The old saying “many hands make for light work” can sometimes go both ways.
Being shorthanded in any situation, especially in terms of staffing at a small business, can make it seem like you’re swimming against the current, and every day is a struggle just to make a dent in your to-do list.
In the auto repair industry, making do with a smaller staff is fast becoming a reality. As we’ve all noticed, the quantity of quality techs entering our field in recent years has dwindled significantly, and the average age of an ASE-certified tech is getting higher and higher, currently sitting right around 45.
There are several reasons for this trend, all of which seem to stem from societal factors and none of which can be remedied easily. While we can’t control how many techs are entering the industry or how many “hirable” techs are available in our given market, the one thing we can control is being proactive and putting ourselves in a position to do more with less by having good systems and policies in place. In my experience, the best way to accomplish this is to make sure your shop’s culture is the very best it can be and that your staff members are 1) educated, 2) energized and 3) efficient!
Knowledge is power
Training is an element of this industry that a lot of shop owners are guilty of ignoring or taking for granted. Your employees need to constantly be on top of emerging trends, new technologies and modern equipment if you want to have a competitive advantage in your market, and they need to understand precisely how things work in your shop and what is expected of them for things to run smoothly.
There is no substitute for giving clear expectations. Proper training provides an opportunity to get everyone on the same page and working together, towards the same goal.
Training removes any confusion or blurry lines from your process. It gives your culture a chance to grow in a direction that ownership can define and maintain influence on.
By choosing to constantly train, you quickly notice the chaos dissipating and the team engaging with customers and one another in a positive, confident manner. Training allows people to really shine as they begin to understand the parameters within which you wish them to operate. If knowledge equals power, then training is precisely what you need to fire up the engine of your shop and improve productivity no matter what your tech count might be!
Incentivize to energize
In order to properly motivate your staff and get the most out of your employees, having a good incentivized payment plan in place is an absolute must. Properly and positively rewarding good work and good workers who go the extra mile will ensure your staff is operating at an optimal level regardless of its size.
Many shops struggle with this concept. They fear that if they don’t give the employees a salary or hourly pay, they will leave for a more stable situation. The truth is, only the lowest performing would prefer that over a great opportunity that is based upon their own production and effort.
There are many types of incentive pay plans in the industry. We have found that the vast majority of them have hidden disincentive traps built into them. You must test your incentives to make sure they do not become disincentives!
In my experience, improperly paying your employees can cause more problems for you than just about anything. Expecting a poorly incentivized team member to reach the goals of management is quite simply impossible.
When you let the team win when your shop wins, it stands to reason the team will work harder and there will be more winning all around. If they get paid the same whether you are slow or whether your shop is slammed, what is their incentive to get the work out more quickly? Why would they make the extra effort to make the shop busy every day? People need a reason to put in the extra effort day in and day out. Whether ownership realizes it or not, the type of people and the level of effort they will achieve is all a matter of how well we incentivize those people and whether we provide them with enough of the right training (and accountability) on a consistent basis!
Adapt or fade away
When it comes to efficiency, I can’t stress modernization enough. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of modernizing is the customer waiting area and conveniences. Whether it be a loaner car program or an espresso machine and snacks with free WiFi and charging stations for personal devices, these are things that can set us apart from the competition and provide a quantifiable difference that customers will use and appreciate.
The concept of “modernizing” in our industry also gives me visions of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be utilized to improve shop efficiency. So many shops today are using five to ten different computer programs to address each vehicle. They will sign the customer in on a POS program, look up diagnostic info on another, use yet another to order parts, and then possibly use another one or two programs to look up and compare labor times. Add to those another couple of CRM programs, plus another one for marketing, and you have a tangle of expensive and outdated processes.
All these programs have different passwords and hoops to jump through in order to get the job accomplished. Plus, none of these ancillary programs seem to talk to one another, or work in an integrated manner, no matter what claims are made to the contrary. This completely hamstrings the processes and efficiencies and is the major obstacle to making progress and improving productivity via modernization.
The future is much more streamlined and doesn’t include all that hopping around. AI will allow us to achieve much more work with less employees, even techs. We are experiencing that in our own shop (Keller Bros. in Littleton, Colo.) right now where we’re producing well over $3 million in annual revenue with only four techs in a smooth, stress-free manner thanks to the integrated management platform we use. We encourage our peers to jump on board with this idea and drop all the “standard” programs and processes that eat up so much time and profit and require multiple staff members to operate.
Staff shortages have certainly been known to cause headaches and heartburn. But if you have the right systems and the right personnel in place, being shorthanded won’t be as big of a liability as you’d think. It may even teach you how to be more productive when fully staffed thanks to the lessons learned while doing more with less. An auto repair shop is like an engine, and having a well-oiled machine complete with staff that’s educated, energized and efficient is essential to keep your motor running no matter what!
