In this job market, finding employees and getting interviewees to show up may be difficult, but you might just come across a valuable learning experience.

As both an operator and vendor, Sean Porcher brings a unique perspective to the relationship between these two advocates of the business.

As operators, we spend a on marketing and recruitment of new guests. Give your team tools to use to keep those guests from turning around and leaving.

In an industry that is quite mature, many of us have learned the hard way that you either adapt and change, or you end up holding a business of little or no value.

One of my favorite classes in college was a class called Service Operations Management. It was taught by a beloved professor, Dr. Ray Haynes. Haynes, who sadly passed of a heart attack back in 2013, was one of those professors who brought real-life experience into the classroom. One day, we were having a discussion on customer service in a service environment. Typically in this environment (like many of ours), the point of contact with the customer usually occurs with the most junior employee. First day on the job? That’s great; why don’t you go greet that customer and tell

When someone tells you, “image is everything,” is your response to roll your eyes and respond in a manner that’s, “Tell me something I don’t know?” If so, no worries. Up until a few weeks ago, I was right there with you. I have been involved in multiunit management and/or ownership since 1995. I have always been focused on customer service, curb appeal and the image of my centers and my employees. It wasn’t really until the recent scandals with a certain airline that I really began thinking about this new concept of image. In the old days (which

A while back, I wrote about some ways operators save money by using oil converters. This was a hot topic at the most recent iFLEX show, as many operators asked about using converters in place of specialty oils or combined with them. For every advocate of converters, there is a naysayer. I am sure one could get into a pretty healthy debate with an oil company representative over the merits of using oil converters as opposed to their heavily researched, widely advertised and highly profitable specialty oils. But what is best for the oil company is not always best

It’s no big secret that guest counts at oil change facilities remain a challenge. Oil change intervals continue to grow, competition continues to increase and the number of miles driven by millennials continues to decrease. Because of this, more and more emphasis is placed on ticket average and supplemental revenue growth. It seems everywhere you turn, someone is churning out a new, expanded list of services. The days of a stand-alone drive through quick lube that focused solely on fluid maintenance, seem numbered. However, with these increased service offerings generally come more time spent in the service bay. So

There’s an age old question as to whether being charitable in your business actually helps drive customers, sales or even makes a difference to current or potential customers. Aside from fundraising events that may lead to a temporary increase in volume or revenue, are there any long-term benefits to being charitable? Sure, it feels good to be able to give when you have the ability to give, especially in moments of tragedy or to a cause that is important to you. But what are the true benefits to your business? For a moment, let’s look at something that is

In my 25-plus years in the automotive service business, I have seen plenty of change!  In fact, it seems one of the main constants in our business is change.  We’ve seen oil specifications changing (imagine going back 20 years and telling a coworker that 0W-16 would be the oil of the future), oil change intervals changing, rent factors changing, labor rates changing, original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM’s) accessibility changing and so forth.  I have seen friends come and go from this business; some by choice, some by necessity, and yet others by circumstances beyond their control.  One thing that hasn’t