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Focusing too much on specials?

MattW

By MattW
in General Automotive Discussion

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MattW

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So I've been running my shop for a little over a year now, taking in whoever I could at whatever rate I could, regardless of profit margins. Recently I've started becoming more selective and strict on my markups and margins, and lo and behold I think I get more business now than I did catering strictly to the customer's wallet.

 

So now that I'm more set on my prices and have a matrix setup for parts markup, I figured I set up some generic specials on oil changes and things of that nature. I read someone's idea on here about advertising factory scheduled maintenance instead of just oil changes, and I thought that was a really good idea, so if it's okay with Junior I'd like to run with that idea in my shop. :)

 

Now on to the problem. I think I'm taking these flat cost services too far. I have one set up for standard service/oil change (4qt/5qt, conventional/high mileage/synthetic) and I have a flat cost for EGR delete kits on a couple of the newer diesels. But wait, I can set up one for CV Axles too! And everyone has a brake special! Maybe a set price for timing belts on most 4-cylinders! Oh wait, transmission services too! See where I'm heading with this? At what point do you differentiate between a flat cost service and quoting on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis?

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