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Page 1 of 2 Spend a few minutes talking to another shop owner —no matter whether he or she is across town or across the country —and you’re likely to hear about some concepts and ideas that are being tried – or have long been found successful. Here’s a compilation of some ideas, tips and processes successful shop owners have recently shared.
Out early on Fridays
Out on the East Coast, Mike Anderson, owner of Wagonwork Collision Centers definitely doesn’t take the traditional approach to running his two-shop operation in Alexandria, Virg. The company has annual sales of about $5 million – and no DRP agreements.
First, like a growing number of shops, he uses a team production concept, pairing an “A-level” tech with two or three (and in one case, four) apprentices. He said he finds three apprentices to be the best option, but has a rule that a tech cannot add an additional apprentice unless all those currently working with him have been with the company for at least six months.
The shop doesn’t operate with traditional production hours, either. It’s 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, and 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. Giving employees Friday afternoons off, Anderson said, is a “quality-of-life” issue.
There is one caveat: No one leaves on Friday until everyone can leave. So if getting a car cleaned up is the only thing left to do, there’s plenty of help available to get that car done quickly.
Every employee of the company is required to perform 40 hours of community service on behalf of Wagonwork Collision, Anderson said. If a potential employee doesn’t want to do that, that’s fine, he said; it’s just an indication that person won’t fit within the company’s culture.
Despite working on a mix of vehicles from Kias and Hyundais to Porsches, the company has an average RO of $3,900 at one location and $4,200 at the other. That often (based on the insurance carrier) includes an out-of-pocket charge to the customer beyond the deductible, something the shop explains right up front. Anderson said few customers balk when they learn such things as:
• Every customer receives Anderson’s phone number, and is told the company has a technician on-call to help them 24/7.
• No non-OEM parts are used.
• All removed parts are individually bubble-wrapped and never stored inside the vehicle.
Anderson also has standard operating procedures for virtually everything. Customer special requests, for example, are written on the driver’s side door glass, so that everyone getting in or out of that vehicle can’t avoid seeing them. Detailers cannot remove that information without confirming the requested items have been handled.
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