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Prepare your workshop for 2023 based on 5 key factors

Trends

January 5, 2023

11 MIN of Reading

The start of a new year implies a greater concern for companies looking to their future over the next 12 months, which are expected to be very challenging given the current national and international context.

This is the ideal time to reflect deeply on the future of your workshop and analyse the management of your business based on 5 key factors:

1. Am I comfortable with the image I transmit of my workshop?

2. Do I have effective ways of communicating with my customers?

3. Is the workshop's equipment suitable for the latest vehicle technology?

4. Is my team able to deal with any request according to their technical knowledge?

5. Do I have the tools needed to offer an agile customer service or service booking?

The 5 key factors:

1. Take care of your workshop's image

Your workshop's image is an extremely important factor because it projects an initial perception of the level of service customers expect to receive and when compared to competiton.

If you don't have a brand that is distinctive from your nearest competitors, this is an excellent opportunity to stand out with an identity that communicates what you want for the future of your workshop, reflecting your image and culture at every point of contact: cleaning, organization, uniforms, etc., providing a remarkable experience for your customer.

2. Communicate effectively with your customers

Studies on customer satisfaction in the automotive repair business reinforce the importance of communication as a key factor to build a relationship of trust that is mostly nurtured by feedback and recommendation.

Communication must be managed as a strategic tool for the most different initiatives that affect the business, such as attracting new customers. Tips4y suggests several tips and good practices on how you can attract customers to your workshop by taking advantage of the geographical influence associated with your local business.

3. Ensure that the equipment is suitable

The vehicle parc is gradually changing with the introduction of electric vehicles, bringing major structural change to the automotive industry.

This evolution is forcing workshops to face new challenges in terms of technical assistance in order to remain competitive in the maintenance and repair business. Tips4y suggests several guidelines on this issue, ensuring safety questions and access to the best information on automotive technical data.

Also try to ensure that your workshop has a technical repair support line that allows you to quickly and effectively solve technical problems and assist you with diagnostics, i.e. a technical repair support line.

4. Invest in technical knowledge

According to the most recent workshops survey conducted by the ‘Revista Pós Venda’, a speciallized magazine, around 50 % of the workshops attend up to 3 trainings a year, while 36% of the workshops still vary between no training and up to 2 trainings a year.

Considering the developments in automotive technology and the increase in its technical complexity, it is increasingly necessary to work within a continuous update knowledge system.

In this context, we must reinforce the importance of the Technical Repair Support Line, which provides access to knowledge in a complementary way, optimising the efforts of workshops on various levels, such as specialised support for different car models, access to OE technical data, to information on breakdown codes and other issues.

5. Increase your productivity

In the same survey conducted by the ‘Revista Pós-Venda’, more than 60 % of the workshops have a space of up to 600 m2, but 18 % manage workshops in spaces larger than 1,000 m2.

In workshops with these areas, around 80 % open up to 250 service sheets per month on average. However, 50 % do not open more than 100, which is similar to the national average. Considering this effort in terms of operating time, most of them spend an average of between 1 and 2 hours on each service.

In order to optimise the investment done by workshops and taking into account the volume of service sheets as well as allocated hours, it is essential to manage this whole equation with a tool that has been designed for this purpose.

Tips4y has anticipated this need with the DataDrive platform that enables a productive management of all these variables

Contact us for more information and subscribe DataDrive now!

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