mspecperformance

In my humble opinion, in this day and age consumers are given entirely too much power to ruin a business's reputation. I would like to see what protocols you have to ensure you are not getting negative reviews from vindictive consumers. For instance if you look us up on Yelp we have 1 negative review which was previously filtered. The customer claims we stole his car from out under him by junking it. He doesn't mention that he was unreachable and.... LEFT HIS CAR WITH US FOR 4 YEARS. I have already contacted yelp and they will do nothing. In terms of the outlandish lies and omissions it could have been far worse. He would have made up a story we chopped up his ferrari, beat him up and stole his lunch money and we still would have no recourse. We already have are hands full with Yelp's BS. Negative reviews hold more weight than positive ones IMO.

That is still a problem as he does not work for them however is still taking advantage of a business account's pricing. It is bad enough your parts supplier has a store front and is actively competing against the same parts they are selling you.

Russ, the increasing labor rate and reducing parts costs has been discussed. I personally think it would open up a slew of other problems. At the point of a customer complaining, there would be less justification as to why your labor rate is $40 more than everyone else whilst for parts we can fall back on warranty, sourcing, procurement etc.

I agree with Russ. Price estimates without physically seeing the car, inspecting and/or diagnosing can be very damaging. I do not believe in the bait and switch model however I can't say for other shops. I will never be the least expensive and sometimes can be perceived as not even "competitive" on price with other shops however I don't operate a general repair shop. When someone with a German vehicle who has not been exposed to the value of getting service and repair from a specialist then all they will see is price on your website. No matter what the disclaimer or caveat is, once a customer sees price its an uphill battle to change their mindset.

Agreed jimbob, most of my customers i can work with. Some you just cant

xrac, red flags all over the place. I know the battery swap is a rather expensive endeavor on a newer BMW but seriously what do these people think they are going to do? Change the game? It is how the vehicle was designed and it is the ONLY proper way to repair. Dealer told them first. Then I told them. Probably off to auto zone to get whatever they can get and throw it in there unregistered and bound to fail again.

Some customers are not your customers!

Just another story in the #shoplife that loosely pertains to this topic.

Had a guy call up today 2006 530XI. Wanted to bring the car in today for a battery. Gave him some possible times to bring the car in but got right down to why he thought he needed the battery. "I brought the car to the dealer a few months ago and they had told me I needed a battery" FIRST RED FLAG! "Also I have been having to jump start my car with a booster pack for a while but now thats not even working" SECOND RED FLAG! Anyway I schedule the guy in. He ends up canceling the first appt and reschedules for later on in the day. Customer drops the car off for a few and leaves. Before he left I told him I would take a look into his battery situation a bit further because the electrical and charging sys on newer model BMWs are very sensitive to voltage. Turns out as expected that he really needed a new alternator (leaking diodes), IBS cable and a new battery. Gave the guy some options on what we could do for him today which was either an IBS + AGM battery or IBS + Lead acid battery. Both options were north of $600. His response was "wow thats expensive, about the same price as the dealer" and finally "I think I am going to decline both" BIG SURPRISE! At that point I said, "ok sure no problem we can have your vehicle back together for you in 10 minutes. We normally charge a diagnostic fee however we are going to waive that for you today." He came 15 minutes later thanked me and left. Before he left he had mentioned he had called a few weeks ago and got an approx price of $300-400 for a battery. Yep a phone shopper and the worst kind. My fault for giving out prices over the phone.

GOOD RIDDANCE! Customers like that have no respect for themselves and the vehicles they drive. He was jump starting the car with a booster pack for months and he expected to get away with a $200 battery. GTFO. These types of people are a danger to themselves and you are better off wishing them well and sending them down the road. I didn't even bother charging him and its the best money I never made. Who knows what kind of vindictive nonsense would have came out of that if I would have charged him a charging sys diag. Wouldn't have been worth it. Instead I threw a smile on my face, shook his hand and sent him down the river.

