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Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?
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By Joe Marconi in Joe's Blog5 commentsI recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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By Joe Marconi
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By Hands On
Hi folks. A quick search and I did not see any recent alignment machine posts. I have a quote from Hunter, $86,000 includes a scissor life and the concrete work to flush mount it, shipping, the machine with wall mount cameras. Some accessories. If I do conservatively 3 alignments a week my break even is approx 4.5 years, a bit longer depending on financing cost.
I lease my shop, and one of my biggest fears has been getting kicked out of here. Should I be looking at obtaining a location instead? I am always nervous about taking on the massive cost of a bigger building, especially when I struggle so often to hire good people. I talked to a friend that went from a small shop like I have to a larger facility and he said it was a lot more headaches with very little increase in income. I want less headaches, less stress.
Maybe it is my small shop that makes it hard to hire? Is this the right time to try to get a new location? How do I even start finding financing, I do not have a ton of cash saved up right now. Should I get the alignment machine now, and continue to save up for a new location? How much do I need down for a new spot? Should I keep my eye open for other shops that might fail in the coming year and hold off on the alignment machine and continue to stack cash? I am kind of tired of loosing an employee for 30 minutes to an hour to run an alignment across town that may or may not get done to the same quality standards I hold my employees to.
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By NATURE
Hey everyone. I'm planning on opening in about 3 weeks and am looking for a credit card processing company. Are there any geared for our type of business? Does anyone recommend Intuit for it's ease of integration with Quickbooks? I'll be doing around $10,000 a month in CC payments averaging $200.00 per RO. Payments are predominately Visa or Mastercard swiped. A very small percentage of Amex, Discover or over the phone. If there is a company name that a lot of you experienced members would recommend, I would like to hear it.
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By Transmission Repair
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By carmcapriotto
The Weekly Blitz is brought to you by our friends over at Shop Marketing Pros. If you want to take your shop to the next level, you need great marketing. Shop Marketing Pros does top-tier marketing for top-tier shops.
Click here to learn more about Top Tier Marketing by Shop Marketing Pros and schedule a demo:https://shopmarketingpros.com/chris/
Check out their podcast here: https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/
If you would like to join their private facebook group go here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/autorepairmarketingmastermind
In this episode of "The Weekly Blitz," Coach Chris Cotton uses football analogies to provide strategies for success in the auto repair business. He compares marketing and managing margins to offense and defense in football, and emphasizes the importance of managing setbacks, like penalties in a game. He also discusses the crucial role of employees and stakeholders, likening them to special teams and spectators. The episode ends with Coach Chris encouraging listeners to keep learning and growing in their business. The podcast is sponsored by Shop Marketing Pros, represented by Brian and Kimberly Walker.
Running an auto shop is like winning in football [00:03:15] Drawing parallels between running an auto repair shop and winning a football game, discussing offense, defense, and the importance of teamwork.
Offense: Your marketing strategy [00:05:33] Exploring the role of marketing in driving the business forward, emphasizing the need for an online presence and customer engagement.
Defense: Managing margins and operational efficiency [00:06:36] Highlighting the importance of managing costs, setting the right pricing, and ensuring an efficient operational workflow to ensure the long-term sustainability of the business.
Don't forget to subscribe and share [00:10:51] Encouragement to subscribe, share, leave a review, and provide input for future episodes.
Get in touch for questions or topics [00:10:51] Invitation to contact Chris at Auto Fix for questions or suggestions for upcoming episodes.
Time to rise and grind [00:10:51] Motivational message to keep learning, growing, and striving for success in the business.
Connect with Chris:
[email protected]
Phone: 940.400.1008
www.autoshopcoaching.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
AutoFixAutoShopCoachingYoutube: https://bit.ly/3ClX0ae
#autofixautoshopcoaching #autofixbeautofixing #autoshopprofits #autoshopprofit #autoshopprofitsfirst #autoshopleadership #autoshopmanagement #autorepairshopcoaching #autorepairshopconsulting #autorepairshoptraining #autorepairshop #autorepair #autoops #onlinebooking #serviceadvisor #serviceadvisorefficiency #autorepairshopmarketing #theweeklyblitz #autofix #boomersooner #oklahomasooners
Click to go to the Podcast on Remarkable Results Radio
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