Posted on November 3, 2014 by Susan Brown - Academy Talk
Are you one of those folks who likes to have a tour guide rather than exploring new territory on your own? If so, sit back, relax, and enjoy as the Master Samurai himself leads you on a stroll through the site.
http://youtu.be/mtydOdElAn4
Posted on November 1, 2014 by Susan Brown - Tech Talk
Having the right technical document with you on a service call and knowing how to use it are the two key ingredients to getting an appliance properly diagnosed and repaired.
Does that mean that you should try to find a mobile device that is already pre-loaded with appliance repair technical documents? There are several downsides to this approach, including the fact that you don’t know how current or relevant the pre-loaded docs are.
Instead, you can easily create your own information arsenal using a tablet of your choice and the powerful resource we describe in this video. It’s easy, cost-efficient, and effective.
This video has a lot of helpful details, but if you want a quick written tutorial instead, try this Blog post!
If you have a Kindle Fire, you can follow the procedures shown in the video to download your documents at your desktop computer, then use this application to send the document easily to your Kindle.
Then go forth and conquer!
Posted on October 22, 2014 by Susan Brown - Business Talk
One of the biggest inspirations for creating the Samurai Tech Academy came from conversations we had with business owners at the Appliance Service Training Institute (ASTI) this past winter. “Where can I find good techs to hire?” was the almost universal question being asked. Some companies were turning potential customers away because they simply didn’t have the manpower to handle them.
Here’s an interesting statistic about the appliance repair trade: the average multi-tech service company goes through 4 to 5 new hires before they find one that has the qualities needed. After all, the technician is the one right on the front lines. If he doesn’t have the personal and technical skills to do the job, then you would have been better off turning the customer away than sending an inadequate tech.
Many companies are coming to the realization that they may have to stop looking for a good tech to hire, and instead make a good tech out of a promising candidate. The question then becomes how to train that person. What you need is an easy, effective, cost-efficient way to train techs.
This is the mission of Master Samurai Tech and our newest, most powerful resource: The Samurai Tech Academy. The STA is an online school that trains techs in everything from basics of electricity, gas, and troubleshooting to refrigerator repair and customer relations. Finally, here’s a cost-effective way to increase the skill level of your existing techs and to get new hires trained as quickly as possible.
And because it’s online, it’s much more efficient than the old-fashioned way of training techs, such as sending them to a training facility or hiring trainers to come to yours. Novice techs can spend part of their day studying, then part of their day running service calls with experienced techs so they can immediately begin applying what they are learning and thus get up-to-speed more quickly. You, as the employer, can log in and check on their progress whenever you want.
Having well-trained, professional techs is critical for a repair business to thrive: you need techs that you can rely on to get the job done right and be good representatives of your company to the customer.
The Internet has become a great venue for education and now the Samurai Tech Academy has brought appliance repair training into the modern age. With courses already out – Fundamentals of Appliance Repair, Customer Relations, and Refrigeration Troubleshooting and Repair – and more coming in the near future, the STA is a trove of knowledge for your techs and a lifesaver for your company.
Posted on July 25, 2014 by Susan Brown - Career Talk
Appliance Repair is one of the best jobs not requiring a college degree, according to an article at CareerCast.com.
This comes as no surprise to us – for quite some time now we’ve seen the skilled trades frequently described as being a smart career choice in an economy that apparently will be dipping in and out of recession for the foreseeable future.
I have a few thoughts about the article that I wanted to pass along.
First of all, I encourage you to ignore the statistics at the beginning of the article about how much more money people make who have a college degree. While these numbers may be accurate on the face of it, they don’t really mean much once you dig deeper.
For example, these stats don’t separate out income made by those who get a degree in a traditionally high-paying field that requires a specific college credential, such as medicine, law, and engineering, from those who get a more general degree such as liberal arts or business. There are huge income disparities among these two different sets of grads.
These stats also don’t factor in the increasing debt burden taken on by college students and how that will affect their net income for much of their adult lives. Tuition has risen about 275% since 1970, yet real wages for a graduate with a bachelor’s degree have risen only 10%.
We are big proponents of continuing education, but think the smart options are through self study and online learning. The internet has given us many exciting options for continuing education, such as the Samurai Tech Academy!
This article says that the median income of an appliance tech is $43,460, and there’s a projected hiring increase of 21% by 2022. These are Bureau of Labor Statistics, so they do not include self-employed techs, only those employed by other companies. And remember – the “median” income means that about half of the techs earn more than $43k!
That’s another great thing about being an appliance repair tech – while there are lots of jobs out there for you, it’s also a great way to be self-employed if that is your goal!
Articles like this only reinforce our excitement that we are able to offer such a valuable opportunity for people to get started in the appliance repair trade. And with the level of instruction we provide here along with ongoing support at Appliantology, we expect that Samurai Tech Academy graduates will be among the top income earners in the field.
Click here to read the article.
