Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Automotive News
  • Rubber News
  • European Rubber Journal
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • Current Issue
  • BEST PLACES TO WORK
  • News
    • MID YEAR REPORT
    • TIRE MAKERS
    • HUMANITARIAN
    • COMMERCIAL TIRE
    • GOVERNMENT & LAW
    • MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
    • OBITUARIES
    • OPINION
    • SERVICE ZONE
  • ADAS
  • Data
    • DATA STORE
  • Custom
    • SPONSORED CONTENT
  • Events
    • ASK THE EXPERT
    • LIVESTREAMS
    • WEBINARS
    • SEMA LIVESTREAMS
    • RUBBER NEWS EVENTS
  • Resources
    • ADVERTISE
    • AWARDS
    • CLASSIFIEDS
    • DIRECTORY
    • SHOP FLOOR
    • Best Places to Work
    • BALANCING
    • DEMOUNTING
    • SAFETY
    • TIRE REPAIR
    • TPMS
    • TRAINING
    • VEHICLE LIFTING
    • WHEEL TORQUE
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
November 08, 2013 01:00 AM

Search out best and brightest

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    While oft-mentioned in this space, it bears repeating: Complacency can be a business-breaker. Think your restrooms are “clean enough?” Ask your customers—especially your female patrons—if they're satisfied. What about your showroom? Cluttered? Not customer-friendly? Is your answer, again, “it's OK.” Detach yourself, for a moment, from your dealership/shop owner mindset and look through the eyes of those who walk into your place. Are they perplexed by the information you're presenting? Is it legible? Is it logical? Is your showroom easy to maneuver, or dis-orderly and confusing? Are your personnel helpful—or just going through the motions? It's essential to take a jaundiced view of your operations. Being lackadaisical or too lenient in your evaluations will only hurt your operation's profits and drive longtime and potential customers into the arms of competitors who put a better foot forward. Now let's venture to your service bays. Cluttered and dirty, with technicians searching for tools? Greasy, disorganized and unkempt looking? As Dan Marinucci, Tire Business auto service columnist, has hammered on many times, organization and cleanliness does not hamper proficiency and efficiency—it bolsters it and, of course, the bottom line. On a tangential platform, Dan writes in this week's issue about measuring technician efficiency and the importance of monitoring it to improve profitability in a shop's service department. Savvy service managers monitor technicians closely and then make necessary adjustments. Why? It's not to come off like the National Security Agency (NSA), spying on your workers' every move. Rather, it's to maximize a service department's income, which doesn't hurt a tech's paycheck, either. All that monitoring doesn't belie the fact that today's—and tomorrow's—vehicles are more complex and require the best and brightest working on them, rather than a “good enough” mechanic one step up from shadetree stature. In this issue's automotive service section, Bill Moss, owner of EuroService Automotive in Warrenton, Va., talks about just how much car models have changed over the years and what—and who—it will take to service them. “We used to look for people that were good with their hands and we still do,” he said. “But we also look for people that are problem-solvers and good abstract thinkers, people who score highly on abstract testing, that work well with concepts in addition to reality.” It may sound a bit like Mr. Moss—who also is mechanical division director on the Automotive Service Association's board of directors—is looking for a math scholar. But the question remains: Is he describing someone you employ? If not, why not? Maybe his point, boiled down to utter simplicity, is that being “just good enough” won't cut it anymore.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Tire Business would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor Don Detore at [email protected].

    Most Popular
    1
    Fire at Poland plant will cut Goodyear sales by up to $40M
    2
    Canada court rules for Michelin in tire trademark case
    3
    Iowa dealer victim in grisly murder
    4
    Goodyear to cut jobs, divest Asia-Pacific locations
    5
    Tire Business ranks the Top 75 Tire Makers of 2023
    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Newsletter Center

    Staying current is easy with Tire Business delivered straight to your inbox.

    SUBSCRIBE TODAY

    Subscribe to Tire Business

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Tire Business is an award-winning publication dedicated to providing the latest news, data and insights into the tire and automotive service industries.

    Reader Services
    • Staff
    • About Us
    • Site Map
    • Industry Sites
    • Order Reprints
    • Customer Service: 877-320-1716
    Partner Sites
    • Rubber News
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Automotive News
    • Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Media Guide
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Classified Rates
    • Digital Edition
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • BEST PLACES TO WORK
    • News
      • MID YEAR REPORT
      • TIRE MAKERS
      • HUMANITARIAN
      • COMMERCIAL TIRE
      • GOVERNMENT & LAW
      • MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
      • OBITUARIES
      • OPINION
      • SERVICE ZONE
    • ADAS
    • Data
      • DATA STORE
    • Custom
      • SPONSORED CONTENT
    • Events
      • ASK THE EXPERT
      • LIVESTREAMS
      • WEBINARS
      • SEMA LIVESTREAMS
      • RUBBER NEWS EVENTS
    • Resources
      • ADVERTISE
      • AWARDS
        • Best Places to Work
      • CLASSIFIEDS
      • DIRECTORY
      • SHOP FLOOR
        • BALANCING
        • DEMOUNTING
        • SAFETY
        • TIRE REPAIR
        • TPMS
        • TRAINING
        • VEHICLE LIFTING
        • WHEEL TORQUE
    • DIGITAL EDITION