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Focusing too much on specials?


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So I've been running my shop for a little over a year now, taking in whoever I could at whatever rate I could, regardless of profit margins. Recently I've started becoming more selective and strict on my markups and margins, and lo and behold I think I get more business now than I did catering strictly to the customer's wallet.

 

So now that I'm more set on my prices and have a matrix setup for parts markup, I figured I set up some generic specials on oil changes and things of that nature. I read someone's idea on here about advertising factory scheduled maintenance instead of just oil changes, and I thought that was a really good idea, so if it's okay with Junior I'd like to run with that idea in my shop. :)

 

Now on to the problem. I think I'm taking these flat cost services too far. I have one set up for standard service/oil change (4qt/5qt, conventional/high mileage/synthetic) and I have a flat cost for EGR delete kits on a couple of the newer diesels. But wait, I can set up one for CV Axles too! And everyone has a brake special! Maybe a set price for timing belts on most 4-cylinders! Oh wait, transmission services too! See where I'm heading with this? At what point do you differentiate between a flat cost service and quoting on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis?

Edited by MattW
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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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