management

Strategy session - drawing up business tactics for auto repair

Are you feeling crushed under the weight of running your business? You’re not alone. Many auto repair Owners and General Managers wonder why running their businesses is so hard. But not all of them. What strategy is in play to create their success?

Strategy – Big Picture Planning

We often hear the mantra, “Work Smarter Not Harder.” What does that mean? Let’s talk about Strategy versus Tactics for a bit. Understanding the difference between them is critical to your business’s success.

Strategy is looking at the big picture planning you need to do before diving into the tactics. If your spouse wants you to build her dream house, you don’t just run to Home Depot and purchase a pile of bricks. If you HAD a pile of bricks laying around in the backyard, would you then start laying them out? No. You would end up with a disappointing mess, as well as an unhappy spouse. Not good.

When you want to build your dream house, there are specific steps you need to take before beginning the build process. First, you need to purchase the land and survey the land. Next, you will meet with an architect and draw out the plans. Then, meet with the builders, acquire the permits, and make sure there is money in the bank to pay for it all. That’s called strategy.

Tactics – Laying the Foundation

After all that, THEN you can begin laying the foundation. You’ll be counting the number of bricks you’ll need, setting up the framing, installing the infrastructure, hiring the electrician, and so on. That’s tactics.

If you try building that dream home without strategy or tactics, you’re screwed. It doesn’t matter how good the architect and builder are. Without strategy and tactics, you get stuck with analysis paralysis! You wonder why that dang house has become such a money pit.

How Do Strategy and Tactics Apply to Your Auto Repair Business? 

Everyone needs a strategy, from your technicians to you, the owner and managerWell, if you want to build your ideal company, then you need to put together your strategy. Once your business plan and marketing strategies are mapped out, you need to employ the tactics that will get you there.

Fortunately, You Net Results has the experience to walk you through both the strategy and tactics you’ll need to get your business to the next million dollars in annual revenue. It’s not an overnight project. It takes a lot of work. However, it’s a solid plan that will help you reach your goals, as long as you implement and take action.

At You Net Results, we facilitate coaching groups for auto repair shop owners. Together, we  can all reach a turnaround point. You will emerge from the experience of moving from a business owner to a confident business leader. Thus, you will eliminate the obstacles that hold you back. 

Are you ready? Let’s do this. 

To find out more, contact us for a complimentary consultation. Brian Gillis will discuss your business strategies and find ways to improve your annual revenue and company culture.

Your people are the lifeblood of your auto repair shop. They're not stupid!If you are looking to expand your team and grow your business, you must put your systems and processes in place, so new hires can learn them. Otherwise, you’re in for a surprise with people winning stupid prizes by playing stupid people games.

What?! Yes, that’s right. Let me explain.

How many times have you hired someone who you thought was a promising candidate? Someone who interviewed well, passed your criteria, and looked like a winner on paper. Then, you hired that individual and found later that they were poor performers. Or worse, you thought they just weren’t smart.

Do you really think they were airheads? Seriously, after all that vetting, do you think you hired a foolish person? I would argue that you didn’t hire a foolish person. Instead, you had non-existent or poorly defined systems and procedures in place (if any at all) — and that “ignorant” person was thrown into the fire with no procedural support system. 

After all, we don’t hire unintelligent folks. Instead, we have lacking systems and processes that make them look reckless, forcing them to underperform. 

In short, it’s not their fault. It’s ours. We failed them because no one is inherently careless. But too many business owners don’t recognize this, and they continue pretending. They’re winning stupid prizes by playing stupid people games. Here’s what I’m talking about:

Nicole Mason on Unsplash

Are the people stupid…or are the business practices?

I was talking with a shop owner recently. During the course of our conversation, he told me everyone he hired was unintelligent, and they never did what he told them to do. I asked him who hired them? There was silence on the phone. Was it the owner or the people? What prize do you think he won?

Quite frankly, it’s a foolish way to run a business.

Let’s rid ourselves of this “stupid” label and take a different approach.

If you were to build a house and laid the foundation before meeting the architect, you have a failed and expensive home-building process. Your systems and processes dictate your success, and we have seen too many small business owners jump into action without having a solid plan called systems and processes in place. That is why Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs are critical to the success of any business.

McDonald’s and other major fast-food chains have learned how to streamline SOPs in such a way that the average 16-year-old high school student can train in one or two days and become highly productive within their first week of employment. 

So here’s the question: What is preventing you from hiring intelligent and talented people who prove to you over time that they are worthy? What’s stopping your new hires from reaching success is your lack of Standard Operating Procedures guiding them steadily toward that success.

