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Everything posted by mspecperformance
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Need advise hiring...
mspecperformance replied to UsedTireShop's topic in Human Resources, Employees
Frog, its not so much the jaded attitude we are all annoyed over. Its more about how insulting this character is as well as literally adding nothing of value to this forum. I consider myself a very open minded person. I recognize things that work for me may not work for someone else and vice versa however I do see merit in differing philosophies. I've forged some good friends on this forum and really do consider this forum to be a valuable asset to me and the shop owner community at large. I learn a lot on here and there are a ton of very smart guys willing to share their knowledge. I can say with all honesty this Gene character as of now is a detriment to this community and to put it plainly, talks out of his ass. I think its particularly damaging to the uninitiated shop owner that might see what he is posting as a possible right point of view. It is absolutely not and I don't think its something that should be tolerated on here. I apologizing for acting as the ASO police it is certainly not my intention. I guess its the NYer in my that has to say something when something needs to be said. -
Need advise hiring...
mspecperformance replied to UsedTireShop's topic in Human Resources, Employees
I guess every person on this forum, all the shop owners and techs out there that keep this country running are a bunch of idiots then. You remind me of the old hag in Princess Buttercup's dream. Gene the heckler, "booooooo! boohoo!" -
Big FU to RepairPal
mspecperformance replied to mspecperformance's topic in Marketing, Advertising, & Promoting
Since we are taking out the measuring sticks my shop is in a much bigger city than yours, the population in my city is larger than your whole state. I know plenty of shops that run their business's like yourself. They are either too old to change or blissfully ignorant like yourself. Don't even know what more to say other than please find some better use for your time because no one here wants to hear your BS. thanks buh bye. -
There is a fine line between what we want and what will drive a customer away. Customers are already very tenative and have high anxiety when it comes to car repairs. The last thing I want to do is present them with an obstacle in using something they paid thousands of dollars for (aftermarket warranty). I just have to find a way to ease my pain whilst not putting myself out of the competition for a customer's dollars. I feel that adding an administrative cost on their RO will drive a wedge in between the relationship since customers don't understand that it takes a ridiculously long time to get this process done compared to the 2 seconds it takes a customer to say yes for us to begin work.
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These F'ing things are the bane of my existence. They keep you on the phone forever, you have to wait for inspectors, they always want to short change you on repair costs and also deny claims. My biggest problem is the time. What kind of policies do you have against this. If it takes 45 minutes to clear an estimate over the phone thats 45 minutes of wasted time. Not including the time it takes for these guys to come out and inspect and then the follow up call.
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OIL CHANGES - To Free or not to FREE
mspecperformance replied to UsedTireShop's topic in Repair & Maintenance Services
Hit the road special that is an interesting concept! -
Big FU to RepairPal
mspecperformance replied to mspecperformance's topic in Marketing, Advertising, & Promoting
Ditto. Dont know what your problem is Gene. We are all here to learn and grow. Find better methods of doing business. You are obviously not here for the right reasons. -
Need advise hiring...
mspecperformance replied to UsedTireShop's topic in Human Resources, Employees
If you are even entertaining the notion you are negative you should have gotten a job working at the DMV -
We all thought you were trolling but i guess you are a real person lol If you dont subscribe to our "fantasy world" thats perfectly fine Gene but i dont think all the successful shop owners i know are wrong in their business philosophy. I think its time for you to wake up and smell the... Ill let you finish that line
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Extended hours
mspecperformance replied to Jeff's topic in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Start Here
There is a method of thinking that says saying YES to every customer and offering extended hours is a road to success. Gary Gunn and his company the Turn Around Tour promote this heavily. Also Greg Sands of Mudlick Mail talks about this here: http://www.ratchetandwrench.com/RatchetWrench/January-2015/The-Road-to-a-Better-2015/ I don't neccessarily subscribe to this way however it may work for you. I wish I had more advice for you. I don't know what it looks like in your market. If you are on a budget then certainly grassroots method of marketing is probably best. Set a quota for the amount of cards you want to hand out in your community a week and make sure you do it. Stuff like that. Also stay on top of and mine your Customer Database. This is probably the cheapest and most effective way to boost your sales in the immediate if you are not already doing so. -
Opinion On Pro-Cut Brake Lathe
mspecperformance replied to Joe Marconi's topic in Technician Corner - Discussions
2 concerns are can you effectively sell it to your customers and #2 techs hate using a lathe, can you effectively get your techs to use the lathe. -
Before you start flaming him for no recommendations you should randonly audit his cars. Especially ones that head s no recs for. It could be a situation where he doesnt know what to look for or what the shop standards are. If you randomly audit youll get a better picture. Actually even before then id run him though several cars to train him on what to look for and what your shop considers severe enough for a rec.
