Counter Intuitive...

I've decided to forge out in a new direction as I focus a series of blogs on consumer education. I feel a new direction should be christened with a new title, "Counter Intuitive."

Both the name and the idea came to me while trying to help someone at the service "Counter" - that's where the "Counter" came from - understand the "what" and "why" of their particular vehicle failure despite their lack of knowledge. Many times, that lack of knowledge can be surmounted by education and understanding as the majority of vehicle failures are mechanical in nature; caused by lack of maintenance, poor design or abuse. As a result, most are fairly logical and not all that difficult to understand if you understand what makes the vehicle start, stop and go down the road.

If you understand what it takes for the vehicle to go down the road, understanding why it won't isn't that much of a stretch. Understanding is where the "Intuitive" comes from.

There is another reason I've chosen to call the content shared here "Counter Intuitive" and its explanation will serve as the first of what I hope will be many such conversations.

Vehicle maintenance... or, lack there of, is one of the major causes of vehicle failure and/or poor performance and yet a week doesn't go by without a story focused on unnecessarily aggressive service intervals appearing somewhere in the media. Virtually every major 'player' in the industry, including the Automobile Club, has voiced an opinion of what an appropriate service interval should be. Many of those opinions defer to what the individual vehicle manufacturers suggest is appropriate in the Owner's Manual, which in some cases can exceed 10,000 or 15,000 miles between changes.

Contrary to what you may think, even though I'm an independent repair shop owner and have a vested interested  in seeing you and your vehicles regularly and often, I don't have a problem with those who insist the old maintenance model of bringing the vehicle in every 3,000 or 4,000 miles or every three or four months is no longer necessary. But, just because I don't have a problem with it doesn't mean I agree.

What they are saying makes sense. It is intuitive - that other word again.

The quality of lubricants available today is superior to anything available in the past. Computerized Engine Management and Fuel Delivery Systems have passenger cars and trucks running cleaner and more efficiently than ever before. Consequently, there are fewer contaminants that need to be removed more often. But, there is something happening in the background, something "Counter Intuitive:" something that despite the logic goes against what you may believe and makes no practical sense.

While the vehicle manufacturers, and everyone else for that matter, insist that it is perfectly alright for you to go 10,000 miles without servicing your vehicle: without changing your oil, they will also tell you that it's perfectly alright - normal, in fact - for your new, fuel efficient, high-tech vehicle to burn a quart of oil every 850 miles to 1,200 miles.

You won't necessarily find this in your Owner's Manual, but you almost certainly will find it in the manufacturer's technical literature in the form of a Technical Service Bulletin designed to help you understand that it's OK for your new car to consume infinitely more oil than your old car consumed.

And, here is where logic and intuition can become both costly and dangerous. In an age of self-service fueling stations, hoods are rarely raised and oil is rarely checked. If you drive your vehicle for 10,000 miles you could conceivably 'burn' between eight-and-a-half to more than eleven quarts of oil.

There is only one problem. Few vehicles have more than a five or six quart crankcase capacity which would leave most vehicles dangerously low on lubricant unless or until a warning lamp alerted them to the problem!

Longer service intervals (with no one inspecting the vehicle) are good. High oil consumption is both normal and acceptable. Counter-Intuitive...

Here is a pretty dramatic example of exactly what we're talking about here... All the oil drained from two different vehicles, both of which have crankcase capacities that exceed five quarts. Just so you know, these are empty, one-quart Gatorade containers and both vehicles came in with severe driveability symptoms (rough running/poor performance) and both left with the oil changed, crankcase full and running normally!

There is a response to this conundrum that makes sense and that is embracing a new paradigm: a paradigm that suggests longer service intervals - bringing the vehicle in very 7,500 to 10,000 miles for oil service, but scheduling one or two appointments with your dealer or independent service provider purely to ensure every major system on the vehicle is operating within normal operating parameters. That way, someone, a trained professional, is looking at the vehicle to keep little problems from becoming big, ugly, expensive problems!

That's what I think... What's on your mind? If you have any questions you've always wanted to ask your automotive service professional, but were afraid - or, reluctant - to ask, this would be the ideal, non-threatening environment to share your questions and concerns!

Small Wonders....

I thought this morning's sunrise was spectacular: spectacular enough to try and capture it'd... Spectacular enough to fail.

