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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 carmcapriotto
Recorded Live at ASTE 2023, Lester Kovacs, Director of Ideation at Dorman Products, explains Dorman's unique approach to product development, including working closely with technicians, searching through junkyards for challenges, and conducting extensive testing. He also discusses supply chain issues, reaching out to their network for feedback, and upcoming products at Dorman.
Lester Kovacs, Director of Ideation, Dorman Products
Show Notes:
Uncovering Technician Challenges (00:04:02) Discussion on how Dorman works with technicians to uncover their challenges and develop solutions. Part Availability and Supply Chain Issues (00:05:31) Conversation about supply chain issues and challenges with part availability for older vehicles. The discovery of a new product category (00:08:31) Discussion about finding a new product category and the process of developing that particular product. The challenge of developing new products (00:11:00) Exploration of the challenges faced in developing new products and the need to work against the clock. Testing and validation of new products (00:12:58) Explanation of the testing and validation process for new products, including material testing, dimensional testing, and trial and test on actual vehicles. The incubator analogy (00:15:54) Discusses the role of the incubator in finding and developing ideas, identifying bottlenecks, and resource decisions. Percentage of ideas that make it (00:16:58) Discusses the percentage of ideas that make it through the validation process and the importance of a tight funnel to meet customer expectations. Lester's career journey (00:18:04) Explores Lester's background, starting from his love for cars as a kid. Changing Habits and Customer Perception (00:23:01) Discussion on the challenge of changing habits in the aftermarket industry and the need to shift customer perception of certain parts. Improving Marketing Strategy and Relaunching Products (00:23:25) Exploration of the relaunch of a product line after initial poor sales, including collaboration with customers and counter professionals to improve marketing and sales strategies. Suggestion for Website Enhancement (00:24:32) A suggestion to add a tab on the website to address why customers are not buying certain products, with testimonials and repair pictures to encourage sales. Thanks to our Partner, Dorman Products.
Dorman gives people greater freedom to fix vehicles by constantly developing new repair solutions that put owners and technicians first. Take the Dorman Virtual Tour at www.DormanProducts.com/Tour
Connect with the Podcast:
-Join our Insider List: https://remarkableresults.biz/insider
-All books mentioned on our podcasts: https://remarkableresults.biz/books
-Our Classroom page for personal or team learning: https://remarkableresults.biz/classroom
-Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/carm
-The Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com
-Special episode collections: https://remarkableresults.biz/collections
Click to go to the Podcast on Remarkable Results Radio
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By Ruben Van Zenden
Today, we simply cannot ignore social media, everyone is using it whether you are a fan or not. Personally, I think it has its negative and positive sides.
I have been looking at 100+ car repair shops and noticed that only a hand full are using social media marketing, for example, Facebook advertising.
Why are so few car repair shops making use of this, in my opinion, great opportunity to increase car count?
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