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Scheduling Software
mspecperformance replied to ncsvoboda7's topic in Management Software, Web Sites & Internet
The RO Writer scheduler is pretty good, the one of the Pro version. Wish mitchell would upgrade theirs -
Encourage Bad News
mspecperformance replied to Joe Marconi's topic in Joe’s Business Tips For Shop Owners
Sometimes you just need another person to ease the tension. -
Big FU to RepairPal
mspecperformance replied to mspecperformance's topic in Marketing, Advertising, & Promoting
Shums, nice shop view on ratchet and wrench! -
NOTE: As a primer I do want to say that I am currently an Elite coaching client and I am very happy with their services. I will try to be as objective as possible with this review and no I am not getting any incentives to write this LOL For those whom don't know Elite is a auto shop management coaching company that has various services including one on one coaching, 20 groups which they call Pro Service, and they also run classes year round with their Fly with the Eagle II course as their most comprehensive. They are an ethics based company with the motto that they will never put money ahead of people. Great words to live by. Anyway I attended this course a few weeks ago held in San Diego. You don't have to be an Elite member to attend this class however it was packaged together with my coaching program. I had been looking forward to this for 2 months. Partially because I'm from NYC and it would be a great little getaway from the cold. Who doesn't want to visit San Diego right? Day 1 was all about financials. Our very own Joe Marconi was the facilitator for this event. It was the second time being in a class with Joe and he's a really great guy. I hope all of you forum folks get to meet him someday. For anyone who has not had any formal business training on how to read financial statements and also the key metrics that a shop owner needs to know and be aware of this would be a great day. I had previously taken RLO's Guerrilla Shop Management course so I was very familiar with the material that was being taught however what was presented in the class was very comprehensive and all the right stuff. Topics such as cost control, break even projections, setting target percentages within your budget, reading P&L statements, and controlling part and labor costs are discussed. As was said during the class, numbers are the foundation and building blocks of any business so you need to know them and how to effectively use them. Day 2 was all about finding and hiring the superstars. This is where I think the Elite course starts to make its bones. For me to get into how valuable this day is I would have to sit and talk to each one of you for hours. This is where I believe the course starts to change the way you think about your business entirely. Our businesses are not really about auto repair. It is not about selling parts. It is about people. Your external customers and internal customers (employees). One of the biggest problems we all have is staffing. Hiring the right people and also finding the best possible people when that star tech decides to leave. This day is all about techniques, strategies and changing your philosophy on how to look for talent, how to hire and what you need to look for in every applicant. Biggest take aways for this day is to be CONSTANTLY recruiting. Keep a portfolio of possible techs and service advisors. Keep in contact with them. Build your business culturally where people will WANT to work for you. Make the hiring process long. Feel out your potential hire over many meetings and interviews. There is so much to be said about this day I wouldn't know where to start. Day 3 is about managing your current staff and turn them into superstars. This is pretty much a continuation or really the second part to Day 2. That being said this is also a super valuable day. Between Day 2 and 3 they really make you change the way you think about the culture of your shop and how you want your business to be perceived. The heart of managing people is right here. As the leader of your business anything that goes wrong within it you only have one person to blame. Yourself. Joe said which is a very good point, all you have to do is take out a mirror and you'll see who to blame. Biggest takeaway from this day is to properly establish metrics of productivity and efficiency to gauge your employees. This is the baseline you need to conduct regular employee reviews and to monitor how well they are doing. Regular meetings and reviews become a necessity and this day teaches you how to effectively run and schedule them as well as how it will change the culture of your shop. How to empower your employees and give them the right tools to succeed. A lot more can be said about this day and there is a lot more valuable information here as well. Day 4 is marketing. The constant struggle from all of us is finding our target customers and getting enough of them through the door. There were 2 guest speakers on this day, both are also elite coaches. Both employ a marketing technique called brand awareness. Brian Bowersock is the first and he is a local