Dux

I think it's all going to depend on what shops will be willing to participate. I think the problem they are going to have is getting shops to want to accept their coins as a form of payment.

Thanks Pam! I try to do the same. Where do you get most your material from. Just surfing?

Hey Everyone,

Do you any of you guys post Facebook content on a regular weekly basis? I find myself running out of content to post? Anyone have any good source for good information that I can relay to my customers. I have been just posting, customer reviews, car tips, sometimes offers on good discounted automotive parts.

Thanks...Robert

5 hours ago, Marksas said:

I have tried career builder, indeed, craigslist, facebook and a few others. Craigslist and facebook are the best for leads. We are active with our facebook page so that helps and we do buy some advertising on Facebook. One of the things we were doing is as soon as we got a response from someone (mostly Craigslist) we would request they go to our website to fill out an online application. Rarely would someone do this. Since we don't hire a great deal of people, I really don't have much experience even though I have been in business over 15 years. I noticed my local Chick-fil-A was having open interviews one day so I called up the owner who is a friend and prefaced my question with "No is an acceptable answer". I then asked him if I could sit through an interview for some tips. He said he would do one better, he would come down, pick me up, provide me with lunch, give me a back end tour, and sit through as many interviews that I wanted. He then said he needed to make an appointment for service so I one upped him and told him bring your vehicle, drop it off and we will go in mine while they service yours. 

Anyway they don't require an application for an interview. he has 2 other staff people pre interview to weed out a number of the applicants and then he gets the ones that are pre-screened. He begins by telling them the process of the interview.

1. Introduces himself and me to the applicant.

2. Talks about himself and his background as the owner operator.

3. Talks about he organization

4. His style of management.

5. He then tells them to take about 5 minutes to tell him their story and asks them if its ok if he makes some notes on his phone while they talk. And lets them know he is not texting or answering emails but merely making notes about the interview. He also tells them that he or I might interrupt their story to ask them a few questions.  

6. If he feels compelled he then tells the that he has a position he thinks would be a great fit and tells them about the position. He makes them an offered with the stipulation that they must fill out an online application and screening and if that is ok then they have a job. He asks them if they can go online that day to complete the application process. If they can't do it that day he then asks if they can complete the next day. They all agree. If they don't complete the online part when they said they would then they don't hire them. 

After viewing the operations I could pretty much place each of the interview candidates in various positions and it was actually uplifting because he had some great young people.  

One of the other things he does is to put a couple of napkins on the floor by the table to see if anyone picks them up. 

A couple of things i learned is that they make it a very informal process and get the applicant comfortable. They build some excitement about the organization by telling their story so that the applicants want to come there.  I have changed our process and don't even mention the application now. We go ahead and schedule an interview. We get them to commit to a time and if they are late we will talk to them for a bit to find out what happened and give them a 5 minute shop tour but not much after that. If they're late for an interview then my experience is they lack discipline and are also late for work.  Once we give them a tour we tell them about our organization and vision. We try and get them excited and want to come work with us. We ask them to tell their story, ask them about their hopes and dreams. If we aren't really hiring we let them know we take our time in the hiring process and we are slow to hire. We have also shared our growth plans with them so sometimes is a matter of obtaining potential hires to have in the stable. Once we complete the initial interview we direct them to our website and tell them that our application is a little lengthy but we want to know as much about them as we can because we have an exceptional team and don't want to damage that by a bad hire.  We also do 2-3 interviews. The manager, the lead tech, and myself occasionally.  

A couple of points.

Make sure your shop and your office is clean and well lite. nobody really can get excited about working in a messy dungeon.

Treat everyone of them with respect. We also tell the applicants that they can also talk to any of the employees if they like. 

We treat all the parts delivery guys and all of our vendors with the highest regard. We offer delivery guys cold bottled water and sodas and create good repore with them as they can be advocates for your business. Our last great hire was a service writer referred to us by a major vendor.  One of the last top techs we hired came to us from a combination of parts house and tool truck recommendations. Guy was new to the area and talked to parts houses and tool truck guys and asked if they were looking for a job where are three places they would go. We were at the top of the list. I thought that was a smart and unique way for someone to find a place to work. This was an exceptional tech and we he came to us he was upfront and stated he would only be with us 2-3 yrs max as his wife was a DOD worker and would be transferred after this assignment so he wanted us to know that before hiring him. 

Even doing all this you will still make bad hires as we have also. We terminate those quickly. This hasn't always been the case as I am too nice and give 2nd, 3rd.... chances. My manager is much better at this than me. I have improved greatly over the years because this is extremely costly to morale and culture. 

