What it takes to rebuild your employees’ morale and get everybody working toward the same goals. I was reading an article from the Society For Human Resource Management and came across this statement: “With a daily diet of news about…
How innovative necessity and conservative thinking can work together to change your business and achieve future success. We’re still in the first few months of 2016. Each new year brings with it an arbitrary clean slate, a period of time…
If you build it, they will not come — unless you craft a marketing plan to reach and keep women customers. So what do women want? By Jody DeVere One of the basics I’ve learned about marketing to women is…
How can you make your shop run more effectively and make you more money? Industry expert Becky Witt, AAM, reveals her eight secrets for success. A case can be made that the business plan for the average auto service shop…
You Ware It Well? Real shop owners give their advice for how to buy shop management software. Grow with the pros! That’s our theme for AutoInc.’s 25th annual Shop Management Software Guide. We’ve received some great feedback on our guides…
Shop owners helping shop owners — ‘an ASA-Midwest thing.’ It’s 6 p.m. in Indianola, Iowa – a town of nearly 15,000 people 18 miles south of Des Moines. Tim Davison, AAM, the owner of Chumbley’s Auto Care, an ASA shop,…
What you need to say and do to minimize the impact on your business. We all appreciate the hopeful feeling a new staff member brings to the organization. A burst of optimistic energy floats around the shop as all the…
Automotive professionals have workshops, seminars and other aids to educate and inspire them to excel in their daily routines. But how many agendas include a segment on communicating with difficult people? Those who can afford it pay personal trainers to…
Discover what separates shops that have staying power from those that fall by the wayside. It was a cold and windy October day in 1908 when Henry Ford’s first Model T rolled off the assembly line in Dearborn, Mich. Not…
Cash is the tool that keeps your business running smoothly. Have you ever heard this one: “I do not understand why (insert business name here) went out of business. They were profitable.” I am starting my 45th year of consulting…
It’s a new year. How did your shop fare last year? If you hope to hit your goals this year, then it’s imperative you have accurate numbers from last year so you can lay out your targets for the new…
It can be the best of times – if you sell preventive maintenance. There has never been a better time to be in the automotive business than now. It truly is the best of times. Let me clarify; it is…
Be fair with customers. And yourself! “I just want an oil change; don’t try to sell me anything else!” Most of us have heard this before. But, what if this customer’s car is in need of additional service? What about…
Promoting preventive maintenance is your noble mission. Most experts agree that the fundamental goal of a business is to make a profit. I agree. If your shop isn’t profitable, then you’re out of business and any other goals or plans…
It’s not hard to market your shop digitally, but it does take some thinking and planning. Keeping your bays full and your technicians busy is harder than ever today. Old “tried and true” methods of marketing and advertising just don’t…
How shops get sick when they get too busy It starts innocently enough: the shop gets busy, and the little things start to slide. First, the inspection process breaks down. Technicians start pencil-whipping their inspection forms, trying to get their…
Regain the magic you once felt. Why do people fall out of love with their auto repair businesses? This could happen for any number of reasons, but primarily it occurs because they lose hope due to the various challenges they…
With individuals being bombarded with more than 3,000 marketing messages a day, here’s how you can create marketing for your shop that stands out from the competition. With individuals being bombarded with more than 3,000 marketing messages a day, here’s…
