How Canned Jobs Can Make Your Shop More Profitable

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May 3, 2023

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Read time: 3 min

Repeat jobs are common in auto repair work. How often does a customer walk in and ask for something common like an oil change or a tune-up? Or does your shop specialize in one type of vehicle, and you're constantly handling the same repairs?

What if we told you we could help you build those most common repair orders in a matter of seconds? That way your service writers can focus on providing amazing customer service every time.

Because let’s face it, regardless of the job, your customers are relying on your team to provide the same quality experience they're used to in so many other industries. And if you own multiple shops, then your customers are expecting you to provide the same quality of service at each location.

Canned jobs make it easy for your shop to not only save time when building estimates and serving customers but also make it easy to provide a consistent and smooth customer experience -- in the end making your shop even more money by boosting your shop's average repair order.

What Canned Jobs Do Shops Need?

How many repeat repair orders does your team do each week? Chances are you can think of at least three jobs that are created over and over.

If you’re able to create canned jobs for just a fraction of those general repairs, you’ll come in clutch for yourself and your team by getting lost time back. 

The repairs your shop creates canned jobs for is entirely up to you, but they should be based on the common repairs you provide. 

Whether your shop specializes in exotic cars, performs total transmission rebuilds, or just general repair work, oil changes, and brake jobs, you’ll want to create a list of canned jobs that are both frequent and replicable at your shop.

Common canned jobs used by auto repair shops include:

  • Diagnosis
  • State Inspection
  • Emissions Test 
  • Oil or Diesel Change
  • Tire Replacement 
  • Tire Rotation 
  • Alignment
  • A/C System Inspection 
  • Battery Core
  • Brake Repair

Four Major Benefits of Canned Jobs for Auto Repair Shops

You and your team work hard every day to accommodate your customers and deliver an exceptional customer service experience every time.

The goal is to make your shop's experience so simple, pleasant, and transparent that customers will feel comfortable coming back the next time their vehicle needs a repair.

1. Streamline Workflow to Boost Productivity

Investing in a shop management system with a full suite of easy-to-use features to create a simple workflow for repair orders.

With Tekmetric, you can tie canned jobs to Digital Vehicle Inspection findings to save time when building estimates for common work, enabling your team to focus on other tasks.

For example, your shop can create an inspection where any cooling system findings are linked to a “cooling system repair” canned job. If the inspection finds an issue, the service advisor can just click the canned job icon next to the finding to automatically populate the estimate.

2. Sell More Work

Canned jobs don’t just save you time, they help your shop sell even more work as well. For example, because we partner with BG Products, Inc., shops can easily include BG products with canned jobs.

And BG Products cover a lot of work.

Each time your shop creates a canned job, you’ll have the option to use high-quality maintenance products for fuel systems, engines, transmissions, brakes, power steering, cooling, battery, and climate control systems. 

We saw that when shops started using BG Products in their canned jobs, they had a 55.93% increase in sales!

3. Provide a Seamless, Consistent Customer Experience

The canned jobs you create at one shop can be saved and transferred across your other shops.

So if you choose to expand beyond owning one shop, or if you already own multiple shops, you can create a consistent customer experience.

Especially when you add features like default inspections to ensure all of your locations provide the same level of care, or even using shared customer history across all your locations to provide a personalized experience.

4. Optimize Your Shop With Data

Since hop management systems touch every single part of running your shop, they’re also keeping track of everything you need to know to run your shop even better. 

More specifically, shops can track all sales data to gain accurate insights into what’s working – what leads to closed repairs – and what isn’t working – what leaves money on the table.

Get More Out of The Work You Already Do

Canned jobs are a secret weapon to maximize your shop’s profitability. Your team will save time during the parts ordering stage and the estimate building stage to keep cars moving through your shop's workflow.

And as a shop owner, you know any time spent on tedious tasks can add up fast. Shaving off time here and there will ultimately make your team more productive and efficient so that they can focus on bringing in more money and satisfying more customers!

👉 Ready to grow your automotive business? [Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here]

FAQ

similar articles

Scaling your auto repair business requires moving beyond simple spreadsheets and paper repair orders. You need a robust shop management software that has enterprise-level features, centralized real-time reporting, and helps you provide a consistent customer experience across locations.

This guide breaks down the top enterprise software solutions for auto repair shops with 2+ locations.

