Is Napa Vision Right for my Shop?

Napa has rolled out a new set of online tools for repair shops, ranging from blogs to videos and beyond.  Is it worth purchasing? We've been using it at our shop, and here's our report…

What Does Napa Vision Do?

Similar to AutoNetTV's web services, Napa Vision provides regularly published articles and videos.  The articles link to your shop's website, and provide some useful content.  However, the downside of AutoNetTV is that the articles are nearly identical from shop to shop, so there is no SEO bonus for unique content because there is no unique content.  It appears that Napa is doing things the same way.

Napa also provides two types of videos.  The first is also similar to AutoNetTV.  It's a live action video where actors describe preventive maintenance services.  The second are a series of animations that help show the viewer how a vehicle component works.

Is Napa Vision Worth Getting?

Depending on how your shop plans on using it, Napa Vision can be a helpful service to purchase.

The blog content might be helpful, but we think it should come with a few warnings.  It does provide your website with a relevant incoming link, and that's an important part of SEO.  On the other hand, because the content isn't unique, Google probably won't rank the Napa Vision blog pages very highly, so it probably won't do much to help your site.

The live action videos feature a lot of Napa product placement, and showing those videos to your customers might hurt your business more than help.  If your customer sees the part that they're featuring in the video and calls the local Napa store to price it, they might end up feeling that you're overcharging them.

The animations, however, have been helpful at our front counter as a teaching tool for our service writers.  They show cutaways of parts and can help a service writer show the customer just how a part has failed and why it needs to be replaced.  Used as part of your shop's teaching tools (like fluid samples, pictures, and even parts they can put their hands on), this can be a valuable addition.

The Bottom Line

Used in moderation as a teaching tool at the front counter, Napa Vision provides some great benefits for shops.  However, it shouldn't be used as a major component of your shop's internet marketing.

Announcing the Fourth Quarter RPM ToolKit™ Top Performers

We're excited to announce the the RPM ToolKit™ Top Performers for the Fourth Quarter of 2011.  These winners have put themselves in excellent position to take home the year-end prize, which includes tens of thousands of dollars in incredible prizes like Flush Machines, A/C Exchangers, Battery Testers, Scan Tools, Software and more from companies including Interstate Batteries, NAPA and Intuit. 

See who won the Fourth Quarter contest, the rest of the top five finalists and the prizes they won by clicking on the following links…

• RPM ToolKit™ Top Performing Technician for the Fourth Quarter of 2011

• RPM ToolKit™ Top Performing Service Writer for October, November and December, 2011

• RPM ToolKit™ Top Performing Repair Shop for the final quarter of 2011

Good luck to the thousands of users on the RPM ToolKit!  The Year End Contest is shaping up to be a close, exciting race!

The Money You Need For Great Marketing Is Already In Your Shop!

Over the last month, the markets wiped out the gains they'd made this year.  From where I write this, European banks and governments are struggling to stay afloat (and Bank of America's financial and legal problems show things aren't much better here).  Most people probably remember Lehmen Bros and what their collapse did to the market.

In other words, we're right back where we started in 2008.  What are the chances that it goes differently this time around?

This isn't a big "I told you so" (though if you were listening 3 years ago, you could have bought gold at $800/ounce).  This is your wakeup call. 

Three years ago the government tried to keep people happy and confident in the market by propping up banks with the $800 billion TARP.  This time around, the government is just shy of its shiny new debt ceiling, and is both unable and unwilling to solve a crushing debt crisis that just saw the country's debt reach 100% of the GDP — the value of everything produced anywhere in America.

We have a crisis on our hands, and by all accounts, it's going to be worse than when we dealt with this kind of crisis in 2008.

You have two options.

You can brace for impact: hope you've got the kind of customers who understand the value of preventive maintenance and excellent customer service and who don't see auto repair as a commodity where the cheapest option is the best option.

Or you can build up speed and pull out of this nose dive: spend money on quality marketing that attracts the kind of customers who will keep coming to your shop because they are trusting and loyal and know that you will save them money in the long run.

