mspecperformance

I use a Galaxy Pro 10.1 that has built in flash. My techs use the Nexus 7 as it was a smaller tab which I thought would be easier to type and maneuver. I kind of regret not researching and getting a better tab as the flash would be nice to take undercarriage pictures and other places with low light.

For peace of mind it may be worth it for you to invest into the Hunter Equipment.

Hit the nail on the head Joe. You have to recognize when you need help and also where to seek it. I have offered to pay for a 1 day class just to open his eyes on the possibility. He and his wife are wrapped up that they don't even feel like they can give up a day to go to the class! Its a sad story.

Tried to tell him many times...

The sad part is the guy works 10-10 Monday - Saturday all by himself 3 lifts. He works Sundays I think until 5 or 7. Been doing it for nearly 10 years or around there. Charges well below the average labor rate (last time I think it was $65) in Queens which is a borough of NYC. He also doesn't charge enough margins on parts as well as allows customers to bring their own parts. There is also a auto parts store on the corner where I've seen customers walk to the parts store and come back with a starter with my friend having no objections. Hes put 2 kids through private school by doing this but I have to imagine hes living on a shoe string. Both are my friends so its a tough thing to give any advice out however being a shop owner (and a logical human being) I can say without a doubt my shop owner friend Effffff'd up big time by not establishing pricing and allowing the car to be released without getting payment.

I have been talking about this since last night still trying to wrap my mind around it... So I have 2 friends, 1 that owns a shop (SUPER mismanaged) and another friend that needed work done on his 1994 Toyota MR2. They both do not know each other. The MR2 was brought over to the shop 2+ years ago. My shop owner friend was hired to partially build an engine, transmission, modify the trunk to fit an intercooler and install the engine. The last piece of the puzzle was creating a wiring harness for an aftermarket engine management. Yes I know all work we cringe and turn away! Anyway, for one reason or another the car say for 2+ years waiting on parts at times or various other reasons. At no point was any price established. Recently the shop owner friend called it quits on the car said he couldn't finish the harness and he really needed the space (3 bay shop, 1 car taking a whole bay for 2 years). My MR2 friend went to pick up the car and all the while kept asking "do you have a price for me?" The response he got was, "Oh most of it is in storage fees." Keep in mind at no point was any price established. Well the car was released to the owner and towed out of the shop. After asking multiple times the bill was finally presented.... $12,500! Now I am sure the work was painstaking and took a ton of hours but how do you charge someone that kind of money without ever establishing any sort of pricing? Also you let the car go losing all your leverage! I don't know what the outcome will be but I just can't wrap my mind around how it got this far and how you can justify trying to charge $12,500 without ever establishing any pricing. Keep in mind, no paperwork was ever drawn up, nothing was ever signed, no verbal agreement was ever presented or reached. I'd love to hear some comments, I am trying to not get involved but I can't stop thinking about what a shitshow this is.

Gonzo, I have read that article more than once and every time I grit my teeth while reading!

Yeah its a story we all hear when we start at a grass roots level. It can be tough, I still battle with the this problem. My shop is long with only 1 roll down gate. Currently i have a metal roll down gate. When it is closed it looks like we are not open for business so I like to keep it up as much as possible. I have tried yellow safety chains which don't seem to help. People tend to literally wait by the chain until a tech asks them if they need help before they will walk into the office. I am looking into getting a inside roll down gate with windows so I can keep my metal gate up and the nicer looking window gate down. I would probably say your biggest problem is having a Service Advisor that can handle customers. Sounds like you may be the only or main front end person? In my experience people want to talk to a knowledgeable person as well as someone with some sort of authority. Once you can take control of speaking to every customer before your husband or techs do I think you will start to win the battle of the back door customer war

I allow my customers to order tires through tire rack if they request. I just have not found a way to sell tires effectively for close to the GP of other repairs. It is much more profitable for me to recommend repairs opposed to tires. We still do recommend tires on our inspection and we voice our recommendations to the customers however maybe it's a NYC thing where people just don't care about rolling around on mismatched and worn tires...

Glad you posted this one Joe. I glossed over it a few times and didn't take the time to read it. Glad I did. Thanks.

My Question really is in regards to recommended labor/parts commission. Not the actual labor on the job. I understand motivation is not always monetary. I figured I'd ask if anyone out there does any of this.

Hey Joe, I was referring to paying them a commission for their recommended labor/parts. I noticed in Mitchell there is a drop down menu to add a technician to the part for instance and there is also an area within set up to set a commission rate for any parts associated with the assigned tech. I was curious as to how it would may work say for instance a commission rate of 0.5% or something small may help motivate more thorough inspections. Either way it is just a thought. I have heard of adding incentives such as unique ways to make it competitive to see which tech can recommend more services or specific services and give gift cards, gifts, days off, or other "prizes". I currently have 1 tech that will perform inspections but really isn't that enthusiastic about them. It just got me thinking of ways of motivating these guys.

I just implemented Bolt On's digital inspections and they are great. I am thinking about ways to motivate and more thorough recommendations during the inspection process. I wanted to know how many shops out there have ever paid a commission to techs for recommend work/parts? I trust my techs will still only recommend needed repairs.

I really like the shop views and the insight from those owners. Great to hear about their struggles and triumphs and relate to the stuff they run into. Joe if you could pass along a msg I think more and larger pictures of the shops would be great for future features.

Had a conversation with a customer today about oil service. We had just finished up an oil service for the Customer and also a Complimentary Oil Service Inspection. He actually asked if he had to pay extra or if it was included LOL he was very impressed by the digital inspection... Anyway back to my story... the customer asked about his next oil change interval. Shame on me I had just bought an lube sticker machine this week and we are setting it up today. I did not get a chance to give this customer a lube sticker however when asked about his next oil change I did notify him we will be sending a notification for his next oil change. He asked when we suggest he get his next oil change my response was 5,000 miles or 6 months. The customer then asked why so early since synthetic oil is made better, last longer etc etc. I responded by saying, "Sir you are completely right! Synthetic Oil and especially the German brand of oil we use is really high quality stuff and you certainly can run the vehicle a lot longer without absolutely having to change your oil HOWEVER... it is in our professional opinion it is "cheap insurance" to perform oil services more frequently so we can monitor oil level, oil quality etc. We also perform our complimentary oil service inspection during every oil change." This customer is on the penny pincher side of things and his response was, "oh ok, makes sense." Systematically educating your customers is key! Systematic CRM is also super important. Something I am working on constantly.

Matt i just got my tablets today. I have a lot of work to do with building out my inspection forms and training my team on how to maximize and their potential.

Makes sense flacvabeach thank you for sharing.

Thank you Edward. I believe with today's technology and the wide use of Apple mobile products that do not have flash that it would be a smart idea for a big company and industry leader such as Mitchell to get on the non-flash bus lol

Swift, looks great!!

Great thread to be revived. Here is our website: www.mspecperformance.com Kukui made it for us. They do all of our internet marketing and CRM. We have been with them for about a year now. I am happy with the level of service and results we get. I need to update the pictures on the site, they are a little dated at this point.

Great post, explains a lot Joe thank you.

Edward, I don't believe they have training videos or modules on there.

Pros and cons ugh

Wish there were non flash updated videos

That is so weird. I will be on the look out. So far I have liked the software although I didn't know the integration with quickbooks was extra. Something my sales person omitted...