It was still worth the try even if only to slow me down enough to really appreciate its beauty and  contemplate the realization that each new day brings with it a universe of endless possibilities. As someone already commented, a clean slate upon which each of us may write whatever we choose. 

I think that is something worthy of a little contemplation. But, as much as I enjoyed this morning's sunrise, I was completely blown away by this evening's sunset! 

It was worth a deep breath and a walk outside. It was worth taking a break even though it was clear the few minutes I spent staring at the sky would have to be made up someplace else... somehow. 

Nevertheless, I think it was worth it.

Why? Because, if the sunrise is all about new beginnings the day's end should be all about reflections: reflections on what went right and what we have to be thankful for, reflections on what didn't go so well. Those things, given a second chance: a second chance we are likely to get, we could use to   do things differently or to use to do different things. 

I think we need to be reminded of that every once in a while. I know I  do. 

You see I'm the poster child for moving too fast, working too hard. I was the guy everyone talks about when they talk about the guy who was moving too fast and working too hard to smell the roses: the roses in his own back yard! 

I'm starting to think that this morning's sunrise and this evening's sunset were both an integral part of that proverbial wake up call everyone is always talking about. In a way, I kind of hope so because this particular wake up call - If in fact, that's what it was - wasn't the result of a catastrophic illness or some other profound personal tragedy. I'm OK. My wife and kids are OK. Their significant others are OK. All of our friends and associates appear to be OK, and that's a lot better than just OK as far as I'm concerned!

And, I guess that's the message if there is one. Stop! Take moment... Take a breath... Take a minute to stare at the heavens or at those roses I just mentioned. We were put here for more than just work and sometimes we need to be reminded of that. We were put here to take care of ourselves and of each other. We were put here to finish the work of creation, something we cannot do if we are struggling or working all the time because there is no alternative.

So the next time you see something that makes you want to stop and say, Wow! Do it! 

Marvel at small wonders. It is the sure path to  greater wonders. And, tonight, before you turn the lights out, take a moment to think about a few of those small wonders: the sunrises and sunsets, someome's reassuring touch, the memory of a kind gesture, the care and concern of a good friend, and tell me that doesn't feel at least a little better.

New Daze...

They say that every day is a new day...

When you've been getting up before sunrise for just about all of your adult life: when first reveille was sleeping in, that day starts pretty early.

This morning, Tuesday morning, I stopped for coffee while it was still pitch black. The only thing breaking the darkness were the street lamps and a steady stream of headlamps... That, and the distinct sound of each vehicle as it passed by in that steady stream of vehicles I mentioned just a moment ago.

There are times when I slide out of my car, walk around to the trunk to grab all the stuff I transport back and forth to the shop every day, and have to stop and stare at the sky. This morning was one of those times. It rained yesterday and  after a good rain Southern California has a crisp, clear freshness I'm not sure you can experience many other places. It was so incredible I had to stop and at least try to capture the moment. It's probably the last moment filled with the same promise I'm likely to experience until tomorrow morning at about the same time... and tomorrow morning will bring with it its own different and distinct menu of possibilities.

This is one of those times I really try to force myself to realize how lucky I am to be doing what I love, with people I respect and enjoy, for people who have come to mean a great deal to me. I think that's something worthy of reflection even if only for a moment because I'm not sure there are many others who can say that and mean it. And, while there is no guarantee that today will be better than yesterday, there isn't any guarantee it will be worse...

The gift is in knowing that while we may not be able to control what happens in the course of a new day: something that too often may leave us dazed and confused, we can at least try to exert a measure of control on how we react to it.

If that's meditating you just may find me sitting cross-legged in my driveway tomorrow morning, staring at the eastern sky...

RISK...

I am sitting at my desk staring at the computer and this large, daunting expanse of white confronting me as I try to create a course submission outline for a large automotive industry event in Florida, mid-March, and one of the two presentations I’ll be delivering there. The subject is “Growing Your Business By Taking Risk” and as of this moment my canvas is devoid of anything witty, clever or worthwhile.

This is one of those assignments likely to make your blood run cold: one of those, “In just a few words, please describe…” which leaves you wondering whether any of the many words at your disposal is adequate to the task at hand.

This isn’t an issue of whether or not I can capture the essence of a ninety-minute presentation on the subject of risk – that isn’t an option. It’s a matter of how well I’ll be able to do it… and, whether or not I will do both the subject and my presentation justice. You see this idea of growing anything by taking risk is kind of a non sequitur as there is risk associated with everything we do. Risk is unavoidable.

