Opening on Saturdays

[gandgautorepair]

We are currently not open on Saturdays, but I'm thinking about it. I wonder how many of you are open on Sat and how it works for you, what your thoughts are. I've always appreciated the model of having a business that was closed evenings and weekends, and it's nice for the employees. However, we're trying to maintain a higher level of gross sales with more employees and I'm trying to keep an open mind. I went from 2 techs and a lube tech and one service advisor with a CRM, to 3 techs plus lube tech and two service advisors on May 1st. We've done well for the summer, but I'm nervous about keeping everyone busy through the slower season. Also, going forward with the challenges we'll face in coming years I'm wondering if being open on Sat will give us an advantage. Welcome any input.

[Marksas]

We tried opening on Saturday's and it didn't work for us at the time. We had 4 techs at the time and two service writers. We would rotate the techs on Saturday and as an incentive we would give them the previous Monday off. This gave them a 3 day weekend. What I found is that we had difficulty in obtaining parts and really did noting more than state inspections, oil changes and brake jobs. While that was ok, the cost was high because we would have an expensive tech doing these services due to the rotation of the techs. We also did not have enough staff in the office and it was easy to get overwhelmed. I'm not saying it doesn't or will not work, we just did not have enough staff to support it and do it well. If we couldn't do it well and provide the level of service that we were accustomed to providing  then I felt like we needed to kill it for now. 

I also always felt guys need two days off. One to get all the stuff they can't get done during the week done and one day to spend with family and friends. None of the shops in my area are open on the weekends other than a few dealers. We will probably revisit at some time and our next shop will be open 6 days a week. 

[tyrguy]

We used to be opened on Saturday 8-5 for all services. We rotated our 3 techs and 2 service advisers so that 1 of each was always off on Sat. I didn't care which tech or adviser it was, I left that up to them. Eventually we cut it back to 8-2, then 8 to noon. Finally 20 years are so ago I made my techs/advisers a deal. We would not do service on Sat, only tires. The techs and service advisers would get Sat off, but they would all stay 4 hours later one night a week. So on Wed night we would have a full crew till 9. It stayed that way until last year when we split the extra 4 hours into 2 hours extra each on Tues and Wed. Back to Sat. So since 1994 we are open 8-noon for tire work only and it's usually just myself and a tire tech unless I have something going on and then 1 of my 2 advisers fills in. We sell a few tires and do some rotations and tire repairs. Obviously we also have customers make appointments, pickup and drop off vehicles. There are some Sats when we don't pull a vehicle in the bays. However that all changes in late October thru the end of the year during tire season. Then we have both tire techs work as well as myself and 1 of the advisers. Most of the independents in our town are closed on Sat.

[tyrguy]

Although I laid out my history of Saturday hours, I failed to give a conclusion stating my opinion on what is best. Would being open on Sat result in more sales? Absolutely. But there is a trade off. As I have stated in other forum topics, I haven't had to hire a tech in 23 years. Besides a generous pay and benefits plan I truly believe the reason for the longevity of employment I'm experiencing is due to giving the lads a full weekend away from the shop. Lastly, I dusted of the archives and looked back at our numbers from 1994 to 1995 when we made the switch. Our numbers went down 1.3%.

[AndersonAuto]

I changed my hours back in Sept. 2012 8-5:30 M-F to 7a -7p 6 days a week. Full crew and full hours every day. Best single thing I've ever done. It was also one of the hardest transitions I've had to make. While I didn't lose any employees for it, I have lost the opportunity to hire a few great people because Saturdays are not possible for them. My techs work 7:30-6:30 and advisors go from bell to bell. 

