HarrytheCarGeek

The first day of Spring is coming up, March 20. A/C Service Special, Cabin Filter and Pollen Prevention sales should be ready to be made.

Keep in mind, nothing happens in your favor if you don't plan for it. Plan, Plan, Plan, execute, execute, execute.

We are having an extremely good 1st quarter, and it has all the results from all the planning and hard work we did last year.

For those of you that run one man shops, it should be evident by now that your time is extremely valuable and you have to be very careful how you spend it to get the maximum benefit. Choosing the right support people or group is essential.

What is your end goal? Are you growing for the sake of growing?

Growing is not a problem if you know what you are doing, this is one of those ironies of life, and the only way to learn how to grow in to plow forward.

What are you going to do once people are stealing from you?

How are you going to make payroll when you don't have enough sales to cover payroll and you are over extended?

With whom do you have enough shared experience to trust them when you are not around to run the whole enchilada?

How much net profit is enough per location to call it a success?

What if your crew gets sick and you have to close the doors for a few days?

What is sales are rocking and spending gets out of control?

How many shops are enough, how many employees do you want to help feed? And their families?

The hardest, dry, and boring step is the planning and drawing phase, what if? What if that, what if this, or that...? What if the city doesn't allow my sign? What is the city doesn't agree with this or that, etc.?

See if you can plan for one shop, two shops, five, ten, twenty, one hundred. If you get good at this, you will see that you can grow as big as you wish, but will it be worth it? What are you willing to sacrifice? Time, health, family, youth, etc...?

If it is in your blood, there is no other answer than to do what you have to do, just as you can't tell a Lion not to do Lion things, he must do what Lions do.

Whatever you choose, I wish you a fun, prosperous, and exiting journey.

Thanks for posting that,  I had a great laugh.

Your guys should make it a habit of doing vehicle inspections until it becomes second nature, for example, one of the 1st thing to note is vehicle mileage, this will give you a lot of information. Second notice the windshield wipers, then the tires, from that walkabout check all the lights, then pop the hood, look at the battery terminals, from there to the hoses and filters, then as you lift the car, you should have the mileage contrast with the suspension, ball joints, tie rods, leaks, power train, bearings, universal joints, exhaust,, etc.

To a new guy, it may look daunting, but to an old paw it should be no sweat.

Post cards have worked well with us, we use demandforce to send them. Also, instead of a logo, we have a little text box that says "Share this card if you like, we love people that like their cars."

@Chucks Creations Autobody

My answer is a bit unorthodox but it will give you a bit better understanding of the dispute resolution process.

Take the Jurisdictionary.com course, through it you will learn how claims are resolved in court. You will understand how to make decision based on facts and evidence, and how the legal process works.

With this information, you will be able to see how the insurance company people may be giving you the run around for their own benefit, and what they may have against your customer in evidence that may get them off the hook from paying the claim.

Savvy insurance adjusters know how to push the boundaries and what tricks they can use to get away with paying the minimum amount possible, and even avoiding liability if they can help it.

Beautiful article, Gonzo!

My grandmother used to say that the Devil knew every trick not because he was the Devil, but because we has old.

As I have grown older in this business, I had seen subtle components failures that even the masters have over looked.

For example, many serpentine belts tensioners don't meet the original specification, but they look good and feel right, except that when the car reaches operating temperature the belt skips causing many problems, from power steering jerkiness, to alternator voltage variations, to A/C system intermittent failures. Here comes a DIY's and he has changed the pump, compressor, and alternator, and still will not replace the tensioner because it's too simple a fix.

Then those with a host of electrical problems cause by time and oxidation, that a simple battery service, and cleaning of ground connections will fix, yet they spend thousands of dollars replacing expensive modules.

I have been known to charge hot heads hundred's of dollars after they have annoyed me to tears to fix their cars because they would not stop telling me what they have done to the car. And all I had to do was clean all the major ground connectors.

Crazy thing this mechanic business is. Again, thanks for always sharing your insights.

All right, the end of the 7th week of the year, you should be a little more adept at making calls and reaching out to people.

I am on both sides of the coin, trained and coached.

It is important the attitude you bring to the table.

If you are the type of character that "knows" everything, you will not benefit from a coaching relationship, and worse you will claim that you were "ripped" off.

One of the priceless lessons that I learned in the Army was from drill sergeant that said to us: "Some of you come from the woods and are experts shooters, but for now put that aside and listen carefully because I will teach you how we shoot in the Army. That way, we are all on the same page, and in the heat of battle, you know what to expect from your buddy. Once you are out there killing the enemy, we don't care how you shoot him, but at least we know you will know how to shoot him the Army way."

It was that lesson that has served me well in life, when learning new things, I put aside what I know, and let the one teaching me show me his way.

If you are having issues with your service advisors selling and pricing your work, take them on a field trip to the retail auto parts stores and let them see the pricing on wipers, filters, and other consumables, then let them tell you why you should not make your gross margins.

And just to get it out of my system, PROFIT IS NOT A DIRTY WORD!

Check for recall or open bulletins, the TIPM on those things are crap. http://www.carcomplaints.com/Jeep/Wrangler/2012/electrical/tipm_failure.shtml

There are so many things that demand our time, we have to prioritize our task to achieve our set goals.

