Best way to deal with a busy shop?

[Marc_B]

As all shops are these days with too much metal and too few humans, it seems I'm having a hard time getting the attention of a shop I've gone to for my last two annuals, oil changes and maintenance.  Long story short, radio silence with 2 emails and 2 phone calls over a month.  I don't want to be a nag and I don't want to waste their time or act as a distraction.  From the IAs & A&Ps here on MS, what do you typically recommend to help minimize your interruptions but help coordinate with owners?  I'll have to admit, no response to multiple attempts gets old quick, but I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water and I don't want to jeopardize a relationship with my shop.  I feel like by giving them more time to respond between contact it may have made it easier to forget about me but I don't want to pester.

Other option is to take this as a clue and move on?  But I'm not sure I'm ready to do that yet.  Constructive suggestions helpful.  Not trying to vent but trying to better understand how navigate current shop volume.

[MB65E]

Pizza and Beer usually works!

Açai bowls work too! 

-Matt

[Fly Boomer]

1 hour ago, Marc_B said:

I'll have to admit, no response to multiple attempts gets old quick, but I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water and I don't want to jeopardize a relationship with my shop.  I feel like by giving them more time to respond between contact it may have made it easier to forget about me but I don't want to pester.

Not an A&P but my technique is wait three days after first attempt, then Monday, Wednesday, Friday, then every day.  Also, If they aren't super far away, there is no substitute for a face-to-face.  It's unfortunate, but just a fact of life these days.  If you scratch off every shop that fails to respond immediately, that could be a bunch of otherwise good shops you have eliminated.

[Fritz1]

yes to all, go there in person on a Tuesday or Wednesday around 11 am, bring Pizza, don't mention the unanswered emails and see what they say, as a backup contact your second and third choice shop and see what they say, offer to help in the shop if you have a knack for it and they let you, be creative, the only thing that counts in the end is getting quality work done on your airplane and as the owner pilot you are the manager of that work, the shop is one of your resources

[N201MKTurbo]

A box of doughnuts works well too. It got me unlimited free consultation and expedited work at the local engine shop.

[T. Peterson]

2 hours ago, Marc_B said:

As all shops are these days with too much metal and too few humans, it seems I'm having a hard time getting the attention of a shop I've gone to for my last two annuals, oil changes and maintenance.  Long story short, radio silence with 2 emails and 2 phone calls over a month.  I don't want to be a nag and I don't want to waste their time or act as a distraction.  From the IAs & A&Ps here on MS, what do you typically recommend to help minimize your interruptions but help coordinate with owners?  I'll have to admit, no response to multiple attempts gets old quick, but I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water and I don't want to jeopardize a relationship with my shop.  I feel like by giving them more time to respond between contact it may have made it easier to forget about me but I don't want to pester.

Other option is to take this as a clue and move on?  But I'm not sure I'm ready to do that yet.  Constructive suggestions helpful.  Not trying to vent but trying to better understand how navigate current shop volume.

It’s a balancing act that many of us have to accept. Sounds to me like you are trying very hard to do the right thing. I think @Fritz1has a very good suggestion with the pizza angle. 
Good luck with walking the tight rope. I certainly experience the same drill!

[Greg Ellis]

I have been doing this all wrong all these years.  Instead of my office staff calling my patients back immediately or answering their phone calls and their emails, I should be ignoring them.  Then they will bring me pizza and doughnuts....hmmmmmm.....

[JayMatt]

This is why I do the majority everything myself. I struggled to find anyone that wanted to work on a mooney when I first got it. My current AI lets me take everything apart and get it as close as possible, so he has minimal work to do. I don't mind it tho, because I know my plane inside and out. It also gives me piece of mind. I don't know how some guys don't do anything on their plane and just climb out to 10k feet and head cross country. That's just wild to me not knowing how well everything is done. Some next level trust.    

