Transmission Repair

Waiters in the transmission repair business rarely happens.  If it does, it's usually for a transmission fluid & filter change or transmission flush.  I consider it a non-issue for us.  However, a lot has changed since I retired.  The biggest thing I see is that loaners aren't really needed.  Lyft and Uber have created commercial accounts where a customer can order a ride(s) and it gets billed to the business.  We used to use Enterprise, but their prices have really gone up a lot.  Ride share (Uber & Lyft) is the way to go today.

Transmission parts are getting worse.

What Is Lease-to-Own Financing?

A lease-to-own option is not credit or a loan. Instead, a lease-to-own finance company purchases the merchandise from the merchant, and then leases the merchandise to the customer. The customer takes the merchandise home and makes lease payments over time until they have made enough payments to obtain ownership.

28 minutes ago, Joe Marconi said:

Wow, now that is an issue that is worth discussing: How do you set up a process that keeps track of your mobile employees?

If you Google it, there's tons of time tracking apps for your phone.  Admittedly it won't keep employees from loafing, but that's handled by matching working hours to billed hours.  

Buxton helped me choose a great location.  Expensive rent is the cheapest advertising you'll ever buy. 

Both Uber and Lyft have corporate account features for pickup & delivery and/or customers.  Vehicles are too complex today to offer mobile repairs.  Light maintenance is the only thing that is technically feasible for mobile service; beyond that is a no-go.  We were a transmission and drivetrain repair only type of shop that offered free towing.  90% of the time customers would come in to pickup their vehicle and pay.  10% of the time we would take 2 employees and deliver it because Uber and Lyft weren't even dreamed of back then.

Ever buy advertising and not quite sure it's working?  Here's a way to MEASURE how effective any marketing media is working.  Use call tracking.  I don't care if it's TV, radio, print, online (PPC) or even specialty advertising like calendars, pens, etc.  All forms of advertising can benefit from call tracking.  I even put a call tracking number on my business cards.  I used Convirza dot com.

Free pickup and delivery is a lot better that mobile service.  No investment in a mobile service vehicle, etc.  Uber to their house, pick the vehicle up.  Deliver the vehicle after the service and Uber back to the shop.  Since most customers live within a 5-mile radius, Uber is cheaper than using 2 employees to pick up and deliver.

I can really relate to this topic.  Much earlier in my career, I was the type of shop owner other shop owners would be afraid of hiring your techs.  Let me explain...

In the late '90s, ATRA held their annual Powertrain Expo in Nashville.  I printed up 500 recruiting brochures.  I would put one in front of every seat in the room hoping a tech would bite.  That lasted less than a day until ATRA caught wind of it.  They emphatically told me what I was doing was unethical and for me to cease and desist what I was doing.  They even threatened to revoke my ATRA membership.  A hard lesson learned.

I ended up throwing out over 300 brochures and never tried to recruit at seminars/trade shows ever again.

I received an Email soliciting Inc. magazine's entry into their "Most Innovative Companies".  For a mere $1K you, too can be on the list.  What a sham.  Click on the Apply button and notice the $995 fee.  Check this out:

Be featured in Fast Company.pdf

7 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

"In Search of Excellence" was a book that changed my way of thinking, way back in the 80s. 

One of the best strategies I gained from the book was MBWA (Management By Walking Around).  To think that a simple process of walking through your shop and talking to your employees about all different topics, not just business either, would become a key part of employee management, boost business, and improve morale. 

Great book. Recommend reading, even though is nearly 40 years old. 

I couldn't agree more.  The biggest thing for me is when I quit doing technical training and started doing sales, management, and marketing training.  At the time, it was a big transition for me.  Here's a video I shot first thing this morning.  You can tell I'm still sleepy...

7:06

The very first management book I ever purchased helped  me immensely.   It was Tom Peters' book, In Search of Excellence.  Here's Tom's YouTube channel loaded with sage advice.  https://www.youtube.com/c/TomPetersExcellenceNow/videos

1 hour ago, Joe Marconi said:

The last two years have been emotional times for workers in general, and priorities are all over the place.  Personally, I think it is due to too many entitlements, or the perception of entitlements.  

It use to be, "Let me work hard, show my boss and/or manager what I am worth, and then we can sit and discuss my future."

Build the best pay package you can.  Include all the benefits you can offer.  Look for quality people and don't give up.

Also, consider growing your own through apprenticeships. As a business coach, I have given this advice through the years, with success. I know this may not meet your immediate needs, but it will pay off in the long term. 

Look for techs leaving dealerships too. 

Stay positive. I know it's a tough road, but mindset is everything. 

Good luck! 

 

While it's easy to hire techs away from dealerships due to the flat rate nature of payroll, they have limited knowledge/experience in only 1 or 2 car lines.  Apprenticeship training will be needed.

