Elon Block

There have been a couple of very interesting posts in this forum recently that are worth millions of dollars to you and your business, when you look at things from your customer's perspective. One of the posts was written here by carolinahigear: http://www.autoshopowner.com/topic/10103-openbay/?p=25600 And this brand new post from Mario: http://www.autoshopowner.com/topic/10141-i-price-shopped-this-week/ In my humble opinion, sales is about giving the customer a valid reason to buy from YOU! It doesn't matter what you're selling. Consider this... If a good friend of yours called you up on the phone and asked, "how much is an alternator for my car?" What would you say to them?

We do our best to model what we teach. Here is one thing we teach. "You must stay true to what's important to you." For me, family comes first. I therefore, operate my business during normal working hours. (I'm typing this early on a Saturday while the rest of the family is getting ready for today's activities. However, above and beyond that... I have normal working hours.) The second thing we've learned is: If a business owner cannot set aside devoted time to work ON the business instead of IN the business, he/she will not have the devoted time to implement our coaching and training. So, we may not be a match, until that commitment can be made. Coaching and training is a participatory sport. Since our work with our clients is action-oriented - not just theoretical conversations, we can only work with business owners who are committed to carving out time to focus their attention on the activities required to build their dream business - whatever that looks like for them. In case you didn't see it, here is my answer to your other question about this: http://www.autoshopowner.com/topic/10134-service-writer-training/?p=25888.

Let me jump in here and answer your question about the phone call. Here is the email I had written to you: We have a number of training and coaching programs available. A sampling can be found here: http://sellmoreautoservice.com/programs/ There are a number of things that set us apart. What we are most known for is our approach to helping you build a business built on systems and processes. In other words, every time you add a process/system to your business, you add profit margin. It also helps the business run smoother and eliminates stress. Our programs are customized, based on what your needs are and where you are in your business. In order to find out what your needs are, we canschedule a no-pressure, no-obligation consultation. It will allow you and me to take a look at where your business is now, what you want your business to look like... And what training and coaching you need in order to build that business.It usually takes about 30 minutes. Would you like to set up a time to talk? Just let me know and we'll match up schedules. Just like you or any good shop can't diagnose a check engine light using email, I can't diagnose what your business needs using email either. I know there are many coaching and training companies that use their live weekend workshops and the phone to get you to buy their programs, even going so far as to use the shop's Profit & Loss statement to intimidate and pressure the shop owner into making a decision. The reason I know that is we receive an average of two calls a week from shop owners that have experienced that, first hand. We do not believe in any of that nonsense. However, I do believe that for a coaching/training program to work, we do need to see if we're a match when it comes to philosophy and how you want to run your business. For example, if you want your service advisor to use high-pressure scare tactics or laundry lists (customers now call those "wish lists"), we are not a match. If you want training from a company that has spent countless hours talking with customers to find out why they buy and why they don't. And analyzing why service advisors sell and why they don't make the sale... And then, reverse-engineering a proven, effective sales program... that is customer-friendly AND your employee can see himself/herself using it... Even if they're not a natural born sales person... We may have something to talk about. We also don't take everybody unless we feel we are a match to work together. There are many reasons for this but one of them is we have a 100% no questions asked, money-back guarantee. No one else in the industry has this. What that means to you is: If we are going to offer you a coaching and training program that has absolutely no risk to you meaning all the risk is on our end with our guarantee... We want to make pretty sure upfront that it can be successful. Hope this clears up your question about the phone call.

Welcome aboard! Your specialty sounds interesting. How did you get started in that?

This is a great example of what's happening daily in shops everywhere. Whether we like it or not and whether we agree with it or not... Sites like OpenBay, RepairPal and AutoMD are just the tip of the iceberg. More and more sites, like this, are popping up every single day. We're never going back to the good old days. As a result of the internet, everything is out in the open. For example, your parts and labor pricing, is public knowledge now. In other words, your customers have access to the exact same information you do. To pre-judge them or immediately jump to the conclusion that "they don't match my customer profile, anyway" is costing your business money. The truth is: They're just trying to be smart shoppers - like you and me. The solution is to be able to communicate effectively with today's more educated, internet- driven customer. The challenge is: most shops in your area have also decided not to quote pricing over the phone for obvious reasons. So what happens is: your service advisor might be the third person they've talked with that hasn't given a bonafide reason that makes sense to the customer as to WHY they would be best served by having them bring the vehicle in. It's no wonder the customer gets impatient because they feel frustrated because they can't get a straight answer to what they perceive is a simple question. The shop that communicates the best, during that step and every other step of the sale, will not only get that one job... They will win that customer's loyalty, which is worth tens of thousands of dollars of work that customer will need over their life-time of vehicle ownership. Bottom-line: the wing it and hope method of selling is no longer an option.

