Auto Biz Solutions LLC

07/29/2015

Your Business Grows As Your Customers Grow


Auto Biz Solutions recently spoke at the Automotive Distribution Network's national convention. We designed a seminar aimed at the service centers in attendance. The objective was for the installers to be able to take home concepts that they could implement quickly to grow their business.

Below is an article in the Network’s national magazine – from the comments in the article – mission accomplished.

We have an all day class for your installer customers that include many solutions and growth ideas that will expand their sales, and in turn, your sales.

Think about hosting a seminar like this that brings in the owners and service writers. It gives you the opportunity to discuss with your customer opportunities to grow together.

Contact us today to discuss putting on a service center based seminar aimed at expanding sales.

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Where Will Tomorrow’s Sales Come From?

Allen Markowitz advises service dealers at Network National Convention to focus on inspections to generate more work per vehicle

When Allen Markowitz started his career in the automotive aftermarket in 1968, he sold condensers, distributors and wheel cylinders. But as he explained during his seminar “Where Will Tomorrow’s Sales Come From?” at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, today’s parts quickly become passé.

“Back in the ’60s, nobody had this vision of what the automotive industry was going to look like today,” says Markowitz, a former principle owner of Markauto Parts, an ex-Parts Plus member based in Haverstraw, N.Y. “If you think back to the things I used to sell in the yesteryear of my career, you can easily see how much things have changed. Now think about the next 10 years and the amount of change that’s coming with technology continuing to develop at such a fast rate. Honestly, none of us have any idea what we’ll be selling in a decade...so where will tomorrow’s sales come from?”

Markowitz advised the service dealers in attendance to take the time to thoroughly inspect each vehicle that comes through their bays to maximize the amount of work per car. The key is selling more repairs per vehicle and reducing the number of cars that technicians work on during a day.

“The industry average of hours per repair order is 1.5 to 2 hours. So a brake job comes in, we get our two hours labor, and the customer pays his $300 or $400 and walks out the door. Now given this scenario, your technician has got to work on four, maybe five cars to get eight hours of work out of him. Wouldn’t it be better if you could get your tech to work on only three cars if you could get him the same amount of hours on the car?”

A former partner in his own service dealership, Markowitz acknowledges the challenges of properly inspecting each vehicle when shops have cars lined up in the parking lot. But he also warns against getting too busy with running your business that you fail to see the big picture: selling and maximizing each repair order.

“Let’s say a car comes in for an oil change, but your shop is full. So we either ask the customer to come back tomorrow or we squeeze the car into our schedule that day and perform the oil change without performing
a complete inspection. Either way, we’re not selling that customer anything.

“I don’t care how busy you get, never stop selling–never. You’ve got to be students at maximizing repair orders. Most of you

Salesman of Tomorrow: Allen Markowitz explains how service dealers can start planning today for future success.

likely have a full-blown inspection area with a check sheet. But maybe only half of you actually check every single car. That’s the problem. Maintenance service is a big part of your future–that’s where you’re gonna make your money.”

To illustrate how much repair work is being left on the table, Markowitz pointed to a recent survey from the Car Care Council regarding 100 properly inspected vehicles:

• 38 had low or dirty engine oil • 54 had low tire pressure
• 28 had inadequate cooling
• 19 needed new belts

• 16 had a dirty air filter

• 10 had contaminated brake fluid • 15 needed new wiper blades

While Fernando Benham of Michigan- based Sparta Tire Service has a designated area for inspections, the day-to-day grind prevents him inspecting every car.

“There’s not question we’re leaving dollars out there, but it’s very difficult to do,” he says. We get caught up in the ‘hurry up and get it done’ attitude. Allen’s right–we need to hire a service writer to make sure we schedule better and allow time for these inspections and also charge properly for the diagnostic time.”

The benefits of proper inspections are twofold, Markowitz explains. Not only will shops make more money, but they’ll also enhance customers’ peace of mind and ensure their vehicle doesn’t run into any problems after leaving the shop.

The car dealerships already see the value of selling maintenance and they
are aggressively going after it, according
to Markowitz. He shared a story what happened when the initial two-year/25,000- mile service warranty expired on his Toyota.

“Toyota gave me two free oil changes and two tire changes over those 24 months. When those 25,000 were up, they said, ‘Mr. Markowitz, let me show what we can do for you for the next 25,000 miles: another two years of maintenance and it’s only $269 if you prepay today.’ Whoa–the dealerships are so much better at this than they were 20 years ago.

“So we have to start understanding hours per repair order and do a better job of selling and charging for diagnostic time, and inspecting every vehicle so we can sell more repairs. Those are the keys to tomorrow’s sales.”

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Contact us today to find out how to host a Seminar that will

grow your business.

