Is Your Shop Sick? The Preventative Approach Ames IA

If you want your shop to have a long (and profitable) life, it needs to periodically see a shop doc.

By Tony Passwater
8/1/2004

Today in the medical profession, the trend is to be more preventative rather than reactive. Why? Because it costs billions of dollars less to prevent illnesses rather than to treat them.

The preventative approach in medicine often includes proper diet, exercise and timely checkups. Proper diet means the correct balance of vitamins, minerals and calories, while reducing the bad fats and garbage we have a tendency to consume. The exercise keeps our bodies operating as they should for as long as our genetics keep us going. Then, checkups are performed to periodically evaluate how the first two are doing. During these checkups, tests are run to make sure physical health is continuing in a positive direction.

But this preventative approach isn't just for our physical health. If you want your shop to be as healthy and profitable as possible, you also need to take a preventative approach by performing periodic business health checks. Why? To improve your sales offering. Do you provide what your market wants? Do you have a sales attitude that people in your market want? Are you easy to do business with? This can mean location, appearance and attitude.

And then there's the technical aspect. Are your techs qualified, trained and committed to do it right the first time? Is your equipment up-to-date and maintained? Do you use efficient processes...