February 2020

W inter checks have proved to be a good little earner this year. Some local flyering, emailing the database, announcements on the Facebook page. We had a good range of existing customers trundling in for some cold weather T.L.C, plus some new ones too. Definitely a worthwhile exercise that can be repeated year after year. What? Why the stunned silence? Did you not think old Arthur had it in him to be running his business in such a modern, and lateral-thinking manner, using a mixture of newer and older tools to entice the punters in for some good old-fashioned garage work? Well, you’d be right about that. Mrs P was the one behind it all. Delegation is the name of the game, and I want to play the game without suffering a tongue-lashing. I was lucky to meet her, and I am even more lucky that she married me. While the ins and outs of the car are beyond her abilities (she is the first to admit that), she does understand people, and business. That’s lucky, as this is a people business, or so she keeps telling me. Personally, I thought we fixed cars, but it turns out we are in what’s known as a service industry – no not that kind of service. There is no need to change the air and oil filters, unless the schedule says so. Oh, you know what I mean. We sell time, we provide our customers with peace of mind by sorting out their gnarly vehicular problems, and we do it with a smile on our face. Over the years, the need to use all the skills at our disposal across the business became more and more apparent. When we started, back in the old days, you could run a business like this with a big old diary and a massive counter, from which one could glare balefully down at anyone foolish enough to question our technological wisdom. It wasn’t actually that long before we started trying to be a bit more accommodating, and almost being friendly. Well, not me obviously, I hide behind the bonnets. Gosh, that sounds Victorian when you look at it written down. Actually, ‘Victorian’ would describe my customer care approach before it was finessed by my better half into something more 21st century. It’s worth giving serious thought to training on the business side of the business. It’s all very well getting all the latest IMI qualifications for this and that, but if no one is knocking on the door, who will ever know? You could try it yourself. I bet there are members of staff in your team who, if you are not comfortable with the communication side, could really kick it up a notch. Give it a go, and if it works, maybe get them on some courses, and see where it goes. I don’t want to stereotype about the female versus male side of things, but Mrs P’s more people-friendly inclination really was the making of the enterprise that we call Parkit Motors. I started a garage, but she turned it into a business. AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR AN ARTHUR 58 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2020 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net