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What is the Price of Survival?
By: Automotive Training Institute, www.autotraining.net.
In talking to shop owners each week, I find that most of them are doing well but some are struggling and the difference is very basic. W. Edwards Deming once said that “Your business is designed perfectly, to give you the results that you are getting right now”. The main difference between those shops that are doing well and those that are struggling is the amount of emphasis that is placed on vigilance. It is too often that people say “that is just the way it is” when it does not have to be that way at all. I have never understood complacency and have rarely accepted things that I did not like or results that I did not want. This attitude has brought me some celebration but not without a measure of discomfort. The question is, are you happy with the results you are getting and if not what are you doing about it? Those of you who have a "business designed perfectly" can stop reading now, for the rest of us let us press on.
My father was a military man. He was a serious man who loved to laugh. He was a man who never learned to settle for “good enough”. On many afternoon projects I was the victim of his attention to detail and had to redo a multitude of tasks, including something as simple as raking the leaves. I learned that the trees in our yard would wait for me to be done so they could dump a few more leaves, just in time for my father’s inspection. My question to you is are you inspecting what happens in your business? Inspection, supervision and leadership have to happen everyday if you expect to get and keep the results you want.
I was discussing with a client how the number of alignments performed had dropped to zero. They had done very well in the past but recently things had faded away until the equipment was collecting dust. The owner said that the cars were checking out ok, the customers did not need alignments, and the customers were not having any problems with their cars. The manager told the same story, all was right in the world, the planets were in their proper places and cars had ceased to need alignments. After all, the shop was doing ok. The owner finally agreed, after much discussion, to review the courtesy checks and personally start re-inspecting some of the cars. Several days later the owner called and was deeply troubled with the results that he had found. His inspections revealed a number of cars that, in fact, had alignment issues and when presented to the customers, they brought forth a host of problems that everyone had ignored because the car was "good enough". The owner felt that the manager had dropped the ball and allowed the shop to provide sub-standard service. If you are still reading, you know where we are going next. As an owner, you can delegate a task but not the final responsibility. You are ultimately the one who will pay the price when your staff does not do their job and you do not do yours.
How often do you follow behind your manager and staff to ensure that we are checking the vehicles properly? This is not just to find more things wrong with the cars but to make sure any recommendations are justified and truly needed. How often do we follow up on the cores and returns that may be piling up? Do we check the return slips from the parts house to see if we got credit for a returned part or was it just marked as a core? How often do we check the margins in the business, everyday, every ticket, or once a month/quarter when the latest P&L comes in? Do we even check it then? When was the last time you compared the parts margin from your point of sale system to the monthly P&L? You may find a large difference between the two and have to review the accountability of your parts return process. When was the last time you checked the productivity of the shop or even the individual technicians?
The price for survival is the constant struggle to maintain and manage your staff, your customers and the systems that you have in place to get the results that you need to survive and to prosper. You may have the greatest manager in the industry, but without your guidance, encouragement and supervision, they may become complacent and accept what is "good enough". One person who will rarely accept what is "good enough" is your customers. There is too much competition in the market, trying to attract and keep reluctant consumers, to sit back and continue to conduct business as usual. The consumer is looking for more for their hard earned dollars. They are more careful where they spend their money, what they spend it on and who they spend it with. Will they spend it with you? Is your business designed perfectly to give you the results that you want?