The switch was good for an almost instant 20% increase in sales. 3 weeks after changing hours, Saturday revenue was indistinguishable from any other day. The ARO on Saturday is slightly lower, and the car count slightly higher. 2013 was our first full year of it, and we finished the year up 34% over 2012. The key seems to have been having full crew and regular hours. Half crew and half days gets you less than half results. Parts can be a challenge, but you quickly learn who you can count on for Saturday parts, which we then reward with more purchases from them during the week. The beauty of having a full crew and full hours is that we can identify problems during an oil change inspection, and actually get the work done without putting the customer out of their car during the week. I've found that people who generally get their oil change done on a Saturday are the same people who have a hard time giving up their ride during the week. They appreciate being able to get things done on their day off and are very likely to leave the car for the day for other repairs as long as it can be done same day.

The way it works is that everyone is on a rotating schedule. The shop is closed on Sunday of course, but in addition to Sunday, everyone gets 2 days off during the week, and the 2 days off rotates every week. Week 1 has Monday & Tuesday off. Week 2 has Wednesday & Thursday off, and week 3 has Friday & Saturday off. I have 3 advisors and 6 techs. 1 advisor and 2 techs are paired up on each rotation, so I always have 2 advisors and 4 techs in the building. The schedule allows the guys some pretty good time off, and allows me to attract good talent while also working Saturday. Every 3 weeks when week 3 wraps around to meet week 1, the guys get Friday Saturday Sunday Monday and Tuesday off. I tell my people they could go on a cruise and I wouldn't miss them. Combining their 5 day weekend with vacation is not only allowed, it's encouraged. Lube dudes are hourly and work 5 days a week, and both of them work every Saturday.

The difficulty in implementing this program was that when I started it I had one advisor, one assistant advisor, and 3 techs. I had a lot of hours of operation I had to cover at the front desk and not enough people to do it. I also didn't have the sales or car count to justify 3 advisors. I made the assistant advisor an advisor even though I knew he wasn't the right guy and would have to replace him, and I filled in the other advisor spot. On the 2 days a week that I wasn't playing advisor, I was playing shop owner/manager. I worked 7-7 six days a week for a year. The new hours and lots of marketing got us in a position to add staff, and after 18 months of this program I was at 3 good advisors and 6 techs.

The other difficulty was learning how to handle/avoid having to pass a partially completed job from one tech to another and from one advisor to another without dropping the ball. We bought quite a few rental cars as we figured this out, but now problems with it rarely arise. I didn't really implement any specific strategy to fix it. After the advisors and techs got burned enough times they figured it out all on their own. Now if a big job walks in the door on a Thursday, the advisor who's getting ready for his 5 day break will instinctively pass it to the other advisor. Same for the techs. If they find a big job on an inspection, they'll tell the advisor to give it to another tech. In some instances if there's just too much gravy on the ticket to give away, the advisor or the tech might come in on their day off and sell/finish the job. It all works with almost no input from me.
 

[jeffg]

We have always been open 7:30 to 5:30 Mon-Sat.  Our people work 5 day weeks, having Sunday and typically a week day off, Saturdays off are an exception.  Saturdays are by far the busiest day, highest sales and highest car counts.  There are some people that you just can't convince to work for you that will not work on Saturdays. I think there are a lot of arguments for all options.  Obviously if you have enough traffic, the more days/hours you are open the more business you can do, and your fixed expenses like rent will remain the same so it can be more profitable.  You have to be able to balance that with a good work environment, that doesn't overwork your people.  I like Anderson Auto's plan above, and have heard many others, anything from 4 days a week to 7 days a week, and they all have their positive and negative aspects.  You need to do what works best for you, your people, your customers and your specific situation.  Many things have to be balanced.  

[gandgautorepair]

Thanks very much for the comments. I come from 29 yrs in dealership management so I'm very familiar with rotating schedules. Anderson, you have a very good plan, thanks for taking the time to explain what you do. I'm torn with the idea of extended hours. So far, I tell people the truth that I chose opening a repair shop over opening a used car lot because the repair shop would not be open evenings and weekends. However, with all of the challenges that we will face in the future I want to do my best to position the shop to be successful long term. We already go out of our way to accommodate our customers, does this also mean extending our hours? So far, I have a good staff, with very little turn over, and I want to keep that. Good to hear that some of you have made being open on Sat profitable.

