Both our business torque article and Ed Speak this month focus on the importance of reputation. For any business dealing with the retail public positive feedback and recommendations are key, this combines feedback via your own website or social media, via feedback sites such as No Cowboys or just good old word of mouth. Part of the challenge is that customers are much more likely to spread bad experiences, while average everyday experiences don’t garner much feedback. Remember that most areas have multiple workshops for customers to choose from, for instance within walking distance of me there are four general repair workshops and three specialist repairers.
One frustration you might want to avoid is the consumables charge on an invoice. Yes you do use them but the cost is usually overstated and it can lead to arguments. Better to build it into your hourly rate – as an aside I was Operations Manager for a large car leasing company many years ago and we just refused to pay this – returned countless invoices for credits!
Whilst the actual work and how you deal with clients is important for a positive experience, choosing the wrong parts or consumables can lead to negative experiences. Choice will depend a lot on the market you are serving. If you work with new cars or premium brands, then you need to choose top end parts and price is not such an issue. If you work on lower cost vehicles or in an area where incomes are more limited, value for money becomes more important – but not at the cost of potential failure or rework which will not only cost you money but will lose you that important positive feedback.
This is even more important for parts where failure might cause significant damage or safety risk (think timing belts/chains, brake or suspension parts or filters), or where there is significant time involved in the replacement, such as clutches.
For newer vehicles official parts from the manufacturer are likely to be the Go To – this retains the warranty and keeps the vehicle as it was when bought. As the vehicle ages OE parts from the large parts companies that supply the car manufacturers provide a lower cost option of comparable quantity to the original part (Think well known brands such as Bendix, Bosch, Denso, Brembo etc) and some of the well-known aftermarket brands such as Goss, Australian Clutch Services and many more.
The supplier you get these parts from is also important both in terms of delivery (stock availability and delivery speed) but also that they will have your back with warranty claims which Joes Spares down the road might not!
In some cases secondhand parts may also be an option – these are, after all, the parts originally fitted to the vehicle and especially on an older vehicle are an economic repair option for non-high wear parts.
Just consider what it might mean to your carefully cultivated reputation if you make a poor decision around parts supply to save a few bucks!
