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• Get to the essentials 

  Marketing can be hard to grasp, even for the most experienced business operator. This made it an ideal topic for Andy Savva to cover as part of his 2019 training course schedule. Andy's one-day Marketing Essentials course provides an overview of what marketing actually is, looks at key approaches and how to apply them to a garage business.
      
  Aftermarket sat in on a sold-out session held in Crawley in February. In front of a packed room, filled with garages owners and staff, Andy dispelled some myths and misconceptions surrounding the discipline: "Marketing is one of the most misunderstood functions found in business. Whatever the reasons for any negative image that marketing may have, it is essential to realise that marketing is vital to ensure the survival and growth of any business. Marketing cannot be ignored and needs to be a part of the culture of any successful organisation.
      
  "Marketing affects everyone. We are all consumers. Most businesses depend on marketing to provide an understanding of the marketplace, to ensure their products and services satisfy the needs of customers, and that they are competing effectively."
      
  Despite running great businesses, Andy has found that garage owners often struggle when it comes to marketing: "Understanding customers and anticipating their requirements is a core theme of effective marketing, yet this is somewhat difficult for garages to fully get to grips with. So too is understanding general market trends and developments that may affect both customers views and the activities of businesses in the aftermarket repair sector. You must also be aware that a business does not have the marketplace to itself. There are always direct competitors, new entrants and indirect challengers.”
      
  Andy added: "Marketing should concern everybody in a business as it sets the context in which sales can take place. Whatever your role, you play a part in setting that context."
  
  Interaction
  As Andy got into the meat of the marketing matter, he led the delegates through what marketing is, and how they need to approach it and enact effective marketing within their businesses. Even the most experienced business owners and managers can get a little confused when asked to distinguish between marketing, advertising and sales. After asking attendees to pick where they would plant the marketing flag, with a few near misses along the way, Andy went through the specifics:
      
  "Marketing is a systematic approach aimed at bringing buyers and sellers together for the benefit of both. Many people confuse selling and advertising with marketing but they are not the same. Marketing is about promoting goods and services that both satisfy customers and also bring profits to the business.
       
  "Selling is the interaction that takes place on a personal level with potential customers. Marketing on the other hand is aimed at generating those potential customers in the first place. Many people confuse selling and advertising with marketing but they are not the same. Advertising is part of the marketing function, but never the other way around."
      
  For marketing to succeed, there needs to  be a goal and a way of achieving it, which Andy went on to cover: "Any marketing campaign needs to have a clear focus and this is why it is so important to make the right choices. Will the business compete across the entire market, or only certain parts? It is also a good idea to ensure all employees know the strategies being adopted, so that everyone works together to achieve the same goals." Andy then asked a question of the group: "Do you know what your garage business is trying to achieve and how it is trying to achieve it? In most cases the answer is no."
      
  The goal influences the method, and vice versa. From this point, Andy covered the classic four Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion – and went from there to the more recent extended marketing mix, incorporating people, process and physical evidence. Beyond this he laid out transactional marketing, which is sales-focused, and relationship marketing, which takes a much broader view including customer service, and quality presentation and results.
      
  Next he took on the thorny issue of branding as part of the marketing strategy, and why a strong brand is so important for recognition, financial value, motivation and loyalty. All of that was just the pre-lunch session. After lunch, Andy went into even greater detail on areas such as the marketing triangle, SMART objectives and SWOT analysis. It's heady stuff, but Andy made it approachable and applicable to the sector.
  
  Inspirational
  Those in attendance found a lot to take away from the day. Dani Comber from Thrussington Garage in East Goscote, near Leicester said: "I find Andy really inspirational. I think he's brilliant. He can come and work at our garage." Commenting on what she was learning about marketing from the day, Dani said it showed the gap between what they were doing at present, and what they should be doing: "I find it demotivating and motivating at the same time. You want to do everything, you've got the intention to do it, but you've not done it. On the other hand you are motivated because you see what you can do."
      
  Elisa Bramall from Scantec Automotive from Hailsham, East Sussex said: "I have attended several training courses with Andy. I only have good things to say about him of course. His passion being the main thing, and that he says it how it is. No beating around the bush. A lot of his values we stand by as well, i.e use of OE parts, tools and genuine equipment. When you attend his training courses, it aligns with what we want to achieve. With all of his experience, if you think you know it all you certainly don't."
      
  Tina Drayson, Operations Manager at CCM Garage, based in West Sussex and Surrey said: "I have done Andy's financial course before. It is phenomenal. I have learned so much from it. It has certainly changed the way we are doing our business. I am hoping that today with the marketing essentials will give us even more direction going forward."
      
