I wish I had more room to explain to you just what all of these Top Shops have. Each has top of the line equipment, offers the best training to their technicians and has evolved their marketing plans to today's customers' needs.
Basically, each one of them gets it.
That means they know how to take care of their specific market base. They know exactly what their technicians want, because they have wonderful relationships with them and have been there themselves. They know what it takes to run a successful business.They get it.
As you read through these stories, we've chosen to highlight some of the pieces that set these shops apart from other applicants. There are a number of features that can set a shop apart: profit sharing, benefits, equipment, training, physical appearance, certifications and more. Each shop is unique, employing innovative techniques to draw in customers and the best techs.The shops are a mix of one-location facilities to multiple locations. Some have been in the family for generations, while others are owned by the men and women who started them decades ago.
Motor Age asked shops to answer 15 questions about their shops in just 1,500 words. The questions covered experience, training and education, shop operations, supplier relations, services and offers, marketing and social networking, websites, aftermarket involvement and community activity. Shops also submitted photos, giving judges a "tour" of their facilities.
I encourage you to go online to www.MotorAge.com/TopShops to see more photos of these shops and further interviews with the owners. There's plenty we all can learn from these shops.
If you want a chance to be the 2011 Top Shop, please e-mail me at [email protected], and we'll make sure you get information when next year's contest starts. After all, we really want to show the rest of the country that you all get it, too.
Finally, thanks to our contest sponsors, whose logos appear at the bottom of each story throughout this magazine.
