How to Find An Automotive Repair Software That Supports Your Multi-Shop Growth
Successfully scale your auto repair business across multiple locations with a curated change management plan and the support of a high-performance shop management system.
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Successfully scale your auto repair business across multiple locations with a curated change management plan and the support of a high-performance shop management system.
Running one auto repair shop is a lot of work, and as you scale to multiple locations, the work scales, too. To continue to scale and reach more customers, you’ll want to find the right mix of people, processes, and tools that will make things more manageable as you scale, no matter what stage your business is at.
Let’s start off by laying down the foundational launching points for starting your original shop: you found your niche, you got the right advice, you started with the right branding, and you impressed your customers by providing exceptional customer service. But there are four key factors that become extremely important as you go from being a single shop owner to a multi-shop owner.
You’ll want to:
To select the management tools that will catapult your multi-shop owner journey, you’ll first need to weigh the pros and cons of each of your shop’s processes and procedures. From there, you can find a system that will uphold and scale the processes that made your shop so successful in the first place, but now across multiple locations. Later in this article, we’ll specifically dive into automotive repair software like Tekmetric and discuss how it supports you, your team, and your customers as you go from a single shop owner to a multi-shop mastermind.
Here’s how to choose an automotive repair software that makes it possible to grow and easily manage multiple shops.
Opening up multiple auto repair shops isn’t effortless. It takes hard work and diligent planning. You’re likely to encounter challenges along the way, especially if your shop doesn’t have its operations and systems down pat before expanding.
According to Automotive Research, the biggest challenges for automotive repairs shops and their technicians include finding time for hands on training (42.6%), staying up to date with advances in diagnostics (31.6%), keeping up with advances in vehicle technology (31.1%), and finding good, knowledgeable and motivated technicians (29.2%).
Before you consider expanding to multiple locations, your existing shop should be stable, profitable, and running smoothly. If you still have problems with your current shop, they will be magnified into even larger growing pains when you expand. Your best bet is to resolve as many problems and get everything in order before making the leap from a single auto repair shop owner to a multi-shop owner (MSO). With the right automotive repair software, you can carefully stabilize your shop’s operations and monitor where you’re at in terms of profitability, customer retention, and facing current and future challenges.
Once your shop’s operations are organized and tested, it’s time to hone in on change management. Change management is a collective term for any and all approaches when it comes to preparing, supporting, and helping your business grow. There are many different approaches to change management, but for auto repair shops expanding to multiple locations, there are often three major phases: The Planning Phase, The Implementation Phase, and The Impact Phase.
The planning phase happens during or after you’ve realized that your shop could have better systems and processes in place to expand beyond one location. According to MindTools, the planning phase usually consists of the following four elements:
You might find that you need to make some changes before expanding to multiple locations, and expanding to another location is a big change in itself. So naturally, as your shop expands, you’ll be faced with big decisions: What system will you use at the new location? Who will manage the new location? How will you support the growth of both locations simultaneously? The choices you make should all support and achieve your future goals, but you need to know what those goals are.
One question that independent auto repair shop owners ask themselves at some point in their career is, “Is it time to expand my business?” If you’re here reading this piece, then you’re likely turning the idea around in your head, too. But is it the right time?
Before you opt for opening that second, third, or tenth shop, make sure you ask yourself these questions:
If you are able to positively answer each of those questions, it might be time to open up the next location.
During the implementation phase, you’ll want to carry through with the plan you created during the planning phase. Setting goals and expanding with intention can help any business succeed and meet their overall strategic vision.
Once you’ve figured out the four elements of the planning phase (sponsorship, involvement, buy-in, and impact), your game plan is mapped out, and you’re ready to hit the ground running. The implementation phase is all about building momentum and keeping it going so that you get your supporters—business partners, team members, and even customers—behind the changes you're making.
Now, keep in mind that you need to keep implementing with intention throughout the entire change management process. If you aren’t mindful of how the decisions you make will impact your progress, your hardwork could encounter more setbacks than successes along the way.
