After I attended the Auto Body Association of Texas Trade Show and then a Shopfix Academy conference, I was motivated and had all these ideas. I just went back to my normal routine. But then I came across a quote from Dipen Parmar: “The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.” There are so many things in my shop I know I need to address that I’ve put off. I’m always busy doing busy work and not doing the tedious work that needs to get done so I can run a more profitable shop.
Devise a Yearly Marketing Plan
I have plenty of marketing for my business that I have done throughout the years that is still in place. I add items here and there and sponsor things as they come up, but I have never sat down and made a comprehensive marketing plan. This is so I know how much money I am spending on marketing and to gauge what is giving me the most bang for my buck. On my comprehensive marketing plan, I have the following items: Website and SEO with retargeting, digital marketing to include Facebook, Google, Yelp, and LinkedIn ads, email marketing, text marketing, direct mail, radio and television. After I derive all the avenues of marketing that are available to me, I list what I’m currently doing and what I am interested in doing. Then I send out to all the marketing companies that I have worked with and ask them to come back to me with bids on items that they can handle and to put something together for me to review. The goal is to set a marketing plan and leave open enough money each month for community sponsorships as things come up. I let all the marketing companies know that what I choose is set for the next two years then repeat the process in two years.
Chart of Accounts and Profit & Loss Statement
I’m great at numbers and I know what I’m bringing in and what I have going out. My chart of accounts, though, has been a hot mess and that throws off my profit & loss statement because I cannot just look at the report and see where there is a problem. I’ve known about the issue, and I also know I’m the one who caused the issue. When I first started the shop, I made my own chart of accounts. Then I started attending a regional performance group and tried to implement its suggested chart of accounts. When I implemented the chart of accounts from my performance group, I never fully set it up. I had problems mapping things from CCC into Quickbooks, and there were so many account types to track that I ended up setting it to the side to come back to. That usually didn’t happen.
Finally, I went into the shop on a Saturday when no one would be there and could distract me. I cleaned up my chart and made my profit & loss statement clear and easy to read so I could spot things when something is off. What I did for the chart of accounts was take the one I had from my regional performance group and tweak it to what I want to track in my small shop. It may not be as in-depth as some of these large MSOs that can pay a whole accounting department or company to track every minor thing in the shop, but my chart tracks what I find to be the most important things. I just had to remind myself it’s okay to veer away from what everyone else is doing and do what makes sense for your own shop.
Shop Consultant
When I took over my shop, it was making less than $500,000 a year. In less than 10 years, I now have it bringing in $3 million dollar shop. I had an insurance background but had never worked directly in a shop or run a shop before. Everything has been from blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of trial and error. I’ve known for a long time that if I want to go further, I’m going to need a shop consultant. I have met a lot of consultants at industry events, but I was always intimidated by hiring one.
I decided I want to take my shop to $5 million, I needed to swallow my pride and hire one. I interviewed eight consultants and picked one not who I thought would be the strongest to battle the insurance industry. Instead, I picked a consultant who worked with my personality. If I cannot relate to them or get rubbed the wrong way when they’re advising me, I’m more likely to waste my money in not heeding their advice.
We just have to remember “The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding,” and sometimes that means letting our egos down, being transparent with ourselves, and actually doing the work that we know needs to get done, even when we don’t want to do it.
