Your right Jamie, you are your own worst enemy.
You have created a monster, one that you wanted but yet it now seems as though it's outta control.
Some of what I'm seeing does have a lot to do with you being able to take control of the situation, here's an example of how some of it is a catch 22 and what I have done about dealing with it, pick and choose how it would work for you:
Both of us have family that you love to spend time with, that is your right and you deserve to watch and be a part of them growing.
It's not about having what you want, it'a about having what you got.
And the big one is, that you have have done this for about ten years so your obviously not doing it for the experiance, your doing it for the money, which I know I certianly am.
As we all know with time come the experience of understanding that some things have to change to make things work for you.
I under stand most of you business is parts and a smaller protion is service.
One of the things is (as stated before, in this thread and others) price, this does a lot, it weeds out the people who want the cheepie stuff done, IE: pad slaps, band aid fixes, and the time spendt haggling for a deal in price.
I have escilated my pricing to a level that it is fair, look at the local market, here in Austin shops are between $85hr-$125hr, if I'm doing service work it's $75 an hour, that cheaper than the regular sevice shops, there should be no reason to ask me for a deal, that IS a deal.
Some jobs I price as a package deal IE: R&R engine replacement, I have set prices for 1st and 2nd gen jobs and it is what it is, anything above and beyond that is extra, and by the hour.
Something that I have noticed, if they will quibble about the money then several things follow:
They probablly don't have a daily driver and will want you to hurry with the job to get it out.
There vehicle are probably turb rockets and the possibiltiy that they will snowball is greater, Danger Will Robinson!!!
By jacking my rates I have eliminated a lot of these problems, for example, the Shelby owners I deal with, all have daily's to drive, they would rather drop it off and have the job done right rather than me rush through it to get the car back, which I will not do!
My policy is:
Drop it off, don't call me, don't email me, and don't stop by, if you do you have one hour to pick it up before I have it towed off, I adhear to this very closely, I have only had to exercise rule once.
Belive you me, I want your junk outta my place just as fast as you want it back, but I will not sacrifice the quality of my work for speed of returning the vehicle back to the customer (quality work is my business MO).
If they need it back yesterday, they need to go somewhere else.
I also have specific vendors I use, and for good reason, they are probably higher in most cases, here again, why would I spend two hours on the phone calling vendors to get the best deal when it may save the customer $20?
At $75hr, I just lost money, if they want a deal on parts, then they need to call and order them.
Weekends are for me and my family, and I like it that way, if for some reason I bend and work on a weekend, there is a specific reasons for it, and they are more than likely extremely great customers, and they know it, that goes along with me putting them up for the night (bed and breakfast style), and or giving them a loaner vehicle to drive.
Although, a lot of this seems pretty harsh, it protects me and them, they get fantastic service with quality work, and allows me to have a peace of mind and quality time with my wife and kids, and I'm not under the gun to have to jam out vehicles, if I wanted to do that I would go back to being a senior tech at a high volume shop.
I have an online calender for my customer's to pick and choose they're schedualing to make it easier on them, confrimation emails are sent out 1hr-12hr after getting thier request, by the operations manager.
And your phone..........
6pm, turn it off!
I had a vendor I have been needing to talk with for a week, he called me at 9:30something lastnight, I didn't answer it, what's waiting 12 hours?
Nothing, nothing at all, if things are that crazy then you need to rethink what your doing, I'm not gonna make things that stressful for me, so I don't answer my phone after certian hours, and especially at that time of night.
You had better be my parents, sister, any of my close friends/family, dying, dead, or some uber hot alien chic with a private island in the middle of no where and your calling me to let me know you just signed the paper of over to me, if I do decide to take my a$$ outta bed to answer.
And if your not any of the above, you had better be ready for what would happen next if I do answer, cause it won't be pretty.
So really what is comes down to in my book, is don't let the customers run your life or stress level, especally if your working full time and pulling this stuff on the side, no amount of money is worth the life threatening stress it will provide.
At first they will quibble and quarrel with you because of your new customer training tactics, but after they go someplace else and figure out they can't get any better than you, they will settle into your groove and follow the business guide lines you set fother, if they won't you didn't need them anyways, cause there are tons more where they came from that will.
Pending on the impressions I get from certian customers I will also do back ground checks on them, 90% are referrals, and I have and can make phone calls on them to find out what they are like and how they act, if they give me a red flag, they're out!!!
Your life, your business, YOUR SHOP you run it they way you want, give yourself the free time you deserve, you have the control, learn to use it, teach the customer how to respect it, other wise they will use you for all your worth, and take for you all your free time, and they won't give 2 $hits about you.
And once they have used you up they'll kick you to the curb, step out and look at yourself from the outside right now, you look to be 75% there, and it'll keep happening till to do something about it.
You can't help your family if you can't help take care of yourself, then where will your family be???!!!
Jeff
Guess thats a bit cheaper then new ones.
