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Shop Management Tip # 81 of 389 Closing Shops Means Opportunities Are you closely monitoring which shops in your area are closing? Each has a certain amount of resources, which could be valuable. Obviously, there is equipment, inventory, and the building. What could be of far greater value are the customers in the database. They will need to go somewhere, and it may as well be to you. In some situations, you may want to take over the entire operation. When shops are closing, the early bird usually gets the worm. Monitor for possible closings in your area and be the first to contact them. The potential to help your shop may be just the boost you are looking for. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 80 of 389 It Still Isn’t Done? Why does that issue never get handled? Why is it always on the back burner? Maybe it’s not that important and should be scratched from your to-do list. But what about the important issues that still do not get addressed? Odds are that no one has set a specific deadline. How can you hit a non-existent target? If you assign deadlines to your most important projects, it becomes more likely that they will get done. Just make sure that you do not set too many deadlines too quickly. Be reasonable about how many you set and how soon you set them. Then hold yourself to what you have set. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 79 of 389 All Busy Means is Busy Contrary to the gut instinct of many shop owners, busy does not mean great profits. Far too many shops spend a lot of effort trading dollars around while retaining very few for themselves. When it gets very busy, it can become easy to spend money that otherwise would not be spent. It also becomes more difficult to stay focused on maintaining a solid gross profit in all areas. Remember that the most profitable thing that a shop owner can do, both when things are slow and when things are busy, is to manage the money. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

Shop Management Tip # 78 of 389 Your Customers Need Wheels! That is, some way to get around while you service their car. Do you have a solid system in place to offer them as many options as possible? How many of these are readily available for them at your shop: Loaner car, rental car, pickup and delivery, shuttle, Uber, Lyft, or bus? The more alternatives you can offer, the better. Make a list of transportation options part of your standard operating procedure and include the list in your marketing. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 77 of 389 Wait Appointments Stink At least, that’s the sentiment of many in our industry. However, many shops have found waiting appointments to be a huge opportunity. Instead of seeing them as interruptions, systems are created to deal with them efficiently and profitably. It is far easier to sell a customer a service face-to-face (with the car handy to look at) compared to over the phone. Ask what you could do to address the problems that you now have with waiters, and then put systems in place to keep customers from wandering off to the shop up the street that is happy to have them wait. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

Shop Management Tip # 76 of 389 Making the Most of Each Visit Are you really getting everything that you should from each customer visit? I’m not talking about pushy selling. Instead, I’m referring to informing the customer of all possible repairs and maintenance. This requires a thorough inspection, a check of the service history, and finding out what factory maintenance is due. Then each item needs to be estimated and mentioned to the customer. It sounds pretty simple, but many shops do not take the time to do it properly on every car, every time. And, it shows in their average RO. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 75 of 389 How good is your Symptoms Interview Process? Most shops do a reasonably good job of asking questions about the customer’s concerns. However, many shops depend mainly on the ability and memory of the service advisor to do so. A better approach is to create a standard list of questions in your software, so the process is consistent and thorough every time, regardless of who is doing the write-up. This will allow anyone on your staff to do a reasonably good job of writing up a customer when a service advisor is not readily available. For best results, have both the questions and the replies printed out on the RO. The techs will know what to expect each time and be less likely to ask the advisor to call and get further information. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 74 of 389 Get All Customer Information Yes, this seems pretty basic, but the vast majority of problems that occur in an automotive shop are related to not handling the basics thoroughly and consistently. Of course, we get the name, address, and a phone number or two that will be used today. But, instead of thinking only about this visit, what other information might be useful for future visits and marketing? Did you get work and cell numbers for both spouses? Fax numbers? Email addresses? (You have made email collection mandatory, right?) Some shops also get birthdays, so the customer can be sent something special once a year. And, don’t forget to briefly review current information for returning customers to see if anything has changed. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 73 of 389 Automate Everything In a typical repair shop, the staff spends too much of their day dealing with problems that have been dealt with before (and will occur again) due to the lack of simple systems that prevent the problems from happening in the first place. The loaner car is not completely ready for the customer because there is no assigned and scheduled procedure in place to make sure that it is always ready to go. Of course, there are dozens of similar issues, each one consuming valuable staff time and killing efficiency. When a common problem occurs, note it and create a simple system to deal with it. Then put it in place and watch as the staff becomes less stressed and more productive. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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Shop Management Tip # 72 of 389 Overstaffed or Understaffed? How do you really know? Here’s a simple way to get a pretty good idea. Spend some time doing a little investigating to get a reasonably good idea of the sales at other shops in your area. Then take the total number of techs and service advisors (added together) at each shop and divide it by their sales. Now, compare the findings to the number at your shop. Odds are that you will find a very wide range of results and get a fairly good handle on how your shop measures up. Too many or too few employees will prevent you from maximizing your potential, something that is especially critical in a tough economy. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

Shop Management Tip # 71 of 389 How to Greatly Decrease Profits when Business is Slow It’s really quite simple, and many shops have mastered the practice. Kill the GP (gross profit). In an effort to “make customers happy”, we’ll drop the parts GP a few points. Let’s do the same for labor. Add that to decreased sales, and we have a sure-fire way to destroy our already sagging profits. Do not give in to this temptation like so many shops do when the going gets rough. There are many creative ways to offer attractive pricing and options without decreasing your GP. Remember, when business slows, getting your proper GP becomes even more critical. Closely monitor the way that your GP is trending in both parts and labor so that your profits are not wiped out. automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/

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