During the past 82 years, vehicle technology certainly has changed. What hasn’t changed is taking care of the customer at Hires Automotive Center, a company that has expanded to meet growing needs in four locations around Fort Wayne, Ind.
“We’ve been in business for 82 years, and I think we have a pretty good reputation. I think that people tend to trust us because we’ve been here a while,” says Tom Hire, a third generation owner of the service center group. “Generations of families do business with us.”
Part of the reason generations keep coming back to Hires is its focus on training and the employees dedicated to making themselves better. The dedication helped earn the shop a place among the top 10 in the fourth annual Motor Age Top Shops Contest.
“We’ve been lucky. The techs really have initiated the training,” says Hire. “I think that’s really the pride they have in their job. We’ve been fortunate enough that they want to learn and stay on the cutting edge of training, so they’re usually letting me know when there’s training available.”
One of the popular training methods is a twice-monthly class in Fort Wayne that technicians from around the area attend. The classes, which Hire says have been meeting for 10 years, cover a variety of issues like drivability and current technologies.
Other training ranges from in-house vendor training to Internet courses, which Hire says is a huge convenience for keeping his employees up-to-speed. “I think it’s a lot more convenient for them. They can do it in the shop during the day during down time,” he offers.
The Internet also provides technicians assistance during the workday. Hires Automotive has installed Internet within the bays to allow techs access not onlyto the training and vendor information, but also sites like iATN and ASE Tech Center.
Drive-In Service
Customers gain an up-close look at the technicians at work in the bays through a drive-in lobby. While Hire says while it was difficult to devote the square-footage to such a feature, implementing the lobby and giving the shop somewhat of a dealership feel was important.
“It’s worked out great, because if it’s raining, people can come in and get new wiper blades put on,” Hire states. “It provides us an opportunity to walk around the car, get the mileage and recommend maintenance based on the mileage at the drop. It allows us to put batteries in and bulbs, a lot of the customer convenience items immediately as they come in the shop.”
PAGE 2Those little convenience items can really add up, and do play into the shop’s customer philosophy. Simply put: “If we don’t take care of the customer, somebody else will. You hate to find the customer going anywhere else,” Hire says.
They get the customers involved in the process by having them fill out symptom sheets on drivability, brakes, noises and more to help the technicians diagnose problems and conduct their 25-point courtesy check on each vehicle.
Access to the parts once the vehicle rolls through the lobby and into the bay is available through the more than $1 million in inventory stocked in the four locations. The shops also purchase the majority of parts from Uni-Select and local warehouses, but the company says that having the inventory in-house helps boost productivity.
Utilizing both private label and national brands gives the shops’ customers alternatives, and helps Hires Automotive service the customers who expect prices they can find at national retailers, according to the company.
Marketing to Customers, Employees
Getting the customers into the bays for all of these services starts with direct-mail campaigns, which Hire says work because they’re measurable.
“You see people come in with the postcards with the coupons and you’re targeting your customers. So you know you’re working more with a laser not shotgun,” he says.
Hires Automotive also is turning to the Internet for marketing efforts by sponsoring Web sites, as well as boosting its community service endeavors. The service aspect is encouraged among employees, as well.
“I think it’s import to get involved in the local community somewhat if it’s through your favorite local charity or Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, baseball teams or something,” Hire states. “If you yourself are active in your community, you yourself could bring people into the store.”
Community service ranges from customers bringing in food donations for the local food bank in exchange for $10 off services to donation booklets filled with coupons. Organizations can sell the booklets for $10 each and keep all of the proceeds. Not only does the service help the organizations, but it brings more customers into Hires’ bays at little cost to the shops.
The marketing extends to the shop’s employees, too, as regular monthly meetings and in-house sales competitions boost morale and productivity. The meetings cover a variety of topics like safety, customer service and handling inventory.
“I guess the big thing is trying to take care of any small problems before they become big problems,” Hire says. “I think that kind of eliminates some bad habits from starting. Communication is key, and having a forum where employees can get off their chests what’s bothering them if there’s some problems.”
Keeping the employees happy and lines of communication open are crucial in the changing aftermarket landscape.
“We’re pretty aggressive in just trying to keep our name out there and having events to draw customers to us,” Hire states. “We’re getting more and more competitions. We just had two new shops open up down the street and so we’re always trying to look at different ways to keep us noticed out there.”