[Marksas]

Anderson Auto thanks for the explanation. I like the way you have done the scheduling and it's something we will revisit in the future. I know we are missing out on sales opportunities on Saturdays. 

[AndersonAuto]

1 hour ago, gandgautorepair said:

Thanks very much for the comments. I come from 29 yrs in dealership management so I'm very familiar with rotating schedules. Anderson, you have a very good plan, thanks for taking the time to explain what you do. I'm torn with the idea of extended hours. So far, I tell people the truth that I chose opening a repair shop over opening a used car lot because the repair shop would not be open evenings and weekends. However, with all of the challenges that we will face in the future I want to do my best to position the shop to be successful long term. We already go out of our way to accommodate our customers, does this also mean extending our hours? So far, I have a good staff, with very little turn over, and I want to keep that. Good to hear that some of you have made being open on Sat profitable.

I think long term growth and business health comes down to making it easy to do business with you. It seems that it's no longer enough to be good. People will choose easy over good almost every time, so if you're easy and good, you've got it made.

Being easy to do business with doesn't necessarily mean long hours and Saturdays. Wheeling has a bigger loaner fleet than some rental car locations, and loans them out for almost any reason, which is certainly convenient for his customers. At the time I extended my hours I was still losing money from my move into the bigger building and buying a dozen loaner cars wasn't an option. Loaner cars and similar strategies are also a long term play, where being open longer hours costs very little and pays off immediately. Of course, if you did loaner cars and  Saturdays....

[Wheelingauto]

2 hours ago, AndersonAuto said:

Of course, if you did loaner cars and  Saturdays....

HA HA...I did.....didn't work for me.

I have read about the type of schedule you run Anderson and other than you, I dont know of anyone who made it work. You have to dramatically increase car count when going from standard 5 day work week to 6 day rotating schedule and as you described, there are other challenges.

My EX service manager decided to open full day Saturdays several years back in an effort to grow. Immediately I got notice from one tech who did not want to work Saturdays and that was the catalyst to him changing industries and careers. We added several lube techs and rotated our master/senior techs to one Saturday per month. At the time we had 3 advisors so one would work each Saturday with one senior tech, 2 apprentices and a car washer. It wasn't so bad but we had a lot of turnover with the car washers and apprentices. Also had a drop off of standards so in an effort to keep standards up, I found it much easier to manage 5 day a week all full time people and lose Saturdays. The final decision was when my service manager became my ex SM and I had to cover for his Saturdays...did it for a little while but it got old quick. So we closed again on Saturdays and became a 5 day a week shop again (added more loaners). We continue to grow although I suspect Anderson will outgrow us soon. I am becoming fat and happy.....

 

[jeffg]

Change can always have it's challenges.  We have been doing Mon-Sat for 20 years (now with 14 locations) and Saturday is just another day (except that it is typically our busiest and highest sales day of the week).  No loaner cars, we do shuttle customers as needed (1 Shuttle at each location), rentals only when necessary for customer satisfaction. We tend to get most of the work out the same day.  We handle anywhere from 20-40 vehicles per day average (depending on the store).  I would say Saturday is a great day to be open and doing normal business.

If the demand is there and you want/need the increased business, you should give it a try. 

Some things I might consider doing different, would be kind of like what AndersonAuto above does,  maybe a 4 day workweek since we are open 10 hours and guys are clocking 10-11 hours a day most of the time.  This could cut down on overtime hours (save some $) and give people another day off which would be attractive to employees.  Saturdays being busy would still mean that most people wouldn't have 2 or 3 day weekends, but could be rotated between occasional  Saturdays, and Mondays where maybe everyone could get a 2 and 3 day weekend once a month. 

 

[AndersonAuto]

15 hours ago, Wheelingauto said:

I have read about the type of schedule you run Anderson and other than you, I dont know of anyone who made it work. You have to dramatically increase car count when going from standard 5 day work week to 6 day rotating schedule and as you described, there are other challenges.