One thing I have been meaning to share with you is that if you can make some time, read the autobiography of Ben Franklin:

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page33.htm

For example, there is this passage that I like very much:

 

I soon after obtained, thro' my friend Hamilton, the printing of the Newcastle paper money, another profitable job, as I then thought it, small things appearing great to those in small circumstances; and these, to me, were really great advantages, as they were great encouragements. He procured for me, also, the printing of the laws and votes of that government, which continued in my hands as long as I followed the business.

I now opened a little stationer's shop. I had in it blanks of all sorts, the correctest that ever appeared among us, being assisted in that by my friend Breintnal. I had also paper, parchment, chapmen's books, etc. One Whitemash, a compositor I had known in London, an excellent workman, now came to me, and worked with me constantly and diligently; and I took an apprentice, the son of Aquila Rose.

I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was under for the printing-house. In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I drest plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a-fishing or shooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and, to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchased at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteemed an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the mean time, Keimer's credit and business declining daily, he was at last forced to sell his printing-house to satisfy his creditors. He went to Barbados, and there lived some years in very poor circumstances.

His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed while I worked with him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having bought his materials. I was at first apprehensive of a powerful rival in Harry, as his friends were very able and had a good deal of interest. I therefore proposed a partnership to him, which he, fortunately for me, rejected with scorn. He was very proud, dressed like a gentleman, lived expensively, took much diversion and pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and neglected his business; upon which, all business left him, and, finding nothing to do, he followed Keimer to Barbados, taking the printing-house with him. There this apprentice employed his former master as a journey-man; they quarreled often; Harry went continually behindhand, and at length was forced to sell his types and return to his country work in Pennsylvania. The person that bought them employed Keimer to use them, but in a few years he died.

This flu season hit my guys hard! We have had some guys out sick and demand for service is very strong. Some shops are trying to catch up with work and trying to keep up with their demand.

We had an excellent Valentine's sales numbers.

Keep at it, do your marketing, make your calls, send your offers. Stay the course.

Trying to catch up now. We have picked up several fleet accounts in the past month. Retail is doing great, and now we need to balance this work load.

Added supermarket adverizing to the mix, so we are going to see how this works out with the expected demographic.

Keep in mind, the little habits day by day gets you closer to your goal. If you don't set goals, you are navigating blind in this business ocean. A goal can be as simple as I want to double my profit in the next three months to I want to open a second shop by the end of the year.

Thinking ahead and planning will let you set your goals, and the little daily habits will get you there!

Make your calls, send your postcards, mail your offers!

Like an itch, this is one of those feelings that are not satisfied until you scratch it.

If you want to specialize in Suby's just add eye candy signs that you specialize in Subarus, declare yourself an expert and work hard at it until you are one.

I wouldn't cancel out of general repair just yet, because of the cash flow crunch that usually follows going into a niche market.

But like any experience, until you have worked out the numbers and set the expectations of what would be an acceptable return for your time and capital, you will not be happy until you are either out of business or comfortable profitable.

Just getting over the flu. Even though I had the vaccine it didn't seem to have help me out this time around.

We had the best January ever in sales, we broke our all times sales per month.

Since going to $150 an hour we have had one or two complaints, no strong resistance, we are now into backlog territtory, one shop is running about a two week wait.

Remember, you cannot teach anyone anything new if they already know everything, so choose your people wisely. It is a losing proposition to keep people that are not willing to learn or adapt to the business requirements.\

Keep making your calls, sending your postscards, mailing your offers.

https://www.mycertifiedservice.com/content/dam/MCS/northamerica/mcs/nscwebsite/en/index/Auto%20Maintenance/Multi%20Point%20Vehicle%20Inspection/02_PDF/Car-inspection-vehicle-inspection-checklist.pdf

Don't forget to check the customers credit score.

 

Just a simple check of Mileage based needs, Fluids,Filters,Lights, Brakes and Tire age/wear reveals alot.

 

Always check fluid levels on check in. Many cars will come in with no oil reading on the stick.

So true!

If you have been doing this for a while, the way you process a car will reveal much before you even lift a car.

Use the check list that works for your shop. Our shops use derivative lists of the main list. But the point is that the check list that enables you the most upsells that work is the one you want to be using.

ugh, picked up a terrible case of the flu, taking it a bit slow but staying on course.

Planning ahead was a difficult skill for me to learn. Learning to play Chess helped a lot, but I still had to practice, practice, practice. After a while it becomes second nature and you begin to be able to see different solution to a problem.

Stay the course, keep with your marketing and practice planning ahead.

February is six days away, if you are in an area that benefits from tax return money, you should be ready to get in touch with those customers that can benefit from your services. Review your records and reach out to those that have cars in need of maintenance or repair that declined due to lack of funds or a tough budget.

Many customers appreciate the call and use the funds wisely instead of wasting it in frivolous things.

You know, transportation companies have been making a distinction between passengers for a long time. Make sure you are billing premium services to those customers that can afford it. Also, don't price your loyal customers out of your shop.

Also, keep in my the old cliche, "No good deed goes unpunished." That's is to say, that lady you did some free work for, will come back to complain you didn't do a good job and wants a refund.

If you have a chance to step away from your shop, go visit some of your competitors site. It will give you an idea what's going on out there. Talk to people, get a feel for the general mood of your area.

Make some site visits.

All right, fourth week of 2017, second third of Winter. Valentine's day is coming up, and Spring marketing design should be done and heading to the printers.

Visualize the production ahead and plan accordingly.

Make your calls, send your postcards, mail your offers.