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carmcapriotto

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  1. carmcapriotto

    A Sophisticated Client Experience

    By carmcapriotto,


    Customer Experience
    I recently chatted with Seth Thorson from Eurotech Auto Service in Minneapolis about the topic of Sophisticated Service.
    As professionals in the auto service industry, each of you plays a significant role in shaping the client experience. Whether you run a Euro shop like Seth or an all-makes-and-models shop, your contribution to the sophistication of the client experience is invaluable.
    In today’s competitive landscape, providing a sophisticated client experience is no longer a nice-to-have but a necessity for professional auto service shops seeking to stand out. A sophisticated client experience goes beyond merely meeting expectations – it captivates, delights, and forges lasting connections between your brand and your valued clientele.
    By crafting a sophisticated client experience, you can set your business apart from the competition and position yourself as a trusted advisor. This means going beyond the surface-level interactions and delving deeper to truly understand your client’s needs, goals, and pain points. It’s about anticipating their requirements, delivering personalized solutions, and fostering a sense of partnership and collaboration.
    A sophisticated client experience is built on a foundation of attentive communication, attention to detail, and a genuine commitment to your clients’ safe and reliable transportation. It’s about creating a seamless, high-touch journey that leaves a lasting impression and inspires loyalty. When you get it right, your clients will keep coming back and become your most powerful advocates, driving referrals and growth for your business.
    Implementing a sophisticated client experience requires a multifaceted approach. Seamless digital interfaces, personalized communication, and anticipatory service are just a few elements that contribute to an elevated brand experience. Investing in these strategies demonstrates to your clients that their needs and preferences are heard and actively prioritized.
    Your team must be on board and buy-in to the value of this improved experience.
    Increased customer loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and a strengthened brand reputation are tangible benefits that can propel your business to new heights. Delivering a sophisticated client experience that sets you apart from the competition cannot only elevate your brand’s engagement but also unlock a world of possibilities for growth and expansion, instilling a sense of optimism in your business journey.
  2. carmcapriotto
    This past weekend, Sirius XM played the top 100 Beatles songs, voted by their listener. During a busy weekend, while in the car, Ann and I had a chance to listen in segments. I love to hear the story behind the music. What inspired the song. How many sessions did it take to get it ‘right’. What instruments were used, among other great trivia.
    I heard the segment starting with song #7 and the Abbey Road Medley. My favorite stretch of Beatles music is Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End (all on Abbey Road). I could listen to that over and over. I started to guess what were the top songs heading to #1. 
    The car radio made us button pushers. We do the same with our smartphones. We look for something fun and familiar that matches our musical taste or instant boredom; then, we push a button. We were discussing that when the song In My Life came on. We both said, “it was a song you would never push a button.” How many songs or memories would you never push a button?
    We went about our chores and errands and we missed the final segment of the show. Since I had not listened to the entire 100 list, I figured that Yesterday, Hey Jude, In My Life, and Let It Be had to be there. 

