Joe Marconi

Do people realize the difference with an on the car lathe?

Each advisor must keep track of his follow up, they make a reminder in Mitchell and will hold aside in their personal file all unsold work that needs attention right away. They will plan out as budget and timeline for the work. They ask the customer for future dates to do the work and ask permission to call. For routine services they set up a post card or email reminder.

Follow Up On Unsold Work Marketing is all about creating a customer’s experience so positive and pleasurable that they will want to return to your shop again. If you can accomplish this, you will ensure a steady stream of cars into your bays. But, the strategy does not end with the experience. Every car you service will need some sort of future work. It could be anything from a basic oil change to a brake job or a timing belt. The point being, if you are not informing your customer of the services or repairs that are due next, you are probably missing out on a lot of potential work. We all know that money is tight these days and some of the repair bills can be expensive. Your customers may accept that they need the work you are recommending, but it just may not fit into their budget. Work with these customers, give them options. Inform them about the importance and benefits of the recommended work. Work out a time line for certain services and reassure them that you are looking out for their best interest. For unsold work, book the future work; spread the work over a few weeks or months if needed. Make sure you call the customer to remind them. I see too many shop owners, enter the recommendations on the invoice, but that’s not enough. You need to take a more proactive approach. And, don’t worry about being too pushy. If it’s in the best interest of the customer, you owe it to your customers to take care of all their car care needs. What about post card or email service reminders? They work great for state inspections, factory scheduled services and to remind customers who may be overdue for an oil change. But for important unsold work that needs more immediate attention; I have found that a phone call reminder works best. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

I was speaking with a shop owner the other day and he told he has a program where he will lend tech money for basic hand tools. The tools are owned by the shop until they are paid off by the tech. I have mixed thoughts about this. Has anyone tried this type of program or currently doing something like this?

I am interested in finding out more about the program Bolt On Technology, that intergrates with Mitchell Manager and possibly other programs. If anyone has any info, that would be greatly appreciated.

What's next? We make a recomendation that a vehicle needs a transmission service at 65,000 miles based on the condition of the fluid and we get sued because the owner's manual states 100,000 miles. This is crazy. We make recomnedations based on condition. It does not state in the owner's manual when to change wipers and brakes, but if a car needs them, you replace them. Right? We are the pro's. The car maker wants t sell cars and create the illusion that their cars don't need a lot of maintenance. If customers followed our recommendations, cars would last a long time, break down less, pollute less, have a higher resale value, perform better and would be more fuel effecient. That's exaclty what the car maker does not want. Agree or not?

All great comments. And I agree: How to compete with the backyard mechanic?...You don't. Every business must define their customer base. Never compete on someone elses terms. Be fair and honest and profitable. If you know what type of business you want to run, you will know what kind of customer you want. Find those customers and don't worry about the rest. In the 32 years I have been in business, I have seen many of these backyard, under the table shops. They don't stay around for long and the ones that do are never, ever profitable.

Gave me chills. Thanks for posting this. We all need to reflect at times.

I had a little fun with a customer the other day. I was in a good mode and just could not help myself. Here’s what happen… A first time customer failed NY state inspection for a worn tie rod and also needed a tire rotation. After the service advisor informed him he replied, “Oh, I do all my own work”. Here’s where the fun began. I walked over to the service counter and..... Me: “So, I just heard you need a tie rod and a tire rotation” Customer: “Yes, and I do all my own work” Me: “Really, that’s great, so you want to take care of the tie rod yourself and the tire rotation” Customer: “Yes, I’ll take care of it and come back for the inspection sticker” Me: “Can I ask you a question” Customer: “Sure” Me: “What alignment machine do you have in your garage at home?” Customer: “Uh, alignment machine?” Me: “Yes, after you install the tie rod, you need to at least check the toe in, and that requires an alignment machine”. Oh, and what kind of wheel balancer do you own, Hunter, Coats, Snap-On”? Customer: “Uh, balancer”? Me: “Yes, you ARE going to check the wheel balance when you rotate the tires, aren’t you”? Customer: “Oh yeh, sure, you bet I will” I could see he was getting flustered so I told him I was just having a little fun with him. He looked at me a little strange. I then told him that we have all the machines, tools, equipment, information to do an expert, quality job and that some things really cannot be done in your driveway at home. You know what he said to me at that point? “But I do all my own work”

Great article! And so true! Just the other day a customer came in and said, "I have no time, I need my crank sensor replaced, I know that's the problem and you need to do it now". I calmly told him that we have a room full of peolple waiting already (I motioned my head to the people behind him seated in my waiting area). He turned around to look at the other customers and turned back to me and said, "this won't take you long, I would do it mysef but I hurt my back recently". At that point he pulled the sensor out of his pocket. Now, a little disturbed, I said, "when were you going to tell me you had the part"? He was silent fo a few seconds and replied, "Is it a yes or no". I said "no", and he walked out. So ,this guy is also out there somewhere in the ether searching and searching and searching....

