It’s a well-known fact in the auto-repair world that summer is the busiest time of the year. As the weather heats up and families start going on road-trips, more and more drivers bring their vehicles into the shop for maintenance.
Service advisors are an integral part of running your shop.
Not only do they have to greet every customer and learn what they need, but they also need to connect a lot of moving parts, whether that means sending repair orders to guests, making sure they’re getting approved, coordinating with technicians, or literally tracking down parts for repairs. that service advisors keep a cool head.
Making sure every job makes it through the repair process without fault while providing guests with kind and diligent service can be tough, but there are tools and habits that can make the job a breeze.
Here are a few actionable tactics you can start using immediately at your shop so service advisors can stay brisk in spite of the heat.
Get to Know Your Guests & Their Vehicles
When it comes to guests, the mileage may vary. Some guests are easier to work with than others. Some will throw you the keys and approve whatever work needs to be done. Others will only approve a small amount of work and call every few minutes to check on the job.
Service advisors may not be able to directly change how guests behave, but we are able to know what to expect. Customer notes are a great way for service advisors to know the attitudes, behaviors, and preferences of each individual guest. Taking detailed notes and checking them before or during a customer interaction can make it easier to work with even with the most difficult clients.
Leverage Your Shop's Information
In addition to customer notes, some shop management solutions offer customer metrics and other tools that help service advisors know even more about their customers.
1. Use Lifetime Stats: Percent Close Ratio
Shop management systems like Tekmetric can actually show you the lifetime stats of a customer, including how much they’ve spent at your garage and the percent of repairs they close on. Knowing the guest’s percent close ratio can help you know how much time you should spend attempting to sell a customer on jobs, especially when the shop gets busy.
2. Shared Customer History
CARFAX vehicle reports can also tell you a lot about the customer. For instance, if it says that the customer brings their vehicle in every 5,000 miles, they probably care about keeping their vehicle maintained and are more likely to approve work.
Master Your Workflow
When it comes to service advising, you have to be able to flow quickly between talking to guests, assembling repair orders, authorizing repair orders, working with technicians, ordering parts, answering the phone, and receiving payments.
It’s a lot to keep track of! Leveraging a digital job-board, or shop dashboard is probably the best way for service advisors to keep track of all the responsibilities they have to juggle.
A good shop dashboard will show you the status of every vehicle in the repair order process and send alerts to technicians, parts suppliers, and even the guest when it’s their turn to take action.
Repair order sent? The guest should get an alert to approve.
Did the part arrive? The technician should be alerted so they can get to work.
If your guest is in a hurry, you may want to make a note on their job in the shop dashboard and set the right expectation.
By glancing at the dashboard and seeing that you have a number of cars being worked on, are waiting on several parts, and have more cars in the queue, you should be able to let the guest know that they’re going to have to wait at least a couple of hours.
But if things are less busy, you can leave a note so that the technicians can be mindful that the guest needs to be somewhere, especially if their notes indicate that they’re a loyal, well-paying customer.
The Secret Lies in Good Shop Management Procedures
Shop management systems are a fundamental tool for service advisors, and a good one will allow you to easily take customer notes, track the repair process, and be an excellent service advisor.
Especially this summer when there’s a pandemic, a shop management system with text and email repair order approval and text-to-pay options will make offering curbside service simple and easy.
Make sure that you have the tools to get the job done, and have trained your service advisors before the heat kicks in.
We’re excited to announce that Tekmetric, the leading cloud-based shop management system for automotive repair shops, is joining forces with Shopgenie, the leading auto repair shop CRM, to provide a comprehensive all-in-one solution that optimizes operations and drives growth for auto repair shops. This combination is set to combine the best of both worlds, offering shop owners smarter tools, seamless integrations, and enhanced features to optimize operations and drive growth—all from a single, unified platform.
