The Best of Intentions
How many of you have said, “Yeah, I’ve got to get out and do some outside sales”? You generally tend to say that when business is slow. You may have every intention of actually doing it, but then life gets in the way. The shop gets busy again, the manager doesn’t come in or a technician quits. Any one of these or 62 other possible problems will keep you from doing outside sales. In fact, pretty much any excuse you can think of will keep you from getting out there, because in most cases if you were being honest, you just don’t want to.
Could Rebates Be a Solution?
I hate to discount anything. When you drop your prices you show weakness. It makes your customers think you are easy to take advantage of. The problem is that once you start to drop prices you tend to keep doing it. Before you know it your profit is all gone and your customers are in complete control of your business.
Managing the Manager
The word “manage” basically means to handle. It could be the handling of anything, but in the case of business it generally means people. Managers handle people. Some do it well, but others seem to make a career of barely getting the job done while seeing how many employees, customers and business associates they can alienate along the way.
Dealing With Angry People
Angry with you? Not necessarily. When people are angry these days, many times it’s because they have higher expectations than ever before and those expectations somehow are not being met. It is funny, though, that not so many years ago people didn’t expect very much from anything – not from the products they bought nor from the customer service they received. But owing to such vast improvements in both areas, people now have grown to expect much-better and more-durable products. At the same time they also believe that good customer relations is nothing special anymore. It has become a given. They expect to get value for their money, and if for some reason that doesn’t happen they expect someone to rectify the problem with the utmost speed and the least amount of fuss.
What Is a Rebuilt Transmission?
A silly question to be asking people who have been in the transmission rebuilding business for so long, isn’t it? It does, however, seem to get a lot of different replies. If you ask 100 rebuilders you might get 10 different interpretations. That could be why some states have adopted regulations for the minimum standards to which a transmission can be rebuilt and still be called a rebuilt, reconditioned, overhauled or remanufactured transmission. The words all mean the same thing in these states because the lawmakers didn’t want shops to get around the regulation by calling the rebuilt something else.
A Penalty for Excellence!
The outcome of this trial could influence how states that have regulations on auto-repair practices might dictate by what means work is priced in the future.
Rich or Poor, It’s Nice to Have Money!
When you have money, you’re in control. When you don’t, other people are in control of you. You work because you owe. That is never a comfortable position to be in. Cash is king. When you have it and others don’t, you can compete on a higher plane.
Why Don’t They Make Any Money?
I spent the past two evenings presenting an advanced sales seminar and one on figuring the cost of doing business to a group of owners and managers of transmission and general-repair shops. One shop owner showed up with his entire crew – a service writer and three technicians. As I was speaking with him after class, he told me that his main reason for bringing them all was to show them where the money is supposed to be made, how it gets paid out and what’s supposed to be left over as profit. He also wanted them all to realize that everyone in the shop eventually comes into contact with customers in one way or another, meaning that they all play a role, no matter how small, in making the sale.
Retirement – Will You Outlive Your Money?
People are living far longer than the Congress and Senate leaders thought they would when they drafted the Social Security Act. Back then people were lucky to reach even 65 years of age. Many were not likely to go beyond collecting their first few years’ worth of payments. Now we live into our 70s and 80s. That’s one reason Social Security is running short of money. Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman, mentioned in a recent speech that we may have to cut back Social Security or make the retirement age higher. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if people in their 30s and possibly 40s never get to benefit from the program.
Tips for Transmission-Business Buyers and Sellers
Many of us have reached the age when we are thinking seriously about selling our shops and retiring. At the same time there is a new crop of 30- and 40-something-year-olds who are leaving the corporate world for a variety of reasons, ranging from being laid off or downsized to simply not wanting to deal any longer with the corporate grind. Some are finding their way to the transmission business through brokers who help them locate opportunities commensurate with their abilities and goals.
Goals for the New Year
Are you a goal setter? Do you make to-do lists and check items off as they are completed? Do you know where you want to go and how you are going to get there? What was your sales volume last year? What do you think it should be this year? What will you have to do to get it there? How much more profit will a higher volume net? Will you have to increase staff, equipment or size of facility to get there?
The Value of Information
Has your computer hard disk ever crashed or the computer just refused to boot up anymore? What happens to all the information that’s in there? In many instances it’s gone. If you can’t find an expert who can somehow drag that information off your existing hard drive and you haven’t backed it up, you’re done. All of your customers are gone along with their service records, warranty and follow-up information.
