Do Auto Repair Shop Owners Know the Second Ingredient to Estimating Profitably?

The Second Ingredient to Estimating Profitably by Rick White, President 180BIZ

When it comes to estimating profitably, the second ingredient that I want to talk to you about today is proof. You must be able to look at perspectives. Most days, you go through a routine. It's the same over and over again. When your client is coming in with their vehicle, they're typically coming in with either a single or a few concerns, or they're asking you for a service. What they're not expecting, or actually they probably are fearing is you calling them up with more work needed.

That's the disconnect we need to be aware of. While this is more logical and routine for you, when you're going through the estimating process for your client, this is a completely emotional experience. And I want you to be very, very cognizant of that fact as you're going through this. So, if you're going to approach your client with additional needed repairs and or services, you need to have proof.  If you don't have proof and you are selling simply with your words or presenting with your words, you will never be as profitable as you could be. So you need some type of proof. It needs to be videos. It needs to be pictures. And the pictures just can't be a picture. That's one of the mistakes I see happen all the time is the tech takes a picture of a cracked belt.

But we don't, we don't show the customer where to look. Be sure to circle things. Point arrows to them. Direct their attention, their focus on what it is you want them to see. So you need to have proof. Now, this proof is going to help you as an advisor, when you're estimating, recognize what's needed, why it's needed, and you feel better about this. The second thing it does is it's going to put your client's mind at ease because you are showing them exactly what's going on with their vehicle. So that is a really big part of today is getting that proof in there. Once you get that proof in, once you show them, you're only halfway there.

You also want to show them what it should look like. We are creatures of comparison. So, make sure that you are comparing. You're showing them what they have now, but then show them what it looks like new. Show them what it's supposed to look like. If you're going to show them a brake pad that is very worn, that's a no-brainer. It makes sense to you. I get it. But they don't understand. So have the next picture be of a pad that's brand new so that not necessarily for their vehicle, but so that they can compare what they have to what you're recommending. So, you need proof. That's the first thing I want to make sure you understand, even if you're still doing paper inspections or evaluations, you still need a way to capture the proof.  So proof is the first part.

The second part is you've got to create the focus. Show them where to look. If you don't, it just makes them more nervous. It makes them more stressed out. They don't know what they're looking at and they don't know what's wrong. And that stress levels going up in the back of their mind emotionally. Remember that our clients are completely emotional at this point. Once we show them where we want them to look and we say, see all these cracks here. Yeah, it shouldn't be there. Don't stop there. This is what a new belt looks like. See how this one's all dry and cracking right here. We've got it circled for you. Here's the same area in a new belt. Take a look at it. What do you think now? That sale is going to become infinitely easier because in the process of estimating profitably, you've got proof.

If you want more information, if you want to get a really in-depth look at estimating profitably, I highly recommend that you sign up for our Pocket Business Genius webinars series. It's the second Wednesday of every month at 1:00 PM. Eastern. That's the live webinar. Now you can come in, you can interact. We can talk, ask questions back and forth, or you can watch the recording. And that's the other cool part about it. Being a part of the PBG series is you get a library of webinars that I think is running right around 40, 45 webinars right now, believe it or not. So there's a bunch of stuff in there. I want you to be able to basically come back and refer to things and get my opinion and my strategies on things. Anytime you want. It's like having me in your back pocket.

Stay safe and go make some money this week. Take care.