Point of the story is there are plenty of people out there that will appreciate you and your service. Those are the customers to give your attention to. Send the yo-yos away.

Of course there are people out there that have to decline work due to economical situations. Totally understandable and i have bent over backwards for a lot of my customers. The problem with bending your own rules is what if that person comes into a better job and their financial situation changes? Do you think they will magically start paying you for your parts and not bring their own? Hell no. They got away with it the first time so that is now their expectation.

Anyway that is my rant on crappy customers which wasn't really the main point of your thread but I hope to have entertained some of you guys with that story.

Ok guys, I just need to vent . Had a customer come in Monday with a Suburban needing a state inspection. Turns out, he has no brake lights and so he leaves it to have us look at it. Later on that day, my tech does the nessasary testing and so forth and determines he needs a multi-function switch. My SA makes a quote and calls his house and talks with his wife and gives her the quote. She says she will relay the info to her husband and get back to us. By now, it's close to closing time, so I'm not expecting to hear back from him today. I leave the shop and stop at a local national-chain parts store to pick- up some hose we will be needing first thing in the morning. Now this store is one we never have dealt with much over the years for various reasons, but their outside sales rep has been coming by a lot over the past several months trying to drum up business. So I've been warming up to them and "testing the waters" so to speak. I get out of my truck and run into, you guessed it, the owner of the Suburban! He tells me that he just can't afford the price we quoted him and he felt it was just to much. I talked to him about how we used only quality parts and insure trouble free operation and such, trying to build some value, but he keeps insisting that he feels it is too much. I told him I understand how he felt and if he refused the repairs, all he owed was a testing fee. Then he asks if he supplied the part, how much would I charge him to install it. I told him what the labor would be and that there would be no warranty. He agreed and handed me a new switch from said national-chain parts store and said to call him when it was ready. Then he said, " I know your in business and such, but your price for the switch is just too much. It only cost $162.00! " This is the part that ticks me off. My cost from the same part store is $184.90. That's right, they sold it to a guy off the street for less than I could get it for. I'm sorry, but if you want more of my business, this is not the way to do it. I'm cooling off some before I say anything. Should I take it up with the store manager, the sales rep, or call the owner of the company?

Sorry to hear this! Biggest reason I have a problem with parts suppliers that also sell to the public. It is a losing battle if you are marking up your parts then your customer see you walk into the same parts stores. I never do business with the Advanced Autos, Pep Boys, Auto Zone type. Hate to say this but they really are the enemy. They bring the industry down and makes life harder for guys like us.

Now in terms of this customer its your call if you want to use his supplied parts. I have let customers go when they don't want to play by my rules. My rules are that we provide a service which includes parts AND labor. We provide warranty and stand behind everything. The way I look at it even if you servicing 3000+ cars a year that is such a small percentage of the market. That being said there are plenty of good customers that will pay your price, follow your rules and be happy with the quality of service they are getting.

Damn sorry to hear Jeff! Do you have a tech working for you? From your posts always seemed like you were a 1 man show.

I agree! As may have read I am serious looking into getting a full line of hunter equipment. My current tire and alignment sales are abysmal however with my clientele I do see a market opportunity. For me to pull the trigger I must have a plan in place with the right sales strategy to increase my tire and alignment sales tremendously. I guess you can say that is another BIG goal of mine.

As for car count, my shop operates on a high ARO low car count basis while keeping correct margins. If I keep my ARO high and increase my car count I will be sitting pretty.

Car count for sure. Its kind of a loaded question since in order for me to handle increased car count I have to get my processes better, efficiency and productivity up etc. But for me Car count FOR SURE.

TheTrustedMechanic hit the nail on the head.

 

It's not your fault if you've bought into the ARO myth. Because some misguided training companies

are still teaching these old school, cheesy tactics.

 

So, it can be confusing when you hear them say focusing on your ARO is the way to grow your business.

It's one way. But it's not long-term and it makes running your business profitably way harder than it needs to be.

 

I learned this lesson the hard way.