I think the problem is a profound lack of understanding regarding the concept itself combined with a failure to recognize what the opposite or absence of risk is really all about.

There are people who believe with a perfect faith that the opposite of love is hate: the substitution of loathing for endearment. Finding and substituting one powerful emotion for another, however different they might be is not the same thing as recognizing its opposite. I would suggest that the opposite of love is not hate… it is, in fact, indifference: the absence of emotion. 

If this makes any sense at all, you might find yourself wondering about risk and what its opposite might be, especially since it’s unlikely we can accomplish anything at all without at least some degree of risk associated with it. Is, then, the opposite of risk, safety? Is it security? Or, is it stasis and stagnation: a slow, agonizing death by erosion or evaporation?

I’m a small business owner. I wake up every morning knowing that I will be confronted with thousands – and, that is not an exaggeration – of decisions that will effect not only me, but the people who work with me, the customers and clients I serve as well as the entire universe of vendors and other small businesses I in turn support. Every decision brings with it an entire galaxy of possibilities: a world immersed in “If this: Then that.” Every decision no matter how seemingly insignificant has a consequence: its own consequences, and the potential of its own reward.

If I recommend one outside service provider over another I have to understand that my credibility is inexorably tied to their ability to meet or exceed my client’s wants, needs and expectations.

If I choose one potential service over another: one repair path over another, I must be prepared to accept the consequences of its ability to create a lasting and positive solution to my client’s problem.

If I institute a new policy or process at work, I have to realize there is an opportunity cost associated with that decision: that whatever we do will be at the expense of all the other things that we could or might do or have done. Every dollar I spend is spent at the expense of some other initiative, equipment purchase or training opportunity; and, the choice to do nothing – the realization that inaction is, in fact, an action in and of itself – brings with it the most potentially dangerous risk of all: the risk of paralysis, the risk of becoming irrelevant.

Even as I sit here right now, I have to realize that even this exercise bears risks of its own.

After all, I could have gone to the gym this morning and left this for later and later could arrive without the opportunity to finish leaving me to live with the stress that would certainly flow out of that decision.

I could have gone to the shop to finish the paperwork I wasn’t able to finish last night, paperwork that will need to be completed by Monday morning.

I can finish up now so I can accompany my wife and join our daughter as she is fitted for her wedding gown – something I will most certainly choose to do.

Why?

Because, the risk associated with disappointing two of the most important women in my life is real and the reward for sharing a moment like that just too great…

Take That To The Bank...

I went to the bank this morning. That may not sound like a big deal to most of you, but it is for me.

You see my bank is a commercial bank that doesn’t have a branch in our community yet. So, going to the bank means getting in the car, leaving the shop for almost an hour and driving to someplace someone else calls home. Aside from that, in this age of electronic credit card and check processing there isn’t cause to run to the bank every day. Not unless you’re about to run out of change, need a notary or have papers you need to sign.

In my case, I was about to run out of change this morning, I did need something notarized and there were some papers waiting for me at the bank. It was an inconvenience, certainly. But, because I don’t really leave the shop all that often I chose to look at it as an adventure… and, an adventure it turned out to be.

When I got to the bank there was a fairly long line of people waiting. They weren’t waiting for the manager to open another window. Every window was open.

They were waiting for one of the three people being helped to finish their transactions. The problem appeared to be the nature of those transactions. Each one was more complicated and convoluted than the next. The guy on the left insisted on having everything explained to him: everything, more than once and in more than one language.

I didn’t see the armored truck, but I’m sure that’s how the woman in the middle got to the bank. If she didn’t transport that much cash in an armored vehicle she was sure to be ‘packing’ or just plain foolish!

The guy on the other end just wanted to hang out or at least that’s what it looked like.

I was already looking at my watch and starting to get nervous when my turn finally came. I took my place at the window at just about the same moment the woman to my right moved up and that’s when the fireworks started. She was incensed! Livid, in fact! Using language that would have embarrassed Lenny Bruce, Andrew Dice Clay or maybe even Chris Rock.

She was somebody’s bookkeeper or personal assistant and whoever it was she worked for had left her in charge of their financial affairs which included a small personal bank account awaiting their return to California from out of state. Apparently, the account had a balance more than sufficient to sustain itself in their absence. Or, at least, it would have had someone not forgotten to “turn off” a service paid for through an automatic withdrawal: a service that really wasn’t being utilized during the owner’s absence anyway.

