Jordan Spain-Honaker

Joe, you make a great point. I tend to over-explain because I want the customer to trust me. More often than not, I'm digging my own grave. I've slowly but surely begun to change this habit and it's worked out better. If we're professionals we should operate like other professionals. ​

For any sales / service writer training I would suggest any of Brian Tracy's sales training materials. The hardest part in sales is building that confidence up. His material builds on that.

40K covers 3 year custom consulting plan via phone/internet/on site, 2 education/networking conventions a year, building one new website for our second location that exists under a previous name in the area, and running two websites for 3 years. The owner/owners also get to retake any class they or their staff have already taking. I'm not a mechanic and my FIL is not a business person. This has helped the two of us bridge the gap in communication with each other and help with transitioning leadership/ownership​ from my FIL to my wife and I. Although I've done sales and customer service training and management in the retail sector, MS! has helped us turn our shop from mediocre to getting better. It takes hard work and lots of communication as a team, but I guess all things do.

I just re-upped with MS!. The plan works if you work the plan and find a consultant you can work with. My FIL is great at the transmission rebuild side and not so great at the business/customer service end (his words). He admits that we wasted the first 40K by not following the plan and not working well with our first two consultants. In one of our recent meetings we discussed the idea of signing back up and trying again, but 40K isn't chump change. We agreed that I would do the program and he would allow us to implement changes to prepare us for the transfer of ownership between him and my wife and I. So far so good. There are better programs with a different bent to them, such as Elite, but MS! works well for us. Whatever plan, program, or coaching you decide on, you have to be willing to put in everything you can and learn to take 100% responsibility for the results you achieve, good or bad. ​​

This is the main reason I stress a complete inspection. Yes, they are useful for upselling and future repair calls, but when I hear about accidents like this it makes me so angry. This was unavoidable. Whenever a team member decides it takes too long to inspect I hold up a pic of my wife and daughter and let them know if that was their car and something happened, how I would feel.

Our coach harps on this. Repetition, repetition, repetition! Thanks Harry.

Great tip, and one we have struggled to follow. Our MS! consultant helped to point this out. We have been solely a transmission repair shop since 1993. Last year we hired new techs and branched out into general automotive repair. We stressed noting recommended repairs and scheduling customers at a later date, but we did not focus on the inspection itself. While trying to educate our lead tech on this he commented that inspections for the sake of additional sales is pushy and unethical. Customers will call us if they need something done. Sadly, I've seen this same thing happen at several friends shops. How do you educate and motivate your team to do the complete inspection and want to do them?

Stowintegrity, you nailed it. Many repair facilities take a "how much is enough" mentality, you've shown the "over the top" mentality. I'm glad you're on the site, I can't wait to hear more about your success!

Jordon, Glad to hear things are working out. I know how difficult it can be to work with family. Do you have written out policies that dictate everyone's position, power and responsibility? Do you have any written policies at all? That one move saved our family and helped us open a second location.

The greatest lesson we learned after joining MS was to never be afraid to fire a customer. Go with your gut. It's not worth the extra hassle and stress to deal with unreasonable customers. I'm all for great customer service, including going above and beyond, but you cannot hurt yourself for the extra dollar. Define the type of community you live in, decide what type of customer your want, and stick to your guns. It makes for greater moral and greater peace.

We just had the privilege of opening a second shop location in our area of East Texas. Our most successful mode of advertising is word of mouth. Create and in house referral rewards program. Tell every customer that when they refer someone to their shop, they will get something (free oil change, $20 gift card, etc.). When you work this program it works! We also focus on social media and getting involved in our community. Social media reaches everyone for minimal cost and while volunteering is primarily for giving back, it also helps get your name out there.

Our family shop is currently on their program. My father in law signed up about six months before I came on in management at the shop. The first course I took at their facilities was "Service Writer School". For the first three days we used L. Ron Hubbard's material to be "calm under pressure". It was terrible. The teachers were excellent, the student involvement was better than I have been used to, but the material was horrible. The last two days were completely practical. These days were taught by a local shop owner named Mike Proud. He had been through every program MS offered and was extremely knowledgeable. He was matter of fact concerning MS material, what he liked and didn't like, and what worked for him. I ended up being able to eat a few meals with Mike after hours and this helped. I am skeptical of MS. They have based most of their material off of L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology teachings. Some of the teachers and coaches are substandard. But, a lot of the program works if you work it. Much like everything else you have to devote to it 110%. When I was allowed to partner with my FIL and get involved in the coaching, management, and company leadership, I saw the benefit. We're in the Transmission business. With two years we've raised our average RO $200 to $400 dollars, raised our gross profit percentage to an average of 55% to 60%, and we opened a second location two weeks ago. This is the best growth and prosperity that we've seen since our heyday in the late 90's early 00's. Now my wife is involved and we are looking to grow our shop and customer service to hand down to our children when they get old enough. We're committed in a way we didn't even know was possible and it's exciting! My advice, go to a meet up and talk to the owners that have been through or are involved in the course. It's good for some and not for others, but it mostly depends on if you're hungry for success and open to working their plan. Eat the meat, spit out the bones and it works.

You've got the right idea. A lack of training on multiple fronts is hampering many local shops. We've just recently become serious about training in our shop and it's paying off.

Every time I read one of your articles I get exactly what I've been needing. For the last week we've began to notice the importance of continual training for all of our shop team. The value this adds to your shop and the people on the team is so very important. Do you have any advice on how to get your team motivated to be life-long learners?

I'm going to back up what Mr. Marconi said. When I came on board at our family shop two years ago we had a few SOP's already in place, uniforms, breaks, etc. etc. The biggest change we made was to clearly define roles and responsibilities in writing. Beyond that we created a work flow chart that clearly showed step by step our vehicle check in, inspection, sales, repairs and quality check. Our shop crew complains that we repeat our SOP's too often, but when we do everything runs smoother and customers are happier. Funny right?

Joe, When do you usually decide to step in and reverse your manager's decisions? It seems that would be counter intuitive, but it may need to be done in rare cases.

Kevo, I just had the same train of thought happen in the past couple of weeks. I'm glad you posted this question and received these great responses.