Key Performance Indicators Photo By Stratocaster

Understanding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Your Auto Repair Shop

Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are important tools for achieving success. They provide a clear measure of progress toward organizational goals. These help auto repair shops both to stay on track and to reach their objectives.

KPIs offer insight into how well the business is doing and also reveal areas that need improvement. All these work together to increase your ROI and then help scale your efforts. In this blog, we’ll discuss:

1. What KPIs are and why they matter
2. How to create KPIs for your auto repair shop
3. How working with a business coach can jump start this process. 

What Are Key Performance Indicators? 

KPIs are measurable values which assess your company’s performance. They provide insight into what’s happening in the business in real time. When companies track KPIs over time, they can identify trends in performance. Those trends then allow them to make informed decisions about the future. 

Why Do They Matter? 

KPIs are essential for measuring success. Without them, businesses may not be able to accurately assess their progress and make improvements where necessary. Furthermore, setting performance targets allows businesses to have realistic goals to strive for while also providing motivation to reach those goals. When you use them correctly, KPIs help you optimize your organization’s operations and drive growth.

Creating KPIs For Your Auto Repair Shop 

When creating KPIs for your auto repair shop, it’s important to make sure they are relevant to your industry and the specific needs of your business.

Some common Key Performance Indicators used by auto repair shops include:

• Customer satisfaction ratings
• Average revenue per customer visit
• Number of repeat customers
• Average turnaround time on repairs

It’s also important to set reasonable targets to measure progress without becoming overwhelmed or discouraged by unrealistic expectations.

Working With a Business Coach 

Working with a business coach is the best way to meet your goals so you can maximize your potential as an auto repair shop owner. A business coach helps you set realistic goals and create action plans, so you know exactly what steps to take each day to succeed over time. These provide valuable feedback on strategies that have worked in the past, plus new ideas that could boost performance later.

Understanding key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential for any successful auto repair shop owner or manager for optimizing operations. Tracking these metrics helps owners and managers identify areas of strength and areas that need improvement. Then they can efficiently allocate resources accordingly for maximum returns on investment (ROI).

Do you know when to write an auto repair estimate? Brian and the YNR group talk about identifying the “one thing” – i.e. the first major item of concern on a vehicle – and alerting the customer to it. Then what? We go through a quick scenario with reassuring a price shopper that we will get the job done quickly and affordably. It’s not about money, it’s about their safety. Get the customer on their way via your shuttle, and give the rest of the vehicle a thorough inspection. Then and only then is when to write an auto repair estimate.

Auto Repair Estimate Writing – When And How

Brian starts the conversation by reminding us not to rush into repairs before talking with our customers. Remember, the customer will tell us everything we need to know, and often will ask questions to steer us in the right direction.

Eric chimes in to walk us through his process of finding “one thing” during initial inspection that customers need to know about. Then, the Service Advisor will walk the customer back to their vehicle to explain the issue. After that, just listen to the customer. When they let you know their concerns about cost or time, let them know you can get right to work on the repair and provide them a shuttle to work. Make sure the conversation thoroughly addresses vehicle safety. You have yet to completely inspect the vehicle, so assure them you will call them shortly to let them know if there are any other concerns. You should only provide an auto repair estimate after reading the customer their vehicle’s inspection results.

Brian wraps up by remind us that both front and back of house staff should understand the “one thing” concept. Make sure you clearly mark what it is on your repair orders, so everyone knows.

Auto Repair Staff huddles are a crucial factor in encouraging employee teamwork. Listen to our YNR roundtable discussion on regularly rounding up your Technicians, General Managers, and Service Advisors to make sure you are all on the same page.

Why Are Team Huddles Important?

Brian kicked off the clip by outlining why we don’t want to neglect staff huddles. When we do not meet hourly with our employees, the negative effects can trickle down to customers. Not communicating with your Technicians and Service Advisors? Then get prepared for chaos! Gaps in your customer service game, missed opportunities, and, ultimately, a loss of revenue will occur. Brian noted that when customers complaint about pricing, the issue usually starts with poor customer service experiences.

Second, Brian gave examples of key components from our Huddles SOP. When huddling, you may want to work with a board system. Of course, the General Manager must call the meeting to order, and employ a timer so the meetings do not last too long. Primarily, these meetings involve Service Advisors at the front counter. Occasionally, you may want to call together your technicians in order to resolve issues, or make sure everyone is on the same page.

Next, Brian asked YNR Member Leon’s take on staff huddles. Leon, an experienced shop owner, recognizes the value of this ritual. It allows him to stay in the know about how each job is progressing. Understanding such details as the need for more parts and the timeline until he can report back to the customer is crucial.

Here’s one of our handy Service Advisor tips. Are your service advisors asking the right questions up front? This is mission critical to avoid having to call customers back when your Technician finds something unexpected with a vehicle and has questions of their own. Don’t risk painting your staff as incompetent. That’s a recipe for wasting time and money.  Ask the right questions up front!

Service Advisor Tips – Call Recap

Brian opens up the clip by presenting Step G in the Getting Acquainted / In Person Counter Contact form. This is probably the most important step in the process. All the Service Advisor Tips and voice tricks mean nothing if you are not listening, asking questions, and verifying the customer’s vehicle problem. Remember, at the end of the day, our customers have problems, and it’s our job to solve them.

What do all of our service advisor tips boil down to? We must gather as much information as possible from the customer. Brian confirmed this to be true with our guest Nick, who is an A Tech. When a Service Advisor doesn’t gather enough information and pass it all on to the Technicians, we’ve got big trouble.

Repeating the customer’s problems back to them builds their confidence in us, as well as helping us avoid missing an issue later. Nick verified that he has had many questions for Service Advisors immediately after receiving work orders. For example, he may not know how long a car’s transmission has been slipping. This question should have come up when the Service Advisor initially talked with the customer.