Don’t Forget the Basics for Owning an Efficient Business
Today’s business environment may be changing at a speed the industry has never seen.
Marketing has never been more important and a great shop owner knows his eye must always be focused on branding, outreach and all forms of advertising on an ongoing basis.
It’s crucial that owners are always interviewing and recruiting for that next great team member.
It’s an important piece of the management puzzle to continually train not just your employees, but also attend leadership seminars and classes yourself.
But at the core, it’s all about being efficient. Any business owner in any industry must use their time wisely. They must be methodical about what they do each day, really each hour of the day, to get the results they want from their shop.
The topic of efficiency is a big one. Below is a clear breakdown of the 3 guiding principles of efficiency. By attacking this topic using these three buckets, it may be a more straightforward way to achieve it for each area of the business.
WRITE IT DOWN
That sounds simple enough, right? But think about each time you or a team member talks to a customer….each time your service advisor and tech talk about a car in the back and its status…each time anyone steps foot into your business or calls. All of these interactions need to be based on the policies you have prepared. The estimates and work-in-progress status of all vehicles need to be in writing – meaning your DVI. The inclusion of the DVI in a modern repair shop has been revolutionary. It builds trust. It’s transparent. And it addresses, head-on, being a more efficient shop.
“My shop is run with no paper, no files – Everyone has a tablet and this is a big benefit to the efficiency of my business. It adds consistency to everything we do. It’s been a game changer.“
Roy Foster, DRIVE & AutoVitals client
Owner of Roy Foster’s Automotive in Reno, Nevada
IF YOU CAN DO IT NOW, THEN DO IT NOW
Don’t procrastinate. No one loves 100% of what they do. There may be an aspect of your responsibilities that you don’t relish like accounting, dealing with a problematic employee or preparing a new and needed policy. But that doesn’t mean they can wait. It’s been said that a great manager touches or reads something once and then either takes a needed action or delegates it. After all, time is finite. You can’t get more of it. So use each hour you are at your business intelligently. That translates to getting things done in a timely manner. Everyone has to fight their urge to do the things they like doing first. A great manager gets the projects completed they don’t necessarily look forward to first. Get those done and then move onto the tasks at hand that you love doing. Get into this habit and you’ll be surprised how this affects the efficiency of your shop.
“I’ve learned to quickly confront any project that needs to be done. It won’t go away so just start. It feels great to get ahead of things.”
Roy Foster, DRIVE & AutoVitals client
Owner of Roy Foster’s Automotive in Reno, Nevada
Roy Foster’s Automotive, Reno Nevada
GET IT DONE
Complete anything you start. Be honest, if you were to look at your project list, have you completed everything you had begun? One of the best feelings is getting something done. Especially if it’s a project you weren’t looking forward to knocking off the list. Do you have any sympathy for an employee who puts off a task because it’s particularly boring or difficult or even just easy to ignore? You don’t. So you should never accept the same kind of “put off until next week what you’re already putting off until tomorrow” behavior from yourself. So, hike up your big boy or big girl pants and power through it.
“There is no better feeling then completing a project and knocking it off the list. 90% done is not enough at my business.”
Roy Foster, DRIVE & AutoVitals client
Owner of Roy Foster’s Automotive in Reno, Nevada
DRIVE is the largest automotive and truck repair coaching and high-tech management training company in North America. With over 25 years of experience, their continuing aim is to provide shop owners with best-in-class training, organizational skills, management tools – while improving their quality of life. The goal of DRIVE is to fully arm shop owners with every executive and management ability needed to win and grow their business.
DRIVE wants to help all shop owners. Please give us a call today at 818.863.1077 or contact us HERE.
