What will it take to be successful in the next century? What will customers want and how will we meet their needs? In this seminar, students establish a baseline and then journey into the future of automotive service. To create a baseline, the course shows how to establish a labor price factored for technician productivity, and how to increase productivity to improve bottom line performance. The journey into the future blends philosophy, theory and application to determine ways to increase profits by attracting and selecting the right customers. It also studies corporate cultures and ways to position and market your business for complete success.

Mitch Schneider 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course looks at real world solutions to the problem of building consistency and control into your business. It gives you both the tools and the understanding necessary to free you from having to look at every car that moves through your shop personally. It helps you identify who your customers are and what they really want, as well as the Key Performance Indicators necessary to know if you and your business are on-track. Be prepared for an intense, information-packed seminar.

Mitch Schneider 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

"At the Speed of Thought" will take you from traditional resources - ink, paper, books and manuals - all the way to the Internet and the electronic technologies designed to provide everything from automotive shop management software to marketing and advertising support. Along the way, we'll look at customer retention and customer loyalty as well as eCRM (electronic customer relations marketing), focusing on everything from thank you letters and cards to service reminders and customer satisfaction surveys. We'll also take a look at how these tools help us manage productivity, technician efficiency and customer satisfaction as we strive to approach operational excellence.

Whether you are a master of the Internet or just thinking about where to go and what you need to do in order to get into the game, "At the Speed of Thought" provides comprehensive and real-world look at the tools and technologies that can enable any shop to look and market like "the big boys."

Mitch Schneider 16 credits; 8-hour course Specialty:

The price is right!...or, is it? How do set your labor rates? Betwixt and between your competitors? How do they set their rates? Above or below the dealer? Here is the technology required to understand exactly where your labor rate NEEDS to be in order for your business to make a profit!

This seminar also addresses the world of return on investment, and gives you real world solutions to the critical problem of knowing when to buy equipment and whether or not that equipment can or will pay for itself.

Mitch Schneider 4 credits; 2-hour course Specialty:

This seminar looks at the statement, "Perception is Reality - Feelings are Facts," as it relates to customers. It studies cost-value ratios and the difference these ratios can make when customers go through the decision-making process. It also explains the ³value² part of the equation, how it works and how it relates to perceived value. Overall, this seminar explains how cost-value ratios impact bottom line profits.

Mitch Schneider 3 credits; 1.5-hour course Specialty:

How many of us really understand the difference between what we think we are selling and what our customers really want to buy? How many of us realize there is more to automotive service and repair than just the sale of parts and time?

This seminar defines the relationship we share with our customers and explores the complex nature of what we do in terms of how we are perceived by our customers. Learn the difference between hi-tech and high-touch, what we sell and how we sell it and what motorists want.

Mitch Schneider 4 credits; 2-hour course Specialty:

In a world in which the average age of repair technicians has climbed to over 40, and finding and keeping trained technicians is critical to success, are you prepared to manage the relationship you enjoy with current and future employees? This seminar covers the following topics. What kinds of people do you want and what will you do with them when you get them? How will you pay them and what kind of bonuses will you provide (if any)? Do you have job descriptions and do you need them? This seminar takes a no-nonsense approach to managing and leading employees.

Mitch Schneider 4 credits; 2-hour course Specialty:

We should all know where we are. And, we should know where we ought to be, must be, in order to create a better future for our families and for ourselves.

"From Intent to Implementation" will explore and explain the technology necessary to make that journey. Starting with an examination of your "Current Reality," we'll look at "benchmarking" your shop: How to take a snapshot of your business? Which Key Performance Indicators are critical? What do the numbers mean and what are they telling us we need to do?

We'll look at success and what it means to each of us. We'll look at Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives: how to establish them, how to achieve the,. And then we'll look at focusing all our resources on achieving success.

Other areas that will be discussed are: the battle of choice and change, the reasons change is uncomfortable, fear of failure and fear of success, profit models, understanding and achieving reasonable growth, strategic planning, establishing personal goals, reverse budgeting, establishing professional goals, operations, service semantics, managing customer expectations, gap analysis, and more.

