Joe Marconi

Be Careful of Who’s Greeting Your Customers? Have you ever walked into a store, restaurant or other establishment and the person greeting you treated you as an inconvenience, rather than a valued customer? Sure you have. Well, who’s greeting your customers? More importantly; how are your customers being treated whether on the phone or in person? The people you have greeting your customers and on the phone represent you and your business. Sales can suffer with the wrong people taking care of your customers. This is especially true for first time customers. Every point of contact; from scheduling an appointment, to write up, to car delivery, are critical steps in the customer experience. These customer touch points can be either have a positive or negative emotional experience. Negative experiences will hurt customer retention; positive experiences will help grow your business. The best repairs, using the best tools and parts, done by the best tech means nothing when the customer is treated poorly. If you want to improve the customer experience, which will help increase sales, then take a long hard look at how the customer is being treated, in person and on the phone. Make sure that every point of contact with the customer triggers a positive emotional experience for the customer. So, your greeting your customers?

Welcome to the site! And good luck. Do you have any specific question with regard to part pricing?

This sounds like a great idea. Please keep us updated, I am sure we will want to know how the Car Care event turned out and any tips you can share with us.

The True Cost of Comebacks Comebacks are a hot topic today, particularly with the frustration over poor quality parts. You need to track all comebacks, determine the reason (Tech error, part error, training issue, other) and then calculate the true cost of the comeback. Here are a few things to consider: - The loss of time when performing the comeback; time that the tech can performing other work and generating profit - The misc costs, such as overhead costs, supplies, cleaners, etc - Towing costs, rental, etc - Cost to morale - Reputation damage - Reduction to your profit margin For every part issue, you need to inform your supplier, whether it's NAPA, CARQUEST, Advance Auto, O'Reilly's, or any other. Sit down with suppliers on a regular basis. Dont return defective parts until you have listed the parts and maintain a report. Document everything. Part issues are increasing. Every shop owner I speak to is frustrated over this. Remember, comebacks kill your bottom line, the more comebacks you have, the more its killing your profits.

First, best of luck to you! One thing to consider, the best techs already have jobs. So you need to create an atmosphere and culture that attract people to you. I would spread the word in your local area about who you are. Pass your cards out everywhere. Promote everywhere. Go to seminars, get to know who the best techs are and ask them if they know of anyone who is looking to make a move. Speak to all the tool vendors, part suppliers, trainers, etc. The more you promote your name, the better. Good luck.

I have compared my prices in my area, and found that I high on some and low on others. Please be careful and not to judge your business and prices by other shops. Shops may differ due to the level of service, clientele, type of vehicles worked on and other demographics. A local dealership did a comparative price study and lowered their prices to compete; it killed them. Price is not everything, be competitive, but also be profitable.

Yelp is being sued again for questionable reviews. The Federal Trade Commission has received more than 2,046 complaints filed about Yelp from 2008 through March 4, according to data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, following a Freedom of Information Act request. Here's a link to a recent Wall Street Journal article. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303847804579477633444768964

April is national car care month and if you are looking for a way to promote your business this spring, consider getting involved. Promoting the need for car maintenance will help promote your shop, and the industry. You can get involved on many different levels: holding car care events to inspect cars, to simply performing car care inspections. For more information, here's a link: http://www.carcare.org/car-care-month/?gclid=CMXcpvTp3b0CFYqIfgodmToAQw

Gonzo, I think as an industry, we are very lucky to have so many passionate people. I wonder what would happen if we did not. Your passion shines through, as in all ASO members. We need to be thankful for that. I also agree that on average, mechanics do not get paid what they are worth. And we need to be careful as we move forward. We need talented people, now and into the future. The most talented have goals and aspirations. Passion will drive them to us, but we need to take care of them. Sadly, many shop owners are not making what they should either, for so many reasons. Great article on a great subject!

There is a lot to said about increasing labor rates, in general. With the high costs of doing business these days, having a healthy labor margin is key. A few comments on this concept. Every shop needs to do the math and understand their Costs of Doing Business. And that does not mean just reaching breakeven, but rather how much above breakeven a shop needs to make. Once that is known, I am not opposed to making sure my profit margins are attained by lowering the margins on parts and increasing labor. The only concern I have is the emphasis we put on part pricing. Question, are we as an industry putting too much focus on price? Here's my other concern; Many shops fear raising labor rates, saying they will lose customers. This fear brings down the profits of the entire industry. We need to promote value, and value is more than a good price. Great post, by the way!

