Tips

Techs need information that is both plentiful and readily accessible. This means that, with the exception of certain private and financial information, techs should be able to quickly access almost everything that you have available. In addition to repair information this should include vehicle service history, relative websites, email, instant messaging and so on. To make access both fast and easy, techs should have computers as close as their tool box and have them hooked up to high speed internet. Remember that the most common reason that techs are inefficient is due to the environment that they are working in.

A common complaint among shop owners is how often their techs go over the allowed time, especially for testing. Do you always make it crystal clear how much time is allowed? Are the times clearly written on the RO next to each labor operation with a big red circle around them? Is a reasonable written explanation mandatory when the time is exceeded by more than a tenth or two? Has it been made clear that any and all information that the tech has which may affect the time is welcomed and encouraged? Putting these systems in place will typically achieve two things: Less time wasted and improved labor estimates. In this economy most shops could use both.

Do you have a solid system for handling RO’s? If anyone in your shop is asking where an RO is more than once in a great while, your system needs help. Create a written “road map” of where every RO is supposed to be at every point in the service process. Be specific, but also keep the plan no longer than a double spaced single page. Anyone in your shop should be able to find any RO almost instantly. Failure to do things like this exceptionally well wastes a little bit of time each day and ends up costing hundreds of dollars (or more) over the period of a year.

“But, the car will only be in the shop for a few minutes!” True, but a few minutes is all it takes to “lose the keys”. While it may not occur all that often, when it does it really throws sand in the gears and, worst of all, it’s very embarrassing when the customer watches you and your staff do the key search dance. Those little vinyl key tags (or similar) are cheap. Use them every time and prevent just one or two more fires this year.

When we buy equipment, we always (at least in theory) calculate our ROI (return on investment). A label maker can pay for itself very rapidly…in a matter of hours in some shops. However, pride keeps a lot of people from stooping to the level of “labeling everything”. We are smart! We know where everything is! The most labeled shop I’ve ever been in was a one man operation where the need for labeling would seem to be the least. But this guy wanted peak efficiency and profits, and he was getting just that. Remember that the next time you wish that your efficiency was a bit better or when you are wasting time looking for something that is lacking a labeled location.

Many shops seem to be inundated with homeless parts. They lay in odd locations, often for extended periods of time, and eventually may just disappear. Some get reordered (now we have two, but no one knows that). When a part arrives at your counter, send it immediately to its proper home. If there is no specific home yet, then create a home (you could even label it “no specific home yet”). Create homes for every part in your building such as: Waiting for approval, Technician Fred, Cores, Returns (one for each vendor), Needs to be added to Inventory, etc. You get the idea. Stop homelessness at your shop today!

Too often, the answer is no. Here are some ideas that should help. 1: When the part to replace a defective one arrives, immediately place a defective (or warranty) sticker on the box so everyone in the shop knows to put the old part back in the box and save it. 2: Put all defective parts in a specifically labeled location (a large plastic bin works well). 3: Create files for each vendor that contain the necessary claim forms before a problem occurs. 4: When a parts vendor picks up a defective part, place a copy of the receipt in those same files until you get paid. 5: Assign the job of checking both the bin of defective parts and the appropriate files weekly and handle them as needed.

It’s a problem in almost every shop to some extent. Many causes of parts waiting can be reduced or eliminated with some simple fixes. 1: When anyone (tech, advisor, etc.) is 90% sure that a part will be needed, order it now. 2: Restock common parts from primary vendors daily. 3: Assign parts handling to one individual as much as possible. 4: Check the schedule for tomorrow and beyond every afternoon and order parts likely to be needed. Finally, when implementing these or any other parts handling systems, make sure that each one is scheduled and assigned so it actually happens.

How good are the communications between staff members in your shop? Is the process simple and quick, occurring just once in most cases? Here are a few methods which have helped greatly in many shops: Instant messaging, emails, dry erase boards, PC’s for everyone, texting, and advanced phone systems. In many shops verbal communication and walking around to find someone have been significantly reduced allowing everyone to spend more time doing their job with more accurate information.

Many shops have a shelf or cabinet for shop supplies located somewhere in the shop where everyone goes for almost any type of supply item. Duplicating the shelf in several places throughout the shop will keep your techs closer to the job they are working on, and prevent several wasted minutes each day. Do that for a year and you have some real money. Also, if you do not already do so, encourage the techs to keep the five or so most used supplies on their tool cart.

If you’ve ever spent time on the phone trying to get the parts guy at the dealer to understand what part you are looking for, or faxing pictures back and forth with the dealer parts department, you know how frustrating and time consuming it can be. Crash guides, which are used primarily in body shops, will usually simplify the process. The tech looks at the picture in the crash guide (things like the inside guts of a door), picks the part he wants, you call the dealer with the part number, and you are done. Crash guides are available by subscription or can often be found used on the internet.

A common problem in many shops is keeping track of the special tools that are purchased. Did we ever buy that tool? Where do we keep it? Who knows the answers? Try the following. When you buy a special tool, enter it into your parts inventory including the part number, description, and location in your shop. Now the techs can easily see if you have it by checking the part number (from the service information) in your management system. They can also see where it is kept; which makes it both easy to find and easy to put away when done.

