Joe Marconi

If I can avoid it, I will not give price over the phone for something I have no knowledge of and not checked out. If we tell a regular customer who is in for service that the timing belt needs to be replaced and she calls back to get a price, that’s a different story and those jobs are money in the bank. Why? They are already our customer and there is that trust/relationship factor. But to blindly give someone a price on something that we have not inspected, based on what they think they need, over the phone, just does not sit well with me. The other day, an acquaintance through the Local Chamber of Commerce, called me for a price on a brake job for his Land Rover. Why someone who owns a Land Rover needs a price is another story. So, after a few questions and explaining to him the reasons why I should inspect the car prior to giving a price, he pleaded with me and I caved in and gave him an estimate. A few days later I called him and left a message and he has not returned my call. This happened once before with this guy when he needed a price on tires. He never came in for the tires either. I do plan on speaking to him at the next chamber meeting. He owns a local pharmacy and I am going to politely ask him how he would feel if the next time I shop in his store I asked the price of his deodorant, toothpaste, cough drops, medications and other items BEFORE I purchase them.

Wow, you know Gonzo I can take a lot, and the older I get the more I keep my mouth shut. But, there was a time where I would have said some "choice" words to this techno-idiot. We have them come in too. They wear that stupid badge hanging from their belt, as if I am supposed to be impressed. They always try to help ME thru their car problem, saying something like, "I deal with computers all day long, and it’s what I am trained to do". Oh really? "Have you ever layed upside down with your feet hanging over the front seat and your head tucked up behind a dashboard tracing down a wiring problem? NO, I didn't think so!" Years back, after giving someone a diagnosis, he went on and on and on how I could not be right, that he knew what it was and he demanded I do what he asked. As he spoke I grabbed a piece of paper, wrote something down on it and handed it to him. He said, "What’s this?" I said, "The names of others shops in town, this conversation is over". He was speechless and left. Not the smartest thing for my shop at the time, but it sure did feel good!

Will Social Media Work for Your Shop? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc. Social media, as in any marketing, is another form of media that helps to promote your company in your community and to your customers. Deciding whether social media is right for shop is a complicated question. First, before you make that decision, you need to do your due diligence and understand the different forms of social media. However, once that decision has been made it’s better to leave the job at managing your social media to a professional. Take Facebook for example, being on Facebook and talking about your grandson’s first steps is vastly different than promoting your company. Done properly, social media can help spread the culture of company, done wrong and it could be perceived as a cheap way to promote your services or products. And that will turn off the people you are trying to reach. Social media is social media. It’s a place to remain in contact with your customers, friends and people in your community. If social media is something you want to explore you need to speak to the pros. Most CRM companies (for example; Mitchell1, MechanicNet, CustomerLink, Demandforce) and others all offer program options that can get your shop involved with social media. Moving Targets (a company that is best known for finding new residents in your community) also has an extensive social media program. There are also many private companies that do this. You, as a shop owner, are just too busy to learn and keep up with all the posts, and keeping current with all the changes that occur constantly. Marketing is about creating an experience so rewarding and memorable that the customer wants to return to relive that experience again. That experience can be reinforced after the sale. Maintaining contact with your customers after the sale in a non-intrusive manner can help to anchor your customer to you. Social media, done properly, can help to achieve this.

Same here, they call me all the time and email me. I have a few very good reviews on Angies List, from my customers. Their prices have come down, they want to grow the program. I do like the fact that the reviews are from members, which means they are more credible than google or other sites. I am on a "watch and see" at the moment, need more information.

Thanks for the update, sorry for your troubles. I have Mitchell, but one of my coaching clients uses Max Traxx, it's a good program with a lot of nice features. Glad you made the move, and good luck.

Sorry, I have no knowedge of this issue. Do you have or know of an IT person that can work with the company reps to help you with this problem?