[email protected]

Cell 914-447-3097

03/16/2015

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09/30/2014

n today’s highly competitive market place it is importantthat you the Auto Parts Jobber have a marketing plan to sustain and grow yourbusiness. You need to spend time objectively looking at where you are in yourmarket and what you can do to strengthen your position. Listed below are someideas to hel…

08/28/2014

http://app.streamsend.com/ss/1/lptw5uvuno/qqfzof5b0c

Many times the first contact a customer has with your storeis on the phone. How the counter or callcenter person handles the call many times determines “sale or no sale.” Whenassessing a jobbing operation for improvement one of our criteria is, would yousend your wife into the store? We have observe…

06/02/2014

Today’s automotive aftermarket has changed dramatically inthe last ten years. New competitors have evolved. The Internet is vying for yourcostumers business. The wholesale club is offering deep discounts on many ofthe products we sell.

04/07/2014

Do You Have A Plan

It’s a fact, many of us who have been in the business for years are nearing or thinking about retirement. This is not only reflective of our individual situation, but that of society in general. The boomers are turning or are already in their sixties and this may require tough decision.

04/06/2014

http://www.counterman.com/Article/89498/allen__allen_where_are_we_headed_as_an_indu.aspx

Allen & Allen: Where Are We Headed As An Industry? By Allen Markowitz As an automotive business trainer and industry consultant to parts stores and repair centers, my mind does not always see a black and white world. While most people are enjoying the nice weather, I am usually analyzing

04/05/2014

SALES TRAINING – KEEPING YOUR TEAM CURRENT

There are two types of training that fall under the umbrella of “sales training.” The first is teaching the mechanics of sales: how to go about selling in the general sense, with an emphasis perhaps on the sales techniques that work best for your industry. The second is company-specific training: details about your products and services, the sales process that your team is expected to use, tools and resources, etc.
Every salesperson, no matter how experienced, can benefit from both types of sales training. Learning how to sell is an ongoing process. There are always new strategies and new technologies that your team must learn in order to sell effectively.

10/25/2013

We now have programs and training that can be tailored to change your culture so your company is not suspended.http://www.counterman.com/Article/119641/have_you_ever_been_suspended_by_a_repair_shop.aspx

Have You Ever Been Suspended By A Repair Shop? We generally feel that our businesses function well and we service our commercial customers perfectly 99 percent of the time. Yet, we have always wondered why they seem only to remember that 1 percent of the time where everything does not go as planned.

10/07/2013

Ideas on how to retain key employees
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Herman Trend Alert: Job Rewards Are No. 1 Engagement Driver
October 3, 2013
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By Herman Trend Alert

A recent report just released by Ceridian confirms the belief when it comes to driving engagement: one size does not fit all of the generations. Moreover, it offers some valuable advice to leaders who want to engage and retain their top talent by focusing on job rewards, performance feedback and job motivation.

Conducted by Harris/Decima, Ceridian's "Pulse of Talent" Survey revealed that employers risk costly disengagement and high turnover, if they fail to address job rewards and other key drivers. Ceridian delivers cloud-based technology to address payroll and other functions.

According to this study, it is "Job Rewards" – receiving monetary or non-monetary compensation for a job well done – that is the most important engagement driver for the polled employees as a group. In fact, 47 percent ranked job rewards first, above job recognition (42 percent) and job motivation (11 percent). Once employees are satisfied that their pay is fair, they want additional rewards, such as comp time off, providing state-of-the art technology or free meals.

However, it is also vitally important that the type of reward be aligned with what the specific employees value. In other words, "they must tailor reward and recognition programs to account for generational differences, individual preferences and technological innovation."

In addition, an impressive 60 percent of respondents' companies are currently offering non-monetary rewards to their employees. The most popular of these non-monetary rewards are free personal days off, free food/meals and event tickets (shows, sporting events, concerts, etc.). Generation Y (Millennials) had the largest percentage, with 70 percent saying they would like to see their company offer non-monetary rewards.

Communication between employer and employee, especially important in performance feedback, is critical to ensuring job satisfaction and employee retention. Rather than formal performance reviews held once a year, the focus should be on regular and ongoing performance feedback. During these exchanges, leaders must effectively manage their workers' career expectations and aspirations.

To ensure their employees remain committed to their jobs and their overall careers, employers need to understand what makes a job worthwhile. Generally, the main drivers of job motivation are interesting work (39 percent), followed by autonomy (32 percent) and a good salary (31 percent). For Gen Y and Boomers, interesting work comes first. For Gen X, making a good pay/good salary comes first, then they highly value good job benefits.

Overall, the most popular factors for making the job more rewarding were the options to work flexible hours, get more training and opportunities, work at home (flex place) and have opportunities to take on larger tasks. Gen Y is more likely to want the opportunity to take on more responsibility at work; Gen X would find flexible hours more rewarding; Boomers find training opportunities and flexible hours more rewarding.

This study nails the specific offerings that today's employees are looking for. The consequences of failure are high; employers will risk losing top talent. Rather than taking the chance of losing their talent, wise employers will remain flexible and evolve their best practices in these areas to meet their employees' wants and needs.

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