Want to fix your Business? Focus on Your People First

Want to fix your Business? Focus on Your People First

by | Mar 23, 2020 | Auto Service, Best Practice

As leaders, how often do we delegate critical people “interactions” and tasks to others?

Is interviewing new team candidates the first thing that gets delegated?  How about the training?

It’s been my experience that the delegation of critical people tasks happens a lot.  Why?  Because it’s hard work to hire people!  It’s very time-consuming!  Let’s face it .. its a pain in the butt to keep training and coaching people!  But if you want to build great teams, “hands-on” is absolutely necessary.

Show me an underperforming business unit, and you will most likely find the leader disengaged with his/her people and preoccupied with administrative tasks.

As a leader, there is nothing more important than the time you spend with your people.

If great performance starts and ends with great performing people, you must spend the time it takes to hire the right candidate and invest the time it takes to develop that individual.  

Want to fix your business? Spend time with your people!

  • Involve yourself in the hiring process – meet every candidate.  Don’t delegate this most important task.
  • Remember, you are competing for good people.  Learn to sell your opportunity as well as sell your products.
  • Always, Always ensure your people have the tools, knowledge and understand what they are supposed to do before they start.
  • Set goals and keep score – every day.
  • Celebrate Success frequently, address underperformance daily!
  • Remember – long-lasting and sustainable results come from continuous improvement

So close the laptop, put the iPhone down, tell your vendors your not available and go spend some time with your people.

 

Good Selling!

 

Pat

Why You Should Offer an Inspection to Every Customer

Why You Should Offer an Inspection to Every Customer

by | Mar 19, 2020 | Auto Service, Best Practice, Process

I live in Arizona, where there is no requirement to have an annual safety inspection performed on passenger and light truck vehicles. According to Wikipedia, only 17 States now require regular inspections of automobiles “to rid the highways of dangerous vehicles with bald tires, wobbly suspensions, smoke-filled exhausts, and defective brakes and lights.” You can find that list of States here.

If I owned a Tire and Service business in a state that doesn’t require regular safety inspections, I’m not sure that I would need another reason to recommend a full mechanical inspection on every one of my customer’s vehicles at least once a year. I would charge for that inspection as well.

If you do need another reason to offer (sell) inspections to every customer, here is another one! It has to do with identifying customers that are interested in having a safety inspection performed on their vehicle. 

Believe it or not, there are lots of customers that are interested in having a safety inspection performed of their vehicle! Statistically, 20% of your customers would fall into this category. These customers will wait the additional time it takes for you to provide them with a full vehicle analysis and accompanying recommendations.

For the customers that are not interested in a complete vehicle inspection, inform these customers that part of the service that they are receiving today comes with a less comprehensive courtesy check. That way, the customer still expects that you will be inspecting their vehicle, just not to the extent of the full vehicle inspection. These customers will also be more receptive to listening to your recommendations based on the courtesy check.

The purpose of informing the customer of the option to purchase a full vehicle inspection has more to do with qualifying your customer and focusing your efforts then it does with generating revenue from the sold inspection.

It’s a proven fact that customers that will pay for an inspection are much more likely to buy your recommendations.

 

Good Selling!

What I Learned from Hiring 1,000’s of Technicians for Shops Across the Country

What I Learned from Hiring 1,000’s of Technicians for Shops Across the Country

by | Mar 11, 2020 | Auto Service, Best Practice, Technicians

Throughout my career operating Tire and Service Centers, one of my main responsibility was finding, training and developing new talent. I did this for years and hired thousands of technicians for different dealers at all different stages of business.

And I’m not saying it’s an easy thing to do – find and hire great technicians – but there were two things that almost every dealer was doing wrong that was making it way more difficult than it needed to be.

Learn from their mistakes, and start taking the right steps to find and hire the best technicians for your shop.

First, how you attract technicians must be done correctly.

You need to think about hiring technicians like you would attracting customers. You can’t just post an ad on a website these guys (and gals) aren’t spending any time on, and you can’t ask them to do something they can’t or won’t do – like send you their resume.

Nine times out of ten, the best technicians aren’t unemployed perusing job sites. Most of them aren’t even signed up for these sites. They’re employed and realizing that they aren’t happy where they are. The most qualified also won’t have updated (or any) resumes to send your way – so stop asking for them.

Instead, post an ad to Craigslist. It may sound old school, but this has worked, time and time again. Post the ad with your phone number and request the technician call or text you for details.

If you’re thinking about hiring like you would think about getting new customers – you realize you need to offer an incentive to bring new technicians in.

Just like you’ll give a new customer a low-priced oil change, offer a new technician a signing bonus. Structure the bonus with the first half paid out upon signing and the second half after 90 days. Also consider a Flat Rate incentive program.

Here is an example Ad:

Auto Technician – for busy shop – Full Benefits – Signing Bonus

I am looking for 4 qualified mechanics with at least 2-3 years of experience.

Please call/text me immediately @ 555-555-5555 or respond to this posting.

We are paying the following bonuses for qualified new hires:

$1000 A Tech

$750 B Tech

$500 C Tech

*Please call for details

Technicians with at least two years of documented working experience need to apply.

The second and most important step, make yourself available.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but I would repeatedly see dealers post job ads and then not answer incoming calls. Answer your phone. I’m not saying you need to be available 24/7…but, basically, be available 24/7.

Save yourself time and pre-screen candidates over the phone before scheduling a time to bring them in for an in-person interview. I find that most dealers are pretty good at interviewing, but as a refresher, be sure you’re focusing on:

  • Past experience & jobs
  • What level of technician they’d consider themselves (A, B, C)
  • How many ASEs they have
  • Work ethic

If you’re thinking about hiring like you would think about getting new customers – you realize you need to offer an incentive to bring new technicians in.

When to hire? I get this question a lot. There’s no cookie-cutter answer from a revenue perspective – this decision varies depending on the services you offer, the technicians you have, etc. But, what I can say with confidence is that if you’re turning customers away at the counter midday – if you’re saying no to business – then it’s definitely time to consider hiring another technician.

Do you have any other hiring tips for dealers? Share them in the comments.