Are Low Car Counts The Real Issue?
Car count is a key performance indicator (KPI) that shows you the health of your business. But before we blame low car counts for why we are not achieving our sales goals, we need to take the time to look at all the numbers and analyze labor and part margins, average repair order (ARO), production issues, other critical KPIs, customer retention and workflow processes. Only after a thorough analysis can we begin to work on the issue of car counts.
What You Need To Know About Selling Struts
Just when I thought I was doing everything that I could to increase sales, I learned something very important: I very rarely sold struts or shocks. Basically, I really didn’t know when struts or shocks were bad until they completely failed. I’m finding that my clients, and most shop owners who I speak with, don’t know either.
What Every Shop Owner Needs To Know About Accountants
In order to build a successful auto repair shop, there are a number of things you will have to do. You will need to have clearly defined goals, a plan, and you will need to surround yourself with successful people. You will need gifted techs and advisers, a great support staff, the help of marketing professionals and business coaches, and a great accountant as well. Unfortunately, most shop owners don’t understand how to find the really great accountants, they don’t know what to expect from them, and they don’t know how to utilize their services.
Community Involvement Will Help You Grow Your Business
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 Key To Calculating Monthly Sales Goals
Far too many shop owners will set an annual sales goal, and then simply divide that number by 12 to set their monthly goals. However, since this approach does not take the number of work days in each month into account, it is not the way that you should be setting your monthly goals, especially if your service advisers receive a bonus for hitting and/or surpassing monthly goals.
Are You Getting Enough Labor On Some Jobs?
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.
Pricing, Ethics And The Reputation Of Your Business
At Elite we know that once someone comes into your shop, you’ll do everything you can to generate a happy customer, and make a fair profit. Unfortunately, some customers will put you to the test when it comes to the prices you charge. They’ll tell you they can’t afford the recommended services, they’ll tell you they can get the same service done down the street for less, or they’ll just need you to knock a few bucks off of the price.
Employee Behavior Outside Of Your Shop
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.
Should Your Shop Be Open December 26?
Merry Christmas! What? Christmas? Yup, it’s not that far away, and if you haven’t looked at the calendar it falls on Thursday this year. So what? Well, if you’re a shop owner you will probably give little thought about the Friday after Christmas until sometime late in December when an employee asks, “Hey boss, are
Booking The Customer’s Next Appointment? Why Not?
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.
