By Bob Cooper of Elite
If there is one thing our industry has done since the very beginning, it’s put technicians into the role of service advisors. The rationale is that they have a good understanding of automobiles, which will enable them to be competent advisors. Unfortunately, that’s the furthest from the truth. Although an in-depth understanding of automobiles can be an asset, there are a number of other things you should consider before offering a service advisor position to one of yo
By Bob Cooper
From the time your advisors first pick up the phone, all the way through your service recommendations, there is one thing that is happening over and over again: The sales process. Putting first things first, every new customer needs to be sold on your shop. They then need to be sold that they made the right decision in calling your shop, have confidence that whatever problems they may have will be solved, believe that your advisor is someone that has their best interest at hea
There is an expression that has been around our industry for decades that says if you run a good, ethical business, the one thing you should never do is “steal” employees. If you agree with that philosophy, this is one article you may want to read.
First of all, in order for any of us to steal employees, by definition those employees would need to belong to someone else. Slavery was abolished in America in 1865. None of us “own” other people, and I am sure if you asked any of the employees wh
When your techs come to you to tell you they’re stumped, and you give them a recommendation, you’ll lose regardless of the outcome. If you solve the problem, you’ve sent a message to the tech that you’re more knowledgeable than they are, which is not going to build their confidence. But then it gets worse; you’ve also taught them to come to you when they're up against a wall. This is a lose-lose situation, in that if your recommendation doesn’t solve the problem, the tech will come back to you l
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1. Invest in your most valuable asset: The people who work with you.
You will need to embrace the fact that every one of your employees undergoes constant training, regardless of whether or not you provide it. Every time a technician diagnoses a vehicle or performs a repair, there is some form of learning taking place. The same is true with your advisors, as they are constantly learning through their exchanges with your customers. Ironically, while many shop owners believe they are saving
If you are in business long enough the time will come when you’ll need to let someone go, so my goal with this article is to help you through the process.
The most common reason shop owners are reluctant to fire someone is they feel the employee is either irreplaceable, or it will take a long time to find the right replacement. First of all, everyone is replaceable, and as I have often said to clients, the graveyards are filled with irreplaceable people. With regards to the concern that it
By Bob Cooper
There is no easy answer to this question, but here at Elite we can give you some points that you need to consider. We realize that you are paying rent, insurance, etc. on a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year basis, so many will argue that you should be open on Saturdays since you’re already incurring many of the fixed expenses. Some will also argue that if you are closed on Saturdays, then stranded customers, or those who can’t make it in during the week, will wind up at your co
By Bob Cooper
Regardless of whether you have one or twenty employees, your productivity and profits will both go up if all your employees work together as a team. If you feel that’s not the case in your shop, or if you would like to ensure that you are covering all the bases, I hope that this checklist can help.
Hire the right people
At Elite we look for people that have the right attitude, the right aptitude and the right ethics. I am sure you will agree that in order to cult
It's been a while since I made a blog entry so I've decided that I am going to start to add entries around using AutoShopOwner and things that may be of interest. For this entry, I'd like to showcase our Activity tab in the main menu and try to describe how you can use it and some of our other views to bring up the content that you want to see vs viewing everything. Today we have a few ways of seeings what's new from your last visit and content in general.
UNREAD CONTENT
You can
By Bob Cooper
If you what to sell more service, drive up employee morale and productivity, and see higher profits, then this is one article you may want to read. I realize that I just made a pretty substantial claim, but I sense that by the time you finish this article, you will agree...
