JustTheBest

THIS IS DIFFERENT I know, I know. Yet ANOTHER message about the Coronavirus. But this one's different. Let's get to work. Here’s What I know: 1. What's going to happen: Things are going to get weird. Then they will get better. It's a new virus. It's contagious. It gets people really sick. A small percentage of those people die. That sucks. 2. What is "everybody" going to do? People are going to continue to panic and then they'll stop. They're going to panic for two reasons. First, because this is a new virus and it's pretty nasty and that's pretty scary. Second, because of the media ...specifically social media. It's full of anecdotal "reports" ...and light on facts.We humans like to pass on "information" without checking it out. And traditional media (the news) gets paid for viewership ...and nothing drives viewership like FEAR. In my opinion, World Health Organization is probably the best place to get your info about this situation. 3. What this means for Your Repair Shop: The best answer I can give you here is ...IT DEPENDS. The best advice I can give you is actually a quote from one of my long time mentors, Mr. Jim Rohn. Mr. Rohn once said… (this isn’t a direct quote, but you’ll get the gist of it)... “You can not change the direction of the winds. You can change the setting of your sails.” Are you going to spend your time browsing social media, watching the news all day, and talking back and forth with people about this situation? Or are you going to FOCUS on business? I'd suggest you focus on business, avoid crowds, and wash your hands. If you step up and LEAD them, you'll stand out. (And it's good Karma.) Think about it this way. Most of your competition will be following the herd and doing the whole "let's sit around and talk about the corona virus ...while simultaneously browsing social media and reading stuff about the coronavirus...while simultaneously watching the news for updates on the coronavirus thing. That means they're NOT promoting. They're NOT in front of the market. They're NOT in the game. What I'm doing personally: 1. Avoiding large crowds, washing my hands, and keeping my immune system strong. 2. Not paying attention to anyone other than non-biased expert health organizations. That means no social media.No news media. Just the facts. 3, I’ve got new free training being released in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted. If you have any specific questions or need some help right now - it’s 100% totally free to talk to me about your specific problem. Just AskTheCarCountFixer.com Stay safe - Talk soon! Matthew “The Car Count Fixer” P.S.: You could take this FREE TRAINING: How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days. Over 2 hours and 20 minutes of video on demand. P.P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook

I get the issue of the dealer looking for that "fee" from shops. But I think what's being overlooked is what they're doing with their customers. Like, the lesson is ,"do be worried about what I'm doing... LOOK at what I'm doing... AND DO THAT!" If you're not reaching your customers on their phones.. somebody else will... but YOU may not like what they do to your business! Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Can you text your customers? And actually put car count in your shop? Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit!

Dabbling? Don't be worried. Here's a simple, easy and painless way to do this. First, just about every shop owner I talk to tells me that people "typically" don't ask what the shop rate is. If they do, don't be ashamed of your rate. But better than that, get a calendar out (yeah, one you can scribble on) and review your shop rate MONTHLY! I didn't say raise it monthly, but at least review it. If you start keeping track, you'll be surprised of how long it's been since your last price increase. With that said, my clients review every month and typically raise their prices every 2-3 months. I know, sounds crazy, right? But wait. Those increases are small. In some cases, just $2-$4/hour. Then look at your most recent RO's. If you calculated those jobs with that increase, would it have made a difference? I'm going to go out on the limb here and say "NO!". With a typical RO being 2-3 hours of labor, raising it $4-$8 in total wouldn't make a difference. But here's where you win! Calculate the total number of hours you provide a year. That $3-$4 increase really adds up. With one of my clients, I asked him to raise his rates $6/hour. At the end of the year, he made an extra $22,000 and didn't work harder, come in earlier or stay later. Could you use that extra $22,000? Figured you said yes! But the best part... every shop I've worked with... and I mean every one of them... never had a complaint about the increase! And why the calendar? You should be planning/reviewing every month with small incremental changes evert 2-3 months. It really adds up at the end of the year. It's simple math - run your numbers and let me know what you find! Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Your text message program can't do this! P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