 

When I was first promoted from tech to management in the 80's, two things happened that caused me

to look at the business in a new way.

 

The first thing that happened...

I was working in a Goodyear retail location as a sales manager and we got a memo from Corporate.

The memo said... effective immediately, the total of each ticket had to be a certain dollar amount.

 

If we didn't hit that number, disciplinary action would be taken against the salesperson AND the manager

that had allowed that customer to get out the door for under that dollar amount.

 

So, if the customer came in for an oil change, you needed to find something to pad their bill.

 

This tactic for creating sales and profits did not go unnoticed by the public.

 

And it didn't take long.

 

It resulted in class action lawsuits against Sears, Goodyear and Firestone for selling unneeded services to drive ARO.

http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20130913/NEWS/130919945/1996-a-look-into-the-past-goodyear-settles-service-fraud-suit

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/23/business/sears-auto-centers-halt-commissions-after-flap.html

http://www.rubbernews.com/article/19990621/ISSUE/306219990/firestone-auto-stores-hit-with-fraud-lawsuit

 

So, managing and selling by ARO to grow your business, delivers short-term results, at best.

 

Let's look at what we're really doing here: We're fixing cars - that's it.

 

The other thing which happened that shaped my philosophy about the business was an article my

manager gave me called: The Customer That Never Came Back.

http://sellmoreautoservice.com/TheCustomerThatNeverComesBack.html

 

Customers can tell when you see a dollar sign on their forehead and you won't even know what happened

until you see their vehicle in your competitor's parking lot. They won't hesitate to give someone else a chance

at their business.

 

An ARO is only a number - a way of measuring what you're billing but if you only have one car a day

that has a $500 ARO, what difference does it make?

 

The only thing that matters is:

How many loyal customers do you have that view your shop - as the shop to be trusted with

one of their most important possessions? And are willing to pay YOU to solve their automotive problems.

 

How do you know your shop is being perceived this way?

 

Look at your bays. And look at your appointment calendar.

 

This is the true measurement of how you're doing.

 

If you don't have bays full of profitable, legitimate work - week in and week out, month in and month out...

something is missing.

I have to disagree here. I believe ARO is a very important metric to follow. You have to remember that billing hours is really a matter of selling jobs at their full value. Us as an industry tend to discount our work just because we are worried we will lose a customer. I was doing this for years and sure I had some happy people but I had empty pockets and my staff and business were suffering. The fact is with the vehicle inspections that we perform on every car we find thousands of dollars of repair work our customers need on 9 out of 10 cars. With that being said there are opportunities to "sell" more work. This is work that the customer needs or may need. We are not looking for things to pad the bill. Our job as automotive repair professionals is to make sure our customer vehicles are safe for the road, safe for our customers and their families and safe for the general public. Our job is not to save them money. I know that I charge a fair price for the work that we perform and we come up with our pricing based on what our cost of doing business is as well as what it takes for us to keep up with the highest standard of service.

If ARO is low it is a possibility that our techs/SWs are not recommending needed work. This could be extremely unsafe for the customer and also if the customer finds out something was wrong with their vehicle and not notified it is a black mark against the shop. The other possibility which I'm sure most struggle with is selling jobs at less than full value.

As long as increasing ARO in a honest and ethical way is employed I don't see a problem. The art here is really to convey the message to the customer so they are fully comfortable with the estimates you are presenting and trust you enough to pay and keep coming back.

I wish i had the car count/traffic and a beautiful waiting area to justify one of those!

your ARO and car count goals will vary and be your business specific. There are different industry benchmarks depending on who you speak to. I am not sure if there is 1 authoritative publication dictating those numbers. Most coaching companies have similar figures. You should start with Average Labor hours per repair order goals and also look to get your parts to labor ratio about as close to a 1:1 as you can. That would mean essentially whatever you are doing in labor say for instance labor rate = $100 and your average hour repair order goal is 2.5 hours which would = $250 then 1:1 on parts is another $250 then your ARO goal should be $500.

