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On the subject of direct mail I will mention the article by Bob Cerullo in The January edition of Motor Magazine. He mentions a recent start up direct mail company started by an automotive guy for automotive mailers. Might be worth checking out. It is called Mudlick Mail Company. Has anyone looked at what they offer or used them? I am going to check them out. MOTOR Magazine Article | MOTOR Information Systems

My initial impression is that I like the new look, visually appealing.

"The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall." Marcus Tullius Cicero, 63 B.C.

We hold our business operation as a LLC but we own our real estate as an Scorp. If I only had one corporation it would be as an Scorp. My understanding is there advantages to the Scorp when it comes to benefits and taxation on profits.

Of those 15 customers what kind of work drew them into your shop? Has it been profitable? Where are you at in CA?

Welcome to the forum. I looked at your website and it is nice. I don't know what you have done or are doing but here is one idea I thought of. Consider direct mail to owners whose vehciles are prime targets for your services. We see alot of Chrysler products and some Fords with frequent transmission issues. Maybe you mail to registered Chrsyler owners with vehicles between the years of 2000-2006 within a 5 mile radius of your shop. You may be able to find a direct mail company that can give you a list of registered vehicle owners in that demongraphic. Do an attractive mailing to those owners. If you mail to 500 owners with vehicles in the correct range certainly there will be at least 5% of them having problems at this time. If you pick up 2-3 repairs it will probably pay for the mailing. If you do good work with good service then it will create word of mouth for future work. Just some thoughts!

In our area of 200,000 the only place that has nitrogen that we are aware of is Honda. Our biggest tire dealer (13 stores) does not. That does not sound highly profitable?

I thought you would enjoy the story. Yes, we get our share of characters too but we have whittled it down from what it once was. Cheap oil changes bring all of the bottom feeders with junk cars out. Yes! I did support him in this decision. This guy just had the look and feel that he wasn't worth the hassle. My Service Manager got a chuckle out of what you wrote and I am inviting him to join the forum. He will be an owner in the future if I have anything to do with it.

That would be nice!

Joe, we had an experience this week that you will find interesting. We had a man (60ish) stop in with a problem on his Explorer. The blower motor blowed constantly and would not shutoff unless the vechicle was turned off. My service manager spent a good 10-15 minutes looking at the vehicle, discussing the problem with him, and booked him an appointment for two days later. He came in and our diagnosis was a bad blower controller. There are many similar fixes reported on Identifix. When my service manager began talking to the customer the first thing the customer did was dispute the diagnostic charge telling him that it was $1.00 more than he had told. My service manager than outlined the problem and the needed repair which with parts, labor, and diagnosis was about $170.00 and asked the customer if he wanted to fix it. The customer immediately began to say well let's talk about this and are your sure and going back through all his symptoms. There was somethings you could read into the man's tone and demeanor: that he was affluent, he didn't like to spend money, he didn't trust us, he thought the repair was too much, and he thought he only needed something like a fuse. Whatever it was my Army Ranger Service Manager didn't like it. My service manager immediately made the decision that this guy would be more trouble than he was worth and that we would wind up spending a lot more time with him then we would ever be paid for. My service manager said to the man that if this is the case I think that your should take it to Ford. I am not charging anything for today and have a good day. The man offer to pay the diagnosis but my service manager declined and sent the man on his way. What do you think? As a footnote I will say that my service manager is very good with people, very patient as a general rule, and very informed in describing repairs. He is a ASE Master Tech. At the time we had a shop full of cars and people.

I received a coupon for $100 of Google adword advertising. Has anyone used any of Goggle's paid advertising and is it cost effective in your opinion? https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogi...ne%26ugl%3Dtrue

When people voted for the current administration they voted for a grab bag. Nobody knew what was in the bag especially because he was the media's golden boy and they keep everything quiet. When they voted the discontent voters hoped for a nice prize instead they got booby trapped. Almost like bait and switch advertising in our business. Now they are reacting with open eyes. Obama campaigned in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Massachusetts unsuccessfully. His campaigning for Democrats in the fall will be about as welcome as Bush was campaigning for Republicans at the end of his term.

I agree with you on the Cowboys and I like the Titans as well. I would hate to be the Chargers Place Kicker.

How did you accomodate the extra cars when you had just your six bay facility? We have seven bays!

Joe, this is a great article! Good job! I am curious as to how you have your customer area set up. Do you have any pictures. We need to remodel.

Here is a little more about AAA: http://www.poststar.com/business/local/art...1cc4c03286.html

Randy, my name isn't Joe but we got our BG flushing machine through BG. There should be a BG rep in your area that will call on you if you contact them.

How about those Jets! Congratulations Joe! I guess you know I have to root against you next week! Go Colts and Peyton!

Since you are a Jets fan I hope the Jets win. Do you root for the Giants any? I have never been a New York fan except for the old time Yankees (Mantle and Maris) and the Knicks (Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe). The reason I say I would pick San Diego is it just seems that San Diego is really hot. They may actually win the whole thing.

Joe you are running more than double the volume that we run. Our typical car count is probably about 80-90 cars per week on a six day week. Joe how many bays do you run with both facilities and do you operate a quick lube.

Joe, I have no idea as to what this ratio should be. We have operated with up to five techs with one advisor. Sometimes that can be too much. Our advisor prices and sells all job and orders all parts. Ofcourse I share that responsibility with him as needed and I fill those shoes on his day off. The original franchise model was for techs to price and sell their jobs. Ofcourse that was the old muffler/brake model. Not a very efficient or effective way of doing it in my opinion.

My team (Green Bay) has went down as well as my second choice Arizona(I like Curt Warner). Of the remaining teams I will root for Indianapolis since I am in Indiana although I like the NFC better. Joe, I too am old enough to remember Joe Namath. You have suffered a long time. Maybe this will be your year. If I were betting I would probably pick San Diego.

Joe, I really haven't noiced anything. Maybe it is your area of the country.

The guy who works out of the back alley garage just surviving hurts himself and our business. If this forum can be a tool to raise the quality of our businesses and lives it will serve a great purpose.

Too many shop owners have nothing more than a job and not a very good job because they don't charge enough. They work a lot of hours and sacrifice themselves and their families but wind up with little to show for it. They have no retirement plan, they have no buisness asset they can sell or pass on, their bodies are broken down, their equipment is worn out, their location is terrible, someone else owns the property, etc. They have never understood return on investment, opportunity cost, gross profit margins verus net profit, etc. The shops my dad use to take his cars to all closed when the owner died or retired. Not a one survived. They worked all of their lives and then got to the end of their life and find that they had nothing.