Tips on aquiring dealerships.

[Ganamanter]

Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster. Been installing ppf for about 2yrs now for a local dealership in southern Alberta. Pretty happy doing it and have been told by clients that I'm quite good at it (dealership owners and retail repeat customers). Problem is, where I work only pays hourly, (and not flat rate), meaning the better and quicker the installs have become, the less I actually make per job. I want to go it alone with a shop and mobile unit, but have been told that the place where I am will make it extremely difficult for me to pickup local dealers/existing customers. I'm the only one doing ppf for them in a relatively small city, so if I were to leave, its not likely they would hire experience for the same rate, as there are only three real competitors for around 70k people. Any tips on picking up dealerships? Any tips in general for a new startup? 

[beachdawg1]

That's a tough one. I would suggest go to the owner and explain your dilemma. From a owners view it takes good people to be successful. It's a 2 way street. If the dealers are happy with your work it wouldn't take much to get the business. Just try to work it out with the owner. There's enough backstabbing in this world. Remember you're not a vistor..........you live there. Good Luck

[PPFdistributing]

That is tough, but I agree with beachdawg1. Try to work it out with the owner like getting some incentives like bonuses or commission. Starting on your own isn't easy either and a lot of guys don't know the back end of the business when it comes to dealerships. Floating accounts payables for a min of 30 days, paying commission to the sales rep if there is one, cost of any accounting or office staff to keep things organized. Most owners who care about their business don't want to lose good staff. They will appreciate the communication back to them so they don't lose you. Good luck.

[PaintShieldTechnology]

Ganamanter, give us an opportunity and we can help.

 

Contact us: info@paintshield.com

[eks_br]

Ganamanter, give us an opportunity and we can help.

 

Contact us: info@paintshield.com

You of PAINTSHIELD are investing heavily in branding and does not answer a simple email on your website.

[PaintShieldTechnology]

Please send an email note to info@paintshield.com you will be answered.

Or PM us and leave your contact info.

Thanks

[minty]

It also depends on what restrictive covenants are in your employment contract. If you look at it from an employers point of view its much better to keep a good installer happy and working for him and making him money than setting up in competition.

 

Have you costed out going it alone?

Shop costs

Insurance costs

advertising, how, where, and how much do you spend

equipment and stock costs

whose software are you going to buy into, do you use one or more

time spent doing the 'back office' work

holiday pay

sick pay

what do you do if there is a lull in the amount of work coming your way or there is too much to cope with, do you take someone on and run the risk of them leaving and setting up in competition with you after you have spent time and money training them...

 

At the moment you probably finish work at the end of the day and don't much think about work until the following morning. As soon as you start running your own business its on your mind pretty much 24/7.

Not trying to put you off but it's not just a case of putting sticky back plastic on a car and getting paid for it, for me that's the easy bit.

 

As has been said above, much better to talk to your present employer first.

 

Steve

[Ganamanter]

Thank you for all the comments, especially Pacific, (you can see which way I'm leaning).  Very insightful, since I'm sorta following Pacific's pattern, but my employer doesn't see the benefit of working with me rather against. Its been a month since my original post and nothings changed, no raise, no new pay structure, pretty much no talk at all about doing anything to keep me on, yet still staying pretty busy. Been putting the business together covertly and slowly throughout the last two months,( ltd co. created, insurance quote, plotter sourcing, product suppliers, finding a shop). Think its pretty much a "go" as soon as everything is in place. I have no "non-competition" agreement with my current employer, and am seriously doubting they will re-train a new installer rather than just shelve the service. I think, if anything, they'll give the dealership business to my biggest competitor out of spite, but I've seen their work and not really worried, (since I was cutting all their patterns for them anyways). Go figure, my employer won't raise my wage, and threatens to work against me if I leave, but sees no issue helping a competitor in their own backyard by supplying their kits.

[minty]

In that case go fill your boots.

Steve.

[Ganamanter]

Well its been a while, but being busy is a good thing. Rented a smallish shop (1500 sqf + an office), and spent half a month painting and building the inside. Opened for business at the start of November, picked up a few dealerships that knew my work and was pleasantly surprised by all the return retail customers spending the time to hunt me down. ``All in`...my first couple of months have payed out almost 4x what I would have made at the dealership,even after all the bills are paid. Horrible Canadian economy making January a little light, but I`ve still put through more than I ever had in a month hourly. A shame my previous employer won`t use me, as I hold no ill will, but there are plenty of other customers in markets recently discovered to make me believe that this is quite possibly the best decision I could have ever made to go it alone.