Many shop owners with whom I interact who are considering the sale of their businesses, or at least planning ahead for that inevitability, have gained the very valuable knowledge that, regardless of whether transitioning the business to a family member, employee or outside buyer, it is important for the seller to focus on making the business as sellable and valuable as possible for as long as possible.
In the social media arena, Facebook and Twitter often get the most attention when it comes to marketing one’s business. But, with the growing influence of online video – particularly with younger generations – YouTube should not be overlooked. To promote your brand, you don’t need a high tech studio and loads of editing software; you simply need a smartphone or basic video camera, a YouTube account and a little creativity.
Whether you’re a new shop owner looking to increase your car count, or an industry veteran hoping to build loyalty from your existing customer base, hiring a business coach to help you achieve your goals might be worth considering.
Pick your cliché. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. You get what you pay for. When it comes to web-hosting and website creation, there is a lot of advertising and marketing pushing free services or services that are so inexpensive that they aren’t representative of the true marketplace.
The automotive aftermarket is viewed by many, both within and outside the industry, as a healthy, vibrant, vital growth industry. Qualified serious buyers consider auto service as more recession proof and less stressful than restaurants and other popular categories of businesses for sale.
When it comes to business, there are so many things that owners need to do and think about to keep the shop running. The last thing they need is a lawsuit related to employment matters that can be easily avoided. Here are five tips to avoid employment lawsuits.
Cars still have their best days ahead of them, according to Bosch. The global company believes connecting vehicles to the Internet makes them safer, more fun to drive and reduces fuel consumption.
Can you point your company in the direction of financial success, step on the gas, and then sit back and wait to arrive at your destination? Not quite. Any business owner knows you need to make numerous adjustments along the way – decisions about pricing, hiring, investments, and so on. So, how do you handle the array of questions facing you? One way is through cost accounting.
Richard Lipton, founder of Lipton CPA & Associates, says if you make charitable donations and want to claim a tax deduction for your gifts, you must itemize your deductions. He offers the following tips for giving business gifts to charity.
An independent automotive service business can be so much more than bricks and mortar, equipment, employees and a source of revenue. It can also be a source of pride – a testament to a lifetime’s worth of hard work. I sometimes share case studies of the clients I have been able to assist in my role as an aftermarket business broker and provider of intermediary and advisory services. I do that when I think the story will provide a reader in similar circumstances with new insights or helpful information.
By now, we should be well past the things I heard as recently as two years ago: “Social media is just a fad,” “No one will follow a tire dealership on Facebook,” and “I don’t care what you had for dinner, and I’m sure you don’t care where my wife and I went for the weekend either.” These were the kinds of things people would say to me without a full understanding of the transformational change social media was having on society and the fundamental shift in the way we communicate with each other.
There’s no doubt that consumers’ online activity has made a massive, lasting impact on marketing strategy. More than 2 billion consumers go online regularly, thanks to exponential growth in connectivity and devices like smartphones and tablets, according to a recent Google study entitled, “Brand Engagement in the Participation Age.”
