Right now all small businesses are really watching their costs and they are also watching their receivables and cash flow. They have to. If they don’t they’ll be out of business, because a recession makes life tough on all small businesses. What about the mobile oil change business, it must be doing good because people have to change their oil right?
Well, people are supposed to change their oil, but when they don’t have enough money to buy food, pay the bills, or they are getting behind on their rent or mortgage payments, they often allow their vehicles to go past the proper interval for oil changing. The reality is every small business is affected by the recession, and nothing, or that is to say no small business is completely immune, or recession proof.
Not long ago, a mobile auto service business entrepreneur went to one of our websites, noticed that we were in the mobile automotive sector, and asked me about employee pay. He stated;
“I pay only $8 hr at this time. I am thinking I need to give some type of incentive to make them work even harder because of course they are not working as hard as me. Is there some type of solution there. I have enough work to keep me really busy.”
Very good question isn’t it? Sure it is, and don’t forget he asks this question in the middle of a recession right, so there are plenty of people who want the job, so let’s take his question to mean; “What incentive Might I Use?” That is to say; “What can I do to improve my employees’ efficiency to get them to work harder?”
Now then, we know the question, the second set of questions are the right questions, even if the entrepreneur asks; “how can I MAKE my employees work as hard as me?” The reality is you can’t make anyone do anything, if you MAKE them do it, you are not an employer you are running a prison, or you are a slave driver, and in this day and age that definitely will not fly, see that point.
Luckily, for this individual in the mobile oil change industry there have been many car dealerships which have lost their franchise license from their parent companies of Chrysler or General Motors. That means there are a lot of automotive technicians that are out of work and will work fairly inexpensively. However, even Jiffy Lube pays more than eight dollars an hour, as well as the Wal-Mart supercenters which also now do oil changes (only $12.99 can you believe it?).
Most mobile oil change companies service fleets, and if you are doing fleets one thing you can do is give incentive pay. In other words, give those employees a little stipend for each vehicle they complete, and you will note that they go faster, and don’t lollygag. Indeed, hope this advice will sink in, and that you will think on it.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes it’s hard to write 20,000 articles; http://www.bloggingcontent.net/