I hate the telephone.

[fastfredracing]

A little history, I am a one man auto repair shop. I love fixing cars, and I do take it seriously. I have a pretty good reputation around here. I am super busy. I have been in buisness for 15 years, and the biggest hurdle that I cannot overcome, is the telephone. Last friday , I got in at 7:30 am , the phone was ringing as I was unlocking the door, and it never stopped. I was unable to turn a single bolt untill lunchtime. It is like this every day. An answering machine will fill up in less than a half day just with missed calls. I am constantly on the phone. I blew off work today, just for the simple fact that I could not stand the thought of trying to hustle a clutch job while getting hammerd by the phone. even if I had an answering service, I would have to stay two hours later every night just to field the calls. So I am out with my 3 year old son today, and my cell phone rings like 25 more times . I try not to give my cell phone # out to customers, but sometimes you have to . For about the last year, I will answer the phone for a coule of hours in the morning, and just ignore it , untill I get all of my work done. I am good at what I do, but I simply cannot concentrate at what I am doing when on the phone. Any of you feel like this?? I once had a secretary, but all that seemed to do was elimate me from running to pick up the phone, I was still on the phone all day. Any good ideas as to how to make my life a little easier? I regularly launch phones out the door, and I have smashed a few into bits with the BF hammer. Thanks for letting me rant.

[Rot 911]

It sounds like it might be time for you to do one of two things:

1. Increase your per hour charge and have fewer customers for the same money.

2. Bring on another mechanic for the increased business.

[Hendog]

Well, it does indeed sound like you need staff. You're a good mechanic who needs a good receptionist/girl friday. She (yes I'm politically incorrect) could take calls allowing you to work 3 hours in the morning and returning 1 hour of calls, then do that again in the afternoon. She could even relay phone info back and forth if need be while you are underneath the car and you wouldn't have to stop working Good people are hard to find but it could work.

[porsche4life]

Either hire a secretary. Or start unhooking the phone/locking the door until you get towards unbusy and then hook everything back up.

[stomachmonkey]

You need a qualified assistant/office manager so you can concentrate on the parts of the business that you want to.

[Zeke]

Fred. I'd spend 300-400 for a wireless headset. You don't have to use it all day, but it might help during periods you know will be slower than others for call volume.

Also, have you taken stock in what your conversations are like? I mean are you a friendly talky kind of guy like me? I tend to prolong calls beyond pure business. You can pare down the talk time and still be friendly. One more thing, if someone reaches you while you're using that headset and you don't want to take the time to write down all the info, ask them to call back and tell them you won't pick up so they can leave their data on your recorder. Use your fax when you can for parts orders and completion notification. Also added work authorizations. Get a fax number from each customer if you can. Make up some preprinted form for any and all transactions, even for the lunch counter you may go to for take out!

And, you could get a school kid (think college here too) to come in after school to write down messages, prepare invoices or whatever you can delegate. That's the key here, you have to delegate something. Some students will jump at the chance to sweep floors and dust cars just to be around them and make minimum wage. Just don't let them get in your hair and don't carry on conversations with them. They need the work ethic anyway

Lastly, I don't know who does your light bookwork, but I'd farm it out. You'll get better reports on your business anyway and your taxes will be virtually done at tax time.

[RWebb]

I'm with milt - UNLESS the problem is the "mindshare" taken from your work (I refuse to have a phone in my office for just that reason).

You could also do what Richard Parr (PMO) does. No incoming calls. Probably won't work for your biz...

or -- take yourself OUT of the yellow pages - biz by referral only.

and... after advising your good customers in advance, find a way to make the calls shorter. i.e. - no diagnosis over the phone... interrupt a long-winded guy with "Hey - ya know, you need to bring the car in. I'll be glad to take a look at it. And write down all the symptoms for me on a piece of paper. That'll let me reduce the cost for you since it will take less of my time for diagnosis. See ya...."

[Dave L]

Originally Posted by RWebb

interrupt a long-winded guy with "Hey - ya know, you need to bring the car in. I'll be glad to take a look at it. And write down all the symptoms for me on a piece of paper. That'll let me reduce the cost for you since it will take less of my time for diagnosis. See ya...."

+1, unless you can figure out a way to repair cars over the phone you have to focus on what can make you money.

I was at a tire store today and the guy proceeded to answer the phone 3 times and work through quotes on snow tires. Me, the customer waiting infront of him with my debit card in hand had to wait. I wasnt too pleased at the 20 minute wait and was a paying customer. If I hadnt already put a deposit on the tires I would have walked and taken my business elsewhere.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

You can probably hook up with a call center in India to handle things for you for about $10 a week.

[rattlsnak]

My brother in law was in the exact same situation in N.C. There were days when he couldnt even step out into the shop because of the phone. He FINALLY hired a young guy from the local community college who was enrolled in auto mechanics. He comes in everyday at 12pm-ish and understands cars and can answer most questions customers ask. They both benefit. The young guys hangs around and learns about cars, and my B.I.L. gets to work! It has saved him for sure!

