One view, one system and how one man has transformed his business

You need multiple applications to successfully run your garage – website, email, CRM, invoicing, parts ordering, payroll and reporting, to name but a few, not to mention keeping track of the various jobs in your workshop on any one day. Not surprising, you feel as though your juggling and balancing skills could easily see you hold your own in a circus.

Having the majority of your systems, applications and processes in one place, which can be easily viewed by anyone in the business at any time or if you are a ‘one man band’, makes processes straightforward, is vital.

Accessing information as diverse as performance, work in progress, suppliers’ status, deliveries and payments, by using just one system not only makes running your garage operation simpler but provides a solid foundation for business growth.

Running a garage single-handed or even with a small number of employees means you have to be an administrator, accountant, marketing guru and customer receptionist as well as a mechanic. Take Carl Wilcock, for instance, he inherited Wilco Motors from his father Rod, and he wanted to turn what had been more of a ‘hobby’ into a thriving local business. Coming from a background where he had worked with the likes of Vauxhall, Ford, Land Rover and Jaguar, achieving master technician status, and the RAC as a roadside repairer, Carl was used to highly efficient processes and top-of-the-range software where productivity and performance measurements are an everyday activity.

For Carl, going from sophisticated systems to a paper-based process was a shock to the system, but undeterred he set about finding a garage management software system to enable him to operate in a way which was more akin to his previous experience. Modernisation was a must, but budget restrictions limited investment so Carl narrowed his research to a cloud-based system. It didn’t take him long to find CarVue, which at the time had just been launched. Carl quickly recognised the system’s ability to allow him to operate his business with processes similar to those he had used in his corporate days for a fraction of the cost and he became one of CarVue’s very first users.

From invoicing to creating a database, CarVue’s one view ethos has enabled Carl to develop his business despite being a sole proprietor as well as track his performance and profitability thereby providing him with the means to grow.

As Carl realised and as he was quick to discover with CarVue, one view of your business facilitates a whole range of factors, here’s our top 10:-

1. Grow your business – to create the best environment to grow, you need to be able to develop your strengths and plug any gaps
2. Customer care – understanding your customer on an individual basis will enable you to deliver a higher level of service
3. Daily operations – a system which manages the day’s work improves processes and makes your business more efficient and productive
4. Profitability – ultimately a more process-driven business becomes more profitable, but in order to grow you also need to be able to measure performance and identify trends and the most profitable jobs
5. Knowledge is power – understanding key performance indicators from labour hours by mechanic to the cost of parts and delivery times of different suppliers means you can make informed business decisions
6. Audit trail – understanding profit and loss at any given time and not just when the tax needs paying is essential for business success as well as providing you with the means to answer any queries from customers or suppliers
7. Resources – a system which houses pretty much everything you need to keep your business running efficiently saves you time and you can divert your energies into building the business further
8. Stay connected – not only does a one view system enable all your employees to gain the information they need to best do their jobs, it also means you connect people at different sites, if you have a bodyshop located elsewhere, for instance
9. Communicate – the flow of communication between the customer and your employees is vital on the day their car is in the business, but also to keep them informed of offers, new products or services or just to remind them their vehicle MOT is due
10. Overview – a management system should do just that, enable you to manage your business in the way which best suits you as well as delivering an overview and enabling you to run the reports you need to improve your service and grow your business

 

Read more on why you need one view of your business here: http://insights.carvue.com/10-reasons-why-you-need-one-view-of-your-garage/

 

 

CarVue is a revolutionary new cloud-based application for independent workshops, garages and mechanics. It’s a simple and smart app that removes the need for expensive servers, software upgrades or training to run an automotive business. With a simple web browser a workshop can be managed from any device, any time and from anywhere. Find out much more and sign up for an obligation free trial today at http://www.carvue.com/