When NOT selling helps business

When I was a wee sprat in my first automotive job selling service, I was beleaguered by a tech in the shop who wrote thorough, lengthy estimates. He would occasionally blow up at me for not selling enough, going so far once as to accuse me of not even trying to sell them sometimes.

And you know what? He was right. I often did just snip things out of an estimate. I’ve written before about putting together three-box estimates and I still believe that that system is ideal for 95% of the cars that come into your shop. However, there are some times where you’ll be money up by not attempting to sell some ridiculously long estimate. Here are a few.

Car is a wreck

This scenario was the normal reason why that technician kept after me. Calling and pricing parts for a $7,500 estimate on a $2,000 car is a waste of time that could be used on work that had a prayer of actually being authorized. Yeah, you want to alert customers to obvious safety items. But being aware that cars deteriorate and assessing the vehicle holistically makes obvious sense. So sure, I’ll go ahead and recommend the valve cover gasket for a four-cylinder economy car that’s barfing oil like the Valdez.

But it was also likely I’d skip selling a replacement crank seal for one that’s slightly damp if it didn’t look like the thing was gonna make it to the next timing belt change. It costs me nothing to mention the problem, not sell it, and potentially keep this customer coming back since I’m looking out for his wallet.

Remember, you can shear a sheep many times. You can skin a sheep once.

Car is actually a wreck

More than once as a technician, I’ve pulled apart a vehicle that was either wrecked and repaired improperly or wrecked and not repaired at all. Often those wrecks can alter the repair process, so the first thing I’d do is go find my writer and figure out how deep we needed to get. Maybe the rad fan has mounts busted off it and is zip-tied in place; I’ve seen that a lot. Often splash shields are hanging on by whatever hardware was nearby. Heck, sometimes I’ve had to bend metal out of the way just to open the hood.

As a writer, you should be taking note of all this. You’ll have to mention improper repairs or repairs that haven’t been made to the customer and you’ll have to work around them. But let’s also use our noodles here: if the customer is entering the vehicle from the passenger side door, what’s the likelihood he’s gonna spend a bunch to repair this hooptie? Repair the bare minimum, call out the real bad safety stuff, and then take out a service writer’s tool that isn’t employed frequently enough: the ten-foot pole.

Car is the opposite of a wreck

At the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got your customer who is madly in love with a car. Maybe it’s a rare antique. Maybe it’s a highly modified vehicle—might be a racecar, might be a weird one-off utility body on a contractor’s van. Doesn’t matter either way, because often the same problems crop up: parts availability gets hairy, repairs don’t go by the book, and you may well be looking at work that violates safety tenets, emissions law, or even just generally good “I won’t see this back any time soon” practice.

And not for nothin’, but some owners have unreasonably high expectations for how you’re going to care for the vehicle. Damaging one fancy wheel for the customer who drop-shipped the cheapest tires he could find onto your doorstep will cause you way more grief than ten motorists who need regular tires slammed onto a seven-year-old Honda Accord.

Often, customers wanting custom work showing up at your decidedly not-focused-on-customs shop just don’t want to pay the high price those shops need to stay afloat. Don’t get caught up in that.

Owner is in a hurry or unwilling to authorize any repairs beyond requested services

If you have a Known Unprofitable Customer, best to minimize the time spent and move on. A customer who has already indicated he’s not buying anything you’re selling has done you a favor: he’s freed you up to spend more time on other estimates.

It’s perfectly acceptable to just do an oil change and rotation for a busy customer and let the tech working know it’s just a quick in-and-out job. Will the tech complain? Probably. Can’t win ‘em all.

I’m sure you’re thinking about a few scenarios I’ve missed, but the important part here is to recognize your highest selling opportunities and chase those hardest. Not everything that glitters is gold—but knowing when not to sell often is.