  Terry Roberts, owner at  Witham Motor Company in Witham, Essex said: "I have just become a RAC approved garage in the last few weeks, so I am looking at changing my brand. I am really enjoying it. I am learning a lot and have picked up a lot of things."
      
  Commenting on what he was getting from the course, Billy from  Beacon Hill Garage in Hindhead, Surrey said: "It just hammers home that if your standards slip, and your marketing as well, and you take your eye off the ball, things will go wrong. I will be going back to give a few people a kick up the backside to bring standards back up. "
      
  Brothers Mahesh Vekaria and Pravin Patel own a garage each in Harrow. Mahesh, owner of Cardoc said: "What have I learned from Andy today so far? It has refocused and re-energised my enthusiasm for marketing. We do a fair bit of marketing, but coming today, you see a different angle to it."
      
  Pravin, proprietor at Harrow Service Centre, observed: "Today has been interesting. I have learned a lot. In a sense we already do a bit of marketing, but to understand what it really does mean and the ways we are doing it – is it right or wrong? – is really useful. It is something to implement when we go back to work."
      
  In that the pair are brothers and are based just half a mile apart, Aftermarket was curious as to who would get back and implement new marketing initiatives first. "I would say that I would," said Mahesh. Pravin agreed: "Yes  he would, definitely, having said that, he looks after my marketing for my garage as well. So he has double the work really."
  
  Information
  Edward Cockhill of Uckfield Motor Services in Uckfield East Sussex observed: "It is quite an eye-opener. I saw marketing as just advertising, whereas it is really the whole perception of my company. There is a lot of cogs that are going to be turning when I get home. "
      
  Peter Bedford of GT One Ltd in Chertsey, Surrey said: "We are an independent Porsche specialist. Our business is in need of a bit of a review in its marketing ideas, and we are looking to freshen it up. I have come along to see another angle of it. Some things I think I know and we have applied. Some I know and we have not applied, so you need a kick up the backside. Some things are brand new. On the whole it is brilliant."
      
  Cieran Larkin from Larkin Automotive in Dublin commented: "It is good to get marketing training from a professional who has been in the garage business as opposed to someone who is dealing with generic marketing. Andy's experience is brilliant in that way."
      
  Nick Robinson from Marchwoods in Folkestone had been to Andy's courses previously and was back for more: "I came to Andy's events last year for garage financial understanding and customer excellence. They were real eye-openers so I have come back for another one. I was badgering him earlier to see what is coming up next. I will be at that one as well!"
      
  Meanwhile, for Edward from Swanley Garage in Swanley, it was his first time: "This is the first one I have been to. It is really good. It is about getting all the information and having the guts to go out and do it. We are all guilty of not doing marketing properly, it is about taking that jump to rebrand yourself or say right we are not doing that any more, or we are not doing cut price work, or we are not going to let the customers bargain with us any more, and seeing where it takes you."

• Would you like to diagnose more vehicles first time? 

  As we reach March, 2019 is well and truly underway. In fact by the time you read this one third of the year will have whizzed by never to be seen again. Now, I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions (they’re so last year), but I am the type of chap that likes constant progress when it comes to developing a technician’s career.
      
  There’s so much to be said for small steps taken everyday that on first look appear don’t appear to make a difference, but when gazed back upon over a 12 month period have a staggering affect on your capability to diagnose a vehicle first time, in a timely manner.
  
  Pitter-patter of tiny feet
  Small steps are all well and good but where do you start? After all, you don’t know what you don’t know, and you’d like to start your journey to diagnostic success off on the right foot. In this instance I’d start with the end in mind and reverse engineer the outcome you desire. It’s a logical process that works, and can be replicated time and time again in your diagnostic routine.
      
  Your ‘end in mind’ in this instance is a vehicle where the fault no longer exists, that won’t appear back across the threshold of your workshop anytime soon. But how do you guarantee that?
  
  One test to rule them all
  I love nothing more than when the delegates working through our training programs have a technical epiphany. This happens at many points on their path of learning, but none more than with bypass testing.
      
  Bypass testing is step nine in Johnny’s diagnostic circle of love (our 15 step routine), and often the key element in the first time fix. The good news for you is that it doesn’t require mythical creatures to forge their magical powers into an object that only one technician can possess. It’s something that every tech can learn, and become a diagnostic wizard.
  
  What is bypass testing?
  Quite simply it’s fixing the vehicle before you fix the vehicle. Let me explain.
      
  Wouldn’t it be great if you suspected that a Mass Air Flow sensor was at fault and you could prove that you were right before you fitted a new part, or spoke to the owner of the vehicle. If you could do that then the positive effect it would have on you and the business you work for would blow you away.
      
