Repair shops continue to stress the importance of training. Is anybody listening?
So many different issues plague today's repair shops, but one seems to stay in the forefront of any discussion: proper training for technicians.
This was evident during the repair shop panel at this year's Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium. Appropriately titled, "Changing the culture in aftermarket training: Perspective of the independent repairer," the panelists are clear leaders who shared some tips on successful training that can reap benefits for repairers and distributors.The first step is getting technicians to attend training classes. In the case of Douglass Kirchdorfer, he makes training mandatory — 40 hours per year. But as an incentive, he pays for the training, and he pays the techs to attend if the training is after hours.
"I pay for them to stop and have a meal after work, but I also reward them for taking that training in the form of a production bonus or an end-of-the-month bonus, and it works very well," says Kirchdorfer, who, with his wife, owns the Downing Street Garage in downtown Denver. "I get much better participation, (and) I get employees that are a little bit more engaged in the training and willing to come back and share what they've learned with everybody else on the team."
One reason Kirchdorfer began offering bonuses is that he received considerable pushback from his employees when it came to training, with several techs quitting even after the bonus program was implemented.The idea of paying the tech to train is still controversial with many in the independent repair segment, but panelists implored audience members to look at this as an investment that yields returns in the form of more efficient, qualified and dedicated employees, not to mention a more efficient supply chain.
When George Witt, AAM, owner of George Witt Service, Inc., in Lincoln, Neb., decided to close his shop and take all his employees to a two-day NAPA time management class, others thought he was crazy.
However, "I had my money back within 60 days, and it enabled me to increase my shop sales by about $20,000 a month. So over the next 12 months, that was a quarter of a million dollars from one class, two days," he proclaims.
Looking at what the aftermarket spends on training compared to other industries is telling.
"Other industries outside the aftermarket spend 2.5 percent of payroll on training, according to the American Society of Training and Development," says Vic Tarasik, president of Vic's Precision Automotive, located near Houston. "Our industry spends one-half of 1 percent; that's 20 percent of what everyone else is spending. We can't survive and thrive at a half percent on training."To have a well-run shop and well-trained staff, others in the supply chain also should be trained properly, according to panelists. For example, Tarasik says training should be a priority from the manufacturer on down to the service dealer, and information should be shared openly along the way.
"We don't do a very good job of training compared to other industries," he says.
A perception issue
Some of the training problems the industry faces revolve around perception, says Ron Pyle, president of the Automotive Service Association (ASA), and the panel's moderator. "You know, we really put a lot of good programs out there, but I think sometimes they're viewed as not adequate. They don't necessarily fill the bill, and techs and/or shop managers don't show up."
The perception also can be internal. High employee turnover can discourage shop owners from supporting training. Why train a tech who will then take the knowledge elsewhere?Bill Tyson, owner of Bill Tyson's Auto Repair, in Palm Beach, Fla., says at one time his shop had a "horrible" rate of recruiting people. The ratio was 26 to 1, or in other words, the company went through 26 employees until it found one good technician. He concluded that he tried to ask techs to perform tasks they weren't trained for, or for which they had no support mechanisms.
"One of the ways of fixing that problem was we came up with technician levels: apprentice, journeyman, technician, master technician, and we assigned rules of each one of these positions so that that person knew exactly what was expected from them," Tyson says. "And it not only gave us the ability to see what they should know, but it gave them the opportunity to know where to succeed in our business."
The company also handed out grading sheets to technicians and managers, whose answers surprisingly matched almost exactly, offering clues as to what type of training was needed.
Another important part of training is leading by example. Kirchdorfer says his employee attendance at training classes was contingent on his personal attendance. "As long as I was going to the training, and I've gone to hundreds upon hundreds of hours of training, but as long as I was going to the training, my employees were all going," he says. "If I stopped and decided not to go to a training class, be it technical or management, my employees felt like they didn't have to attend."
In order to have a well-run repair shop, the owner also should realign the core business philosophy related to the business on a frequent basis.
Says Kirchdorfer: "When I weigh out the cost of training versus the cost of not training, I'm looking at a potential lost sale, and more importantly, a lost lifetime customer. So when I'm evaluating the dollars that I am willing to spend, it's really I'm investing that in my future, my company's future and certainly my employees' future."
When a shop is staffed with well-trained technicians, it has positive repercussions for the distributor.
"I don't return parts that didn't need to be installed the first time, and when I do send a part back, it is with great embarrassment," says Kirchdorfer. "I can count on one hand how many parts I have bought that I have not had to use because it was the wrong part for the repair or the technician misdiagnosed it."
He is so confident that the right parts are ordered that if one of his technicians misdiagnoses a repair and recommends a part that doesn't fix the vehicle, the tech buys the part.
Another suggestion offered by panelists is making sure that, as a repair shop owner, you think like a businessman.
"The average repair shop is opened by a mechanic, who knows how to fix cars, and they really don't even understand it's a business," offers Witt. "Once you begin to get some training and start to implement some business practices, then you start to see the return."
Once an owner is in the habit of thinking more like a businessperson, he or she will get more excited about learning to do things better, like marketing and interacting with customers, Witt adds.
And if a shop isn't happy with its training program, it's not out of the question to ask for a rebate, advises Kirchdorfer. "We, as business owners, make a big investment in training, and I have had technicians and managers come back and say that they felt like their afternoon or their evening was wasted because they didn't get what they felt they should have gotten out of that training. And I'm not afraid to go back to the trainer and say, 'You know, I didn't get my money's worth. I want my money back.'"
When Kirchdorfer is met with resistance, he then asks the trainer (which is typically a parts vendor) to just deduct the training cost from his parts bill. All of a sudden, he adds, he's getting a better quality trainer.