Anyway I hope this helps and always be looking and interviewing. 

 

 

 

Thank you! I think this will help everyone out tremendously. Chick-fil-A is a great organization and now I know why. I've heard they screen their franchisees very carefully. I like his interview process! Thank you for sharing.

Yes, I've been saved by the network. One of the reasons I wanted to post this was, I try to prepare myself for the  "what if didn't have that network scenario." I definitely have been in that situation and have been taken advantage of.  Thanks for putting the professional sports team analogy. I always try to picture myself like a sports franchise.😂 Thanks for the tip Meowpox, that's the avenue our shop has been investing more time on, especially the advertising side.

I wasn't able to respond directly to some of the responses. Thank you to everyone who responded. I have been contacting people on indeed, just haven't found much luck. The staff that I have now, has just been by pure luck. I specialize in transmissions so that also makes it even harder. I have to try and find a general tech and try to train him up to become fast enough on transmissions. The staff I have now, let's just say this. If I didn't have them, or they didn't happen to stumble into my shop, I'd be in the red and digging myself out a hole. Thank you for everyone who responded. I guess there's no easy solution but to wait and do the best i can.

Hello Everyone,

We've been trying to find good help for the past 3 months and have been very unsuccessful. We have ads on craigslist and indeed and had no luck on there neither. Our workload is backed up and now it's starting to affect our profitability, in terms of we're taking 2 weeks to finish a week's worth of work. Anyone have any good suggestions on how to get out of this bind or is being patient our best bet?

 Thanks...Robert

Thank you all for responding. I very much appreciate it.

To respond to Elon.

-My transmission shop is currently always backed up and we have so much carry over on a weekly basis. I was thinking of sending a few jobs down to the new shop to help raise revenue before we gain some momentum and some of the advertising campaigns kick off. Yes, I am trying to turn the jobs out faster. My shop is often having to turn off our advertising to catch up but this is on transmission repairs.

-My transmission shop is currently doing about 80% retail and 20% wholesale.

- Right now, the shop is just doing brakes, oil changes, tune ups, timing belts. I'm new to advertising and marketing general automotive.

Again, thank you all for your insights.

Thanks...Robert

Hello Everyone,

My name is Robert, I own and run a transmission shop. I recently was given an opportunity to take over an auto repair shop without much investment but I don't have as much experience in the general automotive field. I don't know what kind of repairs I should be targeting or what kind of shop supplies I should stock up on. I figured I would use this shop to help with the overflow of my transmission shop just to make sure theirs income coming in. I would appreciate any kind of advice or tips.

Thanks...Robert

Hi,

I"m in desperate need of mechanics. What are some sources that you guys use to look for mechanics?

Thanks,

Rob

Thank you all for the responses. It relieves a lot of anxiety. I finally met the customer face to face today and I hate to say it but I judged a book by its cover. I think he is trying to do an insurance scam on me.

He hands me a hand written receipt of all the stereo equipment he purchased in April. It looks like he got one of his buddies from a stereo shop to write him up a receipt. He also gives me another hand written receipt for additional stuff like new IPod. I asked if he had insurance and he says he only has insurance on his license? What does that mean?

What do you guys suggest that I do?

Thanks!

It's a shop where the owner, rents out space to people who want to fix their own cars. I'm getting ready to get out of there. I just use the place as a second location where I can reach customers in that area.

I'm just curious, what is a "fix it yourself shop"?

My mechanic doesn't remember what was in the car but definitely does not believe anyone would be that dumb to leave all that valuable stuff inside. The car isn't even worth as much as the stereo equipment he is claiming.

Sounds fishy to me. Do you remember any of the stuff being in the car that he is claiming was stolen? I would speak to my lawyer and insurance agent before I make a decision. Is it your word against his? And do you have a storage policy clearly stated?

 

Why would anyone leave "valubale" stereo equipment in a car for 2 and 1/2 months????? I hate to be skeptical, but it sounds too fishy...

 

These are things about business that drive me nuts. We have enough to worry about on a daily basis.

 

Be firm, see if he can actually prove that stuff was in the car. Showing receipts is not proof.

Hey Guys,

I'm having some anxiety over a situation with a customers car. I was hoping everyone experiences can help come to the best solution.

I rent space out of a fix it yourself shop. One of my customers did not have the money to pay for their repairs. It took them 2 and 1/2 months to pay it. During that time the car got broken into and from what the customer said their were some valuable stereo equipment stolen. His list is also growing by the minute of what's missing and also he has receipts.

Have any of you guys experienced anything like this?

Thanks,

Monty