Joe Marconi

Too crazy for me!

Sabotage from assembly line workers is more than rumors. I don’t know if goes on today but let me tell you a story about when I worked at the Ford dealer in the 70’s. I was handed a work order on a brand new 1978 T Bird. The customer was complaining of a sound like a marble rolling around when coming to a stop or accelerating quickly. Sure enough whenever you took off fast or came to a stop there was a sound like a marble was rolling around under the seat. After a number of road tests with a helper, we determined that noise was coming from the rocker panel area just under the door on the passenger side. I removed the seat and the pulled the rug on the passenger side. There was no access to inside the rocker panel so I used my air chisel to cut open an access hole. I inserted a magnet, fished around and pulled out a ball bearing. After a half dozen more cases, we knew this was a joke by the guys on the assembly line.

I started doinng photo insurance inspections for two months now for CARCO. It gives us the chance to meet new people and showcase who we are and our shop. It's hard to tell at this point if we can convert these people to us. We have sold state inspections, oil changes and wipers on some of these cars by just letting people know that these services are due. Plus, we ask each customer if we can add them to our data base and send them promotions. Most say yes. The way I see it, anything that brings new people to your shop is a win-win. You do the man power to handle the added work, don't think you can do it yourself.

I understand. Yes, please contact an attorney ASAP!

First, we have all been down this road, so we all feel for you. Each state is different with respect to laws, storage, mechanic's lien, etc. i don't know if it was a good idea to tow the car out of your shop. It's always best to keep the car under your control, or if you own a storage yard. Having the car at your shop with authorization for repair work is different than no authorization for towing the car to another site. You need to contact legal council. Do you have an attorney? If not, are there any auto ogranizations in your area that has a lawyer on retainer. Or, call other shops to see if they know of a lawyer or other legal counsil. Don't go on what other people say, not even the police. Get legal help. You need to protect yourself at this point. You may be 100% right, but certain protocol must be followed. I hope this helps, I hate this part of the business....I have been there too many times....

So far, so good....

Any football fans want to share your predictions?

Past, Present, Future I’m pretty sure we can all agree that the last few years have been a roller coaster ride with respect to business. But, if you are reading this, you are still in business. Maybe a little battle weary, but you’re still standing. Hopefully by now you have gone thru all the numbers from last year and made your assessments on the state of your business. It’s crucial as you move forward to take a long hard look at all areas of your business and carefully calculate your cost of doing business (breakeven), all your expenses and all your key performance numbers. See where your weaknesses are and more importantly, see what brings you the greatest amount of return. After you have done this, prepare a “State of the Business Document” and share this with your employees. They don’t have to know all the little details, but they need to know how the business did and where the business is going in 2013. Also outline all the accomplishments of 2012, leaving out the negative stuff. Remember, whatever you want to see more of is the stuff you promote and concentrate on. Keep the document focused on the positive attributes of the business and outline your goals and plan for 2013. From time to time review the goals to keep everyone energized. Come up with a theme that everyone can rally around. In my shop I came up with “Lucky 13”, referring to 2013 being a great year. I walk around the shop when I see everyone working and say, “Great job, Lucky 13, this is our year!” When you believe in your goals and keep them in focus it becomes real. Lucky 13!

There are many great books on leadership, and from what I have found the great leaders share so much in common. Also, the principles can be applied to business, sports, politics and life. Although these are not specific to the auto repair business, it really does not matter in my opinion and greatly helped me. Here are a few of my favorite choices: -The 21 Irrefutable laws of Leadership; John C Maxwell (he wrote many books on leadership -Lincoln on Leadership; Donald T. Phillips -We Shall Not Fail, The Inspiring Leadership of Winston Churchill; Celia Sands & Jonathan Littman -How to win Friends & Influence People; Dale Carnegie (A must read for anyone in business) There are more books, but these are my favorites.

It might be a good idea to create a memo about the rise in social security taken out of everyone’s pay and give it to your employees. Many people may not realize what the increase is and how it will affect their take-home pay. Social security tax is now 6.2%, up from 4.2%. That means a family that earns $50,000 a year, will see an extra $1,000 deducted from their paychecks this year. That comes to an extra $40 a paycheck. Less take home pay means less money spent in the economy too, so we all need to see how this plays out for business.

