Jeff

Look at the list...you need to glean your top customers and market to them. 20% of your customers provide 80% of your revenue.

Word of mouth..do you ask for referalls and make it easy for your client to refer you? Give 2 free oil change cards to your next "premium" client. Ask them to give one to a person who they would think could use your service. Birds of a feather flock together. If they are a GREAT customer odds are their close friend could be also.

These are some of the things I seen Matthew mention and are included in some of his promo material.

We are all in biz to make money. Just The Best is in the marketing/crm biz.

Term limits and limit campaign donations. There is no way a "common" man can run for office. Kick out all the "professional" politicians and give those who serve the same benifits options we have. Eliminate the lifetime pension and freeze all personal accounts while in office.

Try this link http://www.mitchell1backoffice.com/

I use Mitchell with QB integrattor. In the 9 or 10 years I have used it I have never had a problem with tech support. They recently announced that they are going to release a new interface called back office I believe. Watched a video and it looks like a winner. Just my 2 cents.

welcome!!

Welcome..check back often!

In the case of the H3 the car was registered in Illinois. They dont reciprocate with Florida. I suspect thats what the owner thought. I have had vehicles in the past that had bank notes. When the bank was notified they repairs and storage were more than they wanted to pay. They write it off to loss, tag the owners credit file and I sell the car.

I was once told to use a 70% rule..if the cost of repair excededs 70% of the vehicles value then its a no go. Now with that said I try to counsel my customers as to the vehicles value and the value of the repairs. I get a lot of cars that need a grand in repairs that are marginally worth more that that. On the other hand in my market a decent used car is 3000 and up. Many folks cant afford another car or dont have the credit to get sold. As to the lien..it cost me 350 to lien a car. With salvage here paying a 150 or less I try real hard to not get stuck with an abandoned car. On the other hand had a guy walk away from an 08 H3 that needs an engine. Car books at 14G plus and an engine is 3100.

1992 F150..4.9L..auto...2wd. 350k..has taught 2 boys to drive, hauled my tool box, my harley, countless loads of scrap, surfboards, coolers, grills, firewood, etc. She is showing her age..door hinges shot, i-beam bushings worn, shocks worn, windows will work when they want...but she starts and brings me to the shop everyday! My goal is to get my tarus fixed and begin a restoration. Paint and body..lower 3 inches..exhaust..might even eliminate the injection..slip in an insky and hang dual carbs..just cant bring myself to get rid of the ol gal!

maybe competition posting bad reviews?

Never Forget!

Joe I remember reading that we spend 70% of our time tending to 30% of our customers. Those generally being the WORST customers. Good advice!

All I can say I wish I had that problem. Things are dead here on the Treasure Coast!

I dont often install customer supplied parts. The pads she provided were better quality than OE. As far as being down I warned her upfront that if they were incorrect I would be putting mine on. Now if I get a run of paper delivery drivers wanting to bring their own parts it gets shut down. The fact is it was a Saturday..late in the day. I had the nuts and studs here already. I dont promote bring your own parts but by working with the lady I feel I earned a new customer that will return..seeing as how her last shop crossed the lug nuts and installed a less quality pad.

Gonzo if I get my hands on them fellas it will be national news!!!

It all comes down to cost versus profit. When I worked at Chrysler we did evaporators in Trucks and Grand Cherokees with regualarity. When I asked an engineer at a training class why they didnt change the design I was told the cost of repalcement was still below the cost of redesign.

Example...Lady calls and wants to make an appointment to remove siezed lug nuts. Arrives on Sat morning and has a set of front brake pads. Premium quality..top shelf pads. Story goes she wanted to replace her own pads but last shop crossed several lug nuts. I replaced the lug nuts and studs, installed my rotors with her pads. Turns out she runs a paper delivery route and her car is her living. I now have a new customer that will tell all the other delivery drivers what GREAT SERVICE we deliver.

Just signed up 2 months ago. I wanted the warranty for my clients. I did get a little better pricing. I was with Federated but that program would not pay warranty labor if it returned here. I havent set it up yet but I like the tire program also. My rep has been very helpful along the way as well.

Welcome!!

I tend to be more angry with the excessive taxes than interest rates.

I tried my own uniforms at first. After I ruined a couple of my girlfriend blouses, from residue in the washer from the grease, I got uniforms. My cost is roughly 25 a week. They are clean, which I could never seem to accomplish at home. They are repaired/replaced when damaged. And I no longer have to worry about ruining a washer.

Trusted...what I was pointing out is ALL carquest stores are now owned by Advance. One and the same. My old CQ store has been refaced as an Advance store. Guys all wear Advance uniforms. Phones are answered Advance professional.

Now with that said I recently read where the Advance stores are stopping the free scans. Spoke to my rep and the mgr at my store and it was confirmed. Now AZ is another discussion.

Trusted...Car Quest is Advance now. Like I said so far same store, same service. And maybe a little better..there are 6-8 stores in the area they can pul from. Now up till the merger/buy out I refused to buy from Advance. But with few stores to pick from and delivery times that suck, I have stayed with my Car Quest/Advace store.

Not having those problems here. I deal with the same Car Quest store I always have. Same crew, professional service all the way. Just this week I signed up for the Tech Net program. The rep was very helpful and was able to answer all my questions. have you tried contacting corporate? The wheel bearing for instance is "lifetime". I dont see how they could deny replacing that bearing again under their warrantu..have never seen a limit disclaimer on their warranty as to how many parts is considered a life time.

As to professional shop I only purcahse from 3 suppliers, unless it is a dealer only part. NAPA locally is the hardest to deal with. I also use Cold Air Distributors ( pro only warehouse type store ), and Advace/Car Quest. O'rilleys recently put up several stores and we have a local store called Bennets. Been burned by Bennets to many times, similiar to your problem with Adavace. Just my 2 cents.

I started out moonlighting as well. I DID NOT work more than 4 hours a night and tried to get bigger jobs scheduled for weekends. Mostly neighbors and church family. I was charging a fair labor and markup on parts. Finally got to the point I was busy all the time and quit my job. Took me about 3 monthS to realize I was no where near prepared. I had some biz mgt in HS and thought that was enough. Had $700 left in the bank. Was in a miserable location because I thought people would follow me.

1) New shop...more overhead..increase in prices...followers went elsewhere!

2) Poor location...hard to find...fewer new customers..

3) 3 hurricanes..no money for cars, all going into home repairs

4) Recession hit...people bailed out of toxic mortagages..customer base dwindled

What I am trying to say is BE PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING!!