Toronto, Ontario — Your email alert dings—they got back to you and want to sit down for an interview. You start thinking of all the questions they could ask you, but have you really considered what questions you ought to be asking when thinking about entering the world of body shop management?
For some, running your own collision shop is the dream to which all technicians aspire, but it’s not so simple as shaking hands with a banner rep and switching things to autopilot—there are a number of questions potential shop managers should be asking before diving into a new leadership role.
Having some idea of a shop’s financial situation is always a good start. When presented with a shop that needs running, it is vital that you have a realistic understanding of the shop’s capabilities and how to operate within them. Learning to work with a team is often instinctual; it’s learning to operate on sustainable metrics that takes work.
As with any job, it is important to determine whether the reward of the achievement outweighs the challenge that comes with it. There is no sense in commuting out of market, where your reputation means little, to run a shop just for the ability to say that you run a shop. Make decisions that actually improve your life.
So Collision Repair poses to you, reader, the question: what should one ask before taking a management position at a body shop?
