Discover how to deliver exceptional service and customer loyalty tactics that you can use to boost your shop’s revenue and profit.
Do you dread negotiating with insurance companies? We look at how you can build a working relationship that doesn’t kill your profitability.
“I can’t raise my labor rate to that!” This is a common phrase ATI’s coaches hear from members after calculating where the labor rate needs to be relative to labor costs. The disconnect is that we’re already committed to our labor COG (cost of goods) because we already incurred labor expenses like technician wages, benefit…
The auto repair and maintenance industry had a tremendous year in 2022. We saw increases over pre-covid levels. Most of the shops I talk to had record-breaking sales in the first half of the year, and indications are it will continue. As predicted, however, 2023 has seen a slowdown in that demand. What does that mean…
In November I wrote a post on how to avoid the slow slump season during the winter months. Now, we’re at the time of year when car count starts to ramp up regardless of what geographical area we’re in. This will be due to college kids coming back home, winterized classic and sports cars coming out of…
Giving discounts properly in your auto shop is essential for attracting and retaining customers, building a positive reputation, and managing finances. Every shop management software system has a procedure to reduce customer repair order totals or, in other words, apply discounts. How we discount in those SMS systems can give us much-needed data or mask…
A few months ago, I wrote a blog concerning marketing that would help make an impact on keeping customer visit count consistent regardless of weather, holidays, or any other type of pattern. However, since some of us didn’t market right, we’re in the aftermath — the car count slowed down, and we’re fretting about how…
It’s the start of a new year which naturally makes us reflect back on how the previous year went. As easy, difficult, surprisingly sane, or crazy as we may think 2022 went, let’s see what made it work and what made it fail. Hopefully, the wins outnumber the losses, but in either case, we need…
If you follow investment news, the automotive sales industry is struggling. Early in the pandemic, the issue was supply — too few new cars were available for the number of people wanting them. The supply problem trickled down to the gently used car market. Used car and truck dealers began paying higher and higher prices…
Let’s not blame “that time of the year” for not marketing properly and having no traffic in your shop. These days there are more than just a few automotive repair facilities claiming the slow-down in car count and lack of phones ringing is due to known slumps this time of year. The question now is,…