So, what does it mean for our partner shops? Here’s a few of the benefits you’ll see in the coming months:
Streamline your operations: Managing your shop requires balancing internal processes while delivering top-notch customer service. With the addition of Shopgenie, we’re not just expanding our platform—we’re creating a true all-in-one solution that addresses the real-world challenges you face every day. Soon, you’ll have one platform, one login, and one phone number for all customer communication, simplifying your workflow and reducing complexity.
Enhance Customer Engagement: Keep your customers informed and engaged with automated marketing tools, text reminders, and follow-ups. With integrated communication tools, you’ll deliver exceptional service that strengthens relationships and boosts customer loyalty.
Increase Efficiency & Profitability: Benefit from seamless integrations with CRM, booking, and marketing tools that reduce manual work, streamline operations, and ultimately increase profitability. Plus, you’ll continue to have the flexibility to use Tekmetric’s 70+ integrations in our robust ecosystem, with Shopgenie continuing to build and support integrations with other shop management systems.
Here’s what our leadership has to say:
“This combination sets a new standard for efficiency and customer experience in the industry. At Tekmetric, we are committed to providing shop owners with best-in-class tools to manage and grow their businesses. Similarly, Shopgenie’s ability to solve real-world challenges with intuitive technology has earned it the trust of shop owners nationwide,” said Sunil Patel, Founder and CEO of Tekmetric. “Together, we are building an all-in-one platform that empowers shop owners to attract, retain and serve customers more effectively, driving long-term growth.”
“Tekmetric’s relentless pursuit of innovation and passion for creating products that make shop owners’ lives easier could not be a more perfect fit for Shopgenie and our customers,” said Kieran O’Brien, CEO and Co-Founder of Shopgenie. “Our combined strengths will create a more complete, powerful platform that sets a new standard for auto repair software solutions.”
At Tekmetric, helping shops measure up is at the core of everything we do. With this combination, we’re building a seamless, all-in-one solution to manage every aspect of your shop more effectively. Together, we’re setting a new benchmark for the industry and aim to take your shop to the next level. Learn more at https://www.tekmetric.com/shopgenie.
Tekmetric standardizes how every auto repair shop operates
Running multiple shops should mean more revenue, more repair orders, and more momentum. For most MSOs, it also means more complexity, inconsistency, and time spent putting out fires instead of building the business.
The problem isn't growth. It's that most shop management systems weren't built for it. Separate logins for each location. No unified view of revenue or performance. Processes that drift from shop to shop until every location is running differently and nobody can figure out why the numbers don't match. Tekmetric fixes that at the root — one platform, every location, standardized from day one.
Tekmetric shops see measurable revenue growth as they adopt platform features. Shops average $612 per repair order (ARO), but that number climbs to $741 when they use Digital Vehicle Inspections and reaches around $800 when they add MotoVisuals videos. The lift isn't about charging customers more; it's about transparency, showing them what their vehicle needs so they can make confident, informed decisions. It also builds trust.
The operators running on Tekmetric show what that looks like in practice. Main Street Auto, a nationwide network of community-rooted shops, grew from six locations to more than 115 with Tekmetric at the core of every one. Rush Automotive, in Austin, Texas, saw $9,000 in new revenue in the first month across five locations. CarTech Auto Center, operating across multiple locations in Puerto Rico, grew monthly revenue 48% in nine months. The platform didn't change their ambition. It gave them the infrastructure to act on it.
Customer Experience
Customers Don't Know Which Location Is Your Best. Tekmetric Ensures They Can't Tell the Difference.
Inconsistencies across locations cost you. Skipped DVI photos, estimate delays, and declined jobs that nobody follows up on quickly add up, decreasing your revenue, and negatively affecting customer experience.
The shops that grow their ARO, earn repeat business, and generate the kind of reviews that actually drive traffic all share the same foundation: customers trust them. And trust isn't built in a single interaction — it's built through consistent, transparent communication every single time a vehicle comes in.
