Making Money: Tips for Your Shops Success By Larry Hagemeister Because of the world market that we have today there has never been a better time to make money as a rebuilder. We need to be good businesspeople as well as good rebuilders. Here a few easy ways to improve your bottom line. Use business cards to their full advantage. Different colors of business cards can be eye-catching —keep a vari- ety. Make cards for your employees. This is great for business because not only are you handing them out, so are your employees. Make nametags with number of years of service noted. The number of years your company has been doing business is also informative. It is good to let your customers know your business standing and dedication to doing quality work. Have a drop box. Don’t make it hard for your customers to do business with you because you are closed. A drop box can be simple to make and it tells your customers that you want to make doing business with them easy and convenient. Make deliveries—even a weekly route. This is very important. Customers and companies like this service because they can rely on you to be there once a week. You can maintain their fleet of trucks, forklifts, etc. Oftentimes compa- nies get new equipment and they do not have a spare starter or alternator. This is a perfect time to suggest they stock one. Focus on the little things like terminal kits, solderless connectors, battery cable ends, relays, Cole Hersee products, switches, zip ties, etc. These items all need refilling, and you and your company will know exactly what your customer needs. We need to give our customers other reasons to call us besides just starters and alternators. Have a clean shop. No-brainer here! A clean shop conveys to your customers that you are responsible and dedicated to running a top-notch business. Print your name on things people won’t get rid of. Advertise on calendars, coffee cups, mouse pads, and thermome- ters. Take advantage of your on-hold message. This is a great way to let your customers know what other services you offer while they are waiting to speak with someone. Show customer parts before giving price. Never, ever quote a price on a unit or part until you set it in front of your customer. It is painful enough that your customer has to buy a starter or alternator (ya know, because they never go bad). By sitting the unit in front of them, all shiny new, or with a good looking paint job, this will sell it. Now you can see how serious the customer is about doing busi- ness with you. Make and display custom-built cables. Having a station to build custom cables out in the open for your customers to see is good business. They might have never known that you could provide that service for them and it’s just another rea- son for them to come see you. Show credit on invoices. This can be good for your customer to see the 15 per- cent off a sale in the form of a credit on the invoice. This shows that you took the time to be sure your customer was taken care of. Give core credits until they buy. By giving core credits when the customers purchase is more than the credit applied. This allows you to always generate a positive invoice. This also cuts down on accounting confusion, and the possible chance of a credit being taken twice. Brand name batteries help you sell alongside your battery labels. Interstate and Delco are well known brand names with a quality product. These companies spend thousands of dollars on nationwide advertisements. Selling your brand of bat- tery with your label right beside theirs gives your customer an option of buying batteries, and you get the national recogni- tion selling Delco or Interstate thanks to their advertising. Make up eye-catching fliers. Eye- catching fliers are easy and effective. You can use the change of season to promote different items. Spring/summer can be about lawnmower, motorcycle, jet starters and batteries or parts. Fall/winter can be about snowmobile, ATV, etc. These fliers let your customers know what is available to them and they are easy to post on local bulletin boards (feed stores, farm supply, even grocery stores). Put your label on products you sell. Everything leaving your shop should have identifying information so customers can easily access your phone number or Web site. Always offer an alternative. Keep things positive, even if you don’t offer a service that the customer is looking for. Give a suggestion as to who might be able to help. Thank them for checking with you. Provide small engine parts and service. Briggs & Stratton, Kohler, Tecumseh, all have programs that are easy to set up and having their advertise- ment sign on your building is more reason for customers to stop in and do business with you. Give credit on parts returned. There is no way around the fact that parts will be defective or returned for a refund. This situation can get “sticky” depending on the customer’s attitude. If they are upset at the time and you hand them a