Top 5 Enterprise Solutions for Shops With Multiple Locations

Finding the right software partner for your expanding shop is critical to your success. Below you will find our top overall picks for multi-shop operators (MSOs).

1. Tekmetric

Multi-shop owners love Tekmetric because they can run their entire business, across all locations, from one platform. Featuring an all-in-one shop management solution with centralized real-time reporting, marketing, payments, and 70+ integrations, Tekmetric makes it easier for you to manage multiple locations.
Why we picked Tekmetric:

  • Unified inventory & part management: See your entire inventory availability, order parts, and transfer parts across locations as needed.
  • All-in-one solution: Instead of switching between platforms, Tekmetric offers shop management, POS, and CRM in one place.
  • Company history: Built by a former shop owner, Tekmetric is often praised for ease of use, simple onboarding, reliable support, and listening to customer feedback.
  • Pricing: Starts at $179/mo (billed annually).

2. Shop-Ware

Shop-Ware is designed to help you maintain consistency across multiple locations with unified customer history, reporting, and employee management features.

Why we picked Shop-Ware:

  • Reporting: Find the metrics that matter the most to your business.
  • Customer experience: Standardize your customer experience across locations.
  • Employee management: Easily compare employee productivity and manage permission levels.
  • Pricing: Starts at $224/mo (billed annually).

3. Protractor

Protractor is a popular shop management system for shops with multiple locations or franchises. Protractor offers advanced reporting features and shop management features so you can run your shop confidently.

Why we picked Protractor:

  • Reporting: Performance tracking, insights, and employee productivity monitoring.
  • Accounting: Built-in accounting tools.
  • Integrations: Multiple integration partners.
  • Pricing: Starts at $359/mo (billed annually).

4. Fullbay

Fullbay specializes in heavy-duty truck and trailer repair shops. Most standard shop software struggles with the complexity of fleet maintenance, but Fullbay was built for it.

Why we picked Fullbay:

  • Centralized inventory: Track parts and inventory across all locations.
  • Integrations: Fullbay has plenty of industry interrogations to keep your shop running.
  • Cloud-based: Manage your shop from anywhere.
  • Pricing: Starting at $188/mo.

5. Garage360

If you are looking for a lighter software solution, Garage360 might be a good option for your shop. Supporting quick-lube, body/collision, and fleet, Garage360 can be used in a variety of shops.

Why we picked Garage360:

  • Versatile: Can be used in multiple shop types.
  • Permission control: Manage your employee permissions across locations.
  • Reporting: Pull the data you need to make informed decisions.
  • Pricing: Starting at $79/mo (billed annually).

Which software features should I look for when I manage multiple shops?

If you are comparing software options for your chain operations, these are the modern features to look for:

Centralized real-time reporting: Tired of trying to guess how each shop location is performing? Pick a software that can pull the data you need from any location or aggregate it across shop locations within a user-friendly dashboard.

Inventory/parts management: Tracking parts can be difficult as you expand. Find a solution that can track inventory levels and transfer parts as needed across locations.

Standardized workflows: Having standard workflows streamlines your shop operations. Select a software that can standardize your operations, prices, and procedures.

Employee permissions: Managing employee permissions is critical to ensuring the safety of your company data and holding employees accountable. Pick a software that keeps your business secure.

Customer communication: Modern customers expect a higher level of communication than they did 10 years ago. Find a shop management solution that provides online scheduling, DVIs, two-way texting, and other modern customer experience tools.

Single vs. Multi-Location Management: What are the differences?

Why can’t you just use a single-shop system? The difference lies in automation and control.

  • Standardization: In a multi-location setup, you need to ensure that technicians at every shop are following the same workflow and procedures so your customer experience is consistent.
  • Visibility: Single shop software may have reporting, but you need to be able to compare metrics between shops to make informed business decisions.
  • Security: Multi-shop software provides employee permission settings and typically comes with advanced data protection.
  • Pricing: Most single-shop software options will charge you per user or limit repair orders. Enterprise software will grow with you and charge based on the number of locations.

Final Thoughts

Choosing an enterprise-level auto repair shop software isn't just about features; it's about finding a partner that helps you maintain a consistent customer experience as you grow. Whether you prioritize inventory management, deep metrics, or standard procedures, ensure you find a solution that can grow with you.

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