Joe Marconi

You can call me old, but way back when I started there were only a handful of oil filter and air filter part numbers. Life was easy, yes....but it was also more effective. Today, with all the part numbers we have to deal with, the chance of making mistakes has increased greatly. The other day I "thought" I was helping my techs by pulling the parts for them. By accident I reversed the part numbers and gave a tech the wrong oil filter. The tech did catch the mistake, but it really bothered me. When you had a only a few numbers to deal with (1A, 33, 49, etc) combined with the fact that the filter looked different, the odds of making mistakes were a lot less. Now with numbers that have 5 digits, and many look the same, it's a problem. Plus, we now have to stock a massive amount of oil and air filters. Just looking at the numbers gives me a headache. Tell me if I'm overreacting or if you feel the same way.

Great report, the truth revealed...

Outstanding! This is what the public needs to understand about what is going on in our government.

I remember back in the late 80’s we started to see a high failure rate on GM ignition modules and other electrical components from one particular aftermarket company. The part store would send the part back to the company and the part would come back with a report from their engineer stating: "After testing this module, no failure found, installer error". This would make me furious. Other failed electrical components that I determined faulty would be refuted by their engineer and would get kicked back to me, which meant I had to eat the cost of the part. Well here’s what I did. The next electrical part failure I got I attached a form that I created which stated: "Joe Marconi, the Engineer and installer of this part has determined that this part has failed. Kick it back to me and I will forever take my business elsewhere"! I no longer had an issue, nor did I ever get another so-called engineer’s report. You are right Gonzo, how you conduct yourself and your business makes the difference.

Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Enemies Closer A quote made famous from the Movie, “The Godfather” The other day a customer brought me an estimate from the Local Hyundai dealer for 4 tires and a wheel alignment that was $150.00 cheaper than my quoted price. She said the service advisor told her that their tires prices could not be beat or matched anywhere. After a few phone calls it was apparent that the dealer service advisor was right. Even the local discount tire stores could not match that price. Even after a discount, my price was still $115.00 higher than the dealer. After speaking with her and reminding her that the same dealer tried to sell her a transmission she did not need a few years back, she agreed that price was not the only determining factor and we got the job. New car dealers are doing everything in their power to get customers into their service bays. Sluggish new-car sales have created a very proactive and aggressive approach to increase their car counts. Many dealers are offering cheap oil changes, tire rotations and alignments as lost leaders. What we need to do, as independent shop owners, is to become aware of these tactics and find ways to educate our customers. We must not burry ourselves in the sand, or fall into the trap by assuming the majority of consumers will not patronize the new car dealers. There are some dealers that are taking pages from our book and providing the service and pricing that is attracting consumers. Study your competition, know your competition. That is the only way to compete and win. Remember, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”.

The most important thing you said: "If you believe it will work, it does. If you don't believe it will work, it will fail". This is the first step toward success in business and in life. I live by that standard.

Another factor are the price wars. When areas fight to be the cheapest and prices start to decline all over, no one wins. Plus the weakest finacially will fail first.

Finding and keeping the right person is the age old problem. They are out there, but rare. You need to look for people that fit your model of honesty, integrity, strong work ethic and has intellegence. Don't always look for experience, look for attitude and aptitude. It is a process, a long process and you will most likely go thru a lot of oysters to find that perfect pearl...

Scott: Welcome to AutoShopOwner, glad you found us. I admire your business spirit. Being an absentee owner can be tough for a small shop. I have been in business for 30+ years and just recently have built my company large enough and productive enough to have some sort of flexibility; in other words I don't have to be here all the time. With that said, my shop still needs the leadership and vision from me, the owner. I am not saying it cannot be done, but you really need the RIGHT people and the very best mananger. Are you friendly with any shop owners now? Maybe you could spend time in a shop to get a hands on view of what you need to do. Your background in the world of business gives you a big advantage. Most of us (myself included) started as mechanics. It may be hard to believe but being a former mechanic actually hurt me more than helped me. Good luck...keep the conversation going!

There are a lot of issues to discuss here, and I want to be as brief as possible. First of all, no one is suggesting that we use a cheap oil change in order to attract and pull a bait and switch or use the oil change to deceive customers. I have always held my moral standards to the highest degree. You speak of gross profit, ARO and percentages. Let’s face it, unless you are charging $50.00 or better for a conventional oil change, you are not making any money anyway. In comparison, the $39.95 full service oil in the 1980’s was far more profitable than the typically priced oil change of today. I like oil changes; it keeps my customers coming back to ME. BUT, I don’t just sell an oil change; I sell an “Oil Change Service”. I inspect my customers cars bumper to bumper during each vehicle visit and my customers appreciate the fact that we are taking care of them. We have grown our business and car count by saying yes to customers, rather than no. The majority of the jobs we do are those GRAVY jobs. In my area, we are the go-to guys because we do it all; from tires, to transmissions,brakes, steering, diagnostic work and even while-you-wait oil changes. I don’t want my customers going somewhere else for their oil changes. That just leaves too much to chance. If I did that, some other shop will be getting all the add-on sales such as wipers, headlights, air filters, cabin filters, tire roations, batteries and God knows what else. That scenario is not acceptable to me. Saturdays and oil changes work for me.... my business. It may not work for everyone. Our sales on a typical Saturday, from the hours from 8-2pm, are nearly as much as during the week. We rotate staff so that everyone does not have to work 6 days per week. This business model has been so successful that we had to open up another facility in 2009 in order to maintain our customer base. Essentially we gave to our customers what they wanted; a full service, one stop auto service shop.

