If you’re a procrastinator, there’s a really good chance you’ll bookmark this article to read later. That would defeat the purpose. If you, your business and/or your employees are postponing something that should be done today until tomorrow, you’re not maximizing your time and your results will suffer.
Former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, said, “People with passion can change the world.” A bold statement for sure, but perhaps you’re not looking to change the world. Perhaps you’re just looking to create a more successful automotive repair business. Then, does passion really matter? In short, yes – and quite a bit at that.
Quality is the name of the game today. Your customers expect expert repairs that are done right the first time, restore vehicle performance, and ensure many miles of worry-free driving. But, you won’t get a second chance to showcase your quality work unless you’ve earned your customers’ trust, says Mary DellaValle, editor of Shop Owner magazine.
Mornings can be hectic for most people, and, oftentimes, if the day gets off to a rough start, it can set the tone for the rest of the day. Here are some tips to get your team off to a good start and then watch productivity soar.
One of the single biggest mistakes that shop owners make is paying employees a straight hourly wage. That’s because it breeds the wrong job mentality.
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.
Tom and Joe Palermo shed some light on the challenges they faced as they embarked on new service territory, how they equipped their shop and team to take on additional vehicles and their varied service requirements, and the opportunities that resulted from establishing a new service “profit center” for their growing business.
Maximizing both productivity and profitability in a business often takes out-of-the-box thinking. But, don’t stop there! It’s also wise to go a step further and think against the grain to look at issues and approaches through a different lens – even if this different perspective is counter-intuitive or contradictory.
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.
Your roadmap begins with collecting all the labor dollars for your technicians’ time. Through measuring and managing, you can determine whether or not you are collecting all the labor dollars that are available to you, or if you are leaving money on the table. Once you start measuring a few important metrics, especially effective labor
Shop owners using the electronic inspection sheet, as well as the paperless back shop, have been going through some inflection points. Getting rid of paper has allowed them to present professional-looking inspection results to their customers and an unprecedented opportunity to educate on “Why now?” and “What happens if I don’t do it?”