I won't waste your time reciting what Terry was saying this last December…click here to read Terry's blog called "Will Hyper-Inflation Kill Your Shop?"  It's more applicable than ever, unless you think politicians will take a different path to solving the debt crisis than inflating their way out of it.  (Here's the CEO of Pimco predicting exactly that, in case you're wondering.)

Instead, I'll just get down to brass tacks. 

The biggest problem shops have is finding the space in their budget to do effective marketing.  I get it…it's a catch 22: you don't have enough great customers in your pipeline to grow your sales enough to spend money on effective marketing to get more great customers.

But you're only stuck if you refuse to use your secret weapon: the money you're leaving on the table in your own shop.  And don't get me started on the shop owners who are in denial!  Many of our clients' shops (including our own) are setting efficiency and sales records this year and we are still leaving money on the table!

Which is probably why, no matter how many features we've packed into the RPM ToolKit — no matter how great it might be to remotely manage your shop, effectively train employees, or even compete against other shops for our top performer prizes — the one feature that amazes shop owners the most is its ability to find tens of thousands of dollars they already have in their shops and are simply leaving on the table.

Take Troy B., the owner of Accurate Automotive in Tennessee…after he started using the RPM ToolKit™, he found $138,000 his shop was missing out on every month:

"For the last few years, I've been doing over a million in sales, but I was frustrated because at the end of the year there just wasn't much money left.  Thanks to the RPM ToolKit, I am now aware of where I am bleeding in the business.

I love the RPM ToolKit™ because, I now know what everyone else in the business is doing, how they're performing, and how it affects my profitability.  Before the RPM ToolKit, I was completely unaware of the mistakes and poor choices I was making.  My net Income has tripled so far this year and there's still room for improvement!

What's really exciting is that my business is so much more efficient.  Now I have the money to invest in better shop systems and high quality marketing."

You can either stick your head in the sand…or you can go get the money being left on the table so you have the money to attract great customers by subscribing to the RPM ToolKit.  Will you let history repeat itself, or will you grow your shop while your competition gets destroyed by the crisis we all know is coming?

It costs less than a single RO per month to get started on the RPM ToolKit.

Give us a call at 1-866-520-3030 to schedule a free demo.

Does Your Shop Have Lazy Employees? Here’s The Solution!

We've probably all had to deal with them.  They ruin the morale of your shop, they shut down your productivity, they cut off sales and hurt your business.

Lazy employees are a huge burden on any business, but especially so for independent shops.  If you don't have every employee pulling their weight to provide excellent customer service and quality repairs, it can be an uphill battle to keep great customers coming back to your shop.

There's no question that some laziness can't be fixed.  But what if there were some things you could do as an owner that kept your employees excited, engaged and committed to growing your business?

The experts quoted in this article in The Globe And Mail say that shop owners can do exactly that!

That's because laziness is often caused "when employers fail to set proper expectations," according to the human resources consulting firm Verity International.

The solution? According to Verity, "employers need to manage expectations, measure performance and reward or correct behavior."

In our shop (and our clients' shops) we do this in two ways…

We use our 10-Minute Meeting™ each morning to help our techs and service writers know exactly what they need to accomplish in order to increase sales, raise gross profit, boost production and grow our shop.  We hold them accountable for items not completed, set expectations for the day, and make sure that everyone has the help and answers they need in order to meet their daily tasks.

We call this the most important meeting of our lives…and we think it's so important that we hold it EVERY DAY.  To learn how to start and manage a 10-Minute Meeting in your shop, we've taught an entire class on the solutions you need to get more productive and focused employees who do what you want…and if you click here, you can get the class on CD for only $59 (HALF OFF the normal price).

We also rely on the RPM ToolKit™ to help us measure and track employee performance in just a few minutes each day.  It allows us and our clients to set benchmarks, hold employees to them, find the bottlenecks in our production and, importantly, gives owners, managers and service writers pinpoint solutions so that they know exactly what they need to do to fix the problems.  The best news? If you get started today, you can save $100 per month…click here to learn more and signup for a demo!

