mspecperformance

Question for you guys. I've some customers recently with older vehicle (1980's 3 series e30 chassis if you are familiar) and have been a real pain in my ass. The car is old but the market for these cars are still decent. I have a lot of clients that own them and will put a few thousand in repairs without thinking about it. I've had 2 customers recently that have been a real pain in my ass. You present them with a few hundred dollar ticket and they go ballistic. Remember these cars are old and there are tons of problems on older vehicles. Most recent customer is a forum guy and is scrutinizing any estimate for any work he needs. I would love to get rid of him but he had an overheatin issue. We fixed a leaking heater core for him but come to find out his cluster is shorting out his electric fans and his thermostat appears to be stuck closed. What do you guys normally do in these situations, I'd like to just send him down the river.

Hey guys, wondering if anyone out there has a good spreadsheet for their service advisers for phone call lead capturing. I was looking into building one but I am not the best with spreadsheets so if anyone has a pre made one I can get ideas from that would be great.

Just to stir the pot. I am seeing a lot of "The customer does not no what he needs till I tell him what he needs." Well guess what? Some of these people do know what they want.

 

Some are looking for a better price than the dealership that just did a diag. Yes I know, They may have mis-diagnosed the problem. But it is hard to convince a customer that the dealer is wrong and they need to pay for another diagnosis.

 

Some have the ability but no longer have the means to do their own work. Divorced, sold tools, live in an apartment, career change What ever the case may be.

 

So you are on your weekend get away. 500 miles from home you lose a water pump. Bearings shot, coolant coming out the seal it's obvious. How are you going to feel when you start calling locals and can not get a price till they see it?

 

It was said earlier "a case by case basis" Every phone call is a potential customer. Why would you want to discard that customer. The price only customers weed their selves out.

Good point. I would counter that though by saying why would you change your policy for a very small percentage of price shoppers calling you? If you are finding success in selling the value of your shop and a visit to your shop before price is discussed then why would you go and change what you have been doing? You might start seeing adverse effects from this. The customers you would normally convert from price shopper to value shopper will stay price shoppers with your quote in their hand comparing it to the other shops.

I have learned the hard way trying to run my business for the minority instead of the majority.

We went through this last year. After a detailed assement we discoverd that he was not mature enough. When folks are handing over thousands of dollars we need to get it right. Elite has really helped us turn our business around. I have one advisor who has been through some great Elite training. He's way better than me on the front.

Hey Alan, nice to hear Elite is working for you. I remember you had mentioned about an service advisor that you were contemplating on sending to the masters course. How did that pan out? I am sending my guy in September.

I have tried to do this several times. Both times I have tried the people in charge of this process decide they don't want to do it. Of course, we are so short handed it isn't something that I push all that hard. I need to get it implemented. I have wondered if we would get better response or feedback if it was done by someone else?

The follow up should always be done by your staff and preferably aways done by the service advisor who was taking care of them IMO

Hey stow,

I usually agree with most of what you type, we seem to think a lot alike. However, you've said it multiple times, " come in for a free inspection".

Why do you do free inspections? I charge to look at pretty much anything. Granted there are times I'll check something out, but if a customer calls saying they need an alternator, I'm going to charge a nominal fee to look at.

That $1200 load tester I have and 20 years experience costs money. It seems to weed out a lot of those " price shoppers " right out. It's rare I have those black holes darkening my doorway.

If someone calls asking for the price of an oil change, yes I'll say it's anywhere from $50-120 and give the speech that it's a full service. It's become very rare that people price shop us. Our reputation is so solid that when we tell someone that it will be $120 to check out the dead battery no start, they say no problem, I've heard you guys are great and trustworthy.

That's where I think you need to focus on. Not worrying about converting the price shoppers, but making it so that you have such a great rep, that people just want to make an appointment.

Great reputations take time to foster. For a lot of shops converted price shoppers into valued shoppers is what is needed to grow. Not everyone is blessed with a decade long established reputation.

Andre on this forum has gone through their program with good success i think. My personal experience with their company was horrendous. I wouldnt personally recommend them to anyone.

The time is worked out with you and your coach. I talk to my coach after hours however at times i talk to him during the day. Part of what you may want to work on is spending more time being a shop owner and working ON the business opposed to work IN the business. Its a tough hump to get over i know!

"One of the simpleset, most powerful ways we accomplish this is by injecting the following into the conversation: "Mr. Smith, I understand why you're calling, and believe me...no one knows better how costly some repairs can be than we do, but I can tell you what the single most expensive part is that you'll EVER put on your car, and I'll always be correct. Since he apparently wants to talk about prices, I inform him that the most expensive part you'll ever put on your car is the part that you absolutely don't NEED."