Welcome aboard Gary! There's a wealth of knowledge and members experience you can learn from on this site. Is your shop currently up and running ?

Not sure if you get the Ratchet & Wrench magazine? This month's magazine has an ad on Page 20 from a Hyundai Dealer, located within an hour of your shop. If you do not have that magazine issue, send me a private message and I'll send you a photo of the ad. You may think an hour away is too far. It's been my experience a wholesaling dealer advertising in a magazine like Ratchet & Wrench is set up to service a large area. There are many aspects to dealer parts. I wrote an article that may help you when you talk to dealers about buying parts: http://sellmoreautoservice.com/partspricing/ Let me know if you have any questions.

By the way, I have worked with lots of tire dealers and one of the biggest challenges a tire dealer faces is the public sees your big Michelin sign and immediately jumps to the conclusion you only sell tires. In other words, that bit of information gets filed away in their brain that your store is a place they might pop into... if and when they need tires. How do I know this? Over the years, I've talked to countless customers in tire stores about this exact subject matter. Almost all of these customers are surprised to find out that a tire store offers more than just tires. The typical response has been something along these lines... "Wow! You guys can take care of my oil change! I thought you just sold tires!" The public is unable to connect the dots on their own. They must be told specifically what you do and why they should use you for all of their automotive needs. That's why what happens at the counter, meaning effective communication is critical in telling every single customer exactly what you do and why they should use your shop for everything rather than your competition! Here's an easy way to confirm this with your own customers.... Ask your tire customers - present customers and past customers... Who does their oil changes? Who does their scheduled maintenance for them? The answers will help you determine if this sign is the solution. And if it is... what message and offers you should put on the sign.

If I was considering a $30,000 purchase with a five year commitment... I would look at a couple of things... I would see if the sign company would be willing to give you a four week trial due to the fact that In another thread, you had said your traffic is slow for two weeks and busy for two weeks every month. Based on that, you really need more than a two week snapshot. In addition to that, I would test it by putting a killer offer on it that would tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt what brought those customers in. Otherwise, it could have been your other signage and/or your location on a busy road.

What kind of advertising are you using? Are they promotions, coupons, new customers, existing customers, etc. What's the difference in car count between the first two weeks and the second two weeks? This is is the first step in diagnosing what the issue is and coming up with a solution.

As I've contemplated your specific challenge, I have a question for you... Have you taken a hard look at your numbers? In other words... You indicate you have a "constant flow of cars". When you look at the tickets for each tech, how much work was actually sold during that 45+ hours week? That's the first place to start to gain clarity in where the challenge is and therefore, how to solve the issue.

In my opinion, when it comes to flat rate or hourly, I believe there is no one-size-fits all. This very important decision can have a wildly positive - or extremely negative impact on everyone and everything it impacts: Your techs. Your customers. The workflow. And of course, your bottom-line. Because I get this question all the time, I wrote an article about this subject: http://sellmoreautoservice.com/flat-rate-or-hourly-pay-plans-which-is-better/ I'm curious to see what pay plan everyone is using and why you believe it works so well.

The real profit is in the long term value of the customer, as xrac said. In other words, in my opinion, any money spent on any kind of marketing is going to be wasted money if your service advisors are unable to convert that customer into a repeat customer. Here's one of many examples I can tell you about: One of our clients had a marketing program that was bringing in an average of 1 new customer per day. But he realized very quickly his marketing campaign was putting him in the red because of what happened after the customers came in for the promotion. In other words, he had a lot of people coming in but very few customers were buying anything other then the promotion. Upon investigation, he discovered the new customers that came in weren't being offered the courtesy inspections correctly. Here's what I mean. He has two locations with each location having a team of 2 service advisors. One team had developed this plan: they would tell customers, "it's our shop's policy to do an inspection of your vehicle." The other team had decided they weren't going to bring it up. They were just going to do an inspection. And then, say to the customer, "while the tech was working on your vehicle, he just happened to notice...." One day as the shop owner was walking through the waiting area of one of his shops, he overheard one customer say to the other three customers sitting there, "Keep your hand on your wallet. Chances are they're going to come out here with a list of other stuff they've found. That's how they get ya'." A couple days later, he was at his other shop and overheard a customer questioning the service advisor saying, "You're supposed to be putting tires on. Why do you have the hood up?" That's when he realized something was broken in the way his people were selling. Bottom-line, marketing will only pay for itself IF your sales people have a selling system that allows you to take that brand new customer and sell them whatever other legitimate work is needed. But most importantly, do it in a way that converts them from a one-time customer into a loyal customer that will use your shop exclusively for all their vehicle needs. And refer your shop to everyone they know. Once you have a sales system in place - that works with today's "more educated" customers - you no longer need to spend money on marketing, as xrac said. So getting them in the door is just the first step. Converting them into a loyal customer is where the real money is.

alredauto, the good news is: you're working on it. And you may have more systems, in place than you give yourself credit for. Otherwise, you wouldn't have the packed calendar and the loyal customer base, that you have. So, good job on that!

