Joe Marconi

I AM a believer in being proactive with my customers. To me, my approach with my customers is no different than going to a doctor. A good doctor will always address your initial concern for the visit, take a few vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, listen to your chest, look in your ears and eyes and ask you a few questions about your general health. The doctor is being proactive with respect to Total Health Care. We, in the automotive industry, need to take that same approach; Total “Car” Care. When a customer arrives at my shop for a check engine light, for example, we do address the initial concern of the check engine light, but we also check a few vital signs (through our multipoint inspection). We will also check vehicle history and make recommendations based on mileage and what we find with the car. We also ask the customers a lot of questions to find out their intentions with their car. In other words, if a customer has 90k on the clock and is looking to get another 5 years and 100,000 miles, our approach is different than someone who is turning the car in and buying a new one in a month. Lastly, I am from New York, so the idea of an hour meter is interesting. In large congested cities, the miles are nothing; the pot-hole ridden roads and being stuck in heavy traffic are more damaging than the actual miles.

Happy and healthy New Year, the very best to all ASO members and families!

Thanks for those kinds words, but the credit goes to our great membership.

Thanks for those kinds words, but the credit goes to our great membership.

A customer arrives at your service counter asking for an oil change service and a tire rotation. Your service advisor carefully writes the repair order, informs the customer that a technician will be performing a multipoint inspection along with the service, insures that he has all the necessary vehicle and customer information, and nicely asks the customer to have a seat in the customer lounge. Fifteen minutes later the tech completes the multipoint inspection and brings the results to the service advisor. The technician is recommending a serpentine belt, cabin filter, and air filter. Your service advisors presents the recommended services to the customer, and the customer politely declines, saying that she will give it some thought and possibly bring it back for the work. The result; a lost sale. Does this scenario sound familiar? So, how does a talented service advisor, who understands the importance of customer service, struggle with sales? It could be because the service advisor does not totally understand the concept of building relationships with his customers. Possibly, his previous training focused too much on, “making the sale”, rather than connecting with the customer as a person. What he may lack, as many service advisors do, is the concept that selling automotive service has a lot to do with building relationships. Obviously you need to understand the products you sell, the features and benefits of the service, and being honest. But if you really want to go the top, you need to build relationships with your clientele. Customers must be greeted and treated as close friends or a family member. If a close friend or a family member came to you with a car related problem, would they doubt your diagnosis or recommendations? Of course they wouldn’t. Friends and family members trust and believe in you. They know that you have their best interest at heart; it’s the reason why they come to you in the first place. The sale is not made due to salesmanship, but rather the relationship. Building relationships begins the very first time a customer calls your shop or steps up to your counter. Effective advertising will bring new customers to your service counter. However, a company needs to insure that a first-time customer doesn’t become a one-time customer. Repeat customers guarantee long-term success. Increasing the odds of getting consumers to return is heavily dependent upon the ability to anchor customers by building solid relationships. Each first-time customer must be greeted with enthusiasm and a smile. It is crucial that the service advisor engage in small talk much like a conversation you would have meeting someone for the first time at a non-business event, such as a wedding or meeting a new neighbor. Engaging in small talk is not limited to first-time customers. An essential part of delivering world-class customer service is how well you connect with the customer in a conversation. Small talk, combined with quality customer service, builds trust. When people trust you as a friend, sales are not sales, they are simply part of the conversation. An important thing to note is that a sale is often made long before the service advisor walks into the customer service area and informs the customer that she needs front brakes. The ability to sell is directly related to the relationship the service advisor has with the customer. Building relationships must be part of your marketing policy and must be a consistent theme, practiced by every staff member. How well you connect with the customer at each point of contact will make the difference later on. Every business owner should ask themselves; “Can I positively say that, the attitude and behavior of my employees creates an atmosphere that encourages consumers to return?” We need to remember that we may be in the auto repair or tire business, but we are retailers, and the strength of our companies is reliant upon how we deliver world-class customer service. Customer service drives sales and the level of customer satisfaction directly impacts those sales. A positive customer experience, reinforced by the relationship, will keep customers returning. If you want to increase sales; know your products and services, convey the benefits of the service or repair you are recommending, always base decisions on what is in the best interest of the customer and above all, view every customer contact as an opportunity to either begin a relationship or preserve the relationship. View full article

Some people are truly amazing, super human. Enjoyed watching!

