Training Someone or Employees

[candyman]

I had an idea to train someone to help do HLR. I am out of town on other business and soemtimes too busy to get to a customer quicker. I normally split the fee, and I take the cost of the material used out of my share, and provided a HLR kit. Now that he has some experience, he informs me of his plans to do it on his own. I ran radio ads for the past 2 months promoting HLR and the benefits of it for this area. He now has his own banner and vehicle advertizing his business. Its plenty of work in the area so I am not too concerned. Its just a fact of reality. Teach a man to fish and buy him a pole and he will catch his own fish. Trust and loyalty doesn't seem important to the younger generation. I will keep my aquired knowledge to myself, and the customer's will have to wait for the best. He checks the Deltakits site out, and looks at the videos, so he will see this. Some of you shop owners are aware of this type of conflict and now I am too. I had just looked at a two bay garage to lease to do HLR full time, and add detailing. and used tire instalation. He would have been the manager. Now I will wait untill I retire next year to expand. Lesson! Beware, Beware, Beware.

[rlb]

Next time you decide to hire maybe you can do this:

Remove all references too Delta Kits from all of your equipemnt and supplies.

Never discuss with your employees or customers where you purchase your supplies or equipment.

I hope you accept credit cards. If so, I would request a deposit from customers so you can schedule appointments when needed; therefore you are able to pay hourly based upon your work load. This saves you money and allows you to plan. The deposit also locks the customer in.

Have workers sign a non-compete contract, stating that they will not own or operate a a headlight restoration business in your vicinity. You can be very specific.

I hope the above helps!

Is your radio ad worth the investment? Are radio ads reasonably priced? Do you advertise on AM or FM?

Thanks! Enjoy your weekend!

[Brent Deines]

I recommend a non-compete agreement. I had to learn the hard way as well.

[candyman]

Hind sight is worth a fortune. The radio spots are now $100. per month. 4 ads per day Wed-Thur and Fri: I have three messages recorded that rotate. The anouncer is on one ad spot and I am on all three. I will switch one ad out next month to promote a special to celebrate my one year in the business. I picked up several new clients within the first two weeks of the ads for WSR. Since that time I have not seen any increase of business. I have had people come up to me and tell me they heard my ad on the radio. Two of the ads are for WSR and the other is for HLR. I record on my work sheet every customer and how they learned about my services. At the moment Referals are #1, followed by cold canvass flyers & business cards. I am trying to educate the public that Headlights can be restored , and that windshields don't always need to be replaced when chipped or cracked. I will make a decession after the 90 day marker as to wheather its worth the money.
Since the yellow pages came out last month, I get several WSR calls per week, but most need a replacement WS. Canvassing door to door insurance companies, small car lots, and small fleets are starting to pay off. Detailing shops were working for me untill they discovered they could do the same thing. They are using another type of product (spray can) and getting less than satisfactory results and the customers are complaining that it fails to meet the quality I provided. I am planning to remove the Delta seal on my HLR kit. Too many people are curious about HLR now at the detailing shops that I was getting a lot of referals from. I educate the public and they get the trickle down customers. I offered a credit card service the first 8 months and never had one single customer use it. It was not worth the expense to keep it. The majority paid by cash and a few by check. The fee was about $15 per month for the service and they waived the min amount required each month.

[rlb]

Thanks for sharing the information. Your definitely working a good marketing plan. I'm sure the radio ads will pay off. Radio ads catch on due to their repetitiveness so, 90-days is a good time frame to monitor their success.

I wish you great success!

Keep me posted!

[pickmaster60]

I get all of my employees to sign a non-competition agreement which means that they can not not to compete against my company for a specified time, in a particular place or in a particular way. I have heard of some courts not enforcing the non-competition agreements, viewing them as unlawful restraints on trade. When I went to court against a former employee the court ruled in my favor. Mainly because my counsel was able to prove that I the employer had a legitimate business interest to protect by restricting my employees' rights to compete against me. Also, the restriction on the employee's right to compete was no greater than that necessary to protect my business interest.

[t4k]

I much prefer having a smaller business and work by myself. With employees, you become a baby sitter and you get away from the hands on part of this business that attracted me in the first place.

[Brent Deines]

Non-compete agreements will only hold up in court if you don't get too greedy. It's reasonable to expect that an employee will not go into competition against you for a year or two in your city, but not to expect that they will "never" go into competition against you in your city, or that for even a year they will not go into competition against you "anywhere". You just have to be realistic and find a good business attorney to write it up for you.

This is a huge problem in the windshield repair business and even bigger in the headlight restoration business because they are so inexpensive and easy to start. We've considered limiting service areas for Delta Kits customers, but that clearly doesn't help. An ex-employee might not be able to use the same products you are using, but they can still become your competition overnight with another brand of tools and resins.

However, just because a business is inexpensive and easy to start does not mean it is easy to run a business as all of you know. Just because an employee knows how to repair windshields does not mean he can run a successful business. It helps to pay employees well and keep a few tricks up your sleeve rather than sharing everything you know about running a business with them. I've had employees leave thinking the would put me out of business but the joke was on them when they discovered they did not have what it takes to run a business.

[candyman]

Thanks for all the informatiom. I was gone a week and a salesman sold two of my detailing shops a product that sprays on. There customers are now complaning that it doesn't look like my work and its been less than a month. I had left small booklets with before and after photos of vehicles that I had done at the shops. I had forgotten about them and went back this week and picked all of them up. They were using my books to show what their work would look like according to one of my customers. I have a bad habit of trusting people. Have a good week.

[chiefjack]

Retiring after 40 years in law enforcement if you were closer I'd work for you! Right now looking to get into that trade for HLR and possibly use it on police and fire light bars etc. What does it cost for insurance and where would you get it? Am also considering detailing but HLR sounds better and I don't have to get these old bones worked up too much. Thanks for any advise.