Chris
Forum Replies Created
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AutoLeap is another good one. They are working on some really good updates and enhancements. If you are interested I can put you in touch.
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One thing is to check in with them on a weekly basis and see how they are doing. Especially with the way things are going now everyone in the family unloads their issues on them and they have no outlet for it. This is a hand on the shoulder, looking them in the eyes heart felt. How are YOU really doing and then just shut up and listen. It goes a long way.
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I would be interested to know what his insurance company has to say about that?
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I’m late to the party on this one but Tekmetric is hands down the best point of sale system that I have seen in years. I have several clients running it and I love to coach from their system. If you are interested in a demo or would like more information you can set up an appointment here: https://meetings.hubspot.com/pjleslie and tell him Chris Cotton sent you.
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I was going to make a long reply but I think Zack nailed it earlier. The owner has to want to change and unfortunately it might actually get worse before it gets better. Policies and procedures have to be put into place and you need to make sure that you have a cash flow management program and procedure that works for your business as well. Because of the lack of leadership everyone has just kind of done what they wanted to do, it’s time for a new Sheriff in town or at least a re-born one if the owner is willing to put in the work. I would like to commend you on putting yourself out there and looking for help. I think you would be an excellent employee to have. Good Luck!
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Holy Smokes! That’s a lot to unpack. Typically for my clients I make a pay plan for their service writers that gives them a base pay and then incentives for total sales AND gross profit. You have to tie those last two together or they can sell you out of business. I have 100’s of questions that are probably best left for a phone conversation. Sounds like you run a quick lube. That’s great if you want to be a quick lube and run that type of business. My other question is what type of shop do you want to have/run? If you want to be in the quick lube business and are mainly doing maintenance then why all the a techs? Big thing for you is developing a shop culture where everyone works as a team. You MUST find the right people to go on your journey with you.
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Eric is on the right track. Your job as shop owner is to fill the bays!! And not with DIYers! Create a marketing plan that works and get the cars in to get you where you want to go!
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All of this is great information and advice. I like tracking productivity but I also like showing the tech where he is in billed hours and hours not yet “turned” ie, sold work that hasn’t been completed. I don’t want a tech to come in on Friday and not know where he is in relation to his paycheck for the week and be surprised because of his lack of productivity. I like bonusing the shop on total hours billed, but I also want everyone to know who needs help. Hopefully I’ve created a “rising tide lifts all boats mentality” culture and in doing so there’s no animosity, bullying etc….There’s no real right or wrong answer. To each his own. What do you believe in for your shop culture and what can you use as a leader to motivate your team? Just know that whatever you start you are committed to doing it. Once you train the techs to look for it, they will want to be kept in the loop.
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There are some great auto repair shop specific accountants, meaning that’s all they do is auto repair shops, out there. Honestly they’re not that expensive at all considering what they can provide to you and the savings that they provide in the end.
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Carm,
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this podcast. I think this is going to be an invaluable tool for those in the industry that agree to participate and put the process in place. I think it goes great with the other podcast that you just did on selling your business. Can’t sell a business that has no value!!
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Not all customers are right for your shop and what you do. It’s ok to fire them and focus on the great customers that use you every day that you don’t have these issues with. I agree with Tom that there are probably other issues at hand. I hope you don’t charge to this customer and that you got paid on delivery for the work you did do.
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First off I would say you have to have processes and procedures and then follow them Without Fail! Don’t let customers talk you out of doing what’s right. Two bays are really hard to work with, especially if you get vehicles tore down and can’t move them. Expand if at all possible even if it’s just one more bay so you can have an open one to do brakes etc, in. You are correct in saying you should be doing more smaller jobs, way more upside and margin in those than in large tear downs etc… I have also worked with shops in the past that worked off of scissor lifts outside, (and floor jacks) good weather and bad. Step back from the business and make decisions in a rational way and try not to get emotionally involved. I could go into the whole bailing out the friend thing but I won’t. I’ll tell you probably one of the greatest lessons my dad ever gave me. “You don’t have to do business with all of the people, just the right people. It’s up to you to know the difference.” Back to the scope of work changes, YOU must keep the customer informed at all times. With what you are doing I would even look into rental vehicles so it eases the burden of having customers without their vehicle. #1 complaint of unhappy customers, I didn’t get my vehicle back when promised. I could probably come up with some more ideas if I knew some more specifics.
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I always tell my clients to sit down as a shop and come up with schedules that YOU believe in as a group. If they don’t believe in what they recommend then they won’t sell it.
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NICE!! Keep up the great work. Curious, What is your target on Labor Margin? Productivity?
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With my clients I take it one step further than what Tom stated. I also include what’s called the technicians tax & benefit load. Add up all of the expenses that are directly related to having that technician in your shop. Payroll taxes, uniforms, health insurance, employee meals etc…This is what your techs true costs to the company are and make sure you let all of your employees at the end of the year know what their total benefits package was.
Once you have that number then you can figure out what your labor rate needs to be for YOUR shop.