Mitch Schneider 16 credits; 8-hour course Specialty:

This comprehensive look at the automotive service business starts with our relationship with the customer. What do we offer the motoring public for sale when we open the doors every Monday morning? And, perhaps, more important, what do we really want or need? In the first three and half plus hours of this fast moving seminar, we cover the very nature of service, the concepts and application of value-added service, cost/value ratios, perceived value and the importance of both understanding and managing productivity.

The next three and half hours will focus on what it takes to develop a labor rate that is based upon actual cost of doing business and is factored for shop productivity. From a look at cost of doing business, the seminar focuses on calculating return on investment, figuring out how much to charge, what should it cost, margin, markup and improving your bottom line.

Mitch Schneider 16 credits; 8-hour course Specialty:

The Automotive Service Management series is an eight-volume, step-by-step exploration of virtually all the critical areas of contemporary automotive shop management, and "Implementing the Automotive Service Management Series" explores these important principles along with the most effective ways to integrate them into your business. Spend a few hours learning how to make the quantum leap from thought to action, from theory to reality, from intent to implementation and experience the difference this simple investment of time and energy can make in your world and on your future.

Mitch Schneider 6 credits; 3-hour course Specialty:

"If you fail to plan...you plan to fail!" This seminar begins with a step-by-step approach to formulating a business plan. It helps answer critically important questions, such as, who are we, what are we doing and why are we here? It forces us to look at our competitors and ourselves with an objective eye, asking and answering questions nothing less than your future depends on.

This course also helps you address the three ways to improve our profit picture: reducing or recovering expenses, increasing gross profit, or increasing gross sales. These are real world responses to your need-to-know questions about profit and loss.

Mitch Schneider 2 credits; 1-hour course Specialty:

The "Magic Box" examines marketing, advertising, merchandising, promotions, public relations and sales in relation to the successful operation of your automotive service business. It looks at value and satisfaction, customer relations management, productivity, efficiency, scheduling and employee retention as well. These are all principles that insure your business will not run out of ³paper² (customers) and that it won't jam.

Mitch Schneider 16 credits; 8-hour course Specialty:

This seminar focuses on three elements of success: Awareness, commitment and a clearly defined path/plan. To gain awareness, students answer a series of probing questions to create a snapshot of their business. After this in-depth business analysis, students are asked to commit to use their newly found information to improve. The third step in Mitch's Ladder involves drafting a business plan designed to increase sales, profits, productivity and satisfaction. The course provides specific ways to immediately improve business practices, policies and procedures, ensuring your successful climb to the top!

Mitch Schneider 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

If you are looking for a recipe for sweet success try this ... start with a new and powerful understanding of the difference between management and leadership. Add equal measures of the following ingredients: understanding and applying the principles of the cost of doing business, return on investment, pricing policies, margin, mark-up, recovering expenses and improving your bottom line and blend. And, remember, nothing tastes quite so good as savoring the fruits of all your hard work.

Mitch Schneider 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

How do you determine your pricing? Are you the highest? The lowest? Or have you placed yourself in the middle layer of creamy comfort: the center of the Oreo?

How should you be pricing? Are your prices adequate to cover your cost of doing business? Will they meet your wants, needs and expectations? Do you really know what your neighbors are charging? If you don't you could be in real trouble! "Oreo Pricing" helps you determine if you are charging enough. It also gives you the tools you need to calculate a labor rate adjusted for technician productivity adequate to meet your cost of doing business and more.

Mitch Schneider 4 credits; 2-hour course Specialty:

Peter Drucker once said, "The purpose of business is satisfying customers." Achieving the highest possible level of customer satisfaction is key to success in any business. It is also critical to a future in which 1:1 marketing and a keen focus on share of customer will supplant mass marketing strategies. However, satisfying customers without understanding basic principles like cost of doing business or managing your bottom line may ensure your satisfied customers will have to find another shop if you can't generate enough profit to sustain your business.

This seminar introduces the 10 basic principles of achieving customer satisfaction. It will also help you to avoid ³Oreo Pricing² by giving you the real world tools and understanding necessary to recognize what you have to charge to stay in the game, plus specific strategies to improve your bottom line almost immediately.

Mitch Schneider 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty: