2012 Editions Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Shop Owner Magazine
Best Practices For Social Media And Crafting The Right Media Mix

In the first three parts of this article series, we talked about the ways that you can use web technologies to enhance customer service, increase customer satisfaction, create satisfied repeat customers and improve your shop’s bottom line in the process. In this article, I want to talk specifically about the web technology everyone else is buzzing about – social media – and how it can change the world of advertising for local businesses like yours.

Appeal To All Senses To Keep Customers, Especially Female Customers

We know that women are the majority purchasers of all automotive items in North America today, so if you’re looking to step up your sales figures, you’re going to need to reach women. And in doing so, you’ll gain favor with all customers.

Can Your Customers Find You Where They Are Searching?

What is mobile marketing and why do you need to know about it? That’s a question I have been asked a lot lately. In this column, I want to give you an introduction to the world of mobile marketing.

Tax Court Ruling Benefits Small Business Owners

Owners of closely held businesses, including family owned and other small businesses, can now pass assets to heirs with minimal taxation thanks to a recent tax court ruling (Wandry v. Commissioner, U.S. Tax Court, March 26, 2012).

How Much Is Your Shop Worth?

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to interview Hal Janke. He is recognized by the top business brokers in America as an auto industry expert, he has owned and operated auto repair businesses, he has spoken at many conventions, and in selling over two hundred shops; he has sold more auto repair facilities than any other broker in the country.

Why Should A Customer Buy What You Are Selling?

Ever wonder why a customer does not see the value in what you are recommending and declines the service or repair? Our sales approach, at times, assumes that the customer fully understands the reason for or benefits of a particular service or repair, when in reality, they may have no idea what we are speaking about.

The Customer Can Buy The Part For Less

A customer calls to tell you they discovered that they could have bought a part you sold them for less somewhere else. You can reduce those calls by doing a great car delivery that includes going over the repair order in detail, but when that call inevitably comes in, consider saying something like this …

Bring More Cars Into Your Shop

Although most shops have sales goals, very few have car count goals. In all of our service advisor training courses, one of the things we teach the advisors is to establish daily car count goals that are based on sales goals.

The Key To Effective Service Advisor Pay Programs

As with any compensation program, the first thing you’ll need to do is conclude what you want to accomplish with any change in employee behavior. Where most shop owners get into trouble is they’ll immediately say they want to see higher sales when it comes to their service advisors. So they’ll put their advisors on a commission program that’s based on sales, and as you can imagine, their sales typically go up. Unfortunately, so do their expenses and customer complaints.

Prepare The Next Customer Visit At Vehicle Pick-Up

Over the past few months, we’ve talked about how you can leverage web technologies to enhance customer service, increase customer satisfaction and improve your bottom line in the process.

Follow These Two Important Rules To Engage Customers For Life

In order to achieve ultimate success, shop owners must ensure that all of their systems, processes, programs, policies, procedures and initiatives are properly aligned to focus on improving the customer experience. A major part of this accomplishment involves making certain that all employees consistently execute customer-focused behavior.

Spring Cleaning: Tax Records You Can (And Cannot) Throw Away

Spring is a great time to clean out that growing mountain of financial papers and tax documents that clutters your home and office. Here’s what you need to keep and what you can throw out without fearing the wrath of the IRS.