So true, Gonzo. Years back I did not realize that my attiude set the tone and mood, not only for me but the people around me. And, I agree, it's easy to forget the good and focus on the negative. And another thing I realized is that if you walk up to the plate and tell yourself you are going to strike out, you will! It's better to get up each day and focus on what can go right, rather than went wrong or could go wrong. Happy to see you did not miss a week.

Inventory Tax Tip When speaking to shop owners around the country, the issue of inventory often comes up. What to stock, what not to stock, is a common question. Some shops are located in rural areas and many are located within minutes of a parts house. So, deciding how much inventory you stock depends on your particular situation. One thing to consider, if having additional inventory helps increase production, (batteries, belts, air filters, cabin filters, oil filters, wiper blades, etc.) it may be a good idea to stock these fast movers. Increasing production will pay for itself, plus you may be able to negotiate a better price with your supplier when you stock these items. As far as taxes are concerned, inventory falls under the expenses category until you actually sell it. Inventories are unused assets that are tax deductible. There are different types of inventory eligible for deduction. Parts and material you stock are eligible. It is important that you take an accurate count and do not estimate your inventory. Before you do your tax return this year, perform an accurate inventory count and speak to your accountant. At my shop we have an Inventory Party. We ask for a few volunteers to stay for an hour or so after work and either order in food or I take the guys to Chili’s or another local restaurant. Food is a powerful motivator.

Many comebacks can be controlled with a sound quality control process. I am not speaking of part issues, that's for another day. But, the little annoying things like forgetting to rotate the the tires, or installing the wiper blades that the customer requested, could all be controlled by a quality review system that checks and double checks the repair order. I would like to hear from other shop owners how they go thru the process of quality control. Thanks in advance!

The northeast is being hit with a big snow storm, with areas expected to get up to a few feet of snow. The only good thing, I guess, is that it happended on a weekend. Be safe all those that are affected by the storm.

We have nearly 1000 members, which makes me very excited. If you know of any shop owners that would like benefit from ASO, please let them know. My goal is to hit the 1000 mark by the end of the month. Thank you all for making AutoShopOwner.com the very best automotive managment forums web site on the planet! Joe Marconi

Yes, if a business is legit with all the credentials, than I don't think anyone would have an issue. I do think that no matter what form of honest, legitamate business you have, we need to all help to raise the image of the industry, and not focus on price but the value we bring to consumers.

Has anyone tried the copper/nickel brake lines. I was always under the assumption that brake fluid absorbed copper, in addition to moisture.

I was rooting for San Fran too, oh well

It will be interesting to see in the future with all the trade schools that graduate entry level techs. How many will remain in this industry and will it have any impact in our search for future techs. Years back, when I started, most of us started by pumping gas and working on the family car. It's not that way anymore, in many areas. Today you have UTI (Universal Technical Institute), Lincoln Tech, APEX Technical, and many others.

I went to a chamber meeting the other night to try to understand this mess, but I am more confused now than before. One question I had, which was avoided by the speaker that night, I asked, "Who will really pay for this health care bill". He nevered did answer me. I think we all need to pay attention to this bill and be careful. Even though it mandates for a business over 50, my insurance broker has already told me that all premiums will go up when the law kicks in that isnurance companies must help pay for the uninsured. It is very confusing...and that does not sit well with me.

Gonzo, I too have been down this road and feel the same way you do. I stopped years ago trying to help these guys that have no clue what they are doing and portray such a negative image to the motoring public. I am tired of this. We fight each day to make a buck and do the right thing, but there’s always someone who crosses over that line of no return. The best thing we can do for the customer is NOT help these shops. They not only hurt the customer, they hurt us too as consumers lump us all into the same category. Well Gonzo….there you go again……now where did I put that blood pressure medication……

