Tips

A first-timer walks in your front door. “I need some door dings fixed. Do you do that?” Most indie shops do not offer that service, but make sure you know of one or two businesses that do offer that service. The same goes for almost any question. Storage. Accessories. Glass. Anything. You want that person to leave with a positive vibe of you. Hand them your brochure and mention that you can offer most of the services they use, so please check with us next time you need anything for your car! Think long-term.

Joe, the customer, finds your website and uses the contact form to ask a question. If your shop is typical, the completed form will collect dust for hours, days, weeks, or eternally. Believe it or not, this is SOP in most shops today. But Joe filled out forms for several other shops since he had seen this movie before. Where did Joe go? One, maybe two, shops replied to him within minutes. That’s why he is in their bay and not yours. All you need to do is respond promptly. Even if it’s to tell Joe, you will check and get back to him soon. When you convince yourself and your staff to treat all forms of customer contact like a ringing phone, your car count will increase.

Copyright © 2003 – 2024 Automotive Management Network

Another big difference between wildly successful and average shops is giving fantastic service to all customers, vehicles, and jobs. The financially weak customer with a Kia oil change gets the same excellent service as the Lexus owner dropping $5k. Wise advisors understand that they are all interconnected.

Adjust. Constantly.

Of course, you need to stick to your values. Beyond that, there are usually many ways to skin a cat. Loosening your grip on excess rigidity can allow you and your staff to accomplish more while lowering stress.

What can you adjust to today?

Throw out a new idea they have not heard before.

The top shop owners will let you finish and then say: “Tell me more.”

The others will probably interrupt you before you have finished and tell you three reasons why it won’t work.

Which are you? It’s not all that hard to change, and the benefits can be excellent.

Precisely what do you have? Bought when? From who? How much? Where is it? Create a simple spreadsheet. Item, date, vendor, price, and location. If you are super disciplined, record everything you buy when you buy it. Or, if you are like me, set a monthly reminder to record anything you bought in the past month. As time goes by, you will find this very handy from time to time.

Copyright © 2003 – 2024 Automotive Management Network

Regardless of your age or brilliance, depend on your memory for nothing. You are not perfect, and you will forget some things. Make it simple. Grab your phone and send yourself an email with the topic in the title line. That took ten seconds. Done. Only get rid of these emails once the issue is taken care of. To get them off your screen snooze them to a later time. Make management easier!

When their starting time is 8:00, and they walk in at 8:02, greet them clearly and loudly enough for other employees to hear.

“Good afternoon, Mr. ________ !”

pause briefly.

Then say: “So nice of you to join us today!”

That’s what my boss at my first job did in the 60s. It won’t work for everyone, but it will motivate some employees to reduce the late arrivals.

PITN customers help us appreciate better customers.

Handling PITN customers well is often good customer service practice.

PITN customers are often not welcome in other businesses, and because of that, they are sometimes a great source of new customers through their referrals to your business.

Copyright © 2003 – 2024 Automotive Management Network

We’ve all heard the suggestion that we should try to get preauthorization to speed up the process and increase sales. However, a policy asking everyone to authorize a large amount upfront is debatable. So, try this. Add that information to their customer notes when a customer proves to be problematic regarding authorization. Politely push those customers for preauthorization the next time they come in. Maybe you will tell them why. Maybe not. Either way, you are applying this procedure where it is most needed instead of all your customers.

Maybe it’s a request. Or something you just thought of. It’s a task of some kind that definitely can be completed in less than five minutes. You have all the resources you will need. You could try to remember to do it later. You could add it to your to-do list. Or, you could put it behind you immediately. Do it now. Make it a habit. You will get more done. You will gain respect and appreciation from others.

Always include today’s date on everything when you are writing something. When creating a document, add it to the title line.

Loaner car procedure 11.21.23

Add the date when writing on a part or tool with your Sharpie.

Save this box 2.16.24

Customer or vehicle notes

She moved here from Cleveland on 12.4.23

Those two seconds will regularly save you minutes and sometimes hours somewhere down the road.

If you were the customer, what would you like to happen? Do that. Too easy? Pose the question to everyone on your staff. Odds are the answers will point you in the right direction. Still too simple? This is where a quickly accessible peer group of first-class shop owners comes in handy. They are not personally involved in the situation, allowing them to give replies lacking emotion. Handle all complaints this way and watch your reputation improve.

