Webinar Archives - Shop-Ware https://shop-ware.com/tag/webinar/ Mon, 16 Sep 2024 23:04:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 235985994 Finally, Auto Repair eCommerce as Easy as Buying Pajamas https://shop-ware.com/finally-auto-repair-ecommerce-as-easy-as-buying-pajamas/ Tue, 22 Feb 2022 06:31:19 +0000 https://shop-ware.com/?p=7388 DVX optimizes workflows and auto repair ecommerce thanks to its fresh design and state-of-the-art transaction interface within automotive shop software.

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How to Make Money in Auto Repair

Unlock the secrets to optimize your Gross Profit and achieve greater success in your business.

Finally, Auto Repair eCommerce as Easy as Buying Pajamas

When you go to your favorite e-tailer to buy pajamas, you know what you’re getting. After all, you’ve seen the product and agreed to the price and the other details. Simple, right?

Finally, we have the same transparency and communication for shop management software. We call it DVX™ for Digital Vehicle Experience

Shop-Ware CEO, Carolyn Coquillette, and Product Manager, Darin Sullivan, recently hosted a webinar to showcase this new milestone in automotive repair software. Packed with a fresh design and state of the art transaction interface, DVX optimizes workflows for auto shops. It even has a shopping cart feature with running totals.

Check out the full webinar »

Automotive shop software – reimagined

First of all, DVX documents what the shop finds and informs the customer quickly and clearly via a new design and code on the customer-facing side. As a result, it feels contemporary and is much easier to use than traditional DVI. Ultimately, customers better understand the need for the repair and shops get to showcase their expertise. With Shop-Ware, customers approve 89% of the time.

“You can finally bring the customer into the process when the work begins, which is what they are actually paying for. DVI does not do this,” Carolyn says. “This is a tip-to-tail experience.”

When 60-plus shops stepped up to beta test DVX, they – and their customers – discovered it saves both parties time and clarifies any potential misunderstandings.

Clarify communication between you and your customers:

  • Every RO needs a customer reaction – approve or decline.
  • Services are in context of the recommendation notes with photos and video.
  • Cleaner and easier way to navigate through the interface.

“We’ve taken a good thing and made it better,” Darin says. “And we’ve been careful not to lose what works well for customers.”

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Find Resources for Running a Smooth and Profitable Shop https://shop-ware.com/valuable-resources-for-running-a-smooth-and-profitable-shop/ Fri, 03 Dec 2021 10:50:55 +0000 https://shop-ware.com/?p=5855 If you're seeking the best software for auto repair shops for your auto repair shop, the Automotive Management Network can solve that puzzle and more.

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How to Make Money in Auto Repair

Unlock the secrets to optimize your Gross Profit and achieve greater success in your business.

Find Resources for Running a Smooth and Profitable Shop

You know how to fix cars but tinkering with your business model requires a whole new level of expertise. What is the right way to calculate gross profit? Who offers the best shop management software for your staff? How much should you ring up in payroll costs?

Thankfully, there is one place to go and find those answers without investing hours surfing the internet. Tom Ham, President of Automotive Management Network, outlined the services his organization offers on software for auto repair shops via a recent webinar.

The site started as a forum 18 years ago and grew into a comprehensive resource for more than 15,200 members. Since then, it has become a hub for everything from business metrics to the proper way to install lug nuts. You can even get answers about the best software for auto repair shops.

“I love efficiency, simplicity and taking the difficulties out of running a repair shop to just make it easier for everybody,” Tom says.

What You’ll Find on the Automotive Management Network

The content is highly searchable and includes:

  • Policies that you can download and customize
  • Procedures to make each technician more efficient and profitable
  • Pros and cons for different brands of software for auto repair shops
  • Tips on how to find the right location for your next shop
  • Original articles based on tried-and-true shop experiences
  • Shop management tips, including suggested labor rates
  • Key metrics to share to motivate your staff
  • Resource directories for finance, insurance, equipment, website design, 20 Groups of automobile dealers with similar business models, etc.
  • An events calendar – for in-house training and more
  • A seven-page summary of how to make your shop look more welcoming to customers
  • A photo gallery of what other shops design for their waiting areas, signs, etc.

The photo gallery includes this image of a billboard pointing to a shop so customers can find it more easily.

