Joe Marconi

First of welcome and the best of luck to you and your husband! ASO is a great resource for you, so please spend time going through all the amazing information from all the amazing members we have. And of course, don't be a stranger and post questions and comments. We all learn from each other.

While it's true that we are in a shortage of techs, it's also true that all the trades are having a hard time finding good people. It's a hard question to answer. I think you are right with your comment about decades of pushing people to college. Even today, it's blasted on the media and by politicians that getting an education is a must for all. But "education" is defined by a career other than a trade. We have it backwards. One other thing I want to point out. When I started my business in 1980 there were a lot of people that called themselves mechanics. And you could put these people to work doing mechanical work that they learned working with their father or uncle growing up. Complicated diagnostic work did not exist. And the boss, the shop owner, back then, checked the car out, did the diag and then dispatched the work to the mechanic. A lot simpler process. Today, we look for a seasoned pro with diagnostic skills. Plus cars are light-years ahead of what they were back then. It's always been about attracting the best people to our industry. We still have a long way to go as an industry and a nation to make the trades attractive to young people and increase the profits for the shops so they can pay people really good wages.

The fact that she came back, is actually a good thing. It gives us a chance to know how we dropped the ball. The worst scenario is when the customer is upset, and does not return, and we never know what happened. That's unless they post a negative review.

SOOOO TRUE! My guys are stuck on a misfire, # 3 cylinder was the code. Can't figure the problem out. I walked over and said, put the scanner away and diagnose the car from the basics. Verify what cylinder, not what the scanner says. Turned out it was #4 cylinder, not # 3 misfire - the harness chewed thru by a mouse. Back to basics.

How many fuel pumps were condemned due to empty fuel tanks? Back to basics.

Wow....so relevant to our business...any business for that matter!

I’ll never forget the day when Mrs. Obrien brought her car back for me to look at. She was furious. I stayed late the night before, well into the night, to finish her car so she could have it for work the next day. I even did a few little things on the house because I felt she may be a little inconvenienced picking the car up so late. Why did she bring the car back? A comeback? Well, not in the conventional way. It was the greasy smudge on her seat that she was angry about. But what about me staying late? Or giving away a few minor services? Doesn’t that count? She is upset about a grease smudge? Oh yes, and she has every right to be. The fact is, you can do the best repair, using the best parts, performed by the best technician on the planet. But what the customer sees is not necessarily your hard work, it’s that little greasy smudge that you are judged by. Unfortunate and unfair? Yes. But it’s a reality. Perform the best repairs and provide world-class customer service; and never forget; it’s the little things the customer sees. And that’s what important to them.

This is a reminder that I will be at the Ratchet and Wrench Conference. This Monday, I will be making two presentations; "Beating Shop Owner Burnout" and "The True Cost of Comeback" If anyone is going, please stop by and say hello....and of course, please attend my presentations! Thank you. Joe https://rwconference.com/

Great article on a very important topic. If shops don't embrace the change in the automotive world, they will fall victims the same as the blacksmiths did in the early 1900's. You make many key points, but two things really stick out for me. The ability and desire for shops to maintain their technological edge, which means they need to think differently. And, if we don't communicate the right message to the consumer, how in the world can they comprehend the costs associated with repairing and servicing their hi-tech vehicles? We can train the techs, and we can invest....but without a ROI we are doomed. And we won't attract the quality people to our industry until we change how we think and understand the true cost of being in business. You speak of training....I want to include Shop Owner Business Training too. I have seen too many shop owners with great techs, all the right equipment and make it mandatory for all their techs to attend training; only to give it all away because the shop owner does not understand how to properly charge the customer.

The day to day operations of running a business can take its toll on anyone. To be a business owner means to address problem after problem and finding the right solutions. Sometimes the decisions we make will be the right ones, sometimes not. If we are not careful, this emotional roller coaster we call being in business, can make us focus too much on the negative, and not the positive things that happen in our lives. With nearly 4 decades as a business owner, I can say with certainty that one of the basic building blocks of being successful in business is having the right team of people around you and getting yourself in the right frame of mind. You need to find and hire great people. But once you have them, you need to do all you can to take care of them, train them and make them successful in order for you to be successful. Is it easy? No. But it is essential. Most important; you need to treat each day as if it were a gift from the heavens and base your entire perspective from a position of strength and remaining positive. I know it’s not easy, but I can tell you, it works.

Great insight!

Great perspective! No app can replace good-old fashion mechanical know-how (I hope anyway) The other day I opened my tool box to look for something, and one of the younger techs said to the other techs, "Hey, look at Joe, it's like going through a museum." Well, I didn't need Google or an app to do my job years ago.

Wow! Amazing!

About 6 months ago, The Wall Street Journal ran an article that featured all the trades: welders, electricians, plumbers, auto mechanics, etc. They found that there is a shortage among all the trades, nationwide. At the same time, we are seeing more and more automotive graduates from schools like Universal Technical Institute and Lincoln Tech. So where are they? It's time we start a movement to become involved in our community, schools, and technical schools. If we can't find them, we need to grow them. Xrac is right about the money. Unfortunately, until shops make enough profit, they cannot always pay what a tech deserves. Basically, the shop owners too need to earn the wage THEY deserve. I know I may hit a nerve here, but here it goes: I find that too many shop owners do not earn enough profits, so how can they attract quality people and pay them. As an industry we need to raise the image and the average income of shop owners first. Automotive shop owners are the hardest working people on the planet. They owe it to themselves and their families to earn the income they deserve. When this happens, they will be able to offer their employees a better pay package. It's not all about money, but everyone needs to earn a decent wage and feel good about themselves.

