mspecperformance

Harry I'll be the devil's advocate here. As a primer I have always been against cheap oil change promotions. I never saw them work for me and I always thought they brought the wrong type of customers. Kind of what AndersonAuto was alluding to, you have to have the space for volume and the processes in place to handle it, it can actually be a great model. I've recently changed my tune after attending some sales training from Aspen Auto Clinic. They have grown to a 5 shop operation with a ARO of $400 while still offering a "cheap oil change" special. Essentially the idea is to drive high car count and use a specific process to upsell a paid inspection at reception. That is what it is in a nutshell, there are more steps to it but that's the key part. For those who don't purchase the paid inspection they still get a free inspection so you still have upsell opportunities. Another strategy is to sell them on a VIP card or a 5 pack oil change package at check out so you can see them again. The idea is to get as many "at bats" as possible. Now when you have one of these folks that come in for oil change after oil change and get nothing done with you OR have the work done elsewhere you have to have a serious conversation with them. It would go something like this, "Mr. Customer we notice that you have come to us for several oil changes and have not acted on any of the recommendations we have made for service and maintenance of your vehicle. We love performing your oil service however these other items are rather important. The reason I am bringing this up is I want to make sure I am doing my job communicating properly about the severity of some of these items. Have I conveyed that information properly?" If the customer tells you something negative or that he has his family shop that does his work then you have to drop them a serious line like, "Mr. Customer we offer our oil change special to give potential customers a low risk opportunity to experience our service and value. We literally lose money on every oil change at this price. What we really want is to become your shop/mechanic. Are we in the running at all? Do we have a chance?" If the answer is no or I have a shop then its time to shut them down and tell them that you would really love to continue to service their oil change at your regular price. I am summarizing the process tremendously and butchering parts of it along the way but that's the gist. This model definitely can work but it MUST be a whole process. The biggest turning point for me to see this type of strategy work is the detailed process in upselling the PAID inspection (which effectively makes your oil change a regular priced oil change or better) and also explaining to the oil change customer that this a special promotion to give people a "low risk opportunity to experience our customer service and value". You need a specific sales process to turn those oil change customers into repair customers. Another trick is to not advertise the low oil change on a consistent basis. every quarter or 6 months with a big blast. I am going to pilot this strategy with my upcoming general repair shop. I'll report my findings

Thanks. I am going to demo the system next week. I do know that mitchell enterprise is protractor, I am told the price points are the same.

If you are doing 5-10 alignments a day I don't see you being happy with the other products UNLESS you just have no idea how fast it is to set up and breakdown the new Hawkeye Elite heads. If you don't have a point of reference then you might not think there is a justification in spending the extra dough. When I mention "camera" system I mean where the cameras are mounted at the wheels opposed to Hunter and Hoffman/John Bean set up where targets are mounted onto the wheel. Good, Better, Best would go in the order of Rav, Hoffman/JB, Hunter.

RLO is another consulting company like Elite. Most consulting companies will offer a combination of services such as 1 on 1 coaching, 20 group/peer groups, ala carte classes such as sales and management training.

Does anyone on here use Protractor? I've heard some decent things about it

Does anyone on here use Protractor? I've heard some decent things about it

I have heard decent things about the Rav stuff BUT it is a camera system. Hunter is by far the fastest to set up and break down. If you are looking to maximize profit from alignments then go Hunter. You can quickcheck cars very fast too. If you have the proper system in place you'll sell a lot of alignments. I have experience with camera based aligners and unless are only doing a handful of alignments a week, go hunter.

meowpox, From my experience none of the cloud based SMS are as complete as some of the bigger players such as RO Writer and Mitchell. Sad because both RO Writer and Mitchell have gaping holes as well. I believe Omnique seemed to be the most complete out of all the ones I have looked at. None have convinced me to convert and I desperately want a cloud based SMS.

Correct. If you are measuring your networth which includes equity in real estate then absolutely. IMO if you are a smart business person you will make profits in your auto business and funnel them into other investments which can include other businesses, more locations, real estate, market investments, life insurance, etc.

I used 10% net as an example as that might be a more attainable number for Jay... then again 2 mil is a pretty daunting number as well haha

In the grand scheme of things a million dollars is relatively easy to obtain. Anyone who is trying to attain wealth is not going to leave cash sitting for long. They will be investing that money to allow it to work for them in various forms of investing. Networth is a better measurement of wealth vs cash sitting in the bank. Shop owners can probably become millionaires in 5 years without having multi locations. If you have a shop grossing 2 mil at even a 10% net you will be a millionaire in 5 years.

Eggselent

It depends on the the personalities of your staff. Some people can get very bitter if they lose or cut corners to win. I would instill a spiff structure instead where even if you are performing less than your peer you are still getting something. Even this type of system can generate resentment.

I think it was our own Joe Marconi that gave that presentation. If it wasn't, I know Joe talks about it a lot.

The biggest hurdle is implementation. Making sure every vehicle is inspected. Whatever inspection process you actually have it is imperative it is done. Second part of this is making sure your Front end people are estimating ALL the work and presenting ALL the found work. At this point you become the consultant and help the customer make the best choice.

Sorry to hear that. You might need an outsider's perspective. Sometimes it is hard to be objective when you are the one in the situation struggling and trying to make it another day. I've been there and stuck it out. I'd love to say I was as fast growing as Jay but it definitely wasn't my story. Took me a good 6-7 years to turn my business around and most of my problems came from not being able to look in the mirror and take responsibility.

Just to add to AndersonAuto's excellent post, I think you should make sure you are "ready" for a 20 group. It can get intense and if you don't have a intermediate grasp of your business especially the financials it may feel like you are drowning.

I did not know Auto Vitals was a standalone SMS?

Makes sense if you are 1) Planning on doing Volume and the associated systems for it (aka making low margins on tire sales OR having huge national accts with tire manufacturers) and 2) paying your techs near minimum wage. I know #2 is a particular problem for the tire industry as a legislation pushes towards higher min wage.

Excellent growth! Love the story, hustle hustle hustle hard! Make sure you are staying profitable and make sure you have a good CPA and tax strategist! If I could make a suggestion, get a copywriter to put together your story. It's a great one!

Its been a while since I've read the book but I don't believe he is telling the reader to buy into a franchise but rather suggesting the franchise model with its efficient systems and not having the owner apart of the daily operations is (in his opinion) the definition of a true entrepreneur / business owner.

No thanks! I like my privacy

I like the first one. Who did these for you?

It is held in Chicago. The exact town eludes me but its about 20 minutes from the airport if I remember correctly. It is a nice venue. www.rwconference.com is the website I think.

Their experience, references, reputation.