Gonzo, you truly are multi-talented. It would not be Saturday, if I did not read one of your stories. But, this story is real special, being Christmas Eve. Thanks again for making our day and holiday a little brighter. Merry Christmas!

The other day a customer walked into our service area with her 96 year old grandmother. The grandmother, also a customer but has stop driving due to her age and illness, is receiving treatments for cancer at a doctor’s office around the corner from my shop. The granddaughter handed me a box of cookies, wished me Merry Christmas, and asked for a favor. She said, “My grandmother was too early for her appointment at the doctor’s office and they told her that they would be closing the office from 2 to 3pm”. Meaning they would have to leave and come back. She asked me if they could wait in my service area for the hour. I told them, “absolutely, and help yourself to coffee and just relax for the hour”. I could see that the grandmother was obviously upset over the policy at her doctor’s office. Maybe it’s me, but is that the way we should treat people? Especially a 96 year old grandmother? I would like to know who told the grandmother, a patient receiving cancer treatments, to please leave and come back in an hour. When someone arrives early at my shop before we open, we unlock the door and welcome them in. I think this doctor’s office needs to review its policy and also needs a lesson in customer service. What do you think?

During this Holiday Season I want to express my appreciation to all ASO members for making AutoShopOwner the "Go To" source for automotive business information and for the great friendships we have made. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Joe Marconi

What Services and Repairs Generate the Greatest Profit? As a shop owner, it’s your responsibility to determine what services and repairs you perform on a regular basis generate the greatest return in profit dollars. As a general rule, most of us take on all types of jobs, from a tire repair to a transmission overhaul. But, do you truly know what part of your business generates the most in profit? Is it brake work, preventive maintenance services, or is it steering and suspension work? Every shop owner must know what brings the largest return and look to sell more of these services. Focusing on the wrong line of services and repairs may adversely affect your bottom line. Don’t confuse low profit services or lost leaders, such as oil changes, with low profitable jobs. Oil changes and other “carefully marketed” lost leaders can generate car counts, which in turn will give your shop the opportunity to sell more profitable work. That should be part of your marketing plan. Every retail company, no matter the size, needs to know the profit generated from each service, product or repair. This will give you a better handle on your business and give you the direction to know what needs improvement. One last thing, sales must always be made in an honest and ethical manner.

I do not have direct knowledge with ATI Re-Engineering Program, but have you looked at Elite? http://www.eliteworldwidestore.com/ The only reason I ask is that Bob Cooper and Elite was extremely instrumental for me, helping me for years with my business. I now work as a business coach helping other shop owners. I don't want to sound partial, but Bob Cooper and Elite have a lot to offer. Let me know if you have any particular questions.

Welcome to ASO Traci! It sounds like you have a great backround and will really add value to the forums. Looking forward to it. Joe

Years back, my neighbor was working on his 87 Horizon on a hot Saturday afternoon. The engine cranked and cranked but would not start. I could see him as he install plugs, cap, rotor, plug wires and a fuel filter and still no start. After an hour or so of hearing the engine crank, I couldn’t take it anymore. So, I walked over to him and asked if I could help. He started to tell me what he did, but I didn’t really listen. I pulled a plug wire and asked him to crank it over. No Spark. I put the wire back on, gave the distributor pickup wire a jiggle and as he cranked the engine, it started. He was amazed. He was grinning ear to ear, so I decided to have a little fun. He asked me, how much, I said $500.00. I watched as the color faded from his face. He said, “Really”. Then I told him, “Oh, the jiggle of the wire was free, it’s knowing what wire to jiggle that cost so much”. He realized I was kidding, but the funny thing is….he never asked me to help him ever again.

Rob, I want to welcome you AutoShopOwner.com and wish you the best of luck. I appreciate the kind words and I can agree that there is a wealth of knowledge on the forums. So ask away, we are all eager to help one another. Joe

I am so happy you solved the problem, and very happy that AutoShopOwner.com was there to help you. It sounds like exactly what we have for our rack. Joe

A local contractor who does excavation work did the work. He dug the hole and set the tank in place. He worked with the mason who set the forms and poured the concrete. We also put plastic pipe in the cement to run all the air lines and electric lines. Thanks for the those kind words too about AutoShopOwner.com

That's too bad. The pit is right on the plans. It's not your fault and you have to pay? A simple pit to drain any water is all you need. Our pit is just a holding tank, that's it. Nothing fancy and no added expense.

