What one thing do you want to improve?

[Shopcat]

What is the single one stand out thing you want to improve at your shop? Is it ARO, car count, G.P. %, Branding your company, Hiring better people, or what?

Whats the most important thing you want to accomplish this year?

Whats is you action plan to make it happen?

Just curious what's on the collective ASO mind!

[mspecperformance]

Car count for sure. Its kind of a loaded question since in order for me to handle increased car count I have to get my processes better, efficiency and productivity up etc. But for me Car count FOR SURE.

[Shopcat]

Thanks mspecperformance. I see the loaded question thing your getting at. Every goal, like car count has a process to get it done. What appears to be a fairly simple goal has quite a few steps involved. In my experience I must have a written plan with sub-steps to get it done.

[cdhowell]

A new location. My current location is at the end of a little strip mall surrounded by Mini storage. Unless you walk thru the door you would never know what we do.I also manage the mini storage for a portion of my rent. But the time doing so takes me away from my business.

I talked to a guy about 3 years ago that has a perfect building for me. I need retail space as well for the aftermarket stuff we do. It was vacant for a long time and I approached him. It is tied up in a trust with 14 family members. At the time he wanted a 2 year lease and a Million dollar buy out at the end of 2 years. Worth about $350,000. So it sat vacant another 6 months till another shop opened in there. 3 years later the other guy is folding but the family is also being reasonable now. Just waiting to hear when he is pulling out to start negotiations.

Edited January 6, 2015 by cdhowell

[mspecperformance]

I agree! As may have read I am serious looking into getting a full line of hunter equipment. My current tire and alignment sales are abysmal however with my clientele I do see a market opportunity. For me to pull the trigger I must have a plan in place with the right sales strategy to increase my tire and alignment sales tremendously. I guess you can say that is another BIG goal of mine.

 

As for car count, my shop operates on a high ARO low car count basis while keeping correct margins. If I keep my ARO high and increase my car count I will be sitting pretty.

[cdhowell]

A new location. My current location is at the end of a little strip mall surrounded by Mini storage. Unless you walk thru the door you would never know what we do.I also manage the mini storage for a portion of my rent. But the time doing so takes me away from my business.

 

I talked to a guy about 3 years ago that has a perfect building for me. I need retail space as well for the aftermarket stuff we do. It was vacant for a long time and I approached him. It is tied up in a trust with 14 family members. At the time he wanted a 2 year lease and a Million dollar buy out at the end of 2 years. Worth about $350,000. So it sat vacant another 6 months till another shop opened in there. 3 years later the other guy is folding but the family is also being reasonable now. Just waiting to hear when he is pulling out to start negotiations.

[cdhowell]

Not sure why it double posted

[xrac]

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[flacvabeach]

Have to agree with GPM, but there are a lot of underlying factors. Also trying to get SAs to sell more maintenance by mileage.

[Joe Marconi]

What great answers! Let me add that you need to also have the right people, and the right training programs. It's too difficult to go it alone, and with the right people around you, you can achieve things that you would not alone. And also, know your key customer. Don't try to be all things to all people.

 

Great post!

[Bob K]

We have a shop that employs 2 techs. Used to be 3 when i worked in the shop. I want to identify why our younger techs never seem to stay more than one year.I always hire them part time while they are in trade school and they are always are happy to come on full time after graduation. Our latest tech who we have mentored for about 2 years has made significant strides in his hands on abilities. He has helped us with great ideas to streamline our processes that make his and other jobs easier and other nice contributions. I have been flexible in giving vacation time earlier than i have in the past, and every other saturday off..I have purchased new work boots of his choice as needed as i do for our other employees, paid for time off to attend ASE testing to help with his professional development. I feel i pay him well for an entry level tech with 2 years trade school and only 8 month's full time experience since graduation. Typical pay 6 to 7 gross per week. Plus Monthly incentive bonuses for team goals if met. Also 250 Xmas bonus. We have upgraded many pieces of equipment this year as a shop should as they grow making our work more enjoyable.I always make the effort to thank our employees for their hard work at the end of the day. I'm doi ng my best to be a good employer and just wish i could identify why this position is not held for long by these younger techs. They cant expect top pay at such a young age. This tech has told me he is taking a flat rate position with a chain store at .50 c per hour over his current pay with us with a a 30 hour guarantee. I took the time to show him samples over several weeks where he averages only about 20 hours in a 40 hour week. We did the math together and he will be losing about 200 per week going there. He has been given inflated expectations of turning 60 plus hours per week. I would appreciate any feedback from this group. Thank you Bob Keene

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[Tires Too]

Bob,

We usually have someone from either the local High School or Vo-tech working here. I just plan on them moving on after they finish the program. They don't know what they don't know, and the lure of 60 to 80 flat rate hours a week is very strong at that point in their life. Once they have experienced the reality of flat rate they are often looking to move to another shop. We see many of these National and Regional chains churning and burning these young techs. You did what you could by going over his production with him. If you would be willing to have him back, let him know that the door is open to return when he sees the grass is not greener over there.