Out of the Crisis.Org

[Louis Altazan]

Bob worked several years at dealerships and finally decided to open his own shop. He wanted a place where he could offer top quality work on late model vehicles. His thought was to offer maintenance specials at low cost to get folks in. Once they came in for the an oil change, he would check the vehicle and hopefully sell other profitable repair.

Bob rented a small building in an industrial area, this is what he could afford. The outside of the building was old and not very attractive, but he cleaned and painted the interior. He put of signs announcing his high quality work. To Bob’s surprise there was not a big rush of business. To get additional business, he lowered the price of oil changes to $14.95 and put out a sign to announce this.

Bob tried mail outs to the local area and tried pick up and delivery. After two years he was barely scratching by. He did a fair number of oil changes as long as he picked up and delivered the client. When he noticed needed repair the client would normally decline. Instead, the repair work he got was always in the nature of a patch up. Someone would tow in an old vehicle and want to get it running. Bob would get it running, but they rarely wanted anything more. Bob’s specialty was high quality repair and maintenance. He continued to try to spread this message, but people did not seem to get it.

What could be wrong?

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Louis Altazan
Owner/Manager AGCO Automotive Corporation
Baton Rouge, LA