Bob K

I've never attempted to exit schedule before. How well is it received by the client? In rural upstate NY it's something that is not done in auto shops. It is done at womens hair salons but not the quick haircut places. Can you give an example of what works for you? Thanks, Bob

Small town or big city?

Shopcat, I have benefited from them. Some of what they've taught me has helped. Parts margin and labor margin have improved. My leadership abilities have improved, my customer experience has improved. Now the bad. I am in rural upstate NY and because my shop is now the highest priced option of 15 independent shops and 3 small new car dealers in a 10 mile radius , I have noticed my customer base slip away to the cheaper options. I used to service 40-50 cars a week and now I see 25 to 35 cars. This forces us to sell so much more per car. Coach says a higher ARO is all I need to worry about not the cars. He says I am not estimating high enough. Im at about 300 aro. My small town with an average income of 35k cannot afford to support a 93 per hr shop. Btw. Shops in my market are 55-75 per. Im confident none of my competitors are using a parts matrix like I am. Asked my parts supplier and he said nobody in town charges like I do. It's not a level paying field because the other shops in my market are not educating themselves to charge more. So with sales and car count shrinking, im thrilled to be done paying them almost 2 k per month. They're the reason I have to work so hard. Again, their answer is that I don't estimate and sell high enough. I've been a tech for almost 30 years and my lead tech for 35 years. I think I'm qualified to determine what my customer's need and estimate /recommend properly and honestly. Lesson- Take advice but adapt it to your market. What works in big cities with higher incomes don't work the same in small towns.

Anyone here used Auto Profit Masters RPM system by the Keller Brothers out of Colorado?

The most helpful part was fixing parts margin and determining what my labor rate should be. The on site classes are very good. The online portal you enter your weekly sales data into often leaves you feeling like you're not making progress because the bar is set so high. There's so much to say, but in retrospect, it hasn't been worth the 1,911.00 per month. Going forward, I wouldn't pay more than 500.00 per month for consulting and wouldn't commit to any more than 12 months.

I will have met the 30 month commitment to this consulting company in Feb 2017. I'm wondering if anyone here has had any trouble with them when exiting?

Did it for 1.4 years. I do not recommend doing it. It takes you away from your core business. Glad I had the opportunity but it wasn't worth the hassle. All the negative comments by the others in this thread are accurate.

I was just thinking how interesting it is that people will "hang out" at the local garage. Have you ever heard of anyone just hanging out at the local dentist or Dr's office or hair salon?

I was also thinking that customers from rural areas like yours and mine, seem to care less about appearances than customers of bigger towns/ cities. I'm not saying appearance isn't important, It just seems interesting that rural clients may have different standards. The shop I mentioned earlier always has a full parking lot. If it were a restaurant, I bet nobody would go there.

I've felt the same way at times. When it gets slow we tend to second guess everything. We start to think it's slow because of something we are or are not doing. I have come to believe that it is not really about us. I believe that people will come in when they are good and ready no matter what kind of marketing and advertising you do.I sometimes doubt that it matters how nice your shop looks. During the summer I travel through Naples NY past a well known shop that's been there for decades. I stopped in one day because I was curious about why their parking lot was always full. The outside was average but the inside was a mess. Based on the dated ,dirty,disorganized mess I couldn't imagine why anyone would go there. One day a former customer of theirs came to my shop. I asked them why they chose them in the past and they said "because my grand parents and parents did so they did" So it really doesn't matter sometimes what your shop looks like. Stop doubting yourself. Fix up what you believe you need to and give great service.

Thanks for the replies. Just found out the site went down Saturday or Sunday due to the debit card it gets paid from getting replaced and not contacting them with the new card number. Will be resolved tomorrow.

One year ago we signed a 12 month contract with Dexmedia to build our first website for 140.00 per month. Until recently, we really didn't do much with customizing it with our own pics and new content. I just didn't make it a priority. So now that I am making marketing a part of my day, do you think I should end it and build one myself ? I just wonder if I'm paying too much. The score the site has is 55 out of 100. The rep showed me that the site had 1700 views and generated just over 700 calls. What do you think?

One year ago we signed a 12 month contract with Dexmedia to build our first website for 140.00 per month. Until recently, we really didn't do much with customizing it with our own pics and new content. I just didn't make it a priority. So now that I am making marketing a part of my day, do you think I should end it and build one myself ? I just wonder if I'm paying too much. The score the site has is 55 out of 100. The rep showed me that the site had 1700 views and generated just over 700 calls. What do you think?

The customer rules. By Lee Cockerell. He ran Walt Disney World for 10 years, managed several Marriott hotels and more. A great read about building and maintaining a profitable business by providing exceptional customer service.

We have Mitchell Manager, use Alldata and Identifix. Did a recent trial of On Demand 5 and neither myself or our 2 techs found it to be useful. Harder to navigate and find info. It is less $ per month than Alldata but the lost time looking for what we need costs alot more $.

Thanks M spec. I appreciate your input as well as everyone elses. I definitely take advice constructively. I do use a parts and labor matrix supplied by ATI. Our inspection sheet went through a major overhaul today in a way that the techs will be less likely to pencil whip it if they're having an off day or just being lazy. Also my coach told me today that I'm not being firm enough with the techs when discussing the problems I've been having with them. Don't get me wrong, I have made my expectations clear but haven't punished anyone to the degree that it's taken seriously enough for lasting change. That will happen beginning now.

As for sales training goes,I have been enrolled with ATI for 13 months and have attended 3 owners classes which always have some sales training aspect associated with them. I have watched every instructional video teleseminar they offer many times over. I have purchased and read many books about sales and utilize many of the concepts. I've been in a position of ownership for 6 years and do all of the selling. Previous to that i worked for a 6 bay shop in Rochester NY for 20 years holding positions of technician/service Mgr and also sold work.

I currently sell all of the work at our shop.

As for sales process, I start with the original concern, next i discuss recommended repairs that we noticed during the inspection and finally discuss maintenance needs based on our inspection and have been making a greater effort to look up factory scheduled maintenance as well.

We do have an inspection check list which we made up and have edited many times to help streamline the process and make it more complete. Would you be willing to fax me a copy of your's in order to improve ours?

I could really use some tried and true tips on how to increase my hours per ticket and aro. Current hrs per ticket is 1.1 and aro 226.

You can switch coaches. I called and got a new one within a day.

I am struggling to increase ARO. I have incentives in place for hours produced, let our techs help create the inspection check documents, hired someone to clean and organize the shop daily and assist techs as needed so the techs can be focused on work but cant seem to break out of the 230.00 range. Any suggestions?

I've been tempted to sell used cars but don't for reasons like that. I just cant stomach the stress of it.I hope it goes well for you.

Keene Automotive Inc. 7 Main St Dansville NY 14437. Thank You. Bob Keene

I've been thinking about the sale. Some days i have customers who wont or cant buy a wiper blade or an air filter. The next day the customer will buy anything i recommend. I just cant put my finger on it. I do however liken it to fishing. Some days the fish bite and some days they just dont. Doesn't matter what bait you use are how great your sales skills are. Some days they just wont buy. I sometimes feel like I have failed somehow those days. Then the next day i feel like a selling machine. What a roller coaster ride it can be. I would appreciate input from veteran shop owners on how to deal with the ups and downs. Thanks in advance. Bob

We went with ADT and are very happy with our choice.