[Fred K-OR]

Brent, I think your reputation as a quality shop is the most important thing any automotive shop should have. Then the looks of your facilities is important but I would think a reasonably clean, organized shop would be sufficient to impress people so that they come to your shop. Then I think the next most important thing to have is your people that can communicate with your customers. They need to communicate with the customers so that they feel like that person knows what they are talking about and can explain to the customer so the customer can understand what they said (not a "teckie").

But like you said all of these extra "frill's" cost money and someone needs to pay for them. If you plan on staying in business, you would need to pass the cost of these things on to the customers. So therefore a reasonable amount of these things would seem like a proper approach. For example a good clean "coffee" shop and waiting area with something for people to do while waiting-Model A magazines, maybe new things they could look over and put on their Model A's (and you could sell them), maybe a few pictures of cars you have worked on, etc.

Then the building could be a utilitarian type of building for the purpose of your business. Maybe plain outside, with a good sign for your business and a neat little area they could check in for their repair, questions or whatever. And when they do check in, service them immediately-don't let them wait while you or your people have to "finish" something on the computer prior to waiting on them.

In other words, good products, good services and good people make or break a business.