mspecperformance

I would have went ahead with the response of 'we are better than everybody else'. You have to justify why you charge more, why not start off with confidence. 'we're better than everyone else, don't make mistakes, offer best warranty, best parts, more certs, etc.'

 

In the end, you may be right though. Maybe this wasn't a customer you didn't want, but don't be afraid to brag about yourself to sell the work

no of course not. Certainly not what I would ever say. Its just the feeling that comes over when you encounter those types of customers that really almost insult you with their insinuations.

I still say word of mouth in both cases. Count this up to luck or whatever, about 2 years ago I had customer from out of the area swing into our local Taco Bell around 5:00pm with a flat tire. Someone one at Taco Bell recommended us. To make a long story short we got the customer to our shop and ended up selling them a new tire. Now here is the best thing, about 2 weeks later I'm reading the letters to the editor in our local newspaper and here is a letter from the customer that lived about 300 miles away saying how well they were serviced and treated by us. The point on this one is word of mouth from our locals and the customer from out of the area did a bunch of free advertising for us.

 

As for the new residents that move to the area. I just had a lady come in last week that was new to the area and she stated that a co-worker recommended us. I myself have moved 3 times for my job, and each time I ask my coworkers where are the best places to eat, Who is the best Veterinary in town to bring my dog to and other stuff like that. I have never found myself going to what I get in the mail.

 

I do still do some advertising most of which is sponsoring the local kids soccer program my logo ends up on over 300 shirts. I also make sure I get in all of the High school sports programs. I like this advertising because I feel that I'm helping out in the community and that if I can get the parents in here someday when the kids are adults and on there own I will get them in here as well.

 

Now all this being said I have only been a Manger for over a year now, and there are many more people that are smarter then me on here. I found this is what has helped turn this store around. In a different market it could be a completely different scenario.

Sponsoring schools, community, sports teams is brand awareness which if you are consistent can pay dividends in the long run!

marketing is very all encompassing word. In terms of the basics of internet marketing such as website, adwords, online reputation I don't think you can get any better than kukui. There are some other services out there but I don't have any experience with them. Kukui also takes care of your CRM albeit if you are coming from DemandForce you may find it slightly lacking but still does a good job. Also the people that work for Kukui are top notch and can fill any holes you may feel the program has.

creepy customer anyway I was glad to get rid of him. I am not one to judge people but literally when he walked in I kind of went "omg" in my head. Either way I figure it was going to be an easy in and out job which is normally not our normal customer. Oh well good riddance but I can't help but get a little pissed off with the customer bringing up the repairpal BS. When this guy said, "why are you more expensive than everyone else" I was very tempted to say, "Because we are better than everyone else!!" Then my adult self took over and and I played the game, gave him the song and dance, put a fat smile on my face and passed the keys off and offered ourselves if he needed any help whatsoever. I don't think I've ever had to lie more in my life.

yup told him all that good stuff and his response was, "I don't need warranty". yayyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Just lost a brake pad job to because the customer looked up on repair what the national average on what brake pads would cost. All around national average was less than what I was charging for just the rear. LMAO. Hack shops and garbage like repairpal ruin this industry. Once a customer sees stuff like that no matter what you tell them about warranty, quality in parts, workmanship will sway them otherwise. I'll be sure to tell off the next RepairPal rep that calls.

UPDATE: I searched via my zip code and apparently the average for the are is not what the customer said. It would have landed us just outside of the highest range which is fine by me. I guess I should scale back some anger toward RepairPal lol

 

Hi M-Spec,

 

The recommendation text from Lube Sticker Pro is editable, but there is only one template for the text message reminder. Does that help?

so the only way is to go to the appt and edit it manually correct? I just wanted to know if there was some other sort of automation to edit for the right text.

Mike, when lube sticker pro creates a future appointment is there a way to differentiate what text to include or do all of the appointments say "Automated Oil Change"

I've wrestled with what to do with the scheduling side of things. I learned the intricacy of loading up the schedule through a course I took through RLO Training (GREAT COURSE!) however with my shop management software (Mitchell1) and their rather archaic scheduler I can't do this within one program. The other problem is if I add carry over work from one to the next onto the scheduler in mitchell, my bolt on messenger program that sends out appointment reminders picks it up as a new appointment and will send them a text reminder... but the car is in the shop already!

I may toy around with the use of google calendar but I don't know if I have the time to do double entry work since I will have to add at least some details to the google calendar and that will eat of time I already don't have.

