mitchellreid

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  • in reply to: MONEY MAKING IDEAS #4584
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    The Service Department – The Often Overlooked Sector of Car Dealerships

    It seems to be a habit of mine to overlook Service Departments of the Dealerships that I work for. Sometimes that even includes customers that I have worked at for years. I guess I am just so busy trying to work their lot that I forget that there is work in Service as well. In the last couple days I have been reminded at the possibilities that have probably been passing me by since I started in Interiors years ago.

    Both of the jobs I have recently done were cars that mechanics or detailers had already given their best shot but had failed.

    The first job was a seat on a 2019 vehicle that had a “ghost” stain remaining on the fabric after it had been cleaned by the detail department and a professional stain removal company. While the seat looked clean it was still clearly evident where the stain was previously. I am sure that both cleanings were attempted with the use of an extractor. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but the service manager just needed me somehow to make this brand new car customer happy. After a little investigation I found out that the stain was blood and it had been extracted multiple times without reaching 100% success. I told the service manager that the job would probably take a couple days. He had the entire seat removed from the vehicle and was more than happy to let me take it with me. I simply had to take a plastic shroud off from around the seat, unclip the cover from the seat frame, and remove all the hog rings. I then soaked the entire seat cover in Hydrogen Peroxide. I was taught during my interior training years ago that this product would remove blood from fabric and it still works today. I then proceeded to wash the cover several times to remove all the detergent left in the seat by the previous techs attempts to clean it. After using a fan to air dry the seat cover to avoid any heat damage the dryer might do to it, the cover came out fantastic. I simply reinstalled the cover with no evidence of the earlier stain. This was a job that probably took about 1/2 hour of my time. The rest of the “time” spent on the cover was with the washing machine and fan. Very little effort was needed to do what so many others could not complete and what the service manager needed to have done for his customer.

    The second job was where plastic panels of a center console and a dash met and formed a seam on a 2019 vehicle. A large irregular gap had somehow formed and was quite evident to the owner who wanted the car she had JUST purchased put back together “correctly”. The mechanic had slightly tightened the gap by drilling new mounting holes for the snap pins that held the panels in place. The tech had reached the limits of what he would normally consider doing to a brand new car. The service manager knew the customer would not accept what had been done so he asked me to take a look at it. I immediately told him that I had no experience dealing with panels that had no obvious damage. He insisted that I do what I could. After a short investigation it was obvious that the panel causing the problem was being held off by a blower motor cover. All the adjustment had been taken out previously by the mechanic. My Dr. Vinyl “outside the box” training allowed me to see a possible solution. However, it was not a comfortable one to perform on a new car. It would require cutting the part of the panel off that was being held back by the blower motor cover. After doing this simple 5 minute “fix” the panel went up into the proper position to close the gap in the seam. The Service Manager was amazed at how it looked and how quickly it had been done when his own certified techs could not accomplish anywhere near the results. I told him the repair would not be fun to hear about. He understood about “plausible deniability” and he quickly replied “I don’t want to know how you fixed it. I just need it to look like the customer wants it to look and that is exactly what you did. Case closed.”

    In both cases listed above the price of the repair was never a consideration…only the end results were of importance to the powers that be.

    Regardless of the repairs done, results accomplished, or the reactions of the Manager the main lesson to come away with is that the services we provide to the Used Car Manager (i.e. thinking outside the box) can easily be transferred to the needs of the Service Manager. Albeit, on problems totally unrelated to our direct training or on areas we might be unfamiliar with, we can definitely make money with our problem solving minds while working for the Service Department. I remember a quote from an Anthony Hopkins/Alec Baldwin movie about killing a Kodiak Grizzly Bear. I vividly remember Hopkins telling Baldwin “What one man can do, another can do!”

    Food for thought: Before, before, before… the next time you are looking for work when inventory is low or times are hard it would definitely pay to let your Service Departments know what you can do for them. If someone as simple minded as me can correct a problem for Service, so can you.

