Gotta watch out for number 1. Nothing is going to change there as long as the same crew is running it, you might as well pack your stuff.
King, we love you. We here at TopSpeed have really enjoyed all the times that we've worked with you. It has been very valuable to have a performance enthusiast who works at a dealership. There are certain tools and resources that you have access to at a dealership that are a boon to the Subaru community. You are the only one left in Atlanta who understands the performance side and still works at a dealership. If you leave there, there won't be anywhere for everybody to go that needs a fair evaluation of what should be warranted. If you leave the dealership and start a shop that sounds very similar to ours, 2 minutes down the road from us, I think you'll find it hard to make more hours than you are currently making at a dealership... Just my $0.02 Siegel
Sweet... the more the merrier. Just be sure not to burn any bridges with Subaru, because I think once you have worked on the majority of the local customers you will find business to be really slow. We (TopSpeed) have been very fortunate to be a nationally known shop which has kept our business steady with out of state work in addition to the local stuff. With that being said I am sure you will bring the cars to us for tuning since we would be so close in to each other
Yes scott does make a valid point. Unless you guys are cheaper than topspeed you probly won't get any performance installs, especially those that might require a tune. Because they could get the parts installed then tuned there. And if you leave SOK there will no longer be a local dealership we can trust for maintenence, warranty work, etc. Regardless of your choice, I think you have the entire community's support. Just don't burn any bridges. Perhaps if you leave they will see something is up and will make some changes and you could go back later.
Marketing, Marketing, and more Marketing! I read an article a while back on service marketing and it had VERY valid points. Customers expect technical competence, and that superior technical knowledge and skills won’t necessarily guarantee business success. In the service arena today, you have to really WOW a customer to earn/keep business. Simply because I am bored at work, I will drop my two dollars & fifty cents worth of thoughts:rofl: 1) Relocate -- Stick your shop closer to the perimeter (285 ring) if possible. You can pick up more mainstream clientele, and still cater to the performance guys around the way. TopSpeed being around the corner is a blessing and a burden. Unless you can partner with them in some capacity, I don't see steady customer flow. 2) Exploit your competitor’s weakness and short comings! There are tons of people who get service from places they HATE, but continue to return due to lack of alternatives. King, you remember I would drive from Lawrenceville to Classic just so you can work on my car? Yeah, SOG was literally around the corner, but :squint:. 3) Have a good vision and convey it to the customers. Seriously, there are people who judge a facility on the appearance more than the work. Remember, customers already expect the technical knowledge, now you need to impress them with superior customer service. 4) Advertise your butts off! This community of WRXATL members is second to none in my book. I don't currently have a Subaru at the moment squint, but I still come to some meets, and post here on occasion. The word of mouth alone will bring you customers, but there is plenty of room to pick up more. Flyers bring business to the shop. When you guys are out with friends, shopping, partying, etc. place a flyer on every Subaru you see. Make the presence of All Pro known to the Atlanta area. 5) Stay grounded to your vision of what you want the shop to become. Hold car meets, car care clinics, promos (not big crappy ones either), pair up with events in the area. Ok, so I am going to shut up now BTW: I support you and the All Pro team 100%. Good Luck:bowdown:
What does he have to do with this? He is happily working in SoJax and is always SLAMMED with work. King good luck with your move. I don't personally know you but when Siegel was at SOG I met WJM and the dude amazed me with what he knows. Found leaks and stuff I never knew of. That is why if I can't figure out a problem mechanically on my car myself, I will ALWAYS drive to Jacksonville and let WJM find it (remember my stutter issue that WJM fixed in a matter of 30 mins). With Topspeed around the corner there is gonna be a lot of competition. Performance installs requiring tuning? I'd got to Topspeed since all they have to do is push the car and strap it on the dyno and get er right. Maintenence stuff, well I do all of that but if I didn't I'd go to who ever used quality stuff and is the best bang for the buck.
Will you always be welcomed at All Pro or is this something, if you don't do now then you can't join in later? The more things are discussed the more it seems like things may be better for you at SOK. Of course I do not know the details of what is going on at SOK but I do know I've contemplated leaving my jobs many times due to politics, just being unhappy and not to mention my $ is down a good 40%..yes..40%... Yet I stick it out just because I know things will be on the up and up, nothing is ever permanent and I have been there for 4.5 years now and don't want to lose the time I've put in. Also, like SS said, you are the only one in ATL left... I went to SOG for WJM then as soon as he left I drove right passed SOG all the way to Classic. Now you are at SOK and I have no problem driving 90miles round trip to come see you, as opposed to 16 miles round trip at SOG. It's just something about having someone so knowledgeable at a dealer that is extremely satisfying. Just want to start off by saying I wish All Pro the best of luck, but getting into a business with todays economy is rough and yes there is a fairly large Subaru community, but will it be enough to support your needs? Best of luck with your decision King. You are the man!
so.. lots of discussion around this. Don't know you King but have read a bunch of goods reviews about the work you have done at SOK. Brendan and his dad are good guys. In addition, they work on other cars besides Subaru's - a good opportunity to do other stuff (if you are interested). Also lots of discussion around the economy and it may be challenging but this may be an opportunity as well. Tough economy, people are tight with money - so maybe if you join them, rates are lower (overhead is lower than a dealership), may be more money in this for everybody. I think I would caution is doing business with buddies. Money talks bullshit walks. My suggestion is to make sure everything is in a contract between buddies and don't leave anything to a verbal agreement because plenty a friendship has been ruined because of this.
