77 Questions

If you can answer these questions then you probably don’t need MasterShopCoaching!!

 

1. What is the best way to start or even revamp a marketing program?

2. How do you know when you’re getting a proper markup, but not excessive?

3. How do you know when comebacks are excessive?

4. How can you be the automotive shop everybody trusts?

5. Are there ways you can tell when an employee is not being honest?

6. What’s more important paying by salary or by the hour?

7. How can I tell if my pay program for help is too low or too high?

8. Is paying my salesman by commission good or bad for my customer?

9. How do I keep my customer from following an ex-employee to another shop?

10. Where do I find experienced employees?

11. Should I allow my technicians to do work on customer vehicles after hours?

12. How can I be sure I am getting all the work out every day that a tech can do?

13. What pays bills, Advertising, Sales or Profits?

14. How do I control my accounts receivable from continually rising during growth?

15. I have little experience in marketing – should I hire someone?

16. I spend a lot on advertising and yet why are sales not better?

17. What are the tricks to keeping a customer loyal to me?

18. Is it ok to send some kinds of work down the street that I don’t want to do?

19. How do I afford Radio and TV advertising?

20. How do I get the customer to wait his turn when I am busy?

21. Can I really afford to offer free towing?

22. Can I trust taking credit cards and checks as payment safely?

23. How often does a good business owner hold meetings with staff?

24. Should I consider paying present customers a fee/commission for bringing me a new customer?

25. Is it ok to close the shop early if we are not busy?

26. How visible should I be in the front office to the customer?

27. What decisions are to be made by me only and what decisions can be made by staff?

28. How do I make sure the shop is kept clean when we are busy?

29. How do you fire an uncontrollable employee when you have no one to take his place?

30. How do I stop our technician’s friends from dropping in and wasting his time?

31. Should I keep my shop personnel from diagnosing or talking directly to customers?

32. What do I do with a troublesome employee wife or girlfriend?

33. Is it ok to let a customer borrow an employee vehicle or company truck?

34. How can I supply the benefits my employees ask for?

35. Is hiring a payroll service better for me and my employees?

36. What do I do if I have a payment due and I don’t have the funds?

37. What do I do if I cannot pay my taxes?

38. Can I hold a customer vehicle if they can’t pay me?

39. Do I have to insure my employee tools?

40. Do I really need a time clock? For everybody?

41. Is there anything I can do to minimize lost work from colds & flu?

42. Should we offer to pick up a customer vehicle when they are too busy to bring it in?

43. Is there a way to be sure my customer leaves my shop happy?

44. Is Saturday a good day to keep the shop open?

45. How about being open Sunday?

46. Do I need different prices for different customers?

47. Can I really make any money selling to Commercial account like plumbers, truckers?

48. What literature do I need for my front counter?

49. Does direct mail or bulk mail or telephone solicitation really work?

50. If you wanted to do business with city, state and county- do you know how?

51. Do I allow employees to work in my shop after hours?

52. When employees want to buy parts through my shop what should be their price?

53. If I find an employee is drinking or drugging during or after hours what should the policy be?

54. If I find an employee is sloppy in his installations should I replace him or check every job?

55. Do I really need to keep customers out of the shop during working hours?

56. Should I tell my wife our shop troubles and ask for advice?

57. Should I allow t-shirts worn by employees that say controversial things?

58. Should I allow playboy model type posters up in the employee work area?

59. What is a healthy operating profit percentage?

60. Do you understand a balance sheet? Can you understand a P&L report?

61. Do you have adequate shop software that gives you the answers you need?

62. How do I limit internet personal connections by my employees?

63. Do you know enough about computers to control these problems?

64. How do I control vulgarity and cursing and dirty or suggestive jokes?

65. Is there ever a time when it’s ok to pay cash to an employee and ignore withholding?

66. How do I stop competitors from hiring away my employees?

67. What ways can employees steal from me, undetected?

68. Are cameras and security systems really necessary?

69. How do I get more sales from a salesman that is on salary and not commission?

70. Which is a better way to pay the salesman?

71. How can I get a salesman to be fair with a customer in not overpricing?

72. Whose job is it to clean up the shop?

73. When is the best time to clean it?

74. How many employees should be authorized to write checks and order parts?

75. Do we really need to issue purchase orders?

76. If the employee is good friends with the supplier how can I be sure there are no kick backs?
77. How involved should I be in conversations with the customer and my employee?

Ray Hauenstein. MasterShopCoaching (copyright 2009)
www.mastershopcoaching.com