Let us help you solve your systems problems!

If you are genuinely searching for a streamlined system that will help your employees win, your business grow, and will lower your stress level, and you need to adapt well-thought-out systems and processes. When you work with You Net Results, proven systems and techniques that will help your business grow. Our strategies help shop owners reach their next million dollars in revenue and help their company culture thrive as well.

Who do you know that could benefit from well-documented, seamless systems and processes? If you know anyone who could benefit, including yourself, please schedule a consultation with You Net Results. After all, great intentions don’t pay the bills. If you are willing to invest in yourself and your team, you are on the right track in avoiding games that waste your time and money.

At You Net Results, we dedicate many training hours to business systems. Our classes and coaching sessions address how to reduce mistakes and prevent lost details. To find out more, contact us for a complimentary consultation. Brian Gillis will discuss your business strategies and find ways to improve your annual revenue and company culture.

When our own Brian Gillis recently appeared on Remarkable Results Radio, he discussed his involvement in the group CAMP (Coalition of Automotive Management Professionals). The host Carm Capriotto quizzed Brian about this professional alliance of auto repair industry coaches.

Business Coach Discussion – Key Talking Points

  • CAMP (Coalition of Automotive Management Professionals) started with a brainstorm two years ago. It was a casual get together with trainers at the Vision 2019 event.
  • Auto repair shops should spend time with like-minded people, and peer network with each other. Business coaches also need to practice this.
  • As of March 2021, CAMP became a legal entity.
  • CAMP is a group of like minded individuals that want to move the industry forward. They aim to find the auto shops that need help. Then, they make sure that they receive that help.
  • Always maintain the consistency of their message in the auto industry.
  • Automotive repair business coaches also need to continue adapting and improving.

CAMP exists to help automotive industry business coachesImportant Takeaways

  • Multi-shop ownership vs single shop ownership: You don’t need to own multiple shops in order to be successful, to stay relevant, or become a victim of consolidation.
  • Have a life outside of the automotive business!
  • An average five bay shop is missing between $25-30,000K net profit per bay, per year.
  • Having a coach doesn’t mean you’re out of the business; Owners want to be able to enjoy working on their business and still being a part of it.
  • Why are we afraid to help others? There is no secret! It’s time to help people move forward.

Learn More – Get Your FREE Strategy Session

Does your auto repair shop lack direction? Perhaps your business plan has stalled out. You need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with Brian? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!

video
play-sharp-fill

SOP Formation and Review

Description of Content

  • Learning to always have a good level of emotional deposits before you make any withdrawals
  • Great rule of thumb for leading people
  • Tool to use before an SBS
  • 306-SOP General manager Making Emotional Deposits and Withdrawals

Downloads

Powerpoint PDF

Did you lose something in the telling? Auto repair shops sometimes struggle with consistent communication.

Photo courtesy Ben White on Unsplash

Have you ever played the game “Telephone”? You start by lining up a group. Then, you whisper a sentence into the first person’s ear. They then whisper the message to the next person. The game continues until the message gets to the final person in line, who announces out loud what sentence they heard. It is often much different from the original sentence. Quite the exercise in communication!

At You Net Results, we know this game shows what happens when messages, systems, and processes are undocumented. Just like in the game of “Telephone,” something can get lost in the telling. When you don’t write down instructions, client comments, or repair orders, this is inevitable.

Communication breakdown

In auto repair businesses, it happens like this:

The Customer tells the Service Advisor something. Time is short. The Service Advisor doesn’t write it down, but they repeat it verbally to the Technician. The Technician may also skip documenting it, so they present the Service Advisor with new information.

The Service Advisor then reports to the Customer via phone. More back and forth happens, and then the Customer picks up their vehicle. Later, the Service Advisor is surprised to read the Customer’s one-star review. Why? Communication was not clear. They lost something in the telling.

How can you avoid losing something in the telling?

Do you see how simply repeating verbal information can lose accuracy? It is obvious how the customer felt wronged. How can your team reduce miscommunication? How can they improve clarity?

The answer? Use transparent systems and processes to document all communication. Enter repair issues through DVI reports, notes in your CRM, text messages, recorded phone calls, and other exchanges. When you do, you will reduce your chance of poor reviews.

Perfect your shop’s communication chain!

At You Net Results, we dedicate hours of training to communication. Our coaching sessions help prevent mistakes and lost details. To learn more, contact us for a free consultation. Brian Gillis will discuss your business strategies and ways to improve revenue and company culture.

Hide picture