Full time or Part time

[xxxxxx]

Hi all,

As we all know it`s been a tough year alround so has anyone had to find alternative work to fill up those spaces in your diary im currently work as employed and self employed till things pick up and my rep brings home the bacon lol ?

Andy..

[Screenman]

Definitely full time and a lot more here. The secret of success is never stop selling.

[Carfixer]

Hi Andy, I havn't really been affected by the recession. I think this is partly because I have been going ten years and have few "trade" accounts. I mainly do work for individuals who use me  infrequently but pass my name on, and have a few companies who always have cars being returned on lease and i am a cheaper option than letting the lease co do the work.  I used to employ staff and got up to three vans but found i was having problems with commitment, quality and i spent most of my time and money trying to find work to keep them busy. Im now a one man band and that suits me fine !

[Smart-Tech]

Seems odd but people appear to be saying times are hard. I have never had so much time to play on the X-box as I have this year. Something to do with 3 main customers going bump and retail sales being virtually dry. Northwest England has been very hard hit. A good example of how things are is I am a member of the smart solutions network and rumour has it it's tough all over. Can't find anything part time as the jobs are already taken by Poles or Lithuanians.

[xxxxxx]

Hi all ,

ive heard romours that the poles and alike will at some point crack on to the uk market and be over here doing smart repairs at prices we may not be able to compete against but only a romour ?

Andy

[Screenman]

Instead of complaining get out selling, lazy buggers. Plenty of customers need your services, they just might not know it yet. No such thing as a quiet time in business, just a time to do other things.

[markt1]

 Dont be afraid of a foreigner hitting our market for one they will have lingo issues ;Dand will not be welcome in most dealerships as we all know the score without getting into a sh-t slinging match thats the reality on that one i think.
  My sales are down from 3years ago but still im rather busy and cant complain.

[Nobby]

i work fill time  mainly big repairs but use smart when I can

Doin a Jag at the mo with rust around the wheel arches but then use smart techniques to blend and fade the  paint and lack to make it more profitable. works well for me and very busy

[Brainpicker]

Hi all ,

ive heard romours that the poles and alike will at some point crack on to the uk market and be over here doing smart repairs at prices we may not be able to compete against but only a romour ?

Andy

I cannot see this happening.
I think the reverse is more likely.
They get employed and trained - then a year or two down the road they take it back home and open an operation in Prague or somewhere similar.

They are great at bodywork if they are older and were trained 'old school'.
They can almost re fabricate some part/s from sheet steel 

[Screenman]

You will find many working in the distribution centres already. Certainly many are grafters that is for sure, I am getting quiet a few inquiries from our minority groups and I must say many are willing to learn and do the practise afterwards.

For windscreen repair I get a lot of inquiries from our Asian community and for PDR training it is often from eastern Euorpeans. They are both willing to invest in training, unlike many UK people who I get calls from expecting me to pay them to train, or they do not need the training they just want to buy the tools, now do not get me started on that one.

To cap, we already have plenty of non national by birth people working in the trade, this number will of course naturally grow in time. If it affects your business or not is up to you to a degree, if you are inactive instead instead of proactive, I would say look out.

Ask yourself these two little questions, when did I last go out selling and when did I last ask a customer if I could do his job. Most quiet guys will not have an answer, if anyone wants to know for me it was today with both, and it was at a little car accessory shop I have been meaning to call on for ages, got a nice little dent at £45 and the guy rounded it up with a £5 tip.

I see this business as a sales operation that just happens to sell smart repair. 

[Brainpicker]

Yep I agree Graham.
As you know I send cars overseas and import them too.

I was trying to explain to someone (actually quite clever) that the main thing I was trading was actually currency, the cars were totally secondary.
I thought it was pretty obvious that the comodity is secondary to the currency, hence the swings between sending cars out as current, but bringing them in back in 07, when the $ was on it's ass.

Clever as they were, I could not get accross that is was really currency I was mainly trading and the cars were at some level rather secondary!

Similarly, it does not matter what area you are specialising in repairs, job #1 is to sell yourself and your service.
Once again, the service is secondary, even irrelevant, if you cannot sell yourself in the first place.

I see too many guys underselling themselves, and despite claims of a 'weak market' it's really because they are not thinking outside the box, IMO anyway.