We started something new at my shop about six months ago that is having an unexpected positive result. For years I have reviewed the previous week with the techs. I inform them of their productivity hours, comebacks, any commissions earned, etc. But I never really gave them a formal written report. Six months ago I created a simple report card with key performance number: Productivity hours, commissions earned, comebacks and their ranking in the shop. They get this report at the end of the month. The two numbers they focus on is the comeback number and their ranking in the shop. When they see “zero” next to the comeback line, they feel elated. We all like to know how we are doing and how we stand among our peers. By the way, this report is private. Only the tech knows his numbers and his ranking, unless he opts to share it with the other techs. Another benefit, technician comebacks have gone down to near zero. I guess when they see it in black and white and know there is a formal record, it has a bigger impact.

The storm affected different shops in different ways. Some shops lost of ton of business due to the storm destroying houses, stores and cars. Many areas were closed to any traffic. Shops that were in these neigborhoods lost a lot of work and actually could not conduct business and people were either out of work or relocated. Areas that were hit with minor damage did better. Probalbly the best case scenario is a normal winter with expected snow storms, but not those that devestate an area.

Your unique way of dealing with his behavior is a lesson for all of us. Going head to head with him would have solved nothing and if you did what he asked, it would have resulted in an even worse situation. If you think about it, you allowed him to remain in control, but ultimately you were in control, a win-win for all. Great story, great lesson.

Nice, oh the memories!

Here we are in January, and the winter in the north east, so far, has not been that bad. While most people are enjoying the mild winter, body shops and repair shops would prefer a more normal winter. It’s not that we want to wish the motor public bad things, but we could use a boost in business at this point.

Celebrate Birthdays, Build Morale Make it a point to put on your calendar the birthdays of each employee that works with you. On the day of an employee’s birthday do something special for that person. It does not have to be anything extravagant either, maybe lunch or a gift card. Announce it to the rest of the employees too. This builds morale because it connects with your employees on an emotional level. Oh, and don't forget a birthday card, handwritten by you and signed by the rest of the team.

Does anyone have any information on Angie’s List? I am getting calls and emails almost daily from them. I know other shop owners are being contacted too. It would be nice if any shop owners who had dealing with Angie’s List can supply us with any experience they know or heard of. Thanks in advance!

1000 members is almost here! Let's do it!

Wow, that dog as better skills than me!

I do a lot of self study, plus I read a lot. I have a personal goal to read one business book per month. As you may know, in addition to being a shop owner, the co-founder of AutoShopOwner, I also work as a business consultant and business coach for Elite Worldwide. I also do seminars. Business training for shop owners is crucial for sucess. While I think that self study has it's place and has value, most people are not that deligent to following through on a program by themselves. Most need to be held accountable. The reason why live training works is because of the human contact the trainer has with the audience. The problem with live training is that it can be a sacrifice in time to attend the seminar, plus training only works when its done on a continuos bassis, just as in technical training. Training that invloves all the elements (live, self study, webinars, etc) works the best in my opinion, that's what Elite does. I appreciate you posting this. As you stated, in today's econmic climate shop owners need to view themselves as business people and that means a commitment in contiuous improvment in the areas of business management, sales, marketing, finance and leadership. Great post; thanks...

I think we can all learn a lesson by how the computer tech handled the situation. He listened, told you what the charges were going to be (and charged for his testing), and informed you of what the likely cause was, then he completed the process by further diagnosing the problem. How many times have we checked somone's car, found nothing, but did not charge for our labor?

Wow! What a question. After 32 years in business and nearly 40 years in this industry, there is so much I have to say. I guess, what made the biggest impact in my life is making the transition from a mechanic to business man. I still love to work on cars, but my true focus is on my business. For the past 20 years I have devoted most of time learning about business and working on my business. I pay attention to the numbers of the business and pay attention to the people who work with me. I help them grow, never worrying about them leaving, but always working to help them succeed in life. Shop owners have an obligation to not only our families, but the families of the people who work with us, and of course, our customers. The other advice is learn how your customer thinks. In spite of what we think, the consumer does not see a value in out technical expertise. I know this statement does not sit well with many, but think about it. How many national chain stores, with low skilled techs, that do not have the technical expertise you have or the level of dedication you, are still very successful? The best shops struggle, even with great techs, great tools, great equipment. We need to understand what the customer thinks. We need to give them a purpose to come to us, charge what we need to charge and never be afraid of making a profit. There is so much more I can say, this is a start...any questions....

In the late 1970s I worked at a Ford dealer. The mechanic across the bay just got done rebuilding a transmission, installed it, but it would not move. After an 30 minutes or so, another mechanic walked over and look on top of his tool box, he picked up the input shaft and said, "Looking for this"?. We had some laugh, no beer. He was mad as hell. Great story! As always...