GLENDALE, CA. April 27, 2016. In addition to a slew of already
popular workshops, Management Success revealed two new workshops at its
Spring Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona.
To the right is a brief description of the new Management Success Workshops.
Building Your Dream Team
An interactive workshop designed to give shop owners the skills needed
to recruit the best employees and keep them effectively trained on an
on-going basis.
On-site Shop Workflow
An interactive, hands-on training program that gives shop
owners the skills needed to improve their shop’s workflow.
“The response we have received regarding these two new
services has been overwhelming,” stated Robert Spitz, Snr VP Business
Development.
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Friday, April 29, 2016
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Is Your Shop Operational? By Bob Spitz
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| Robert Spitz Snr VP Business Development Management Success! |
What will it take to get your business to run at this highly efficient state? Let’s take a look at this point-by-point and see if we can map out a plan that will allow you to reach this ideal land.
Goals for Your Business
Most entrepreneurs go into business with the goals of sustained financial security and personal freedom that elude many people who work for someone else. This being said, the ability to set effective goals for yourself and your business is vital to your success.
Organization
Although, many technicians have dealership experience, they are not necessarily exposed to the dealership’s organizational and operational systems. Consequently, these technicians are left with limited knowledge of operating a growing business.
In the start-up stages, it may appear that little organization is needed to experience some initial business growth. However, in the long-run, knowledge of how to operate all aspects of a business from marketing, sales, employees, production, operations, accounting, collections and expansion are key to a successful business.
Recruiting and Hiring
Most people in our industry start out on the technical side. They’re good techs but have only learned that one side of the business. A business cannot grow without people who are well trained in all aspects of business operations. Knowing how to recruit, hire and train the right employees is imperative. Without good hiring techniques the business will most likely stay small, leaving the business owner wearing to many hats and feeling over worked.
Employee Management
A common error among small business owners is to assume that their employees value their business as much as they do. As a result, issues that are painfully obvious to the owner are often overlooked by employees, resulting in owners feeling disappointed and frustrated. It is important for a business owner to clearly communicate the BIG PICTURE of their business and motivate their employees to subscribe to their vision and goals. Having competent employees who clearly understand and appreciate all of the shop functions is critical to the success of a business. Otherwise, the business owner may feel like they have all of the functions of the shop wrapped around their neck.
Marketing and Sales
“Build a better mousetrap and consumers will beat a path to your door.” Maybe you have heard this old adage. The problem with this saying is…it is incomplete. You could build the best mouse trap the world has ever seen, but without a good marketing plan no one will ever know about it. Without a good marketing plan and competent people on the front lines who know how to sell your services, your business won’t thrive. We live in a very transitional period. No one marketing vehicle can stand alone. Only the most carefully crafted strategical marketing plans will allow you to outshine the rest.
Transitioning
Probably the hardest thing you will do is learn how to transition out of the back to the front office, and then ultimately out of the front, too. But you must do this if you have the goal of being highly operational. You have to learn how to correctly recruit, hire and train technicians to handle your shop efficiently. You have to know how to attract the right talent up front and train them to take care of your customers the way you do. Then the final transition point is learning to trust someone to handle the day-to-day management of the business for you. This is a process that takes knowledge, skill and patience. But, if you gain the needed knowledge and management skills you will be rewarded with the successful shop and life you envision.
Industry Analysis & Trends
According to a 2015 market research study conducted by IBISWorld, the auto repair industry is in growth mode. “The Auto Mechanics industry has grown steadily over the last five years. Individuals and businesses have increased demand for industry services, as rising disposable income encourages consumers to opt for auto mechanic services over do-it-yourself repair. In the coming years, disposable income levels are expected to continue to grow, encouraging consumers to spend more on the maintenance and repair of their vehicles.” The IBIS report shows the current revenue for the auto mechanic industry is currently at $57 billion. So we ask you…. Do you want to take advantage of this industry growth trend? Or, do you want to sit on the sidelines and watch others prosper?
