Repair Shop Advice

It’s getting harder and harder to attract technicians. We hear this from our customers all the time, so we decided to dig a little deeper into the problem. Our goal: to determine the source of the problem, so we could offer some suggestions on how to address it.

We found three major reasons that hiring is so difficult:

#1 – A study by tools manufacturer RIDGID in late 2014 found that only 6% of high school students hope to have a career in the skilled trades.  That six percent has to be split between plumbing, HVAC repair, welding, and countless other skilled trade professions – along with all of the automotive repair facilities in the United States.

This is leading to a shortage in skilled automotive technicians entering the field.  Worse, it’s indicative of a continuing challenge going forward, as older technicians retire and fewer young ones have an interest in replacing them.

#2 – Auto technicians are much more likely to be happy with their current job than most other people.  A payscale study way back in 2008 found that auto technicians were ranked the 8^th happiest employees, and many of the jobs with happier employees were jobs of passion, like Clergy, Professional Actors and Special Education Teachers.  Even today, Auto Mechanics, on average, report being “very happy” with their jobs – much happier than most other employees.

This makes it difficult to attract great technicians to your shop.   Difficult however, does not mean impossible.  A previous post provides an infographic with suggestions on how to attract skilled technicians to your independent auto repair shop, and we’ll be covering these techniques more in future posts.

#3 According to a 2015 Manpower Group study, Skilled Trades Workers were the most difficult jobs to fill globally for the fourth year in a row.  They were also the most difficult jobs to fill in the US.  The second most difficult job to fill in the US was a technician role; these are defined as production/operations, engineering, and maintenance roles.  Collectively, these two job types describe the type of person you’re looking to hire for your shop.

If you’ve been wondering if all shops are having the same problems as yours – unfortunately, they are.  That makes it more important than ever that you’re giving your hiring efforts the time and energy they deserve.  If you’re hiring, that’s probably because you’re short-staffed – that means you’re probably already working overtime just to keep things running.  But it’s impossible to have a high-performing shop without great technicians.  Just a few months of staff shortage can really damage your reputation, both to customers and prospective employees. 

Stay tuned for more information on how to attract and hire great technicians, or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com and ask us for the link to our most recent webinar about the topic.

In an earlier blog post, we discussed how your website visitors will generally decide whether it’s worth staying on your page in 10 seconds or less.  If you’ve heard this before, you might be thinking that the most important things on your website are those on the screen when the website first loads – and you would be correct.  It’s imperative that customers can immediately figure out what services you offer, where you’re located and how to contact you.

You might also be thinking that there’s little value in having pages and pages of website content if people make decisions so quickly – surprisingly, that’s not accurate.  There are two major reasons it helps to have a site that is full of automotive service content.

#1 – Getting Found Online

Your customers might need your service, but they’re unlikely to hear about you until they search for auto repair shops nearby and Google returns your site. Because of this, what matters to Google is often even more important than what matters to your customers.

If a customer in Charleston, South Carolina needs their brakes replaced, they may search for “auto repair Charleston”, and your home page will be among the returned results.  But they may also search for “brake pad replacement nearby” or “squealing brakes 29401”.  In these cases, Google wants to send these customers to a page that talks about brake pad replacement, or the sound they’re having.

If your website has pages focused on providing this information, your shop’s website is going to be one of the first results returned in Google.  To truly perform its best, your site needs pages of content for any of the phrases that people search for when their car isn’t performing well.  This content is the difference between being seen occasionally in a Google search, and being seen by almost everyone that could use your services..

#2 – A Professional Image

Once people decide that your company is worth further consideration in those first ten seconds, they may go explore your website for more information.  If there are only a few short pages on the site, they may not leave convinced that you can do exactly the repair they need.  But if you go into detail on how brakes work and all of the brake repairs your shop offers, they’ll be much more likely to assume you certainly have their problem covered, and put you on their short list.

It’s important to note that potential customers might decide whether to stay on your site in 10 seconds or less, but they might not make the final decision of who to call until they do some more research.  In order to make a customer’s short list, you’ll need to pass both the “first-scan” test and have enough information about their specific problem to seem like a reputable option to get it fixed right the first time.

To learn more about what types of content you need on your site to maximize the number of leads you receive, call us at 1-866-665-1605 or email us at Team_RSW@repairshopwebsites.com.