Agreed! You're 100% right! But why not use a tool that lets you do that + schedule appointments, get customer reviews posted wherever you want (Google, Yelp, etc) get customer referrals and even send coupons that put car count in your shop. I am crazy busy and don't have the time to write it all out - but I would be happy to get on the phone and explain it all in 10 minutes. Just use the link http://askthecarcountfixer.com/

Hi YYCAutoSpecialist! The best way I can answer your question is by telling you "sort of - but not really". Confusing, I know. I've talked to 100's of shop owners who all tell me they text. Good idea. I know it works. So my question to them is... "How many jobs did THAT text message system put in YOUR SHOP this month?" The answer... (and this has been every time...) is typically a long period of quiet followed by a shy, "none". So that's the difference. I didn't have a chance to go through everything they offer, but what I can tell you is that GO-MO Texting/Marketing is developed & built for shop owners. I could go on and on and bore you with stories of shop owners who sent ONE TEXT and got 8 JOBS BOOK THAT DAY... but I won't waste your time. Want to find out more? You can start with out basic system here: http://bit.ly/start-texting-for-free If you're a seasoned pro, you'll want to shoot me a message here: http://askthecarcountfixer.com/ I'd be more than happy to answer any question you're got! Matthew

Hi GENUINE! Thank you for your response and I will tell you that I’ve read it 3 times just to be sure I didn’t miss anything. In short, I understand your struggles and I’m NOT dismissing anything you’ve said. In my own defence, you may find I don’t ‘beat-around-the-bushes’. I’m pretty direct and don’t typically ‘sugar-coat’ things. If that offends anyone - I apologize in advance. I mean no harm. From what you’ve described, I don’t think you really have the time to sit around the camp fire and have one of those should-a - could-a - would-a - discussions - but that’s entirely up to you. My approach is somewhat different. WIth that said, you may call this rather ‘direct’ and to the point. It may make you uncomfortable to respond to this publicly and I don’t necessarily expect you to. For that reason, I’m following this post up with a direct message to you. To cut to the chase, my first question would be “what was the last time you did any type of advertising campaign?” That could be typical postcards, val-paks, or even a facebook posting. Next, can you share what that offer was? Do you have a copy of the actual ‘whatever-it-was’ you did? Postcard copy? Val-pak? Thirdly, I would be interested in knowing how many contacts (customers) you have on file. Now just before you scream out numbers that are as long as telephone numbers… I’m talking about the number of customers you’ve had IN YOUR SHOP in the last 90-180 days. So you know, I’m asking that for a couple of reasons. On average, 10% of America moves every month. People in your database older than 180 days (6 months) may still be customers - but your information is probably not up to date. So I’ll let you determine what that actual “real customer count” is. Just for clarification, so many times I get on the phone with shop owners and when I ask that question, they tell me they have 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 or even more (like one guy told me he had 18,000 customers on file!) My response - if you have that many customers, what are we doing talking about it? The truth is, they may have that many NAMES, but that’s it. They aren’t customers. I would like to know a couple of other details (again, I’m not expecting you to share them here in public) like your ARO (Average Repair Order) and if you have any specialties or profitable services. So now, here’s my offer. I am prepared to work with you totally free. Yes, I mean that. No ‘send-me-money’ or anything like that. There’s no catch; no tricks; no gimmicks. Well, actually, there IS a catch. Actually 5 of them. 1-YOU have to invest the time - I am thinking about 1-2 hours but that will depend on you. 2- You have to follow my blueprint. In other words, do what I show you to do. Just to confirm, I’m not going to ask you to do anything weird or anything (like dress up in a chicken suit and walk the streets with a sandwich board sign) 3-You have to be prepared to act now - like in the next week or so. (The reason I say that is if it’s important enough to you - you’ll do it. If it’s not, then it’s not that important and that’s fine too - you can debate it for as long as you want to.) 4-I ask that you share your results with me. No, I’m not going to ask you “how much money you made” or anything like that. I’m just interested in numbers like how many RO’s and total value - things like that. 5-I ask that you don’t expect miracles. I’m not THAT good! If the details of "where you are" are what I expect, I’m going to tell you that you’ve got work ahead of you. I’m prepared to start the snow ball rolling - I’m not saying it’s an avalanche, okay? And that’s it. We could talk about it - or we could do it - and since I’m prepared to put my money where my mouth is - I leave it TOTALLY UP TO YOU to decide. See, that wasn’t too hard, was it? Hope this helps! Just let me know because right after I post this - I’m sending you a message on this forum. Matthew “The Car Count Fixer”

