HarrytheCarGeek

Teach your SA to call their assigned sales people and ask for discounts and match pricing. Sometimes I see a lower price on a competitor and tell them to match pricing, more likely than not they will price match. Or make your own and ask for that price, for example, if you want a 20% discount multiply their given price x .8, say $100 x .8 = $80. Chances are they will give you the 20 percent discount if they can.

I use Demandforce. I am very happy with them, it did take me about a year to get the most of of them though. I had to hire a couple of writers for some interesting content to put on the newsletters. They are pricey but they do pay for themselves by keeping my customers in touch with us.

I am at $150, Diesel $175, Ambulance and class 8 at $225.

My daughter shared this link and video regarding retailing, I think those running their shops would find it loaded with valuable information. The lady is brilliant. https://www.shopify.com/videos/successful-retail-shop/opening-a-boutique-5-rules

I want to share this with you, but please do not take it as arrogance or bragging, that is not the intention of my post. I have done a tremendous amount of work, as has my team, into improving our efficiency rate and sales. April 2017 is being the most successful month ever, shops that have averaged 70k to 80k in sales have double their sales this month. We changed our strategy, we focused on the customer's needs and made it extremely convenient for them to do business with us. We only choose the customer that can afford us and is worth our effort to please them. We crossed into the other problem, our people are being overworked, and their monetary compensation is not worth the loss of time with their families. What and irony this is. Here is the bigger issue, my teams success is an anomaly, we are doing something different into a very difficult economy. In other words we have been going against the grain, which is really not sustainable. I see a lot of turmoil coming, new disruptive technologies, people lacking adaptation skill into this new coming environment. Many things that give me pause. All I can say for now, we are living in very interesting times.

Good, qualified help tends to cost more, unless they don't know their value, but soon they leave once they find out they can make more down the street. Like Wheelingauto said supply/demand.

Yes indeed, who are the ignorant dolts criticizing you?

Automobile Liability General Liability Garage Liability Garage Keepers On-Hook Liability Worker's Compensation Excess Liability

Welcome. You need to read up on insurance and what coverage you are getting. You know Apples to apples, the carriers make it complicated so you can get stiffed in case of a claim. Zurich Insurance Group have been one of my best carriers. Pricing should be consistent on the amount of risk you are seeking to cover.

I like this one. Nice, clean, unique, professional.

Last year we had a very ebb and flow kind of business, then around September we changed marketing strategy for the coming year. We exceed our best year quarterly sales by 12% this first quarter. Pulled a lot of new customer from the dealers that are having scheduling issues. We have been very proactive in getting this new business, if we had not actively targeted our prospects I am sure our sales would have suffered. It is a very much more complicated business atmosphere, but I think if things slow down for new car dealers we should fare much better soon. http://www.zerohedge.com/print/592110 Morgan Stanley: Used Car Prices May Crash 50%

Another priceless story Gonzo, thank you. People tell me we are expensive and that we charge too much. But they keep coming back. I use the best parts, and make sure the work is done right, and always have a second pair of eyes verify the repair. Yes, it does cost more. The Sinch'Ya customer is not too keep on us, but they try. I even have had them tell me it was not a brotherly thing to do to charge extra for "simple things to check", when I ask them to explain the parable of the Talents, they look at me with a puzzled look. Clearly I try to be a good steward with the two bits I have been entrusted with.

Yesterday was the end of the 1st quarter of 2017. We broke records in sales and in revenue. All that marketing has paid off. The majority of customers we have picked up came from dealer service centers that wanted a second opinion and let us do the work. All of this thanks to a brilliant social media marketing campaign. Remember, it is the small daily habits that determine your success.

I think that's another part of the problem. But if you ask me, the fundamental and base problem is the tinkering the Federal Reserve has done with the low interest rates, that has distorted everything. From housing, medicine, education, transportation, etc. It's all a money problem.

