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A favorite of many members – short, to-the-point management tips. New tips are added regularly. Premium Membership is required for access.

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#266 A $250 Marketing Tour of Your Shop

If you have surfed homes for sale websites during the last few years you have watched virtual tours of houses. Realtors will typically spend $200 to $300 to have this...

Updated

July 10, 2019

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#265 How to Fire Customers Who You Don’t Want to Return

When you and I are asked how to do something we normally respond with an action of some kind. But sometimes inaction works just as well. The typical successful shop...

Updated

June 28, 2019

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#264 Toolbox – Have You Disowned Yours Yet?

If you are a shop owner or manager attempting to run a shop the worst thing you can do is grab a tool and head for a car. But if...

Updated

June 6, 2019

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#263 Management Software and Your “A” To Do List

If you have that constant nagging feeling that your shop management software system is dragging you down, then quit losing money and do something about it. Maybe that means there...

Updated

May 21, 2019

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#262 Efficiency in the Shop – Start Talking

“It doesn’t work well. It’s too noisy. I look weird like I’m talking to myself.” Voice to text. Incredible technology, but it does take a bit of practice to achieve...

Updated

May 4, 2019

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#261 Certifications and Technician Tools

You want your techs to get certified but getting them to do it is a challenge. How about every area of certification gets them $10 per week on the tool...

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April 25, 2019

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#260 Employee Search – Don’t Stop Now!

You succeeded! You finally found that tech or advisor or manager or another staff member who you’ve been searching for so long. Now you can move on to other things,...

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April 17, 2019

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#259 How to Get Great Photos for Your Marketing

Odds are that a professional photographer can take far better photos than you. And the cost just might surprise you – lower than many would guess. Considering the impact that...

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April 9, 2019

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#258 Training – Techs Won’t Go!

Unless a tech is a training addict, he (or his spouse) is thinking that I am taking an evening or Saturday away from home for zero pay. He’s right. It’s...

Updated

March 28, 2019

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#257 Blocking Spam, Telemarketers, and other Nuisance Contacts

There is no perfect email or phone blocking or filtering system. There never will be one. That means that if you attempt to filter out nuisance contacts you are guaranteed...

Updated

March 20, 2019

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#256 Employee’s First Day is Huge

This is the day that you can save yourself many hours of management time and many thousands of dollars. If any of your policies are not followed, day one is...

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March 13, 2019

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#255 Yesterday’s Email

One rule of being efficient is handling each incoming piece of information once and be done with it. That makes sense. However here is one idea that some folks find...

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February 27, 2019

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#254 Get Successful Faster

As business grows, the typical approach is to gradually improve the look of the shop and when business is great, we make the shop look great. But what if we...

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February 13, 2019

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#253 Auto Technician Help Wanted Ads That Work

If you want to attract more applicants offer something no one (or almost no one else) offers in your market. Will your cost of doing business increase? Probably. Adjustments will...

Updated

January 29, 2019

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#252 Finish Eating What’s on Your Plate

Running a small business – certainly an auto repair shop – asks you to be the ultimate multi-tasker. Don’t do it. It’s not efficient. It is highly stressful. Just take...

Updated

December 30, 2018

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#251 Marketing – Cheap. Effective. But Very Few Do It.

Where we live in SW Florida not a week goes by that someone does not knock on our front door offering a service of one kind or another. Lawn care,...

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December 19, 2018

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#250 Technician and Advisor Efficiency and Computers

How many of your desktops and laptops have solid state drives? While the cost is higher the difference is like day and night with a speed increase for many tasks...

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December 10, 2018

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#249 Does Your Shop Management Software Do Too Much?

There are a few shops out there who have a staff of computer wizards, but not very many. In most shops the staff is average when it comes to computer...

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November 26, 2018

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#248 Simple Fix for Employees Coming in Late

This idea works well with many employees. Shorten their work day. If they can’t make it in by 8:00, tell them you understand, and their new start time is 8:30....

Updated

November 7, 2018

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#247 Reduce Your Management Effort and Get Better Results

A typical shop owner or manager spends far too much time reinventing the wheel. Some management decisions are unique and require a lot of thought and effort, but most do...

Updated

October 21, 2018

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#246 The Booked Ahead Problem

Customers today are looking for prompt service. A shop that is well managed can normally get a car in and at least take an initial look at it the same...

Updated

October 3, 2018

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#245 Once a Day EASY Marketing

As you move throughout your shop during the day watch for anything that could be interesting to a vehicle owner. Which is not as complicated as one might think. Things...

Updated

September 17, 2018

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#244 Dynamic Pricing

Does it make sense to maintain a constant price on a service regardless of circumstances? Or would it make more sense to adjust that price related to a variety of...

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August 27, 2018

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#243 Easily Improve Staff Communications

There are several low cost or free programs available that can greatly improve the communications within your shop. One of the most well known is slack.com. It’s kind of a supercharged...

Updated

August 10, 2018

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#242 Losing Touch?

Some owners and managers are regularly involved with the “front counter” but others are hardly ever exposed to all that goes on. If you are closer to the latter, once...

Updated

July 26, 2018

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