“You Cannot Run a Business From the Underhood of a Car.” [FTR 097]
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By Joe Marconi in Joe's Blog0 commentsIt always amazes me when I hear about a technician who quits one repair shop to go work at another shop for less money. I know you have heard of this too, and you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can this be true? And Why?” The answer rests within the culture of the company. More specifically, the boss, manager, or a toxic work environment literally pushed the technician out the door.
While money and benefits tend to attract people to a company, it won’t keep them there. When a technician begins to look over the fence for greener grass, that is usually a sign that something is wrong within the workplace. It also means that his or her heart is probably already gone. If the issue is not resolved, no amount of money will keep that technician for the long term. The heart is always the first to leave. The last thing that leaves is the technician’s toolbox.
Shop owners: Focus more on employee retention than acquisition. This is not to say that you should not be constantly recruiting. You should. What it does means is that once you hire someone, your job isn’t over, that’s when it begins. Get to know your technicians. Build strong relationships. Have frequent one-on-ones. Engage in meaningful conversation. Find what truly motivates your technicians. You may be surprised that while money is a motivator, it’s usually not the prime motivator.
One last thing; the cost of technician turnover can be financially devastating. It also affects shop morale. Do all you can to create a workplace where technicians feel they are respected, recognized, and know that their work contributes to the overall success of the company. This will lead to improved morale and team spirit. Remember, when you see a technician’s toolbox rolling out of the bay on its way to another shop, the heart was most likely gone long before that.
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By bantar
I attended my first ever industry management conference. What a great experience. If you've never gone, I would encourage you to add it to your do-now bucket list. There was a lot of open and detailed sharing. For example, in a work session talking about bay efficiency analysis, they used real numbers from the audience. Monthly Overhead, Gross Profit Percentage, desired bottom line profit. It showed multiple paths to success that were immediately relatable.
None of the presentations were about perfection. As a matter of fact, most presenters shared information about how they did things stating that this may or may not apply to your situation. No one told you what to do, but rather offer tools for analyzing your own situation. None of the presenters were making sales pitches.
In other sessions, real shop owners share tips and techniques on a number of topics that we see here. Being a live event, these were more dynamic conversations.
I've returned from the conference with a renewed sense of urgency analyzing my numbers to see where we had success and where we need to improve. I do expect to make real changes, but don't yet know exactly what changes I'm going to make. Got to crunch some numbers first.
I signed up for the conference when it was first published, but sat on the CC screen for a while debating the value of this conference. Should I go, or should I stay? I reluctantly pushed the GO button. However, looking back, I should have enthusiastically smashed that GO button!
The next one is in Denver. I recommend that you consider attending.
A side benefit is that I got to meet Joe Marconi and in a session that we jointly attended, I overheard Joe say that he was mentored by Jerry Holcom. Later in the conference, I had the pleasure of talking with Jerry as well. In the many networking sessions, we met many different shop owners and had great conversations.
--brian
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