Tom adds it helps independent shop owners who don’t belong to a larger group they can consult with. For novices, the Network has calculators and key business numbers to explain what each one means for your bottom line. (Those functions are already built into some software for auto repair shops.) It also provides materials to train new employees.

Most content is free but you pay for what Tom calls “some of the coolest features.” He says a monthly premium membership costs less than the cost of an oil change on a car. The site also translates into more than 20 languages via a bottom at the bottom of the screen.

Survey says…!

The Network also posts regular survey results to offer an overview of industry standards. For example, Tom asked if shops charge for a brake inspection and discovered four out of 10 do not.

“The results often surprise me,” he says. “These are the questions that go through my mind in the middle of night so I turn them into a survey the next day.”

So far, he has published 113 surveys and welcomes questions for the next ones.

“I believe you feel more comfortable making your decision after you’ve got some input like that,” Tom adds.

One-stop shop

With 160 to 170 articles on everything from tools to scheduling solutions, The Network aims to remain unbiased. Since it is not selling, training or coaching anyone, it can offer advice on any product, including software for auto repair shops.

“We’re not trying to shift you in a certain direction,” Tom says. “We just give you information so you can shift yourself in the direction that you need to go…We put it all in one place to save you some time.”

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How to Leverage Technology to Generate Five-Star Reviews https://shop-ware.com/how-to-leverage-technology-to-generate-five-star-reviews/ Mon, 22 Nov 2021 10:42:07 +0000 https://shop-ware.com/?p=5502 Before your auto repair shop can earn those five-star reviews, take these steps with your real-time labor guide to communicate better with your customers.

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How to Make Money in Auto Repair

Unlock the secrets to optimize your Gross Profit and achieve greater success in your business.

How to Leverage Technology to Generate Five-Star Reviews for Your Auto Repair Shop

How you present your repair order and the way that you communicate with your customer directly reflects your automotive shop. Using antiquated shop management software, chasing people by phone for approvals, and printing stacks of paper won’t earn you five-star reviews.

Instead, you can offer customers the “Amazon” experience for car repairs.

Recently, our CEO and founder, Carolyn Coquillette, offered her expertise during a webinar with SureCritic. Its mission is to help businesses tell the true story of their customer’s experiences then benefit from improved credibility and a better online reputation.

Before you can get that five-star review, you need to take some additional steps, as Carolyn outlines. That means using a shop-management system that allows shops to run online and paper-free while focusing on the customer experience.

“We opened our business – Luscious Garage – right after the launch of the iPhone,” Carolyn recalls. “Our customer base was craving for a much more connected, advanced experience. That was instrumental to my shop’s success.”

What does this have to do with five-star reviews?

How do you impress and communicate with our customers on their terms? Auto repair is very complicated and expensive and yet most drivers and owners don’t know how complex their cars really are.

“The customer is increasingly isolated from the car they’re driving and that they depend upon,” Carolyn says. “It’s important to pull back that curtain and have the consumer understand what we’re doing, so they can appreciate us, write us five-star reviews and pay us when they see the value of our service.”

How do you earn five-star reviews for your auto repair shop?

First, you use a system that allows staff to collaborate on a work order, then you share it with the customer via a phone, tablet, or desktop. That way, they can see what you’re recommending thanks to diagnostics, how you fixed the car, and the result of those fixes. You can even share a quote and updates if you find more things to fix along the way.

“What’s magical about having a web-based platform is how you can share this with your customers,” Carolyn says. “The world has changed and customers have different expectations.”

She compared it to shopping on Amazon where you can see all of a product’s features in writing and in various photos. Some people want great detail while others just want to see the bottom line. They choose how much information unfolds and add repairs to their cart as they see what they need and why. Show them the low battery reading in a graph or a dirty fan before and after you clean. Both of them tell a story.

“It empowers the customer to buy what they want and need,” Carolyn says. “It reframes the conversation in this context. They are consuming content that is relevant to the story you are telling them. And you get to be the hero who fixes their car. You’re doing the work. Why not show it to the customer?”

As shop owners, we need to expect more from our tools, especially when it comes to our customers, she adds. Yet very few shop wonders expect their shop management system to help them win with customers. They use great phone skills yet other tools can help you showcase your work in a visual way.

It also takes the pressure off to sell services to customers, since they can see what they really need. The cart feels like a familiar shopping experience so there is less resistance.

