5 Benefits of Using a Shop Management System to Run Multiple Shops

The Biggest Benefits of a Multi-Shop Auto Repair Management System

Shop management systems with built-in Multi-Shop functionality remove information silos, making it easy for owners to manage all of their locations as a unified business organization.

1. Unified Reporting

Tekmetric Multi-Shop makes it easy to monitor, view, and update all of your shop locations from anywhere at any time. By removing the information silos that exist in other solutions, owners can make the best decisions with a complete view of their business' performance.

With a Multi-Shop capable platform, owners and managers can easily access and review important metrics across all locations, including revenue, car count, average repair order, rejected work, approved work, and so much more.

The power is truly in the flexibility and centralization of all your shops’ data. Owners can even drill down on specific shop locations or compare different aspects of their business with a complete bird’s-eye view.

2. Simplified Data Management

With so many customers, individual repairs, estimates, digital vehicle inspections, and not to mention all of the data collecting and reporting options available in a shop management system, it's critical to ensure your information is organized properly.

Even just having multiple customer histories between different locations can throw off your financial reports or parts inventory management by adding in redundancies. Shops that are still writing things down manually on pen and paper, or trying to force other software solutions to work for their business, are leaving a lot of potential on the table. A better handle on all your data makes it easier to manage your business, and even shows you the opportunities to increase your average repair order value.

That's why shop owners with multiple locations should really consider using a multi-shop management platform that creates consistent, unified data processes. With the same collection and reporting processes, the same values being measured and all of the results in the same place, you can easily figure out what's happening where, and why.

3. Shared Customer History

The digital experience has become standard, and customers have developed new expectations for continuity of care. Like being able to return an item they bought online in a store, at any location. We expect that the store will have a view into what we bought, where and when we bought it, and how much we paid for it.

With Shared Customer History in Tekmetric, shops can provide that exact same level of continuity between locations. For example, one shop using Tekmetric Multi-Shop has two specific locations: one focused on repair work, and the other specializing more in vintage and performance upgrades.

With shared customer history, the performance shop can see exactly what repairs and maintenance the customer had done, or even declined, to provide better service and recommendations for their planned upgrades or repair work.

4. Manage Workflows Consistently 

One of the best aspects of a shop management system is the ability to create quick, seamless and efficient workflows for your entire team. Service Writers will love the ability to build estimates and apply canned jobs with just a few clicks. Technicians will love the ability to view their schedules and upcoming work to plan out their day. Owners will love the ability to organize all their data into unified reports.

And, of course, with the right Multi-Shop management system, owners, managers and service writers can gain access to all these powerful workflow tools across multiple locations. And that can be tailored down to locations they specifically focus on, or a more birds-eye view for a complete picture.

For example, Service Writers can configure or apply different canned jobs across multiple locations, or create a consistent digital vehicle inspection process at every location to ensure the same level of detailed analysis and care is provided to every repair order.

5. Tailor the Customer Experience

When managing multiple shops, it's not uncommon to have different locations serving different clients, different cars, or have a different focus all together.

Depending on these market differences across your shops, owners can configure and tailor offers or discounts in some shops but not others. Owners and managers also have the ability to tailor and configure different payment methods, like text-to-pay, and build different experiences around them.

For example, one shop owner allows for customers to drop off and pick up their vehicles, even when the shop is closed. Meanwhile their other locations are more walk-in based and don't provide this flexibility. Owners can configure one shop to allow text-to-pay functionality, while the other shop offers pay-as-you-go options for walk-ins that didn't expect such a high repair bill.

Manage Multiple Locations with Tekmetric MSO

With a personalized experience, customers feel like your shop is there to truly support them. Better experiences lead to happier customers, happier customers lead to repeat business, and repeat business of course leads to increased revenue.

And when managing multiple shop locations, it's critical to have the right tools and processes in place to create a unified experience. Gain back time, make better decisions, and maximize your margins at every shop with powerful tools and reports from an auto repair shop management system.