3PuttFever

I like Anderson Auto's philosophy. Sure, we market the oil change offer to get first-time customers in my shop. Some will need more and some won't. If they don't need more then we smile, give them a great experience, and thank them! They'll be back and when they're car is ready for additional service so will we be and so will my customer BECAUSE we've built trust, valued their time, valued their business. There isn't anything that brings in car count like an oil change. Once they get here we make it our mission for them to like us unless we DON'T like them for various reasons (like rudeness, hygiene, consistent declines of safety issues, or obvious repairs done by other shops). Can't win them all over but you sure can try. 

Respectfully disagree. I have a productive website, SEO working, and Google Adword campaigns. Facebook is expensive to drive traffic in comparison. It also brings out the people too willing to throw flames without thinking, without consequence. I watched a concerted effort to slander my business reputation with false claims yesterday and I've seen it happen too often to others as well. I'm nowhere near the digital dark ages as you suggest but I appreciate your thoughtful and kind words. Yes, I am pretty disappointed in the Facebook folks and I've tracked FB for three years. It's brought me minimal to no direct positive benefit. It has brought me hours of worry and stress. I've called each negative review I've had (about 6) since I bought my shop three years ago and not one of them would talk with me. Not one of them had a complaint while here for service. One complaint declined all services and still complained because he did the repair himself across the street in a parking lot in 30 minutes and we were charging him 5 hours of labor. Again, a flat out lie. The others who don't answer their phones or return my calls to discuss know they're not telling the truth or the whole story yet are willing to go out online and try to ruin my reputation. I've lost sleep and bent over backwards to help EVERYONE in my shop, especially the malcontents. There isn't enough business from Facebook to justify the headache and return.

I'm getting rid of Facebook. Too much hassle. Had a customer complain that we put a hole in his engine block doing a water pump and timing belt and he's now leaking oil. We did the repair 7 months ago. Within an hour of the one bad review I had two additional reviews from people I investigate who happen to be friends of the first guy who said we used tape to cover an engine block hole! There's no policing this type of thing.

I get good results from Google Adwords and I took my Facebook account down.

Time sinks are for real. I get so many distractions in a day. As a Midwesterner I feel obligated to speak with all my customers, visitors, and vendors. I find myself not able to get anything done too often. It isn't their fault, it's mine. Time to get control of it.

I hired a Tech from a dealership. He wasn't making enough flag hours to pay his bills. He talked a big game and can do fairly extensive work on certain vehicles of a certain manufacturer. But anything else he's struggling. Just about everything he's touched in the last few weeks has broken, stripped, and generally FUBAR'd along the way costing me a bunch. He called in sick Saturday by instant messaging me on Facebook Friday night saying he didn't feel well and had a runny nose. He's a complete slob and despite me asking him repeatedly to wear my uniform colors he insists on wearing a crappy sweatshirt over my uniform that doesn't match because he's cold. He can't figure his way out of a paper sack without Identifix and diagnoses everything by saying "Identifix says..." so it 'could' be this or that. He's also very, very slow and methodical.

I don't document leading up to a firing. What's the point? I caught a guy stealing from my cash drawer and the State still granted him unemployment! This guy is gone as soon as I can talk to him tomorrow morning. Hate doing it this time of year but there's more to this than I have time to write. I've got a large loan on this business and he's costing me money and can't keep up with basic expectations. I started interviewing last week and my first two candidates had felony drug charges or child endangerment charges. Geeesh!

We had a fun couple in today. Well, Mrs brought it in and Mr called about six times saying to do this and do that. No, my Manager tells Mr we have to test and verify before we go on and put fuel pumps and filters on a car as you're instructing. We agree to run tests, test drive, and they agree to pay for diag time. They call back wanting an oil change, too. We test drive, run tests and find issue (not a fuel pump). They say we're screwing them over with our charge for diag time now. We explain our process and what's involved. Mr is ok with it. Mrs then comes in and starts in on my Manager. He's polite, listens, and explains it all over again. She starts throwing F bombs at him, my shop, and our 'tactics'.

