Just when I thought I was doing everything that I could to increase sales, I learned something very important: I very rarely sold struts or shocks. Basically, I really didn’t […]
Over the years I have had the pleasure of watching hundreds of shop owners go to the top, and truly become industry leaders. I have also seen thousands of shop […]
Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with many of the top shop owners in America, and I have met thousands of owners who are living from […]
When it comes to customerfollow-up calls, let’s first talk about “who” you should call. You should callall first-time customers (even if they just came in for an oil service) tothank […]
Many colleagues in the industry seem to be confused about managing labor inventory in their shops. Much of the confusion comes from the terminology thrown around the industry and because […]
As business owners, our best teachers will always be our employees and our customers. They understand many components of our businesses, and in most cases, they really do care about […]
At Elite, we realize that the the very first thing a service advisor needs to do with first-time customers is build rapport. Making good eye contact, smiling, and shaking the […]
Maximizing labor potential continues to be critical for shop owners who are working to grow their businesses without adding personnel. First, we need to understand what the labor potential is. […]
Recently one of my service advisors (who is no longer with us, by the way) matched a price on a set of tires to a competitor. I felt the need […]
Creating a list of your, competitive advantages will help every shop owner to position their business inthe market. It is an advantage that enables you to survive against competitionover a […]
Many years ago I read an article that featured an interview with Herb Kelleher, the co-founder of Southwest Airlines. In the article he stated that he and his mother (who […]
Many years ago when I was still working on cars, I came to the realization that I would someday own my own shop. I also realized that in order to […]
#1. Under promise and over-deliver. If you apply this principle to your business, you can often exceed the customer’s expectations. As an example, when your competitors are asked how long […]
We all know that there are many things you can do when it comes to customer retention. Follow-up calls, sending out service reminder notices, ongoing advertising campaigns that keep your […]
I am sure we can all agree that our industry, and society, has been going through quite a transformation. One of the changes that’s had an extraordinary impact, and will […]
A while back I had the opportunity to interview over forty people for a panel of customers. My intent was to discover what drives their decisions in choosing an auto […]
We can all agree that generating happy customers is critical to the success of your shop. Below you’ll find 5 tips we teach in our service advisor training courses that […]
1. Be prepared to cost-justify. When it comes to selling maintenance, one of the single greatest mistakes that shop owners and service advisors make is being unprepared to cost-justify the […]
Over the years I have seen hundreds, if not thousands of shop owners do irreparable damage to their businesses. This damage occurs when they are mesmerized by the management trainers […]
In a typical opening conversation with a service advisor last week I asked “How is the shop doing”. His response was “The shop is slammed… I can’t take another thing […]