How do I know all this? It would have been hard for anyone with close to normal hearing standing where I was not to know the whole sordid story. The more involved in sharing her anger, the louder and more vitriolic she became until everyone in the bank had stopped to watch.

It seems everything had gone along fine until the automatic payments drained the account and the one or two small checks that were being written from it began to bounce. Because the account was not being monitored and because the mail tended to languish for extended periods of time before being opened – the bank’s charges accumulated until they exceeded what had once been the balance.

Now, the woman was trying to blame everyone in the Western World but herself for what had transpired. To compound matters, the bank branch she was raising hell in wasn’t even the branch that held the account. It was just the closest and most convenient.

It was the manager’s fault for not calling… or, maybe, the teller’s. It was ‘criminal’ for the bank to charge for handling the overdrafts or the checks or the account or anything for that matter. It was unreasonable, unfair, unrealistic… and downright un-American!

It was fascinating. Like watching a train wreck or an explosion! This woman had brought the entire bank to its knees. Everyone’s eyes were on her, including mine.

Then, she turned to me, pointed at the manager and associate she was in the process of crucifying at that moment and demanded that I tell them she was right!

I looked at my watch and realized the only way I was going to get out of that bank and back to the shop on time was going to depend upon whether or not I was willing to throw the entire branch under the bus. I thought about it for a second and realized I just couldn’t do it, especially since I couldn’t see what the bank had done wrong. So, I did the only thing I could as foolish and dangerous as it may have been. I looked her in the eye and told her I wasn’t going to tell anyone in the branch they were wrong because in my opinion, they weren’t! After all, it wasn’t their account that had been allowed to go inside out. They were merely acting as its custodian.

The question I had was where was the person responsible for that account? Where was the person managing the money? 
“Where were you while all this was going on? How come you never saw the account balance drop? How come you didn’t realize you were paying for services you no longer needed? How could you have missed the bank’s notices?

Where the hell does ‘personal responsibility’ fit into your rant?”

She never answered. She just glared at me and then stormed out. I got a round of applause from the other customers and hugs from the staff, but somehow that wasn’t very satisfying.

This woman had gone on a tirade in the middle of the day in the middle of a busy bank: a busy business, just like yours or mine.

She blamed everyone else for what was wrong in the bank, with the bank and with the country, in general. She listed a dozen reasons the country is falling apart. But, she forgot the only one that matters, the one I mentioned a minute ago: personal responsibility, the willingness to accept responsibility for our own actions or our own failures to act.

What’s wrong with just about everything I can think of isn’t the country. It isn’t even our so-called leaders. It’s the people: the people who are too busy looking at everyone else for the cause of their misfortune when ultimately the responsibility is almost always their own.

You want the bank account to be there when you need it? Check up on it every once in a while.

You don’t want your checks to bounce? Make sure there is enough money in the account and open your mail every once in a while: open it and read it!

You want better government? Educate yourself about the issues and choose better leaders. Get involved.

You want your marriage or your relationships to work? Work at your marriage or your relationships.

Before starting a sentence with, “You…” Think about starting the same sentence with, “I…” and then think about what kind of a difference that might make.

I left the bank a few minutes later and made it back to the shop on time, albeit it barely.

I thought about what had just transpired all the way home thinking to myself, it doesn’t get much more complicated than taking responsibility…

And, that’s something you can take to the bank!

Three In One...

I was just finishing up putting the second of this month’s webcasts to bed and decided to check my email while the program I use was doing whatever it does when it’s sewing ones and zeroes together.

Checking your Inbox is dangerous, especially if you’re wired like I am. The risk of distraction is huge and its likelihood almost unavoidable. The number of possible paths is endless and the illusion of encountering something truly wonderful is just possible enough to draw you from that LinkedIn invitation from an old colleague to that Facebook request to be friends from someone you haven’t thought about since High School, on to that website you’ve always wanted to explore. From there, it’s down the rabbit hole to who-knows-what or where.

Consequently, I’ve taken to checking out the two or three blogs I’ve decided are ‘must reads’ first, leaving my actual emails to wait until I’ve finished everything else I really, really have to get done. I generally, check the blogs first thing in the morning and then again in the early afternoon. I check the emails after I’ve finished everything else I have to do just before it’s time to pack it all in and go to bed. So, if you email and don’t hear from me until the next morning or afternoon you now know why.

