How Do I Stop Winging It in My Auto Repair Shop?

You stop winging it in your auto repair shop, mechanics workshop or garage by doing three things. Find out what a shop like yours should be hitting, measure yourself against those targets every week, and fix the biggest gap first. Cassie and Josh Lole of Auto Air Electrical did exactly that after eight years in business, and in their first six months with us their bottom line went up by roughly 50%.

Nobody wings it because they're lazy. You wing it because nobody ever handed you the targets, and you've been too flat out doing the work to go looking for them.

What does winging it look like in an auto repair shop?

Cassie and Josh have been in business for ten years. Here's how they described the first eight:

"Been in business for 10 years now, and for the first eight, basically, well, now I find out that I've been winging it. So, with a lot of inefficiencies."

The words that stay with me are "now I find out". For eight years the shop was open, the work was coming in and the bills were getting paid, so from the inside it looked like a business that was working. You can't see that you're winging it until somebody shows you what your numbers should look like, and until then, being busy feels like doing well.

They didn't rush in either. In their own words: "We were fence-sitters to start with." Plenty of auto repair shop owners sit on that fence for years, because not knowing feels safer than finding out what it's been costing them.

What did Cassie and Josh change?

By their account, the first change was knowing what good looks like.

"On the business side, it was having those industry specific metrics to know where my target should be. And by having those industry specific ones, I've been able to really tidy up those inefficiencies."

They got targets. Industry-specific ones, for a shop like theirs, so every number they looked at had something to be measured against. Your gross profit figure means very little on its own. Put the target beside it and the gap between the two shows you where the money is going.

They tidied up the inefficiencies. Once you can see the gap, you know which leak to fix first. How fast it happened surprised them: "to tidy those up in such a short period of time is just, it's been a big surprise for me."

They let a business coach ask the hard questions. When personal issues came up and they brought them to us, they didn't get a lecture. "Instead of your judgment back to me, you ask me questions to make me think for myself to overcome my problems myself, which I really like." That's how we coach. You know your shop better than anyone, and a good question gets you to your own answer faster than an instruction does.

They stopped doing it alone. The rest of their answer was about the people around them. Having a coach who is a partner in an automotive business herself mattered to them. So did the other members of The Engine Room, our coaching program for auto repair shop owners. A couple of months before we filmed, they had a problem with a vehicle late on a Friday afternoon and rang another member. He picked up and told them, "I've just dropped the phone call that I was on so that I could answer you guys, cuz it's the Engine Room. You never ignore a call from someone in the Engine Room." As they put it: "Everyone's got each other's back in here."

What results did they get?

After eight years of winging it, they've now spent 18 months working to targets. Here's what changed, in their words:

"Bottom line, definitely. By amounts that I didn't even know were possible. ... first 6 months of our 18 months, had a bottom line increase of roughly about 50%."

That's roughly half as much profit again within six months, from a shop they'd already been running for eight years. In the twelve months after that, their bottom line grew again on top of that first 50%. None of it came from a new shop or a new market. By their own account, it came from tidying up the business they already had, once they could see where the targets sat.

Asked whether they'd recommend it, their answer was simple: "any small investment in the right direction will reap dividends well above what you'd expect. And that's what I've experienced."

Watch Cassie and Josh tell it themselves in about two minutes, including the Friday afternoon phone call.

How do I stop winging it in my own shop?

You don't need to know exactly what Cassie and Josh tidied up to do the same in your own business. You need the same three things they had.

Know what your shop should be hitting. Start with your gross profit, net profit, effective labour rate, average repair order (your average job value) and your labour and parts split, checked every week. What Numbers Should an Auto Repair Shop Owner Check Every Week? walks you through all five, and What Is a Healthy Profit Margin for an Auto Repair Shop? tells you where your profit should sit.

Find the inefficiencies. If you're flat out and the bank account doesn't show it, the leak is usually in thin margins, hours paid and never billed, or a diary too full to sell the work each car needs. Why Am I Busy but Not Making Any Money? shows you where to look, and How Do I Measure Technician Efficiency and Productivity? gives you the two shop-floor numbers that show unbilled time.

Get off the fence. If you're weighing up whether help is worth the money, Is Business Coaching Worth It for an Auto Repair Shop? lays out what to expect and what to ask.

Questions auto repair shop owners ask about winging it

How do I know if I've been winging it in my business?

Ask yourself what your gross profit was last month, and what it should be for a shop your size. If you can't answer the second half, you're winging it.

What targets should my auto repair shop be hitting?

The benchmarks we use at The Workshop Whisperer put overall gross profit between 58% and 62%, technician productivity at 80% or more, and technician efficiency at or above 100%. Your exact targets depend on the size of your automotive workshop and your mix of work, which is why Cassie and Josh valued having industry-specific ones.

Is a business coach worth it for a small auto repair shop?

For Cassie and Josh it was. Their bottom line was roughly 50% higher within their first six months, and it kept growing after that. The test for any coach is whether they work from your numbers and ask you good questions, rather than handing you someone else's plan.

What can I do tonight?

Pull up last month's profit and loss. Write down your gross profit as a percentage, and next to it write 58% to 62%. If you're below that range, the gap is your first inefficiency. Multiply the gap by last month's sales and you'll see what it cost you in profit last month.

Related questions:

• What Does an Auto Repair Business Coach Actually Do?
• Do I Need a Business Coach for My Mechanic Workshop?
• How Do I Hold My Team Accountable Without Micromanaging?

See what changes for the people who do this work. On our Our Clients page, auto repair shop owners, named and on camera, tell you what actually changed in their shops and their numbers.

More on this topic: all Performance articles.

Whenever you're ready, here's how we can help.

• Not ready to spend anything yet? Start free with Shop Talk, a 30-day reset for auto repair shop owners on our YouTube channel, and our free resources for auto repair shop owners.
• Over $50,000 a month? The Engine Room is the program Cassie and Josh joined. It changes how the whole business runs, from your numbers to your team, delivered online with one-on-one coaching on demand and a room full of owners who pick up the phone.
• Running an auto repair shop under $50,000 a month? Auto Superstars Academy builds the foundations, with one-on-one coaching on demand from a business coach who is a current or former auto repair shop owner.