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The best thing I ever did for my business.

John Pearson

By John Pearson
in Running The Shop

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John Pearson Collaborator

John Pearson

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I am a nice guy like really nice guy, and with that I make a terrible service writer. I am always trying to give people a deal, or not charge diag, or hear how someone is broke and let them make payments and never get paid.

 

The best thing I ever did for my business was get out from behind the computer. I still come out of the shop to interact with customers, talk to them, explain things and meet them but I stay away from that damn computer.

 

Part of it is our reputation has grown and word of mouth has spread, but with my service writer taking over things we are seeing double the sales that we saw last year in this first quarter.

 

 

What is the best thing that you have ever done, or not done for your business?

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mmotley Proficient

mmotley

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I am a nice guy like really nice guy, and with that I make a terrible service writer. I am always trying to give people a deal, or not charge diag, or hear how someone is broke and let them make payments and never get paid.

 

The best thing I ever did for my business was get out from behind the computer. I still come out of the shop to interact with customers, talk to them, explain things and meet them but I stay away from that damn computer.

 

Part of it is our reputation has grown and word of mouth has spread, but with my service writer taking over things we are seeing double the sales that we saw last year in this first quarter.

 

 

What is the best thing that you have ever done, or not done for your business?

 

I completely agree. I am the exact same way

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Dad's Auto Rookie

Dad's Auto

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I hired a service writer a couple years ago. Set him up with a pricing matrix and some standard policies and things were going great.

 

Then one day my wife tells me that she heard rumors that people did not like my service writer and I was losing business because of him. I investiagted a bit and found out the few people that were complaining were the ones I used to let make payments or give "deals" to.

 

They didn't like having to actually pay for their car when the repairs were finished.

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Dad's Auto Rookie

Dad's Auto

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That's too true.

 

I ended up having to eventually let him go and I moved myself back to the front desk. Now I treat myself as an employee when at the desk and stick to the policies I had set up for him.

 

It's hard to do, but well worth it. I didn't lose any customers that were worth keeping.

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John Pearson Collaborator

John Pearson

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I have a pretty good one right now, she had no knowledge about cars before coming to work for me but has work ethic and is learning. I can see her getting a pretty good grip on things, the only problem is that she is a military wife and scheduled to move in 1.5 years.

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Shopcat Community Regular

Shopcat

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The owner giving deals and letting folks take their cars before they pay is typical. I think a service advisor as a firewall is a great idea. Give them parameters and back them up. In the end people respect the fact that you have a business that's run like a business. The "deal" customer and the "ill pay ya later" customer usually ends up upset, and that's what you get for your trouble.

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xrac Grand Master

xrac

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UsedTireShop Collaborator

UsedTireShop

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I had a shop many years ago with my brother and we let a handful of customers charge. When I moved and left the shop we had $45,000 on the books which was never recovered.

 

When I started RI Tire and Service on my own I made a deal with the bank. They promised not to fix cars and I promised not to give credit.

 

I love when the customer says "I'm Good For It". I tell them that I am sure that they are good for it so it should not be a problem to borrow the money from a friend or family member.

 

This is an easy one in today's market place. Simply do not give credit. Customers are reluctant to ask for credit because they know financing and credit cards are apart of our everyday life.

 

If you want to make credit available and make a few points at the same time then you should contact a company that specializes in credit. I use http://paramountpayment.com/

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cdhowell Enthusiast

cdhowell

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I had a shop many years ago with my brother and we let a handful of customers charge. When I moved and left the shop we had $45,000 on the books which was never recovered.

 

When I started RI Tire and Service on my own I made a deal with the bank. They promised not to fix cars and I promised not to give credit.

 

I love when the customer says "I'm Good For It". I tell them that I am sure that they are good for it so it should not be a problem to borrow the money from a friend or family member.

 

This is an easy one in today's market place. Simply do not give credit. Customers are reluctant to ask for credit because they know financing and credit cards are apart of our everyday life.

 

If you want to make credit available and make a few points at the same time then you should contact a company that specializes in credit. I use http://paramountpayment.com/

Is this different from Carcare one?

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weighit Enthusiast

weighit

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ill pay ya later customers suck so much....

I did that with a really nice older guy that needed the car so he could take is ill parents somewhere out of state. Let him go with the deal that he would return as soon as he got back to pay the bill, just a shade over $500. Well he fell over and died from a heart attack while on the trip, and his wife said, not my problem what he owed you, take a hike! So that was the first and the last time anyone got out of the shop without payment in full!

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xrac Grand Master

xrac

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weighit Enthusiast

weighit

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I guess the nice older guy was married to a ??????

Ya just never know, he was a very nice guy, never had any dealing with his family. But I sure learned a valuable less in my life, Nice or not, you pay when I'm done. We all make mistakes, I always tried to learn the ones that cost me money out of my pocket only once!!!

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