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Service business and crisis: success stories. How does thinking outside the box work for you?

Welcome all! Who I am not familiar with - Andrey Balyakin. The last 6 years are closely connected with the service industry (equipment repair and maintenance). I am a co-founder and CEO of the HubEx project - an online platform for automating service processes in companies with mobile employees: equipment service, cleaning, various kinds of repairs (vending machines, refrigeration equipment, retail equipment, etc.), I also work in a large holding , the main direction of which is service.

Our IT platform is used by many service companies from all over Russia and the CIS, so I decided to collect both our experience and the experience of our colleagues and customers in the service department (of course, with their permission). And share with you insights that can be especially valuable due to recent market changes that have caused an avalanche-like drop in demand for services. At the end of the article, I gathered a number of successful cases and reforms of service companies during the crisis that I knew that helped entrepreneurs get back into business and get on their feet. If the information is useful, I will be glad. Leave questions, comments and your own experience in the comments, because this can help other companies to survive, and their employees can’t lose their jobs during this difficult time.

If you work in the service industry, are the head or owner of the company, or work as a master yourself, this information will be useful and interesting for you. It will help to look at your business from the other side, reorient to services that are in demand in the era of crisis changes.




What happens to the service industry in Q1-Q2 2020 and what are the prospects for the service?



In connection with the pandemic, the world around is changing instantly. It has changed before, but just now the changes are flying ten times faster, and the day of delay is thrown into the past, only without customers and profit. Every new day brings surprises: the remote, the changed demand for services, new formats of interaction and communication - all this seriously affects the business, including ours.

What did service companies, their employees and private craftsmen face today? Nobody needs the services demanded earlier :

  • office cleaning
  • carpet replacement in business centers
  • repair of cooling and ventilation systems in commercial premises

Most of these contracts are frozen. Almost no one is in the offices; employees work from home. Add to this the stop of many industries around the world: their equipment was repaired by the same service companies and craftsmen. Today, all these services are becoming unclaimed.

Now let's look at options for recovering from a crisis, according to McKinsey & Company, adjusted by Oxford Economics:

Option 1 : Virus defeated, slow recovery.



Option 2 : A new wave of virus, slow long-term growth. Restrained growth around the world.



What is it? The business will return to the pre-crisis level of revenue and, apparently, profit no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2020. This is without taking into account the fact that for 2-3 quarters businesses will incur losses, and then it will take a long and painful repayment of debts.

In the service industry, so far I have a more optimistic outlook. The production stopped, the solvency of the equipment owners (that is, those who operate it) decreased. Companies will go into a saving mode, instead of planned replacement and purchase of new equipment, they will start to “patch up holes”, actively repair and restore what they would rather have thrown out until recently.

How to survive service companies in times of crisis? Think outside the box



From the experience of some of our customers and my personal experience: in order to survive, and even more so in a crisis, you need to learn how to change quickly and diversify your business. The main thing is to think outside the box, pay attention to the changes around us. If you continue to provide unchanging services in a changed world, problems will begin during the crisis.

When one direction sags, the other allows you to stay afloat. When demand for one service falls, another will begin to develop. The main thing is to find a vein.

To help think outside the box, I decided to collect the experience of our partners and clients of our platform in one article.

I hope this helps other service companies to look at their business from a non-standard angle and deploy those services that will help to stay afloat and survive crisis times. Information may also be useful to private masters.

1. Service business based on marketplaces : look here. There are such online platforms (marketplaces, aggregators) such as Larenta or Yula, Avito. There are sections on the rental and rental of equipment. What prevents service providers who are left without work, or companies left without customers, from starting to place services of the type: rent a treadmill or a window washer robot?

Why, you ask? Everything is simple: on such resources there is a huge SEO (natural search) and advertising traffic. If you begin to offer rental goods that are in demand, you will need their delivery (this is work) and service (installation of a treadmill, its repair, or assistance in cleaning windows and additional cleaning services for the apartment, you may still ask for a replacement for window seals if when washing, you accidentally discover that the windows siphon and drafts from them in winter).

But where can I get a window cleaner or treadmill? It's simple - rent them on order on the same resource, and if you understand that there is demand, feel free to buy.

For companies, such a model is a new service in the portfolio. And now if it goes - expand! No investments, the risks are minimal.