Great choice! According to Hunter, they will not honor the warranty unless you have a pit. We installed a small septic tank for our drain. In the two and half years we have had it, we only had to pump it out once. It works fine. We never did a free check. We do a lot of alignments and we promoted the machine to other shops. We have nearly a dozen other shops that give us their alignments. You must have the new system with the tire clamps. That system is real nice. I want to see if they have an upgrade. We did not run any special either, but we do promote tire sales. I did run a contest with my techs to see if they could increase the number of alignments, which they did. I like the machine and I like Hunter as a company. We also do the steering wheel angle adjustments. I think that comes with the program, you might want to ask to make sure. Good luck!

Everyone should celebrate their Holidays the way the are meant to be celebrated. As a society we sometime fear that we may offend somone, I don't think that's the case. Merry Christmas!

Handling Customer Complaints It’s no secret that one of the keys to a successful business is delivering world class customer service. However, things will inevitably go wrong and how you handle a customer complaint can have either a positive or negative affect on your business. Unhappy customers are 11 times more likely to talk to others about their bad experience than happy customer will talk about their great experience. That’s human nature; we can’t ignore this fact, nor can we control it. What we can do is have a plan in place that addresses the customer’s complaint as soon as possible. Empower your staff to act quickly when someone is not happy. Do all you can to insure that the problem is resolved. Don’t worry about short term financial loss. The loss of a customer will hurt your business far more. Follow up with the customer in a few days just to make sure there aren’t any other concerns. Every complaint should be reviewed with service personnel to understand what happened and find ways to improve the level of service. This meeting must not be a “beat-up” session where we point blame. Reinforce that your shop is comprised of valued team members and that together your objective is to deliver outstanding customer service. We all hope that things will never go wrong, but that’s just wishful thinking. The important thing to remember is that you can salvage the customer relationship with the right plan in place.

The plan is legal, I checked with a labor lawyer. I want to know if it's fair. This question was just brought up to me only because recently 2 service advisors now prefer to work Saturdays and have off a day during the week. So in the past there was no issue. A holiday was a holiday and no one thought any different. Let's remember that everyone gets paid for all observed holidays: Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and July 4th. That is not the question. Everyone gets holiday pay. The question is this: If a service advisor normally has off on Mondays, should the service advisor be entitled to another day off in the same week, if a holiday falls on a Monday of a particular week? In other words, the pay is the same. The issue is the service advisor will have two days off during a holiday week because his regular day off fell on a holiday. There is no benefit either way with the company. The benefit will be to the employee. He or she will get paid regular salary and get 2 days off. But, if this is fair in the eyes of the employee, I need to know this.

I am curious to hear what other shop owners do for employee bonuses this time of year. I realize there is no one-size-fits all, mostly because we have shops of different sizes. I don't have any special formula. I do show my appreciation for my employees and give a bonus. The amount of bonus depends on how well the company did for the year, how long the employee is employed and how well the employee did for the year. Younger techs may get a tool gift certificate. I also take everyone out for dinner at a nice restaurant. Each employee can bring a guest.

A Great heartfelt story. We now see you another side of you. I enjoyed reading it. I remember one summer, when I first went opened my shop, my younger brother worked for me while he was still in college. It was a great experience and one that I will always treasure.

Increasing your retail business in either location is key to your success. I would suggest that you build a business model of both locations on what you want to achieve based on the amount of hours of operation and the amount of techs. In this way you can forecast your potential gross sales and determine your net profit. This will give you an indication of the potential income. I am not opposed to growth, but growth must always make financial sense. You asked for more info on Elite, here’s the web site: http://www.eliteworldwidestore.com/ If you need any specific questions answered about Elite, please ask. In addition to owning a repair shop in New York, I also work as a business consultant/Coach for Elite. It’s a great company and the owner Bob Cooper is the best of the best.