3:37   Tom Peters' Leadership Thoughts: Listening

On 8/27/2022 at 5:26 AM, Joe Marconi said:

A shop owner friend of mine told me that one of his top techs came to him to let him know that a shop across town contacted him to recruit him. The other shop offered more money and other benefits. This is not the first time I have heard this.  

While recruiting is something shop owners need to do on a consistent basis, when does it cross the line?  Or does it? 

 

Bob Cooper once produced a video on this very topic.  If I remember correctly, one of the ideas he put forth was to have all your top techs in a profit sharing program.  Few, if any shops do that.  You did a 90-minute webinar a few days ago with Kevin that was well-covered on the subject of keeping employees.  The title was "The 5 Best Kept Secrets to Keeping Your Employees".  1:25:10  

On 8/27/2022 at 5:42 AM, Joe Marconi said:

The word OSHA makes many shop owners cringe. 

I was lucky enough years back to have my insurance agent suggest I perform a voluntary OSHA inspection. A private company did it at the time.   

They found tons of violations; some we knew would be flagged, but most we did not. 

Have you ever had an OSHA inspection? And what can shop owners do to protect themselves? 

40 years in business and I never had an OSHA inspection.  Fire inspection, yes.

On 8/27/2022 at 5:34 AM, Joe Marconi said:

While there are many different business models among all the automotive independent repair shops, what types of services or repairs give your auto repair shop the best ROI? 

• Preventive Maintenance Services?
• General Repairs, steering, suspension, brakes, etc. 
• Diagnostic/Electrical, etc.
• Or other? 

Other.  Transmission and drivetrain repair

Just in...

Lowes Home Improvement Centers are now shifting to a 4-day work week.   5:54

I just wanted to say that a shop owner can never go wrong hiring a shop consultant.  Over the years I've had several and I don't regret a single one.  My first was in the '80s with Terry Greenhut. (since retired).  In the 90's, I had Bob Cooper and Elite.  In the early 2000s, I went outside the industry and got marketing, advertising, and job leads from an outside source.  In the late 2000s, I used Roy H. Williams, also outside the industry.

For those of you hesitating, sitting on the fence, or otherwise procrastinating, get off your duff and just DO IT!

16 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

Years back I used price as a filter too. If the customer said yes, and if the job was priced right...all good.  Today, my fear is that even if you price the job high, and the customer says yes, the job may still be a pain in the neck to complete, and you stand a chance of not being as profitable as you thought. 

Great story about the Porsche. And this is right to my point.  Some jobs are just too complex to even give a price on until you tear it apart. And then the shop is committed. 

Great conversation!  

IMHO, "Pain in the neck" jobs pay really well.  If they don't, then I feel I underpriced the job to begin with.  I used two methods to control work load in our shop.  One was price.  The other was throttling Google PPC.  If it got really busy, I would pause our Google PPC campaigns.  If it got really slow, I would increase the radius of our PPC ads.  Normally, we had a 5-mile radius around the shop  If it got slow, I might increase it to 15 or 20 miles.  I remember once I increased it to 100 miles and discovered Nevada and Wyoming don't have any transmission shops.  I picked up multiple jobs from both states.  TIP:  Don't use Google PPC without having Call Tracking installed.

6 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

Is it possible to be proficient in all makes and models these days? 

No, absolutely not.  If a job comes in and we don't feel proficient at it, we price the job high.  We use price as a filter.  We never say "no" to anybody.  We had a really old Porsche come in.  We've never done one.  We quoted $12K and the customer said "no".  3 months later he returned saying we were the only shop that didn't tell him "no".  As it turned out, it wasn't the transmission at all causing no movement.  It had the motor and flywheel in the front and the transmission in the back.  The flywheel was a vulcanized rubber flywheel and the center had broken out of the flywheel.  It ended up only costing him $6K.

6 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

Did you have any type of training for the techs with regard to speaking to customers? Or protocol? 

Yes, we have in-house training for all employees on how to talk to customers. i.e. when going over a customer's transmission with the customer, nothing is "worn out".  Everything is either "good" or "bad"; no in-between.  Pricing is handled on the front counter, in writing.  It's really easier than most people think.

We allow our techs to talk to customers as it promotes transparency.  Transmission repair is somewhat of a hidden service and customers need some reassurance.  We even had one customer want to watch his Honda transmission get rebuilt.  I turned it into a promotional video opportunity.  Open lines of communication is always the best policy.

4:32  

We simply don't promote all makes, all models.  We take in each job presented to us.  Pricing is a great job filter.  We never say "no" to any job.  We simply quote a price and let the customer say "no".  Highly effective.

On 8/13/2022 at 4:46 AM, Joe Marconi said:

There's a lot of talk these days about a 4-day work week.  Some discussions include the entire shop only being opened for 4 days, other discussions talk about rotating employees to work only four days, while the shop remains open for 5 or 6 days. 

I am on the fence about this. I do see the benefits, but it's not as easy as some may think.

Thoughts, Comments? 

 

A four day  work week didn't really work for us.  However, when business got slow, I would give the crew time off.