Trealubit

We can trade, air matress for signed copy of RW. [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha. Asian invasian. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

September 22-24 is ASA illinois CAN conference in chicago. Close to where RW conference will be. Lots of great hands-on and classroom technical training from instructors like John Thornton, Jorge Menchu, Eric Ziegler, Ken Sanders. And Management training from Bill hass, Jeremy Oneal. Its the days before RW conference. Not that expensive lots of value. Highly recommended when your in Chicago. You can take classes a la carte as well. Check it out and register at asailcan.com Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You wont regret it. Its worth it. Make sure to bring a copy of RW for mspec to sign! [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been using omnique for 3 years now. Before omnique i had alldata manage. By far omnique is the most capable and almost complete cloud based system i found at that time and they continue to update. Its updating to version 5 somtime this year and have great support. I am using the highest plan since i import to quickbooks. In my coaching group all of them are using protractor. looks really in depth and full of features and cloud based. I have not seen what shopboss does yet. I would suggest that you demo all three and see what fits you and your business. Also check it Carolyn's (luscious garage) system called shopware. Its also cloud based. Good luck and let us know what you decide on! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Totally worth the $$. Pretty much what mspec said. Highly recommended Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think its best to start with your labor rates and margins first. Fix that first before trying to expand or hire another tech or buy more equipment. Make sure you are making money with every job and margins are correct. Money robbers are: -diagnostic time(not billing for it) -items not being billed to customer (miscellaneous shop supplies) -not selling recommended work Are the few. But its a place to start. Goodluck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome! Small victories are how big victories are achieved. Happy New Year! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! Yes of course. Great that your doing this for your techs! Yes this clatter can make this thread unreliable. Lets try to keep it about pay plan types. ✌️ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the purpose of this forum is shop owners can learn from each other what works and what doesn't. I think its important to remember that different states have different laws and different markets. And shops and management styles differ from shop to shop. Which different owners take on different approach. We should take this forum as a learning tool to better this industry for its survival in the future. I am a tech first before an owner and understand this. Trust me. This is not only a tech to owner problem but an industry wide issue. How do we expect to pay high when customers don't. When our profession is viewed simple as "grease monkeys" by people in and outside of this industry. how about change the perspective that this profession is respective and deserves quality pay and advancement. Problem is we as techs have advanced so much in technology and "costs goes up to stay current" but have not increase in professional value. I think this should be the first step. I guess the question is how do we do this collectively nationwide to advance this profession and industry as a whole? Maybe this is more suited for another topic on this forum? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It should be a win/win for both employees and business. We found the best way to do this is through billed hours. I which is really where the money comes from. So say techs get a base 17/hour and when they reach 35 billed hours we scrap the 17/hour and give them percentage of total labor sales from 20-30% of gross labor sales. Depending on the hours tech produces. This way techs have a good pay if shop is slow but does not hurt the shop. Basically pay can be from 17/hr all the way to 40/hr but it all depends on productivity on labor. Techs work hard to reach it and does not have to be in worry if shop is slow. Oh advisors must have incentives to otherwise It wont work. You can have the best techs and pay plan but if advisor does not have incentive to do his best to educate, sell and provide excellent customer service then it wont work either. Oh btw must have good marketing. Advisor cant do its job if phone is not ringing. Sorry i think i went off topic. 😉

Yes! With my managment systems appointment module, all customers can be texted and emailed the day before their appointment to remind them.

Call rail is a great addition to check how many actually calls your shop and records it. With call rail you get a bunch of numbers which then you can imbed in your sites or yel page, facebook and tracks it. Lets you know where calls are coming from and if your advisor is converting them call to appointments.

Heres our website. Let me know what you think. www.realautohaus.com

Bump on Omnique. Great system, cloud based and full of features. From appointments, reminders, productivity and efficiency tracking, parts ordering, text and email and more. Little pricey but totally worth it. Check out RO writer as well. I liked it but not cloud based.

Check out Omnique. Cloud based, can be accesed anywhere and full of features for modern shop. I demo maybe 20 systems before choosing them. Check them out and demo their system. Oh and support is great. Ps. Ro writer also a great system. Tested it its great only thing is not cloud based. If ur back up goes then your down. I elect cloud based because you will never loose the data and if you have no internet just hot spot from your phone and ur back online

Thanks! [emoji106][emoji106][emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice! Congrats! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Check for Mechanics lien processors in your area. They charge a fee but will perform all the paperwork for you. You can also do this yourself. Check your states requirements and laws. If bank has a lien on the vehicle. They must be notified first. Then they will cover the cost for storage and owed repair costs and pick up the vehicle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! Close enough yea your right exactly about 15 mins from college of dupage! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello, new member from Westmont Illinois

Signed up not too long ago for premium membership. Found out about it from Joe Marconi at the RW conference. Glad to be here. My shop is in Westmont Illinois...if there is any body close to my location give me a shout out!

For sure its hard to do, since there are a lot of shops that do give out prices and online estimates, parts stores are posting prices all over the board. Customers are getting used to it. But also Its important to keep in mind that price is still a very common question for callers. And there is an opportunity to turn them to loyal clients. We ask our clients to bring their car in for no obligation "Courtesy Inspection". Let me be clear that "Inspection" is not the same as diagnostics/testing. We also explain that we have a fee for Testing if the initial inspection warrants a test procedure. We then explain or show the procedure to the client. We do this to educate the client on our process, justify the time spent and cost for testing and bring trust as well as credibility into the mix.

I hear ya. December for us historically has dip in sales. But picks right back up January. But oddly we are pretty busy this month so far. We have been doing a lot of marketing to existing customers and amping up social media and net presence early this fall which i think is contributing. May take sometime before that text blast reap dividends. Marketing is not always on demand. I get sent offers all the time from other business thru text, email or postcards but most time never act on it until it becomes a priority for me. Give it time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk