Across the vast road network of Australia, where just 25 million people share a country about the size of the United States of America, no Aussie business or family can get by without a vehicle. It’s why our automotive repair and servicing industry alone has swelled to almost $40 billion of the entire Australian economy, employing almost 400,000 citizens and supporting thousands of standalone businesses.
But in our difficult current times, the industry is now facing one of its greatest challenges – just staying afloat. It’s a tough time for both established auto mechanic businesses but especially new and growing shops to keep operating, maintain strong growth, and position strongly for a robust future.
When industry experts are called upon to give these hard-working auto repair entities some gems of advice, it’s so often discovered that many of them had been ticking-over in better times without ever quite getting the fundamentals right. Has your auto mechanic business put itself on the best possible foundation for success? It’s never too late to retrace your steps and get back in the fast lane (plus many of the tools that can help you get there can be bought at a trusted supplier like RS Components).
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Know the market
All too often, a mechanic business will open up thinking that the market will automatically be there. But understanding that market should always be the first step, which means:
* Understanding who the target audience is
* Positioning the business at the centre of that market
* Knowing who the competition is.
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Have all the best gear
There are two key reasons why anyone takes their car into a reputable auto repair business:
* Professional, experienced, skilful, qualified, trained auto mechanics
* All the highest quality, specialised tools.
The first point is a no-brainer, but it’s always surprising how rarely an auto mechanical business fills that workshop with the look, feel and smell of fresh equipment and tools. Too often, the business owner will feel it’s an unnecessary expense, but the truth is that too many shops actually can’t afford to try to compete without the help of latest-generation equipment. So when was the latest time you browsed the impressive next-generation range of basics as simple as spanner sets, air ratchets, next-level tools like automotive stethoscopes, vacuum pumps and diagnostic gear – just to mention a few?
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Master your finances
The lifeblood of every business is money – which you’ll need for those next-gen spanner sets above! But you can never afford to be left short for staff costs, premises rent, the fine details of your business structure and tax requirements, and then all the crucial but often overlooked budgeting for websites, search engine optimisation, social media management, and so on.
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Seek the right support
It’s tempting to go it alone, but you got into the auto repair business because of the cars – not things like tax reporting, legal rights and obligations, appropriate insurance, and everything else besides. The most robustly-performing businesses in the highly competitive industry always surround themselves with a network for small business support and advice, truly trustworthy suppliers, and experienced experts in other fields such as marketing.
The real take-home message for any auto mechanic business looking to weather today’s more challenging environment is to never lose sight of the little details whilst also focusing on the big picture – survival and growth. In that way, browsing the range of next-generation spanner sets can be as important as customer after-care, branching into new markets, adding new services and always looking to improve in every single area. Good luck!
James is a great tech-geek and loves to write about different upcoming tech at TechyZip. From Android to Windows, James loves to share his experienced knowledge about everything here.
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