Why Repair is Making a Comeback! Sprinkled with a little History too!!

In the old days - dang I sound like an old man - you would get stuff fixed when it broke. I fondly remember helping my dad carry our TV console down to the car to take to the repair shop. Heck I even remember going with dad to get a blender fixed one time at a local repair shop. Then in 1989 Gordon Jump became the "Maytag Repairman" and his character became an iconic metaphor for a professional whose services are rarely needed.

You see innovation in the home appliance market had pretty much peaked by this time. So to sell more product companies like Maytag built a better product that they could charge more for and convince folks that they could do without "ol' Lonely" as he was called.

Many other industries followed suit and tried to build better stuff that didn't need to be repaired as often. Really only the high-tech stuff, that was still innovating needed repair centers. The Cell Phone industry was one of those products as both Nokia and Motorola -- who both dominated the industry at that time -- had service and warranty centers all over the world. In the early 2000's you could actually take your cell phone into one of these centers in most cities, have it fixed and then pick it up a few days later and have the SAME cell phone.

1st Gen iPhone

Then on June 29, 2007 everything changed! Apple launched a mildly, he said sarcastically, new device that Steve Jobs said, "was the best iPod they ever built". OK, it was the iPhone, but that is what Jobs said when he unveiled it in 2007. And it had a glass screen. That broke. A lot!!!

So, with the birth of a new "Smartphone" came the birth of the cell phone repair industry. This new opportunity in repair broke open a whole new industry and started getting people back into the mindset of getting things fixed again. Soon every Tom, Dick, Harry, Justin, AJ and Rob we're fixing iPhones and opening repair shops in every corner of the country. 

Almost ten years later and the Cell Phone Repair industry has set the table for even more opportunities in the tech repair industry. You see the reason the cell phone repair industry has done as well as it has isn't because people wanted to get their phones fixed. It's because they want to get their phones fixed FAST!

Many companies (Asurion, Flextronics, HTC, Apple, etc.) have had a way for people to get their phones "fixed" but it meant you had to replace it. They all failed to see that people wanted it FIXED FAST & EASY! There systems involved filing claims, sitting on hold, waiting in line, making appointments, checking the mail, going to a store, mailing back something, hassle, hassle, hassle!

The innovators of the cell phone repair industry showed the world that when a customer has some broken tech they want it fixed on their terms!

Why Do I think Repair is Making a BIG Comeback?

We are witnessing major, major advances in tech. Just like in 2007 when the iPhone revolutionized the cell phone industry you are seeing major (have I used that word enough) innovation in almost every product you could imagine. 

From smart thermostats to smart lawn sprinklers, everything is getting more complex which means more stuff is going to need to be fixed, installed and adjusted for a lot of people who want to make their lives easier and take advantage of this new "Smart" industry. As new innovation takes hold in the market people will need it FIXED FAST & EASY!

So the old cell phone repair industry can and will evolve into a more modern Tech Repair Industry (TRI) if everyone has the same vision and works together. Because the OEM's are NOT going to make this easy for us or for their customers!

Opportunity Awaits YOU!

The modern cell phone repair industry has been around for about ten years now. So here is another unique thing about the industry and the opportunity ahead. In the past getting customers was easy and involved pinpoint marketing – A broken Phone + An anxious customer = Busine$$. Most companies, including my own, only marketed to the source (cell phone stores, targeted AdWords, etc.) because that was where you got the business. The only people who were learning about this industry were the people with broken phones. Not a lot of branding going on here.

Here’s a great example from an article in Business Insider just this week (10/24/16) wrote, “uBreakiFix is not exactly the most well-known U.S.-based company, but it currently operates 240

locations in 187 cities across North America, with the company expected to have over 275 locations by the end of 2016.” No slight on them because they are a GREAT company who has achieved tremendous success but when an article from one of the fastest growing, most read digital business magazines says that one of the largest cell phone repair companies in the country is, “not exactly themost well-known U.S.-based company”, it tells you there are still a lot of people who do NOT know about repair. Most, if not all, cell phone repair shops are NOT in prime retail space and in this day and age of the APP driven culture a store-front is not enough. You need to truly be in front of your customer!And, of course, we have all read the IBISWorld report on the industry that has stated for the last two years that, “There are no companies with a dominate market share in this industry”. Opportunity, Opportunity, Opportunity!

It is my opinion that smaller companies will be the ones who are able to pivot to this new Tech Repair Industry (TRI) and service this customer base the easiest. Larger companies have ALWAYS had trouble changing course when new opportunities arise (i.e., Blackberry, Nokia, Blockbuster Video, Radio Shack, etc.). If all you do is replace smartphone glass, then you need to look to the future now! Opportunity will not wait!!

If you've seen the modern adaptation of the Maytag Repair Man you no longer see a repairman waiting around his shop for an appliance to break. This new, square jawed, handsome fella (spoken by a pure heterosexual man, of course) is now in the home playing the part of the actual appliance. I don't know about you but I have seen A LOT of repair vehicles on the road these days including the Maytag Repair Man. Think they're trying to tell us something?