefore, profits.
Traffic volume depends heavily on the physical location. Your store should be within walking distance of your potential customers, so consider locations in the city center or near popular attractions. Marketing efforts will also increase the number of customers. However, traffic will only stay high if you provide quick and efficient services. - Offering additional services. Although repairs are not extremely profitable, you can make more money on additional, higher-margin sales. For example, offer your clients phone cases, protective glass installation, extended warranties, etc.
In this step, you need to choose what services you will provide and how you will do it. Answering the following questions will help you create a clear vision of your future business:
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What phone models will you repair? Will you repair other electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, watches, etc.?
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Will you do it alone or hire employees to perform repairs?
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Will you perform repairs in-store? Or will you provide mobile services traveling to customers' houses or offices?
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Will you offer additional services such as trade-in and buyback?
Now that you understand what services you will provide and what profit channels your business will have, you can create a detailed business plan. The plan should describe your regional market for repair services and competitor analysis; the organization of your business, including your form of legal entity, ownership details, etc.; and operational and marketing plans with descriptions of all the processes.
This document will help you shape a clear vision of your future phone repair business, anticipate potential difficulties, and create a long-term strategic development plan.
What Skills Do You Need to Run a Repair Business?
As well as for other businesses, running a cell phone repair shop requires specific knowledge and personal traits. Some of them you can't learn: for example, genuine interest in electronics. But others are pretty trainable. Let's discuss several skills that will be helpful for you, especially at the beginning of your phone repair business.
Technical Skills
Whether you do repairs yourself or hire employees, you need basic knowledge of how to perform a device repair. You should be able to replace broken parts on various smartphone models, and robotic testing will help you quickly detect issues.
There is a lot of free content online that will help you gain technical skills. But if YouTube videos aren't enough for you, look for specialized courses to attend.
Customer Service Skills
As your business depends heavily on customer traffic, you need to be able to deal with many people daily and provide high-quality repairs to every client. Work on your communication skills to better understand your clients' problems, suggest solutions that meet their expectations, and handle conflict situations.
Apart from communicating with clients yourself, you need to explain to your workers how they should provide customer service. It is crucial that no matter how your employees interact with customers, all of them get the highest service possible.
Management Skills
Even if you start a repair business alone, you will eventually hire employees. To organize the working process effectively, you need to know basic management skills. This implies clearly stating goals to your workers, controlling their progress and results, solving problems inside the team, providing honest feedback, motivating, and others.
Being a manager requires many specific skills. The best thing for your business development is to acquire theoretical knowledge in advance, which will make later practice easy and effective.
Administrative Skills
To run a business, you must obey the laws in terms of services, warranties, data protection, contracts, etc. You need to develop skills to manage your work, keep track of all your activities, and comply with industry requirements.
At first, you might need help from people who have experience running phone repair businesses, so consider working with a business mentor. They will provide you with industry-specific information and help you avoid common pitfalls to ensure you operate the workflow correctly.
How to Start a Phone Repair Business: 7 Steps
After you have done the preparation, you can start realizing your business plan step-by-step:
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Register your business as a chosen form of a legal entity and set up tax payments. This is the first step for basically every business.
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Obtain needed registrations. They vary a lot depending on the country and region. For example, some states in the USA require a specific license to perform electronic repairs.
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Open a bank account, separating your personal budget from the business one.
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Find and rent a location. As we discussed previously, it should be easily accessible for your clients. Also, consider whether you need to spend time and money repairing the space.
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Purchase equipment, device parts, and other supplies. In the beginning, stick to the parts of the most widely used smartphone models to be able to perform most of the repairs. Buying too many supplies will be harmful to your budget. As for equipment, choose high-quality tools so you won't need to replace them shortly.
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Hire employees. Find workers who are experienced in cell phone repairs and customer service.
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Grow your online presence. Create a website and social media pages, add your phone repair business to online maps, and participate in other local community online activities. This way, more people can find your business when they need repair services.
How to Attract Potential Customers to Your Phone Repair Shop?
Some might think that having a website and a good location is enough to attract high customer traffic. However, your marketing plan should include active actions to attract new clients to your phone repair store. This will help you achieve consistent and permanent business growth.
Optimize your website to local SEO so your business has high search results in your area. Also, use targeted ads to attract customers who need cell phones repair.
Additionally, implement innovative device processing robots that will attract people's attention and provide additional opportunities for effective trade-in deals. Reeva by NSYS Group is a cutting-edge robot that ensures high-quality automated testing, grading, pricing, and wiping without human errors or fraud.
Explore robotic device processing by clicking the link below!
