Book: How to Make Money (& Stay Sane)
How to Make Money (& Stay Sane) in the Automotive Service Industry
INTRODUCTIONS – Pages 5-22
- Who is Automotive Consultants Group, & what do we do?
- Understanding Consultants, what they do, & how they can help You
- A few things before we get started – A Reality Check
- THE PLAN — What is it we really want from our business?
- Setting and achieving goals
- Bob’s Garage Corporate goals and objectives
- The Attitude Triangle
1. CHAPTER ONE — The basics of business for the automotive repair shop – Pages 23-32
- An understanding of various forms of businesses
- Essential finance & accounting methods
- Financial Accounting
- Management Accounting – KPIs
- Essential computer & software products
- Time is money
- Phones
- Technical repair information
- Management software
- IATN
- You need to learn
- Provide a product or service at a fair and reasonable price
- Knowing your market
- Beginning to understand your competition
2. CHAPTER TWO – Understanding Profit & Loss – Pages 33-70
- An introduction to the Profit & Loss Statement
- Bob’s Garage Income Statement, basic
- Sales
- Profit Center Analysis
- Other profit centers
- Shop Supplies Sales
- Additional Profit Centers
- Calculating gross profit margins
- Income statement benchmarks and variances
- P & L margins
- Bob’s Income statement with calculated profit margins
- Bob’s income statement with margins against benchmarks
- Bob’s income statement with Variance percentages against benchmarks
- Bob’s income statement with Variance dollars showing lost revenue
- An Understanding of Calculating lost revenues
- Increasing sales – Myth #1 explained
- Calculating Percent to Sales
- How to achieve gross sales targets
- Several scenarios to achieve gross sales targets
- Understanding Production Capacity toward Gross Sales
- Why increasing your shop labor rate isn’t the best idea
- What happens if we add a tech
- Several Examples of Hitting Gross Sales Targets
- Increasing car count and the story behind it
- Decreasing costs – Myth #2 explained
- Controlling shop expenses – Expense benchmarks
- Calculating what it costs to the shop owner to “put the key in the door”
- Bob’s income statement – calculating operating costs per hour
- Increasing gross profit margin – Why it’s the Real Choice
- A comparison of all three strategies – a cool chart
- Understanding the labor rate – it’s effect on your knowledge
- More about labor rate charges
- An introduction to the parts pricing matrix – 3 tables
- Shop productivity explained – important formulas
- Menu pricing and its advantages
- Effective labor rates and how to calculate
- Calculating Overall Production Labor Rate – Much Lower Than You May Realize
3. CHAPTER THREE – Facility Management – Pages 71-78
- More than just brick & mortar
- Paint, light, and clean
- Bragging rights – display of credentials
- POS silent salesmen
- CEL – explaining diagnostic charges
- Knowing when to purchase new equipment
- The right tools
- Equipment profit planning – a Worksheet
4. CHAPTER FOUR – Your production staff – Pages 79-89
- A review of everything we’ve learned up to now
- The NFL
- Tool boxes have wheels
- Building your team
- Technician & staffing planning
- Job descriptions & how to write
- Policy handbooks
- Writing a Mission Statement
- Finding competent help
- Management strategies – working with the team
- Technician Pay Plans – The Matrix
- Motivating technicians toward higher production
- Communicating to the Team
- Technician Training & Certification
- 3 Key Considerations toward Higher Production & Quality
5. CHAPTER FIVE – Customer handling skills – Pages 91- 96
- The Word gets around
- Know your customers’ buying habits
- The 80/20 rule
- AAA survey
- The 20% money
- The 80% time wasters
- Evaluating where your money comes from
- Converting over lesser customers
6. CHAPTER SIX – Regulatory compliance – Pages 97 – 100
- The wisdom of regulation
- Managing automotive & body shop wastes
7. CHAPTER SEVEN – Vehicle Air Conditioning Regulations
- Refrigerant Report
- EPA Finalizes CFC Recovery Rule
- A/C Technician Certification
- Recycling of Blend Refrigerants
- EPA-Certified Reclaimers
8. CHAPTER EIGHT – Resources you’ll likely need
- Federal Agency Contacts for Businesses
- State & Private Agency Contacts
- Directory of State Environmental, Health, & Safety Agencies for Georgia
9. CHAPTER NINE – Sample Business Forms
- Income Statement
- Cash Flow Statement
- Balance Sheet
- Job Description
- Mechanics Application Evaluation
- Employee ASE Record
- ASE Pay Matrix
- Employee Performance Appraisal
- Equipment Profit Planning Worksheet

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