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Too High Priced?


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I like both your stories and how they were both handled,

 

Joe, If a customer is given a detailed estimate and the work is performed in a timely matter and all was ok'd by the customer, then I stand very firm when a complaint on pricing occurs. These customers are not the ones we desire as business owners, they help pay the bills but......are usually more of a pain to deal with than they are worth.

 

I feel the blower guy was handled correctly also, I will swallow a little dia time to rid myself of a cronic complainer. I think your service manager made the best decision for your company.

 

Its a good thing there are enough good customers to keep our businesses afloat, dealing with the price checkers and the complainers constantly would put me to an early grave.

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Just wanted to add my 2 cents. When I first got into this business, 16 years ago, a wise man told me that not everyone who walks in your front door is a customer. That is why there are lots of other shops out there. Sometimes you talk politely, like the Ranger did, and invite them to go elsewhere. Sometimes it is just a personality problem. I have one customer who does not like to talk to me, but loves my partner. Doesn't hurt my feelings at all. It has always bothered me when people complain, after the repairs, about something that was explained and agreed to before.

 

The same man once told me, it is not how you handle the things you do well, but how you handle the problems that will ultimately improve your business. Boy was he right. If someone is upset, they will tell a lot of people. It is worth something to mitigate that.

 

Kelly Wilson

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I 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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