Auto Detailing to Add Profit
For this body shop, detailing provides a tidy profit center and keeps customers happy.
EDITOR’S NOTES: One Hundred Grand
It probably seems like I’ve been harping on you about customer service lately. Unfortunately, I’m going to do it again. Customer service never fails to intrigue me as a potential gateway to increased sales. To say it’s still an unturned rock under which profits can be found is a huge understatement. Evidence of this is
EDITOR’S NOTES: Refining the Machine
Three sets of eyes bored a hole in me. I read in their glares that if I screwed up, I was going to get stomped. I started to sweat profusely but tried to will it away, knowing that moist fingers handling small LEGO pieces could surely lead to my untimely death. To make matters worse,
EDITOR’S NOTES: Who’s Our Character?
She’s perky and cute and has hot pink hair. She’s nimble and acrobatic as a secret agent uncovering auto insurance discounts. And even though she’s not real, rumor has it she’s charmed hundreds of young men into proposing marriage to her. That’s right, I’m talking about Erin Esurance, the animated pitchwoman for, you guessed it,
EDITOR’S NOTES: A Worthwhile Cause
At first glance, Bob Smith looks like the last person you would want to get in a gunfight with. Tall and imposing with a black cowboy hat and bristly white mustache, he evokes an image of the Old West and the kind of guy who might fill your belly full of lead at the slightest
EDITOR’S NOTES: Web Site Version 2…for You!
Cosmetic surgery seems all the rage these days. I must confess I just don’t get it. To me, there’s nothing more beautiful than being natural. When it comes to Web sites, however, I think an occasional facelift is necessary, and that’s exactly what we’ve done recently to www.bodyshopbusiness.com. When we relaunched the Web site a
EDITOR’S NOTES: Customer Service 101
A CARSTAR executive once told me that he advises franchisees to train their front-office staff to come out from behind the counter and greet each customer warmly and enthusiastically when they arrive at the store. That might seem trivial to some, but I’m a firm believer in that approach based on a recent experience I
Don’t Wait for Waterborne
I recently asked a shop owner if he had switched over to waterborne or low-VOC basecoats yet, and his response took me by surprise. “Tailpipe’s this big,” he said, making a circle with his thumb and index finger. “A spray gun nozzle is this big,” he then said, making a much smaller circle. “EPA’s always
Get Busy When Slow
All I keep hearing out there is how everyone has been so busy due to the harsh winter weather we received in many parts of the country this year. But I suspect that when spring breaks and gas prices spike this summer, there will once again be a dearth of repair work and many shops
Follow These Instructions
Call me completely naive or totally misinformed, but there are certain things that I assume all people do. For instance, I assume that all people wear seat belts. For me, it’s automatic, even when I’m simply crossing a parking lot. I know, perhaps that’s a little over-cautious, but I just feel safer. So I was
Who Will Weather 2009?
How do you feel about your business prospects in 2009? Well, I can tell you how some of you feel based on a recent survey we conducted. Approximately 39.1 percent of you said that you feel your business will be equal to what it was in 2008. 32.3 percent of you said business will be
Let’s Be Real, Folks
I would sure love to see an empty stadium at the Cleveland Browns’ home opener next season as a protest against outrageous NFL ticket prices. Maybe then my son and I could afford to go to a game. But are fans ever going to band together and make such a collective statement? No. Cleveland will