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Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?
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By Joe Marconi in Joe's BlogI 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 carmcapriotto
My guest is Jill Trotta. She is the Vice President for Industry Advocacy and Sales at RepairPal. We talked about the 2019 RepairPal survey that pointed out which metro cities are best for car repair. This is based on factors like average repair order, road quality, average labor rate among others.
The survey talked about the statistics and information about car repair. You will learn the best and the worst cities for repairs according to the survey. The survey also pointed out which cities are most affected by the technician shortage. Listen to Jill’s previous episodes HERE.
Best metro cities survey for car repair Average repair order Road quality Average labor rate Ratio registered cars to the number of mechanics 55% of the score is the number of repair shop workers per car and labor rate Are labor rates too low? Lowest average repair bill- Dayton, Ohio If a business wants to have the lowest labor rate it doesn’t help industry- have to charge for work and quality you’re offering 30% labor rate 30% repair invoice totals Best city- Jacksonville, FL 5 cities in the Carolina’s in the survey- average repair order low Worst cities- 6 California cities in the top 10 Bad roads, high labor rate Technician shortage- northern areas more affected Link to the RepairPal 2019 Survey HERE
Talk soon,
Resources:
Thanks to Jill Trotta for her contribution to the aftermarket’s premier podcast. Link to the ‘BOOKS‘ page highlighting all books discussed in the podcast library HERE. Leaders are readers. Link to RepairPal website HERE. Leave me an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one of them.
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Subscribe to a mobile listening app HERE.
As a member of the NAPA family, AutoCare Center owners can take advantage of the NAPA National Health Program from the NAPA Insurance Center. This “NAPA only” program gives you and your employees access to national “large group” rates on medical insurance with premiums discounted up to 30 percent. These rates are based on the collective purchasing potential of 22,500 NAPA locations including both NAPA AUTO PARTS stores and NAPA AutoCare Centers.
The NAPA Insurance Center can help you with a variety of other insurance benefits too. For more information about The NAPA National Health Benefits program as well as all of the insurance benefits available to your AutoCare Center and your employees, visit the NAPA Benefits Center, at www.napabenefitscenter.com or call the NAPA Benefits Center at 844-627-2123.
Click to go to the Podcast on Remarkable Results Radio
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