This is where the issue begins. Think about it, you have to remove the tire from the car, inspect it, put it in water to find the leak, break it down, inspect the inside, perform the proper repair, remount the tire, you may want to check the balance, put it back in the water to make sure the repair is ok and put it back on the car. All for how much? Right now we charge $28.50 for this repair. Some people look at me like I have two heads. They tell me, "I can get it plugged down the block for 10 bucks". I do agree, we need to protect ourselves, the tire companys have washed their hands of any liability. What about the shops that don't care or worry about the liability, will they make it bad for the rest of us?

I know this will be a battle, but I cannot sit on my hands when I know that shops in New York and probably around the country are paying too much for workers compensation insurance, when it comes to their service staff. I employ 7 mechanics, 3 service advisors and office personnel. My service advisors are true service advisors. They do not turn wrenches, they do not get their hands dirty and they are not subjected to any of the same hazards as the mechanics. They might get a paper cut once in a while, but that’s it. But, I pay workers comp insurance for my service advisors at the same rate as mechanics. And, I am sure there are a lot of other shop owners in the same boat. New York state workers compensation board has no classification for service advisors and consequently the rate we pay for workers comp for them is the same as the mechanics. Which means each year thousands of dollars are wasted needlessly? I know that the State needs money, and going down this road may seem futile, but I am going down the road anyway. I am working with the local Trade Organization and trying to get a meeting set up with the compensation board. I would like to hear from other shops in New York, send me your thoughts on this and opinions. The more information we have the better. In addition, I would like to hear from shops around the country on their workers compensation laws with respect to mechanics and service advisors. Any help would be appreciated on this matter. Thanks in advance! Joe Marconi

My top tech had an unfortunate comeback the other day that cost us dearly. He had been stepping us his game for the past month or so, mainly because the work was beginning to flow in and he knew that due to mediocre winter sales, the shop needed to play catch up. Maybe in retrospect, I should have pulled the reins back a bit. I have seen this before when great techs get too caught up in production and sometimes quality suffers. The tech felt really bad and worked on his own time, coming in early, staying late and even coming in on Saturday to fix the problem. I did not come down on him too hard, I am convinced he genuinely felt bad and was willing to make amends. My job now is to insure that his confidence level is ok. I spoke to the foreman and we both agreed to dispatch to him a few basic jobs and to more closely monitor his work for the next week or so. This tech is not only a great producer, but has a great personality and a morale booster. I don’t want to minimize the mistake in any way, but we all make mistakes, including me. I thought I would share this with other shop owners, I know you have all been down this road too.

With all the recent news about improper tire repairs I would like to hear from fellow shop owners on what your policy is on tire repairs. It seems as if the tire manufacturers are washing their hands of any responsibility once a tire has been repaired. We need to protect ourselves from potential litigation. Maybe we share ideas, procedures and policy and learn from each other.

Welcome Larry. I know we are all looking forward to some of your stories, it sounds like you have a very interesting shop. Welcome again! Joe

How do shops find techs? What has worked and what has not worked?

I am glad you enjoyed the article. I feel that leadership is crucial with today's workforce and maintianing morale is also key. If you read about all the great leaders in history, Lincoln, Churchill, Washington,etc., you find that these greats knew how to motivate people and get them to understand the "greater good".

Are You Reviewing Invoices? Every shop should have a workflow process; from scheduling, to customer write up, to car delivery. Each step of the process must be clearly defined and your service advisors and technicians must be held accountable to insure that the process is executed properly. All notes, upsells and additional parts should be documented properly on the technicians work order and transferred to the invoice. A review of all work orders after the work is complete must part of your overall quality control system. Was all work performed and all parts accounted for? Are there any cores, returns or defects? Are all customer concerns being addressed? Are technician recommendations being communicated to the customer? Are recommendations and any unsold needed work being documented on the final invoice? Are technicians completing the required multipoint check list? Is there consistency in the process? These are just a few of things that need to be reviewed and corrections made. With each improvement you make in the process, you increase productivity, which results in more profits to the bottom line.

What a nice touch and a nice story. You know, maybe we focus too much on those customers that give us so much grief. We need to step back once in a while a be thankfull, there are a lot of great customers we take care of. Glad you wrote this article, Gonzo. It made me reflect on many situations I have had thru the years like the one you wrote about.

Sorry, I don't sell any used tires, no one in my area does. We sell a ton of new tires. What type of market are you speaking of? We have many cusstomers who commute to work and put 25k plus miles on per year. Why not create a market selling new tires? You can add a few benefits such as, Lifetime rotations and free flat repairs, to get the customers returing to you. Just a thought...

The nationwide new car dealer population fell over 21% between 2000 and 2012, plunging from 22,250 to fewer than 17,540 outlets. This shuttered more than 45,000 dealer bays and slashed dealer light vehicle service (DIFM) share. Much of the dealer decline occurred between 2007 and 2011 when more than 3,500 dealers disappeared. However, the dealer population slide now appears to be over and dealers, with a different prospective on the service market today than just a few years ago, will be a strong competitive force in the U.S. DIFM market moving forward. ***resource: Lang Marketing, Aftermarket Insight **** I think this “thinning of the herd” may have produced a force to keep a watchfull eye on. The new car dealers that are left want a greater piece of the aftermarket pie. That means they are coming after our customers. I know we still are the preferred choice of the American motoring public, but we should not take our market share for granted.