What’s more profitable for your bodyshop?

Often, the “quick fix” to making more money in the bodyshop is to bring in more work. High volume is a topic much talked about in the industry – an avenue of work that generally comes from work providers – but is that the most efficient route to your business making a profit?

MG Cannon’s Robert Snook says there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. “How do you make more profit, what business model should you run, what work profile should you target and where should you focus your efforts to increase your profit? Do you go high volume-low profit or high profit-low volume?

Structural repairs or same-day repairs? Insurance work or retail work? Manufacturer approvals, insurance approvals, or no approvals? There is no one answer that will be correct for all bodyshops, but it is a choice and a matter of making the right choices and implementing the right strategy for your business.

“Answering these questions will give you a new view on your current business model and what it really is in order to know where to focus your efforts. It will also give you better clarity on what you want it to be, what it could be, and what it should be.

“Whatever strategy you choose to take to improve your business profitability, think really hard about what you need to stop doing and what is stopping you from being more profitable right now. Very often, the stopping is the key to making more profit, not the starting. As a BSG client once said to us ‘it was amazing, the more we said no, the busier and more successful we got’,” Snook said.

To read more, visit bodyshop’s October issue.