    Back at the house and finished with errands, I looked up the top 100 and realized that 95% of those songs were complete listens. I would not push a button. They worked and brought back memories that were created years ago. How could the 229 published Beatles songs all be so different?
    That got me to think of how quickly we move from one thing to another because we are bored or unfamiliar. I’m somewhat guilty but have learned that taking in the whole documentary or podcast is a discipline that usually pays off. I’ve always called it: “Listen To Learn Just One Thing.” Start collecting your ‘One Things’ and build a stable of insights and ideas you can use for a lifetime.
    In a rut? Is it groundhog day, every day? Then think of how you can create something new each day. The Beatles did it with every song. Unique, fresh, different. Move from your same old routine and refresh, tweak and improve you, and the world around you.
    Bonus: Link to the 2020 Sirus XM Top 100 Beatles Song List   https://bit.ly/3mof7Ci
    View the full article
  3. carmcapriotto
    Early in 2021, I interviewed the recipients of the first annual AAPEX 2020 Awards; Shop Owner of the Year, Service Advisor of the Year, and Technician of the Year.
    I’m so grateful that AAPEX for the first time created these award categories to start this important recognition. I also had the honors to present the awards at Virtual AAPEX.
    I pulled the honorees together for a podcast not just to pay homage to their awards, but to talk among ourselves about the relationship between the owner, technician, and service advisor.
    As with 99.5% of all the podcasts I’ve done, there is always one thing to learn from every episode, sometimes two, three, or four. This one is no exception and has a very powerful message. You can hear it in our voices when Norm Schultz, who won the Technician of the Year honor, talked about re-inventing himself. It was a very special moment.
    I don’t want to preach to you about listening to this episode, but I want to strongly suggest that you invest the time. You may think, it’s just an awards thing. You will be wrong. If you listen completely to this episode you may see why and how you need to re-invent yourself. You may just have yourself a lightning bolt moment and possibly be inspired to jump over the hill you’ve been trying to climb. If this is not you, then someone you know deserves to hear this story.
    Thanks to Brian Sump, Norm Schultz, and Jason Sexton for being on the podcast, and congrats to them for picking up the 2020 top honors. https://remarkableresults.biz/e606/
     
    View the full article
  4. carmcapriotto
    Have you walked one of your regional malls lately? I recently spent time at our one big regional 1.6 million sq’ mall. It had been a while since I’d been there and I saw and felt the impact Covid-19 and e-commerce has had on our world. At the minimum, I counted 15 closed stores. I’m not talking about the small boutique storefronts, but some very big name stores shuttered.
    We’ve heard of the challenges many brick and mortar stores are having and the stores that are closing to ‘restructure’ into a more lean and profitable entity. Here are some thoughts that came to me as I walked through this magnet of commerce and the effect on our industry/economy:
    Our industry is essential. Amen to that. I’m not sure that sunk in early in 2020 but thank God we could be open. When I saw the shuttered stores I thought of the jobs lost. Those people own vehicles and are your customers. Where did those jobs go? Where any of them our service customers? Absolutely. Did those businesses close because they were an underperforming store? Did their lease come due and the lasting effects of the pandemic were too much to carry? Did they shutter their doors even though they still had a lease and it would cost less to pay the lease than to keep their door open? Has e-commerce taken a huge chunk of business? Are big malls dead? Ever notice that the old-style strip plaza has fewer empty storefronts than big malls? The impact of the pandemic is not over. Job loss is real, think of all the restaurant/bar workers who’ve been out of jobs (tip extra when you start going out again). Figure in the impact e-commerce has had and will have on brick and mortar jobs. Do you wonder where the people who lost a job will find their next?
    Even as many states start to ease their restrictions and we slowly open up again, it is going to take some time (a long time) to recover the shuttered storefronts and lost jobs. Pay attention and be careful with your business. Constantly review sales, margins, and costs. Review your marketing, strengthen your culture, retain your best people and covet your customer.
    Go walk the mall, see the impact and strengthen your resolve to protect your business or your job.
    View the full article
  5. carmcapriotto

    Knee Hurt?

    By carmcapriotto,

    Feet ache? Can’t see well? Back hurt? Does your knee hurt? You may need a specialist in each of these areas.
    Is your business aching, hurting? (in the sense that it is struggling with sales and profits)
    There are specialists in the automotive service aftermarket that can fix a struggling business. They are called coaches or consultants. I get requests to recommend a coach to listeners. I do not. I’m very neutral in the industry. I need to be so we can get the views from all segments and people in the industry.
    I’ve always wanted to do an episode that included a shop owner looking to hire a business coach and record that discussion.
    That episode was released last Friday and is very worthy of your listen, most importantly if you don’t have a coach, or even if you do.
    It was all on the up and up; Rick Williams picked three coaches he wanted to have on with him. I had no say in who Rick wished to speak to. But I do have a voice now. This is an important episode to spend some time with. Here is the link.
    Too many shop owners say they cannot afford to hire a coach. Tell that to the coach, let him or her show you how their fees are affordable and how much more you can make as you both work to fix the business and even yourself.
    One of our most challenging years is almost over, and 2021 is here in a short few weeks. Accept that you need to learn about the things you don’t know that will put you on a path to unrivaled success. Use the over 800 episodes to help you get in touch with the stories that have helped so many. Find your pain point here.
    The essential voices of the aftermarket reside here:  https://remarkbleresults.biz/episodes
     
