‘Catch-22’ Bureaucracy Gone Wild
The purpose of this article is to show you that in business and in life, even when you are 100% right you can still be wrong. So you’ll just have to bite the bullet sometimes and try to make it up somewhere else.
When Should You Ask for the Sale?
Today, I’d like to share a recent revelation with you – a concept I’ve just learned about from an avid reader (who wishes to remain anonymous), who proclaims that you should “never deliver bad news on a Friday.”
His idea is that a transmission shop should never tell a customer that their car needs a new transmission on a Friday afternoon. He alleges that the customer will “think things through” and simply buy a new car on Saturday.
Rules to Live By in the Modern Business Climate
If you’re lucky enough to have your own shop or to work for a good business owner you might be able to scrape by on only that, but you might work yourself into an early grave. And, of course, if the job goes away, the money stops. It’s no way to live and no way to teach your children to live.
Anyone can make the leap to this form of entrepreneurship and, subsequently, financial freedom. Sure, you may have to learn new practical skills, but mostly it’s a matter of changing your mindset. Once you break free of “middle-class programming,” half the battle is won.
Here are 15 Universal Laws of Entrepreneurship for you to consider.
How Do You Spell Freedom?
How does a transmission-shop owner spell freedom ? T-E-C-H-N-O-L-O-G-Y. I don’t know about you, but I have spent more time in a transmission shop than i would like to admit. In my career, it was not uncommon for me to get to the shop at 7 a.m. and leave anywhere from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. I worked every Saturday until 5:30 p.m. and slept all day Sunday. I worked through my vacations and sometimes did not get a vacation for five years. When I was a professional manager I had to quit to get any down time.
Sound familiar? It does not have to be that way nowadays. Today’s shop owner has a variety of technology at his disposal that enables him to leave the shop and still be in control of his business. You just have to slow down and take the time to find out what is possible.
Have You Heard of the Telephone?
The greatest sales tool ever invented is not social media. It’s not LinkedIn. It’s not NLP. It’s not SPIN Selling or some other formal sales process. It’s not Salesforce.com or other CRM software. It’s not the fax machine. It’s not the iPhone. And, it’s certainly not email. Those all are great tools, but they are not the best. No, the greatest sales tool ever invented is the telephone.
Sorry, My Mistake!
Mistakes are a fact of life. No matter how much you try, you can’t completely avoid making them. They can be costly but they shouldn’t cost you your customers if you handle them well. In fact, they can actually help to improve your shop’s effectiveness and reputation if you take great care whenever they occur.
A Game of Winners and Losers
As a recruiter I am looking for three things: talent, attitude and a consistent work ethic. There are other attributes to consider, but that is what I am mainly interested in. That is what I think it takes to be a winner. As a recruiter for the shop, I know that If I can recruit people with those three qualities I will have done my job.
The Stigma of Sales
There are two kinds of people in the world – cat people and dog people. Wait, no. That’s not the point of this article. There are two other kinds of people in the world – people who love sales and people who hate sales. And, then, there are those who hate salespeople and those who love salespeople. From my own experience, I have found that there are far more Americans who detest salespeople than there are those who love (or even like) salespeople.
You Don’t Have to Be a Salesperson to Make a Sale
The most important part of your business is making the sale. Your title, however, means little to anyone but yourself.
‘We’re Number Two! And Proud of It!’
Sure, it sounds absurd to be proud of being number two, but although most of us pay lip service to our desire to be our customers’ first choice, our actions may say otherwise. Any time you don’t make the customer your top priority, you’re tacitly agreeing not to be their top priority. You cannot truly be number one until your customers are. Being number one really is a two-way street, and it’s not an easy street. You can’t coast your way to number one – and when you get there you have to work like crazy to stay on top because you then become the target for everyone else who wants to take that title from you. If you don’t pay close attention and maintain constant vigilance you can easily backslide to number two and worse.
Easy Returns = Easy Sales
Just before I popped the top off the ECM unit, I realized that the part number on top did not match the one in the instruction manual for my chip. Rats! The instruction manual specifically pointed out that if the part number does not match for any reason, “DO NOT INSTALL THIS CHIP. YOUR CAR WILL NOT BE HAPPY.”
Which Way out of Here?
Five survival tools that will help you lead your automotive business through the concrete jungle
Odds are you’ve watched one of television’s many popular survival reality shows. You know the type: A group of people are dropped into the wilderness far from civilization with only the clothes on their backs and perhaps a few other items. Then, it’s up to them to choose a leader to help them survive until they can reach safety or their time limit is up. Along the way, viewers are amazed by the tools they fashion to make survival possible: A fire-starting bow drill made of sticks, a fishing line made of shoelaces and a thorn, a water container made from a cactus or gourd, a frying pan made from a rock, and shelters made from trees, leaves and vines or even snow, just to name a few.
