TSANDS

Speaking personally from being on the receiving end of a bonus, and from a family business with a similar tradition to what Xrac has implemented, I think it's much more important to be transparent and stick to a set cadence. You're worrying about trying to squeeze out a few hours of production in a couple weeks when really an annual bonus is meant to reward consistent loyal help. Paying it in November vs December or January really doesn't make a difference, Xrac is just trying to be helpful to his employees who might want to take advantage of some sales. Annual also can be calendar year or fiscal year or some random month, so his employees have worked the 12 months since last bonus anyway. I doubt his employees aren't thinking that they can take it easy in December.. they're probably thinking about it in July when they are dreaming of a beach vacation the following year. You could also set some guidelines about how business performance affects end of year bonuses.. if it's profit sharing, then everyone can get behind trying to keep costs down, and selling more services.. Just food for thought.

Hello there, I've read where some shop management systems allow a service writer to include the next preventative maintenance schedule items on the RO, maybe even going as far as attempting to schedule the next appointment months away.. this kind of content is specific to the customer's vehicle. If you include the pricing, you can offer a specific discount on the complete package if they return with your flyer. (Full disclosure - I work for CARFAX) - Our myCARFAX app (mycarfax.com, free) includes the preventative maintenance schedule and compares oil changes against the OEM schedule (when your shop reports it to us, we mark it off the customer's account and won't remind them again until the next scheduled oil change). If we can see that a new myCARFAX user is from your shop, we even include your shops contact info and address in those reminders (email with iOS and Android push notifications coming soon). Good luck! Thomas