Russ agreed, Gavin was not the only one to learn the hard way. One of his favourite sayings is “I’ve learned by my mistakes, that’s why I know so much.” It has been a constant series of failures, but Russ says they are not wins and losses, they are wins and lessons now.
Russ looks forwards to sharing those failures so that hopefully they help somebody along the way and that is something that he really took out of Gavin’s book. If people can make the time to just read it chapter by chapter, they will notice that each chapter is a case study. Short case studies on how you can not only repair a car and keep the customer happy, but we are here to make money, not friends – it has got to be sustainable. If you are not making profit, then you are not here to do it again next year.
Gavin agreed that the case studies really brought the book to life in relation to credibility because they are real. He was fortunate that the clients agreed to be a part of the process of the book and was humbled by their honesty and their willingness to write with him so that he could share their stories because that is what it is. It is about saying “Where was I? What did I do? And where am I now?” And in business, that is like a repeat cycle. “Where am I now? What do I need to do? and What am I expecting that to deliver to me or my business?” The case studies drive that message through each chapter. Gavin used the diversity of about four different clients over the 10 chapters to arrive at those case studies and he says a huge thanks to those clients.
Pretty clear lessons
Russ felt that there are some pretty clear lessons that should get people thinking where they will go to check their own numbers. In Crashzone for example, there are half a dozen different tools all based around numbers, such as a shop value calculator and benchmarking. If you know where you should be, you have got half a chance of getting there.
For example, in Benchmarking, you are asked some very simple questions, enter some numbers and hit submit and it gives you the percentages. If the panel labour should be about 40% of your sale and for those that haven’t seen the program it is basically saying that if you have $100 worth of damage, it should cost you $40 for your wages.
Behind every number is a story
It is about Knowing Your Numbers and the reason that it might not be where it should be, could be one of many things. Either the quote is not good enough, the tradie is not good enough, or he is overpaid, or the process isn’t right. You can then drill down and behind every number is a story and that is where this very simple program can highlight these. You can break the business down into panel, paint and parts and mark up etc. Russ encourages anyone who hasn’t already done it to answer those basic questions, your sales, your wages and just give it a go.
Gavin says that this straightforward simple tool should be used by every one of Crashzones users. This is an easy way to start to understand what is driving your business because as mentioned, behind each of these measurements there are four or five different drivers. Once you understand those drivers you can then hone in on where you need to focus your attention. Quite often Gavin will go into a business, and they are focusing on an area that is not going to make a great deal of difference to their bottom line. He likes to focus on what key areas will help improve their bottom line and sometimes these needs to improve drastically as they could be in a position where it’s “Do I pull the door down or do I stay here?
You must be able to look at the numbers, you might get a little despondent by them however it gives you an opportunity to turn it around. But to turn it around you have also got to look within yourself and say, “where is my mindset and just how committed am I to say no?” Because sometimes the work you are taking on board that you are saying yes to, is the reason that these numbers are in the lower performing value.
We need to break the cycle
Russ feels that is being polite and just about every single time, you can go back to the initial quote, the initial discussion with the customer about what you are going to deliver and then you try and deliver to meet their expectations, and this is where you will fall short along with your profit. You then become despondent. It’s just a cycle that we need to break people out of.
The tools in Crashzone are like Gavin’s Numbers Plus program where he made it traffic lights. He had red, green, and amber in it. If he saw a measurement that comes up red then that is a major red flag, you must do something about that now. If it is amber, it is something you should be looking into and if it is green, move on because you have the right number in the right spot.
Starting out with these simple tools, then the more you look at it, the more you start to understand the drivers, the more you can then reflect that when you start walking through your shop, you can start to see how that number could be affecting what you are seeing on the shop floor.