CrossCheck Blog

Upselling is convincing a customer to switch from rail vodka to Grey Goose, from a single item order to a value meal, from a ... you get the idea. More sales and profit is the name of the upsell game and auto repair shops are no exception. Rules? There are no rules. In fact, instead of expecting that someone coming in to get a flat fixed will spend $10 on the patch kit, imagine if he left a couple of hundred dollars in your register -- $100 for the new tire, $5 for the tire gauge, a tire rotation, and not to mention fuzzy dice! The idea is to present your customers with things they find useful, as well as make the entire process easy, helpful, and fun for them.

There are certain things people seem to be happy to wait for: the perfect table at Nobu, Cabbage Patch Dolls, anything Apple releases, the touring company of “Jersey Boys” to hit their local theater. While you can’t ever expect your customers are going to eagerly camp out in front of your auto repair shop’s doors just to get the hottest new oil change supplies, you can make the experience a little better for them by making it as short as possible.

Consumers with car troubles are in an uncomfortable situation. Repairs are inconvenient and often expensive. Why not take action in making their visit to your shop as seamless and painless as possible? Having worked the past four seasons at Sonoma Raceway, I see similarities between professional racing and auto repair businesses. As the owner or manager, you serve as the crew chief for your team. You delegate responsibilities looking for ways to get an advantage over your competitors and making on the spot decisions about what parts your customers need to get their vehicle back to its optimal condition.

As much as companies wish to provide a great product or service all the time; payment disputes still occur sometimes. These can be due to customer and merchant disagreements over work quality, an overall bad experience or a misunderstanding by one or the other party. In any case, these are almost always uncomfortable situations and unpleasant for the merchant to settle. Even so, when they happen, having a stop payment service in place gives businesses protection and reimbursement should the customer halt the payment for services rendered.

Electronic check processing saves your business time and money with automated, quicker deposits from the comfort of your office. Automotive repair shops, in particular, utilize these services to speed up cash flow, which in turn, reduces risk. This allows repair shops to focus more of their attention and expertise on what's most important to them, customers.