Great book well written, a must read for all!

Great story, great deal too. Funny how the father could not get the son to agree to your deal, there's a story in that too. I learned a lesson a long time ago when I first went into business. After giving some people the price for a job, they would come back with a lower price offer . Getting upset and explaining my charges did not get me anyway, so here's what I did. I gave a customer a price of $188.00 for exhaust work on his Buick. He came back with his counter offer of $160.00. I told him, "Sir the price is $210.00". He shouted back, "You Said $188.00". I said, "I know, you went down I went up, we can do this all day long or I can fix your car for $188.00". I still you this simple tactic.

We have built a very substantial Sat trade. Maybe because my shop is located in a residential area where people use thier cars to commute. I need to ask, why are you opposed to oil change services? When you look at the opportunity with oil changes, for me there is a lot of gravy work. Plus, when you get customers coming to you on a consistent basis, they will think about you before another facility. That's a win-win in my book. Your thoughts?

I'm not a cartoonist, but if I were I would draw your shop with a huge manget on top. That story is about as strange as it gets. You gotta be attracting these people in some strange, weird way...

Truly funny! Thanks for the laugh!

Thanks Gonzo, I just needed to vent a little. I guess what makes people like us go into business is our passion and to make a difference. You are right about the money, too. Employees (and customers) don't know how the money gets distributed. Thanks for the pep talk. I needed it...

I want to personally wish everyone a Happy Independence Day. I hope everyone gets the chance to spend time with friends and family.

Employees Are Not Assets I used to think of employees as assets. Well, that was wrong. Tangible properties are assets; like equipment, a home, tools and inventory, not employees. Employees are people, we don't own employees. At times, as we focus on the numbers of the business, we lose site of the human aspect of our employees. If you want to increase sales and produce satisfied customers, treat your employees in your company as people, with respect and appreciation, the way you would want to be treated. “People don’t care how much you know, people want to know how much you care”. From the book: It’s Not About The Coffee, by Howard Behar

It is simply amazing how your stories can apply to each shop around the nation. I have been down that road too many times to remember. I once lost a customer over charging a diag charge for finding a faulty set of wires. He was handy and did a lot of work himself. He came in one day saying his car was running rough and feels like the plug wires need replacement. I did my anaylsis, confirmed the faulty wire set and installed a new set. The wires were under a warranty,(he had bought the wires from a local parts house and installed them himself) so the only charge was the analysis. He went crazy! He said, " I TOLD YOU it was the wires, why do you need to charge me"? In his mind I should have not charged him anything. Can you imagine going to your doctor because you think you have the flu, and after he confirms it you tell the doctor; " It was the flu, DON'T charge me"

I feel the same way about getting permission. State inspections are on CARFAX, which documents mileage. It's funny, when people ask for a CARFAX, they assume all vehicle history is logged. It's only the info that sent to CARFAX from participating shops. We bought an auction car with a "clean" CARFAX report only to find out later it was a flood car from down south.

I am in Florida until the middle of next week visiting the wife's family, if I can break away I will join you...

An Old Mule, How to Handle Adversity There was a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP! It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him… all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity! *********** A little different for me. I read this story on line and thought it would good to post it.

We had a 2005 GMC Yukon in the other day for a bucking problem under a load, particularly up hills. It felt like a misfire, but the engine had all the power in the world. Our initial thoughts were problems with a coil, plugs, wires, injectors, etc. But a scan of the computer showed no codes and the data looked normal. In fact, when the bucking occurred, the O2 sensors and fuel trim looked normal too. We checked fuel pressure and induced propane while the bucking occurred to rule out a lean condition, but the bucking did not change. When you applied the brake while cruising the bucking would get a little worse, but with the vehicle stopped, you could not duplicate the bucking by applying the brake and applying the gas. We road tested the truck again. When the bucking started we put the truck in Full Time 4X4 and the bucking stopped. Could it be something in the driveline? After driving the vehicle we could not get the truck to buck again, in or out of 4X4. The fluid in the transfer looked like mud and we suggested we replace it, which we did. Has anyone ever seen or heard of something like this? Remember, even though the bucking felt like a misfire, the engine did not seem to falter. And, all data looked normal with no codes.

What the heck is wrong with some people? This guy accuses you of stealing his radio and when he finds out the truth, he angrily calls you, not to apologize but to inform you of what happened and to let you know you still lost a customer. What gives? It makes no sense. A few years back I was closing the shop late on a Saturday afternoon. As I was walking out the door the phone rang and I debated whether I should answer it. Well, I did, which was a big mistake. It was a customer, that was in earlier for service on her Explorer, screaming and yelling at me that we stole her cell phone. No matter how I tried I could not get her to calm down. When I asked her, “I you sure you have not misplaced it”, the screaming intensified to a frenzy. The phone call ended with her yelling, “I WANT MY CELL PHONE BACK”. Then I heard the click as she hung up. I called the techs that worked that day and questioned them about the phone, they knew nothing. I looked around the shop floor, in the office, bathrooms and in the parking lot. Maybe the phone fell out of the car, but no luck. I felt horrible all weekend long. I resisted calling the customer until Monday afternoon. The phone rang a few times before she picked it up. I said, “This is Joe from Osceola Garage, unfortunately we did not find your phone. What do I need to do to replace it for you?” She said in a real cheerful voice, “Oh, I should have called you back on Saturday, I found the phone. It was never in the car, I put in my bag. Thanks and I'll see you soon”. I was speechless; all I could say was, Good bye. Emotionally I was spent. You figure it out, because I can’t.