In Conclusion
Management Success has been helping shop owners for over 20 years achieve their goals, and have the life they envisioned. Take the next step to being highly operational by going to www.ManagementSuccess.com and taking our free online Shop Business Analysis!
*IBISworld Mechanics Market Research Report
(http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1689)
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Is Lack of Knowledge Hurting Your Business? By Robert Spitz
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| Robert Spitz Snr VP Business Dev Management Success! |
In the past, it was enough to have good mechanical skills,
some common sense, and a dose of good luck to be successful in the auto repair
business. But there have been a lot of
changes since that time. The increase in
extended warranties, environmental demands, government regulations, more
competition, less qualified help, and an economical environment that has changed
significantly since 9/11 all have contributed to making it tougher to make a
profit.
Is Business Growth
Tied to Management Knowledge and Skill?
Looking at the growth of thousands of shops, there is a
definite pattern which is directly tied to the owner’s business skill and
knowledge. Oftentimes, the growth and
success of the business can be tied to the owner’s background and
experience.
Small to Mid Size
Shops
In most small shops, those that have been in business for
longer than five years and are doing somewhere from $5,000 to $25,000 in sales a
month, the owners have come from the technical side of the business. Their time is primarily spent fixing cars.
Other shop owners have pushed their monthly sales up into
the $25,000 to $45,000 range. In those
shops, the owner tends to be the service writer and oversees the rest of the
business. The technicians fix most of
the cars. In a small percentage of shops, the owner hires a service writer, while continuing to work on cars him- or herself. Sometimes, owners bring in their spouse to
help out and eventually handle customers.
What all the shops in this range have in common is that
their business grew to a certain level of monthly sales and then ran into a
barrier that seemed to stop the business from growing and expanding.
Common Barriers
- Having problems finding good help
- Not enough customers
- Working too many hours
- Not making enough money
- Owner overwhelmed
- Owner has to handle every problem and check on everything or else it doesn’t get done right
The barriers become unsolvable. Owners try everything they can think of to
solve the problems. By talking to other
shops that are having the same problems, they get agreement that the problems
are unsolvable. When you talk to shops
that have been in business for five to 30 years and are still struggling with the
above problems, you find that most of the owners have given up and believe
there is no solution to the problem.
Their Solutions
- Close the shop down
- Sell the shop or turn the shop over to a family member
- Hope that it will get better
- Keep on doing the same thing until they retire or die
These owners have resigned themselves to the “fact” that
there is nothing that can be done about these problems. They get to the point where they will not
listen to anyone that indicates that there might be a solution to their
problem.
Bigger Mid-Size and Large Operations
The number of shop owners who have taken their business to
the next level is much smaller. This group of shops is doing somewhere between $50,000 and $90,000 in monthly
sales. They will occasionally help the
service writer, or help out in the back, but normally they are not working in
the operation on a day-to-day basis. These shops have run into barriers, too.
Barriers
- Getting someone to manage the shop who has the same care factor as the owner
- Getting someone to manage the shop the way the owner wants it to be done
- Running into problems when a key person, either the manager or a good technician, is lost
Here, you have owners who can run the shop successfully
themselves, but are unable to get the job successfully turned over to someone
else.
There is another group of owners who have pushed their
operations above $90,000 to over $200,000 in sales a month. They can come and go as they please. Most do not open their shops in the
morning. They have a service writer or
manager who runs the day-to-day operation.
Here, the owner has successfully turned over the job of
managing or running the shop to someone else.
They will tell you that they are doing fine and have no real
problems. When you talk about taking the
shop to the next level, they begin to tell you they are not really interested
in doing that. Eventually, they will
tell you about the barriers that they have run into and why they have decided
not to expand.
