Hello, and welcome to Racext's Car Magazine column, the column dedicated exclusively to the world of four-wheel vehicles with news, insights and guides, available every day here racext.com, today in this article we will talk about "How to run a mechanical workshop: view 4 practical tips”
We know it's not easy to manage a mechanical workshop. There are different types of administration, from one that stands above the employees and wants to closely monitor everything that happens, to the friendliest, which puts employees more at ease and trusts that everything is going according to plan. Regardless of your style, however, there are a few factors to follow when running a machine shop to ensure customer proximity and revenue growth.
To help you organize your business, attract more customers and increase profits, we've listed 6 sure-fire tips for running a successful auto repair shop below. Additional action!
1. Qualify the professionals who work for you
The difference between the customer's workshop and that of the competition will not always be the price: the quality of the work is also very important in purchasing decisions. Sometimes a customer is even willing to pay more to do a good job.
However, to guarantee the best service in your company, the professionals should always be trained in the most efficient and modern techniques on the market. This is especially true if you take into account that the car market is constantly evolving and becoming more and more technological.
After the investment has been made and everyone has been trained to function at their best, take the opportunity to raise your prices and tout a skilled labor force as a differential for your business. So you can achieve a return that pays for the investment in the training of your staff.
Moreover, these training courses can also create another interesting opportunity: by specializing your employees in certain makes or models of cars, your workshop also has the opportunity to be recognized by a car mechanic as an authorized mechanic of that brand. , which gives customers more credibility.
2. Use a management system to ensure orderly deliveries
How long does it take on average for each service developed in your company? Which professionals perform best in your workshop? Are service delays communicated to customers in advance? What is the average time it takes for each supplier to ship new parts for repair? Knowing all this is essential for good management of your mechanical workshop.
These questions are critical to the smooth running of your business, so why not invest in the technology used to help you answer them?
Using a digital system to manage a workshop, you can set the deadlines for the delivery of each service, monitor any delays, communicate them in advance to customers to avoid frustration, have a pre-calculation of your weekly turnover and even measure how many free hours each employee has.
The more data you can obtain about the functioning of your workshop, the more you can react to these figures, so that you always achieve better results.
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3. Managing a workplace also means organizing the work environment
Another challenge in running a machine shop is ensuring the conditions for maximum worker productivity. After all, a tumultuous or messy work environment can lead to a drop in income and thus in business income.
Therefore, the first step is to make sure that the workshop is organized in such a way that every tool used has a proper place to be stored. Mechanics therefore do not always have to search for materials to perform the service and always know where to find them.
It also encourages employees to follow the ritual of returning tools to their location as this helps colleagues and also makes the environment more visually appealing to customers.
Also, be sure to repair the equipment so that there are no worn and ineffective tools or machines that fail due to defects. In this way, the delivery times of your mechanical services are never affected by this simple part of everyday life.
4. Develop a good relationship to build customer loyalty
Running a car repair shop is not just about making as much money as possible, but also making sure that your customers are satisfied and that they always come back to perform new services with you.
That's why it's important to ensure that anyone who can contact the customer has access to all the information about each repair. Therefore, he will always be able to provide the most up-to-date information on each case.
In addition, service managers also need to know how to explain why each service is performed, how each part is used, and why it is being replaced. After all, your customers don't understand mechanics and may feel ripped off when faced with a budget that involves various modifications to their vehicle. Just to be sure, explain everything in detail and calmly to ensure the credibility of your service.
And finally, think of the customers in the aftersales! A few days after the service has been completed and the vehicle has been returned to the driver, it is worth getting in touch to make sure the car is OK. Another good idea is to call your customers periodically to remind them of preventive maintenance on their vehicles (which can be reported by your management system).
Anything that can provide safety or save the customer's work is always a good idea!
5. Expand your service portfolio
To lead a machine shop to success, you also need to be able to tell when the right time has come to expand your business.
If you follow the job development in your management system and have identified that there are professionals with enough spare time or money in the company to hire new employees, a good way to provide a more comprehensive service to your clients and increase your income is to portfolio of services offered.
This is also a good idea for building customer loyalty. After all, garages that have few services can cause customers to migrate to other businesses in search of care they can't.
6. Disclosure is the lifeblood of the business
It doesn't matter how good your auto shop's job is if your potential customers don't know your business exists, right? Therefore, for running a mechanical workshop, it is also necessary to have a marketing mind in some sense.
Particularly in offices, at the entrances of buildings and at other companies in the region, flyers are regularly distributed to publicize their work. However, you can also choose to use social media.
Also bet on talking to customers you already have. Advertise the services for sale via a contact list, for example via email or WhatsApp. And bet you'll remind your customers to come back for routine procedures, such as a car oil change.
Finally, it is also worth keeping them informed about, for example, new payment conditions, new services offered, new specializations of their employees and changed opening hours.
Was this article interesting for you? So deepen your workshop teaching knowledge with our content on 5 Reasons to Take an Automotive Mechanics Course , tools your auto mechanics should have and the complete alignment and balancing guide .
