As a shop owner, I’m always looking for ways to improve my shop, my efficiency, and the overall experience I give to my customers. Over a year ago, I implemented a quality control process for all vehicles before they left my shop. Simply put, a front counterperson looks over the vehicle for residual issues and completes a checkout sheet. Sure, I initially received pushback from nearly everyone in my shop, but as leaders, we owe it to our troops to fight for what is right. I say people change for two reasons, pain or vision. Pain is easier to solve than convincing someone of your vision.
Our quality control process has set us apart from others. Our missing oil change stickers and lights not getting reset have reduced to a very low percentage of occurrences.
You can access the full Golden Rule Auto Care case study as well as download a free QC sheet here: https://autoflow.com/quality-control-qc-case-study/ Following are a few highlights:
- Golden Rule Auto Care’s QC average: 12 minutes
- KPI or goal for Golden Rule Auto Care’s QC issues per month: 10% or less
- This year, they have run as high as 25% of issues found
The benefits of quality control include the following:
- Customer Retention – Customers will keep coming back, knowing that they received top quality service the first time and every time they visit your shop. Loyal customers are worth 10 times their initial visit. It is 6-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an existing one.
- Shop Credibility and Reputation – It takes 12 positive consumer experiences to make up for one bad consumer experience. Consumers are likely to tell 10-15 people about their bad experience.
- Add-on Sales – A service writer/counter person may notice something that was originally not written up, such as a past due oil change sticker that a technician missed, which can lead to add-on sales.
If you don’t have a quality control process in your shop, you should seriously consider implementing one. You’ll be surprised at the things you’ll find, and most importantly, things your customers won’t find.
Chris Cloutier
Architect/President at Autoflow
The Desire for Continuous Improvement
As an auto repair shop owner of Golden Rule Auto Care, Chris Cloutier realized the need for a better way to communicate with his customers as he observed how communication gaps created bottleneck situations and wasted valuable rack time.