I hear this frustration too often. I think it's time for Mitchell to step up to the plate and have a dialogue with shop owners. Mitchell is in the driver's seat to be the number one Business Management Company, but they do fall short in many areas. I would like to hear from other Mitchell users, perhaps we can gain some traction and collectively voice our concerns to Mitchell.

This is not new topic for me, but I need to revisit it again. And I will keep revisiting this topic for the sake of our industry. For independent repair shops to "thrive" today, you must take a proactive approach with regard to business. If you only want to "survive" you can stop reading now. Waiting for the phone to ring, or for cars to breakdown, or for a customer to drive into your shop asking for a repair or service is business suicide. The days of broken cars lining up in front of your bays are over. Sure, cars still breakdown, but you cannot thrive with a wait-and-see strategy. Make sure you perform multipoint inspections on all cars in for any type of service. Yes, any type of service or repair. Look up vehicle history on all vehicles. Let the customer know of needed services, missed services and services due. And lastly, book the next appointment. Yes, I know....Joe's been preaching this over and over and it does not work in your shop. Fine, then let me focus on those shops that do book the next appointment. Because those are the shops that are adopting a proactive approach...and I will see those shops in the future.

I do agree that we need to pay our employees a decent wage. It's a main factor in attracting quality people to our industry. The only thing I would recommend is to carefully look at your overhead, cost of sales and make sure your generating enough profit. This may take some time, but it's worth it. In other words, it's one thing to want to pay someone a certain amount, but you need to make sure the company earns a profit and that the technician is generating enough labor production hours. I pay techs a base wage, which is above average in my area, and also pay production bonus on top. One more thing, money is not the only motivator for production. A healthy work environment, with a strong leader, and recognition of your employees will do wonders for your production.

Gonzo, I could go and on and piggy back on your article. There are so many fundamental laws that are broken each day. As we have said in the past, there must be a code book or consumer manual that teaches people these crazy things. It must exist, it must.

I will be there giving two presentations: "Beating Burnout" and "The True Cost of Comebacks" If anyone is going, please let me know. It would be great to meet you. And of course, please attend my presentations!

There is a lot more information needed before I can really determine what is going on with your business. However, we can draw a few general conclusions. It's not so much your prices or labor rate that is the problem, but how efficient and productive you are. In other words, how much labor is being produced per hour by your techs? You could have a $150.00 labor rate, but if a tech only produces $300 in labor in an 8 hour day, that translates into $37.50 per hour for that day, for that tech. You need to look at production, the type of jobs you are selling, you customer base, your profit on parts. And too much discounting is a sure way to go out of business. By the way, EVERYONE of my customers are family and/or friends, but I don't discount a dime. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Back in the late 1990’s, I began to get concerned about car counts and customer retention. Around that time, cars were beginning to become more reliable and many of the services and tune up components we once counted on, were going away. I also started to notice that many customers were going to the quick lubes for their oil changes. To be honest, I couldn’t blame them. There was a time when I did not offer any “wait” service and I was never concerned about the oil change business. That all changed. I began an all-out blitz to get my customers coming back to me for their next oil change. I especially made it a point to inform customers of their next appointment when we did not due their last oil change. I just informed them of their next service date and made sure they received a service reminder. The plan took time, but it worked. It increased car counts and customer retention improved. We still use this strategy to this day. Make sure you speak to all customers at car delivery about their next service. Book it in your calendar. And if the car was not in for an oil change, check the oil sticker, enter the date in your CRM reminder system, and assume that the customer wants to return to you. We need to be proactive these days. We cannot wait for the phone to ring, we have to make it ring!

It's always a little challenging when we realize there are more years behind us, than there are ahead of us. But, the really good news is that we learn to appreciate the things that you cannot define with a price tag. And that makes it all worth it to keep on pushing through life's obstacles.

Great question. Most shops attain a much lower profit margin on tires. I have seen anyway from 15 to 25% on average. For this reason, most shops do not include tires in their overall part margin. Many shop management systems, such as Mitchell1 have two matrix's, one to markup parts, and another to markup tires. Labor is another story. If your target is a 60% GP overall, you need to set your sights on a 70% GP on labor and an overall GP on parts at around 50%. It's attainable, but it also depends on your tire sales mix. And if you do a lot of tires, you most likely have Tire techs which are paid at a lower rate than Master Techs, which means your labor spread will be better. As you can see, there are a lot of variables here.

You make excellent and valid points. I think what upsets a lot of shop owners is the marketing strategy and advertising that undermines the professional. For example, I listen to a sports radio station on my way home at night. And on that station, three different auto parts stores advertise to the DIY market, which is ok. What's not ok is the message that they can help and save money, so why spend your money at the repair shop. There will always be the DIYer, I agree. There will always be the Home Depot market too, where home owners tackle home improvement. I think the issue is more about pride and our image than anything. I hope I am making sense here?