We know that “be intentional” can sound a little new-agey, but it’s a principle backed by research and used by some of the most successful business owners:
In 2001, researchers gathered 248 participants to compare motivation versus intention when it comes to building better exercise habits over the course of two weeks. They were divided into three groups: the first group was the control group, the second group was the “motivation” group, and the third group was the “intention” group.
The “motivation” group participants were asked to track their workouts, read some material on the benefits of exercise, and sit through a presentation on how exercise reduces the risk of heart disease and improves heart health. The “intention” group participants received the same presentation so that they had the same level of motivation, but they were also asked to formulate a plan for when and where they would exercise over the following week.
The results? In the control group and the “motivation” group, 35-38% of the participants exercised at least once per week. In the “intention” group, 91% of the participants exercised at least once per week. By writing down a plan, the participants were a lot more likely to follow through.
The same goes for multi-shop owners. Yes, you’ll be motivated during the expansion. However, the icing on the cake—the thing that keeps the momentum going—is the intention behind every change you make.
Once you’ve mapped out your course of actions and you’ve intentionally implemented the changes, then you’re ready to see how all of your hard work has impacted your business. This final phase is where you measure they pay off and anchor the changes. If your business has reached the desired impact, that’s great! If it doesn’t seem to be reaching the desired goals you had initially mapped out, you have the opportunity to go back through phase one and phase two to implement corrective measures.
According to Robin Sharma, a top leadership expert, “Any change is difficult at the beginning, complicated in the middle, and beautiful at the end." Even if you have to go back and work through some of the difficulties and complexities again, just know that the results will make it all worth it.
Whatever your business has going for it at the original location, you’ll want to replicate that success at the additional shops you open up. Your customers want to have a consistent experience whether they show up to your original location or to your new shops. And one way you can give your customers a consistent experience is by selecting an automotive repair software that is the right fit for your business operations.
You’ve worked hard to get your shop to where it is now. And if expansion is on the horizon, then you’ve done something right. Of course, you could opt to not expand your business and keep it where it’s at. There’s no wrong answer; especially since what works for your shop might not work for another shop owner. But if you’ve chosen to open up additional shops, then you’ll want each of your customers to have the same positive experience in whichever one of your shops they go to.
Before we dive into what to look for in a dependable cloud-based automotive repair software, let’s look at the pros and cons of cloud-based systems and on-premise, legacy systems.
A dependable automotive repair software should make your customer’s lives easier. Here are some features to look for:
Your automotive repair software should also make life easier for your team. Look for these feature to ensure that everyone at your shop is getting the support they need from their system:
And of course, you can’t forget about yourself. When looking at automotive repair software, look for features that will make your life easier:
Seven Things to Look For in an Automotive Repair Software Company
The automotive repair industry isn’t going anywhere. In fact, research shows that the market size of the automotive repair industry in the U.S. has grown 0.3% per year on average between 2017 and 2022, and is expected to continue growing well beyond 2022. So, if your first shop has shown success in your community, and you’ve answered the twelve questions in the planning phase above with a resounding “yes,” leveling up by opening up additional locations will help you continue to reap the benefits.
Just as you select the right teammates to help your vision come to fruition, you also want to carefully select an automotive repair software company that will drive profits, eliminate the need for back-and-forth communication, and enhance productivity.
Here are seven indicators that the company behind the automotive repair software will be there for you throughout your MSO journey:
What’s one tedious task any shop owner faces when they’re transitioning to a new software, location, or program? Data migration. The right automotive repair software company won’t put that all on your shoulders.
In fact, the right software partner can make data migration a seamless transition. And better yet, they should also help with onboarding.
“If I had an issue, somebody from the company would reach out to us immediately for assistance.”
- Bryan Jewett, Casey’s Automotive
When you make the leap from owning a single shop to being a multi-shop owner, standardizing each of your shop’s processes with automotive repair software will make your life a lot easier to say the least. But you need to make sure you find the right solution.
The right automotive repair software will:
Let’s say your first location has four technicians and two service advisors, and your new location has three techs and one service advisor. Managing ten employees on top of running two shops can be tedious if you lack a solid workflow.