Face it, busy customers have a short attention span and it’s hard to explain complexity over the phone. They get overwhelmed and that doesn’t encourage them to buy.

The numbers tell the story

With Shop-Ware, 89 percent of the time, people say yes to repairs. Fewer than five percent of the time, they buy nothing.

“It’s a huge shift in terms of how you are communicating and showcasing to your customer what they are actually paying for. It’s this experience, this shifting mindset where they get it and that translates into a review. Now they can appreciate you and they talk about it.”

While people don’t usually talk about the platform, it shows up in the comments about simplicity, clarity and transparency.

How a shop management system helps your business:

  • Good reviews help you with SEO
  • Customers read good reviews and are influenced by them
  • Keeps existing customers coming back
  • Wins over new customers

“The best marketing you can ever do is via your existing customers. We live and die on this,” Carolyn says. “Everything else is far less efficient and more costly. If you’re not using these tools in your toolbox, you’re really hampering yourself. Customers absolutely feed off others’ reviews.”

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15 minutes will transform your shop.

Demo the industry’s leading shop management technology.

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The Secrets of the Top 1% Auto Shops https://shop-ware.com/the-secrets-to-being-a-top-1-shop/ Tue, 09 Nov 2021 15:10:36 +0000 https://shop-ware.com/?p=5148 While technology, like automotive repair software, drives some folks out of auto repair, it creates a massive opportunity for others.

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How to Make Money in Auto Repair

Unlock the secrets to optimize your Gross Profit and achieve greater success in your business.

The Secrets of the Top 1% Auto Shops

Do you wonder how top shop owners built the business of their dreams? It takes a lot to make it to the top. If you find yourself stuck in a rut of working 12-hour days, tackling bookkeeping, and staying up until 11 p.m. doing payroll, read on. You’ll find out how automotive repair software can shoulder some of that work.

Check out this webinar with Greg Bunch, Chief Officer at Transformers Institute, and Frank Scandura, President of Frank’s European Service.

First, we share how to get out of the grind of operating your business and see it as a vehicle to achieving your dreams. You can count on shop management software to help you escape.

Today’s Challenges

Auto shop management looks nothing like it used to. With technician shortages hindering business growth and the EV wave worrying shop owners about the future of the independent auto repair industry, growth comes with challenges. But you don’t have to drown under the wave; you can surf it instead.

While technology, aging out owners, strict zoning, and technician shortages will drive some folks out, it creates a massive opportunity for others. The shop owners who have the necessary resources in place will make it to the next level. There are two steps you’ll definitely want to take.

CHECK OUT THE FULL WEBINAR

1. Develop a Definite Chief Aim

It all starts by knowing what you have a burning desire to achieve. Make a ‘Definite Chief Aim’ – a statement of a goal you want to achieve.

“By X date, I will have X (measurable result). In return, I will give the most efficient service of which I am capable, delivering the fullest possible quantity, and the best possible quality of X. I believe that I will have this result. Then, I will create a plan by which to achieve my desired result and will follow that plan.”

When it comes to reaching your goal, you cannot just wing it and you can’t go it alone. Tapping into analytics within your automotive repair software can help you stay on track.

2. Mingle with Masterminds

Join or create a mastermind to support your Definite Chief Aim. As the saying goes, “success breeds success.” Once you associate yourself with forward-thinking business owners, you can learn how to thrive for the next 20 years. To become a top 1% shop, you need to network with the top 1% of the industry. Do you have an idea but don’t know how to pull it off? With a mastermind group, you can learn from the best in the business.

Whatever your challenges are, it is important to know that you’re not alone. Many shop owners are buried under long hours, high stress, low profits, and underperforming employees. Many more aren’t able to vacation and don’t have a retirement plan. But with these challenges also comes opportunity, and you have the choice to thrive or survive.

About Transformers Institute

Transformers Institute facilitates mastermind groups and can also provide live training, video training, consulting and coaching programs, M&A assistance, financing solutions, and marketing services. They have assembled a team of professionals dedicated to transforming the automotive service and repair industry through the most dynamic and progressive programs together under one roof.

Get the latest in your inbox.

15 minutes will transform your shop.

Demo the industry’s leading shop management technology.

