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Suggestions on Scheduling
I am moving from doing everything myself to employing a full-time technician so that I can focus on the other aspects of my business (marketing, customer services, sales, etc).
In the past, I ran by the seat of my pants. I would often schedule work based on car count (although this was loosely done in my head). However, that sometimes that resulted in having 4-6 oil changes spaced out throughout the day and nothing else. I also failed to do inspections on every car, only pointing out obvious problems or only addressing customer concerns.Now that I have the responsibility of keeping a well-paid technician busy with enough flag time to keep his family fed, I would like suggestions on scheduling work.I would like to require a basic visual inspection be completed on every vehicle that comes in. How do I account for that on the schedule? I’m assuming I’ll be able to sell many of the repairs that we find on each vehicle. Furthermore, how should I compensate the technician for the added time he will need to look over every car?Should I simply schedule by car count and hope for the best?Should I ask for only drop-off’s and work to keep a pool of 6+ vehicles in the shop each day?Any suggestions would help…Thanks! -
4 Replies
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Sceduling is very tough for me . I have had my shop for 21 years and we have never scheduled vehicles . It has always been first come first serve . I have attempted to try scheduling numerous times but have gotten push back . People are so used to getting what they want when they want it these days…………… I do not want to risk having a customer go elsewhere . There are so many choices out there now and everyone has gotten much more aggressive with pricing . Dealers , Chain stores , and independents . Up here in the northeast all chain stores are now open on Saturday and Sunday along with AAA company owned shops . Its very difficult right now and I feel you need to take the job as soon as possible or risk losing it . There is very little loyalty anymore even if you give alot of value and treat the cliet like family . I have also found many people dislike the multi point inspection !! They just think you are like the dealer and want to run up a large bill . Just my opinion . Jeff
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David:
An “Every car inspection” is mandatory at our shop. Must be done – every car, every time – period.
Techs get paid .2
For scheduling…
On one hand – Allow whatever your average hours per RO is for each car coming in – that will get you close. Book about 75% of the time during the day to allow for drop ins.
On the other hand, if it smells like a job you want to do, take it in regardless of how much work you have already booked. That’s why God made loaner cars 🙂 Build a small fleet until you find there is always one or more not in use. Depending on the situation, shops charge anywhere from $0 to the normal car rental fee in the area.
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Inspections are mandatory for us too. However, the techs don’t get any pay for them — it’s their future jobs! When going over the inspection, the service advisor needs to go over what’s good and bad with the car. Suggestions for future maintenance helps the customer plan for the future. Have recommendations for anything that is: 1. good for the customer, 2. good for the vehicle, and 3. good for the shop. Our customers appreciate them — I think it’s in the delivery.
Rich -
Thank you to everyone for their input.
Jeff, I can really appreciate and relate to your comments, especially the pushback on doing inspections. I’ve been hesitant to implement them consistently for fear of the perception that I’m trying to “run up the bill”. However, time and time again I have run into problems with recently repaired vehicles that didn’t get a inspection. Namely, we fix something and never pay any attention to some other area of the car in need of repair. The neglected area causes a breakdown and the customer is left wondering why we didn’t notice it. Our professionalism and expertise comes into question when the only reply I can give them is, “we weren’t looking there”. After several of those episodes, I’ve decided that I need to do inspections consistently.Tom…THANK YOU. You gave me EXACTLY the suggestions I was seeking. I don’t know why I never thought to simply use my average RO times to schedule vehicles.Genius.I also think .2 is fair. I don’t want to short-change the tech, but I don’t want to have to charge every customer for a basic inspection. 0.2 seems like a good compromise and is labor I can often roll into the repair.Do you have people schedule their next appointment (3 months or 6 months down the road) when they pay their invoice? I’m curious how you have your service advisors “frame” it?Also, how do you turn a brake job into, “hey, let’s schedule your next oil change while you’re here”. Or, how do you go about it at your shop?Thanks to everyone!
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