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Considering a shift to specialize


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Hello all! I am fairly new to ASO and its been a great resource, Thank You!

 

I am part way into my third year of business and looking to continue development and progress of my business. The first year was a lovely rollercoaster full of the perils and victories many of you have faced. The second year saw some traction and althought not a lot of profit, an understanding of what needed to be done to make it. Now for the third year, starting to make some money and run the business rather than that clawing on for dear life I experienced earlier.

 

So, I am seeking opinions and advice from the community on the idea of creating some specialties within the full service scope of my shop.

 

Some background. We are very full service, Domestic, Euro, and Asian. Good selection of scan tools, info, programming, etc. I do have a niche that we have been developing-- hybrid cars. We are one of the only shops in the state that does any serious work to them, battery rebuilds, transmission, inverter, etc. I plan to continue chasing these customers and giving them an alternative to the dealers. But! I also have a decent base of euro customers and I like those cars and customers, both profitable niches on there own.

 

I just made some moves with my techs and I have in place a team that could specialize in both with some investment in tooling for the german cars.

 

How do you guys go about courting a specific group without losing the other?

Is it worth specializing in one area versus trying to be everything to everyone?

 

I initially was shooting to be a hybrid specific shop, but the german cars followed me as well as all the general repair work, and I'm grateful, but I would like to define who we are and be the best at that.

 

I appreciate the comments and advice given.

 

Thanks! Josh

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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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