The Garage and Bodyshop Event at the NEC in Birmingham recently, featured lots of training talks and panel discussion in various hubs throughout the exhibition. One very interesting panel discussion was hosted by All Data and featured expert automotive trainer James Dillon, Karl Booth, Head of Sales and Marketing at Opus IVS and Steve Scott of Simply Diagnostics.  

The panel discussed the changing landscape in the automotive aftermarket and how it was now necessary for garages to be more professional and thoughtful about their business approach, than ever before. 

James Dillon made the point that with skilled technicians in such short supply, staff retention was absolutely vital and that this is about so more than just the level of pay. James pointed out that the workshops with the best retention rates, were the one that were prepared to make the most investment in key areas, such as equipment and training. He also said that investment in the right data access was also of crucial importance, since this has the capacity to save a huge amount of time and make the technician’s working life easier. 

Backing this up, Karl Booth made the point that these investments can only be made if a workshop values its work correctly and is charging a profitable hourly rate. The panel agreed that to achieve this, and in light of the capacity issues many garages face, it was becoming more necessary to be selective about the type of work taken on. It was also suggested that garages should be prepared to take this a stage further and actually rate clients according to their potential profitability, with the implication that they will drop customers, who are primarily price driven.  

The panel also touched on the changing nature of the business, in terms of electrification and access to vehicle data. Steve Scott concluded on a positive note, saying that no matter what it is faced with, the aftermarket was always very good at finding workable solutions and as such, he believed it could cope with any changes that are coming down the line.