 

That's awesome! I'm pretty sure I'm going to be using that line. Thanks

 

I'm OK with quoting menu type services over the phone, although that rarely works out well.

Customers don't know what they don't know. Some can be educated, some don't care to be educated. I'm going to try to help those that want to be helped.

Although I don't like to price out commodity repairs, it is the nature of the beast. It is one thing to not quote out a water pump due to many factors making the right repair possibly not the water pump however I am not trying to put off people when it comes to giving a price quote for an oil change or an AC charge... Some people out there are vindictive enough to bad mouth you over something as trivial as not giving a price for an oil change.

Also +1 to stow on that line, I like it a lot as well and will try it out!

Good point stow, my thoughts exactly. I was just wondering what kind of responses you were getting.

If you are a shop with highly competitive prices (and when I mean "competitive" I mean its going to be hard for a price shopper to find a lower price) then by all means give a price over the phone.

If you are a shop that sells value and benefits with your service then the only way for you to effectively get that across is to show the customer. Over the phone and with a price every shop looks the same. There is no way for you to win that battle. You win by having them visit you and your facility and give them an amazing experience where price is the last thing on their mind. At that point you have sold them on your shop and your people and not on a price.

Also lets keep in mind if you are dealing with a true "price shopper" then your goal is to get rid of them as fast as possible and let that customer be someone else's problem. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between someone who is looking for only a price rather than a person who doesn't know what to ask or has been "inceptioned" by a friend/colleague/family/neighbor/other shop.

Stow, since you saw more engagement with your test method, what was the actual feedback that you got? We're people just too busy? We're they not happy but didn't want to hurt your feelings? Did they hate you? Do they not like picking up phone calls?

Commodity items such as oil changes i give prices for. If a price shopper is going to cross me out because I have a slightly more expensive oil change then GOOD RIDDANCE! you bet your butt I educate every person who calls up the chance to see our value though.

"Just to inform you sir/ma'am we perform oil changes a little bit differently here. We perform what we call and Oil Service. This includes fully synthetic Liquid Moly oil which is made in Germany and carries all of the Factory recommended certifications so you know this is the oil you need in your vehicle. Secondly one of our professional certified German Car technicians will perform a courtesy digital inspection on your vehicle. Any recommendations we have for you will be presented on a report complete with pictures and explanation on anything we see that might be in need of attention. You get all of this for $119.97. I'd be happy to book you for the next most convenient appointment."

If we reel that off and they still want to price shop, GOOD LUCK!!

For everything else we avoid giving prices like the plague. You cannot possibly make a buying decision on service from a price. What I tell my service advisor is you have to have the mentality that we are the absolute best place for their car needs. The only way to help customers to understand that is to get them through our doors.

Check out elite as well

http://www.eliteworldwide.com/automotive-service-advisor-training.html

Any idea on the cost. I am looking to send my service writer to training. I ha e to ask how much do these companies pay the employees. I see a lot of these companies employ previous shop owners. If your so good at running a shop and raking in money why would you give it up to be a teacher?

I can completely understand your skepticism. Most of these coaches are retired shop owners that for the most part do their own thing. What I can gather they are coaches because it's a flexible schedule and they genuinely enjoy helping folks out. For instance I'm currently a coaching client with elite and my coach is still a operator. He had 3 shops all making great money but he spends the time with me because he gets fulfillment from coaching. The money that I pay to the program is really a drop in the bucket to my coach I'm sure. I have also met a lot of the other elite coaches at a live training event and I can honestly say no one would put that much effort for the measly couple hundred bucks they might be getting a month to be a coach. With that being said I'm sure it's similar for RLO's independently contracted coaches.

set a time at the end of the day where everyone cleans up OR before a tech can close out a job they must clean their work area as the final step. BTW none of these have worked for me I am just throwing suggestions out there that I've heard lollll

The tracking numbers have been really helpful in seeing where people opt in from. All that information gets graphed and pie charted on my Kukui dashboard. For instance where it has helped me track my marketing efforts is that I have seen a steady increase in Yelp opt in phone calls. I have also seen Organic SEO and Adwords give me a nice share of new leads. I had also added another tracking number to Facebook. I have seen a low return but probably a larger return than most from facebook from what i have seen. Certainly not enough to invest into facebook ads as I have tried a few campaigns with small results if any.

In regards to what happens if you cancel your service with Kukui and what happens with the tracking numbers? I am not sure.

also I haven't had a problem with website load speeds for years. Everywhere you go cell data speeds are very high as well as wifi is available in many places. I don't think how fast a website is relevant unless it has an effect on SEO.