    View the full article
  6. carmcapriotto
    Of late there has been a lot of dialogue around my circles about being paid for the value you give and bring to your customer. I recently saw a survey of shops whose sales averaged $750,000 yet their net operating profit was only 2%. That is only a $15,000 average net operating income before tax. This troubling stat begs the question: How do you continue to invest in the business and even provide a living wage for you and your team at that level of profit?
    If you consider the investment you have and the hours you put in, even after your salary, all your hard work brought you a very small return on your investment. For some owners, they are happy with that because they want and have a job or even a hobby. Others are learning that a very small profit will not sustain the business and realizing that they must earn a higher net profit if they want to survive.
    Profit is one of the reasons you are in business. It is the return on your investment; and yes, net profit makes your business more valuable to a potential buyer. A business coach recently mentioned that most shop owners do not realize that their business is the conduit to providing a living wage for you and your team; needless to mention a college education for your family and a nest egg for retirement. That sometimes is a deep realization that motivates owners to change and realize they need help running their business.
    There is nothing wrong with asking for help. Humility is a great trait to have. Sometimes do not like to admit, that we do not have all the answers. Therefore, help from wise coaches and colleagues can be the difference in abundant success.
    I would say that 98.9% of shop owners that I asked about raising their labor rate told me that they were the one who was most affected by the change. Most customers did not notice and did not even care. But raising your rate $10.00 may not be the correct move, why not $20.00? All too often you are so worried about the labor rate of the shop down the road or the dealer up the street. That is the wrong way to look at your rate. It is your value proposition to your customer that matters. Your investments in training, tools, equipment, subscriptions, facility, and marketing, benefits help establish your rate. Of course, you do need to consider your market/s income demographic.
    Okay, you decide to take a very serious look at your labor rate. There are many scientific ways to figure out your new labor rate. One of them is not what the guy down the street is charging or what the OE dealers get. You have got to consider all your labor costs and review your shop’s KPIs. Find someone in your network to help you ‘yellow pad’ the numbers, there are many that will help. I can even find someone who can help you, just send me an email. ([email protected])
    Ask yourself if your new rate will provide a great value to your customer, even if you are the highest in your market? If your answer is yes, then it is easy to do.
    In podcast sessions, we have discussed having multiple labor rates. We know that testing/diagnostic jobs in many cases do not come with a part sale. Typically, parts and labor make up 55/45 percent of every invoice.  As a shop owner, you know that profits are made on parts and on labor. When parts sales are not a significant part of a diagnostic procedure, you are missing out on the parts profit unless you have a different and higher testing/diagnostic labor rate.
    Recently, a shop owner posted a special (higher) labor rate on vehicles that are 25 years and older. He is in the Southwest where cars last a long time. As he came to find out, through the school of hard knocks, he was losing money on these vehicles because of the time they were spending on the repair. I can only believe that in the North where salt is used on the roads the factor jumps even higher. He did not lose one customer.
    Fear seems to be the biggest reason that many shop owners do not adjust their labor rates. You will convince yourself that you will lose business. I am not saying that it may happen, but most of the shop owners that did raise their rate wonder why it took so long to do so.
    You know what it costs you to do business. You are bombarded every day with price increases from services you use to run your business. There are also new marketing tools you would like to implement. There are raises and benefits to provide your people. All of that takes money. How will you ever start on the road to extreme profits unless you take a serious look at your labor rate?
    Your peers have covered this topic in a great way on the aftermarket’s premier podcast. These long-form audio forums make you the fly on the wall in every conversation and give you a ringside seat in the great networking world of podcasting. I am attaching a URL that will search the site for all podcasts where we cover labor rates. Pick out a few and listen, then take the steps to a financially healthier company and you.  http://bit.ly/2K9RCg2
    Carm Capriotto
    Aftermarket Influencer And Host Of Remarkable Results Radio, Aftermarket Weekly and the Town Hall Academy Podcasts, Where the Business of the Aftermarket is Spoken.
    www.remarkableresults.biz
    View the full article
  7. carmcapriotto