Help Service Advisors Sell Value and Benefits We all know that selling the benefits of a particular service is far better than selling parts and labor. But sometimes, especially when we are busy, we forget and fall back into bad habits. To help the service advisors and to add value for the customer, we have been changing all of our most common service operations (we use Mitchell1 Can Jobs) to include a note that features the benefit of the service or item we are presenting to a customer. In other words, a service advisor should not tell Mrs. Jones, “You need a tire rotation.” That does not mean much to the customer. The advisor should inform Mrs. Jones that performing periodic tire rotations will extend the life of her tires, insure that the tires wear evenly and save her the expense of buying tires prematurely. So, as a reminder we included the benefit within the service operation can job. For example: Service Op: Tire Rotation Note: Performing periodic tire rotations will extend the life of your tires; insure that the tire will wear evenly and save money by not having to buy tires prematurely. This note gets printed on the invoice and is also on the screen. It’s just a handy way for the advisor to help remember to always promote value and benefits. The customer can also read the benefits on the invoice. This can be done with virtually any service, item or repair. Remember, always sell value and benefits, not parts and ,labor.

I have been using a method very, very similiar for years, not sure where I learned it. Thanks for the tip, great information!

Every receipt must have a PO number on it. We use the job ticket number created in Mitchell. We have instructed all our vendors to not send a part unless the person calling for the part has a PO. If the part is order electronically, the PO is put on that order. We use Mitchell, In the part field, we put the vendor name and the part company ticket number. So, if you pull up a customer's invoice from 6 months ago, you know who you bought the pump from and THEIR ticket number. I think you can do this in QB too. Right? Every receipt must be signed and then marked, "OK to bill". All the receipts are then sent to the office where the office person doubles checks them (checks and balance process) before they are sperated and tracked. All reciepts are then matched against the monthly statement for accuracy. We do the same with cores and returns. There are mistakes all the time, lost recepits, etc. You need to have a tracking system or you may be losing money.

To be honest with you, if it were not for the Stockel family, I don't know if the shops in my area would be willing to even talk to Advance. There are so many good, quality people at BWP/CARQUEST that we at least owe them the opportunity to see how this developes.

Yes, I questioned the same thing, was there something that occurred with the accident that can be traced back to the engine issue? Was car driven without coolant and the owner did not realize it? Did the owner drive the car to get to a safe area and that caused the issue? Just cover all the steps before you proceed.

Say, “Thank You” As shop owners, we sometimes walk around as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders. And to be honest, for what we have to endure on a daily basis, we have every right to feel this way. But, (you knew there was going to be a “But”, right?) the people that work with you don’t know what you go through and if are looking for sympathy, you are going to be waiting for a very long time. You are the shop owner, the leader. It’s what you decided to do. And with that decision comes a great responsibility, not just to your business and family, but to the people and families of those you employ. With temperatures this past week hovering around zero, it was tough on all of us. We had an unusual amount of breakdowns and higher than normal car counts, all due to the cold. Everyone was affected by the cold and by Thursday afternoon I knew my crew was feeling the effects of Old Man Winter. But, they trudged on, working an additional hour and a half to get caught up on all the work. The next morning everyone was there by 7:15am and we all went to work, no complaints. Mechanics are a tough breed and I am proud to work side by side these guys. I ordered four large pizzas for lunch and we all had lunch together as a family. As I watched the guys poke fun at each other and laugh, I just smiled inside with pride. At the end of the week on Friday night, I assembled everyone together, looked in their eyes and simply said; “Thank you.” Don’t ever take for granted the people who work with, and never forget to say those two simple words…:Thank You….

If there is one thing I learned about business, it’s that there is never a right time or wrong time, only a well-thought out plan of action. If opening up your own shop is truly what you want to do, then put an action plan together with a timeline of goals and do it. Don’t be afraid to fail, we have all failed in the past, just ask any member of ASO. As a business owner for more than 32 years I can tell you that your mechanical skills will not be your ticket to success, your business skills will be. So get as much business training as you can and commit to a lifelong series of continuous training. And, post all your concerns and questions in ASO, we are all here to help, trust me. You have some pretty bright shop owners within these internet pages, all willing to share something with you. Good luck and just do it!