in San Diego. What made the most impression on me was that in over 20 years Brian has been in business he has never sent out a loss leader marketing piece. Never one oil change special, never a discount piece, nothing. Brian established himself and his shop as the leader of his market in San Diego. He did this by becoming the auto guy on the local news network and running his own radio show on saturday mornings. He also paid for ads on the back of buses and such. Always keeping his shop in front of potential customers and always attracting the right customers. The second speaker was Servando Orozsco. This guy's story is incredible, I suggest everyone to look him up. Servando also uses brand awareness marketing for his 3 shops albeit in a different way. Servando is all about fundraising and community involvement. He is so well known in his community for all he good will he does that driving customers to his shops is just a by product. If anyone was ever thinking about reaching out into the community to promote their business on a grassroots level this would be THE guy to model after. This day was packed full of valuable info. Both guys have articles on ratchet and wrench or shopownermag written about them. I suggest you check them out. Day 5 was tips on implementation. All 4 days were filled with great info but implementation is really the white elephant in the room. I know I personally struggle with the day to day operations so much so that I forget what is really important. The importance of what you as a shop owner needs to focus on cannot be minimized. Above all else a shop owner's responsibility is to ensure the success of the company. That means as the leader of the business you have to establish systems and processes, take time to work on your management skills through training, work on marketing, and making sure your team has every possible tool they need to succeed. Some time was spent speaking about time management which I know I lack. Budgeting a certain amount of time during the week to work on the real important things. For me it was a great opportunity to network with other shop owners. Talk shop and business and relate to people who have the same every day struggles. Also the opportunity to meet the coaches was also really great. Seeing how passionate they are about helping the members in the room really was great to see. These are all guys whom have had great success running their own shops and made tons of money. They didn't need to be there and the money they make from their coaching clients is really peanuts. Point being is I came to a clear conclusion that these guys were not doing it for the money. They were helping people because it made them feel good to help others that have been in the same place they have been. It is was really positive experience for myself. I think it is worth every bit of the time and money investment. I will also say this... it has also been a rather frustrating experience the week I was back into my shop. All the problems and the holes became mega expanded in my eyes because now i was so much more aware of the problems I was facing. If anyone has any questions feel free to post or send me a message.
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OIL CHANGES - To Free or not to FREE
mspecperformance replied to UsedTireShop's topic in Repair & Maintenance Services
In my opinion it depends on what kind of biz you run. For me i am looking for as close to my target customer for everyone we accept as an appointment. I need quality over quantity. High ARO lower car count. Most of my work orders and even individual jobs are not something the customer can wait for. Cheap oil changes dont do it for me. If your shop is more general repair with a lot of bays/techs/writers than it certainly makes more sense to get in tons of cars to give yourself and opportunity to upsell. Just my 2c -
Euro Parts Sources
mspecperformance replied to xrac's topic in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Start Here
Yes we do a lot of business with them. I would say they have about 85-90% of the parts WorldPac has and SOMETIMES even stuff WP doesn't have. Message me and I'll send u my rep's # and stuff. -
Euro Parts Sources
mspecperformance replied to xrac's topic in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Start Here
xrac, I have northside local to me however if you want to open an account with them I can put you through with my rep. I know they do a lot of mail order accounts. SSF I have never dealt with but I know they are very popular on the west coast. -
Euro Parts Sources
mspecperformance replied to xrac's topic in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Start Here
If you don't mind a company shipping parts to you check out Northside Imports, SSF, Brinson Co. -
One Stop Shop for Marketing
mspecperformance replied to ncsvoboda7's topic in Marketing, Advertising, & Promoting
Nice job Ken. I really like their company and they do a great job for me. Hope you have similar results. -
Big FU to RepairPal
mspecperformance replied to mspecperformance's topic in Marketing, Advertising, & Promoting
I should change the title of the thread to Big FU to the Customer LOL