    When We Teach

    By carmcapriotto,

    Have you learned and experienced the powerful adage ‘When We Teach We Learn’. Ask any trainer if it is true.
    How do you make this work? Have you read a good book lately, attended a virtual seminar, listened to one of my podcasts? Learn anything? I bet you did, even just one new thing.
    How to start. Create a platform for knowledge sharing inside your organization. If you are an owner or leader, you have the power of meetings. If you are not assembling your team weekly, then do it. Carve out some time for knowledge transfer that includes your team. These become teaching/learning moments. ‘When We Teach We Learn.’
    Everyone shares one new idea or tip they learned. It can be related to their job, the business, or their life. The learning and conviction come when they share or teach their concept, idea, or principle. Think of the power of education when anyone in your organization presents a highlight of a class they recently attended. From technical, service, and business management training all should share their newfound knowledge. Get them involved.
    Have you finished a great book? Teach the premise to your team. It will stick even stronger with you. Listen to a podcast? Did you learn just one thing? Write it down, and then share it with your peer or team member. It does not have to be a formal setting, just ‘mentor’ away. When you rephrase it in your own words and find ways to relate it to your life, business, or family, you will learn it and make it your own.
    Years ago, I found a list of ‘How We Learn’ from William Glasser. Here it is:
    10% Read 20% Hear 30% See 50% Hear and See 70% Say/Discuss 80% Personal Experience 95% Teach to Someone Else Great leaders want their people to teach what they know to their colleagues. You’ll discover a lot about the collective culture of your company when you learn from each other.
    View the full article
  8. carmcapriotto
    Flipping through channels, there it was, the beloved ‘Wizard of Oz’. I just can’t help but stop and get a fix of this very special movie. I remember as a kid being glued to the TV watching this every year.
    I found the movie in its first 20 minutes at the part where Dorothy starts her journey down the yellow brick road. I immediately thought of life’s journey, brick by brick. I could not help but think of life’s challenges and opportunities that each brick can afford us. The journey we take in growing relationships, family and a business.
    Since becoming the aftermarket’s lead podcaster I looked at the movie through the eyes of my listener. How does this movie’s message help you as Dorothy met the other main characters from Frank Baum’s 1900 novel? 
    I think one of the greatest lines from the movie is when Dorothy asked the scarecrow, “What would you do with a brain if you had one.” Please ponder on that one for a moment. Don’t we ask that of others often in our life? What are we doing with our brains?
    When Dorothy says “We’re not in Kansas anymore”, doesn’t that resonate with you considering the incredible changes in life, business, and relationships we are going through. And how about the Tin Man saying that he “Held that ax up for ages and it got rusted.” Do the same thing over and over and you get stuck.
    We know that the dream/goal for Dorothy and team was to meet the wizard and fix their problems. Is there really an end of the road? Shouldn’t we pick up wisdom along the way and find our own solutions. How about our peer network or twenty groups. Is your business coach the wizard?
    How about the need for a heart for the Tin Man. He used words like devotion, emotion, sentimental, gentle, sensitive, and heart. Isn’t that what caring for people and self is all about. Relationships, as we know, is a strong currency in life.
    And let’s not forget the Wicked Witch of the West. She was there to get in our way. To make us stumble. To put the curve in the road. She has a role in the story and in our life. It is what we do with those twists that give us character and ‘fail forward’ toughness.
    And finally, the Cowardly Lion, who wanted to be the ‘King of the Forest’. He wanted to brave a blizzard, have courage and show prowess. We can all relate to wanting more courage.
    A heart. A Brain and Courage. I hope you get a chance to watch the Wizzard of Oz this season. Let it inspire you to compile some great goals for 2021 and realize we have all that we want, we just have to believe and act.
    View the full article
  9. carmcapriotto
    If you had known then what you know now, would you have opened your own shop?
    Every day new shops open in North America. Many of them from technicians who have a dream and desire of opening up their own. For many, it is a life long dream to own their own business. For the majority of new business owners, they are great at the skill but do not understand how a business works.
