Shop Management Articles
Dive a bit deeper into topics that impact your day-to-day operations and your bottom line.
How Rising Energy Costs Affect the Economy
With rising energy costs, the rising price of crude oil, and corresponding increases at the pump, consumers can expect to pay more for…everything. Given that the country is still in recession due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the resultant lockdowns, this will have an impact on the retail and service economy. How will it affect…
Telephone Systems for Auto Repair Shops
What kind of telephone system does your auto repair shop use? Many smaller shops use the traditional, landline phone systems that we are all familiar with. How do on-premise phone systems differ from hosted telephone systems, and how can expanded telephone features help a shop’s marketing and bottom line? On-premise Telephone Systems An on-premise system…
Using Signage to Educate Your Customers
In our last blog we talked about the importance of customer education. A majority of customer education is the responsibility of the service advisors in your shop. It’s an active part of the process of selling repairs to the public. You can help your service advisors do their job, however, by using signage to educate…
Customer Education is Part of Building Trust
In our last blog we discussed how important shop transparency is for building the trust necessary between an auto shop and its customers. One of the ways to do this is for shops to focus on customer education. Do your service advisors take time to explain repairs or the necessity of repairs? Without that understanding,…
Which Are the Best Job Boards for Recruiting?
In one of our more recent polls, we asked our members to weigh in on which methods they use to find and hire auto repair techs. If you would like to add your response to this poll, vote on our survey page. Job boards are one way auto repair shop owners and managers use to…
Hiring Based on Personality
Hiring is a complex process, and right now in the auto repair industry everyone is focused on it. Every owner or hiring manager wants to do an exceptional job finding and hiring the right techs so that they will be able to maintain and grow their auto shop. One aspect of hiring we haven’t covered…
Using a Recruiter to Find Technicians
One of the biggest challenges that auto repair shops face is staffing: finding and hiring enough technicians. On one of our most recent surveys we asked our members to tell us how they go about finding techs to hire. One of the options we gave was to use a professional recruiter or staffing service. In…
What Is the Best Automotive Management Software?
Readers frequently come to the Automotive Management network because they have a specific question in mind: What is the best automotive management software? There is no simple answer to that question, of course. It depends on what a specific auto shop needs. Because we want to help our members answer that question for themselves, we’ve…
Survey: Finding and Hiring Technicians
The Automotive Management Network currently has a poll about finding and hiring technicians. If you have not yet taken it, please go here and share your experience. We would appreciate learning what you can tell us about how your shop finds techs, so please check all answers that apply. Where to Go for Finding and…
Average Repair Order: Maximize the Work on Each Vehicle You Repair
It’s a tough time to own a business – any business. In the auto industry COVID-19 has kept people indoors and off the roads. Fewer miles driven means that there is less of a need for auto repair. Most auto shops are highly interested in discovering how they can make up for the lack of…