I realized newly that in my 20-year career individual of the few constants in the local auto repair sight is the jobber store.

I realized newly that in my 20-year career individual of the few constants in the local auto repair sight is the jobber store. I can enumerate on one hand how many of the customers that were around "way back then" who are still in business. This got me to wondering what makes a business favor or perish in a field as wide unclose as automotive repair.

Frankly, I'm a bit mystified. Although there is more opportunity for repair work because the average age of consumer is rising along with the average age of their vehicles, workshops are disappearing. Some of the local workshops have closed due to personal difficulties or retirement, on the contrary it seems like a chance of them closed up simply because they were and nothing else good at one or brace things.

Two local stores that have been around on a level longer than me provide any interesting insight into what makes a store sink or sail in today's wmarket. upon the surface these two stores seem very different, but apply the minds can be deceiving. Geographically they are les than 10 miles apart, with common in a town centered in succession a small college with a population that fluctuates with the institute year. The other is located in an ex-farming community that has become a bedroom community for the surrounding area.

From the physical plant view, these stores are worlds apart. One is a recent four-bay shop with a separate alignment bay, customer waiting area, wrecker service, online parts ordering and haphazards of signage. The other is a small, two-bay store that at one time was used as a combination carcass and mechanical repair facility. It's located behind a cluster of other buildings, and if you didn't know it was there you might not notice it. At first glance, you might think it's a beneficial place to bring your 4X4 pickup in for ball joints or a muffler further not your '02 Saab for a drivability problem--but you would be wicked Both shops get their fair share of the religious and the not so worthy jobs, and both produce of the highest order results.

The for the use of all thread between these shops is that the proprietors have invested in their workshops and their employees. They have kept up with the befitting equipment and technical training for their employee by means of continuing to learn and withhold up with current technology.

Compare them to the workshop owners who decide what they know now is enough to carry them by means of to retirement, which will originate early due to the fast-paced changes that are occurring in each aspect of automotive technology from undercar to engine have charge ofs to collision repair. Because of the dramatic changes, the learning inflect can be quite steep for many repair seriess which means learning must be a continual process

Of course, the same orders apply to anyone behind the in opposition to If you're not taking advantage of each opportunity you can to attend clinics or training seminars and offering the same to your customers, you may one as well as the other be old news before drawn out Most manufacturers and sales rep are more than happy to assist you with fruit training. The more you know about the parts you put up to sale the more you will barter Plus, you will have far fewer warranty point in disputes and that will benefit the two you and your customers. That, in itself, is a worthwhile payoff.

Mike Gordon, a 20-year contrary sales veteran, works the reckoner at Sanel Auto Parts, Concord, NH

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