5 Ways To Show Your Client That You Are A Professional Computer Technician

They say that you shouldnt judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately, people do judge a book by its cover. They say that you have 7 seconds to make a first impression and the impression you will want to get across as a Computer Technician is that you are aProfessional Computer Technician.

Of course, you need to do professional work in order to actually be a professional computer technician. Unless you can get that message across to your client, then you are no different to their 16 year old cousin “who is good with computers” in their eyes.

Here are 5 important ways to show your client that you are a professional Computer Technician.

Personal Appearance
Obviously, the way you look as a person is a very important factor. If you are doing clean work such as sitting at desks rather than crawling under buildings laying cable, I recommend a long sleeved collared shirt with some dress pants and shoes. What you are carrying can also add to your credibility. My personal onsite computer technician gear consists of a black shoulder bag and a small laptop in a black carry case and it generally looks the part when I also wear a black collared suit shirt. I have heard of some technicians carrying a toolbox like you would expect to see a handyman with but I guess it is all about the type of image you are trying to get across. If you are consulting then a suited look would be better, if you are drilling holes in walls and laying cables then you might go for some nice work clothes.

A little embroidered logo on your shirt can go a long way towards your professional look and you can usually get a single shirt done for less than $40 at a local mall. If you have a few shirts you want embroidered, it would be a good idea to seek out a business that only does business to business since they will probably be cheaper than the retail location.

Another thing to keep in mind in regards to personal appearance is to be aware of what your car looks like as this can be an extension of your personal appearance. When I was first starting out, I had your typical teenage clunker car so I would park it out front of their neighbors house rather than in the clients driveway. If you have a nice car, feel free to park in a place where it can be seen as it helps build credibility and shows you are successful.

Advertising On Your Car
Advertising on your car is not only a great way to advertise, it can help you improve your overall professional look. Car advertising can be anything between having a few letters on your back window to a full blown car wraps. Full sized car wraps tend to turn the most heads as it makes you look like your business has a whole fleet of cars. Of course, they don’t come cheap.

If you are after some simple text lettering, you can get the stickers sent to you in the mail for around $20-50 USD using a site likeWebDecal.com (USA). If you want to go all out with the car wraps, I have heard of some technicians using CarWraps.net (USA).

Professionally Made Logo and Business Card
Having a professionally made logo and business card is an important factor in the overall professional look. It is the image that represents you and often people will even choose a technician over another based on their logo or business card. The reason why I say that you should have a professionally made logo and business card is because technicians like us tend to have an “I can figure it out” mind that wants to create our own business cards. However, we need to be careful as this can be like your clients 16 year old cousin thinking he can fix your clients computer because he is “good with computers”.

There is a website where you can have hundreds of designers presenting logo designs to you for around $200 to $300 USD. If you pay a little more money, they can also turn it into a business card for you. This place is called 99Designs.com and I have written an article about it in the past on how to make the most of it here.

I understand that some readers are starting their businesses with very little startup funds, so you should at least take advantage of Vistaprints free business card offer located here.

Website
A technician website tends to fall into the same category as the business cards. Computer Technicians are very capable with computers and we enjoy learning. Unfortunately this can result in some pretty bad websites.
Unless you have a web development background, I highly recommend that you dont create your own site from scratch. If you want to do it yourself and you know a little bit of HTML and how to use FTP then getting a pre-existing template and tweaking it is a good idea. If you know dont know how to design a website, change a logo or upload it to a webhost, I highly recommend you look at something likePodnutz’s Tech Website Builder. Its a great package supplying you with some website templates and step-by-step videos on how to change the content, logo and how get it online. You can also save 15% on the product if you use this link for Technibble readers only.

I also recommend that you get a domain name. They only cost $7.49 USD for a .COM with Godaddy and you can get them even cheaper at $6.89 if you use this link. As for hosting, I highly recommend Hostgator.

Paperwork
I have mentioned using paperwork as a way to look professional in the past. Asking a client to sign a work order with your logo printed up the top looks much more professional than “yeah, that’ll be $50…CASH ONLY”. The hobbyists on Craigslist just don’t use anything like this and its a great way to separate yourself from them and show your client you are the real deal.

There is a handful of other smaller items that build up the a whole professional image such as your email signature, your email address and even how clean your car is. Looking professional is a whole package and having just one of these letting you down can hurt your image.