Hi GENUINE, I respectfully have to disagree with some of your comments and I'll tell you why. To start, let me tell you that after reading your entire post, you basically said that the "pie in the sky.... philosophy just doesn't always work". Henry Ford said it best. "No matter if you think you can or you can't, You're right!" With respect to customers "in your market" you said... "While in theory it sounds good, there are parts of the country where the theory of "provide a superior service and the good customers will find you" just isn't true. I am in that part of the country." I have two comments. 1) You get what you attract. 2) People are all "wired" the same (we've been that way for 1,000's of years) and I don't think all the people in your market are different. People do respond - if you present the offer correctly, and no, it's not about price. It's about value. I DO agree when you say "All of these things are commodities to them, not luxuries." I get it. Auto service HAS become a commodity to most. Again, that's why it's up to you to demonstrate the VALUE. You also commented "If you're in a niche market that can support superior, excellent service and you can send the price shoppers away - be thankful!!" Again, it's the way those shops sell their services and build the value. Look, I'm not here to start an argument and I'm not trying to "sling mud". I'm only commenting that I've helped hundreds of shop owners dig out of this "way of thinking" and start selling value as opposed to price. Then, they take their happy customers and leverage them for reviews and customer referrals. The good ones bring more of the good ones. (Birds of a feather... - ring a bell?) And seeing that you've been in business as you claim for 31 years, I don't think you would have stayed at it if you were missing a lot of meals, right? Look, I understand that everyone's situation is different but it's not an answer to say that "all your customers are cheap". The answer is about firing the bad ones and attracting the better ones by selling and demonstrating value. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count Fixer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: This may help you outline VALUE offers - ** FREE DOWNLOAD - My Kick-Butt Offers P.P.P.S.: Get GO-MO 2 WAY TEXTING FREE!

I just released this 100% FREE training, but it’s a little different than any other courses, webinar or training you’ve been to. Why? It’s different because... 1) It's less than 15 minutes long 2) I'm not selling anything - in fact, there isn't even an option to use your credit card, even if you wanted to. 3) It will only be available for a short time so you better head over and see it right now! Let me know if you have any questions. Just leave me a comment below, message me on this forum or drop me a text at 716-402-5998. I’ll get back to you quick! Thanks! I’ll see you on the training, okay? Matthew “The Car Count Fixer” P.S.: Forgot to mention, it's not going to be available for long, so grab it now!

dfrisby, Thanks for your input. You may have misunderstood what the 27% was about. That's the average rate of a NEW CUSTOMER returning to you. In fact, I just reviewed a customer list from a new client gasping for car count. Almost 2,000 customer on the list. An overwhelming majority (like 85% or more) had the same start/end date. In other words, first service and last service was the same. If there was some attention to customer retention, he wouldn't be paying me to fix it. Matthew

Joe, I agree with you totally! So many shop owners I speak to forget about the “relationship” and “retention” issues. In fact, in this video, I talked about the 3 things shop owners need to focus on in 2020. But what I feel (and see so many times) is that shop owners ignore are the facts… and the fact is that when you’re dealing with a new customer, you have less than 27% chance of them returning to you for a second visit. And that ONLY happens if they have an excellent customer experience! That 27% change is not very good - yet shop owners still call them “THEIR” customer. You don’t own the customer. In total, most of the car count issues I see would be solved if shop owners focus on RETAINING the customer’s they’ve got - and doing that generates more referrals, more car count and it just keeps snowballing. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Watch Marketing your shop in 2020 P.P.P.: You ONLY have a 27% chance of new customers returning P.P.P.S.: Don't ignore your customer - Start texting customers before this time tomorrow - and it's FREE!

Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I wrote this letter to help auto repair shop owners. There's nothing to buy Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count Fixer"

Thank you for your kind comments. I have to confess here... things have been moving so fast that it's difficult to keep up, but know this. We have some awesome video and help being worked on now so we can explain everything! I promise, you'll love it. Just let me know if you have any questions! Thanks again!, ~Matthew

Texting has never been easier. Instead of telling you about it… will you let me prove it? What if it’s free? Give me 3 minutes and I’ll explain it all. No tricks. No gimmicks. No kidding. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Start texting tomorrow - for FREE! No Kidding! P.P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.P..S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook

You could just say that this is tried, tested & proven. 19 simple words that virtually guarantee car count… in hours! Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

I just released this video about how to get more customers for your shop in 2020. Let’s face it - the market is changing. On this video, I reveal the 3 Most Important Strategies we’re focusing on for 2020. You can watch it here. But wait... there's more! 😉 But here’s what happened. I had conversations with shop owners after releasing that video. After talking to them, they told that what I didn’t say was really more important than what I did say! So I decided I would reveal that - but only to serious shop owners. All you need to do is text the work “hello” to 716-402-5998. That will get you an invitation to Car Count Hackers Elite - I share shot bits of information with serious shop owners who want to earn the money you know you deserve. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: How to Get More Customers for Your Repair Shop - 2020 P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days" Could you use an extra $9,780.39 in Bottom Line Profits!

Hello and Welcome! Thanks for taking the time to check this out. Obviously the auto service market is changing. More competition; Price shoppers; Worse than that, where do you start promoting if you want to grow your car count? Good news! There’s really only 3 areas  you need to focus on. Instead of writing it all out and asking you to read it - I created this video - it’s a little over 5 minutes, but it’ll be 5 minutes well worth it. Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be pleased to respond! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

Hi CAR_AutoReports! Exactly! But it doesn't stop with just getting them in the door. I can't believe how many shops I see drop the ball on this. On average, a shop has LESS THAN a 27% chance of that new customer returning for another visit - and nobody does anything to inspire that to happen! But when it comes to price matching... or customers calling to "ask how much something is"... aka Price Shoppers... you said.... Bingo! Auto repair is a COMMODITY and nothing more! At least, the way the consumer sees it - and that's because shops don't take the time to invest in their brand and "STAND OUT". Typically, shop owners hind behind their website! They use a bunch of stock images that are "stolen" from sites online - but people want to do business with PEOPLE - not names and businesses! What about a simple stupid thank you card! No, not one that looks like a billboard - I'm talking about a cheap thank you cand that's mailed to the customer! (Can't tell you how many shop owners have told me about the surprise their customers got - from a stupid, simple thank you card! I know a shop owner who basically locks himself in his office and let's the service advisor handle customers - even when they ASK ABOUT HIM! Auto service is considered a commodity because of how shop owners refuse to invest in their own brand - don't entice customers to come back - and then just call them cheap, price shoppers. Ha! Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days" Find out How one shop owner banked $9,780.39 in Bottom Line Profits!

Hi newport5! I understand your position. In all honesty, I typically didn’t have to do a “line-by-line” comparison because most of the time, I initiated it with the customer. I know, sounds crazy - but like I said, I was real heavy in A/C service. Most shops would ONLY quote on the compressor - so my offer was that I would NOT be undersold - for the same job. In addition to that, if there was a question, the customer would end up back at MY SHOP. Again, it was a little different than what you’re explaining. But with all due respect, I’m going to tell you that YOU probably price shop - and you may not even realize it. Do you shop at Walmart? Target? Costco? Well, I am willing to bet that you could get most of your purchases from ANY ONE OF THOSE - instead of going shopping to each one. It’s pretty much the same thing! And besides, if the car owner didn’t consider auto repair as a COMMODITY, then they wouldn’t do it. So when they price shop - they’re really telling you that your shop offers the same service as any other one. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: How one shop owner BANKED $9,780.39 in Bottom Line Profits! Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

HI Joe! Thanks for the response and point. I think the most important matter you brought up was .... You're 100% bang on. I never sold tires because there wasn't any money in them, so I can't speak to those matters but you're right. Tires aren't the complete job. Mount, balance, alignment, etc. is what the customer isn't thinking about. The most "mysterious" a system is... like A/C or Check Engine diagnosis - the more complicated it gets the more "ABC Auto Shops" mess with the price to get the job, regardless if they fix it or not! But with all that said, I think you said it best when you said "I sell relationships and trust". If all the other shops did that - I'd be out of work, so let's just keep this between us, okay! Thanks again! Matthew

