This is the eighth in a series of articles which will help you to
save money.
I am constantly being told that the satellite market is dying. That's
odd because my turnover has doubled each year since I began! Whilst
it is certainly true that prices are being undercut by "high street"
stores, that is no reason to "throw in the towel." There are things
which an independent can do that a large store would not even
consider. For a start, demand has suddenly grown in the UK for 2
metre dishes pointing at 0.8 degrees West. Do you know why? Could YOU
install them? If not, it's time you learned. None of the "high
street" chains will do this sort of work so why not you? You can
virtually name your price. Be sure to check out local council
planning requirements and find out from your wholesale supplier
exactly what equipment is needed. Cost out a typical job then spread
the word that you can do it! A motorised installation will make even
more profit. Don't complain that you can't do it! Install it in your
own back yard for the practice and then do it over till you get it
right every time.
Doom and gloom abounds. One dish installer told me that he had done
nothing but aerial work for three weeks. Lucky for him that Channel 5
chose to start up in March but the Channel 5 "boom" will not last for
long. Make your money while you can and don't try to undercut the
competition. Answer this simple question: would you rather do 12 jobs
per day at £25 each or 6 jobs at £45 each? The answer is
obvious but which generates more profit? Think about the amount of
travelling involved for each. Consider that you halve your
expenditure on parts if you do just 6 jobs instead of 12. Your
turnover increases but your profit is actually *lower* for more work
because it costs you more in travelling. In addition, you are working
more than twice as many hours. Also, if your turnover increases, will
that put you over the VAT limit? Instead of trying to do a fast, low
cost (and inevitably low quality) job, concentrate on giving good
value for money. You will get more referrals,work less hours for a
better class of customer and earn more money. Remember the formula:
do 5 jobs at twice the price of 12 jobs and make the *same* profit.
Don't be frightened to try it! Pretty soon you'll be back up to 12
jobs a day and wondering what to do with all that extra money!
While you are working only half as many hours, use that "spare" time
usefully. Find out about training courses. Learn more about UHF
distribution systems, co-channel interference, signal level
balancing, attenuation, diplexers, amplifiers, digital systems and
everything else to do with *your* trade. The more you know, the
easier it is to get a job installed quickly with good results. How
many times have you finished a job thinking "hope they don't notice
the grainy/sparkly pictures on some channels."? Well, if the customer
doesn't you can be sure that the neighbour, friend or relative will
notice and that will be another referral you don't get.
Another frequent complaint I hear is that "I can't make any profit
selling just a receiver." This is true of new receivers. The trade
warehouses are lucky to make ten percent profit and their prices are
sometimes higher than the "high street." If your customer wants just
a receiver, why not supply a refurbished second hand model. There are
thousands of units being scrapped by people having cable installed.
Lots of these end up at car boot sales or being advertised for a
tenner. You can get a Pace PRD receiver for a song and the Amstrad
SRD510 and later models have at least 99 channels. If you can buy
them cheaply enough, isn't it worth paying someone like me twenty
five quid to refurbish them and uprade to work with an "Enhanced"
LNB? This way you get a 99 channel Enhanced receiver for little more
than £35 which you can sell to your customer at a good
profit.