Tekmetric gives you the tools to make that consistency automatic. Inspections follow the same template at every location, with photos and video built into the estimate. Customers get their quote by text, approve the work from their phone, and can pay before pickup with Tekmetric Payments built in. Text-to-Pay, card-on-file, and Buy Now, Pay Later options make checkout faster and remove friction from bigger approvals. Their vehicle history travels with them, so when a customer visits a different one of your locations, whoever's at the desk already knows their vehicle history.
With Tekmetric Marketing running in the background, customers get automated appointment reminders, follow-ups on declined services, and service reminders based on real vehicle data. Online booking lets them schedule service 24/7 without picking up the phone. Google Review requests go out automatically after every completed service, turning great work into lasting reputation.
When shops share eight or more inspection photos with customers, ARO goes up because customers can see the repairs their vehicle needs. Euro Car Doctors, in Orange County, Calif., used that approach and grew their average ARO to more than $900. Garagisti, in Houston, Texas, built a practice around transparent, DVI-driven customer communication from day one and has averaged a $1,600 ARO since opening.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Standardized DVIs, streamlined customer communication, and shared vehicle history across every location so every customer gets the same experience regardless of which shop they walk into
Text-to-Pay and Buy Now, Pay Later built into checkout to speed up payments and boost approval on bigger repairs
Automated follow-up on declined services and service reminders that run from real vehicle data, not generic time intervals
Online booking available 24/7 so customers can schedule service without waiting for business hours
Google Review requests sent automatically after every completed service — no manual steps required
Permissions & Access Roles
Tekmetric Puts the Right Data in Front of the Right People Across Every Location
When you add a location, you're not just adding bays, you're adding staff, risk, and the need for accountability at a distance. The right access structure makes all three manageable.
Most MSOs hit a wall when they try to manage growing teams without the right controls in place. Too much access creates risk such as errors in repair orders, incorrect discounts, and sensitive financial data visible to people who don't need it. Too little creates friction, leaving advisors waiting on approvals, technicians without job visibility, and managers unable to make calls on their own.
Tekmetric gives you granular, role-based controls across every location. Technicians see their job queue, their assignments, and their hours. Managers have what they need to run their shop without touching another location's data. Advisors can build estimates, communicate with in-store customers, and process payments. Owners see the full portfolio in real time from a single login.
Before switching to Tekmetric, Will Rivera, owner of CarTech Auto Center in Puerto Rico, had to log into each of his five stores separately just to check sales or inventory. There was no unified view of the business, no way to enforce consistency, and no clean data to make decisions from. Within nine months of switching, CarTech had grown monthly revenue by 48%. Once CarTech had the structure to run five locations cleanly, expansion became the goal instead of survival.
Cross-location visibility for owners and ops leaders, with shop-level access for everyone else. Accountability is built into the platform and not enforced manually.
Controlled access to sensitive actions like unposting ROs, giving the right people the ability to correct errors without opening the door to bigger ones
Change Management
Switching Shop Software Doesn't Have to Disrupt Your Business. Here's How MSOs Make It Work.
Adopting new software across multiple locations is a real operational challenge. Tekmetric is built for it, from contract to live in a few days.
Christian Brothers Automotive migrated about 200 stores to Tekmetric in three months. Main Street Auto onboards 20 to 25 new locations a year and keeps growing. These aren't small transitions executed by large IT teams — they're operational rollouts managed by auto repair shop employees, built around Tekmetric's onboarding process.
Every new Tekmetric customer gets a dedicated onboarding manager who builds a rollout plan around your schedule, not a generic timeline. Data migrates. Workflows get configured. And most teams are fully operational within a week of going live, with results measurable within 30 days. That's not a promise. It's a framework Tekmetric has built and refined across thousands of shop launches.