At minimum your labor profit margin should be 60% or ABOVE
Stop worrying and fretting about what your competition is doing and focus on what your business is doing. Every shop is unique in that all of its expenses etc…are unique to that shop. Whatever you do don’t use the Oreo method of labor rates. That’s where you call all the shops in town and end up in the middle.
If you would like a copy of the work sheet that I use feel free to email me.
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Make sure that you have the technicians tax & benefit load figured in so you get a completely accurate view of what your true labor costs are.
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What I heard was stated is 24/24 but we go beyond that. So if that’s the case then why don’t you move your stated to lifetime parts/48000 miles. I tell most of my clients to go to a minimum of 36/36000 whichever benefits the customer most. So if it’s 38 months but 30000 guess what, we are going to take care of it.
The other thing is you have to make sure your parts profit margin is high enough to support the occasional warranty issues. Minimum of 55% at the end of the month on your profit or loss statement. Track and measure your comebacks and see if they are training issues or truly parts related.
Vendor relationships, you have to have someone that has your back. They are out there don’t let one company lock you in and take advantage of you. Unless it’s that company that does whatever it takes to keep your business.
The other way to go is to have a warranty program that is almost like a good, better, best. The good parts have a 24/24 warranty whereas the best is a lifetime warranty. Inform the customer of what their options are and then stick with what you decide to do in your shop. You are the professionals after all. Invest in some service advisor training so that you know what they are telling your clients and what they are selling/offering them.
Just curious, what is your current parts margin??
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I think first you have to hire right. You have to do a good enough job interviewing potential techs that they understand how important it is to you that they already have and keep the certs or in growing your own you have to set the expectation that they test for X amount (and pass) every year or every cycle.
2nd you have to have a pay plan in place that rewards them for getting their certs.
3rd find out what motivates your techs and use that to your advantage.
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ACTstaffing used to be good 6 years ago. Since then not so much. I try to have all of my clients grow their own.
Editing my post,
After writing this Joe Henry and I had a talk and he let me access the site again for a while to try it out and get a fresh perspective.
I like the custom resume search and the ease of posting an ad. I still find the regular resume search a little bit cumbersome. The most current potential employees available are on the first page. I find it a little confusing that there could be several pages of people that might not be looking. After some thought though I think it is good to look past the 1st page and contact anyone that you are interested in, you never know what their current situation is and you might just be the shop the candidate has been needing and they just didn’t know it.
I was able to hire a service advisor that wasn’t looking for a job, he just listened for a few minutes and I told him what we offered and what our bonus pay plan was etc….
I would say that ACT should be used just like a tool in your tool box. If you never pull it out and use it then you can’t complain about it not working. If you need employees (who doesn’t) then I would give them a chance and really listen to what they can do and take good notes during the videos because even I missed some of the things their site can do.
If you aren’t currently doing anything to find employees then this will put you way above what you are currently doing.
You get out what you put in……………………..
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I advise my clients to keep a log both for estimates and all incoming phone calls.
We follow up on these 3 days after the initial contact. We call to see if the customer did the work somewhere else. If they did we thank them for the opportunity to have them as a customer and tell them we would like the opportunity to serve them in the future. If not then we talk to them again about the reasons why they should do business with us and try to get them in again.
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To be filled out by the customer.
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It’s kind of like the difference between a 200 dollar tattoo and a 2000 dollar tattoo.
Hunter has a great product and usually their support is good and fast. I guess it would depend on what part of the country you are in.
What are your expectations of an alignment machine? Do you have a POS system that will interface with the machine so it can get your quick checks etc over?
If for some reason you stopped doing alignments for a month will the payment be an anchor around your neck? Will you be able to expand to 3,4,5, alignments per day?
What is your weekly car count? You should be doing alignments on about 30% of the vehicles that come through your shop.
Which one of these machines will be with you 5,10,15 years from now?
Make sure to figure any tech costs loaded into your payback figures. If you plan on doing any advertising specific to alignments you need to include that cost into your payback as well.
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I love this! Thank You for sharing.
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I am coming to this thread late. For my money the best in the country is Kukui. If you want information about how well it works contact me and we can get together and I can tell you about how my clients are doing on their platform and how I coach them from the Kukui dashboard.
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The pay plans that I create are based on sales and Gross Profit. This should be the carrot to dangle out in front of your service advisor. Typically I try to keep the pay plan between 7 & 10% of sales, depending on what type of advisor you have. 10% would be more towards the they are running the shop and you are mostly an absentee owner type of situation.
I am happy to help if you would like to see a sample pay plan or would like me to create one for you. Just email me: chris@autofixsos.com
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All of my clients have a budget based on total sales. (3%)All advertising is done through their website and adwords. Almost none of my clients use their entire budget.
This is a 3 month period. 1347.00 for website. 418.37 for adwords= 1765.37. Generated 249 leads and 99 new customers. For a conversion rate of 39% Total cost of leads generated=7.08 cost of New Customer= 17.83
Summarize:
Total Cost =1765.37
Revenue Generated= 30500.87
New Customer Cost=17.83
ARO for those customers=308.08
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Did you have any signed paperwork(NDA) protecting your client lists and or a non-compete clause document? I realize these are hard to enforce but if you never got one signed then you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