What else is the buzz of marketplaces is the constant traffic of loyal customers, and in the current crisis it has increased several times, since all offline is closed! You can simply copy successful services or products. On the part of marketplaces, you can even see and evaluate the demand for the service. It is either displayed on the cards of goods and services as on Ali, or in a more general way - signatures on goods: “Bestseller” on Ozone. How to understand which service is most in demand? For example, Larenta - see what the platform will promote in TOP:


Another example that I recently encountered personally was the need to repair small household appliances (the incinerator broke). Went to a familiar place. The door sign is closed! But the owner could at least make a sign for visitors that his service has switched to a remote mode of operation and leave a phone for customers. Accept applications, go to the client and repair your health. Why is everyone so lazy? They will cry and complain about their fate, but they will not hit finger to finger to change and adapt to today's (or current) demand.

And if the owner was even a little more perspicacious, he would go to the site of our software product, compile an electronic catalog of services that he is ready to render to the population during this difficult time, and put a QR on the door of his workshop, which leads to a page with company services, where you can 1 click apply for repair for the required type of service. His employees would have received an application, drove off and completed it, having earned both a salary for himself and him for maintaining the company in a crisis. And so - the workshop was closed, the business died, the employees were out of work. It’s a pity ...



2. Cleaning company : from April 16, revenue began to fall exponentially.

The problem is that the basic budget-filling services have ceased to be in demand (cleaning of offices, cleaning of industrial premises, restaurant maintenance).
Decision- in just 4 days, the company mastered a new service - the disinfection of premises, and concluded several significant contracts for the disinfection of stores. This fully compensated for the loss in revenue in the main areas that were stable before the crisis.



Hint- during the work in our platform, the company not only digitized its service process to the level of monitoring the fulfillment of applications by employees on time, but also digitized the cleaning itself to the level of operations (technological maps) and control points (check lists). The main thing is that I learned how to quickly change processes, add new services, training employees through technical maps, controlling quality through checklists, and performance through controlling the time spent at the facility and its presence in terms of location. In general, I learned to work in an IT system in such a way as to quickly change when it became vital, without spurious costs for weeks of training and badding (training through cleaning with a new recruit under the supervision of an old man). Online course - and in the field. In general, everyone managed despite doubts.

3. Installation of IKEA kitchens and furniture, and not only : as adopted by some of the most law-abiding - these are foreigners. For example, IKEA decided to carry out the government’s order verbatim and completely closed the IKEA service until May ... This means that when you buy furniture, including kitchens, assemble it yourself! But, if you are a girl, senior citizen or organization - a problem. As a result, a whole niche has been freed up that companies or self-employed service specialists can occupy, of course, with mandatory compliance with measures to ensure the safety of themselves and others (masks, “contactless” interaction with customers, etc.)

4. Repair of computer and office equipment : smartphones , laptops, printers or small appliances.
One of our customers is a smartphone and computer repair company. The company mainly filled the budget with repairs in the service workshop. The share of on-site service was less than 30%.

Problem : In the last few weeks, with the beginning of restrictions on the movement of residents around the city, repair services in the workshops almost stopped (by order of the government, the offices were ordered to close). In addition, services for field service and repair of office equipment sank significantly in revenue. The revenue of the service company decreased by 50%.
Decision: The company's management analyzed the changing demand and redesigned the service portfolio. She arranged special offers for all of her customers: their mobile service specialists are ready to help transport and set up office stationary computers, printers from the office home, connect everything and continue servicing, providing IT support with a Skype wizard, as well as providing replacement cartridges and consumables at home with employees. We issued special passes for moving around the city at the time of the restrictions imposed. As a result, we managed to bring the proceeds to the pre-crisis level.
Hint : The organization’s customer list includes companies that are continuous-cycle companies. Therefore, a certificate was prepared for employees who need to move around the city with the following contents:



And the staff continued to work.

An important role here was played by the quick reaction of the management of the service company to the situation and the changing demand. What is especially pleasant for us - when implementing anti-crisis measures, our platform has become the main tool in the transfer of employees to work on new types of services based on field service.

What management did:
- Developed new services: “transportation, connection of computer and office equipment from the office home”, “delivery of documents or equipment from the office”, “departure of a wizard to replace consumables” and a number of other services not previously provided or not in demand (forgotten );
- Contacted all of their corporate customers and offered them these services not only in the mailing list, but also personally, explaining the situation, sorting out the tasks and problems that arose again in connection with the pandemic, customer problems;
- Set up new types of services with descriptions and check lists in our Service Desk, issued smartphones, some of the service providers use personal ones;
- In a few days, they recruited mobile service engineers with an IP or registered as self-employed in order to quickly increase the number of hands in peak time;
- The training took place online, they began to apply to all applications the materials required for repair, which need to be called in to take from the warehouse for the application (cartridges, etc.);
- In a week, the updated service was launched for new services. Everything is online and not breaking the law.

