Repair Shop Advice

Nobody wants drama in the shop.  It’s bad for productivity, it’s bad for morale and it’s bad for business.  And conversations about an employee’s sub-par performance can absolutely create drama if they go south.  That’s why even shop managers who consider themselves straight shooters sometimes delay conversations about poor employee performance.

But once it’s clear poor performance isn’t due to a short-lived issue, it’s better to address it than to let the problems pile up. Otherwise, the problems end up falling on other employees (or customers), leading to all sorts of major problems.

While earlier is better, you can’t rush into conversations about employee performance without knowing how you want them to go.  It often takes only thirty minutes for a productivity conversation to lead to improvement and continued growth.  But an antagonistic conversation can just as easily lead to distrust, resentment and eventual termination.

Here are three tips to get a good outcome from a tough conversation.

Don’t Wait Too Long

Everybody has bad days.  If a high-performer gets to work a few minutes late one day and has a good explanation, there’s probably no need to make it a performance issue.

But when a pattern starts surfacing, it’s better to bring the issue up with the employee than to keep waiting for the behavior to go away.  This gives the employee an opportunity to recognize the issue and address it before it really blemishes their reputation among their co-workers (including you!).  If an employee learns that a behavior has been reflecting poorly on them for months, there’s a good chance they’ll be angry that they weren’t told earlier so they could have an opportunity to correct it.

Ask for What You Need

When managers have a performance conversation with someone they respect, they sometimes soften their points so they don’t seem harsh or personal.  For example, they might say “It seems like you’re having trouble getting to work on time.” or “Your productivity rate is down a good bit from what it was.”

The problem with these statements is that they don’t define failure and they don’t define success.  The employee will leave the conversation knowing that they need to do better to keep their job, but not knowing what ‘good enough’ looks like.  This is a frustrating and stressful place for anyone to be and it can lead to lower performance rather than higher performance.

If you really want to be kind to an underperforming employee, make sure they know what success looks like and that they have a plan to get there.  That means ensuring they leave the conversation with success metrics that you can both measure easily and regularly.

Provide them with specific metrics where they’re underperforming.  Tell them what their performance used to be, tell them when it started falling, and tell them how far it’s fallen.  Then tell them what level metrics need to reach in order for them to once again be performing acceptably.  And if it’s someone you really want to be successful, you can let them know that by asking them if there’s anything you can do to help them be successful and helping in the ways you can.

Revisit the Topic Frequently

If you’ve planned ahead for a conversation about performance, you probably know what you’re going to say and have thought about how the employee might respond to it.  You know how big of a problem their performance is for your shop, and how quickly it needs to get fixed.

Unfortunately, your employee hasn’t had time to think about any of this, and probably has no idea they’re going to be having a serious conversation about performance shortcomings until they’re already several minutes into the conversation.

So while you’re laying out your case and telling an employee where they need to improve, that employee is probably doing a terrible job of listening to you.  They might be nodding their head and trying to engage in conversation with you, but their mind is racing: “Are these fair criticisms?  Why didn’t I notice myself falling short?  What do I need to say to keep my job?”  Just because your expectations are being stated clearly doesn’t mean the employee is hearing them.

This makes repetition more important in performance discussions than it is in most other conversations.  Before ending the conversation, make sure that both of you agree on which metrics have substandard results, how far those metrics need to rise, and how frequently they will be measured.  Finally, make sure to discuss these metrics with the employee frequently after the initial conversation – each discussion is another opportunity to emphasize their importance and the timeline for improvement.

To learn how Repair Shop Websites can help bring new business to your shop, call us at 855-294-6397 or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com.

The world’s first website celebrates its 30^th birthday this summer.  Websites may have started out as a science project, but they have become an important part of small business success.  And despite there being many ways for an auto repair shop to reach potential customers on the web, a professional website is still needed to get the best results from your online presence.

Here’s why.

Most People Use Google To Search for Local Services

When people are looking for an auto repair shop near them, the first place they go is Google.  Most people have several repair shops nearby, so Google has to decide which shops get displayed first and which ones get displayed last.  That decision has a huge impact on what shop a customer chooses. If you don’t have a website, the decision isn’t likely to favor your repair shop.

That’s true even if somebody only looks at the Local Pack or on Google Maps. That’s because Google uses websites as a key indicator of quality and credibility. So even if you have maximized your Google My Business profile, your rankings in the Local Pack and Google Maps will suffer if you don’t have a website. Not having a website is like not having any reviews for your shop. It doesn’t prevent people from finding and choosing you, but it certainly makes it much less likely.

If you want your shop to be listed near the top of the search results, you’re going to need a great website.  That website needs plenty of content about the services you provide. It needs to have accurate information about your business hours and service area. It also needs to work well when people look at it on their smartphones.  These are still some of the most important factors Google uses to decide which shops land on the first page of search results.

Consumers Look at Websites to Confirm Credibility

Running an auto repair business is a tough job.  You’ve got to do more than be an excellent technician if you want your business to succeed while treating its customers right.  And unfortunately, shops with management that has set the wrong culture, hired the wrong people or gotten desperate for cash have cheated customers over the years, causing consumers to be cautious when visiting new shops.

While most customers don’t want to pay the outrageous prices of a dealership or big franchise, they also don’t want to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a faulty repair. So before they select a shop, they look for signals that a shop has the track record of financial success that comes from getting the job done right, time and time again.

A professional website is one of the main things people use to determine whether a business is “established.”  Shops more concerned about meeting payroll than their long-term success aren’t going to bother with a professional website to help build their business.  A shop that has invested in a modern, professional website on the other hand, isn’t likely to be the type of place that would risk their reputation on saving a few extra dollars with a subpar part or a rushed repair job. Just like Google, consumers see a website as a key indicator of quality and credibility.

Websites Are Still the Only Place Online Where You Control Your Image

There are dozens of businesses that make money by sitting between you and your customers.  Facebook, Google and Yelp have become billion dollar companies by selling ads to small businesses like yours.

These companies are happy to provide a place online for you to present your business.  But they’re also in control of how you look, and they use that fact to get more money from you.  They decide what customer reviews get placed next to your name.  They decide what you can say, how many words you have to say it and what contact information you’re allowed to provide.  And they’re going to make decisions that are in their best interest.

Your website is the one place where you’re in control of your image.  You get to choose what to emphasize on your website.  Nobody can pay extra to have their company listed above yours.  If someone posts a fake negative review on Google, it’s up to Google whether it gets deleted from their site – but nobody’s making you put it on your website.

When you list your online presence on business cards or flyers, it’s important for that to be a place that you control.  Otherwise, the first thing that people see when they visit that place might be something negative about your business!

To learn how Repair Shop Websites can help your business earn new customers, call us at 855-294-6397 or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com.