focus on the cars you have in your workshop-Not the ones you don ' t
Everybody knows that repairs on modern day vehicles are becoming much more complex , time consuming and costlier than they once were . It must follow that the role of the automotive technician has become more important than ever . They can no longer see themselves as mechanics who do the standard grease and oil change , plus any repairs that the customer wants done . Compounding the role of the technician is the undeniable fact that car owners have long since stopped fussing with their own cars . This means that there is now an obligation on workshop personnel to protect their customers and try to stave off costly repairs . In fact , customers need to be educated about the importance of ongoing maintenance . The longer service intervals now suggested by car makers and their dealerships might be OK for a perfect world , but driving environments and the driving patterns of motorists are far from perfect , hence regular maintenance on a whole raft of vehicle components is as vital now as it ever was . So when someone drops off their car for an oil service a good workshop
must look beyond the service to the vehicle ' s future . Technicians must ask themselves , ' what maintenance does this vehicle need to ensure it doesn ’ t break down and have problems in the foreseeable future '. This is called preventative maintenance . Most independent workshops assume they do this well but TaT research has clearly shown that vehicles are leaving workshops every day without necessary maintenance being completed . This is happening because the workshop might be too busy , or they assume the customer can ’ t afford it , or even worse , ' she ' ll be right '. To quantify the revenue potential of these routine maintenance items TaT Biz offers an Average Service Price Calculator template that will calculate how many of these additional items you should be selling on average each week and the associated revenue this will generate . The template can be downloaded at tatbiz . net . au / resources . The template will point to the fact that significant revenue is walking out of most workshops every week . Hence my contention that repair businesses should focus on the cars
that are already in the workshop first before worrying about the cars that aren ' t booked in . There is enough revenue potential in the cars that are already booked in each day to reach the most ambitious workshop targets . All that ' s needed is to educate the customer on why this essential maintenance work needs to be carried out . If your average customer gets their car serviced every nine months and travels around 15,000 km a year it makes sense that a brake fluid flush should be performed about every two years . If you service an average of 15 cars each week , you can assume around five or six of those cars should have been due for brake fluid flush . The beauty of the TaT Biz Average Service Price Calculator is that you can compare the potential of these additional services to the number you actually sold . If you sold no brake fluid flushes when the odds say you should have sold five or six , you need to ask yourself why ? Read the full tutorial , download the template and watch the video on this subject , as well as access other useful resources at tatbiz . net . au / resources
- by Jeff Smit
24 CAPRICORN IGNITION JULY 2017