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How to Earn $100,000 More in Auto Repair Point of Sales https://shop-ware.com/how-to-earn-100000-more-in-auto-repair-point-of-sales-2/ Mon, 04 Oct 2021 19:56:19 +0000 https://shop-ware.com/?p=5747 By using the best auto repair billing software, and its gross profit calculator, you can add rack up more revenue with your real-time labor guide features.

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How to Make Money in Auto Repair

Unlock the secrets to optimize your Gross Profit and achieve greater success in your business.

How to Earn $100,000 More in Auto Repair Point of Sales

Today, two allies share their knowledge of software to help other shop owners become more profitable through auto repair point of sales.

Jorge Antico founded and developed software for Service-Intel.com, an integration partner. Meanwhile, Steve Wootton is a Shop-Ware advisory board member and a Service-Intel user for the past dozen years. Both are clients of Shop-Ware’s shop management software.

Meet Jorge Antico

Jorge operated Santa Monica Auto Center from 1998 to 2002. As he put best practices into place, he realized that shop management systems were incapable of accurately predicting recurring maintenance needs. He also noted that vehicle owners consider shop’s vehicle inspections as biased. So, he created Service-Intel.com, a POS tool to produce fact-based reports of “who-needs-what”  that clients trust. The cloud-based aftermarket platform includes POS service-need predictions, a full-featured CRM, and SEO-optimized websites. This is all compatible with most major shop management systems, including Shop-Ware and its gross profit calculator for parts.

In a recent webinar, he and Steve showed how shop owners could be missing up to $100,000 in profit per year, by under-selling recurring maintenance (based on $77 x 5 RO/Day x 261 workdays). Both men share a focus with Shop-Ware on supporting people as they switch to new systems and see stellar results.

Meet Steve

Steve has been working in the automotive industry since 1984. He has earned certifications in ASE Master Automobile Technician, Advanced Level Performance, Service Consultant, and is an  Accredited Automotive Manager through the Automotive Management Institute. He has worked as a technical advisor for Ultimate Automotive, Truck & Equipment in Cromwell, Connecticut since 2005. 

He offers invaluable insights into how Shop-Ware users can continue to boost service sales while meeting the demands of a busy shop.

A Tech Teamwork that Truly Works

Together, Service-Intel and Shop-Ware accurately predict all service needs pre-inspection, saving time for techs, staff, and customers. The biggest feature is the ability to build vehicle owner trust by tracking service history based upon a customer’s actual driving mileage. It also tracks key metrics, such as the number of people reached with service alerts, messages opened, and response rates.

For more information, visit Service-Intel.com or to schedule a demo, contact Steve at stevewootton65@gmail.com.

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15 minutes will transform your shop.

Demo the industry’s leading shop management technology.

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Green Dot, Gauges, Oh My! Manage Your Auto Shop Capacity Live https://shop-ware.com/green-dot-gauges-oh-my-manage-your-auto-shop-capacity-live/ Fri, 24 Sep 2021 11:21:01 +0000 https://shop-ware.com/?p=4193 Seeing a daily overview of your auto shop capacity live within your automotive shop management system frees up time and mental energy.

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How to Make Money in Auto Repair

Unlock the secrets to optimize your Gross Profit and achieve greater success in your business.

Green Dot, Gauges, Oh My! Manage Your Auto Shop Capacity Live

Green means go and it also means dollars for your shop.

In the case of our Capacity feature, it tells you where to go to keep the flow of work. That way, you keep money rolling as you visualize your auto shop capacity live.

Seeing your daily overview at a glance can free up time and mental energy while opening you up to more customers. You told us you needed this type of visualization of your auto shop capacity in your shop management software.

Now, you’re saying, “It’s a godsend.” You can track each tech and car to see what is happening to move cars from approval to repair and make your shop more profitable.

Check out the full webinar »

See Your Auto Shop Capacity In One Place

Capacity is the first feature of its kind to help you do more with less math and human effort. It answers your questions at glance or before you even ask them. Shop-Ware founder and CEO Carolyn Coquillette walked through the dials, tiles and dots to summarize the most valuable pain-point relievers.

Find out what you need to know and make decisions by:

  • Seeing what work is in progress with each tech and repair order via billed hours (green dots)
  • Quantifying where you stand on your daily targets (by looking at one gauge)
  • Assessing how close you are to your weekly targets in dollars and hours (with a second gauge)

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15 minutes will transform your shop.

Demo the industry’s leading shop management technology.

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