By Bill Davidge, Director of EDGE Performance
The volume of collision repair owners with two or more locations (also known as multi-store owners, or MSOs), is continuing to grow. With rising cost pressures, rapid rate of technological advancement and the challenges that come along with setting yourself apart from your competitors, some owners wonder, how do the MSOs do it?
One thing is certain—there is no turnkey solution. Successful multi-store owners take every aspect of the repair process and customer experience into consideration. From the customer experience online in searching for the store, to what the parking lot looks like when they arrive, to how they are communicated with during the repair and what their car looks like when they get it back—every detail matters.
Store owners trying to monitor every little detail themselves are set up for failure. This is why another key component of MSO success lies within the team. Being surrounded by a dependable team—and delegating responsibilities with different team members based on their strengths and interests—is what drives success. When employees are passionate about what they do and see they have a direct impact on the success of the store, it provides motivation, as they know someone is providing them the opportunity to thrive.
Recognizing top talent and rewarding key leaders is another crucial component. Little differences such as creating new job titles to promote employees, treating employees to a lunch once a month and making sure the employee break room is welcoming and clean are simple tasks owners can implement to create employee retention.
After creating duties and delegating them, tracking progress becomes paramount. Operators who are able to grow have a laser focus on key performance indicators (KPIs). Tracking cycle time, customer service scores, touch time and length of rental are just some of the measurements that give owners insight into performance. Armed with data, owners can work with their team to find opportunities to improve efficiencies.
Once operations are finely tuned, owners can acknowledge their top talent and KPIs, and MSOs can take their business to the next level, replicating successful practices from shop to shop. Overcoming this hurdle is no easy feat; Finding a viable market, implementing operations and finding new employees can be overwhelming to most independent owners.
With over 109 independently owned and operated MSOs within the CARSTAR family, this experienced banner is fully equipped to help its owner grow their businesses. Offering real estate and acquisition support, third party financing relationships as well as market planning analysis, CARSTAR welcomes not only existing MSOs to its network, but independent owners looking to grow their business.
Being a part of the CARSTAR family includes additional support such as:
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Brand Recognition: With over 600 locations across North America, a premier reputation and key industry relationships, the CARSTAR brand helps its franchise partners hit the ground running.
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Purchasing Power: Backed by its parent company, Driven Brands, CARSTAR benefits from the enormous scale of over 2,500 franchises providing both financial and time savings.
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Operational Support: Whether it is load leveling or resource sharing, the operations team at CARSTAR consults, counsels and coaches multi-store owners on proven best practices.
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Ongoing Training: CARSTAR University provides multi-store owners a wide range of training, continuously updated by industry leading professionals, vendors and partners.
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Online Presence: CARSTAR has a dynamic digital team that works tirelessly to ensure the brand is the same powerhouse online as it is in its communities.
CARSTAR is well versed in helping multi-store owners thrive. If you want to maintain ownership of your multiple stores and desire additional support from a premier network, join CARSTAR by calling 844-906-9764 or visit www.carstar.com/franchise-opportunities/.
