John Volz

As I look back over my 30-plus years in business, and reflect upon the things our company has done to grow and improve our business, a lot has changed as it relates to the movement (and obtainment) of information.

Recently, I was having a discussion about female customers with my advertising/marketing partner LeeAnn Brook from Brook Design Group. She was sharing statistics as to the purchasing power of women and asked me why I thought female customers comprised such a high percentage of our customer base. We discussed the shift in purchasing power in many different sectors, including auto repair.

As business owners, there are two types of customers that we need to focus on: external and internal. Let’s first talk about the internal type, our employees. Although we don’t think of our employees as customers, in a roundabout way they are our customers.

The other day, a colleague and I were discussing business strategies for the coming year. He asked me what was my number one priority for the coming year as it related to my business. Without hesitation I responded, “taking care of the financial future of my family.”

As I began to review the profit and loss statements from last month, I was reminded of something I learned long ago. Financial data, although very useful, is just a snapshot of the past or history. Whether applied to our business or our daily lives, we can either use this data to improve or make corrections that will change our financial future, or repeat history and continue with the same results.