In the next few years I will be looking to purchase a building for my shop however for the money I will be investing into that I could probably have 2-4 locations if I lived in a different area around the country.

Great post stow.

It really goes back to perception. If we are charging enough for our parts and labor then we as an industry should be able to offer long warranties to our customers without blinking. I think more time should be focused on what margins do you need to remain profitable, what kind of value you can give to the customer and how to keep getting more of these customers. If you are charging the right amount as stow has stated, you should be charging enough to cover your end if problems arise.

What also gets lost in the mix is the value of the customer to your business. Sometimes we are so quick to deny claims or push off responsibility to someone else such as our suppliers, the customer, the roads, etc etc. When in fact again if you are charging properly you should be making enough to confidently tell your customer, "Of course. Mr. xxxxx we will take care of that for you because you are a valued client and we are here to help." Something magical kind of happens after that... you create a happy customer that wants to spend more money with you and wants to sing your praises to others. Like everyone else I really hate having to eat jobs, time, money, parts when we know we are not at fault however in the grand scheme of things it is worth more to me not to "fester" and brood over small things and look at the bigger picture which is you have tons of money to make moving forward and taking care of your customers will net you far more value than to "win" and not take care of them.

What i have learned over the years is I needed to get it out of my head that I needed the most amazing looking website to drive customers to my door. Honestly... hardly anyone cares. I don't want to say no one because there might be the few out there that will rule you out because you don't have a website that looks like a billion dollar company's site but serious YOUR customer will be coming to your site which is nice, neat, organized, with the right message and information and with the opt in buttons and windows where you need them.

I learned the side of effective web marketing actually through a martial arts school I used to be partners of. At the time we were hung up on getting a website put together that had our instructor bios, info on the classes, class schedules etc etc. What I learned was the most effective martial arts school web marketing included NONE of those things. It was just enough information and areas which were the most effective for people to opt in with their information. That is basically what you want from you website. People to add their Name/Phone Number/email address and for your sales team to follow up with them so you can actually generate an appointment. Get them through the door. Websites need to generate leads. LEADS LEADS LEADS.

If my website looks like CRAP but I am getting a ton of leads from it I wouldn't change a damn thing.

I now have 2 shops and buying more. I own the properties. I manage from the outside. I hire great people, I pay the deserving people well and get rid of the rest. There is alot of incompetence in this business that will make your life harder. Burn out in my opinion is typically overwhelm, and overwhelm is incompetence in one or more areas of the business or in life. I'm considered "retired" by many because I spend my days having fun, traveling taking classes and "living the good life". If it's a strong business and is productive it would be in your best interest to fill all aspects of the business with competent people and watch the income flow in and then sit back comfortably and enjoy your life. I pop in the shops once in a while but my numbers are the true indicator of success not my opinions. I cannot ever see selling a money making machine to put a lump sum in the bank and watch it dwindle.

sounds great I wish I could afford to do the same in the city. Properly costs are horrendous here.

I think an 18 year old service writer would have a difficult time gaining trust with some customers. Just my two cents.

Some people might be put off by his age however if he carries himself with maturity and confidence I am sure he can win them over.

Hi Handson, It seems like Kukui is for set it and forget it shops.They have lots of great features and reporting . i cant understand why there is no content when you go mobile. I guess it is to make a person take action. It seems when i have tried that in the past it made the bounce rate rocket much higher. Visitors time on site seems like it is connected to getting more leads IE calls, appointments,email and addys from coupons and other call to actions.

 

I like the features of Kukui but the not have my site on my server seems like a deal breaker.The prices will go up and if you leave you need to make a new site.

 

I sujest anyone on a Kukui site cut and past as much content as possible so you have it if you want to leave Kukui

 

$1000 a month and the site is slowwww

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ Mobile 62 / 100 Speed Desktop 57 / 100

 

My site i undergoing a massive overhaul with software similar not as good in some ways but will not cost as much and for sure will and already does search better then a cookie cutter site very light on content .

 

 

want the best call Adam is super smart. http://www.businessactualization.com/auto-repair-shop-inbound-marketing-services

I'd like to see some solid results and feedback from the industry at large about this company. Their website isn't too impressive. I like the fact that Kukui is a proven commodity and has been working tremendously well for me for almost 2 years. If there is a company out there that can do even more for me I'd love to hear more.

+1 on the RLO course. I'd like to hear some feedback.

I believe the website is proprietary so it would be taken down if you cease your service with them. You would keep the domain as that is owned by you.