Joe Marconi

I highly recommend having a car care event. This will promote your business and bring customers to your bays. We have done with great sucess.

In the dark days of the World War II, when it looked as if Germany would overtake Britain, Winston Churchill, one of history’s greatest leaders, understood that for Britain to persevere he needed to maintain high morale and confidence of the people. Churchill worked hard at reducing all signs and symbols of negativity. When the antiaircraft guns were low on shells, he ordered the firing of blanks. This would show a continuous message of strength, rather than silence which would bring fear to the people and give the German bombers a feeling of superiority. When the Germans sank vital supply ships, Churchill pointed out that many hundreds of ship made it through safe and sound, instead giving attention to the ships that were sunk. Churchill never minimized events, but would never allow defeat to enter his mind. As shop owners we are the leaders of our companies. We need to remain strong and positive. Focusing on the negative will hurt morale and only serve to bring down your business. Focus on the positive and watch morale and productivity go up.

Glad to see the problem is solved. I am sure it's a big load off your shoulders.

In my 30 years in business I have seen many different types of people. Some that don't need to be motivated, because they are self motivated. These techs produce because it's the way they are. Then, on the other hand, I have seen techs that are lazy and need to have a "reason" to be motivated. Flat rate works, there is no dispute on my part. It's just that it is up to management and ownership to provide the opportunity to have enough work. This is where I see the problem in many dealerships. When the work is there, the techs makes money,when the shop is slow the tech suffers. Does it equal out? I don't really know for sure. What I do know is this: if a tech works hard and produces he/she needs to get compinsated for that.

Now that is interesting...Cash for Clunkers turns out to as bad as sub prime lending...giving many people an incentive to but something who really should not have gotton a loan to begin with...another bad move from this administration.

Factory cats? Oh, please...I switched to selling factory cats to avoid the issues with the aftermarket.

i don't think it's the heat. I have had seen a high failure rate too, that's why I posted my concern. What bothers me is that alot of these cats were not replaced due to cat failure, but rusted thru. There was no check engine light before, but they came back with a cat error. Something is up and we need to find out.

I judge the economy by consumer confidence. And I can tell you first hand that it's low. My customer are very concerned over the state of the nation and blame a good portion on the current administration. I think we are in tough times the next few years. It will somewhat stabilze as we adjust, but it will be tough.

What a crazy world we live in. The story does not give all the details.

Just got back. Had a great time in San Francisco, very enjoyable. And yes, very proud of my Son.

He is in commercial real estate, big properties: Malls, apartment complexes, shopping centers, etc.

I will be on vacation this week, flying out to California to visit my son. I will try to check in from time to time. Keep things going on ASO for me while I'm away. I know all of you will do a great job! Joe Marconi

Perhaps in some Fairy Tale world, all techs are getting along nice, helping each other, not worrying about the other guy, just trying to do the best he can and can handle anything that enters his bay. But, reality is reality and techs are people and we need to understand that many have limitations and emotions can and will get in the way more often than we like. It is a delicate balance to give all my techs the opportunity to earn a good wage and dispatch the work fairly. But in a real world, it doesn’t always work out and animosity begins to set in. I cannot show favoritism either. That will kill the shop for sure. I deal with the emotions as best I can. I give praise to my techs for a great job and thank them often. Some things cannot be totally solved; this is one of those things.

All great points! You would be shocked at how some shops treat their part suppliers. As we all know, a little "honey" goes a long way.

We all know all too often the frustrations of dealing with your local part suppliers at times; wrong parts, defective parts, delayed deliveries, on and on. Although it may appear as if there is a conspiracy, I don’t think they intentionally want to do your business harm. The fact is we need our part suppliers and we need on-time deliveries. Productivity equates to profit and having the right part delivered in a timely manner is critical. We started a policy to be respectful and courteous over the phone to all parts counter people and to the drivers. We make a little small talk and make sure we thank the drivers for the fast service. You be surprised how people react to a little humanity for a change, after getting beat up all day. Think of it this way….if your shop stands out because you’re known has the “nice guys”; I promise you if there are 2 deliveries going out at the same time, your shop will be the first stop.

Believe me; we all know how valuable a talented tech is. And, sometimes we make allowances because of that. How do the other employees feel? That will become an issue. Sometimes, others may not tell you, but it is affecting their morale and that may be hurting productivity. I am not preaching to you or anyone, I would be the first to tell you I have my share of mistakes with regard to employees and policy. I just want to understand the mindset of the employee and how they can sometimes hold the boss hostage. If that Euro tech wasn't any good, you would have gotten rid of him long ago...right?

Gonzo, where do you find these people? Or should I say, how do they find YOU? I know I can speak for many when I say that by now we all look forward to another chapter in the life of Gonzo. Keep 'em coming!

My grandparents, on both my mother’s side and father’s side, came to this country from Italy in the early 1900’s. I am the second generation born here. We were taught never to forget our ancestry, but more importantly, we were now Americans. And being American meant something. With a thick Italian accent, my grandmother would brag that she could read, write and speak English. I was taught as a young child to be proud of being an American. We never referred to a hyphenated name either. We were Americans…not Italian-American. When my father enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor was bombed, he was asked if he had any issues fighting the Italians. He lashed back and stated that he was an American, and was ready to fight anyone or any country to protect this great nation. Yes, my family came here to become Americans. We never looked back, only forward. We did not send money back to the “home land”, like so many immigrants do today. We came here not only to better ourselves but to make this country better. And we made a difference. We won wars and worked hard. But, it’s not the same anymore. There is something happening in this country that breaking the fabric that once held this country together. I for one am disgusted at what I see, particularly from our current President and his administration. I think it’s time to take back America!

Well, that explains it! It looks like most of the country is like California.

Put together a game plan. How much exposure and how often, being consistent is important. Once you commit to social media you need to monitor and be part of it, which is the idea behind social media. I can tell you that some people have a hard time at first, but eventually it becomes second nature. Also, the kind of content and the message you want to deliver. You also need to put together a plan to reach contacts and promote the fact that you are using social media to your regular customers and prospect customer, whether its facebook, linkedIn, etc. For example, if you are on facebook, invite people to your facebook page from your web site and every form of advertising you do.

Incredible! Makes you proud!

Great article. I tell my service writers you need to establish a relationship before you can sell anything. You need to think of the customer as a friend or family member. Once this is established, the customer has trust in you and everything else will fall into place. With many first time customers, we use the same approach as in the article; we inspect and advise. We feel that we need the customer to feel comfortable with us first. This can only be accomplished through relationship building.