  Picture this: Your customer has reported that the vehicle is low on power. You’ve diligently questioned them, experienced the problem with them on a road test, and the bought the vehicle into the workshop.
      
  You’ve pulled codes and found none present, followed by taking a look through serial data to hunt for diagnostic clues. It doesn’t take you long to identify that the MAF sensor frequency looks a little low at 1.5 Khz and your fuel trim data is incorrect and making a positive corrections. You’ve seen a bunch of these before and know that 1.85 Khz is a suitable value for this vehicle.
      
  You’re keen to prove that the serial data is leading you in the right direction so confirm the sensor output with your oscilloscope. The oscilloscope frequency mirrors that of the serial tool and your starting to get that warm fuzzy feeling that an you’re onto something.
  
  Steady the buffs
  You’ve been close to success before though, only to be thwarted in the final moments so you’re keen not to be caught out twice. You know that documenting the reasons that the MAF output could be incorrect is the way to go, and duly make a list of tests required to confirm your theories.
  
  

• Hydrogen – the next revolution? 

  For as long as I can remember, the questions arising from presentations to our sector usually involve at least one about hydrogen. This can be seen as an abundant, readily available resource and a solution to long-term electric power generation akin to nuclear fusion, in that in both cases the by-product is harmless.    
      
  Pure hydrogen is an important component of many industrial chemical processes, so generation of more hydrogen to feed transportation will add pressure to existing industrial capacity. Hydrogen exists either in association with itself (H3 – which is unstable) or with other atoms (for example water, H2O – which is stable). It also exists inside many, many organic compounds, but effectively is not available in nature as a pure gas.  
      
  Pure hydrogen can be manufactured from coal, oxidation of methane or steam reforming of methane. Methane is a principle component of natural gas, so there is a plentiful supply of raw material. Most of the pure hydrogen available for use today is made by one of these industrial processes, which all require energy to effectively extract the hydrogen and then more energy to compress it to the point the gas liquifies.
      
  Hydrogen can also be extracted by passing electricity through water, and there have been many aftermarket kits that do exactly this to generate a form of hydrogen peroxide which is then ducted into an internal combustion engine intake system to offset the hydrocarbon fuel burn rate. However, if we need to generate pure hydrogen on a scale to develop transport, this process needs to be upscaled.
      
  The conclusion: Pure hydrogen prefers to be attached to other atoms to achieve stability, and if we need to extract it requires is an energy investment. Further, the most common source of pure hydrogen is from natural gas, where the by-products are carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Hardly right-on.  
  
  The application
  Let’s skip eco-obstacles. What can we do with it?
      
  There are essentially two routes to use hydrogen. Some manufacturers openly experimented with hydrogen as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
      
  Mazda built several Wankel engines fuelled by hydrogen. In theory, apart from trace hydrocarbon pollution due to lubricants, the tail pipe emissions would be zero in terms of traditionally measured pollutants. The reason for Mazda doing this? The Wankel engine has two major drawbacks – sealing, and a long, thin combustion volume with a vast surface area to volume ratio. Yes, the Wankel engine is ‘emission disabled’.
      
  Meanwhile, BMW built a few factory-owned 7 Series E65 based long wheel base limousines, complete with CFRP body structure inserts around the rear sill/subframe/C pillar area. The V12 engine was fed with hydrogen stored in a large tank located in the boot above the rear subframe (hence the CFRP structural magic parts) and had a small fuel tank located under one rear passenger seat. The vehicle was bristling with contradictions – a huge engine which could run further on the tiny petrol tank that it could from the huge insulated hydrogen fuel tank, which was designed to keep the liquified fuel at -273°C for as long as possible. Oh, and it needed a system to ensure the liquid hydrogen became gas as it entered the pointlessly vast engine.
      
  These experiments confirmed what was already known before any of these prototype vehicles were built. Hydrogen does not have the energy density of petrol or diesel, and there are significant issues in storage of the fuel either at under pressure at normal temperature (i.e. serious pressure vessels) or super cooled at ambient (i.e. seriously bulky insulation).
      
  The second route? Drum roll…the hydrogen fuel cell. This is a form of battery. It has taken many years to develop, and the once sky-high cost of the main component – the ‘stack’ – is gracefully gliding downwards. Essentially pure hydrogen atoms are introduced to oxygen atoms, where a membrane allows the atoms to join and the electricity generated in the process is extracted. This is electric power generation from pure hydrogen and air, using the oxygen in the air. Hydrogen has a greater affinity to oxygen than oxygen has for hydrogen, so only one component needs to be made unstable to create the vital atomic level re-assembly.
      
