When Times Are Slow: The Automotive Shop Owner’s Playbook for Consistent Car Count, Stronger Margins, and a Calmer Team

Slow weeks happen. Sometimes it is seasonal. Sometimes it is tied to the broader economy. Sometimes it is just an odd lull that shows up on the schedule with no warning. The problem is not the slow week itself. The problem is what most shops do next: they react late, spend money in a panic, and scramble for short-term fixes that do not build long-term stability.

In a recent Institute Ask Me Anything, Cecil Bullard (Founder, The Institute for Automotive Business Excellence) and Wayne Marshall (CEO) shared a grounded, experience-based approach to staying steady through slow periods. Their core message was simple: Consistency beats intensity, every single time.

Marketing does not start when you get nervous

One of the clearest points Cecil makes is that marketing has to be running before you need it. If you wait until car count drops, you are already behind.

“Don’t wait for times to be slow, to be marketing… because it’s too late at that point in time.”

Wayne reinforced the same concept from the CEO seat. It is common for shops to get busy, feel safe, and cut marketing. The problem is that the pipeline quietly empties while you are celebrating being booked out.

“Consistency… People get busy, they quit marketing… No, you gotta keep marketing. Be consistent.”

If you want fewer peaks and valleys, the goal is not to “market hard when slow.” The goal is to build a steady presence that keeps your phone ringing regardless of the season. That means keeping your message going, staying top of mind, and avoiding the temptation to treat marketing like an expense that can be switched off when you are busy.

The simplest slow-time insurance is future booking

Before getting into complex ad strategy, Cecil went straight to the easiest lever most shops underuse: booking the next appointment.

“Number one: book the next appointment. You’re the professional… be like the dentist.”

His shops operated on a six-month, 6,000-mile service schedule and treated future booking as a normal part of the customer experience. That one habit created a predictable base of work already on the calendar. The result was powerful: six to seven appointments booked per day and a 92% show-up rate.

Future booking is not about being pushy. It is about professionalism. When you confidently guide customers into the next recommended service interval, you reduce uncertainty for them and stabilize demand for you. The key is to make rescheduling easy, while still keeping the habit of booking in place.

A Preferred Customer Program can turn repeat business into a system

Cecil also describes how a Preferred Customer Program can create stickiness, raise retention, and make your schedule more reliable. It was not positioned as a gimmick. It was positioned as a structured way to reward the customers who already trust you and who tend to spend more.

His program included two car washes per year, a windshield treatment, and $25 off minor service. The discount was not the point. The point was to formalize value, create identity, and attach behavior to it.

“Preferred customers book and keep their next appointment…” That is the operational win.

When customers become part of a program, they participate differently. They trust you more, they say yes more often, and they tend to be easier for service advisors to help. Cecil notes that preferred customers are simply smoother to work with because the trust is already established.

“Preferred customers are more likely to buy… You already have trust with them, so they’re better for the service advisor.”

The deeper lesson is that programs work best when they are designed around outcomes. If your outcome is steadier workload, you build a program that encourages future booking and repeat visits.

Internet marketing and SMS are not competing, they are complementary

A big question that came up was whether internet marketing or SMS marketing is more efficient. The answer from both Cecil and Wayne was that each plays a different role.

Cecil framed it like this: Some marketing captures people who need service today. Those customers are searching online right now, and they have urgency and intent.

“That person… money in their hand… that is internet marketing.”

Other marketing keeps you top of mind. This is what prevents your shop from being forgotten. It is the ongoing touchpoint that makes someone think of you when they finally need help.

“I also need to be top of mind… so when you go to look… I want you to say, ‘Oh… I’ve heard about them.’”

Wayne added a practical filter for deciding which channel is stronger for your customer base. Do not guess, simply ask your customers how they want to be communicated with, then respect what they tell you.

“Pay attention to what people are asking… ‘How do you wanna be communicated with?’”

The takeaway is that strong shops usually run multiple lanes at once. They invest in search visibility for urgent needs, and they invest in ongoing relationship marketing so their name stays familiar.

Offers work best when they create value, not cheapness

The conversation also touched on mailers, email frequency, and promotions. Cecil was clear that he is not a big fan of direct mail compared to online marketing when the ROI is weaker.

More important than the channel, though, was how you think about offers.

That distinction matters. Discounting your existing customer base can train your best clients to wait for coupons, even though they were likely to buy anyway. If you use promotions, they should usually be designed to help new customers try you for the first time. Even then, Cecil leans toward value-add offers rather than price cuts.

He also made a strong point about the type of customer you attract.

“Customers that are attracted to added value services are better customers… than… customers that are attracted by discounts.”

A discount might spike car count, but it can also attract lower-quality demand. Value-add offers tend to bring in people who care about convenience, trust, and professionalism. Those customers are often better long-term fits for a shop that wants healthy margins.

If you are not tracking results, you are just guessing

Wayne’s warning here is one every shop should take seriously. Many owners “try marketing” and conclude it does not work, when the real problem is that nothing was tracked.

“Too many people just throw it out there and then don’t track it.”

Cecil explained that even if attribution is not perfect, you can still get better data by asking one more question during intake. If someone says they found you online, ask what specifically directed them to your shop. That small habit turns vague feedback into actionable insight.

The best operators test one offer against another, track what produces response, and repeat what works. That is how marketing becomes predictable rather than mysterious.

Know your numbers, and separate them properly

How do you place costs so gross profit and operating expense are not blurred together? Wayne’s guidance was that technician pay belongs in cost of goods sold so you can understand true gross profit, while advisor pay belongs in operating expense.

Cecil took it further by emphasizing that breaking out categories gives you control. If everything is lumped together, you cannot see what is driving the outcome. He even mentioned separating banking and credit card fees so you can pressure-test whether you are paying too much.

“I also want to measure my business… even my banking expense cost separately…”

This is the difference between reading a P and L and managing a business. Structure turns financials into decisions.

KPIs are not just business metrics, they are a people early-warning system

When asked about KPIs, Cecil said there are more than four he wants to see, but he highlighted a set he likes to watch daily. That included sales closed, cash in, productivity, opportunity found, and average repair order. He noted that he does not track parts and labor margins daily because a single job can distort a day. He watches margins weekly and monthly instead.

Then he shared a story that brought the point home. The shop saw sell rate and ARO drop for three straight days, costing thousands per day. By day three, he intervened. Later, he learned the advisor had been served divorce papers on the very day the numbers fell. The lesson was not about drama. The lesson was that KPIs can show you something is wrong before you can see it in the room.

When you watch the right numbers consistently, you protect the business and you also protect the team. You can respond early, coach early, and support people early, before performance problems become permanent.

The big picture: slow weeks do not require panic, they require systems

If there is one theme that runs through everything Cecil and Wayne said, it is that slow periods are not solved by one trick. They are solved by habits and systems that stabilize demand.

Book the next appointment. Create a preferred customer program that builds retention and scheduling discipline. Market consistently so you are visible when people need help today and memorable when they need help later. Use offers that add value and attract the right customers. Track your results so you can repeat what works. Separate your numbers so you can manage them. Watch KPIs so you catch drift early. Train your phones with scripts that create consistency without killing authenticity.

You do not need a perfect plan. You need a repeatable one. Consistency is what turns “slow season” into “normal variance,” and that is where calm leadership and real profit live.