This morning, I had an early morning breakfast meeting and never got online. I’m glad I waited. Had I opened this particular blog post the meeting would have been a waste of time because the blog’s content would have left me thinking of little else.  

It suggested something I’ve been thinking about for some time: one of three fundamental truths that I’ve been pondering a lot lately. The first is the difference between a project and a process and the importance of each. The second is the need to embrace and celebrate failure with just as much enthusiasm as we celebrate success and the third is the need to cultivate a clear awareness of where we are, what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, as well as the objectivity necessary to know when to walk away… from anything or everything.

The blog was powerful enough to draw me away from just about everything else I’m supposed to be doing right now because I believe all three are powerfully integrated and critical to our success.

The difference between process and programs is profound and certainly worthy of a blog post or two of its own. The fact that too many people treat them as if they were same is worthy of comment as well. The inherent problem is that both are focused on change: moving from where you are to where you want to be, accomplishing strategic goals and objectives or streamlining policies and procedures.

Recognizing there is a difference and what that difference might be is really where the confusion begins. Programs are generally short-term, have very specific and focused goals and objectives and have a finite beginning and end. They are generally limited in scope, require the participation and cooperation of others and to be successful occur within a known timeframe.

You can institute and embrace all kinds of programs: marketing programs, safety programs, performance-based compensation programs, programs, ad infinitum. There is almost certainly a program for just about everything and anything you want to improve, advance or accomplish and almost all of them have a place within the greater context of a process.

Process is all about change as well. But, its scale is greater and the one thing that differentiates it most from a program is that it has no end. Its goals are so profound, so lofty – almost unobtainable, perhaps – it is clear from the beginning, the constant work of improvement and achieving success is never really quite finished and this is where the problem resides for many of us: the inability to differentiate… That, and our unwillingness to abandon programs that haven’t worked, aren’t working and aren’t likely to work in the future.

The abandonment of programs that are unsuccessful and our ability to learn from our failures is essential to success in our industry or any other, for that matter.

Too many of us are unwilling to take whatever lessons can be harvested from the failure of a program or initiative, learn from the experience and then apply that knowledge to the next project or program. Instead, we are all too willing to sacrifice just about everything we’ve already accomplished in support of an unworthy, unreasonable or seemingly impossible task.

It’s been my contention for years that few of us ever learn anything from doing something ‘right’ the first time anyway... or, the second or third, for that matter. We don’t spend enough time thinking about what we did ‘right’ to learn anything. In fact, few of us think about how or why things went the way we think they should have gone in the first place, especially if our expectations have been met.

Most of us learn from our failures because there is generally a significant cost associated with each and every one of them, and because failure of any kind is expensive: expensive in dollars and expensive psychologically, we are loath to admit we’ve failed. We just keep crashing ourselves against the rocks trying to find that tiny and elusive passage into safe harbor of success.

So, the message is clear. We need to learn how to define a project so both its success and failure will be obvious to everyone. We need to recognize those signs most likely to identify a project when and if it has failed. We need to learn how to abandon a project when its abandonment is appropriate. And, then, we need to learn everything we can from the experience so we aren’t likely to repeat those failures again in the course of initiating our next and newest program.

In order to do any or all of that, we must also develop a keen ability to honestly judge where we are with regard to all the programs we have in place at any given moment.

No false pride. No unrealistic expectations. No self-delusions. Just the simple ability to recognize where we started, where we are going, the path we’ve chosen, the plan we have formulated, and whether or not our assumptions about any of this are in line with the realities we are experiencing and likely to result in the success we are seeking.

That may sound easier than it really is because that kind of honesty is rare, especially when it comes to something we may be passionate about, and frankly, I’m not sure we should be doing anything we’re not that passionate about, like carving four hours out of a weekend to share something like this with you. 

So, there you have it, three concepts I’ve been thinking about ever since I opened my email and read the blog post: three concepts I feel are critical for us to understand, accept and react to: three concepts rolled up into one not-so-easy to implement strategy for a better tomorrow.

I feel better for having thought enough about it enough to share it, but not as good as I’ll feel if you let me know what you think and where you are: whether or not you recognize and celebrate failure, which programs and processes you are involved with, and just how far in your quest for success: your odyssey to optimize your business and/or your life, you’ve come.

In the meantime, I think I’ll finally get around to opening my Inbox.

Until next time…  Stay well. Take Care. Make Money. Have Fun. And, don’t do business with anyone you don’t like. There’s probably a pretty good reason they make you uncomfortable!

