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Posted

With the winter approaching, we need to carefully plan our marketing. We are located about 40 miles north of NYC and the winters can be tough. Major storms can cause hurt business. It may be good for body shops, but we often have to close for the day. Also, people in Jan and Feb are too concerned about paying their credit cards bills from Christmas, heating their home and paying taxes.

 

Each year we come up with innovative ways to maintain sales and do ok.

 

How are sales in other parts of the country during the winter? Are shops in the south less impacted during the winter?

Posted
With the winter approaching, we need to carefully plan our marketing. We are located about 40 miles north of NYC and the winters can be tough. Major storms can cause hurt business. It may be good for body shops, but we often have to close for the day. Also, people in Jan and Feb are too concerned about paying their credit cards bills from Christmas, heating their home and paying taxes.

 

Each year we come up with innovative ways to maintain sales and do ok.

 

How are sales in other parts of the country during the winter? Are shops in the south less impacted during the winter?

 

We are in Southern Indiana but are actually south of Louisville, KY, geographically. Weather has some impact but not major. We have never closed even one day due to weather during the past ten years. We might of had a skeleton crew but we were open. There has only been two times in that period that we had really severe weather. A few years ago 18 inches of snow fell which pretty much paralyzed everything but we still managed to open and the snow completely melted off in about a week. Last year we had a severe ice storm that knocked out huge areas for electrical power. My home (5 miles away) had no electricity for 7 days but it never closed our business. We had power there. The first five years that we were open the only snow removal expense we experienced was three bags of ice melt. :D

Posted

Consider yourself very fortunate. I pray for snow storms to happen on the weekend. A Wed or Thurs snow storm will kill sales for the week.

 

We still come to work. We work the day cleaning up the lot, but everyone cancels their appointment.

 

If we are lucky enough to have a few big jobs, like an engine or transmission, we work on those jobs.

Posted
Consider yourself very fortunate. I pray for snow storms to happen on the weekend. A Wed or Thurs snow storm will kill sales for the week.

 

We still come to work. We work the day cleaning up the lot, but everyone cancels their appointment.

 

If we are lucky enough to have a few big jobs, like an engine or transmission, we work on those jobs.

 

I do count myself fortunate. I don't mind 2-3 inches but all bad weather, especially snow and ice is very disruptive to business. It is also an expense for removal. It makes it hard to work on cars with all the ice, melting snow, and water. It is also time consuming squeeging water. I would not want to have to deal with the amount of snow that your have. Were you paralyzed last week by the storm that blew through?

Posted

The storm killed business for one day. But, for some odd reason we had booked so many quality "gravy jobs" that we actually had one of our best weeks of the year. Just think what we could have done without the storm?

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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      It always amazes me when I hear about a technician who quits one repair shop to go work at another shop for less money. I know you have heard of this too, and you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can this be true? And Why?” The answer rests within the culture of the company. More specifically, the boss, manager, or a toxic work environment literally pushed the technician out the door.
      While money and benefits tend to attract people to a company, it won’t keep them there. When a technician begins to look over the fence for greener grass, that is usually a sign that something is wrong within the workplace. It also means that his or her heart is probably already gone. If the issue is not resolved, no amount of money will keep that technician for the long term. The heart is always the first to leave. The last thing that leaves is the technician’s toolbox.
      Shop owners: Focus more on employee retention than acquisition. This is not to say that you should not be constantly recruiting. You should. What it does means is that once you hire someone, your job isn’t over, that’s when it begins. Get to know your technicians. Build strong relationships. Have frequent one-on-ones. Engage in meaningful conversation. Find what truly motivates your technicians. You may be surprised that while money is a motivator, it’s usually not the prime motivator.
      One last thing; the cost of technician turnover can be financially devastating. It also affects shop morale. Do all you can to create a workplace where technicians feel they are respected, recognized, and know that their work contributes to the overall success of the company. This will lead to improved morale and team spirit. Remember, when you see a technician’s toolbox rolling out of the bay on its way to another shop, the heart was most likely gone long before that.
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