Rudi Rudloff, who is now an Elite Coach, approached me a number of years ago when he was one of our coaching clients here in San Diego. He said that since his shop was only open Monday through Friday,
By Bob Cooper
Over the years I have had the pleasure of watching hundreds of shop owners go to the top, and truly become industry leaders. I have also seen thousands of shop owners that struggle from day to day until they finally either try to find someone that is willing to take over their business at any price, or they simply close their doors and walk away. There are many reasons why shops fail, including lack of business skills and the unwillingness to reach out for help before it’s too
By Bob Cooper
The top shop owners in America have a number of things in common. They were the first to embrace the incredible value in utilizing exchange rebuilt components, rather than trying to repair all the components themselves. They were also the first to provide their customers with extended warranties on their repairs, and they geared up for selling maintenance service while all of their competitors were still living in the world of repair. You may call them forward thinkers, but on
Most shop owners have learned a lot from their mentors, including the importance of listening to their customers, fixing cars right the first time, and never putting money ahead of people. Unfortunately, in far too many cases their mentors pass on some information that actually shouldn’t be followed. The most common example, which we see on a daily basis at Elite, is misinformation on how a shop owner should properly advertise. I am not suggesting that their mentors didn’t have good intentions w
If you want to build a successful auto repair business, you will need to strongly consider the length of the warranties you offer.
First of all, you need to know your failure rate. The top shops in America have extremely low failure rates in both parts and labor. I’ve also discovered that the overwhelming majority of those failures occur within the first 90 days of service, so regardless of whether your warranties are for 90 days or for years on end, you’re going to absorb all but a few of
When you start to see a pattern in behavioral issues; such as a tech, manager or service advisor coming in late, here are the things you need to consider: 1) If you don't nip it in the bud it will get worse. 2) Employees need to be responsible for their own behavior. 3) Your employees need to know why you have specific policies in place. So the next time an employee starts to develop a pattern of bad behavior, such as coming in late, call them into a private environment and ask them why they wer
By Bob Cooper
Over the years I have met hundreds, if not thousands, of shop owners who are suffering from burnout. They either tell me they have it, or it clearly shows in their behavior. Ironically, dealing with burnout is no different than fixing cars, in that in order to accurately solve the problem, we have to first identify the cause.
So, let’s start by taking a good look at the cause of burnout. The reason most shop owners have burnout is because they spend most of their day doi
By Bob Cooper of Elite
As business owners, our best teachers will always be our employees and our customers. They understand many components of our businesses, and in most cases, they really do care about our success. Learning from our employees is relatively simple. All that we need to do is pay attention to their passing comments, and engage them during our employee meetings and reviews. What I would like to do with this article is provide you with a step-by-step guide that will help you
By Bob Cooper
As we all know, the use of illegal drugs has been around for many years. From the early part of the last century, all the way through the mid-seventies, the only illegal drug that was worthy of discussion among shop owners was marijuana. During those times, even cases of marijuana use were few and far between. It was during the early eighties when our nation (and our industry) began to see a number of other drugs emerge, which resulted in many shop owners deciding to implem
BY Bob Cooper
Far too many shop owners don’t measure Customer Satisfaction in their auto repair shops. It’s not that they’re not interested in the results, it’s just that they’re not exactly sure how to do it. Unfortunately, the price they pay for not measuring their customer satisfaction is often staggering. To complicate things even further, the Gallup Association released a report which stated that most of the ways used to measure CSI are beyond bad; they’re actually worthless.
As a
By Bob Cooper
If you want to increase your shop's sales and customer satisfaction, these 5 service writer training tips are the most important for you to consider...
#1. In order for people to buy from your service writers, three things need to occur: they need to like your service writers, trust them, and view them as credible experts. Accordingly, the first thing your service writers need to sell to your customers on is themselves. Not your shop, or any repair. The best way to accomp
Over the years our industry has seen many changes. For example, beyond the changes in styling and efficiencies, today’s vehicles are better built, they last longer, and they require less frequent servicing than they have in the past. But there is one emerging trend that will have a far greater impact on our industry than all the other changes combined. Consider this…
Electric cars are not new. As a matter of fact, they date back to the mid-nineteenth century. Yet if you step back and look
By Bob Cooper
1. When first-time customers approach your facility they’ll typically be anxious, so anything you can do to reduce their anxiety will help them be more receptive to your recommendations. On your entry doors, or in a prominent location they’ll easily see, you should have clear indications of your professional affiliations, and any financing options you offer.
2. Inside the customer waiting area, rather than having cluttered walls and giving your customers sensory overloa
