Writing for people who run service businesses
Product updates, practical guides and what we are learning from salons, garages, clinics and trades across the UK.
47 articles
Selling additional work without wrecking trust
The public assumes garages invent work. The way to beat that assumption is not to sell harder, it is to show the customer what you are looking at.
Garages,Running your business from your phone
The phone is already in your hand between clients. The question is not whether to run the business from it, but which jobs belong there and which ones quietly get worse on a small screen.
Running a business,Do you want your quiet days to book themselves?
Saturday is full and Tuesday is not. Discounting the quiet day is the obvious move and usually the wrong one. Here is what actually shifts demand across the week.
Bookings,What an hour in your workshop actually costs
Most garages set a labour rate by looking at the one down the road. Then they sell fewer hours than they think and wonder where the money went.
Garages,Quoting for trades without dropping your price
Most quotes are lost on speed, clarity and follow up rather than on price. Three of the four things that win work cost nothing at all.
Trades,Day rate or fixed price?
A day rate protects you from a job that runs long. A fixed price rewards you for being good at it. The right answer depends on how well you can predict the work.
Trades,Package deals and prepaid credits, done properly
Selling six sessions up front brings cash in and locks in the next six visits. It also creates a debt, an expiry problem and a refund question you should settle first.
Running a business,Moving off the paper diary without losing a week
The paper diary works. That is exactly why replacing it is frightening. Here is the sequence that avoids the fortnight of chaos everybody warns you about.
Running a business,Five numbers worth checking every Monday
Most owners look at last week's takings and nothing else. Four more numbers take ten minutes and will tell you what next month looks like before it happens.
Running a business,When to open a second location and when not to
A full diary feels like a mandate to expand. Very often the second site is the most expensive way to solve a problem that a price rise would have fixed.
Running a business,