Hi Joe! I understand what you're saying - but I respectfully disagree in one way. First of all, I know tires are NOT a profit center. Additionally, you're correct about the discount tire suppliers online. Nobody in a repair shop with real world overhead could compete. But the issues I ran into with my shop was that I often offered a 100% price match guarantee - for the same job. Let me explain. I did a lot (and I mean a lot) of A/C repairs. I even had local retailers that would just send the car to us because "adding a little refrigerant" didn't work. When doing a quote for a repair - typically a large repair like compressor replacement - ($6-7-$800 or more!) I would always tell my customer that I wouldn't just MATCH a competitive price - but I would BEAT IT TOO! - But only on the identical job. Here's the rub. When doing compressor replacement, most shops don't (and won't) bother to do all the steps. No high side flush - no expansion valve or orifice tube replacement - no drier replacement - or any of the other supporting services. They would slam a compressor on the car and then hope for the best. In other words, if you want the job done right, there wasn't anyone who would beat me for the SAME JOB. After all, we did 8-10 big a/c repair jobs a day! We had a system that worked. So with respect to tires, I get it. You can't compete with the online retailers - and I wouldn't ever suggest that a shop does. But when it comes to other work, you have to be able to communicate to your customer that you WILL match the price - FOR THE SAME JOB! When you dig into it, you can quickly see where other shops cut corners. In fact, a shop could even make this part of their USP (Unique Selling Proposition) where they "Won't be beat!". That's beyond the scope of what we're talking about here - but it can work. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! How to get $9,780.39 in Bottom Line Profits! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

Hi! This week, I had a chance to review recent results with a private client (aka Car Count Hacker . You may find this surprising, specially when you find out the size of the shop. I detail it all in this video. You can see the entire video here. I welcome your comments or questions. I welcome your comments or questions. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

I agree with your information. QR codes work really well, regardless if you're directing people to a specific landing page (web page), phone number or just about any other "link". The only problem is that QR codes never really took off (at least throughout North America). I've read & reviewed countless studies showing how well they actually DO work. One was an entire grocery store created for commuters on a subway system. People could simply scan the codes, enter amounts, details, etc. and pick up their groceries at their stop. Perfect! But every time I've seen QR codes uses - most people don't scan them (or can't scan them) on their phones. I agree with the concept - and it was actually developed for the automotive (manufacturing) sector, but have never seen a lot of benefits from using them. Do you have actual case studies? Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

USA Today article (Friday September 27, 2019 by Nathan Borney - USA Today) shows that “the average age of cars and light trucks on U.S. roads reached an all time high of 11.8 years in 2018.” The article goes on to claim... “By 2023, there will be about 84 million vehicles on the road that are at least 16 years old, reflecting a 240% increase from 35 million in 2002, according to IHS.” Are you getting your share? There’s only 90 days left in 2019 and the market is changing. Sorry, it HAS changed. Are you ready? Do you have your plans laid out for marketing your shop in 2020? Auto Service Marketing - Fix Your Car Count FAST! Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count FIxer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"

My experience, no matter what type of shop - is that getting (and keeping) techs is a challenge. Not saying it can't be done, but yes, it can be a challenge. In addition, having following this topic from the start, I feel that there is a continued "which way should I go?" - General? Import? Specialize? These are all difficult questions to answer and most of it depends on your expectations and experience. I find the franchise details posted above to be fascinating. I firmly believe that most of it is because people are looking for the "easy button". No matter what franchise you get involved in - regardless of industry - there is a lot of work to be done! Yes, the so called "formula" will work - but applying it and doing it day in and day out is what matters. Walking in the door and thinking it's all going to just fall in place is the dream - and you know what happens with dreams! I think the biggest questions, regardless of what type of shop, revolve around understanding the competition and what YOUR SHOP can do different that will attract customers from those established shops. I felt so strongly about this - I made a video. Hope this helps! Matthew "The Car Count Fixer" P.S.: Join me on YouTube at Car Count Hackers! FREE Help to grow your Car Count, Income and Profit! P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook P.P.P.S.: Have you registered in my FREE Training? "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days"