An issue comes up, and you need to decide what to do.

You think about it and devise three possible ways to approach it. You must take some action! Doing nothing avoids the problem, and that’s no way to manage it. Right? Well – maybe.

We are often taught that it’s important to address things and do so promptly. Usually, that is true. But not always. Sometimes, Option 4 is the way to go. For now, do nothing. Certain issues are best left alone to cook a bit longer. Sometimes, they will disappear or become minimally important.

This tip is not intended to be an encouragement to procrastinators. This tip is designed for the folks at the other end of the spectrum who always feel they must act and often do so quickly.

Bottom line? Always include Option 4 as one of your choices.

You hear someone make a statement. You know they are wrong. But are you 100% sure? If not, be quiet. Later, when you get a chance, recheck the facts. You might be incorrect. Or maybe you are entirely correct. Or maybe after double-checking, you’ll decide it doesn’t matter all that much. Let’s forget about it and move on.

Your list is enormous. Probably more extensive than some shops, but probably smaller than many others! Fix a leak. Just one leak repair that saves a few dollars. Next week, fix another one. As time goes by, your profits increase. Slowly, but the keyword is “increase”. Never stop. You will like it when your earnings have doubled a few years from now.

Give him or her a new task. Make sure they receive every marketing email, text, or mailer of any kind from your shop. Tell them you want these to be exceptional in every way. Their job is to spend five minutes looking it over thoroughly, then reply to you with anything that comes to mind. This is one of the end-of-the-line steps that many businesses so often overlook. Make sure your business is not one of them.

Everyone has a lot of things going on in their life, including your employees. Be politely nosey. Maybe they have good news or bad news they’d like to share with someone. Perhaps there is something you should know. Maybe they have an issue you can help with in some way. You cannot act, advise, or help if you don’t know what’s happening, and sometimes you must be a bit nosey to find out.

You can’t pick it up if it’s not there. You’ve hired people to answer the phone. Create a telephone answering policy that does not involve you. When you need to make a call, use your cell.

Move that business phone set into the lunchroom, making it easier for advisors to use it as a quiet place to talk with customers. Now you’ll get a bit more work done a bit more efficiently.

An average of 50 or more in a 40-hour week is a reasonable goal in most independent shop settings. The technician brings his ability, and the shop owner must do the rest right. The list is long; the two most significant issues are authorizations and parts. If none of your techs have ever averaged 50 hours, your shop likely needs serious management work.

Virtually everything you can do today – every accomplishment, talent, skill – would have been accurately preceded by: “I don’t know how to do that.” Then, you learned how to do that. You probably can have a multi-million dollar shop. You can likely have a lot of shops. But first, you have to learn how.

Your website, social sites, and other places on the internet probably have photos of your shop—sometimes from two, five, ten, and even twenty years ago. The odds are many of them should be updated or deleted. Photo quality, shop improvements, and staff changes are some issues. Enter a reminder in your calendar to check this once a year. These photos are how potential new customers often see you for the first time. Look your best!

Auto repair shop growth is typically proportional to how much a business is willing to spend (wisely) on employees. Low spenders tend to stay small even if they do everything else right. Companies that spend liberally in smart ways grow fast and often become huge.

Copyright © 2003 – 2023 Automotive Management Network

On the way to gathering the initial vehicle information, stop at the car’s front corner and take a photo large enough to include the whole car. Including this photo on the RO will accurately imply that subsequent pictures and information are specifically for the customer’s car and not generic. A bit of assurance that we are sending unique information intended for them.

Once each week, post on your shop communication system (Slack, etc.) all the days and weeks employees will be off during the year. Posting the schedule will reduce questions and surprises that often occur.

Reservations for days off:

April 19, 20, 21, 24, 2023 – FULL DAYS OFF Ricky

June 19-23, 2023 – FULL WEEK OFF Ethyl

June 30, 2023 – FULL DAY OFF Lucy

July 3, 2023 – FULL DAY OFF Fred

August 14-18, 2023 – FULL WEEK OFF Bobby

Nov 20, 21, 22, 2023 – FULL DAYS OFF Little Ricky

November 24, 2023 – FULL DAY OFF McGillicuddy