For instance the goal set for myself is around a 4 hour per repair order goal. When i compute it with my hourly rate and double for parts I want to be reaching about $1000 a ticket. I do decently well on ARO but always room for improvement. My biggest challenge is car count.

Trusted mechanic - if you don't mind sharing what marketing coach you are working with? I can see the power and effectiveness in controlling your own marketing. I read an article about a shop where the shop owners daughter was a marketing major and handled all of the shops marketing with great success and 100% track ability.

Washing really is the big challenge as the dirt and chemicals will ruin a home use washing machine quickly

Is your staff on incentive based pay?

We are currently using Mitchell Manager SE 6.5. Went from RO Writer. Both are nice programs. Mitchell runs a SQL database while RO Writer is a bit archaic. I was told RO Writer will be upgrading soon. Mitchell is a monthly subscription fee whilst RO Writer can cost 10k for the same features. You own RO Writer though. I have to say i have been decently happy with Mitchell. I can see how a lot of people would be annoyed with using it. It is NOT user friendly and will take some time getting used it. If you can navigate around computers and programs well I don't think it should be a problem.

The biggest advantage of Mitchell that i've seen over RO Writer is the Revisions tab. You can have multiple estimates prepared before speaking to the customer. I can't tell you the countless times I've had to cut and paste and told customers to hold on while I prepared a different estimate while they were on the phone. This is a very powerful tool for service writing.

Awesome Jeff!

I'm not sold on online reviews yet. I just posted on another thread about how the used car lot down the road has 2 out 3 reviews as 1 star (one is a girl claiming she was hit on and had stuff stolen out of her car while on a test drive, the other says the car lot guys will come still parts off your car at night after they sold it to you). The car lot hasn't gone bankrupt and people still go there.

 

Everybody probably has some negative reviews, everybody probably has some 5 star reviews... Doesn't really seem to make a difference from what I can tell. Advertise right, invest in shop appearance and tools/equipment, focus on customer service, and the rest will take care of itself.

 

I think of apartment complexes and restaurants when I think of how much weight online reviews carry. Every apartment complex out there pretty much has bad reviews (loud neighbors, roaches, water leaks, etc) and every restaurant has bad reviews about a waiter/waitress with a bad attitude, cold food, or whatever.

 

In the end, I would say asking for an online review is about as far as I would go. At most, offer a $5 discount. We use tablets here and I set up shortcuts on the home screen for Facebook log in and Google log in (as soon as you log in, you are instantly directed to the respective review sites). All we have to do is hand the customer the tablet, let them log in and leave a review.

 

Feel free to PM on how to set up the shortcuts on a tablet for your review sites, it takes just a few minutes and is free!

FYI. Review sites such as yelp and google track where the reviews are made from. Therefore if all reviews are made from the same IP they will not register.

My next question is: what is your strategy for promoting and selling alignments?

 

There's no right or wrong answer. There just has to be a strategy that delivers predictable results and sales.

This is a GREAT question. I'd love to hear some input on this. To start with what I would like to implement into our inspection process an alignment quick check. Of course this can only happen if I have an aligner capable of performing a quick check in a QUICK amount of time lol.

I dont know what I would do in that situation but food for thought... If it was exactly the terms you had agreed on next time print it on your repair order/invoice and have the customer sign it.

Elon, I think a fair answer would be all of the above. Seems like that would be the answer for practically everyone minus those whom already have healthy alignment business.

They are all essentially the same technology. The hunter hawk eye elite looks super fast though.

Very frustrated. Why should we have to call for support and have the information either faxed or emailed? Switched to Mitchell manager and ProDemand as a new shop owner, but the frustration level of both is very high.

 

Our technicians can not find the information for service and repair as easily as AllData offers. It takes myself 3x's the amount of time to find information, which is killing production time. And when a technician is frustrated to obtain information, it doesn't make for a happy shop!

 

There is NOT enough space to write MY frustrations with Mitchell manager.

 

Beginning to think I have made a fairly expensive mistake.

What is that u don't like about Mitchell manager?