Joe Marconi

I usually don’t mix politics with business, but this year is different. I feel that we need to get out and vote in order to preserve our future. There is a strong movement toward bigger government and more government control. And I don’t like it. I don’t know what side of the isle you stand on, but I want less government in my life and business, not more. I pay enough taxes. It’s time that the people of this great nation take a long hard look at what is going on in Washington. Our president promised us change, but never told us what that change would be. Thomas Jefferson said it best… "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.”

The older I get the more sensitive I am to my health and the health of my people. I battle everyday about the use of brake cleaner in addition to other safety issues. Even changing oil becomes a problem. It’s hard not to spill oil onto the exhaust manifold or into the frame or onto the bottom splash shield on many of the cars today when performing an oil change service. (I think these engineers should be forced work in a quick lube doing oil changes for a month before designing an oil pan or oil filter location.) My techs want to keep the car clean so they use brake to clean up the mess. I would like to know what other use to clean brake parts, etc.

$3,300! WOW. We should get into the insurance business. Or, maybe find a way to sell a maintenance program to our customers. We dealt with Royal too, not a happy experience.

People often come in with an extended warranty contract to see if we honor the contract. We always respond the same way, “Yes we do, but what ever the warranty company does not cover, you will have to pay the difference. Plus we need to find out if the warranty company covers what’s wrong with your car”. Too often I see the same puzzled look on their face and hear the same response: “I was told that this contract covers everything and all I have to pay is the deductible”. We know the real truth, don’t we? I don’t know how you handle this issue, but I tell the customer upfront that if it is a covered repair and my invoice is more that what the your warranty company is willing to pay me, you will need to pay the difference. I am successful with this upfront approach 95% of the time. I do not want someone at a warranty company sitting behind a desk telling me how much to charge or tell me that they can get a used steering rack from a junkyard half way across the country. How do you handle extended warranties?

Scary story! I shared the article with my staff during our Fri morning meeting.

Right on target! And, as some shops try to compete on price, they are actually sealing their own fate and dragging the rest of us down. We need to stand together and get what we deserve. I know what I need to turn a profit, and it's not found on the Internet.

WOW! You can change the shop names and the techs, but the story is the same. I am glad I wrote this story. People don't realize this, but like you said, the emotional scares takes time to heal. You have a great story. Thanks the email and best of luck. It sounds like you have a good thing going!! Joe

Anytime!

What about pricing. I do get some people come in after reseaching parts online and hand me a printout from some cheap site. I really do not want to go down this road with customers. Your thoughts?

Do not hope, my good friend. Hope is never a plan for sucess. Look at you sales figures and make it your goal to reach that goal. Less than1%???? You can top that, I know you can. Put together a sales plan to reach a certain sales goal for each job, each day, each week, each month. Don't say hope....Say, "I WILL do better than last year!" Stay positive and positive things will come your way Joe

I agree. Do you think that the web will somehow dictate or set standards with respect to pricing and servicing?

Yes, I firmly believe that. What I have learned in the short term is how important it is to manage the business. You can't grow your business or run your business from a creeper or under the hood!

We have so busy with the new facility that we have not devoted enough time to used cars. We have found that the $5000 to $7000 range sells the fastest. Over that people look for a cheap car or cheap lease. luckily, our repair and service sales have been good.

Are sales for 2009 better, worse or the same as 2008? Have you ever openned up Saturdays? Would you consider it to increase sales?

I am seeing more and more of this type of online advertising. Is this the up and comimg new standard? We all need to be on the web, it is the future. Let's hope this doesn't cause confusion for both the shops and the public. Feedback will be greatly apprciated!

Thanks, that's a lot of free press. Tire business has featured other articles of mine in th past. Thanks again

3 to 5% of total sales. But I have to tell you that I stopped ads in the local penny saver, news papers and the yellow pages. I primarily concentrate on TV, Radio and I buy mailing lists of people in a 5 mile radius of my shop. I also heavliy concentrate on marketing to our exsiting customer base with email newsletters, service reminders, seasonal promotions, etc. And another thing that has helped is getting invloved with local ograinizations like the Chamber of Commerce. Networking with other local businesses is key today. There are things you can do that won't break the bank. Remeber your target audience is a lot smaller than a Pep boys.

Welcome and good luck to you. I can speak for all memebers of AutoShopOwner when I say to you just ask and we will help in any way we can. It's a tough but rewarding business. I've been doing it for more than 30 years! The large customer area can be to your advantage. People today, espcially women, like to be comfortable. Make that your show peice. They will see that and jugde you for your waiting room more than what you have in the shop. First impresins are the most important in business. A clean, comfotable waitng area will help you sell. Good luck and welcome aboard! Joe AutoShopOwner, Osceola Garage

To a large degree, consistent and relentless advertising works. We have a large tire chain right around the corner from us and they too are always busy. They put a lot of money into advertising and you don't need an appointment. The quality of their work is questionable, at best! But they are always busy. Independents spend a lot of time and money being ASE certified, buying the best tools, the best equipment and becoming the best techs. We pride ourselves on being able to solve the toughest problems. In the end, the public may not know the difference. I am not saying that we should be more like these other shops, but we need to understand what the consumer perceives, because their perception is their reality. When expanding my business I studied the businesses that always seemed busy and I took a different approach. I learned what the customer sees as mportant, and it was not my Hunter Alignment Machine or my Snap On Scanner. And it was not even the fact that we are an ASE Blue Seal Shop! What matters to them are convenience, a friendly face, speedy service and a fair price. We now advertise more (TV and Radio). We offer while you wait service and you don’t need and appointment, and it works. Our business has increased. The world has changed from the days when I started in a 2 bay gas station in the 70’s.

Tough situation. I guess you need to find your unique competitve advantage. We all wear too many hats. I would like to compare collections.

You may not make any more money in your case. And, techs should not run the front counter. I think you running the office is a good thing. The only issue I have is that as the owner you have to work on growing the business. And that means having free time to work on the numbers, advertising, etc. It's not easy with two techs. I don't know how big your shop is. Is there room to grow?

I want to go a little further with this, if it's ok with you. How big is your shop and the other shop that offers free diag? What type of shop is it? Independent? Franchise? Tire store? Other?

This is the best they could come up with?????? Am I the only one who thinks these ads are stupid???? I understand the "run flat" angle, but please give me a break!

Same for us. We have a drug testing policy and inform all employees and new hires that random drug testing will be performed. I have yet to do this but will start. I now have about 14 people working for me and I have had issues this past year with 2 techs that were stopped for DWI. They are both gone now, but we all need to protect ourselves.

First, great point...if you not on the first or last page you will probably not be noticed. And I agree about the bait and switch ads. We have this in my area and I will not go down the road...ever. As far as picking a radio station. We took note of what radio stations our customer’s listened to by seeing what our customers had pre-programmed on the car radios. We also asked customer what they listened to the most. Then I called those radio stations and asked for their demographics reports. You need to match the radio listening audience to your “ideal” customer. For us we are looking for family people or women, home owners, with kids, 2 car families, and 35-60 years old with incomes above 65k. In other words, my audience is not the hip-hop culture or teen culture so I would not want to buy time on those stations. It’s also important to pick a local radio station; if possible, that does a lot for the local community. Once I picked the radio station I focused on drive time traffic reports and weather reports. People tend to listen to the traffic and weather and not switch to another station when an ad comes on. Hope this helps.