Joe Marconi

Gonzo, I think we should grab another cup for xrac, what do you think?

Gonzo, a very moving article, it really touched me. Your insight about people, the world and business is astounding. You have the gift of expression, which makes you special. But you are not alone in your intellect. I have met scores of shop owners and mechanics who share that same intellect. We need shop owners such as you to be our song birds. AutoShopOwner.com has a mission is to bring the great minds of the auto service industry together and collectively raise our image. Maybe someday we will make a difference…perhaps we will meet one day and toast our accomplishments…perhaps with a cup of coffee... at a book store.

People buy when they are ready to buy, not necessarily when you are ready to sell. Don’t get frustrated if a “Mailed Special” does not get the response you were looking for. Your customers may not be ready to buy your service at that time, even though it may be a great deal. The purpose of advertising and marketing is to maintain a continuous stream of information to your customer. The more you can connect with your customers and other people in your market area, the more you increase your chances of those people coming to you when they are ready to buy. Put it this way; Dunkin Donuts does not expect you to jump off your couch every time it airs a TV commercial, does it? No. The purpose of the commercial is to keep embedding the Dunkin Donuts brand into your mind, which in turn they know increases their odds you will choose Dunkin Donuts the next time you are traveling down the road looking for coffee and donuts. Commit to a constant stream of advertising and marketing and, in time, it will work. Remember, if you are not marketing to your customer, someone else will.

As usual Gonzo, WELL SAID!

Vickie, this does burn me up! Negotiate a price??? How about negotiating a price the next time you go to the Movies, tell the girl at the window, "Hey, Robin Hood at Lowes Theatre is only 11 bucks, can you match it”? I mean, PLEASE, this is ridiculous and we as professionals must not stand for this.

8am to 2pm, usually. There have been times where we were busy to 4:00. We will stay if there is work.

Is it me or does AutoMD have an agenda I am not aware of? How can the price of job, any job, be the same where ever you go. AND, "why" does it have to be the same??? Do you get the same price for a steak dinner at every resturant around the country. Are there not different levels of service, parts and economic standards of living? Who sets these prices? I seem to remember that we live in the USA... the land of the free, the land of free enterpirse!! We all do remember this once great country, right? I think we should voice our opinions on AutoMD and tell them how we feel. I have said this a million times...we are the hardest working people in any industry and we deserve to make a decent income. I am not going to be dictated by some online service that tells me what I should charge or how much I can make on a job. NEVER! Sorry, this really upsets me....

We do the same. I find that a rotation works best, it gives people much needed time off. Saturdays is slowly becoming one of our best sales days. At this point I can't see going back to bing closed.

I have been using LKQ for a few years too and found them very good. The have nice warranty program which helps sell the job.

Being single is a big advantage and I do agree that the exposure of being there on Sundays can give you a competitive advantage. Eventually you must build the business so that you do not have to wear all the hats. You need down time and time to work on the business. You can only run that marathon for so long. Trust me, when I started I worked 7 days a week until I reached burnout and got to a point where I hated the business. My life, family and business were suffering and I didn't know how to get out the depression I was in. Slowly I learned that I needed to be a better business person and I started to grow the business. Since that time my business has grown year after year and I am much happier. As I am writing this I am planning on leaving a little early today and get a jump on the weekend. Let's face it, we all work very hard. We need time away to recharge our batteries.

That's funny, same thing happened to me, and I would guess it happens a lot on the Subarus.

Are they any other companies in your area that pick up waste oil. We no longer deal with Safety Kleen. We deal with a lubricate supplier that sells antifreeze, washer solvent (all in bulk) and other chemicals, and they also pick up our waste oil. And, like I said, they also pay us the the waste oil. We give them 250 to 400 gallons at a time and few times a year,that may be the difference.

We have a waste oil heater and burn most of our waste oil. The oil we dispose of we get anywhere from 15 cents to 30 cents a gallon depending on the going price, but never ever had to pay someone to get rid of it.

I think most of us understood that about mode $06.

Absolutely! I think if I received anything less the exceptional service I would have perceived this as a somewhat bad experience. If you think about, when we go to McDonalds, we know exactly what we are getting which is in line with what we are paying. At McDonalds, the food is bad, the people are not friendly, and you have to clean up your own table….but that’s McDonalds. I think to really learn from this lesson, we need to ask ourselves: If we can deliver exceptional service and WOW the customer, could this help us with sales and with pricing? I believe it can. My customer area and bathrooms are immaculate. My customer bathroom has flowers and paintings on the wall, tile floor and gets cleaned twice a day. My customer service area always has fresh coffee with cookies or pastry. I also empress upon my service advisors to smile and provide the very best in customer service. I do think this makes a difference. The customer cannot see the wonderfull brake job you just finished, but they will judge you on what they CAN see, and that's at the front counter and customer service area.

Gonzo, I agree. I don't think pulling a camera is what we need to do either. Although, maybe a special occasion, like when a customer reaches 200,000 miles on a car you have kept alive.You can put that on a Wall of Fame or on your website? But, you are right, it's the feeling that my wife and I left with and that IS something we need to think about and make sure that our customers walk away with that warm and fuzzy feeling.

Wow, I don't think anyone could have summed it up better than you. You really have an understanding of the meaning between "price" and "value". Plus you truly understand what customer you want to work for. Well said!

Gonzo, 100 posts in a short period of time! A world of thanks for you valuable contributions!

You guys are funny, glad you enjoyed the story.

I took my wife to Morton’s Steak House last Saturday to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The experience was a lesson in customer service. I made a reservation in advance for 6:45, as I walked through the door the receptionist greeted us with a big smile and said, “Welcome to Morton’s Steak House”. She then asked if we had a reservation and I replied,” Yes, 6:45”. She said, “Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Marconi, please follow me, the maitre d' is waiting for you and will seat you. The fact that she knew who we were immediately made us feel special. As we walked with the maitre d’ he asked us if this was a special occasion. I told him my wife and I are celebrating our 32th anniversary. He paused for a second and congratulated us. He then seated us, took our drink order and told us that Henry, our server for the evening, will be over in just a moment. Henry also greeted us with a big smile and reviewed the all that Morton had to offer; from the appetizer to the main course to desert. He then handed us our menus and at the top of the menus in bold writing was the following: “Happy 32th Anniversary Mr and Mrs. Marconi”. What an impression this made on my wife and I! A little later waiter took our photo and came back shortly with the photo in a card. Now this is customer service. It’s all about the experience. The rest of the evening went great, the food was great and of course I left a nice tip.

Well written with easy to follow details. This article could actually be part of a complete CAN seminar. Also, it's always good to put a case study, like the Caddy window problem. Great job, as usual.

Have you made adjustments to your staff in terms of scheduling? We use a rotation basis so that people still have their time off, but we have full staff for 6 days a week.

I don't know how you find these things, but again, thanks for the laugh (and the smile)!

Gonzo, I would bet with your sense of humor, you smile a a lot. Right?

Martin Lindstrom, author of the book “buy-ology”, describes how the brain reacts to certain suggestive stimulus and how advertises and sales people can increase sales by understanding how the mind works in advertising and in the sales process. Experiments were conducted and researchers found that sales people who smiled more and had a friendly disposition were significantly more successful than those that did not smile at all. We all know that the sales process is very complicated, but incorporating a smile along with a friendly nature can go a long way in increasing sales.