Mitch

Lemme Splainit Tooya... Again!

I think I’ve spent half the time I spend at the service counter wondering why I spend so much time at the service counter.

I know it’s an integral part of the job. And, I know I love my ‘regulars,’ the customers, clients and friends who have been coming in and coming back forever. I really do!

They make me smile and reinforce the resolve you need to do this every day, especially in this economy.

I like people… in general. And, I really do appreciate the important role we play in the lives of the people we serve. I also understand and appreciate that service is a verb as well as a calling and a privilege.

It’s the people who magically appear after a prolonged absence as if they were still coming in regularly every three or four months I find the most likely to have problems like these. It's as if they've forgotten why they came to you in the first place, how much they trusted you or the great job you did finding their problem or fixing their vehicles.

However… And, I know you’ve been waiting for the ‘however’ to appear – I don’t like or appreciate having to explain things: the same things, three or four or maybe even five times before someone at the counter ‘gets it.’ That is, if they ever ‘get it’ at all.

 Now, that statement clearly needs some explanation. Or, at least, I feel it does and since I’m the one whose fingers are tap   dancing all over the keyboard, I get to decide.

People who were once regular customers and for one reason or another haven’t been back because: they purchased a new car, ran into to financial difficulties, moved out of the area or decided they would like to try something else, someone new… and, then returned because that new vehicle is finally out of warranty, they are back in the ‘black’ again, moved back or realized that we look pretty good compared to a lot of the automotive service possibilities out there are always welcomed home and welcomed home as if they never left.

The people who have been everywhere else, to everyone else... and, then returned because we’re up next in the rotation are a “whole ‘nother story!”

As an example, the person responsible for this particular piece – just appeared after a two year and 20,000 mile absence. Two years ago, she came in for a problem and a cost-free general inspection. We performed the inspection, came up with the solution to her problem and solutions to at least a dozen other problems she was both aware and unaware of. She said thank you and left.

This time, she was back for a severe oil leak… and, another inspection.

I told her the inspection would have to wait a day until we cleared our schedule sufficiently to actually look at the vehicle and I told her how much it was going to cost.

“You’re going to charge me for the inspection? You didn’t charge anything last time…” She said.

“Last time you had less than a couple of thousandths of an inch of friction material left between the brake pads and the rotors. It’s 20,000 miles later and the brakes aren’t making noise. I think you may have had someone else do the brakes. You might want to ask them to look for the oil leaks for free…”

She left the vehicle…

It was assigned and the tech started the inspection with a road test. He got to the driveway, put the vehicle in reverse and slowly backed into a parking space. When he got out of the vehicle his face was ashen and he was shaking. The vehicle had no brakes. Even after pumping the pedal it would barely stop. We finished inspecting the vehicle and created an estimate for the list of problems we were able to identify, both new and those remaining from the first inspection, starting with a failed brake master and booster.

She returned to the shop that evening with a friend… her resident ‘expert.’ I told her about the oil pan gasket that was leaking, the front seal and the valve cover gaskets. I also took a minute to explain that oil leaks were like ants at a picnic: there is no such thing as just one and it was likely there would be residual oil leaks, albeit smaller ones!

I told her about everything else we had found and then I paused, took a deep breath and asked, “Is there anything special you forgot to tell us about your brakes… Like, there is a terrible hissing noise when you step on the brakes, the brake pedal goes all the way to the floor and the vehicle won’t stop…?”

“Oh, she stops… But, you do have to pump the brakes really fast and really hard. And, I guess there is that noise when you step on the brakes. But, I haven’t really paid much attention to it…”

Another deep breath, “But, it doesn’t want to stop… How and where do you drive this vehicle?”

“Just to school and back when I take the kids…”

I took another deep breath and went over the inspection and the estimate again with both the owner and her expert and then asked her what she would like us to do… She was focusing on the oil leaks when I stopped her.

“We’re not going to touch the vehicle unless we’re asked to fix the brakes first. If you want anything else done other than brakes you can take it some place else. But, you’re going to have to tow it because I won’t let anyone drive it off the lot in its present condition.

It doesn’t matter how the vehicle runs or much oil the vehicle is leaking because nobody should be driving it without brakes! None of the other problems matter either – not until you get the vehicle to stop!”

We did the brakes…

She came back the following evening to pick up the vehicle and we went over it all again – twice.