Right, supply and demand, doesn't get any simpler than that. For every older car that is replaced independent shops won't see them in at least 3 to 4 years, and some even 5 to 7 years. All those 5 year 100k long warranties helps the dealers froim having the independents take a bite at the apple.

tyrguy, I think you are right, there is more capacity in the market. I think simply because of the low interest rates. After the crisis of 2008, Cash for Clunkers took out about 3/4 of a million cars. http://www.heraldcourier.com//news/opinion_columns/article_1ec4ccc4-4350-11e2-8145-0019bb30f31a.html And then the low interest rates made the choice to get a new car easier than keeping an older car, this has hit us hard, I think. Given that car manufacturers are claiming that peak auto sales has been reached, I wonder how it will go for us in the next few years. Plus autonomous car coming along too, should be an interest business environment. http://www.autonews.com/article/20170327/FINANCE_AND_INSURANCE/170329874/auto-sales-peak-heightens-risk-for-lenders-moodys-warns

I think you will enjoy this: https://jcrowcoaching.com/2012/04/04/preparing-a-roast/ http://www.snopes.com/weddings/newlywed/secret.asp I always saw myself as being in the business of helping people get to where they want to go. Have worked on bicycles, motorcycles, car, trucks, buses, etc. Got to be that the main bread came from car repair so that has being the center of attention. But if you ask me why I do what I do, the answer is simple, I enjoy getting to where I am going and therefore enjoy helping other get where they are going. I have been lucky enough to have traveled all over the world, and my mechanic skills help me and others along the way get to where we were going. Thanks for the post, it brought back some very sweet memories.

Allright, so we had a Spring special recorded, used Stratics to drop 5K calls. Results? Madness! Our phones went crazy, turns out the calls were all made within a couple of hours, last Saturday was a madhouse. Lesson? The program works, but you have to manage it carefully. One more tool in the marketing tool chest.

Jay, what are your insurance cost over all? You know, workers comp., liability, garage keepers, etc.? And how do you price those costs into your jobs?

Don't let me detract you from it, these things are like an itch, you will not be satisfied until you scratch it. Only after you are done, will you see if you are the wiser.

Gentlemen, The numbers don't lie. I don't have the time to go into detail, but from over 25 years experience, cheap oil changes were never good for my business. If AndersonAuto is making a net 20%, that is a VERY impressive number with cheap LOFs as the main driving tool for new business. Except for me, in my experience it hasn't happened. Be it at the two bay shop or the 30 lift facility. For example 900K at 37% growth yields $1.2 Million. That would be about 100K a month is sales. With 13 employess plus himself that would be $7,142 in sales revenue per employee on a monthly basis or about 85K on an annual basis. How does that compare to your numbers? My worse perfoming shop is doing about 60K month and 145k per employee in an annual basis. My aversion to cheap oil pricing is that it truly distorts the value of our industry. Having said that, if he is indeed taking in 20% net, more power to him, since that is what owneship of the business is all about, how much you get to keep after all is said and done.

I don't want to turn this into a pissing contest, because this is one argument that is not profitable for me to spend my time on. But I will bite for the hell of it. 1. 37% is impressive, but 37% of what dollars in revenue? net profit? car count? etc. 2. 317K again, is impressive, but are you sure you are not double counting your net dollars if you are taking your shop's net into account into the LLC's? And that 78K is it not a part of the cost of which you made that net 317k? I think you need to talk to your CPA. 3. I won't even mention the car, because BMW. 4. Now, I give you this, you are right that emotion should not play a part in marketing decisions. And you know what, you are right about Kohl's and their Kohl's cash, they have a great system there, the way they use their coupon and discounting with their Kohl's cash, very nice way they keep their customers coming back and lowering their customer acquisition cost. But that is the thing, by your own example, it took you four years to lose a bottom feeder! That means your own systems are not running up to par to fire unwanted patrons! 5. Regarding the article, I took from it what it benefited me and discarded the rest, you may be right the author may not be doing what he preaches, however, I did find his take useful from what he gave in that article. In other words, acquiring knowledge is like gold mining, you find it in nuggets at a time, but you have to sift through a lot of ore.

For those interested, here is an article I read a while ago that helped me view marketing in a different and better light: http://robertmaxim.com/auto-repair-marketing/845-coupons-vs-value-based-auto-repair-marketing.htm

BTW, I would have fired that "customer' sooner, think of all the lift time and material you invested in a losing relationship.

AndersonAuto, please don't take this the wrong way. "I REALLY HATE THE CHEAP OIL CHANGE GIMICK." In my opinion, giving out a cheap synthetic oil change like you are doing gives our industry a bad image. Why? Again, in my opinion, because it distorts the consumers' perception of what it cost to do business. One of the reasons that fancy car manufacturers strive to have you use a machine to reset the maintenance interval is because it gives the impression that you need a qualified technician to reset the little light. Think about the biggest industries that thrive in people's ignorance: lawyers, insurance, and finance. Please do not take this personally, as I understand you have to do what is best for you. But in my opinion, you are hurting yourself and others by doing cheap oil changes.