If you are like I was the first 20 years as a shop owner, you have worked very hard to hire good people, set up efficient operating systems, and train everyone to use them. You have spent countless hours trying to communicate your expectations and teaching your team to reach them – all with sporadic or little success. WHY? What is missing?
One of the most important things to understand is that GREAT advertising is only as good as the service received by the new customer who responds to your advertisement. Assuming your shop is already providing cutting-edge customer service, there is still more to accomplish! How do I know? Well, my shop did $22,500.00 yesterday with only 5 technicians and two writers… Want to know more?
If you are like I was for the first 20 years as a shop owner, you have introduced dozens of policies and procedures that could have brought some order to things, but fizzled out after a few weeks. WHY? What are the causes of this fatal flaw in your business?
Over the next few weeks I will blog on the twelve most important components of “How to Make Systems Stick” in your shop. Today, let me share with you what I have found to be a foundational process for making all policies, procedures and systems stick with individuals and organizations. It’s how we help our clients actually change permanently!
Most shop owners come to consultants looking for some little “trick” or “gimmick” that’s somehow going to magically support everything the owner thought he knew, and when they don’t find it…they’re unhappy.
One of the greatest things that ever happened in our shop is service writer training. We have tracked our training experiences and how they affect each individual, and have at times actually experienced an increase in our sales, average repair order, and of course, our profits…sometimes as much as 30% after a single training!
It’s funny what I’ve learned now that I’m a business owner that I never would have been able to predict when I was working on the front lines and in the trenches as an entry level service writer many years ago: when someone tries to flatter me, it makes me want to fire them, run from them, slap them, or just laugh in their face while publicly calling them a LIAR!
In a session with a client last week, something I had been trying to teach everyone for a long time suddenly became brilliantly clear to both of us…and it’s going to mean a HUGE difference for his shop this year.
It’s really interesting to me how time after time, repair shop owners fall for the same couple of marketing “tricks” to try and fill their bays. The truth is, if there are “tricks” to marketing your shop, they’re about how you run your shop and who you’re marketing to…not about tricking people into bringing their car to you…
Should you spend time reading this article? Answer this: Are my net operating profits trending down over the last 3 years – in other words, am I bleeding and don’t know how to stop it?
Whenever I am hiring a technician, I’ve found that it’s critical to ask a few questions before I even identify my business. It’s important to make sure that “the word doesn’t get out on the street” every time I need to upgrade or replace a staff member. No one wants to work for a shop that they have “heard” is suffering from a turnover of people. When they hear from the tool guys, the parts salesmen, and others that the shop is having “personnel problems,” or “can’t keep their techs,” your shop is suddenly plagued by the famous Can’t-Find-A-Tech-To-Save-Our-Lives disease.
by David Rogers Saturday, I cleaned out my car…after putting it off for over two weeks! What is it about the smallest of tasks that we just cannot drag ourselves … CREATING A LITTLE FINANCIAL SECURITY IN THESE INSECURE TIMES…
One of the oddest things I run into as a consultant and advisor to business owners, is the fact that so many just show up at work each morning like a security guard, and wait for the week to “happen.”
