News

Is Your Business Out of Shape?

Is Your Business Out of Shape?

The days of having a customer drop off the vehicle for as long as you needed and saying, “Go ahead and fix everything” are now starting to change. Inflation has hit our economy, and families are spending an additional $600 a month on the same items to run their households as they were last year….

ATI’s Dave Erb Honored As Aftermarket Industry Leader

ATI’s Dave Erb Honored As Aftermarket Industry Leader

Northwood University is poised to honor seven prominent supporters of educational initiatives and learning within the automotive aftermarket industry, including ATI’s Dave Erb, during its annual Automotive Aftermarket Management Education Awards. “Northwood University is proud to continue the tradition of recognizing aftermarket industry leaders from around the world,” said Northwood President Kent MacDonald. “This newest…

Why Shops Can’t ‘Play Bank’ to Customers

Why Shops Can’t ‘Play Bank’ to Customers

During his presentation at NAPA Expo 2022, Finding Money by Understanding your Financial Numbers, Bryan Stasch, vice president of product and content development at ATI, advised shop owners to think about how they approach accounts receivable. “How long should you have open accounts and who do you open them to?” he observed as key questions….

ATI Launches Ground-Breaking First Annual Fall ShowCase for Shop Owners

ATI Launches Ground-Breaking First Annual Fall ShowCase for Shop Owners

Automotive Training Institute (ATI), a leading coaching and training company for auto shop owners, hosted its first annual Fall ShowCase at the Hilton Baltimore BWI Airport in Maryland. Over 300 shops attended both in-person and virtually. The Fall ShowCase was created as a sister event to ATI’s annual SuperConference to highlight the best of the…

How New Investors Can Help Your Shop

How New Investors Can Help Your Shop

When a shop gets to a certain size, that breeds new and different challenges. The owner can’t be overseeing everything because the barriers will eventually become too much. So looking for investors can help the business grow and better manage the company, explained Bryan Stasch, vice president of product and content development at ATI, speaking at…

Why You Need To Hang On to As Much Cash As Possible

Why You Need To Hang On to As Much Cash As Possible

Speaking at NAPA Expo 2022, Bryan Stasch, vice president of product and content development at ATI, had one message for a room full of shop owners: shops need to think about putting money aside for a rainy day — or rainy months and years. “Start hoarding cash. We don’t know what this world is going…

Who Should Pay for the Courtesy Check?

Who Should Pay for the Courtesy Check?

Does your shop do a pre-purchase inspection? Most shops do, and they charge around an hour to do so. If you had a good, better, and best program, you could charge an hour for the best, half an hour for the better, and free for the good. Have a laminated sheet at your front counter…

Build Back Better

Build Back Better

There are many ways to build your career and boost the quality of the shop, from the owner to the service advisor to the technician. To help shop owners better run their business, service advisors better serve customers and technicians better work in the shop, here is a compilation of insights offered by shop coaches…

Is Your Shop Too Busy? Why That’s a Bad Thing, and How To Manage It

If your shop is scheduling customer appointments by the hour and car counts are getting chaotic with unpredictable swings of busy and slow, you need to organize the business by thinking with scheduling in mind first. Service advisors should be scheduling customers based on the work needed to be done and technician availability, advised Bryan…

Is Your Business Ready for a COO?

Is Your Business Ready for a COO?

Let’s face it, you didn’t start this business only to give yourself a job that has all the responsibility and accountability with no end in sight. A true entrepreneur starts a business with the end in mind. With that in mind, I’m sure you didn’t open or take over a repair service center thinking you will work…