Expanded to the Next
Level, Then Fell Back
Some owners in this group got the business to the next level, then something happened to pull them back down. Sometimes, it was because, for some reason, they lost the good manager or a key technician. Other times, they
started to get alarming reports from their good customers along with a drop in
business. When they investigated, they
found the manager was creating problems and decided to go back to running the
shop themselves.
Multiple Shop
Locations
Finally, there are shop owners who have one shop, then start
opening multiple locations. They too
eventually run into problems. They
expand to the level just beyond the ability that their organization and their
people can effectively control.
So, you have the person who is successful up to five stores,
but when they tried to expand past that point, everything starts to
break down. In fact, in most large
multiple location operations, there seems to be certain constant points where
they run into problems.
They are not involved with the operation; they are doing something
else. They hire a general manager to run
the operation and, as they grow bigger, they hire district managers to run four to six stores.
During the growth pattern, they are making money like it’s
going out of style. It is a wild
time. They just start opening stores and
putting people in place. But eventually, the organization gets into trouble.
If the owner starts visiting the shops and inspecting each
operation, what is found is policy violations. Standard policy and procedures are not being followed. The operation starts to flounder.
The Real Problem
There are three things that you need in order to be a really
successful multi-location operation. Having
a system and getting it implemented is one of the missing basics. Another is the right organizational structure, and the last is the ability to find and train the right people to do the job.
The trick is having a successful model in one shop, then
being able to duplicate that model in a second shop; then in a third, fourth, and so on. Then, you figure out how to organize the sixth
through the tenth shop. Most owners
expand too quickly and take their operation beyond their ability to control it.
The Real Solution
At every one of those levels, there are common barriers that
must be handled in order to expand. The
owner’s inability to handle that problem is solely based on his lack of
knowledge on how to handle that problem. The more you grow, the more management knowledge and skills you
need. It is the key.
At Management Success!
we have helped shop owners solve each of these problems. Isn’t it time that you quit being frustrated
and hoping it will get better? Isn’t it
time that you learned how to solve the problem that is preventing you from
taking your business to the next level?
We invite you to go online and take the free Shop Business
Analysis. This analysis will point out
all the things you are doing right and shed light on those areas that are
holding you back. Do it today!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Management Success! Truck 20 Group Meets to Discuss Operational Issues & Best Practices
On August 9 and 10, Dan Klepper and Dennis Poirier, owners of Sawaya
Fleet Services, hosted the Management Success! Truck 20 Group at their 17,000
sq. ft. NAPA Truck Center facility in Denver. Top truck shops from around the
country gathered to discuss important issues facing truck shop owners, as well
as best practices for increasing profit potential. The meeting was moderated by
Management Success! Senior Consultant, Jim Smith.
On the first day, the group talked about operational issues, and worked
out solutions to some of the most pressing problems members deal with in their
shops. Dan and Dennis treated everyone
to BBQ, and the group toured their facility, analyzing throughput on both their
mechanical and collision divisions. The second day was spent on profit and loss
reviews, and sharing best practices. Afterward, Dan said, “It was a pleasure hosting the group at our
facility. Anytime you have the chance to meet with likeminded professionals and
hammer out important issues that we all deal with, everyone benefits.”
According to David Saline of 2nd-to-None Service, “The best part of an
event like this is networking with other shop owners. It’s great to hear
different viewpoints and bounce ideas off each other. It’s also very motivating
to see what’s possible with a shop by having others look at your numbers and by giving ideas and input on how to improve those numbers. The Truck 20 Group is
made up of great shops and great owners that come together to go to the next
level. So there’s also an accountability factor - other shop owners point out
issues and give recommendations, and now it’s up to you to act. Groups like
this will only improve our industry, and there’s really no limit to what shops
in this group can accomplish.”
The next Truck 20 Group meeting will take place at the Management
Success! convention in Universal City on September 28, 2014. For more
information on Management Success! or the Truck 20 Group, please contact Morgan
Scott at morgan.scott@managementsuccess.com.
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