Dino1

I think this is a GREAT idea. What management program are you using, though? It looks a lot like Mitchell Manager, but I don't have the ability to use a labor matix in my version of Mitchell.

http://amarilloautorepair.biz

We have been using Mitchell1's Social CRM for about 6 months now & I like it a lot! I cannot give you specifics on ROI, but I can tell you this: for a brand new from scratch, little 2-tech (and 1 SA) shop just now beginning our 3rd year in business, last year we barely broke 200K gross, this year we expect to exceed $250K. I attribute part of this to word-of-mouth referrals, but part of it also goes to the increase we've seen since signing up with Mitchell's eCRM. Don't know about their ability--or even willingness--to build a website. Having owned a business where I did website design & implementation, I set our's up myself. (www.amarilloautorepair.biz, if you're interested), plus I had already set up our Facebook & Google+ pages. Mitchell, through a partner, posts a weekly auto-related post on our Facebook, and sends out emails asking customers to review us on Google. We have lots & lots of reviews that were brought to us by the eCRM program, and we've heard from lots of customers who appreciate the ability to do so. Additionally, Mitchell has an appointment system that we've had lots of customers just rave about the ease with which they can schedule an appointment with us. Mitchell's eCRM sends out lots, without it becoming spam, of emails. A "Thank you" upon ever closed RO, service reminders, eBlast campaings, reminders of declined service work. I do not think they do any online advertising for you, RE: Google adwords, Bing or Yahoo. We subscribed to the full eCRM package with the exception of Postcard marketing/reminders. We have about 90% of our customers with email addresses, plus Mitchell has picked up about 5% of the ones we didn't have by matching address/phone numbers and supplying us with the associated email address. In short, I am very happy with Mitchell1's eCRM program and would highly recommend it.

We use a Pricing Matrix in Mitchell Manager and usually carry a 56-62% profit on parts. The image below is a snapshot of our Price Markup Matrix.

This is the area with which I struggle most--wondering if we're doing "ok" compared to the industry. I am a part-owner (60/40) of a 2-man, 2-bay shop currently in our 2nd calendar year of existance. 1 fairly amazing tech (albeit with some personal life pecidillos that I KNOW are costing us money) and myself, running the front as SA, CEO, CFO, COO, et al. For last fiscal (calendar) year, we had a gross income of right at $204,000.00, Cost of Goods Sold (inventory, parts purchased, sublet expenses) of about $61,600.00, for a Gross Profit of about $142,400.00, total other expenses (rent, utilities, advertising, hourly payroll, etc., etc.) of $71,400.00 for a Net Profit of $71,000.00 which we split 60/40, more or less. According to my math, this is about 34% of Gross Income, or almost 50% of Gross Profit. If the "20-30% Gold Standard" quoted is on Gross Income, we seem to be doing pretty well, if it's based on Gross Profit, we're doing amazingly well. Most recently, I come from the background of the manager (Glorified SA) of a major multi-national franchisee which I took from a best year of about $730,000 to over $1million in my first year. I was earning about 7% of Gross or about $7k/month--more money than I knew with what to do to just about $3k/month now, but with a LOT LESS hassle, stress and fewer hours. I feel like we could have a better bottom line, I've spent lots of money on advertising and other "schemes" to try to get new business to our start-up--for the most part, money that I just as well have run through my schredder and taken and thrown out into the street. Upon leaving my previous employer, about 1,000 of HIS/MY??? customers followed me to my new shop because they like & trust me. Most of our new business has come from word-of-mouth. I have 25 years experience as an SA, but I can sell more work in 30 minutes than my partner-tech can complete in 3 days (he's a little lackadasical in his punctuality and staying on-the-job, but otherwise good as a tech & fair as a diagnostician). Bottom like, according to the figures quoted, it seems like we're doing ok, even if it doesn't seem like it. Thoughts, comments, questions...???

This is the area with which I struggle most--wondering if we're doing "ok" compared to the industry. I am a part-owner (60/40) of a 2-man, 2-bay shop currently in our 2nd calendar year of existance. 1 fairly amazing tech (albeit with some personal life pecidillos that I KNOW are costing us money) and myself, running the front as SA, CEO, CFO, COO, et al. For last fiscal (calendar) year, we had a gross income of right at $204,000.00, Cost of Goods Sold (inventory, parts purchased, sublet expenses) of about $61,600.00, for a Gross Profit of about $142,400.00, total other expenses (rent, utilities, advertising, hourly payroll, etc., etc.) of $71,400.00 for a Net Profit of $71,000.00 which we split 60/40, more or less. According to my math, this is about 34% of Gross Income, or almost 50% of Gross Profit. If the "20-30% Gold Standard" quoted is on Gross Income, we seem to be doing pretty well, if it's based on Gross Profit, we're doing amazingly well. Most recently, I come from the background of the manager (Glorified SA) of a major multi-national franchisee which I took from a best year of about $730,000 to over $1million in my first year. I was earning about 7% of Gross or about $7k/month--more money than I knew with what to do to just about $3k/month now, but with a LOT LESS hassle, stress and fewer hours. I feel like we could have a better bottom line, I've spent lots of money on advertising and other "schemes" to try to get new business to our start-up--for the most part, money that I just as well have run through my schredder and taken and thrown out into the street. Upon leaving my previous employer, about 1,000 of HIS/MY??? customers followed me to my new shop because they like & trust me. Most of our new business has come from word-of-mouth. I have 25 years experience as an SA, but I can sell more work in 30 minutes than my partner-tech can complete in 3 days (he's a little lackadasical in his punctuality and staying on-the-job, but otherwise good as a tech & fair as a diagnostician). Bottom like, according to the figures quoted, it seems like we're doing ok, even if it doesn't seem like it. Thoughts, comments, questions...???

This is the area with which I struggle most--wondering if we're doing "ok" compared to the industry. I am a part-owner (60/40) of a 2-man, 2-bay shop currently in our 2nd calendar year of existance. 1 fairly amazing tech (albeit with some personal life pecidillos that I KNOW are costing us money) and myself, running the front as SA, CEO, CFO, COO, et al. For last fiscal (calendar) year, we had a gross income of right at $204,000.00, Cost of Goods Sold (inventory, parts purchased, sublet expenses) of about $61,600.00, for a Gross Profit of about $142,400.00, total other expenses (rent, utilities, advertising, hourly payroll, etc., etc.) of $71,400.00 for a Net Profit of $71,000.00 which we split 60/40, more or less. According to my math, this is about 34% of Gross Income, or almost 50% of Gross Profit. If the "20-30% Gold Standard" quoted is on Gross Income, we seem to be doing pretty well, if it's based on Gross Profit, we're doing amazingly well. Most recently, I come from the background of the manager (Glorified SA) of a major multi-national franchisee which I took from a best year of about $730,000 to over $1million in my first year. I was earning about 7% of Gross or about $7k/month--more money than I knew with what to do to just about $3k/month now, but with a LOT LESS hassle, stress and fewer hours. I feel like we could have a better bottom line, I've spent lots of money on advertising and other "schemes" to try to get new business to our start-up--for the most part, money that I just as well have run through my schredder and taken and thrown out into the street. Upon leaving my previous employer, about 1,000 of HIS/MY??? customers followed me to my new shop because they like & trust me. Most of our new business has come from word-of-mouth. I have 25 years experience as an SA, but I can sell more work in 30 minutes than my partner-tech can complete in 3 days (he's a little lackadasical in his punctuality and staying on-the-job, but otherwise good as a tech & fair as a diagnostician). Bottom like, according to the figures quoted, it seems like we're doing ok, even if it doesn't seem like it. Thoughts, comments, questions...???