"Price shoppers" are usually not looking for the cheapest price. Once you understand the majority of customers - regardless of the neighborhood or any other demographics... Are only looking for a shop they can trust to take good care of them, you'll be onyour way to solving this problem permanently. Here are the 3 biggest mistakes that cause price shoppers to assume your shopis like all the rest of them out there. 1) Giving a price over the phone. (This is the race to the bottom because if price is the only information they're getting from you, this is the only thing they have forcomparison.) 2) Telling them they must bring their vehicle in, without giving them a valid reasonthat makes sense to them. (Just saying it's against your company policy to givephone estimates will not fly because they don't understand what that means, in the real world.) 3) Not giving them at least two benefits for doing business with you. (And ASEcertifications or years in business doesn't pass the "so what?" test, from the customer's perspective). Bottom-line: since this is a common situation you're going to run into, you wantto have a proven system in place that actually works effectively with today's "more educated" customer. Once you've mastered the phone, as a sales tool, you'll never have to worryabout missed appointments.

alfredauto, That's quite an impressive system you've developed. It sounds like the way Nascar teams train their crew for pitstops. Nice! I believe in systems for everything. Marcus Lemonis says, "when you put processes in place, you automatically add margin." Your results are evidence this principle works, in the real world.

I have to give you credit for taking the time and calling the people to find out why they didn't come in. A follow-up phone call is the best diagnostic tool you have at your disposal when it comes to solving customer-related challenges because it elminates all guesswork. In other words, the customer is letting you know what happened. I have a few ideas on how to fix the issue, but first... were these appointments made online via your website, were they made during a phone call or were the customers standing in your shop when they made the appointment?

Here's something to consider with tire pricing: Tires are essentially a commodity. What that means is: tires are one of the easiest products/services for your customers to price shop. And because tires are a fairly sizable investment, your customers will compare your pricing against your competitors. Looking at the big picture... Every single customer is worth tens of thousands of dollars to your business, over their lifetime of vehicle ownership. That's where the real profit is. So there's two ways to look at it: You can either sell tires and make a smaller initial profit on that transaction with the big picture in mind. Or you can price your tires outside of what the market will bear and hope for the best. Once a customer price shops and finds your tire pricing is high, you'll lose them for the rest of their service work because now they have a question mark in their mind about all your pricing.

There was a pretty good conversation about tires and road hazard warranty here, you might also want to read: http://www.autoshopowner.com/topic/9767-pricing-out-tires/

The manager in this article understands the big picture: http://www.moderntiredealer.com/news/story/2015/05/a-quick-cruise-through-goodyear-com.aspx Everyone reading this thread is probably an internet shopper, at some level. Some customers are going to buy their tires online. That's something we have no control over. I've actually been standing in auto repair shops when Tire Rack customers have come in for their installations. And I had the opportunity to talk with them. Taking a curiosity approach, I've asked the customers "what made you decide to buy your tires online?" It was almost always because they "thought" they were saving time and/or money by purchasing their tires online. Because customers don't understand the auto repair business, they almost never save time or money. But because they're trying to be smart shoppers, they turn to the internet. The other thing I discovered during these store visits was: How those customers were treated by the service advisor varied greatly from store to store. The service advisors that understand the big picture know they are being paid for their performance and sales. The big picture I'm referring to is: The money is not in that one tire sale. The real money is in gaining a new customer that will use the shop for ALL of their vehicle needs. Here's the best example of a service advisor really capitalizing on the opportunity. I was in a shop when a Tire Rack customer came in for his installation appointment. The service advisor, at an appropriate time, strategically asked the customer what he paid for his tires. The customer told him. The SA looked up his own tire price and said, "For future reference, our price would have been about the same. Here's what the difference would have been in the way of added value to you. Blah, blah, blah." The customer responded with, "WOW! That's good to know! Especially since I have two other vehicles that need tires soon. My wife's and my son's cars. Can you give me a price for those?" In the next couple of weeks, that customer spent THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS with that shop! Tires. Alignments. Front end work. Brakes. Oil changes. Chances are: this shop would not have gotten this new customer if it wasn't for that online tire purchase. Here's an example of a different way the service advisor treated an online customer. The sales person told the customer that "because he didn't buy his tires at the shop, he was going to be charged a $10 surcharge for each tire." What happened next? The customer not only left and took his tires with him, he posted a review online about his experience. So, for $40, that service advisor cost the shop countless dollars in future business - not just from that customer - but all the potential customers that are still reading that review years later. That surcharge was like stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. Bottom-line: Understanding that customers know very little about their vehicles beyond putting gas in it and changing the oil occasionally. It's up to us to help them unravel the mystery of what it takes to maintain their vehicle properly. The shop that can do this will never have to worry about sales/profits.

