In the previous issue, we covered how to develop a business culture. There are a lot of phrases to define this, like a mission statement or purpose statement (my preference). However you’d like to characterize it, it’s essentially a declaration of why you’re in business and that everyone on your team understands. And they need to understand it so well that it becomes a natural part of their daily decision-making. If you haven’t finished that yet, then review the article and video before proceeding.
We’ll look into a few “set up” ideas here and then analyze the data in part three of the series. So, what are “set-up” ideas? These ideas don’t have anything to do with this topic, per se; they’re just good ideas in general. Nevertheless, they’ll help you with your business no matter what direction you’re headed. Here are two of them:
Keep your phone screen time in check. This isn’t me wagging my finger because I struggle with it sometimes. I work at keeping my screen time to an hour or less daily (Figure 1). I don’t always succeed, but I check it regularly. This feature can be found in the Settings options in iPhones and Android phones. On some Android phones, screen time is found within the Digital Wellbeing section in Settings.
Why does this matter? I wrote about this in the August 2016 issue of Gears, and it covers the Pareto Rule. Vilfredo Pareto was a 19th-century economist who observed that 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of the pods. It sounds silly, I know. But from that, he concluded that for projects, work, and activities, about 80% of the outcome he was after came from about 20% of his efforts.
Over the years, engineers, data analysts, and business executives have realized the same thing. It highlights that most of our day is wasted with interruptions, flawed processes, and unclear objectives. So, what does this have to do with our screen time? When the outcome of an eight-hour day (15 hours for shop owners) comes from only an hour and 36 minutes of the day (an hour and 36 minutes is 20% of an eight-hour day), every minute you spend on your phone matters. Think of it: saving 20 minutes of phone time (that doesn’t help with getting that transmission rebuilt or diagnosed) equates to an hour and a half of additional time for actual work. Now, consider your competition is wasting time on their phone, and suddenly, you’ve created a competitive advantage just by paying attention to screen time.
Ask better questions. Too often, we get caught up in making statements like: “Business is slow, we have too many CBs, or our marketing doesn’t seem effective.”
If you find yourself plagued with the same problems and never seem to resolve them, then chances are you’ve been making statements, not asking questions. You see, statements don’t evoke action — none. It’s like listening to your friends complain about politics. You might be engaged, but you won’t accomplish anything. On the other hand, when you ask a question, your mind tries to answer it.
If we take the three simple examples at the beginning of this section and turn them into questions, you’ll see what I mean.
“Business is slow.” Instead, ask something like: How many customers do we get each day/week? This is easy to answer; you may even have RO software to track it.
“We have too many CBs.” You might only say this when you have a CB, so it’s out of mind most of the time. In the form of a question, it turns into, “How many cars do we work on each month, and how many return with a problem? Here, too, you might have existing software to track the number of jobs you have per month, the number of customers that return with a complaint, and what it costs to fix.
Lastly, “Our marketing doesn’t seem effective.” This is a bit trickier but not beyond your ability. You’ll want to ask, “What are we spending each month for marketing, and what’s the increase in customer traffic because of it? Your marketing firm should have analytics that provides this information.
You can track and improve just about anything you can measure. Maybe you want to track how long it takes to rebuild a transmission, like a 6R80, or what it takes to remove a specific transmission. From there, you can establish meaningful goals of how long it should take for a particular job.
In the beginning, you’ll want to track something easy. It may not be high on your list, but you’ll want to understand how to analyze the data and what you can do with it. If you’re using RO software, then start with that.
Whatever you decide to track or improve, you’ll want to ensure you can export the data into an Excel spreadsheet displayed in columns. (we’ll go through the data analysis in part three of this series).
To get an idea of how we’ll get some helpful answers, refer to the June 2023 article, “Business by The Numbers.” That analysis started with a few simple questions and then led to standards (goals) you could work toward based on the size of your shop and staffing. When we get to the next issue, we’ll do the same with your data.
You can set goals based on the culture you’ve created. Your team will know what to do and why. Before you know it, your business will run smoother, deliver better results, and provide improved customer service. Oh, and your phone screen time? It might just take care of itself.