I tell my Manager to go in the shop and get the car down and ready while I soften the situation. She understands and insists on paying after I tell him I'm going to let this go for nothing today. She cries. When I go to back the car out and bring to her at the front my Tech says he chalk-marked a tire where there was a gash in the tire that might become a problem. We didn't complete our oil change and stopped what we were doing when the F bombs started. I bring the car around and tell her thanks and that she should get the tire looked at. I show her and she accuses us of doing it. 'Listen, I'm being nice here and you're out of line. I'm sorry I can't help you and I hope you find another shop that can make you happier." F you, F this place blah blah blah. Merry Christmas and drive safe! Wow

LMCCA'S comments don't bother me. It's all good. I just like having this forum as a place to go and vent a little to guys that know what I'm going thru every day. Yes, I go home and tell the little lady, or talk to my brother the school teacher. But NO ONE understands what we go thru better than our compadres on a forum such as this. Whether it's seeking advice, or just venting, I feel like I'm in an auditorium with all off you where I can stand up take the floor and speak my mind. And because of who you all are and what you do, I respect your opinion more than anybody else.

My apologies to the group

hmm, i think i would pick a different place for empathy, thought this was for business. I keep forgetting how sensitive people have become, i weep for the people of this country, been so wrong over the years. Ill say a prayer for you both and hope your feelings are better tomorrow.

Dude, no worries, you can have empathy and still be a strong businessman. I shouldn't have come at you. Best to you.

 

so, since i said the same thing as mspec but said it first, im the one out of line, lol. Im not out of line, he had a procedure in place, he chose to go outside of that, it bit him and he is mad because a customer took him on it. Big deal, if this bothers you guys so much you should stop airing this kind of stuff. I tell it like it is, like several others on here. Cry to someone else.

OP was looking for a little empathy over a situation that he knows was on him. You come out of the gate telling him he's at fault and to suck it up. He's been in this business for longer than I ever will and from your post I'd guess a lot longer than you have as well. His customer was, unfortunately, an a$$ and took the slightly open door to stick it to him. There's a thing called common decency that our society used to have which I find sad, unfortunate, and sometimes both. For you to pile on this shop owner in a friendly forum looking for advice, tips, and empathy is why I took offense by your post. I don't expect you to understand but someday when you grow up a little and experience some hardship you might think back on your younger 'tough-guy tell it like it is' persona and feel a little touch of embarrassment.

Sorry, too old school for the acronyms. OP? LMCCA?

LMCCA is the guy who was out of line with the OP (Original Poster)... OP is you

How about this, next time you offer a free alignment check get the authorization for the alignment if it is out. This way your not out and the customer is not surprised.

Richard

That's a great idea. I find times where I will think like this when talking situations with customers who are leaving the vehicle with us. The texting is a good option that may help. I've done many a necessary repair for a customer we can't get ahold of and I've never had a problem with a customer not wanting to pay for it - but I've also not done some repairs because my 'gut' tells me that I'm either not going to get paid or they're the type like the OP's customer. Sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes I'm right. And the OP has every right to complain about this customer. There's what's right and there's what's not right. The guy took advantage of nice business shop owner and should feel guilty about it. The LMCCA comment was out of line but I'm sure he didn't mean badly by it.

Really appreciate the forum replies and have begun to implement the sales process into maintenance sales first. Explained to my team that we need to be cognizant of the of mileage and to check off OEM when they're high mileage OEM. My Service Manager and myself will then begin the process of selling and informing our customers on the benefits to allow them the time to think it over and budget. It's a pipeline that continually needs filled.

My shop does a great job at repairing broken parts and fixing poor running vehicles. We do a poor job of maintenance sales and it reflects as such.

no offense, but after 37 years you should know not to do that unless it is a customer that you have that kind of relationship with. You and your manager messed up, suck it up and move on, the customer is right, you shouldn't assume anything.

You're out of line with this comment. He lead with what he thought was right, the customer admitted he would have approved it, and all your comment proves is that you're as big a tool as the deadbeat customer this guy tried to help.

My shop is up 2% from last year despite having 24 more repair bays open up within two miles of my shop (CarX and Midas), a Big O' Tire re-open after being closed and having outlived a damaged reputation, and a very nice quick lube store inside a mile of my shop.

We're still missing opportunities on shocks/struts and other maintenance sales. The business is out there folks. It's finding the right people in your shop and finding the right attitude to make it happen. It's a constant battle to get staff and yourself ready to promote what is needed on customer's cars. You can't be afraid to do what is best for their cars, their time, and their safety. If we only fix what's broken we will not grow without a lot of luck.

I'd rather work hard than depend on luck.

