Skip to content The 13 biggest leaks holding your workshop back from growth and profit, and how to fix each one. Written by James Mitchell, CEO of Workshop Software.
The book is full of real workshop stories. Here are three of them.
For years, Joe charged $200 for a logbook service. Cars got more complex and the job started taking twice as long, but the price never moved. That one service was costing him about $15,000 a year.
Chapter 6
Billy and his service manager kept walking out to ask the mechanics how jobs were going. Across his team it added up to about five hours of lost labour every day. Some “waiting on parts” jobs had parts sitting on the shelf.
Chapter 7
Todd picked up a supplier discount on oil and sent his customers a promotion for Christmas week. It filled bookings that would otherwise have sat empty, without spending a cent on advertising.
Chapter 5
One chapter per leak. Each one shows where the money goes, something to try tomorrow, and how to fix it for good.
New customers search before they ring. Here’s how to be the workshop they find, and the one they trust.
Under-booked days cost you wages. Over-booked days cost you customers. Here’s how to fill the diary with what you can really do.
Customers judge you on how well you know their car. Here’s how to see its whole history in seconds.
Modern cars need exact data. Here’s what slow lookups and guesswork really cost, and what good looks like.
Customers who are kept in the loop say yes to more work, pick up on time and come back. Here’s how to keep them there.
Labour is what you sell. Here’s how to find the gap between the hours you work and the hours you charge.
If you have to walk out and ask, you’re paying for it. Here’s how everyone can see every job without leaving their seat.
The invoice is the last thing a customer sees before they pay. Here’s how to make it clear, quick and easy to trust.
Most workshops have more than one price for the same part. Here’s how to get it right, whoever is on the counter.
A busy workshop can still run out of cash. Here’s how to get paid before the keys go back, and keep more money in the bank.
The scramble isn’t a tax problem, it’s a records problem. Here’s how tax time becomes just a report.
Busy isn’t a number. Here are the six figures worth checking every week, and how to act on them.
If there’s nobody to do the work, nothing else matters. Here’s what good technicians want, and how to keep them.
Plus: a closing chapter on where to start, with a plan for your first 90 days.
Yes. Click any “Read the free book” button and the full book opens right here on our website. There’s no form and no email needed.
Owners and managers of automotive workshops who want to make more profit from the work they already do.
No. Every chapter is about running a more profitable workshop: getting found, bookings, vehicle records, technical data, customer contact, labour time, job flow, invoicing, pricing, getting paid, tax, reporting and your team. Each one ends with a short section on how Workshop Software does it, so you can see exactly where it fits.
Yes. It’s built to read on a phone, tablet or computer. Each chapter has a health check question, and your answers are saved in your browser so you can see your score at the end.
13 short chapters and a closing chapter, so you can read it in one sitting or a chapter at a time.
Read it on your phone or your computer, a chapter at a time. It’s free.
Ready to fix them? Start a free trial of Workshop Software
