So, serious question: I was having a discussion with my tech supervisor tonight. He said I've been taking too long doing tech work behind the bench. Now, in my defense, we've been exceptionally busy the past few weeks.
Anyways, my question is in regards to the standards held for the tech work. For example, people bring in their PCs for a diagnostic and repair. My retailer has been pushing for us to use the service that has technicians at a call center remote in and do the work. Fine, I use it. I don't like it but I use it. And, to be honest, it saves me time because they can do the scripted stuff and then I can go back and do anything else that needs to be done.
The issue is that my retailer says the standard for a PC setup, a diag and repair, etc is at X. There are many things that they don't have use do that are important. For example, if a computer comes in with outdated versions of Adobe Reader, Java, Chrome, Firefox, etc, I make sure they're updated before it leaves. We're talking about consumer PCs here, so I generally use Ninite to accomplish the task. One installer, does it all automatically for me.
But the big issue is that I don't say computers are done until they are done correctly. So my question is, how does someone balance between what is said to be good enough and what you know to be good enough? Now, I know the company pays my paycheck, but I still handle the other functions of my job. Part of why where I work has a booming tech business is because of the fact I hold things to a higher standard, and customers realize that and refer others and also keep coming back. So what I do works and works well.
Also, I told my tech supervisor that when I sign off on a computer, it's my name and reputation that I'm signing off on. Yes, the tech work is done at my retailer. But customers come back asking for me, many times years later. It's because I don't do shoddy work and I take the time to do it right, as well as engage the customer in a beyond-the-superficial manner.
Lastly, my tech supervisor got upset with me because, as a rule, I've been selling only one computer to pretty much everyone. (This one: http://www.staples.com/Refurb-HP-8460P-14-inch-laptop-Core-i5-25-GHz-4GB-Memory-128GB/product_1523729) I told him it's because it's better than anything we have in store and it's a business-grade machine. He then said that it might not be what customers want. My response was that most customers don't know what they want, or need. He got upset at that. However, from my time in retail and the MSP realm, customers, as a rule, DO NOT KNOW what they want or need. They come in thinking that if they get a bigger HDD, it'll be a faster computer. They think that a computer with a Celeron but 8GB of RAM will still be fast, etc.
My comment was that customers don't know what they really want or need. They have needs. They have wants. My job is to find the best solution to address those. But I will almost certainly never do what the customer wants when they come in, unless they are really adamant about it. The reason is that customers just don't know. That's why they came to see me in the first place.
I understand that there is a line but a computer with a second-gen i5 and a 128GB SSD will be perfect for almost all customers. Most people don't use 100GB between the OS and files anyways. I know that my tech supervisor doesn't have my background or experience in the MSP/business realm, so it's hard for him to understand that. He's perfectly fine doing just enough and selling the crap we have in-store. I'm not. So should I just shut up and sacrifice what consider to be the "bar" of where the quality should be at simply because I'm told to or, as long as I'm still doing my job, should I stick up for doing things the way they should be done?
Thanks in advance.
