Jay Huh

Alas, Joe - what a doozy of a post to throw out on a Friday!

 

I couldn't agree more about not giving prices over the phone. The only pricing my staff is allowed to give over the phone is that which is represented by any of our advertised, "most cars" pricing, such as oil changes, fluid exchange services,basic A/C service, etc.

 

As a matter of fact, I've proven time and again that if a price-shopper calls us on the phone asking for a price for repair service, giving them the price over the phone is a near-guarantee that we won't win the job, and earn their business. On the other hand, handling price shoppers according to our process DOES, in fact, increase our car count, new customer count, and increases our sales exponentially over caving and thinking we're somehow doing them a service by yielding to their ridiculous request. Again...a dentist doesn't quote prices. A doctor doesn't quote prices, (and they even make you pay for the, ahem, testing...EVEN if you buy the medicine they later prescribe), nor does any other professional person...unless its a packaged, "Most Cases" type service.

 

The first thing we need to do is make sure that the person we're talking to falls into the category of "Price-Shopper". This is NOT just anyone that happens to be asking for a price. The basic premise I fall back on when training an advisor is that they need to educate our customers just enough to give them the ability to make an informed decision about the nature of the recommended services their vehicle needs. You can't do that over the phone. One of the simpleset, most powerful ways we accomplish this is by injecting the following into the conversation: "Mr. Smith, I understand why you're calling, and believe me...no one knows better how costly some repairs can be than we do, but I can tell you what the single most expensive part is that you'll EVER put on your car, and I'll always be correct. Since he apparently wants to talk about prices, I inform him that the most expensive part you'll ever put on your car is the part that you absolutely don't NEED.

 

With that in mind, I explain to him that the process we have in place is intended to protect him from ever having work done that doesn't target his primary concern. (As a side note, by the way, this is a BEAUTIFUL place to tell your garden-variety price shopper all about Repairpal.)

 

I like the previous comment regarding our value proposition. (Ok, those are MY words) Are you the low-price leader in your marketplace? If you are, then throw prices at everyone that calls. Most of us are not.

 

I take the time to practice selling them on why they should come to us, and let us "throw our hat into the ring" with all the rest of our competitors who apparently have no problem giving a price on the phone. There's ALWAYS an angle, and no matter what they say, our advisors are trained to give the answer that results in one thing, and one thing only: GET THE CAR TO THE SHOP.

 

Price shoppers who have been rightfully convinced that it is truy in their best interest to allow us the privilege of offering a free "quick-peek" inspection (If you're inclined to offer that), have come in with sometimes as many as 7 or 8 other estimates jotted down on a piece of paper, only to gleefully give us permission to service their car, sometimes at a final price that was 10 or 20% more than their best "phone estimate"

 

Why? Because we're able to show them how much we truly care about getting the job done, getting it done right, not wasting their time, and the 50 other reasons that all build VALUE into the proposition of allowing us to work with them in achieving their vehicle repair/maintenance endgame scenario. Heck...it's become standard practice to tell people that in the end, if they take us up on our offer to give them a free inspection & the estimate of their asking, that if they like what we have to say, then GREAT. If not, we always tell them they are authorized to ball up the estimate, and throw it back at us, and we can all still be friends. We are in the business of meeting people and making friends...and you can't do that as effectively on the phone, only.

 

The hardcore, meanie-head, sometimes crazy sounding automatons that just keep repeating, "But I need a price. I need a price." Those guys? They represent a VERY small minority of the market, (I've read them to be as low as only 11% of the universe of prospects) and you'd be smarter to LET them be mad at you and go elsewhere so they can give your competitors a hard time, cut corners, and beat them up on every last little thing, wasting their time, while YOU focus on the customers that are more interested in keeping their cars maintained, and those who appreciate a professional, capable, honest mechanic.

 

What's the very best thing that can happen? They finally come in because you caved, and told them it will be $125? If so, you better not try to charge them for a gasket that is also necessary, or worse yet, tell them their widget wasn't the problem all along...either way, those kinds of people will always want to make someone ELSE responsbile for the troubles they have on their vehicle, and conveniently forget that it was all in response to the campaign they launched to squeeze the last nickel out of someone over the phone.

 

Nah. I'm ok if they go somewhere else. I just make sure to plant the seed (politely) that if it doesn't happen to work out for them wherever they end up ,that I'll be happy to give them that inspection on their first visit, andmke absolutely certain we'll work as hard as we have to in making sure we meet or exceed their expectations.

 

Just one man's blissful avoidance of people who'd rather argue over $5 than have the doctor give them a real assessment.

A lot of wisdom here. Bookmarking this answer. Right now, I am the leader for low price repair in my immediate market but I don't plan on being so for long. And the customers you are talking about.... those are the customers I am ending up getting....

Saw a Tesla the other day at the mall with it completely stripped down.