You come up with a good marketing promotion, but you fail to place it on a marketing schedule. You decide to restripe your parking lot. It looks great! But, you do not place it on a maintenance schedule so it is done again every spring. Schedules are not only for service appointments. The smoothest operations schedule (and assign) virtually everything that they want to recur. Lower the stress level and prevent wasted management effort dealing with the same things over and over again. Schedules are one easy way to do just that.

Is there a lot of time wasted waiting for estimates in your shop? Or, are estimates for additional items found often not performed because they take so long to complete? Part of the solution may be as simple as reassigning what your staff does. Do you have certain employees who are better at estimating and others who are better at dealing with people? Some shops have one person do most of the estimating and another take care of most of the customer contact, and find this to be far more efficient than having two or more people basically doing the same thing.

Many shops buy equipment and tools without a definite plan and end up wasting a lot of money. Creating a good plan is easy to do and to follow. Ask each one of your staff to make a prioritized list of the items that they believe are needed. This is often quite different from what many shop owners anticipate. Combine the lists and set a solid budget on how much money can be spent each month. Then start picking off the items on the list when enough funds are available. This system allows you buy the most critical items first while preventing wasted purchases.

Ask each one of your employees to make a list (the larger the better) of anything and everything in your building that they believe would not be seriously missed if it was gone. Odds are that you will be surprised at some of the things that they come up with. Now it’s your turn. When none of your staff (this works best if does not include you) have any significant objection to something disappearing, this is your cue to make it vanish. If you can’t bear to see it go, then take it home or to an off site storage building. Excess stuff equals decreased efficiency. Removing it will give you a better workplace and a nicer shop for your customers to see.

The lack of a technician time tracking system is a one of the biggest money drains in many shops today. There are dozens of excuses. But, the bottom line is that running a shop without tracking the tech’s time is like running a gas station with no meters on the pumps. When you track anything, you tend to get more of it and this certainly applies to tech production. It’s a simple process that has been used for decades to allow both employers and employees to increase their income. Do yourself and your staff a big favor and start tracking tech time today.

If that question occurs frequently at your shop, it is likely time to improve your tech assignment system. Review incoming cars the day before and assign as many as you can. Assign drop-offs immediately when possible. Prioritize both assigned and unassigned (jobs that can be handled by any tech) both the day before and as soon as they arrive. Your techs should be able to glance at their computer screen at any time and know exactly which car is next in line for them without asking the service advisor. A good system here will pay big dividends, especially when the shop is very busy.

Complete the RO (as much as you can) before the car arrives. If you consider all of the things that you put on an RO initially before the car is serviced (it should be a fair amount of information if you are doing your job properly), you will find that most or all of it can be entered before the car shows up. Use phone and email to find out what you need to know in advance instead of holding the customer up on your front counter where things are often busy and the customer has other things to do and places to go. Then when the car does arrive, all you need to do is ask if anything has changed since your last contact, have the customer sign and you are ready to go!

One of the most common problems in many repair shops is the lack of time and effort taken with customer write-up. Selling (in a good sense) is the key to success for a repair shop today. The write-up is where great selling begins. Do you collect all of the important customer information every time? Do you probe for the details of exactly what the customer wants and needs? Do you use customer history, current mileage and interview questions to determine other possible services? An excellent write-up procedure will often take 10-15 minutes and is normally performed best over the phone when the initial contact for service occurs. If your staff is too rushed to take the time needed to handle the procedure correctly, it may be time to review the tasks which your employees on the front counter have to handle and adjust them accordingly.

Are you closely monitoring which shops in your area are closing? Each has a certain amount of resources which could be valuable. Obviously there is equipment, inventory and the building. What could be of far greater value are the customers in the database. They will need to go somewhere and it may as well be to you. In some situations, you may want to take over the entire operation. When shops are closing, the early bird usually gets the worm. Monitor for possible closings in your area and be the first to contact them. The potential to help your shop may be just the boost you are looking for.

Why does that issue never get handled? Why is it always on the back burner? Maybe it’s not that important and should be scratched from your to do list. But what about the important issues which still do not get addressed? Odds are that no one has set a specific deadline. How can you hit a non existent target? If you assign deadlines to your most important projects, it becomes more likely that they will get done. Just make sure that you do not set too many deadlines too quickly. Be reasonable about how many you set and how soon you set them. Then hold yourself to what you have set.

Contrary to the gut instinct of many shop owners, busy does not mean great profits. Far too many shops spend a lot of effort trading dollars around while retaining very few for themselves. When it gets very busy, it can become easy to spend money that otherwise would not be spent. It also becomes more difficult to stay focused on maintaining a solid gross profit in all areas. Remember that the most profitable thing that a shop owner can do, both when things are slow and when things are busy, is to manage the money.

That is, some way to get around while you service their car. Do you have a solid system in place to offer them as many options as possible? How many of these are readily available for them at your shop: Loaner car, rental car, pickup and delivery, shuttle, or bus? The more alternatives you can offer the better. Make a list of transportation options part of your standard operating procedure and include the list in your marketing.

At least, that’s the sentiment of many in our industry. However, many shops have found wait appointments to be a huge opportunity. Instead of seeing them as interruptions, systems are created to deal with them efficiently and profitably. It is far easier to sell a customer a service face to face (with the car handy to look at) compared to over the phone. Ask what you could do to address the problems that you now have with waiters, and then put systems in place to keep customers from wandering off to the shop up the street that is happy to have them wait.