For those that are following this topic, here is an update: http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20150506/NEWS/150509963/goodyear-online-tire-sales-debut-in-chicago Other tire manufacturers are closely watching what Goodyear is doing. It will be interesting to see what this does for the customers and the dealers.

Nate, You've gotten some great suggestions here. It all boils down to: What happens if... You say you are meeting with an attorney. Hopefully, it is someone that specializes in small business partnership arrangements, like you are talking about, so he/she already has a big checklist of.. What happens if... Here are a couple of real life "What happens if..." If you are the person in charge of operations and you want to purchase an alignment machine? Or hire or fire an employee... How is the decision going to be made? For example... My wife and I are business partners and we have clear guidelines we have developed that help us make the decisions for both of our businesses. On some things, she has the final say. On others, I have the final say. These guidelines are based on our individual strengths. So, partnerships can work exceptionally well as long as clear expectations are set in advance.

When my granddaughter, Jenna, was about four years old, we were headed to the park playground. And on the way, we stopped to pick up something from one of my clients. As soon as we walked into the showroom, she slapped her hand over her nose and loudly said, "Ewwww... what is that smell?" It took me a couple of seconds to discover she was referring to the smell of the tires. Because at her height, her little nose was directly aimed at a tire display. So, I took a big whiff myself and said to her, "Jenna, that's the smell of money." She and I had a fun conversation in the car afterwards about how an auto repair "store" makes money by taking care of Mommy's and Daddy's cars. Which brings me to what took place in D.C. this past week. And how this relates to money. And you. All the industry magazines are talking about this event. Here is a link to the official report: http://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/autocare/StateOfTheIndustry_Report/ Here are some links that summarize the report: http://www.aftermarketnews.com/auto-care-association-unveils-first-ever-state-of-the-auto-care-industry-report-at-inaugural-industry-forum-in-washington-d-c/# http://www.searchautoparts.com/aftermarket-business/events-coverage-news/auto-care-forum-sheds-light-industry-legislators-regulator?page=0,0 In essence, the Auto Care Association unveiled the first-ever "State Of The Auto Care Industry Report" at an inaugural Industry Forum in Washington, D.C. This forum of people gathered together to discuss the huge impact the auto repair industry makes on the economy. I usually don't follow what happens in D.C. However, this information impacts every single auto repair business, so it obviously caught my attention. There were a number of things that stood out for me. Average vehicle is 11.5 years. 12-plus-year-old vehicles will grow by 15 percent. These vehicles are primarily serviced at independent repair facilities. Never in the history of the automotive industry has there been such a high percentage of older vehicles on the road. And that number is climbing. The other good news is: "vehicles in the 'new to 5-year-old' range are expected to grow by 32%." That's a huge number of cars that will be coming off of warranty. Anyway, you look at it... that's a lot of opportunity. What are your thoughts about this report? And how do you see it impacting your business?

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with Goodyear's decision. This is just one more change that's happening in this quick-moving industry. So, what I always look at is "Where's the opportunity in this latest change?" Which always leads me to the question of: What is the benefit to the customer and what is the benefit to the shop? The readers's digest version of this topic is: No one can control the uncontrollable. Internet shoppers are not going to go away. Customers of all ages (and all income levels) are turning to the internet to do research before spending money for anything, including tires. Think about it... Most customers do not understand anything about the auto repair business. All they know is: it looks like they could save some time and money by making a tire purchase online. So, it's up to the auto repair shop staff to communicate to the customer while they are there... How they can take care of all their service needs - not just the tire installation. In other words, the smart tire dealers understand the big picture and know that selling tires isn't just about tires. The focus is all about gaining a loyal customer that will use their shop for all of their needs for the rest of the time they own a vehicle. That's equal to thousands of dollars in sales from that one customer. I'm putting all my attention on helping auto repair shop owners make that happen.

These are the two recent announcements that have a lot of the Goodyear tire dealers worried that something else is going to eat away at their customer base. In reality, the opposite is true, if they know how to take advantage of it. http://www.moderntiredealer.com/news/story/2015/01/goodyear-will-sell-tires-at-goodyear-com.aspx http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20150126/NEWS/150129933/cars-com-launches-repairpal-program-for-auto-dealers