All of the techs in my shop have made more than $100,000 each of the past two years.
This crisis has forced shop owners to make some critical and incredibly difficult decisions about every dollar.
Grow your business by providing the right tools for success.
Establishing dynamic relationships with your customers as an extension of your brand is known as “Relationship Marketing.”
You can’t simply hire someone who will walk into your business, know exactly what to do and establish the dynamic leadership and workflow systems you need to make your shop successful. If this were the case, you wouldn’t be reading this article.
The staff at an independent auto repair shop is just like any other team in any other industry or sport. You have your role players, your star players, your various specialists and your coach – all of whom need to band together under a common goal: generating profits.
Car count has been a concern of just about every shop owner I’ve talked with at one point or another. Most of the time, shop owners take it upon themselves to bear the burden of the responsibility for car count. But, the truth is, that improving your car count is an entire shop effort and can’t be done without everyone on staff buying in and pulling their weight.
Working in the automotive repair industry can be a nightmare in terms of time management and work-life balance. At one time or another, we’ve all gone through periods of putting in 80-hour work weeks and barely seeing the light of day, much less our loved ones. Ever walk into your shop on a day off and feel like you can’t get out of there?
Just like anything else in this industry and in life – building a winning shop culture takes time and effort, in addition to strategy. Good thing no one in the auto repair industry is afraid of a little hard work!
A team of great employees is a lot like a well-oiled army platoon. In order to succeed, everyone needs to know their role, needs to support one another, and needs to share a common objective. The team also needs to understand and respect the chain of command.
There used to always be a fight in our shop. A fight with the customer to get them to open their wallet. A fight with the staff to get them to treat the customer right. A fight to be profitable. It’s amazing to look back on how hard things used to be, before we made educating our customers to make the right decisions a way of life.
We’ve all been there. Customers keep coming in waves and your shop is crazier than it’s ever been. The bays and parking lot are completely full, your waiting room has guests who are waiting to speak with a service writer and you can’t catch your breath trying to keep it all organized. In other words, your policies and procedures broke down. The systems that worked when business was slower fell apart as you grew, and now you’re left trying to pick up the pieces or the shop morale will take a dive and your customers’ trust will fall right along with it.
