[david Graber]

There are many good groups out there. The first things I would do is request to join the Facebook group “Shop Hackers”. Lots of good content on that site. I am a member of ShopFix. There is no contact, and its a monthly cost. Great coaches, and lots and lots of training video’s. They offer a lower group at lower cost. I would try that first to get your feet wet, and take it from there. I have tried other top 20 groups over the years, but ShopFix was the group for me. Aaron Stokes who started the group is very smart person. I had meet him when we were in another top 20 group years ago. Also, this site here, automotive management network, is great for Info and charts. When I first went into business, I found shops who weren’t in my area, that had been in business for years with great Google reviews, and reached out to them for advice. But the one thing I would highly recommend is learning how to run your business by the numbers. Numbers like Gross Profit on parts and labor, your true Effective Labor Rate, cost of overhead per bay, profit per hour billed out, and others. Hope this helps. If you have and other questions, feel free to reach out to me. I am always willing to help a new shop owner. ( dave@davesautoservices.com )

[david Graber]

January sales was down 10%.  February is starting out slow. First 8 days are down 35% compared to last February first 8 days.

 

[david Graber]

No, just surfing the website. And hoping Pa. Governor , If that’s what you want to call him, opens the state up sooner than May 8. , but I think he will extend it through June.

 

[david Graber]

We quote a base price judging by others we have done. But we also at the same time tell them its time & Material.

[david Graber]

I have taken classes over the years both on line and class room. I have gone to a couple of Tom Hams classes when he was in my area. I still have his material today in my office. I have been with several coaching groups over the years. The important thing is to find one that you are comfortable with. I am currently with Aaron Stokes /  Shop Fix Academy. I am really please with that group. I knew Aaron was very knowability. I had first meet him in a coaching group years ago called Turn Around Tours with Gary Gunn.  But the important thing is, if you don’t make any changes, then your wasting your time and money no matter what coaching group you go with.

 

[david Graber]

2 hrs for pads & rotors.

2 1/2 hrs for pads , rotors, and calipers.

2 3/4 hrs for pads, rotors, calipers and hoses.

” If working on a 4 wheel drive truck, and 3/4 ton and bigger, we look up labor time and see if it is more than what we normally charge.  And if dealing with rust, we charge extra.

Some euro cars we charge extra labor

[david Graber]

We have been doing a newsletter for about 6 yrs, Our first newsletter was all automotive only. When we had switch to a newsletter that wasn’t all automotive, and we started putting a insert inside with some coupons, we started getting better results. We have customers tell us they had our newsletter laying on their table for a couple weeks and remember they needed to call for a appointment for service. If they hadn’t seen our newsletter, would they have remember to call or even call us for the appointment and not another shop. We run a report in our management system and who ever has been in for service / repairs in the pass 12 months, they are the ones we send them to. I also look at it this way, for what it cost to run a add in the newspaper for only 1 or 2 days, I can spend the same or less money and market direct to my customers that I know who have been in for repairs and will spend money. Hope this helps you.

[david Graber]

I had used Cinron at one time. He has some great ideals, but I cancel his services because when I had some one-on-one with him, I didn’t like how he treated me. There is some other things I could say about him, but I don’t have all day to list everything. I have been using Dan Cricks Results Marketing. He is from Ohio and has a great personalilty, and he also was a garage owner for about 20 years. There is others out there, but the important thing is to find someone who you feel is really going to help your marketing and not just take your money and treat you like a nobody.

[david Graber]

We have a “check” machine. It gets used everyday. It has saved us a few times from leaving a vehicle go and finding out later that the check wasn’t any good. We have ours thought our bank. If you would like, give us a call at our garage (610-367-1844), and my wife well be glad to give any info about ours. Just ask for Kim.

[david Graber]

Thanks for the reply. And the internet, that’s a another thing that gets me tick off. But that’s for another time.