i just want to thank everyone for there cares and concerns. i have thought out my options alot with this matter and i think i am doing the correct thing for me and my future. part of making money is taking risk and i really dont see this as a risk at all. there are more things in the making at ALLPRO SUBARU than has been explained at this point but it is to early to discuss everything at this time. we at ALLPRO SUBARU hope that we can work together with TopSpeed and other shops within the community to help eachother and become more versitile. ALLPRO SUBARU will be up and running within a month and i will post more as the grand opening gets closer. thanks again everybody
So which side of things are you focusing on, high dollar installs or regular maintenance? Will you have tire balancers and an alignment rack (honestly if someone else could do kickass alignments for less than GTE's $120, they'd make bank). Those are about the only services that I would pay someone else good money to do to my car since I cant align my car in my driveway. I think you're limiting yourself by including Subaru in the name, that will drive away customers who think thats all you will know how to work on. I wish you luck though in this business venture.
Love the logo mark!!!! The typography is beautiful. I am in school for advertising right now, so I's appreciate! I want to say some things!!!! 1. Marketing myopia. I agree that you should not use Subaru in your name. I'm sure you know how long we have been in business and we started off servicing Supras only. It wasn't long before we decided we needed to open up our market a little to make ends meet. Not to mention, it is way more fun working on a few different cars, although I can see where you could call yourselves "specialists". 2. A shop in this economy is going to be hard to hold together. Especially if you aren't established. I know you guys have experience, but there is a crap ton of overhead and certain buy-ins are a must if you want o be able to compete with parts prices (especially since you are right next to TS). Just something to keep in mind. We are also lucky to be nationally established and we have customers that come in from all over the US, but it took us YEARS and tons of money to get there. 3. This industry is very fickle. People love you today and hate you tomorrow. Owning your own business is so hard and then add a fickle clientèle and you have a lot of stress on your hands. 4. You absolutely need a lawyer to draw up your invoices and agreements—you have to protect yourself from everyone who reads the internet and can work on cars from their computer. In other words, the know it alls who work on their cars themselves then want you to fix their stuff for cheap then blame it on you when you can't. CYOA. That is short for cover your own ass because this example is just one of the million things that happen. There is a LOT of liability on your hands. Performance is THEE worst when it comes to that. You can make a car all nice nice and built beautifully, but you can't controll hte boost controller yourself once the customer leaves the shop with his car. 5. Insurance is a bitch. 6. Just because you have "friends" in the Subaru community doesn't mean they will always come to your shop. The first second someone is cheaper or cooler or better or closer, they will be done with you, so something to keep in mind. Don't pigeon hole yourself and make decisions based on the people you know for now—chances are, they won't be around forever. Kind of goes along with both the fickle thing and the marketing myopia thing. 7. Be careful who you let work for you and represent your shop. Your front desk is a very important job, so don't overlook it. That being said, be very careful who you choose. It's nice to have a car person there to make the incoming callers feel like you are competent to work on your cars, but usually those type of people are out for themselves. BUT if the front desk person doesn't have an interest in car stuff, they are there just to do a job rather than be a cool guy who works at a shop. This has been one of our biggest issues once I left the shop 2 years ago. I'm not the nicest person in the world, per say, but I only had the shops interest in mind....not my own agenda. If you don't have the right person at the front desk, you can get robbed blind of contacts, money and ideas. 8. Your shop is not a playground. It is a business, so treat it as such or else you will get walked all over by your customers and friends. This was a hard lesson for us to learn and probably why most people don't like me. I always have had the role of enforcer...and my policy oriented way comes from losing our insurance once for something stupid (having someone back in the shop when the insurance guy came buy). It was not easy to get back and most people don't believe when you talk about insurance, but trust me....it is easy to lose if you aren't REAL careful. Also, just know that everyone knows you are the end all be all decision maker at the shop. They KNOW you can do it for cheaper if you WANT to. They will whine and cry and stomp their feet, but if you have policies in place and you stick by them...then no one can act brand new. I'm sure you guys have some experience with some of this stuff coming from a dealership, but I can tell you that your own shop is a whole 'nother other. Ask Scott and Brandon (our tech). They both came from working at a Subaru dealership originally (I bet most of you didn't now that about Brandon)—your own shop is nothing like a dealership. PERIOD. I wish y'all the very best of luck!!!!!!!
I understand now why when I went to SOK a week ago, King was not the one who was doing the work on my STI. It was a guy (can't remember his name, sorry) who did not seem to be a subie enthusiast, more someone who "stick by the rule". Any way, good luck King! I'll stop by one day.
I'm really bummed that I'm now stuck without a Suby expert here on the northwest side of town... That's going to be a heck of a drive for you, huh!? Go for it though buddy. Going out on your own is the way to "make it" in this world.
Its really not that far, I work close to there and I live in Woodstock right off 575. Takes me about 20-30 mins to get there in the morning, its about 20 miles. Nice drive too, there are so many back roads threw there too, where abouts do you live?
Brandon at AllPro is awesome I know Stephen will vouch for him. If you are looking for non-warranty work and you can't pay top dollar for labor he will hook you up. He can also get you great prices on new or used stock or aftermarket parts (if you're trying to save money).
I'm about 15 miles west of you...not close to anything. An hour to north Alpharetta/south Cumming on a good day.
im still at sok. things are getting started at ALLPRO and going well. ill join them when the time is rite. ill keep you guys posted.