It definitely takes time for your employees to adjust to it. Not only with regards to how to make sure they don't get in a bind with a customer's car and their impending time off, but also with life at home. My longest tenured advisor took a very long time to adjust. He came from the dealership world where you work dusk to dawn 6 days a week. Once we started the rotating schedule he said he didn't know how to act with 5 days off. He felt like he'd been fired and didn't know what to do with himself. But after a few months they fall into a rhythm and would have a very hard time giving up those long weekends.

You only have to pick up another 20% car count. 😉 Some of it will come naturally from people needing Saturday service, the rest you have to market for.

 

15 hours ago, Wheelingauto said:

I am becoming fat and happy.....

Working on succession planning before I become even more complacent than I am. I've worked pretty hard to make myself irrelevant to the business. I'm down to shuttle driver, coach to my manager, occasional firefighter, and technician of last resort when no one else can diagnose the problem. The last item will be the hardest to get rid of.

[Jeff]

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[alfredauto]

We tried it, ended up realizing that we could work 24/7 and still not please everyone nor fix all the cars that are broken, but we could wear ourselves out personally and emotionally.  So We went back to M-F 8-6 that's enough work for us. 

[jeffa1958]

When I entered this industry I began working at my fathers shop seven days a week. I was young (18) really loved the work. At 25 my father decided to close Sundays. I worked Saturdays until I became 56 years old. I am amazed at all of the fun things there are to do on Saturdays. Two consecutive days off are wonderful. The workers today do not want to work Saturdays. I really can’t blame them. There are so many reasons I hated Saturdays I can’t get into them now. I have three master techs that are compensated better than they could get anywhere else and I know they would walk if I wanted them to work Saturdays. As it is they do 1.25 million in sales without my involvement. They can have Saturday off. And four day weekends whenever possible. 

[NCTransmission]

I came from outside the industry when I bought the shop./  I immediately implemented Saturday hours from 830 to 1pm.  I worked most every Saturday and rotated my techs on and off for 8 years.  Last fall I realized I was killing myself.  I sat down with a calendar and calculated the amount of business I would give up if I got NOTHING on a Saturday.  I then made peace with it and moved on.  My business is supposed to provide me with a lifestyle, I should not provide the lifestyle for the business.  Will I be the most successful Mofo out there?  Nope.  Will I have to close my doors because i gave up so much business?  Nope.  Will I get to go to the shooting range with my son, or the mall with my stepdaughters, campus tours or any other things?  Yep.

If I had a shit ton of employees, yes, I would work them on the weekends.  But I have me and 2-3 techs, so there's no way I can do it without killing a relationship and or myself.  Not interested.

In the long run, without being here on Saturdays, I am still trending positive for the year in sales AND gross profit.  

[Jmazur]

Lots of good comments here. There needs to be a balance of work hours/lifestyle. But what Andersen auto is suggesting is something that I have considered for a while. What employee wouldnt want to work 4 long days and have 3 days off? As owners, we should not be working every hour the shop is open anyway, so it just takes work and leadership to train up a team that runs whether you are there or not. We are not currently open on Saturdays, but if and when we do, i will most likely use some form of rotation as opposed to working guys longer hours.

[gandgautorepair]

All these comments aren't making it easier to decide. No doubt lifestyle and quality of work environment are why I didn't open Sat from the beginning. I'm not active in the shop, so it won't change my schedule, but will it provide enough extra business to allow another tech with my limited space and deal with challenging schedule issues. Hmm.....

 

[jeffa1958]

I think it would be better to maximize the five days your open now. Are you getting everything you can out of five days? (You would be an unusual individual if you are.) With labor shortage growing daily, the quality people don’t need to work Saturdays.

I forgot to mention my last couple of years of Saturdays were usually not profitable. 

Edited October 2, 2017 by jeffa1958
Already said it.