 

Any time I lend money to family or friends (essentially what you're doing if they do not pay upon delivery) I treat it as charity money. If they pay, great. But if not, it is fine, because I had already made it up in my mind that they would not pay.

 

Doing it any other way will lead to grief, frustration, and fractured relationships.

One of the lessons I remember from my father. He would always tell me if you ever lend out money to someone, don't expect it back.

I feel like a politician the way I Flip Flop on the subject of oil changes.

 

Sometimes I feel that I shouldn't give this service away. Then I go to bed and wake up and think that performing an oil change for slightly over cost is a good way to get cars into the shop. After all, every car needs an oil change several times a year.

 

Then after lunch I feel that if I advertise a cheap oil service then I will only attract cheap people who only want the cheap oil change.

 

After my afternoon cup of coffee I decide that I can not offer a cheap oil service. But wait, What about the check list. If I have a lube tech dedicated to oil changes and he was good with my checklist then I could up sell all the other services the car needs. It's the old throw enough crap against the wall and some will stick routine.

 

YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO.... I can't take all the flip flopping!!

 

The only resolution I can seem to come up with that I haven't tried yes is: A value added Oil Service.

Has anyone done or is doing this successfully?

 

If so what works best?

Free wipers with an oil service?

 

 

 

Add Services like xrac said is great. Always COMPLIMENTARY never FREE. You must be competitive with your oil change pricing however advertise making it much much more than and oil change. I would go as far as to call it a "Minor Service" or an "Oil Service" opposed to Oil Change. Do everything you can to differentiate what you are doing from the quicklubes. Yes they are still getting an oil change however they are getting a Complimentary Multi Point inspection (sell the value and benefits of this) and if you want throw in that tire rotation or whatever else you feel is appropriate. Enhanced Oil Service!

Free tire rotation with an oil change. It attracts a customer interested in maintaining their vehicle and gives you a chance to look at the tires, brakes, and suspension.

+1

Our oil changes are competitively priced, and we use a nice color check sheet that is quite comprehensive. My customers have come to expect this sheet and I sell a TON of additional work off them. Even if I don't make a sale that day, the majority of my regular customers return with sheet in hand to get at least some of the recommended services performed. They were received poorly by my techs at first, after all, the check over takes time, but when the work started rolling back in, they changed their tune. As I stated, there were some growing pains, and we do get some bottom feeders, but the returns have far outstripped the headaches.

I've experienced the same. Techs need to know what the game plan is and they need to buy in. Just like a sports team you could have all star players but if they aren't in line with your plays you'll have a disaster on your hands. If you pay your technicians flat rate, think about paying them a nice rate for an oil change. Yes you will lose money but thats what oil changes are they are a loss leader. Make it a culture of inspections on every car every time. If the technicians understand the importance of a GREAT inspection for upselling work then they will perform a thorough inspection AND they are getting paid for it!

We are not big on doing the oil changes but that is where we can check out the veh.while on the rack and we are not big on the up sell but we do recommend what needs to be done and short comings. On that note it does get us some extra work without being to much pressure sales.

Upselling is a necessity in our business. We have to remember to not put a negative spin on "selling" the customer. As long as you have the right ethics and are recommending needed work then you are doing the right thing. We also have to remember that we are in the industry therefore something we feel is OK for us to drive with say for instance a camber worn tire, loose suspension components, leaky hoses etc is absolutely not safe for our wives, mothers, and children to drive around in.

 

This is excellent. Agree 100%. No discounts, just an added service and a chance to look at the suspension.

 

We did a $10 oil change when we opened shop. It really got the momentum going at our location. However, it really, really, really brought in the wrong kind of customer. We sold very little work on these oil changes, and the customer interactions were typically unpleasant. "Just gimme my oil change and hurry up wit it."

I have sinced moved away from getting in the wrong customer however when I catch them on the phone or they come into the shop I cringe lol

 

I completely agree with this. It is only a matter of time before reviews for his work start showing up on your review pages.

 

What you want is a clean, consolidated brand name in the customer's mind for you location. i.e. "Let's go down to Pearson's on the corner, they do great work." Instead, you are going to get, "Let's go down to that spot on the corner where they do transmissions and some other auto work."

 

Believe me, I know. When we bought our shop, 3 bays were an auto shop, 2 bays were smog inspection, 3 were a window tint shop, and 2 were a car wash. Try to reconcile that in in your mind ............... the outside of the building looked like someone barfed a rainbow of vinyl logos against it. 4 competing brand names with multiple offers for every service imaginable.