    Some owners will lose a team member to the dream of opening their own. They are talented techs and want to build a business around it. Why don’t you help them prepare, even mentor them? The E-Myth from Michael Gerber sums it all up. Everyone can relate to the cupcake maker.
    To help your team understand the rigors of business ownership and to help enlighten someone who wants to open their own, start to expose the challenges of business ownership.
    I believe it is healthy to share the backend of your business with your people. Show them your costs from your Profit or Loss Statement. Show them the ways you measure performance and set budgets. Explain how the taxes and bills get paid and the consequence when they don’t. Explain why managing cash is necessary to help grow the business or survive a crisis. (Anyone heard of the pandemic)
    Explain the value you receive from your networking group or coaching experience. Why processes and procedures are so critical. Who would have thought that your business would have transformed into what it is today had you not sacrificed and improved along the way. You took new-found knowledge and improvised it to work in your business.
    Think back, would you have it any other way. Probably not. But you wish you could go back 10 years with your knowledge today and make changes. So help our new young people with their dream. Why? We are going to lose many business owners. They will retire, sell, or just close up. Opportunities exist for succession and for new owners to start from scratch. Why should anyone do it alone? We can keep making the aftermarket a strong influence as the preferred place for safe and reliable transportation by helping to raise early success for all newcomers.
    View the full article
  10. carmcapriotto
    Customers want a great experience. They have preconceived expectations on how their experience with you is going to happen. Will it be as good as in the past. Will it be better than the dealer or the shop they patronized who is now closed? 
    Every time we set out to do business, even a trip to Macy’s to buy a shirt, we have a preconceived notion on the shopping experience. I recall getting a special discount because I hadn’t brought in the coupon from the newspaper. I didn’t even know about it. The clerk just did it and told me. I was elated. I haven’t forgotten the unexpected surprise that made the transaction memorable.
    You have a huge responsibility to keep your customers long term and to gain new ones based on everything you do (the pandemic notwithstanding).  The one special surprise that the customer is not expecting will be a memory maker that will stay with them for a long time.
    You know exactly what you can do with each transaction that will be the one little ‘extra’ that is worth all the marketing monies you spend to gain new customers.
    Start making a list of unexpected services you can do to delight your customer. Make a big deal about it when you close the transaction. With our touchless transactions today, be sure to document on the work order, text what you did, send an email, or call the customer with the surprise. Be a memory maker.
    View the full article
  11. carmcapriotto
    Are change forces blowing harder and faster than we realize? And are we creating them?
    A restaurant in my town decided to rent some space in an office tower next to our AAA Ball Park. It just happens that the Toronto Blue Jays are playing there because of the pandemic (Canadian/US border lockdown). All US teams will play Toronto in Buffalo. There are no fans allowed in the park
    Fans are desperate to see sports and watch a major league team. Did I mention the space the restauranter rented as a 360-degree view of Lake Erie, the city and overlooks the ballpark?
    This is purely out of the box thinking. The owner is catering, not cooking. You place your order and the food is made a block away at the actual restaurant then quickly shuttled over to the temp restaurant. You’ve got customers who enjoy a meal with a birds-eye view of the park. Not to mention a business owner with a new mousetrap of an idea. How ingenious.
    Have you put your thinking cap on? Do you need an annex to be able to manage your business? I talked to a few shop owners, some say they are booked two and three weeks out. If you’ve got enough business how are you managing it? Is there a shuttered shop within a few miles that you could rent to allow for your overflow. Have you built your bench of talent that would staff another location? (even short term)
    Oh, the possibilities when you think creatively and differently. I sense real change coming as we adapt to new ways of everything.
    View the full article

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