    The Wandering Upholsterer

    in reply to: UPHOLSTERY OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOGAN'S ROADHOUSE #4518
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    To all Dr. Vinyl Upholstery Techs,

    Just a note of encouragement on the Logan’s Roadhouse front… Recently, our franchise has had several calls from new Logan’s locations. We are mainly being contacted by the GM’s. We have not initiated any contact before their calls. We have asked the GM’s how they knew to call us. They have told us a very similar story:

    Specifically, either the GM’s have inquired of Logan’s Corporate on who was authorized to do upholstery work at their store or the District Managers have given them direct orders on the upkeep of their store. In either case the directive to the GM’s was the same “Call this number. They will come and take care of everything. They know how to proceed from start to finish.” Basically, they have been telling the GM’s that Dr.Vinyl knows what to do at their store and the GM’s will have nothing to worry about when using us.

    I feel confident that if all of us at Dr.Vinyl follow Corporate Logan’s directives that we will have a loyal customer for a long time. As always, if there is anything I can do to help any Dr.Vinyl out there to familiarize themselves with these procedures I am at your disposal.

    Thanks for all that you are doing in this endeavor,

    Mitchell Reid
    The Wandering Upholsterer

    in reply to: UPHOLSTERY OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOGAN'S ROADHOUSE #4515
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    As of November 1, 2018 Craftworks Restaurants and Breweries, a Colorado based holding company, has acquired Logan’s Roadhouse. There is an article in the nashvillepost.com that has a little more detail if anyone would care to look at it. I do not foresee any problems with this buyout. Logan’s has been following their normal 30 day pay protocol since November 1st and I assume they will continue to do so. If I see any changes I will let everyone know asap. I am forwarding the link to Buster in hopes he can post it in the Forums for all to read. Any questions feel free to call me.

    Mitchell Reid
    931-252-0879

    in reply to: The FX-8 is being replaced by the FX-9 #4511
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Teresa,

    I used the new medium vinyl hyde. It worked well and did not harden in the jar. It does have similarities to the old B2. Thanks for the idea and the suggesting I try it. It seems to do the job. I appreciate your attention in this matter.

    Mitch

    in reply to: UPHOLSTERY OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOGAN'S ROADHOUSE #4506
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    I have spoken with some Dr. Vinyl techs in the field who have not dealt with Logan’s yet or at least not for a while. Instead of relaying what little I know over the phone to individuals I thought it might be helpful to do so on this forum. If you are a more experienced tech this information may seem trivial and repetitive. Read at your own risk. The following are my thoughts and experiences over the last 5 years of working with them. This is not a handbook to work from nor the end all of instruction by any means. What follows is a rambling dialogue on a number of subjects which I have tried to put in order of importance.

    Corporate Policy
    All stores currently have a $1,000.00 per month spending limit on upholstery work. Any more than that amount must be approved by the restaurant’s D.O. or Corporate Logan’s directly. Neither the G.M. nor any other restaurant managers have the authority to approve higher amounts regardless of what they tell you. Billing for higher than corporate approved amounts can and will jeopardize work with Logan’s nationwide.

    No invoices are to be left at the restaurant regardless of what any manager tells you. Invoices are sent directly to corporate via email, fax, or hard copy. Any invoice approval corporate needs from the store location they will get by sending your invoice to the G.M. directly from corporate.

    Corporate Logan’s issues checks the Friday after 30 days past your invoice date. They have been very diligent about this as long as they receive the invoice.

    Statements
    We send a statement at the first of each month to Corporate Logan’s to aid accounts payable. This helps them to double check that they have received all invoices you have billed. If they are missing an invoice they will email you and request that another copy be sent them.

    Normal Operating and Working Hours for Upholstery
    The stores are typically open from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. to the public. They are typically on site at 8:00 a.m. and normally prefer for you to work in the mornings prior to opening rather than after close. While the normal working hours are typically 8:00 – 11:00 a.m. the exceptions to that would be the inventory/delivery days. These days may be on the same day of the week. Normally, the stores have one delivery day per week. Busier stores may have up to 2 per week. On these days there will be someone there sometime between 4 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. There is not a set time for this. It is dependent on each particular store’s needs. These days give you the opportunity to work there earlier, longer, and get more than one store done per morning.

    Order of Importance of Upholstery Work
    Work is typically done Worst, First, of course. The Priority List that follows has been what most managers have wanted when we have worked at their stores.

