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Thanks Tom,

I’m still learning marketing/advertising in the hopes of getting a better class of customers here. One of this years goals is to increase our customer base but to increase it with customers that are looking for a higher quality of service.

Thanks for the comment and from now on I will go with my gut feeling, smile big and say, sorry. We’ll release it when we get paid.

Thanks again!

Cheryl

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Patrick,

Thanks for your response. We aren’t quite out growing just the two of us as there are days we don’t have enough work to even turn the lights on. It’s the days that things become too busy for just one person that I struggle with. We have had (2) interns from the local high school that did not work out as their interest was more in getting out of school for the day, not learning the auto repair business. (both admitted this fact to us after a couple of weeks of being here). We also had a young tech here last summer but although he had the interest in working on cars, he didn’t have enough experience for Greg to let him work alone and it was very expensive paying someone that had little experience and slowed things down. We aren’t in a position financially to hire another tech at this time, so I want to learn everything I can so I don’t have to ask questions too often.

Thanks again for responding! Any suggestions are welcome!

Cheryl

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Ralph,

Thank you for your suggestions. After being here for several years, I’ve learned quite a bit, unfortunately there are still those times that a customer asks a very technical question that I just can’t answer. I’m going to continue my “training” so that Greg can be removed completely from talking to the customers. Thanks again for your suggestions!

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Monthly general newsletters and State Inspection and oil reminders when due.

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___X__ Charge for both repair and testing, retain the original testing charge, and show each charge on separate labor lines

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No. Ours shows everything individualized.

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Jon,

I tend to agree with you regarding the discounts. We seem to drive more business in with a small discount even with our long-time current customers. Thanks!

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Tom,

I’m trying to target the 65+ seniors in our area. What type of special services would you offer? I was thinking because many of our current seniors mention being on a “fixed income” (haha aren’t we all?) that a discount would be beneficial to them. We recently added a coffee maker to our waiting area and our customers have the option of waiting while their vehicle is being serviced. We also offer free Wi-Fi for those that want to stay connected while waiting.

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Our policy is to get authorization for up to 2 hours of diagnostic time up front. We explain to the customer this gives us a starting point, they know we will not exceed the 2 hour time limit without calling them with an update. If we use the full 2 hours of time and still need additional, we will call at that time. However, if we don’t use the full 2 hours, we bill the customer only the amount of diagnostic time used plus parts and labor the correct the problem. We always explain to a customer that with a check engine light, if you replace 1 part it may not always fix the entire problem, there could be underlying issues that may require further diagnostic time. I always note this on the customer RO also. This seems to have worked for us over the past year or so.