Strategies to Stretch Profit Margins
Your options for increasing profit margins are limited when a vendor supplies you with the part, material or service. Instead, focus on improving the one profit margin you do have direct control over: labor.
What a Tech Wants: Dealership Over an Independent
There are reasons techs choose a dealership over an independent or vice versa. More importantly, there are things you can do to convince them to choose your shop.
Shop Manager, Show Me the Money
eff Rice, body shop manager, Pace Collision Center, Huntington, Indiana, says, “I always see what you’re supposed to pay techs, but what should managers make?
Somebody’s Watching Me: “Spy Cam” Teddys
Secret “spy cam” teddys aren’t the answer. Techs produce at least 50 percent more when they know you’re watching them. Implementing a production tracking system – along with productivity bonuses – has saved one shop owner $87,200 per year and increased his net profit by 10 percent. A worker produces at about 50 percent of
10 Reasons to Live Where You Work
You’re a collision technician. In fact, you’ve probably been working as one for years. You know your craft, you have the experience and you put in your typical eight-hour days, five days a week. You’ve probably also noticed that at the end of the year, your gross and net earnings have been sliding downward. So
I’ve Got Something You Want: the Barter System
Shop owners are using the barter system to turn their down time into a way to accumulate trade dollars and attract new business. Just because you’re short on cash doesn’t mean you have to go without. More and more body shop owners are turning to bartering – and finding that it can be good for
Doing the Impossible: Scheduling Labor Effectively
I’ve been in the collision repair industry for 21 years, and one challenge that’s a constant is effectively scheduling production staff. Scheduling in this business is difficult because you have different repair jobs coming in every day and no two jobs are exactly the same – so you can’t follow a standard scheduling method that
There’s a Right Way … and There’s a Wrong Way
Paint-shop best practices.
Getting Personal: Sending Hand-written Cards
Turn the tables on a technology-overloaded society. Sending hand-written cards to customers will not only endear you in their hearts but ensure you’re the one to fix their cars’ broken parts Technology is a buzzword to some and a dirty word to others. Yet everyone deals with technology in almost every aspect of their daily
Scheduling Labor Effectively
Take a systematic approach to scheduling labor. I’ve been in the collision repair industry for 21 years, and one challenge that’s a constant is effectively scheduling production staff. Scheduling in this business is difficult because you have different repair jobs coming in every day and no two jobs are exactly the same — so you