How ready are you for 2024 and beyond?

by Jeff Smit

Are you really ready to tackle 2024 and beyond? For the answer, I draw a comparison between a workshop and an oak tree. Remember the old quotation “When is the best time to plant an oak tree? Twenty years ago. And the second best time is now”?

It’s all about planning. To generate the best potential for your workshop, your staff and yourself as owner or manager, planning ahead is the only answer — and not just for 2024. You want long-term success? Now is the time to plant the oak tree.

The first step is to look back at the past few years and analyse your business. What went well and what caused issues? Understanding what caused these highs and lows is critical if you want to determine what needs changing and what doesn’t.

So step back and evaluate your business critically. Only then can the right changes be made for the future.

Traditionally, the start of a new year is a great time to develop a fresh outlook and fire up enthusiasm and ambition for the year ahead. And I don’t mean a frivolous New Year’s resolution that you have no intention of keeping.

It helps to break your future planning into different time periods — short-term (one year), medium-term (three to five years) and long-term (seven to ten years).

Those who would argue that trying to look a decade ahead is unrealistic need to have a closer look at the industry in which they live and work.

The pace of vehicle technology is so fast that a decade is a mere blip on the calendar. All workshops must consider what they want to be doing in ten years’ time. What technology will be your workshop’s point of difference in a competitive market? The time to prepare for your position in the aftermarket chain is now. What must be accepted by all is that the one-stop shop is on the way out.

For this reason alone, long-term planning is vital, and like the oak tree, the workshop must begin growing its knowledge base right now. Delay will mean being left behind.

This is not to downplay short- and medium-term planning. Working on improving the business month by month and year by year is important not only for profitability but for peace of mind for management and staff. A well-run, profitable business is a healthier and happier workshop than those that ignore planning.

Some planning ideas:

1. Customer retention

Check the level of customer satisfaction. Acknowledge that customers might be doing it tough too.

2. Scan the market

Identify those emerging automotive services which might fit well into your business. What are competitors doing? Think outside the square about facilities or services which might work well in your business.

3. Know your business numbers

Begin the year with an accurate handle on the numbers which reveal workshop costs, profits and productivity.

4. Team motivation

Aim to retain and reward the right staff because there is a direct relationship between this action and ensuring that your workshop can continue to deliver a quality service.

5. Products and service

Make sure that your workshop delivers quality and consistency, and that these qualities are delivered within costs.

6. Stay informed and seek help

Running a busy workshop can’t be done in isolation anymore. There’s not a workshop in the land that can know everything about every make of vehicle. As Capricorn highlights, there is strength in numbers. Build a safety network of knowledge around your workshop, which might begin with a TaT subscription or by joining other industry bodies which cater for your particular services.

Networks like The Garage Network are all about technicians and workshop owners helping each other in these changing times. Consult colleagues and fellow workshop owners, and take a little time off to attend trade shows and training sessions. Once you’ve been to a good training session or trade show, you will want more, because this is how knowledge is acquired.

There is nothing new on this list. We always recommend that workshop owners work on their business more than they work in their business. Only by taking this step can you begin to make positive changes in your workshop.

So even if your business is in good shape, it is always worth having a regular health check. Right now is the time to position yourself and your business for a fit, healthy and prosperous 2024 and beyond.