With the right cloud-based automotive repair software, you can create a smooth and consistent customer intake process. When greeting customers, service advisors have to get a lot of information. Having the ability to add any customers’ notes within seconds—whether it’s adding a new customer in the database or updating an existing customer’s profile—is a game changer.
And that’s just on the customer side of it. A good cloud-based automotive repair software will also help your technicians and service advisors collaborate in real time. By creating accurate and easy-to-understand inspection reports and estimates, your entire team will be in-the-know and better able to serve your customers since everyone will be on the same page.
No matter how many team members you oversee, you should have the ability to check in on your own accord, from wherever you are. Another added benefit to using a high performance cloud-based automotive repair software is that you can easily monitor your team’s workflow. With just a few clicks, you have the ability to see what’s going on at each shop, whether it’s to check on RO progress or to see where your team is at productivity-wise.
As you grow, your business may need additional support from other programs. Choosing an auto repair software that can easily integrate with other programs and systems will make your life easier.
In your search for the best cloud-based automotive repair software, pop the hood and look into the metrics that it logs and stores for you. As your shop expands over the years, you’ll want to consistently and accurately track all of your numbers. Having the ability to track how much your shop has grown helps you hone in on the best direction for your business as well as course correct to minimize any potential kind of loss.
When you are an MSO, you have the capability to test out different processes at different shops so that you can compare and contrast what works and what doesn’t. For example, you might notice that a large portion of your declined jobs are brake pad replacements. So what you can do is create a promotional campaign around brake pad replacements at one of your locations to see if the campaign effectively improved said location’s Close Ratio. If it works, you can scale it across all locations. If it doesn’t work, you have the data you need to adjust.
And having the ability to share those numbers with your team will prove firsthand you’re all working together towards new heights.
“If I go to reports, I have so many metrics that I can look at that tell me what's going on. Tekmetric breaks out all of those metrics and shows me what we're selling and what we're not selling. It gives me the breakdown I need to measure what I'm doing.”
- Henderson Johnson, Toyo Automotive
When you’re selecting an automotive repair software for your shop, you’ll want to find a company that makes it easy for you to switch from tier to tier so that you can scale when you’re ready. For example, if you have to pay per user, you would have to pay each time you bring on a new employee, which can hinder your shop’s growth because you'd constantly be thinking about the cost.
However, going with a software that has a pay per roof model means that you would only have to pay for each location you open up, but at each location, you can have unlimited users.
The cheapest option doesn’t always mean the best return on your investment. So closely considering the pricing behind the automotive repair software is crucial.
Furthermore, Tekmetric doesn’t lock you into a contract. So if you decide Tekmetric isn’t the right fit for your shop, you can get out stress-free.
See the full plan comparison here.
“Now I’m paying a fraction of what I was before switching to Tekmtric, and I don’t have to worry about downtime.”
- Stephane Grabina, Excluservice Owner
Finally, you’ll want to look for a company that has a vision for improving their system, and especially one that is dedicated to helping single shops and MSOs alike. When you start using a new automotive repair software, you’ll probably think of adjustments and/or features you feel would benefit the software. So you’ll want to find an automotive repair software company that considers—and prioritizes—customer feedback into the design process.
Here are a few conversation starters that will help you find a system that will take your feedback to heart:
At Tekmetric, we’re dedicated to making it easy for you to manage multiple shops. Our automotive repair software will not only support your original location with your original hires, but we’ll also have your back as you open new locations, onboard new team members, and grow your customer base.
We want the shop owners who place their trust in us to feel inspired to grow. If you want to open up a new location, Tekmetric will help you stay on top of your shop’s operations so that you can be there for all of your shops no matter where you are. If you want to add on new team members, our price won’t increase because we have a per-roof model and will always stand by that. If you want to switch up your programs and add additional integrations to find the best fit for your shop, Tekmetric makes that a smooth and seamless process through industry-leading partnerships.
And lastly, if you want to monitor your multi-shop metrics, we’ll help you get to know your numbers within minutes.
Tekmetric was created by shop owners, for shop owners. We’ve seen firsthand how challenging running a shop can be. And we’ve seen firsthand how running multiple shops at once can be.
Our goal is to create frictionless experiences for you, your team, and the clients you serve at each of your locations.