Unperformed Maintenance Grew to $8 Billion in 2010
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By Joe Marconi in Joe's Blog0 commentsAuto shop owners are always looking for ways to improve production levels. They focus their attention on their technicians and require certain expectations of performance in billable labor hours. While technicians must know what is expected of them, they have a limited amount of control over production levels. When all factors are considered, the only thing a well-trained technician has control over is his or her actual efficiency.
As a review, technician efficiency is the amount of labor time it takes a technician to complete a job compared to the labor time being billed to the customer. Productivity is the time the technician is billing labor hours compared to the time the technician is physically at the shop. The reality is that a technician can be very efficient, but not productive if the technician has a lot of downtime waiting for parts, waiting too long between jobs, or poor workflow systems.
But let’s go deeper into what affects production in the typical auto repair shop. As a business coach, one of the biggest reasons for low shop production is not charging the correct labor time. Labor for extensive jobs is often not being billed accurately. Rust, seized bolts, and wrong published labor times are just a few reasons for lost labor dollars.
Another common problem is not understanding how to bill for jobs that require extensive diagnostic testing, and complicated procedures to arrive at the root cause for an onboard computer problem, electrical issue, or drivability issue. These jobs usually take time to analyze, using sophisticated tools, and by the shop’s top technician. Typically, these jobs are billed at a standard menu labor charge, instead of at a higher labor rate. This results in less billed labor hours than the actual labor time spent. The amount of lost labor hours here can cripple a shop’s overall profit.
Many shop owners do a great job at calculating their labor rate but may not understand what their true effective labor is, which is their labor sales divided by the total labor hours sold. In many cases, I have seen a shop that has a shop labor rate of over $150.00 per hour, but the actual effective labor rate is around $100. Not good.
Lastly, technician production can suffer when the service advisors are too busy or not motivated to build relationships with customers, which results in a low sales closing ratio. And let’s not forget that to be productive, a shop needs to have the right systems, the right tools and equipment, an extensive information system, and of course, great leadership.
The bottom line is this; many factors need to be considered when looking to increase production levels. While it does start with the technician, it doesn’t end there. Consider all the factors above when looking for ways to improve your shop’s labor production.
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The Ripple Effect of Recognition: Lessons from Bill Hader [E111] - Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to ZBy carmcapriotto
The trend of giving credit (00:02:36) Bill Hader's interviews and his habit of giving credit where it's due, discussing the importance of acknowledging others' contributions. The struggle with giving credit in management (00:05:04) The difficulty that managers and owners face in giving credit to their personnel, emphasizing the inconsistency and negative impact of not recognizing others' efforts. The benefits of giving credit (00:07:29) The positive outcomes of acknowledging individuals by name for their work, such as increased customer satisfaction, confidence, and word-of-mouth recommendations. The importance of technician training (00:09:46) The need for technicians to continuously update their skills and knowledge in order to diagnose and repair complex vehicles. Positive interactions with clients (00:10:55) The significance of positive interactions with clients and how it can lead to customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth recommendations. Recognizing the contributions of the team (00:13:20) The importance of acknowledging and appreciating the contributions of all team members in a shop, including service advisors, managers, and owners.
Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech napaautotech.com
Email Matt: [email protected]
Diagnosing the Aftermarket A - Z YouTube Channel HERE
Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com/
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Join Matt Fanslow as he answers some questions from his listeners in his 'mailbag.' Matt discusses the hiring bonus dilemma, compensation and profit sharing, the power of training, the flat rate pay system, book recommendations and how to create a network of industry peers.
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Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech napaautotech.com
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Diagnosing the Aftermarket A - Z YouTube Channel HERE
Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com/
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