  Do we need pure hydrogen to do this? Well Chrysler many years ago developed a fuel cell stack that would run on petrol or diesel, but of course the tail pipe emissions, while dramatically reduced, were higher than if we put pure hydrogen into the system. In addition, early membrane technology was highly intolerant of impurities, but much important work has taken place to make the fuel cell stack tougher.
  
  Other considerations
  Let’s not forget, if we consider hydrogen fuel cell stack electric power generation to be the future of transport, and bypass the significant issues in creating additional production capacity for pure hydrogen let alone the increase on electricity demand or environmental impact, there is a further important factor to consider. Fuel cell stacks like to generate power under steady state conditions. They do not like Vmax/ standing starts/traffic light GPs.
      
  So, we have electricity generated at a steady rate, but we have demands which are variable and include dumping harvested energy back into the system (regenerative braking). Yes. There’s the clue. In a pure electric system, we have to add a pure electric vehicle in its entirety (low voltage system, high voltage system, power controller, DC-AC converters, on-board recharging, electric traction motor and the energy storage system).
      
  That means we have two powertrains. An on-board electricity generator powered by hydrogen, and a pure electric powertrain. Oh, and while fuel cell stack prices have fallen below €10,000, that’s still way, way more than either plugging a vehicle into a larger, more efficient power generation system (and yes, that’s a story for another time) and even more than an internal combustion engine used as an emergency power generator.
      
  Then there’s business interests. Manufacturers of bottled gas are naturally very supportive of the hydrogen power movement, as are many oil companies. True, initially only Total supported this, but most companies now recognise in the new lobbyist infested world of eco-warriors, selling hydrocarbon fuels needs some ‘eco’ messaging.
      
  The upshot is oil companies (considering profits) and especially government (considering the ludicrous 80%+ tax revenue per litre) do not want to switch off the oil-based economy just yet, and as usual for the public sector, there is no strategy nor plan for any potential transition should the prevailing economic objections to hydrogen (or any other great idea) change. That immediately gets in the way of ‘what comes first’: Fuel supply system or vehicles which can use the ‘new fuel’. The prototype of this situation is rolling out now – electric vehicles have relatively poor access to public charging points, and recharging them in an urban environment can be hazardous for residents. In the UK there are handful of hydrogen refuelling stations, and for the most part the main source of the energy is from bottled gas. Not quite seamless.
      
  While the refuelling station lines and nozzles for hydrogen are bulkier, heavier and bigger than the equivalent petrol, diesel or natural gas LPG systems, there have been zero accidents due to hydrogen leaks during refuelling. Yes, there are tiny numbers of vehicles and some users – such as those operating buses or trucks – could be considered to be even more considerate than the general public could be. There is another major benefit – recharging the energy source takes as long as we are used to, a matter of minutes rather than hours, being kind to the battery, or 30 minutes plus, if we want to sustain long-term damage to the battery.
  
  The future
  Is the future hydrogen? Nope. Not for personal transportation, and COVID-19 has just buried the plans for some manufacturers to introduce hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles.
      
  And yet, there is one need right now. Semi-trailers which are refrigerated are a cornerstone of food transportation as well as medication, and have the ability to be run from the tractor unit, from the national grid or a small, badly made diesel engine. For anyone who can remember being at a Channel Port or EuroStar waiting to board, the sound of these little diesel engines is very clear. It is not always possible to hook up a refrigerated trailer to a fixed electricity source, so a quiet system is required – the fuel cell! This is already underway.
      
  There’s more though. In the unsolved hard-wired world of pure electric vehicles, the process of energy transfer is firmly in the 1800s. If we casually assume this problem will be solved at the same pace as the energy density improvement of batteries, and we venture away from the leafy suburbs of North London, much drama awaits. Further, if one lives ‘in the provinces’ running a pure electric vehicle is not straightforward due to availability of energy top-up points. Enter the hydrogen fuel cell. Suddenly apart from cost of the base electric vehicle, the cost of the additional fuel cell stack system, the energy/environmental impact of making the pure gas… we have a solution.
      
  Rather than drinking the pure water that comes out of the tail pipe, perhaps we really should just drink the finest socialist Champagne. Still, who knows what the future holds?
  
  
  

• Old or gold? UK cars oldest they have ever been 

  Britain’s car parc is the oldest it has ever been new figures show, with the number of cars over 13 years old tripling in 25 years, a fact that is likely to keep independent garages busy well into the 2020s and beyond.

• BEN and IMI team up for 100 challenge  

  The IMI is teaming up with BEN to create the IMI 100 challenge, a new three-week long virtual sports event with one goal being the  fulfilment the organisation’s £100,000 Centenary target for the charity.

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