She told me how great we are and how happy she was and that she would be back to see us in a couple of months to get the rest of the work done. I smiled. That’s what she told us two years ago.

I guess we’ll have to see whether or not she makes it into that treasured group of regular customers that either returns after a short break or remains with you; or, the group that leaves to start a new cycle of visits to every other shop in town.

I’m OK either way. First, I'm OK because we were paid and paid well for both the inspection and for what we did. So, I don’t really feel too bad about what we didn’t get to do.

And, second, having to say “Lemme ‘splainit twoya… again!” may actually be a good thing. If nothing else, it helps you appreciate the clients, customers and friends for whom it isn’t necessary.

Play Date

We’re just one day into the New Year and I’m behind already!

How is this possible? I haven’t had enough time to fall behind!

I feel like some of the kids I get to see at the shop, programmed so tightly they have to consult their smart phones or i-Pads to schedule a “Play Date” and then email an “Invitation to a Meeting” to their parent/chauffer to co-ordinate the logistics. They bounce around from school to gymnastics, soccer, cheer, religious studies, leadership, baseball, band, martial arts, community service and who knows what else.

Just keeping track of it all and arranging transportation is a full time job.

When I was the same age, all I had to do to schedule a “Play Date” was grab a red rubber Spaulding ball and a broken broom handle, walk down the steps of the tenement we lived in, look around, see if there was anyone else “on the street,” and if there was, shout out a, “Yo, wanna play some stick ball?” Or, handball… Or, basketball… Or, street hockey…

If there was a response, problem was solved, game on: “Play Date” scheduled…

Now, I’m starting to feel like one of those kids: max-ed out, with no time for anything, let alone fun.

That isn’t exactly true… There shouldn’t be a “starting to” in the sentence above. Crashing through this existence at warp speed constantly trying to force five quarts of life into a four-quart container isn’t exactly something I just started doing. In fact, it’s something I have more than a little experience with. You see I started pushing the envelop when it comes to getting things done when I learned how to take care of more than one car at a time on the pump island at my father’s place in Brooklyn and then reinforced those ‘skills’ on the service drive at the corner of Cloverfield Blvd. and the Santa Monica Freeway.

It was nothing to pump gas on two or three vehicles, wash the windows, check the oil… and, the tires when asked, collect and sell TBA – lots of Tires, Batteries and Accessories – without missing a beat.

After that, it was working on two or three cars at a time in “the back.”

Multiple tasks, multiple priorities: multi-tasking, before it had a name.

Now, it’s orchestrated chaos in the office and at the service counter: multiple clients, multiple technicians, multiple vendors, multiple estimates, multiple authorizations, multiple responsibilities, multiple problems and a task list that would make one of those over-programmed kids weep!

The question has to be: Is this normal? Is it healthy? Is it wise to feel like you’re a day behind the first day you’re back to work after New Year’s?

Is it wise… Is it healthy… Is it normal… And, what do you do about it if the answer to any of those questions is, No!

I’m working on that right now. I’m working on learning the skills necessary to rein things in a bit because even if it is normal… for us: normal for this industry, I don’t like it. I don’t like it for a number of reasons not the least of which is the fact it can’t be healthy and it isn’t wise… even though it almost certainly appears to be normal.

And, just for the record, just because it’s normal, doesn’t mean it’s ‘right.’

I think the root cause of it all is bad habits and a serious lack of knowledge: business management knowledge in particular.

The bucket full of bad habits all seem to relate back to trying to do everything ourselves: bad habits that are reinforced every time we trust someone else to do something, anything we finally force ourselves to give up, and then having to deal with a disappointing result and its consequences.

The lack of business management knowledge leaves too many shop owners too afraid to charge what they need to in order to make a decent living, and then finding themselves forced to do more work for less money in order to just get by, not realizing they are actually artificially suppressing the very price increases they need in order to survive.

The secret seems to be hidden somewhere in the middle of finding people you can trust and trusting the people you find…

Don’t misunderstand! They had better be the ‘right’ people: the right choices. But, the change we all need has to start somewhere and finding the right people is the best place I know to start.

As far as the automotive shop management information is concerned, there has never been more or better training and educational aids out there. All you have to do is find your well and then drink the water.

The reward? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward not only to catching up; but, to getting a little bit ahead as well. At least, that’s the goal.

How do you know if you're getting it right?

The answer is simple… You get the time, inclination and ability to schedule a play date of your own