[fastfredracing]

I took myself out of the yellow pages 4 years ago, best move I have ever made. I used to give 50 quotes a day for the price shoppers. I have been thinking about the wireless headset for a while, and I think I will do that. At least I will have both hands free,and I can do simple jobs while on the phone. I do have software that is real sweet, as soon as I generate an invoice, It is saved , and calculates sales tax due/profit etc, that is a real time saver. I am real hesitant to hire on help, even though I know I need it. I dont know if a secretary would handle customers with the same finesse that I do. I used to have a large shop with 5 techs, and two part time secretarys, those were the worst times I have ever had in buisness. I was real stressed. We had to jockey used car lot vehicles all day just to make payroll. I downsized my shop so that I could focus on the type of work that I like. I was becoming another one of those volume shops, and Iknow some of the work that was coming out was a little on the shoddy, side, and it was near impossible to control it. I would never have dreamed of giving a 911 rebuild to one of my guys, and I was too busy running the shop to even try to tear into a large job like that. When I had employees, It ended up that I spent most of my time in the office, and I HATED IT, I became an underpaid secretary. I really like the small shop thing, and I now make way more money than I ever have. I do take the phone off of the hook to get jobs done. Some of my customers complain that it is too hard to get a hold of me. I feel guilty when I do this , but that is the only way I get things done sometimes. I appreciate your thoughts , and ideas. Maybe I will outsource my calls to india, that way my customers can sit on hold for 30 mins. to talk to someone that they can barely understand. I know I really enjoy it when I call places like this.

[rfuerst911sc]

A couple of things come to mind. First off don't be too pissed that the phone is ringing, you can be pissed when it stops ringing
1. You might want to start conducting business like Richard Parr at PMO, give out a fax number only and get back to customers late in the day or early evening.
2. Do you have a girlfriend/wife/sister/brother that's looking for some fill in work?
3. As others have stated hire a secretary.
4. Try giving out your email address and suggesting to folks to use that to ask questions.
5. Unfortunately we are living in a society that expects instant info, and the most direct way is to call. Good luck

[VaSteve]

Hire an older secretary. Someone with some experience/maturity to understand that you need to work on stuff and are not to be disturbed. Make he tell folks that you'll return calls at lunch and 4pm (while she's putting the tools away ). If you set the expectation that you're not calling back till noon people will get the message.

When I say a mature person, I mean it. We have a temp in one of the admin slots at work now. I hate her. She's been there 3 months and is too comfortable in her role. *****y little girl.

[rammstein]

You need a receptionist.

[lisa_spyder]

oh boy...I know all about this one.

For years and years I was Dad's "girl-Friday" (aka admin manager, tea lady, marketing manager etc etc).

YOU need one. My job FIRST AND FOREMOST was to keep Dad off the phone for all the reasons you have cited.

The way this worked for us - I would only ever call Dad to take a call if it was to do with a job on the workshop floor and I knew he was ready to talk with the client about it. Sometimes the client would call and it was just too soon to give them valuable info, sometimes they were just a nuisance.

Any other calls I would screen vehemently. Most technical enquiries I could (can)
handle so we had a unique and good system going. If we were all too busy (like I was quoting a big job and couldn't answer the phones) we would let it go to messagebank. If people did NOT leave a message we figured they did not need to talk with us that urgently after all.

I also made sure that our message said exactly WHY we could not take their call, not just "you have called Spyder Automobiles, we are unavailable, please leave a message". We do things differently now, what with email etc but then the message said in essence - "we apologise that we cannot take you call immediately as we are working on our clients' vehicles. If your needs are urgent then PLEASE leave a message so that we can return your call as soon as possible."

If you are spending all your working day on the phone then yes you have a BIG problem. Put up your rates BEFORE you get another mechanic...you'll sort the wheat from the chaff a lot sooner...and get disciplined! Those who are just chewing your ear constantly wanting free info and assistance you need to cut short. I'm sorry, but you are in business and no-one pays for your time on the phone...unless of course you tell them they will be paying for it. That works too - I even billed a couple of people who blew off so much of Dad's time in useless phone calls. It went on their invoices as "consultancy charges". Make your clients aware that whilst you are talking with them on the phone, you cannot work on their job.

Sometimes you gotta lose the Mr Nice Guy and get tough... it's not easy but you are going to go broke and have no life outside of work unless you do. And to top it off, you'll have a bunch of angry clients as their work will never be finished on time as you're always stuck on the phone instead of turning a spanner.

Cheers and good luck!

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

You need a qualified assistant/office manager so you can concentrate on the parts of the business that you want to.

this, or get the wireless headset thingy so you can work and talk concurrently

If you hire someone, they should be older and hopefully mature

[KFC911]

Take the "Al Reed" approach . Seriously...it's hard to finally get a hold of Al, but he has no shortage of work...don't let that damn phone ruin you life!

[Heel n Toe]

Might be good to get and use an answering machine, with one caveat; have your message to the caller be brief... all the while encouraging them to keep it brief, too:

Can't come to the phone right now... leave your name and number and I'll get back to you. Please don't leave a long message telling me what is wrong with your car. Or email me at fred77@gmail.com

*beeep*

Very cool that you went to the small shop thing after finding out you didn't like the bigger operation.

I think the answering machine could work for you. You could even mention a certain time slot in your message when you return calls... say from 1-2... or after 4:30.

[Mr.Puff]

Do you have a shop e-mail? Maybe a shop AIM account?

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Either hire a secretary. Or start unhooking the phone/locking the door until you get towards unbusy and then hook everything back up.

If he unhooks the secretary, he'll never get any work done.