 

 

I'd love to hear some stories on this one.

Your wish is my command!

Back when I first started out I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was doing. At the time we were in a 3 bay shop converted gas station very small, 1500 sqft which is still not insanely small for my area. The rent was high at $3800 and I we were not doing so well financially so I decided to rent out a bay. The bay was actually an addition to the building and it had its own motorized gate. I put an ad out on craigslist and found someone to rent the space for $1600 a month.

At the time we were only working on BMWs and this person told us he specialized in Nissans, Mitsubitshi and he worked on some BMWs. We had a discussion about how since we only worked on BMWs that as long as there is no interference with our work and customers there shouldn't be any problems. Amongst many many many other things I had to deal with between this tenant and I, the major problem was that people would confuse out shop with his. BMWs would pull up and by the time their vehicle was on his lift I would walk outside look at the car, look at the customer and shake my head. The customer would then do a double take and realize he went to the wrong place!! I had discussions, arguments, etc with my tenant and he didn't seem to understand what he was doing wrong. I'll never forget what he said, "I am not going to turn away a paying customer."

In 3 years he ended up going with long bouts of no business, getting physically assaulted by one of his customers and generally sat around for months with no work. He was also 1-2 months late on his rent due to his lack of business and the best decision I made was to not give him any advanced notice when I finally left my old location otherwise he would have ditched me on even more rent.

Moral of the story is DON'T EFFING DO IT!

For ease of tracking and for selfish reasond it would be nice to pay for hours that have been posted however its unreasonable to not pay say a big job that had 20+ hours tacked to it that the tech already has say 10 hours in and is held up til the next week due to parts. We have cashflow issues so do techs. Im still trying to figure it all out lol

My mother id fix her car for free and send her back home with money out of my wallet! Lol

I try to perform work for them after hours. This will minimize impact on your business #s. Doesn't always work out because it makes them extremely low priority when it comes to scheduling.

I have rented part of my shop before and from experience I am going to strongly suggest this.... DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you think about out of the area customers who have never been to your shop, or possible customers that just moved to the area? Word of mouth may not work. How would you advertise to these customers if you don't know about them?

Direct Mail Pieces are not a bad option but they cost a lot and you need to be consistent with it. It is said it will take several times being in front of a potential customer before they decide to use your services or check you out. You have to be on the front of their mind when it comes to auto services. I believe some Direct Mail companies have programs for people who just moved in.

Online advertising is still the best bang for your buck in higher density populations. As Gen Y gets older its going to become the norm to search up all services needed by smart phones/internet. Gen Ys hardly even check their mail anymore.

anyone

KMS, how often do you review/audit the time sheets? I would think daily makes sense since at the end of the week any errors or mistakes can be harder to track since its been days since the work was done.

Yup. I get people calling me Andy and Andrew all the time (my name is Adam and I speak clearly) but I let them keep going until they realize it when they hear someone else say my name. It usually follows with, "oh I am so sorry ADAM!" and I laugh and give them a little "its ok!" wave and that usually does the trick. I honestly don't care if they call me rhinoceros as long as they are a great customer hahaha

Smart strategy. I have to remember that!

Joe if I hear you go "heyyyyyy!!!" In my direction I'm going to look at you sideways! Lol

I was wondering if any of the fine folks of autoshopowner might be willing to share their format for written procedures in their employee handbook?

We are putting ours together and would like to nail down a consistent format to use.

Sometimes I don't remember a customers name which is rare or its one of those where I don't want to butcher so I throw a huge smile on my face and go, "Heyyyy!!!!" like they are a long lost best friend. Follows with a handshake or a wave. Works every time.

GoDEX I got with bolt on. Static Cling. much more professional. I need to get my own customer stickers printed with my logo. Currently using some generic return for service stickers.

Remember to always sell the customer on your people and your shop. All the benefits a customer would receive servicing their car with you. Best techs in town, best warranty, you stand behind all your work, peace of mind repairs done right the first time, shuttle service, complimentary loaner service. Whatever sets you apart let them know about it to reaffirm their decision in walking/calling into your place. Try to do this prior to shutting down their "I got my own parts" question. This helps psychologically because if they know who you are and like you they are more likely to say (internal monologue), "hmmm.... well I really like these guys, seems like the right place to service my car. Ok lets give it a shot" opposed to, "ehhhhhh maybe the shop down the block will let me bring my own parts."

If you have a good enough presentation then the good customers you want will understand and work with you. The price shoppers whom you don't want anyway won't even consider the VALUE your services provide.