These days, it’s imperative that you be paranoid. Not in a debilitating sense of course, but always looking over your shoulder. Always serving your customers in the way they want to be served. Always doing better.
I own a small shop that’s just over 3,000 square feet. In order to maximize every square foot of the building, it’s critical that I have policies and procedures in place so that everything runs efficiently. In a nutshell, this boils down to working smarter, not harder.
Adam Redling says that identifying your technicians’ earning potential in real dollars will eliminate any pushback on a performance-based pay plan and create a more efficient shop in the process. Sponsored by ACDelco.
Whether a vehicle finds its way into your shop for worn rotors or a broken timing belt, you have an obligation to the customer to ensure his/her car is in good working order by the time it rolls out of the bay.
It took Terry Keller many years of trial and error to realize one of the most important aspects of running a repair shop: the only way to fix problems, capture profits and grow sales consistently is by measuring daily, tracking daily and holding others accountable daily.
If an owner doesn’t take the time to train employees, to teach them the processes used in the shop, and to explain the benchmarks, they cannot expect the employee to deliver on these expectations. Training for new employees is a good start, but it’s far from the whole picture. Does the rest of the team understand your expectations? Do they know who is responsible for holding other techs accountable? Are they incentivized for meeting and exceeding expectations?
Most meetings are – at best – boring and a waste of time. For most shops, meetings aren’t a positive experience. That’s because many team meetings fall into one of two categories: either the boss pulls everyone together to scold and lecture about problems, or the team uses the meeting as an opportunity to complain, whine and make excuses.
With the summer season comes a few things that companies need to consider in the workplace. The following are a few hot topics that may apply to your business to keep things running smoothly during the summer months.
Over the last 15 years, since we started helping shop owners in 1999, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every pay plan known to man. I’m also pretty sure that I’ve heard every possible variation of the same question: “How can I pay my team in a way that motivates them without eating all of my profits?”
Many years ago, I read an article that featured an interview with Herb Kelleher, the co-founder of Southwest Airlines. In the article, he stated that he and his mother (who was a Harvard graduate) would often debate who was more important. He argued that it was the employees of a company, and his mom argued that it was the customers. With all due respect, I would argue, why does it need to be one or the other?
As business owners, our best teachers will always be our employees and our customers. They understand many components of our businesses, and, in most cases, they really do care about our success. Learning from our employees is relatively simple. All we need to do is pay attention to their passing comments and engage them during our employee meetings and reviews. Learning from our customers, on the other hand, may take some extra effort.
How many hours have service writers everywhere lost because of a missing wheel lock? How many frustrating hours have been wasted on getting the wrong parts because of incorrect VIN numbers? Little stuff like this really adds up!