    Priority List
    1.Booth Bottoms or Backs with foam showing through holes, cuts, tears, etc.
    2.Booth Bottoms with less severe damage than listed in 1.
    a. Dining Area – Working from Front Door to Back of the Store.
    b. Bar Area – front to back.
    3.Booth Backs
    a. Dining Area – front to back
    b. Bar Area – front to back
    4.Chairs, Barstools, and Barchairs

    Locations and Maximizing Installation Trips
    At first you may find the Logan’s locations near you are not that close to you. They may even be outside of your territory. As long as they are not in someone’s else’s territory I would encourage you to go after the work. $1,000 a month is a pretty good customer. If you are not interested in making the longer drives please give me a call. I have made a fortune installing at their stores that were hours away for the last several years. The following are 4 ways of maximizing installation trips.

    Maximizing Installs
    1.A Route or Round Robin for Logan’s and/or other restaurants that are closer together.
    Start early on store 1’s delivery day and get done before 8 a.m. so you can work 1 or 2 more stores that are close together. I have personally worked up to 4 stores in one morning. This is a great start to a work week and it is only 11:00 a.m. I still have the rest of the day to work at car lots, etc!

    2.Working at a Restaurant that is only available to you at night or that is open 24 hours a day and then going to Logan’s first thing in the morning.

    3.Combining an installation at one store with a trip to another store in the area for Measuring, their Quarterly checkup, or even a cold call. You never know where that next upholstery lead will come from.

    4.If all else fails and there is only one Logan’s in the area that you can work at a time, then your last option to maximize your trip is a Double Tap. A Double Tap is when you go to a store on the last day or the first day of the month and do 2 months of work at the same time. You bill half the work on the 31st of one month and the other half of the work on the 1st of the next month (ex.Oct.31/Nov.1). This keeps the corporate powers that be at Logan’s happy because you are only billing $1,000 per month. This should also make you happier because you have done 2 months work in one trip and in essence billed them only 24 hours apart. Doesn’t seem like a huge gain but that cuts your trips down from 12 to 6 a year and you still make the same amount!

    I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any questions or need clarification on anything above please enter it into this Forum so that others can see and give their input as well.

    Sincerely,
    The Wandering Upholstery

    in reply to: UPHOLSTERY OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOGAN'S ROADHOUSE #4503
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Todd,

    It looks like Zoe’s Kitchen is a chain. They should have a corporate headquarters. I have found when dealing with restaurant chains that contacting their headquarters is a good first step. Typically, there is someone at corporate that has colors on file for all their stores or at least the manufacturer of the booths with contact information. Either of these are a good place to start when searching for vinyl colors. If that proves to be no help, the last course of action if you can’t find the color in your vinyl sample books is to send out a 2″ x 2″ sample of the vinyl in question to your local vinyl distributor and then go to larger and larger distributors until someone can find that color for you.
    I have had instances when the color is no longer available. When this happens you have no choice but to come up with a new color. Luckily, you have to recover 6 out of the 8 booths already. The other two will not be far behind. The restaurant manager will appreciate your work to help get them the closest color available. Let them know that you exhausted all avenues available to you and that you recommend them choosing from a family of colors and a manufacture that have both been around for a long time. There are 1000’s of vinyls produced by lots of manufactures not all of them are currently available. Once the customer realizes this they will see the advantage of picking a new color. Some of the larger distributors you might want to check with would be Keyston Brothers (770)-209-7890 or Wholesale USA
    (800)-239-5952. Keyston will have a wide variety available but they are not the cheapest by any means and Wholesale will have a great deal to choose from, possibly better prices, but they are not the easiest distributor to work with. Wholesale is the last line of defense for me. There are other distributors around the country. Do not get discouraged. I have been told certain colors have been discontinued by some distributors only to find thousands of yards available from others. It all depends on the contacts that the distributor your speaking with has in their arsenal.

    Best of luck in your search,
    The Wandering Upholstery

    in reply to: Tempuratures for VSRM #4472
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Brandon,

    As usual most products are designed to work best around 70 degrees F. While we can’t control the weather we can sometimes control the area we are working on by artificial means. I haven’t done a lot of VSR recently but I have been an interior tech for a while and have used different techniques to warm work substrates. The heatgun tends to become your best friend in the winter time. While effective, using the heatgun around vinyl siding may create other problems for you. I have used a blower with a heater attachment for years. It can hold itself in position while leaving your hands free to perform other tasks. In the summer time with the heater removed it also does a great job at cooling. Anyway the blower/heater can raise your work surface to a suitable temperature without distorting your siding.

