[mhambaum]

Quoting from the customer’s email:

“The labor cost on my bill was $XXX. We were there one hour. Is this the right (standard) amount?”

Hi Tom,

Not knowing the whole story (context) makes crafting a response difficult, but here’s one that might work…

Regarding your question, “Is this the right (standard) amount?” The answer is both yes and no. I don’t mean to be flippant, but that is the simple truth.

There are labor guide publications that provide labor time standards. However, it’s important to note that these are only GUIDELINES. No two vehicles are exactly alike and no two repair shops are exactly alike in terms of warranty, staffing, expertise, tooling, parts inventory, and other business considerations that impact labor times AND labor rates.

We do our best to provide the best price/value relationship with every service that we provide.

I hope I’ve clearly answered your question. I hope also that you’re completely satisfied with every aspect of our service, including the price/value relationship. I intend to follow up with you within the next week or so. If in the meantime you have any questions or concerns, please contact me immediately by email or phone.

Sincerely,
xxxxxxx

[mhambaum]

Here’s one idea… Create for yourself (with your husband’s technical input) a Features, Advantages, and Benefits worksheet/job aid for major services that you perform and components that you replace. To do this, start anywhere. Make a list of services and components that come to mind, along with any FAQ that come to mind regarding them. This list will be a work in progress as you encounter new services/components.

Two things will happen with this. First, as you prepare estimates and prepare to call your customers you’ll have a job aid to refer to. Secondly, as you write this stuff out and refer to it over time, it’ll cement in your mind, to the point where you may not need it anymore. In other words, it’s a good training tool.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[mhambaum]

If a customer schedules for a noise or a leak, how much time do you set aside for your tech to check out the complaint? If the customer needs over 2 hours of repairs, how do you plan your schedule for these unexpected repairs?

Do you upsell to a new customer during the first appointment? Or just mention maintenance the vehicle needs when the customer picks up?

Greetings,

It has been quite sometime since I’ve visited this forum, so I may be a bit rusty on how things flow here.

Tom’s idea about using your avg. hours per RO as a general guide for scheduling purposes can work well, but be more specific when you can. You do this by qualifying the concern as best you can – Where’s the noise coming from? What sound does it make? Under what circumstances? The answers to these may give you some clues as to what’s going on (the same would hold for leaks).

Next, I think any NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) complaint should be road tested WITH the customer. It’s imperative that you confirm the customer’s concern EXACTLY. No one is as “tuned” to the car as the person who drives it every day. I’ve seen many instances where the repair shop either didn’t hear/feel the customer’s concern, or they heard/felt something totally different.

I’m not suggesting that it’s necessary to pull a tech for this initial confirmation, this is an administrative/management function – the SA can go for a ride with the customer. I realize that this may pose a challenge for some shops, but so is NOT fixing it right the first time, which is what happens if you don’t hear/feel the concern or “fix” the wrong concern.

Back to the issue of scheduling, your confirmation road test may provide you some insight as to how to schedule.

Regarding your next question of up-selling maintenance on the first appointment… It’s crucial to establish yourself with a new customer right-off-the-bat. I don’t know you or your philosophy (if you will) as it relates to maintenance. However, IF your mindset is one of: Our mission is keeping you on the road and never stranded along side of it. If you believe that a long-term vehicle ownership goal is, economically speaking, in the best interest of most people – THEN you will want to be proactive with them regarding maintenance. The question is, HOW?

When I first worked as an SA (many years ago, don’t ask how many :o) I was trained to present the maintenance needs, whether the customer asked for them or not. That strategy is HOGWASH in my opinion.

Here’s my advice…. When scheduling that customer for the first time, make sure the customer is prepared to spend up to 15 minutes for write-up. Why? In addition to gathering the basic needed info, you should ask your customer questions that will help you understand his/her vehicle ownership goals and maintenance tendencies. The reason you do this, of course, is because you’re about more than just fixing broken cars. What this should lead you to is not a sales pitch for maintenance services, but rather permission for you to inspect and evaluate the vehicle in one of two or three ways.

I’ll leave it at that for now. I’d be happy to elaborate on this more if you’re interested.

Regards,