I agree with you Gonzo. The sad part is that we will see more and more if this in the future. Web sites businesses as Repair Pal will increase. My fear, and it should be everyone's fear...It will dilute what we do, lump us all into the same catagory of "all the same auto repair", and put a focus on price, not value.

You bring up some very interesting points. Question, overall, are shops in Canada finidng it hard to remain profitable? It seems that margins on labor and parts has shrunk, while expenses have increased. Your thoughts?

Yes, I agree. We need to sell more maintenance services. In addition, when someone comes in for an Oil Change and a laundry list of other issues, we need to be very careful not to include valuable diag time in a routine LOF. For example, a customers states that he is feeling a vibration on acceleration or as an oil leak. We charge separately for these concerns. I think this is an area where shops can improve on, in addition to selling Maintenance services, not just LOFs

More and more shops are considering calling customers in addition to sending reminders. Think about, you dentist does it, your doctor, hair salons do it, the eye doctor. It's proven that when someone is called in addition to a reminder, it increases the return rate.

My wife and I went to Mall yesterday to buy a gift for my grandson. We passed the men's belts and noticed a sales offer; 30% off all Belts. I stopped to look, and my wife said, "Don't you need a new belt?" So, I picked a $40 belt that was marked down 30%, which brought the belt down to $28. My wife pulls out a $20 coupon, which brought the price down to 8 bucks! What is the real price on the belt?....what is the cost price to the store on the belt? Makes you think, right? I struggle with 10% discounts on AAA customers. Is price all smoke and mirrors, when it comes to retail?

Wow, that is amazing!

This goes on all the time. Take it as a lesson that everything needs to be documented and payment must be paid in full before the car is released. Speak to your accountant about uncollectible debt. It's a shame, but there are people like this out there.

Back in the early 80s when I started, an oil change was priced about the same price is it now at many repair shops. This is a controversy that is debated with many different opinions. We did not care back then about oil changes, we were making too much money on broken cars. Plus, you did not have the competition you do now. Truth is, cars don't breakdown like they used and everyone now is a Total Car Care Center: Just look at Transmission shops, Midas, Tire Centers, and even Body shops now do services and repairs. Oil changes are still the one service that drives your customers back to you. So however you look at oil changes, with regard to price and profit, I don't think we can survive with them.

Great story Gonzo. True to form of who we are and what drives us.

How to capitalize on the tough winter Spring is here… well technically it is. There will be a lot of winter related work and we need to capitalize on this. Take care of your customers. Make sure you inspect every car. Don’t get tunnel vision and just focus on the immediate concern. Remember the concept of total car care. This strategy will benefit the customer by identifying key services and repair issues, saving the customer in the long run. It’s all about taking care of your customers. And the added benefit? What it will add to your bottom line.

I may have been the boss but for the first 10 to 15 years in business, but I spent most of my time in the shop. This was a time when we did not have office staff, a service advisor, clean up crew or a foreman. The duties of those positions were carried out by yours truly. I would spend of my day running around, working on cars, greeting customers, did the banking, cleaning bathrooms, doing repairs on the equipment, selling work, all the bookkeeping, on and on and on; Until I reached the breaking point. Fast forward some 15 years later, and I now run the business, and all the positions that were once my responsibilities are now in the hands of selected employees. We have grown because of this, but sadly, there is a disconnect. I feel I am no longer Joe the boss/mechanic/one of the guys. I am the just the boss. It may be my perception, but perception is reality, so they say. Coping with this is hard. I got into this business because I love the cars. I still do. I love this business. When I speak to my people, it’s The Boss speaking, not Joe. Is this a common situation, and if it is, how to you cope? Or is it really a problem?

Mitchell/Shop Key will have a workshop May 1-3 in Altantic City NJ. If you use Mitchell or Shop Key, this is a worthwhile workshop. The tips and information you will learn will help you with your day to day operations. For more information and to register, click below: http://www.buymitchell1.net/form/m1usersinfo.htm

Are there shop owners make it mandatory that their techs attend training each year? if so, what type of training and how much? Also, how many shop owners pay for the training and also how many pay the tech's time if the training is after work hours. One more thing, what about other staff member training; Service advisors, etc? There appears to be vast differences between shops with regard to training, available training and how much training.

If the customer correctly guesses at what's wrong with his/her it's nothing more than that, a guess. And again, respect and attitude trumps everything.