The platform itself is designed to be learned fast. SJ Automotive cut estimate creation time from 40 minutes to about 10 minutes after switching. That's not a team that spent weeks in training. That's a team that picked up an intuitive tool and immediately got more done. When the platform is easy to use, adoption isn't a change management project. It's what happens when the tool earns buy-in on its own.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A dedicated onboarding manager, data migration support, and a go-live timeline built around your shops, not a one-size-fits-all playbook
An intuitive platform with a training hub, knowledge base, and U.S.-based support, so your team gets productive fast and stays that way
Access to the Tekmetric User Group, a community sharing what works, so you grow alongside operators who have already been where you are
Inventory & Parts Sharing
Stop Paying for Parts You Already Own. Tekmetric Gives Every Location Real-Time Visibility Into Stock.
When parts data is fragmented across locations, technicians wait, repairs get delayed, and margin slips through the cracks. Tekmetric centralizes inventory across every shop so your team always knows what's in stock, what's on order, and where to find it.
Multi-location inventory has a way of quietly breaking down. Parts get ordered twice because one location didn't know another had them. Technicians start jobs they can't finish. Reconciliation eats hours at the end of every month. The fix is straightforward: one centralized view of what's in stock across every location, updated in real time.
With Tekmetric, every authorized user sees real-time parts availability across every location. Orders happen directly inside the repair order — no supplier portal, no manual entry, no switching systems. When a technician picks up a job, they can see immediately whether parts are in stock or on order, so they're never starting work they can't complete. And when inventory hits a minimum threshold, reorder alerts surface automatically.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Real-time parts visibility across every location, connected directly to the repair order workflow so technicians, advisors, and managers always know what’s in stock
Parts ordering through PartsTech and others, directly from inside the RO. No portal toggling, no duplicate entries.
Automatic reorder alerts, purchase order tracking, and parts usage reports that give ops leaders a clean view of inventory performance across the portfolio
Profitability & Reporting
The Gap Between Your Best Auto Repair Shop and the Rest Isn't a Mystery. It's a Data Issue.
You know which locations perform. Tekmetric shows you exactly why, in real time, so you can act before the day is done.
Most MSOs are managing with last week's numbers at best. Reports get built manually. Data gets pulled from separate systems. By the time you know there's a problem at a location, the opportunity to act quickly and solve it is gone. That lag doesn't just slow down your decisions, it costs you money in real time.
Tekmetric's portfolio dashboard puts every location's data in one live view. ARO, car count, close ratio, gross profit, and technician efficiency are all filterable by shop, advisor, and date range, giving you a complete picture of what's working and where the gaps are. Seeing your top performer and your underperformer side by side makes it clear exactly what the best shop is doing that the others aren't.
The operators who use this visibility don't just track results — they act on them. Branch Automotive used Tekmetric's real-time data to build nine straight month-over-month increases in ARO, driven by stronger inspections, clearer recommendations, and the kind of customer trust that leads to consistently higher-value work. These aren't outliers; they're what happens when operators finally have the data to make better calls.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A portfoliowide dashboard showing ARO, car count, close ratio, and gross profit across every location in real time with shop-level filtering so you can see the full picture or drill into one location
Built-in reporting on technician productivity, DVI impact on ARO, end-of-day reconciliation, and discount and fee analysis — no exports, no spreadsheets, no five-hour Friday afternoon
Labor and parts matrices that lock in consistent pricing across locations, protecting margins and making every shop’s numbers comparable
Building a startup takes time, effort, and a lot of determination. You and your team have invested in a great idea, and everyone works diligently to bring new team members, investors, and customers on board. However, the process doesn’t end once the product or service has taken off and gained popularity.
A startup can operate on a lean team, with people wearing multiple hats and taking on extra responsibilities. But as the company grows, it will be time to hire more employees and scale the company to meet demand.
How to scale the business is an enormous question that causes hesitation for many leaders. How do you expand your business offerings and your team without losing the heart and inspiration that helped the startup succeed in the first place?
In my own business, Tekmetric, which offers shop management software for auto repair businesses, I have relied on a few tactics that enabled me—and our whole team—to scale sustainably. Here are four of the most vital.
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