Are you managing expectations, measuring performance and correcting behavior?

If your shop is plagued by lazy employees and you want to know how you can get these solutions and more (including incentive pay plans) for your shop so you can get on the road to less stress, higher profits and increased sales…drop us a line in the comments below, give us a call at 1-866-520-3030 or drop us a line through our contact page!

The Importance of Having an Exit Plan for Your Repair Shop

Flip over the news…open your browser…switch over to talk radio…there's a lot going on in the world right now.

• Death of Osama bin Laden.
• Gas prices.
• Libya, Syria, Iran, Pakistan.
• Japan's earthquake and nuclear emergency.
• NFL lockout.
• Obama's birth certificate.

I'm not trying to sound like an alarmist — my point is that there are a LOT of distractions out there right now taking your attention away from this…

Graphic by John Lohman. Click on it to see it full size.

If this graphic doesn't make it clear enough, my point is this: we are headed for serious financial trouble as a country.  Interest rates WILL explode upwards.  Inflation WILL continue to make your dollars worth less and less.  Small business loans WILL become incredibly hard to get.

This isn't a political thing.  It's not a matter of left vs. right or Democrats vs. Republicans.  This problem has been brewing for over two decades, and will ONLY go away if congress cuts spending on Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid (this video from Harvard economist Jeff Miron explains the problem in about one minute).  Unless you think that elected members of congress are likely to do something that will make them lose their seats, this problem will get much, much worse before it gets better.

I'm not trying to scare you.  I'm trying to help you.

Yes, things are bad and getting worse for politically unconnected shop owners.  But they're worse for those shop owners who aren't paying attention, which is why YOU are already on the right track.

Now that you know the problem this country is going through when it comes to its debt, you know that it's never been more important to…

STAY FOCUSED, DEVELOP SECURITY AND HAVE AN EXIT PLAN

What is your plan? Are you going to sell your business and retire?  Going to keep the business in the family?  Just like the country as a whole, kicking the can down the road for a few more years only makes the problem worse.  So…do you HAVE a plan?  Are you working towards it EVERY DAY?

If you're just trying to take things one day at a time, you're going to wake up one day and find it's too late to get out of the game.

Here is what we’ve done and what we're doing in our shop, and what we recommend to our clients:

• Systematize all operations. The business value of a shop can be dramatically enhanced by solid, clear systems, policies and procedures. Make your team accountable for following these.
• Measure all important numbers so they can be managed and improved. Without measurement of the vitals in your shop, you cannot manage them for improvement. Again, this is critical for your team to understand and make happen.  This starts with finding and using shop management software that allows you to easily measure your team, hold them accountable, and manage remotely in a few minutes each day.
• Move toward total remote management. By installing the two items above along with a chain of command and clear expectations, a shop owner can move toward remote management of the business. This will also multiply the value of the business and put it into a position that will allow you to own it as an arm-chair investment for many years past retirement age (if you so choose).
• Build a dominating brand with higher-end customers. By dominating your market your sales can remain stable and even grow – even in very rough economic conditions. When loans become non-existent and interest rates skyrocket, you will have the cash flow you need to survive and thrive.
• Seek good consulting, tax and legal counsel. Whenever you decide to sell your business, either through a third party, to family, or to one or more employees, get good legal, tax and strategy counsel. You can set yourself up for success or failure by the advice you seek and follow.
• Focus on your plan and execute! Once you have all the components of your plan indentified, do not let anything get in the way of moving forward and executing your plan. This is the only way you will ever be able to retire in the manner you deserve and desire.

If you keep your eyes on what's important — the safety and security of yourself, your family, your employees and their families — you'll be much more likely to stay successful and exit on your schedule instead of hoping for the best.  If you have a question about how you as a repair shop owner can be planning for your future, leave us a comment below or send us an email!