Would you like to be paid for Drone support?

[Bill Kimberlin]

We are launching a drone support service and will be signing up skilled drone owners to support other drone pilots with pre-sales, post-sales and product support calls/chat/text. Hours would be completely up to you. You log in, accept some calls and get paid for your time. We will provide an app to connect you with callers and you can choose the support type calls you are confident taking. Software upgrades, trouble shooting, connection issues, first flight assistance etc....

We have details to finalize and would like to get some feed back on who might be interested in supporting other drone pilots via Phone, Text, Video Chat for money. You would be paid on a per call incident. We will launch in September supporting the Phantom line of products and a few others.

Anyone interested in learning more? Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[Mako79]

Country based? Worldwide?
Manufacturer/model specific?

 

[phantom13flyer]

Yeah I could be interested in that

 

[Airborne]

 

[xave]

Sure, I would probably have the skills to help someone.

 

[GadgetGuy]

How many crashes are required to be a certified as a tech?
I wouldn't trust a tech who has no experience crashing...

 

[xave]

How many crashes are required to be a certified as a tech?
I wouldn't trust a tech who has no experience crashing...

Haha, then I would be a bad support person

 

[John Steed]

Yes I would be interested.

 

[Australis5]

How many crashes are required to be a certified as a tech?
I wouldn't trust a tech who has no experience crashing...

Good point! It hurt at first. Learned a ton from it. Badge of honor.

 

[Hono]

Which country based?or worldwide?

 

[cdronefly]

I have to wonder if folks will fork up money for this?
(I have an extensive background in retail, service, internet stuff, etc.)....

People will pay big for a drone - even double the price for less (like the Solo or the Tali)....and they will buy all kinds of accessories, etc.
They may even pay to attend a school or a demo that has the blessing of the maker. I think small field classes may be able to get some payment - even outside of DJI...that is, organize groups of 3-10 newbies who would come and seem demo and learn some hands on.

Proof is in the pudding - I could be wrong. But since you asked for input here it is. Start very small - rather than getting agents, try to get some customers. When the customers outstrip your (and the few you may be doing it with) ability, then get more.

Some of this stuff ends up being a race to the bottom. Look at fivver...that is, people start competing to do stuff for less and less.

I guess what I am really saying....is that if you asked me for money making advice (I'm a biz consultant), I'd say there may be easier ways to make a buck with your knowledge.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Good point! It hurt at first. Learned a ton from it. Badge of honor.

Indeed! We can truly empathize with them! The guy who has never crashed isn't pushing the envelope enough! The inbound phone personnel at hard drive recovery companies are hired based upon their ability as therapists to express empathy for the customers' grief over the loss of their data, while creating hope of recovery, after a "small" fee for the attempt. Average cost for recovery: $1,000+. It's one of the easiest sales! They will pay whatever it costs, just for the hope that they can get it back. Just like the saying, that there are no aetheists in fox holes!

 

[GadgetGuy]

We are launching a drone support service and will be signing up skilled drone owners to support other drone pilots with pre-sales, post-sales and product support calls/chat/text. Hours would be completely up to you. You log in, accept some calls and get paid for your time. We will provide an app to connect you with callers and you can choose the support type calls you are confident taking. Software upgrades, trouble shooting, connection issues, first flight assistance etc....

We have details to finalize and would like to get some feed back on who might be interested in supporting other drone pilots via Phone, Text, Video Chat for money. You would be paid on a per call incident. We will launch in September supporting the Phantom line of products and a few others.

Anyone interested in learning more? Thoughts? Ideas?

Sounds just like our Forum, but we do it for free! As long as we are here, why would anyone pay for the same thing?

 

[GlennG]

Yes if reasonably close.

 

[Mako79]

Sounds just like our Forum, but we do it for free! As long as we are here, why would anyone pay for the same thing?

There's a gap of knowledge that requires time to fill. Not everyone has the time or they prefer to use that time somewhere else.
Some have all the time in the world and read to the nth degree. Some read but don't understand because they skip the fundamental parts. Some just want it done no matter the cost. They don't care how you get there, just get it fixed.

 

[GadgetGuy]

There's a gap of knowledge that requires time to fill. Not everyone has the time or they prefer to use that time somewhere else.
Some have all the time in the world and read to the nth degree. Some read but don't understand because they skip the fundamental parts. Some just want it done no matter the cost. They don't care how you get there, just get it fixed.

Agreed. There are also those that only hear what they want to hear, so
I am not sure that offering telephone support, in addition to email and chat with the inherent problems that they have, will be that much better for them. Some people just can't be helped.

 

[jaysimpson]

I'd be willing to help out too.

 

[Bryce]

hmmm.... free forum with thousands of knowledgeable users vs. paid support where just anyone can sign up saying they are 'drone' professionals... because they stayed at a Holiday Inn? Good luck! I'll be keeping to the forums.

 

[Bill Kimberlin]

Country based? Worldwide?
Manufacturer/model specific?

US based to start. Will be supporting pre and post sales support for manufactures, however our primary goal should be supporting the consumer drone pilot not skilled in certain areas where our technical support pilots are at advanced skill level.

 

[Bill Kimberlin]

hmmm.... free forum with thousands of knowledgeable users vs. paid support where just anyone can sign up saying they are 'drone' professionals... because they stayed at a Holiday Inn? Good luck! I'll be keeping to the forums.

I would not expect the free support options to change for folks like us. Free is great here and people like us will always use this option first.

In our model, we will have free consumer support for manufactures we contract with. This happens to be a part of my background. However,,, Yes, it will be a paid support call if consumer pilot can't get help from the manufacture and not the type that likes reading through every forum post.

Solving the issue of support quality from support pilots who in your example "stayed at a Holiday Inn" isn't that hard. If you don't own a drone, you better be a fast learner and competent in support before you start taking calls for a fee. We offer a 100% money back guarantee if the support issue was not resolved. That might prevent the pilot from taking those more difficult support issues. We have an option for sending the drone in for service as well.

With a consumer rating system in place, the consumer can rate the support pilot after the ticket is closed. As soon as a support pilot's quality star rating drops below 3 stars, the pilot support account will lock down preventing calls further calls until the support issue is addressed. Support pilots will have the option to receive or reject certain types of support calls. Bottom line, if I suck at helping someone resolve calibration issues,,, I'm going to reject those request until I'm good at it.

The concept here is to empower the drone pilot community with skilled support for troubleshooting and filling the gaps that user manual's have. How many times have we all gone to DJI's user manual and found "zero" reference to the issue? It happened to me enough to fund a new company around solving the problem at scale. Now, guys like you will have an option to be paid or support for free. Hope that never stops!

Thanks for the thought provoking comment and hope I addressed your thoughts/concerns.