Why Shop Owners Struggle With Firing Employees
The most common reason shop owners are reluctant to fire someone is they feel the employee is either irreplaceable, or it will take a long time to find the right replacement. First of all, everyone is replaceable, and as I have often said to clients, the graveyards are filled with irreplaceable people.
Dealing With A Difficult Employee? Use The Elite Three Strikes Program
When you start to see a pattern in behavioral issues, such as a tech, manager or service advisor coming in late, here are three things you need to consider.
Winning Customer Service
Building and sustaining a true world-class customer service organization starts with leadership. That means owners and managers must be actively involved in the customer service effort, lead by example and continuously demonstrate high customer service standards and proper behaviors.
Marketing: The Most Costly Mistakes Shop Owners Make
If there is one thing most shop owners have in common, it’s that they have big hearts. They typically start their careers as technicians, and, as soon as they have their own shops, they want to help as many people as they can. To achieve this goal, they network through their family and friends and do everything in their power to get the word out into their communities about their shop. And then the inevitable happens: they wake up one morning and decide it’s finally time to advertise.
Value Of A Business Plan
Business plans are for start-ups, right? Why would an established business need one? The fact is, the questions you have to answer as a start-up get forgotten in the daily hubbub of running a business. A little time spent asking some basic questions can trigger new opportunities, greater freedom or both.
Price Shopping Auto Parts
There is no question; if you plan on being successful in the auto repair business, you have to buy high-quality parts. Substandard parts will drive up your repair time, they’ll drive up your warranty claims and they’ll erode your customer base.
Turning Techs Into Service Advisors – Guidelines For Success
If there is one thing our industry has done since the very beginning, it has put technicians into the role of service advisors. The rationale is that they have a good understanding of automobiles, which will enable them to be competent advisors. Unfortunately, that’s the furthest from the truth.
8 Important Tools Service Advisors Need In Their Toolbox
As is true with the top techs, the top service advisors in America need a number of tools in order to succeed. Here’s a list of important tools you can provide to your advisors that will help them maximize sales, customer satisfaction and your shop’s profits.
Building A Media Plan
When it comes to advertising, strategies are endless, mediums are constantly changing and advice is often conflicting. Doing something is better than nothing, but funneling a shop’s dollars into an ineffective ad campaign is a mistake no one wants to repeat.
Performing Background Checks
While conducting reference checks on potential employees is a sensible way of managing your business risk, employers must carefully follow legal limits on the type and extent of background checks they can conduct.
Boosting Productivity Through Collaboration
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.
When You Match Price, Do You Also Match Value?
Would anyone walk into a Starbucks and ask to lower or match their price on a cup of coffee? We all know the answer to this. Starbucks doesn’t just sell coffee. They sell something special; they sell the experience, the friendly service and the connection they make with you as the customer. The truth is, you can buy coffee anywhere, but you can’t get a Starbucks anywhere. You need to think of your brand in the same way.