Joe Marconi

Part of your advertising and marketing program needs to incorporate community involvement, whether it’s with local business groups, church functions, the local chamber of commerce or other local organizations. The community needs to know who you are and what you offer.

The labor time to replace an oxygen sensor is only part of the repair. You also need to account for the additional time needed to complete the operation: retesting, verifying and road testing. Not taking this into account could hurt labor production, which will affect your bottom line.

I got a call the other day from a fellow shop owner who needed to vent. He runs a big shop and gives his techs a lunch break every day from noon until 1:00 p.m. His techs got into the habit of going to the local mall and hanging out in the parking lot, smoking cigarettes and often getting a little too loud. They were not causing any real trouble, but it just didn’t look good.

What do doctors, dentists, eye doctors and hairdressers all have in common? That’s right; they all book the next appointment. So why don’t we do it? Oh, I know many of you do, and that’s great. But most shops don’t, and I have heard every excuse under the sun why booking the next appointment does not work.