As a result, the restoration of pre-crisis revenue indicators and a new model of working with individual entrepreneurs. Tasks, applications, materials and control - all through the HubEx mobile app.

Large brands do not stay away from such a business model. For example, Samsung offers free courier delivery of mobile equipment to the authorized service centers of the company for repairs, subsequent disinfection and sending the repaired equipment to the customer.

5. And here is the case from our current client of our platform: the company sells coffee and serves coffee machines in offices , after the announcement of the week off, the volume of orders fell. After the monthly quarantine was announced, the revenue collapsed.

The turnover was based on the supply of coffee to companies in offices, as well as related services and equipment cleaning.

With the advent of the crisis, momentum fell dramatically. The company decided to urgently introduce several new services: moving coffee machines from office to home and providing simple coffee machines for free for employees to go home. Paid were the coffee itself with a bundle, which bring revenue to the company. In general, revenue was reanimated. The search for new customers continues.

This approach - I approve! New external conditions, of course, impose certain difficulties on doing business. But a good idea, as they say, is needed out of place. The company adapted to the conditions, bought coffee machines, having agreed with suppliers on installments. We offered our existing customers the “Coffee Home” service for employees' home offices.

Several large corporate customers agreed to the proposal, which quickly helped establish a lease / installment model. Those who previously worked in the office now work from home, where the company continued to supply coffee. Since the masters are used to working and receiving service requests through our system, this allowed us to quickly build a new model of work, add new types of tasks and types of work, natively tell service specialists in a mobile application where to go and what to bring with them.



In general, everyone went to the remote place, continuing effective interaction through our desk service: the system distributes tasks between employees automatically, part of the organizational work is performed by the dispatcher. In the system, employees report on the work performed. The method of applying for coffee without a phone, through QR stickers that marked coffee machines, has become relevant. Since the electronic application does not require manual scheduling (receiving by phone and transmitting to the master by voice), this also reduces the cost of processing client requests. Applications are automatically received from customers and distributed by performers.

6. And here is another fresh case from our esteemed customer: the company is engaged in the sale and service of sports simulators for fitness clubs and crossfit clubs. Due to the massive closure of most fitness clubs in Russia due to coronavirus, the company was left without orders.

The company management conducted an analysis of the current situation and revealed an increased demand for sports fitness equipment for home use (demand increased several times. Those who went to clubs stayed at home, but not everyone wanted to interrupt the training process).

A catalog of sports equipment suitable for home use was quickly created. The next step was to connect rental aggregators, such as Larenta and Rentmania, so that everyone could rent the simulator he needed. An advertising campaign was launched aimed at owners of private houses and adherents of a healthy lifestyle, who, due to the circumstances, are unable to attend fitness clubs and are ready to purchase the simulators they need. After buying or renting a simulator, a service specialist delivers and assembles the purchased simulator, each simulator is marked with a QR code and entered into our platform together with the buyer's address, so that in case of a malfunction, the buyer can submit an application via the QR scanner of his smartphone and call a service specialist. It’s also an opportunity, while you pedal,go into the catalog and look at yourself something else.Sales raised, business saved .

Here you have a quick reaction to a changing market, flexible thinking and a fresh idea. If you think about it, you can turn any crisis situation to your advantage, while providing the desired service to the client in a practically empty market that has arisen from nowhere. So good luck to everyone, in such a difficult time, do not be sick!

Well, if, despite all the efforts, workload has fallen - use your time wisely to get out of the crisis strong. If you manage to cut costs, eliminate losses and learn to work more efficiently than before, during the crisis, the post-crisis growth will be several times faster and success will not take long. Checked. We have special programs for automation and reduction of losses in the service business and a free anti-crisis offer HubEx.Easythat will help you through difficult times and win the market as soon as the pandemic’s nightmare is over and the business gets off its knees.

PS
Important! Dear entrepreneurs and Khabrovsk residents who are not indifferent to small and medium-sized businesses: if you have ideas or examples of successful similar anti-crisis measures in other sectors, companies or in the same service - let's collect them in the comments . Share with dear readers, throw ideas and talk about your experience and successful cases! I am sure this will make someone's life better and help entrepreneurs optimistic about the fact that with the advent of the crisis it would seem to roll down the mountain.

Good luck to all entrepreneurs! It is needed, no less than a good idea for the place.

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