Many times we believe that our priority is making hundreds and hundreds of dollars, but have you ask your self how is it that you can do that? The answer to this is maintaining your customer happy. Priority should be given to the customers, the reason for this it’s because when you have a customer that continues to choose your auto repair shop over and over again, will most likely bring you more customers (word of mouth).
Maintaining a good relationship with your clients it’s very important. It starts by the minute they walk into your office. This is where the moment of truth occurs. This is where the customer decides in his/her mind if this is the place they want to be coming to fix their car.
You should always show an enthusiastic and friendly attitude and receive the customer as if you knew this was the only time you had to impress. Make sure you have an adequate waiting room and always be updated with technology.
Some ideas to make your customer feel comfortable start by having a good air conditioning running all the time. Update your television to a new flat screen and offer either cable TV or a good documentary. In this day and age, wireless Internet is the first thing that shouldn’t be missing from the waiting room. A customer would rather spend the time waiting for a repair (this is also makes a sale a lot easier) at a repair shop where he/she has access to the Internet just for the simple reason that they could be entertained or catching up with work.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Am I Aware of My Financial Situation?
As an auto repair shop owner, it is very important to have a well trusted accountant or bookkeeper that can answer your questions. For your auto repair shop to be successful, maintaining the books and being aware of them is the key.
Many shop owners pay two or three hundred dollars to a bookkeeper to maintain the books, but they don’t even care to look at the statements. It’s important to maintain knowledge of your monthly situation. There will be times where your business will be in a good economical situation, but like many things there are two sides for everything and you will be faced with loss once in a while. This is where the financial statement play an important role. Being able to recognize where the problem was for the month of the loss, will help you improve the coming month.
If one looks at the statement, one will realized that perhaps you had many expenses and very little revenue. Your accountant should be able to help you answer many of the questions you might have. But remember if you don’t care to look at the financial statements, you might be losing the opportunity of helping your shop grow and be successful.
Many shop owners pay two or three hundred dollars to a bookkeeper to maintain the books, but they don’t even care to look at the statements. It’s important to maintain knowledge of your monthly situation. There will be times where your business will be in a good economical situation, but like many things there are two sides for everything and you will be faced with loss once in a while. This is where the financial statement play an important role. Being able to recognize where the problem was for the month of the loss, will help you improve the coming month.
If one looks at the statement, one will realized that perhaps you had many expenses and very little revenue. Your accountant should be able to help you answer many of the questions you might have. But remember if you don’t care to look at the financial statements, you might be losing the opportunity of helping your shop grow and be successful.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Does it matter if I have one or more employees working in my office?
Having responsible employees working in the office it’s a great idea, but assigning how their duties is critical. Let’s start by organizing the office. One must have a well designed internal control system. This means that the person who is in charge of charging the customer shouldn’t be allowed to make any changes to the invoice. The employee who has access to the invoice should not be able to receive any type of payment from the customer. This will maintain the employee with out the desire to want to commit fraud and or take the money.
When you allow each employee to have a designated duty within the company not only are you organizing the office, but you are also building a good structure. Employees who are not allow to deal with the money being paid are not tempted to sell work just because of the money they can collect, but work that is needed in the customer’s vehicle.
You probably are thinking having an employee for each area would be more expensive, but in reality you will be saving more and will be building a good structure for your business.
When you allow each employee to have a designated duty within the company not only are you organizing the office, but you are also building a good structure. Employees who are not allow to deal with the money being paid are not tempted to sell work just because of the money they can collect, but work that is needed in the customer’s vehicle.
You probably are thinking having an employee for each area would be more expensive, but in reality you will be saving more and will be building a good structure for your business.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Do I Manage My Auto Repair Shop? or Is Someone Else Doing It?
As the owner of an auto repair shop, you must be involved in the management decisions. The key to success for your small business it's the involvement in the operations and understanding why it's important for you to give feedback in the way the shop is being managed.
Many shop owners believe that because it’s a small auto repair shop that it does not have to be managed as a large business or a corporation. Reality is that the better the business structure is, the better it can be managed.
When it comes to a family owned auto repair shop, it is very important that rules are set as well as a goal and mission. This way it will be easier to make your family understand of the purpose of the business and the position they all have.
When a goal and a mission are set, it gives a more respectful environment which it’s transmitted to all of your customers.
When you stay away and don’t become aware of the way your shop is being managed, soon you’ll find out that it might be too late to make a change. The worse part of all it’s that when you look back you’ll see that it wasn’t you who managed your business, it was someone else who did it and it was not the way you wanted to be.
Many shop owners believe that because it’s a small auto repair shop that it does not have to be managed as a large business or a corporation. Reality is that the better the business structure is, the better it can be managed.
When it comes to a family owned auto repair shop, it is very important that rules are set as well as a goal and mission. This way it will be easier to make your family understand of the purpose of the business and the position they all have.
When a goal and a mission are set, it gives a more respectful environment which it’s transmitted to all of your customers.
When you stay away and don’t become aware of the way your shop is being managed, soon you’ll find out that it might be too late to make a change. The worse part of all it’s that when you look back you’ll see that it wasn’t you who managed your business, it was someone else who did it and it was not the way you wanted to be.
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