[david Graber]

If done right, you can tell who the bottom feeders are. But I do have some customers who had apear to be bottom feeders and turn out to be great customers. I had some customers who were bottom feeders that I had told in a nice way that maybe they should go look for another repair garage who could give them the type of repairs that they were looking for. ( like using muffler wrap to fix a exhaust leak and a hot dog roll to fix a radiator leak.) The sad part about this is, they had the income of 5 times of what mine income is. I would have not done anything like this years ago. But it is harder to get people to your front door than it was years ago. You have to start thinking outside of the box to get new customers to your door and also to keep your current customers happy. We are dealing with a different type of customer today than we were years ago. Iam not saying you have to give the farm away, but give them a incentive to come to you. Then it is your job to keep them coming back to you. Treat them right, make them feel like they are more than a customer, more like a friend, they will keep coming back to you. Old marketing from years ago dosent always work today. I know Iam one of the highest price garages in town. And that is mostly due to the fact of everybody else dosent know what profit % they need to make to stay profitable. They are to busy lowering their prices to get work. Then they wounder why they are just making ends meet and not having a net profit after overhead and payroll is paid. So I guess you could say Iam “baiting” the customer to come to my front door. And yes, I do sleep very good at night. And also, I do have customers who tell me that I charge more than others, but they keep coming back because they tell my wife and I That we treat them fair and we are honest with them and upfront. They think of use as “friends”.

[david Graber]

We also do the free “check engine” light check because of AZ that is just down the street. When they ask what will fix it, I give the speech of how it could be anything from a sensor, wiring problem, or even a mechanical problem. Then I explain how we need to do some testing so we can find the cause of the problem without just throwing parts on that could be costly. Then I inform the customer what the cost is per 1/2 hour for testing and have them decide how much time they want us to spend on testing. I use to say by the hour, but charging by the 1/2 hour sounds cheaper in their mine. No body likes doing check engine light problems because it isnt as profitable as doing a brake job, but advertising “free check engine light checks” gets some new customers to your door. Now you can get all their information, and if you get the job for further testing, you also get to do “free” vehicle inspection while you are working on the vehicle for other up-sells.

[david Graber]

We use to do the “el-cheap-o” oil change at one time. Then what started to slowly happen was, we were getting more oil change customers only. And no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t turn them into good customers. So about 7 years ago, we change how we charge for oil changes. We have our basic oil change. We charge for the oil and filter,check tire pressure and a labor charge of 1/4 of our hourly labor rate. Then we have our full service oil change. We do oil and filter, check all fluids, tire pressure, grease any fittings, spray lube sway bar bushings and links, door latches and hinges, check all filters, hoses, belts, clean windows, and a general check over. We charge for all fluids, oil, oil filter, and 3/4 of our labor rate. If we up sell anything, then there is a labor charge for parts and labor. If the time it takes to change the air and cabin filter is only a matter of a couple of minutes, we don’t charge any labor. But we may add something to the cost of the filters. On a side note, when a customer is only getting a basic oil change, we still do a quick safety check. This has worked great for us. Most of our customers will alternate from the basic to the full service. We do have some who will only get a full service every third time. And we do have some who get their oil changes at Wal-Mart, but have us do all their other services and repairs, with no complaints about price. This has been working great for us. Some feel that this type of oil change pricing wouldn’t work in their area. Well, I can tell you this, within a 10 mile” radius, there was 18 factories, everything from “Miss Smith pies”, Dana, Firestone, Boyertown Body works, Wagner Electric, Occidental, Stanley Tools, and many more. Times are tough for everyone, but I still think most customers don’t mine paying for good service.

[david Graber]

we have been using it for about four years. we use it as a customer retension tool. we have been putting coupons in the news letter for $10 off labor, $10 off a trans service, etc;. we have gotten customers to get a service offer done because of the coupon. i would like to send it every month to my top 30% customers but they only do every three months. i was worried at first because it is all “automotive” but i get a good feedback about the newsletter from most of my customers.

[david Graber]

My goals are to grow the business and hire help for the front office so someday my wife and I could take a day or two off once in awhile. I always hate to turn work away, but we do, because its getting harder to deal with people and retain customers let alone bring new customers in. I know i have to let this tech go, and hope to find someone better. what i just dont understand is why dosent todays generation want to work ” harder” to gain more wealth and put themself in a better financial position?

[david Graber]

we have tryed that before a few years back. may have to try it again but with a different aproach.

[david Graber]

thank you very much for the infomation.

[david Graber]

we dont use poor quailty parts. we use mostly napa parts or dealer. we had gotten a fuel pump from the local chevrolet dealer. we always bench test it first before we install the part. well guess what? it didnt work. when my wife call the dealer, the parts manager comment was ” that dosent surprise me”. we have already found window and wiper motors bad right out of the box. and if we ever get a part were the box has been open or tape closed, we send it back. other garages in the eara tell me they have the same problem. it isnt any fun when you have to do the job over.