It's never fun to have these conversations. I recommend to not over-think it. Focus on the value, warranty, and service. You can shop around and find just about anything you buy for 'cheaper' but once you spend that much time researching, calling, talking to sources a new product or technology will have been invented. LOL

For my shop keeping morale up when customers low-ball or distrust us. We try to focus on the good customers and ALWAYS doing what is right for our customers. If making money isn't reasonable in a customer's mind then I don't have time for them.

KISS - get them on the road, fix their issues, maintain their cars, and do it honestly. It'll work out!

Looking at my year to year sales comparison. We're up 2% from last year overall but I'm down in two areas - Fluid Flush/Maintenance and Shocks/Struts. I know why we're down on the maintenance services and that is being addressed. What I'm asking for is thoughts on how we might increase sales on shocks/struts.

I'm not comfortable recommending them to customers simply based on miles. If we see leakage we show customers and recommend replacing. If we see abnormal tire wear we show our customers and recommend them. But outside of damage or tire wear are there any tests (aside from test drives and bouncing the vehicle) that can reveal wear? It seems there should be some tool or method to measure what the pressure within the shock/strut is producing and where it should ideally be. I've asked Technicians and so far no one has any ideas.

Perhaps designing a tool to test out shocks/struts...Thanks for any input!

17 minutes! Awesome news, sign me up!

So, how much to learn the Car Count Fixer's methods to increase car count?

soThe cars I've had abandoned are POS with deadbeat owners. I never get too far into anything without being paid. Some of that is luck and some of that is intuition. I have a junk dealer that will come pick them up for nothing and keeps them for so long and if the owner doesn't respond to his calls he goes through the process of getting the titles and parting it out.

Be very careful what you wish for here. I'd bet that your issue is a process issue more so than labor rate issue or price issue. Find a better, more thorough process for looking at cars so that you can help your customers get the most out of their cars and watch the ROA increase. Have a plan, follow the plan, modify where needed, and stick to it. It will take you some time but work it for six months, measure, and modify. Good luck!

Young people today care more about their tattoos and cell phones than just about anything.

100% labor rate?

No one pays 100%. But if you get more per hour labor reimbursement on a claim than what your Tech was paid you're covered - where I feel it gets tricky is if the 2 hour job at full labor rate is now being paid at 75% at 4 hours. You're never money ahead, though, because of lost opportunity on a job paying positively. Looking at it from a doing what's right for the customer and what will it take to get them satisfied and returning for another service visit is the perspective view.

I signed up for a free month. It is a robust program but it is more complicated and convoluted to search out basics than All Data. I thought All Data was difficult at first, too, but the learning curve was quick. Pro Demand isn't as intuitive BUT it integrates Identifix so you don't need both thus costing you a little less per month. You just have to have staff who are willing to learn the new software. We will stick with All Data and Identifix for now.

I love the response "I'm not even going to care about it because once I install it I'm done. Is that how you want it?"

Listen, we enter into an Agreement with our customers and we all work our own Hippocratic oath so to speak: to do the best job possible to keep our customers on the road and safe. We all understand their need to save money. We all know that there are shifty repair shops out there and somehow we ALL get drug into the mud with them. BUT - we're good at what we do and we DESERVE to be paid accordingly. I refuse to compromise my standards for customers who want to supply their own parts. We make money on parts and we make money on labor. We back up our work and when something doesn't work as it should we then cut into the money we made AND the money we could be making working on another vehicle.

Nothing is free, folks. It's time to quit kissing asses to earn a nickel. If we can't respect ourselves then why expect our customers to respect us?

The 10% is what I feel is a minimum growth a shop should have.

Growth projections and targets based on 'what you want' versus what you're actively doing to achieve said growth is my thought here.

Working on my procedure and handbook currently. I see the dire need to have consistency, a career path, and written policies to be successful.

I've put together a benefits, compensation, and culture at my shop that when people apply they want to work here. I find quality candidates who work six days a week, no benefits, and no holiday pay. Yet they stay loyal to their employer - they must think they have no alternative. Or they're not motivated to move. I don't know. I suppose if I could figure out 'people' I'd be rich!

This thread has a negative slant on it for certain. I'm looking at expanding into more shops. My wife asks why I would subject myself to 'more of the same problem' with hiring people. All I can say is that if I have my policies, procedures, and trust in God it will work out. May be simplistic and/or naive but cars and trucks need fixed and why not my shop(s) to be the ones that get the business?

Be well and do good things my friends!