Down the Road By: Claudio Piccolo
Let me start by stating that I have been working within 12V for about twenty years now. This trip started as a hobby with Cars and led into a few courses in Auto Mechanics into a lucky phone call from a fairly large 12V Electronic Retailer then a left turn back into Mechanics the a right turn back into 12V and all through my trip down this road I have notice some changes.
The first company I worked for I learned that people wanted to personalized their cars and that meant have the product installed and this seemed like a dream job/hobby for me. I loved the learning curve, the challenge of putting something in a car that was not designed for that car and making it work. During this time I came to see how people came to grow their ability to work within the Car 12v world. During that time Techs were forced to “learn” how to make things work, the Tech Support was just not there yet, cars had to be modified to make deck fits, there was a lot of custom work, there was really no one to call for help, and in the end that is what made it so much fun. Don’t get me wrong now this was a very steep hill of learning and believe me you I learned allot for you see if you did not keep up with the “race” you were left behind.
Fast forward eight years where I began to see that the road I was on and love started to show a few potholes and after a couple of fender benders I decided to take that left hand. Soon after my left turn I found myself being called back to the race from a fellow driver. This time the company that was calling wanting to create a faster new racetrack for us to do what we do best and for while the challenge and love was back. I was excited and proud to see how we grew and grew, getting more and more talent and seeing that the race did change a little for the best. Now the Drivers (Techs) worked with each other and you had the feeling that you could call someone if you got a little stuck and you saw the passion with the Techs just getting the job done. Alas all good things must come to an end and I started to see fellow drivers turning off the course and after some turns myself started to see something on the road. It seemed that now, a few years older, I wanted to grow my hobby into a career to develop new drivers to take over the race and found myself running into larger potholes. The company that once had such high expectations now seems to not have lost that drive once had for the 12V Installed Team.
Now that I looked back I have seen us come from a Hobby to a Career back to just a Hobby. In today’s world the Cars are getting more and more difficult to work on and the call for Techs is greater than it ever was. Just removing your radio now can cause expensive damage to the OEM Computer system within the car. Knowing this I have found myself wondering why is it some Companies are so afraid to take the next step. This is reflective in the belief that the product is what drives the market. Now this is really not any Company’s fault, it is just the path of least resistances. Take for example a company wants to sell a CD Player, now they just need to set a price per market and all is done. The Deck goes for $149.99 and they even throw in “free install”, good to go right? The whole issue now is that due to the complexity of the cars means the install cost can far exceed the product BUT if installed incorrectly the repairs can far far far exceed both. I put it to you, what good is the product if it doesn’t turn on??? This is the next step, customers come into a Retailer looking to customize their cars and they only get have the value they deserved. They look at the price on the product, then sold the product and then told (if it even goes that far) that the Install Team is located in the back, now that the car comes into the Bay the shock of reality sets in when they find that the $149.99 CD Player they just bought will cost them another $199.99 for the install. The common question I always get is “Why was I not told about this before???!!?”
Customers have no issue in paying for a service they just want; deserve to have the whole experience spelled out for them so they can make an educated decision. This is the next step that so many 12V retailers are so afraid to take in transforming our hobby into a business. Customers are fully aware that different tasks on a car can cost different amounts, this is the way things are at their local Mechanic shop, Muffler shop, Body shop, and Oil Change Stop so why is it that they do not deserve the same professional courtesy at a Car Stereo Shop??
Claudio Piccolo
Posted under Our Rants & Ramblings
Some of it is marketing vs sales vs reality.
The people trying to drive money into the shop (marketing) want warm bodies moving through the door.
It’s up to the sales people to convert those bodies into fat wallets.
Then it’s left to the guys in the back to make the magic happen. They are the ones who really know what can and can’t be done in a car - or at least how much it will take to make what can’t be done happen. But put them on the sales floor and your bays are now empty! No work means no money.
Sure, you can get better sales people who know more than to just memorize a catalog and the shop will move up, but that takes time and those sales people will become more expensive. You can axe some of the marketing, but how many shop owners would freak out when you tell them the only thing keeping their business afloat is a sales monkey and a wrench head.
It’s the paradoxical triangle that exists everywhere; Most shops just exist with weak sides barely holding shape - yet still strong enough to turn profits. The owner asks, “Why fix what ain’t broken,” and so we never move on….
The best shops are in harmony and each side supports the other making the triangle stronger. from there we get the greatest things…. The Orange County Choppers, Unique Motorsports, HzEmall Customs
Aw crap, now I’m going to go on a rant….
This is one of those things that used to keep me awake at night when I was installing and once in a while still keeps me up on the odd night as I wonder what went wrong when we had so many things going right.
I read this post this afternoon, I’ve been thinking about it most of the day and it just hit me… Change in attitude has to come from the top down. I can’t think of any other way.
I suppose it’s much easier to sell a box than it is to sell a box plus parts and labour. So given the choice, your sales guy is going to take the easy route and if he can punt the responsibility to someone in the back what’s he to care. Owners, managers, whoever calls the shots at the top of the food chain are the ones who have to make a difference. Otherwise it’s another uphill battle. They have to understand that the professional Installers that are on site are one of the reasons those warm bodies keep coming in for purchases.
One of the things we never did was survey the customers to see what brought them into our store for that stereo, alarm, starter, etc… In retrospect, I should have put out a survey with a few questions about “why did you purchase your bla-bla-bla” here. That way I would have had some marketing info to take to the top and say “Ok here are the statistics, our customers by our products because of this…. Numbers don’t lie.
Armed with that information there would be a good argument at a management level for selling professional Installation and all of the right parts. There would have been an argument to train the sales people to learn how to sell parts & labour.
Or maybe I’m way off base… I stopped doing installs almost 8 years ago and this issue still gets to me. (I really enjoyed doing installs too… I wonder how many vehicles I worked on in 16 years….)
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