    Best of luck and welcome to the Dr. Vinyl family

    Mitchell Reid
    Dr. Vinyl Associate in Tennessee

    in reply to: JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LEATHER DASH CURLING #4456
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Although I haven’t dealt with this problem myself, it definitely looks like what was holding the material underneath the defroster vent area of the dash has let go of the sewn “cover” that is over the hard dash itself. I would think that removing the defroster section of the dash would allow you access to the area designed to hold the sewn cover down. Once in this area I would think that you could stretch and staple the cover back in the proper position so it would look like it came from the factory. A trick George taught me in upholstery class that became invaluable to me when doing stretch and staple work was to pull an end of the material tight with one hand while the other hand “rubbed” the loose material in the direction of the pulling hand. It seems very simple but it really makes a tremendous difference and makes it much easier to move the material than simply pulling does.

    Note: The windshield may need to be removed in order to access area with stapler.

    in reply to: UPHOLSTERY OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOGAN'S ROADHOUSE #4444
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Todd,

    I have seen booths from 30″ – 84″ normally at Logan’s and my prices range from $150-$200 depending on a variety of factors.

    Mitchell Reid

    in reply to: JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LEATHER DASH CURLING #4431
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Sorry, I have not seen this particular problem yet. Wish I could be of more help. I will keep an eye out for it and let you know if I have any ideas.

    Mitchell Reid

    in reply to: MONEY MAKING IDEAS #4385
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS

    Yesterday, my best and oldest customer asked me do something that I have never done before in my career (I started in 2001). I have seen so many things over the years, but new things still seem to come at me every week. Most things I handle in stride and figure out, but this request I knew I couldn’t just guess at or figure out as I went. I knew that if I did the wrong thing I could ruin this car’s interior.

    In between my weekly visits, the dealer had bought a 2017 vehicle that had leather interior with stained suede inserts. The dealer had already had their detail department and an outside detail shop to try to clean the seats. They both had little or no success. The dealer’s detail department had even made a second attempt but to no avail. The outside detail shop was avoiding the car because they didn’t expect any better results on their second try. So that left me as the last line of defense. The manager told me about the stains the minute I walked into the dealership.

    Now, remember I told you earlier I had never done this before. I did all my work on the lot except this car while I was thinking about what I could do with those stains. I EVEN pulled out my training manual. When was the last time you pulled out your training manual? I was the same way. It had been so long for me I forgot where it was in my van. Stains in suede was not in my manual. Meanwhile, the manager wanted to know how soon I could get the stains out because he had a customer he wanted to show it to. I simply told him that I had never worked on suede and that I was going to have to be careful and do a little research. Research… was the answer.

    I knew many Dr.Vinyl techs would be glad to help me, but I was really unsure of who to call first and how many I would have to call before I got the answer. Then it dawned on me to do something I don’t often do… CALL HEADQUARTERS. Teresa Lang, our Interior Trainer, helped me to make sure what I was dealing with was suede and gave me a list of things I could use to clean the stains. All of which I already had on my van. What a relief! With this information I felt very confident and went straight to work. It took me 3-4 passes but the suede in all 6 seats cleaned up very well. Even I was impressed with the results.

    Now, I know that I am an old dog but I definitely learned something that day. I was reminded that Headquarters is an excellent source of information. I know I have a lot of years of experience in this business working on cars and training techs for our Franchise, but that one phone call made me look like a hero in the eyes of that longtime customer. I hope that no matter how many years of experience you have as a tech that you will not let it hinder you from making that call to another tech or especially to Headquarters to get that much needed information that can put you in the winner’s circle with your customer. I am almost 50 years old and even though I do not know how old Teresa is, I would guess she is less than half my age. One might think that the older person should be teaching the younger one. That was certainly not true in this case. There probably was a time when I would have been too proud to take this sort of direction from someone younger, but I have found that when it comes to making money or impressing my customers my pride goes out the window and all I care about are the results.

    Just think it about the next time you run across a problem you have never dealt with before, and I think you will see that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

    in reply to: REPAIRING LARGE HOLES AND CUTS IN BOUNCE HOUSES #4356
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    I haven’t tried this yet but I am going to venture a educated guess from an upholstery perspective. Most bounce house are machine stitched together and use a blower to keep them inflated. Some leakage is expected in a bounce house or similar structure, otherwise, the blower would not be needed continuously. If the tear is large, repairing it might not be possible in the traditional “vinyl repair sense”, but sewing a new seam into the structure might actually work. Like a hidden stitch works on a seat where velour fibers just won’t hold up. Even though stitching the tear shut may not keep all the air from leaking out I would venture to guess that it would keep 90% or more in. The stitching I am talking about may be by hand or by a sewing machine depending on the location, but either way a great majority of the tear would be closed off. I think you might even be able to get to nearly 100% if you use a seam sealer. This is a product that is used widely in the tent industry by owners to keep water out of their tents.

    I guess all these years in the field has taught me to think a little outside the box.

    in reply to: Upholstery Training Level 2 #4355
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Sorry guys I just got back from vacation, and I am now trying to get caught up with the forums. Thank you Connie and Steve for any extra information we can get on advanced upholstery. I don’t know exactly what I mean by advanced upholstery but something along the lines of recovering booth backs, recovering items that have buttons, or even recovering seats that do not have any covers still on them where we have to come up with designing the “typical” wavy pattern in a boat seat. All of these are foreign to this glorified booth bottom recover. I am not an upholsterer in my eyes, but I play one sometimes in the eyes of some of my clients. It is very helpful to be able to talk to a real upholster and use them as a reference point when a less experienced person, like myself, comes up on a recovering project which I have never seen before. I look forward to talking with you both and anyone else who can help us in the field or anyone in the field that needs help. We just need to try to pass our knowledge around as much as possible.

    Thanks again from the Wandering “Upholsterer”

    in reply to: MONEY MAKING IDEAS #4308
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Maintain Your Client/Vendor Relationships

    After my first full year in Dr. Vinyl I started bringing what I called appreciation trays to my customers at Christmas time. They were just homemade cookies & cheese and cracker trays spread out on a festive platter, but they were a little different than the store bought boxes of things other vendors brought in. I went the homemade route because it was less expensive. I hoped no one would notice I didn’t have the more expensive store bought versions. To my surprise the homemade cookies were a huge hit because they weren’t store bought. The salesmen and managers actually stood in line for their turn at the cheese log and slicer. I included a simple thank you note with my business card and the sentiments “Thanks for a great year!” inside. The trays never outlasted my time on their lots on those days. Each year the managers and salesmen would ask what week the Christmas Trays were coming. I was totally amazed. My best customer over the years opened up other lots in the area and the managers there always wanted to make sure the trays would be coming to their lots as well as the original beginning dealership. The trays showed up EVERY year … at ALL their dealerships.

    One year the owner of those lots bought a dealership in the middle of the year. I was called in to work all the cars on the lot. I knew it would take a while to get caught up on that much inventory, but I was surprised when the owner said ” I just don’t think I can wait until Christmas.” I responded that there were just so many cars on the lot that it was going to take some time to get them all worked. He laughed and said “No, I’m not talking about the cars. I’m talking about the cookie trays.” I was shocked. Needless to say, the “Christmas” trays were delivered the next day, in the middle of July.

    Nowadays, the trays show up twice a year at all 4 of his lots, the lots that I, as well as up to 4 of our other techs, have worked every week for the last 18 years. I think the appreciation trays have actually APPRECIATED in value since that first year. Those trays have brought in well over a million dollars over the years. I doubt that all the trays in all those years cost more than a thousand dollars total.

    Other techs in our Franchise bring in Homemade Cakes, BBQ Dinners, Gift Baskets, etc. We each have our own take on the traditional end of the year thank you. I would have never guessed that a simple, inexpensive thank you would have brought us so much business over all those years. It might just work for you, too.

    Think about it.

    The Cookie Tray Dr.Vinyl

    in reply to: Vinyl Conditioner – "Pink Stuff" #4307
    mitchellreid
    Participant

    Teresa,

    Is this the same Vinyl Conditioner they sell, or maybe used to sell, in 8 oz bottle sets with a Vinyl Cleaner? and also by itself by the Gallon?

    Thanks

    Mitch

Viewing 15 posts - 46 through 60 (of 79 total)