Has tires with tie rods connected to the steering column and a self contained motor at the rear.

No oil, no spark plugs, no moving components.... everything electronic.... NOTHING to replace but tires and possibly brakes every 100,000 miles.

Is this the future? How long, in 20 years? 15 years? I'm 30 and I think I will be good by the time I retire but a completely different story for the next generation. Gotta think too, as we start transitioning over, there will be less and less work for the numerous number of automotive shops out there. Just in my shopping center alone, there are 5 major shops and 1 more across the street. In our 5 mile radius, there has got to be more than 20

Those fees really add up. I do everything with Wells Fargo. They make a lot of money off of me.... but it's still cheaper than Square, Paypal etc. 2.75% is too high. Get people to use their debit cards- fees are REALLY CHEAP for debit. Avoid over the phone payment if possible.... huge fee for that

Hey Tyrguy, I feel you. There are customers that just want to take advantage of every single situation and suck every last penny out of you. My example was from last week.... had a comeback for a bad wheel bearing over 3 months after it was done.... but instead of coming back to me, they take it to another shop. We have a good relationship with that shop and they said it was no big deal (2 of the 3 bolts for the hub were loose) and they tightened everything up. Once I found out that they fixed our comeback (for free byw, customer was not charged at all), I offered the customer $40 for goodwill for the inconvenience. They said no and wanted money back for the entire job. Offered them $70 (labor for the wheel bearing) because I did not want a pissed off customer even though it was evident they wouldn't be my customer anymore but they turned that down because they wanted their money back for the whole ticket (we also did inner tie rods on that ticket). They wanted money back for their entire ticket and money for time missed time off of work and threatened to sue me. Well, I am probably going to end up in small-claims court.

I obviously have the signed invoice with our warranty agreement. 24mo 24k mile warranty to be done at our shop only. So not really worried and I thought I did the best I could in this situation. Yea, I hate the public too

My complete story is here: http://carmedixnc.com/history/

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something.

The only mechanical experience I had was working on my own car from time to time. I have a B.S. in Supply chain management but worked at Carmax as a service advisor. Decided to just quit one day and work out of my garage and advertise on Craigslist to do mechanic work (really simple stuff like brakes).

HOA notified me that I couldn't work in my garage so 3 months later, I am on the road and doing mobile mechanic stuff. 3 months after that, I rented a bay from another business for $1250/month. 8 months later, I sign a contract for my very own 6 bay facility. Now I have 4 employees and run a full shop and share the same wall with major franchises.

I didn't need any capital, didn't have any special training, no one helped me. Just gave it my all and watched a ton of YouTube vids and made people believe I was the best damn mechanic to have ever touched their car.

This is a great post, I'm going to bookmark this one, reading through this gave me motivation myself. Feeling the same as the OP from time to time. I'm a people-pleaser by nature and stressed and anxious a lot of the time. Taxes and accounting is a PAIN. Somehow my business is doing ok lol.

I started my business as a one man business. What really helped with the stress is hiring a front counter guy that you can trust. Now I have 3 techs and a service advisor who acts as the store manager. My shop program is cloud-based and I installed security cameras all over. Now I manage the shop from my home at least 1 day a week and i can even take a whole week off if I wanted to.

You guys are awesome and thank you so much for your input. Gives me confidence in charging what I charge now. Thanks!

Read through the whole post- I like the idea of quick struts as well for obvious reasons. Problem seems to be that most part places do not have the modular assemblies in stock and it is hard to get. Who do you guys use as suppliers? Being able to get parts fast seems like the best way to sell as the job itself would not take long at all

I have access to all the book times but we always go with Chilton severe time- they are the highest and never let me down.

Once I quote a customer, unless there is a really good reason, I stick to it. Last time we did a heater core, customer had aftermarket radio he installed himself and there were wires EVERYWHERE. Lost our butt on it but kept the price the same. SHould've charged more but didn't- we ended up cleaning up the wires for him as well. Our shop is rated 4.9 out of 5 with over 130 reviews and that's how we keep it.

Hi everyone, first time post and it's been good reading everyone's input on this forum. Just so happened to stumble upon this forum and it's awesome having other people in my shoes.

I quit my job as a service advisor and started doing side work out of my garage @$35/labor rate. Became a mobile mechanic with $45/hr 3 months after. Got a shared building with 2 bays and bumped up to $60 an hour. 8 months later, I am now at my current very own 6 bay facility with 4 employees and I just bumped up my rate to $75/hour. I have 2 national chains that share the same wall (Meieneke and Precision tune) and they charge $95/hour.

Problem is, I still have customers that come to me from my $35/hr days and feel extremely bad and guilty for charging new rate. Should I be? Best way to implement change without losing customers? From the customers perspective, do you think they understand the operating costs and justification in price increase?