[Fly Boomer]

5 minutes ago, JayMatt said:

This is why I do the majority everything myself. I struggled to find anyone that wanted to work on a mooney when I first got it. My current AI lets me take everything apart and get it as close as possible, so he has minimal work to do. I don't mind it tho, because I know my plane inside and out. It also gives me piece of mind. I don't know how some guys don't do anything on their plane and just climb out to 10k feet and head cross country. That's just wild to me not knowing how well everything is done. Some next level trust.    

Think about the number of people who only know their cars to the extent that they turn the key to the right, put it in gear, and push on the right-most pedal.  I don't work on my car any longer, but I do have enough knowledge to make pretty good guesses what's going on when something malfunctions.  With an airplane, it seems even more important to know how everything works.

[PeteMc]

I'll be the bad guy here with a few pointed questions.

How long have you been going to the shop and where do you think you fit into the "pecking order" with their other regulars?  And what was your repour with the shop in the past, all matter-of-fact with them and a lot of "...it's not done yet?!"  Or have you worked with them for years and do you consider them friends?

My shop (which regretfully I've now move away from) would work with me and I'd work with them and I really like the owner & staff.  A couple of months out before my Annual I'd call to give them an idea of when I wanted to drop off the plane and they'd look at the wall (calendar) and see if it worked.  3-4 weeks out I'd confirm and we'd adjust as needed.  I also would drop the plane off a week early know it would sit, but they had it if they did a hangar dump.

With oil changes I'd call and ask them when.  Usually I'd notice it would coincide with a plane being finished up and that's when they worked in a couple of the quick fixes for people before they got buried in another plane.  Other side of the coin was that if I was going on a long trip and needed and oil change, since I always worked with them, then if I needed something now rather than later, they'd always fit me in.  

So...  back to the question of what kind of customer do you think you were to them knowing how busy shops are these days and the issues with staff?  And how long of a relation ship did you have with them vs. if I was the other guy calling for the same time and I've been with them for 30 years?

 

[Joshua Blackh4t]

Agreed with the presents. Its basically tipping in advance.

Also, something I tell people who want to hurry up building contractors: always blame someone else for the hurrying. Like "sorry to bother you, its just that I have family coming in a month and if its done, my mother in law will not have anywhere to stay and my wife will kill me. I know its not your problem, but it would help a lot if you could do the job"

I know it seems like we're being excessively nice to people who aren't even doing standard business practices, but honestly its very difficult to be that much in demand. It takes time to organise things and you don't have time, so you just shut out the world and hope the problem goes away.

Good luck 

[hubcap]

I do try to take good care of the folks that take care of Myrtle and I give them my business year around. I don't complain about what they charge either......ever. They did the pre-buy on Myrtle and have been awesome to work with. Not perfect, but they certainly try and come very close. I think in the world we live in now, they are exceptional, which unfortunately means they have more business than they can deal with at times. They have a key to my hangar so they just go get Myrtle at their convenience when it's time for an oil change or whatever.

I try to be the kind of customer that I want at my place of business. I guess that's the best way to describe it.

[Mac80]

Geez 

I’ve got a lot to learn. 

It is hard to accept what took days now seems to take weeks or months…

or hear sorry to busy to help. 

Maybe I should start by giving SM a name like I do my orphaned calves. Mechanics should get a kick out of that.
 

 

[T. Peterson]

6 hours ago, JayMatt said:

This is why I do the majority everything myself. I struggled to find anyone that wanted to work on a mooney when I first got it. My current AI lets me take everything apart and get it as close as possible, so he has minimal work to do. I don't mind it tho, because I know my plane inside and out. It also gives me piece of mind. I don't know how some guys don't do anything on their plane and just climb out to 10k feet and head cross country. That's just wild to me not knowing how well everything is done. Some next level trust.    

Guilty as charged! I just don’t have the skills you do. I take my plane to Maxwell, get in and go. The only thing you missed is the altitude. I go every where at 11000 or 12000!