Transmission Repair, Transmission Performance
Superior Transmission and Auto Repair is a family business that branches out into performance and general auto repair.
The Rules of Selling in the Automotive Trades – Part 3
It’s Your Business
Terry Greenhut explains overcoming price objection.
If You Like It Put Your Brand On It
Our name is on a lot of stuff: stickers, hats, shirts, lanyards and, of course, pens. It’s also on some pretty niche stuff: Klement’s beef snack sticks (“Nice to Meat You”), VIN decoding mouse pads, beer mugs, bobble heads – and we come up with new, interesting stuff to brand all the time, partly because our favorite customers, vendors, and even our own employees really like cool, new stuff. Who doesn’t?
How to do Impossible Things
49 hours and 17 minutes ago, 13 of my peers and I were beginning a challenge that was physically and mentally impossible. Broken into teams of two, seven on each team, we were to follow orders and perform various dreadful movements at the command of Navy Seal Special Ops veterans. We had all trained hard for eight weeks prior. Nobody knew what we were up against, yet we all showed.
What’s Your Business Philosophy?
Do you have a basic philosophy for your business? If you went to a banker to borrow money for expansion or new equipment and were asked to describe the basic philosophy of your business, how would you answer? How would you convince this lender to loan you money based on the way you do business and what you see in your future and that of the industry? What could you tell him or her that would show there’s a high probability you will be able to repay the loan?
It’s Sometimes Overwhelming
Are you in a continual state of being overwhelmed by either having so many customers that you can’t find adequate time to sell properly and do for them everything they need, or not having enough customers and always being behind with the bills you have and sometimes cannot pay? Either scenario is not healthy for you or your business. In fact, the first could easily lead to the second if not remedied. Not spending enough time with your good customers and selling them what they really need when they come in for minor services can lose many of them for you and put you in the unenviable position of not having enough customers to generate the dollars you need.
Like Little Children
If you didn’t choose your words very carefully when you asked the kids to do something, they would pout and sometimes disappear for a day or two. Most of them drank, so the disappearing act wasn’t a big surprise. These guys were protected by what was at the time a very strong union so they felt as if they were invincible. Today they would be lucky to keep their jobs at all, what with the line of unemployed workers looking to replace them.
The Right Person for the Job
Promoting technicians to sales or management-level positions is a great way to show the entire staff that there is opportunity for growth within the company. As a current owner or manager you may even feel obligated to move someone up when a position becomes available. Most of the time the available position will have something to do with selling work to customers, a job for which many technicians are not suited or not qualified, or don’t really want even if they think they do.
Protect Yourself in the Clinches
Here are some rules you can follow to protect from the minor and major catastrophes that, when they happen, make you wonder why you didn’t take that nice, safe job uncle Frank wanted to get you with the highway department:
Are You Guilty of Slippin’ and Slidin’?
There are many facets of business that must be managed regularly to maintain the proper levels of sales and productivity. The first step is to stop assuming that the right things are being done just because they were set in motion at some point. Without continual supervision they can rapidly deteriorate and the best ideas and systems can disappear only to be replaced by the most-convenient ones, regardless of whether those make money – and they usually don’t.
Appearance Matters More than You Know
Good customers and employees are not usually lured to do business with or work for a company on the basis of its deeply hidden qualities or virtues. They come because of the perception of these attributes. It’s what people see on the outside that makes them decide whether they want to learn more about a company they will eventually choose to buy from, sell to or work for.
The Baker’s Dozen Attributes of a Highly Successful Automotive Business
How do you succeed in the automotive aftermarket these days? It’s simple; just be the best at everything. Have the best-managed and most technically accomplished shop, and you’re in – or are you? If you don’t market your business and use terrific sales techniques you’re back out again. Today your success is based on your proficiency in all aspects of the business.
