AMI Self Study Courses

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1 AMI Self Study Courses The Automotive Management Institute (AMI) is a leading educator for Automotive Service Professionals. Earn 120 credits to receive AMI's AAM designation. Key Benefits: Free For AASP-MN Members' Use Earn Credits Toward Your AAM Designation Learn On Your Own Time Advanced Pricing Strategies 6 credits (M) Too many shop owners just don't really understand pricing strategies and, as a result, use "cost markup" as a basis for job pricing. This can cause your prices to be way out of line on some jobs when compared to competitors. No matter how good you are, you can't survive and prosper if the public thinks you're too high-priced. Most shop owners understand where their numbers need to be at the end of the month, but don't really understand how to price each job in order to get there. Worse yet, they may not do certain types of work because of the numbers, when in fact those jobs can be highly profitable. Applied Automotive Accounting 7 credits (B) Shops are earning enough income to remain solvent, but are failing to remain viable. To avoid this tragedy, owners and managers need to increase their understanding of automotive accounting. This course provides an introduction to the core accounting principles as they apply to shops. Training materials are straight-forward, systematically organized and offer easy-to-understand examples and explanations. Automotive Service Management Course - 18 credits (B) An introduction to 3 of the most critical business development skills: Sales & Marketing, Personnel Management & Business Management. This course is a requirement for the AAM designation. Automotive Service Management Series 80 credits (M) Today, more than ever, there are absolutely no limits to what you can achieve, especially when you're equipped with the right tools. The Automotive Management Series is an eight-book series that contains proven solutions for effectively tackling challenges faced by today's professional automotive service managers. The series includes: From Intent to Implementation Total Customer Relationship Management Operational Excellence Building a Team The High Performance Shop Safety Communication Managing Dollars With Sense Operations Management Become the Manager Everyone Wants to Work For 6 credits (B) Simple steps will teach you how to empower your people to make good decisions without always having to consult you first. You ll learn simple power phrases that can convert an argument into a positive coaching situation and some do s and don ts of management. Beyond the Books OEM Service Information Web Sites 5 credits (M) The availability of the OEM service information web sites provides automotive service professional with a new resource for service, repair and diagnostic information. The course begins with an exploration of several OEM service information web sites. The session will examine site content and functionality. Shop owners and managers quickly realize that the availability of this information will enhance a technician's ability to perform diagnosis and repairs.

2 Building a Team 10 credits (M) This course emphasizes recognition - the recognition of a simple principle that suggests that successful teamwork results from the realization that together everyone achieves more. This book stresses the value and importance of a great support system and the important roles played by the individuals we rarely think about as being an actual part of our team and how to put all these relationships together so they work. Critical Components of the Front End 6 credits (M) It's been said that 90% of a shop's problems can be solved at the front counter. This class will dissect the front counter operation like a frog in biology class. We'll cover curb appeal, exterior and lobby signage, marketing, customer flow, shop/office procedures, personnel training and selection. Also addressed will be some unique Service Advisor skills and techniques. You'll see an example of what one shop has done and the results. Eat Your Competition Alive 6 credits (M) This course offers "out of the box" marketing and advertising techniques. With the ever shrinking profit margins and increased competition for the customer dollar, shops need to become more creative and thrifty with their marketing dollar. There are lots of creative things being done out there. This class will give you some specific, meaningful strategies to better market your shop. EPA & OSHA Compliance It Won t Help You Fix a Vehicle, But It s Important to Your Bottom Line 16 credits (B) This course will translate regulations and other information into practical language with supporting easy to understand materials. This information is a must for any shop. Save time and money, make sure you are in compliance before you get a visit from an inspector. From Intent to Implementation 10 credits (M) This course is all about what it takes to move from thought to action: the steps you will need to take and the technologies that will be required. It is designed to function as a roadmap for those who would like to do more than just dream about tomorrow. Getting Results from Relationships 8 credits (B) This course contains the key principles to building healthy, positive, and profitable relationships that withstand the tests of time, turmoil, and auto repair nightmares! If you are ready for the highest level of operational success (after bandaids and crisis management with your customers, co-workers, and employees), this class is for you! Handling Difficult Employees, Customers & Suppliers 3 credits (B) To get a competitive edge in today s marketplace, you need the tact and diplomacy to deal with difficult people and, by doing so, helps you become more successful. Image is Everything 2 credits (B) Your shop's image goes hand in hand with your marketing and advertising. Even if your shop is doing everything in its power to attract the right kind of customer, if your image isn't sending all the right signals, you'll never be able to get and keep those quality customers you're spending so much money, time, and effort to attract. This course is for shop owners (and their employees) who are serious about getting their image perfected and making sure they're attracting repeat customers with their advertising budget. And when it comes to your marketing and advertising, your image can mean the difference between wasting money and gaining HUGE profits! Lip Service First Class Telephone Skills - 2 credits (B) This course teaches the "WOW" factor by using the most important tool we have in our business...the telephone. Are we using it to drive customers to us or drive them away? Students will learn how to deliver a "knock your socks off" greeting, how to place callers on hold so they like it, words that sell and how to "infect an attitude" of extraordinary customer service in your business.

3 Managing Dollars with Sense 10 credits (M) This course will give you a foundation upon which to build intelligent business decisions without having to guess what the price of your products & services should be, and without having to play Follow the Leader. It takes a look at the need for accurate and timely financial analysis, discusses critical metrics, including: gross profit margin on labor and parts, car count, average invoice, service bay productivity and more! Mastering How Customers Think 8 credits (B) This course will teach you the psychology behind the sale and how to tap into the unconscious and subconscious mind of the consumer. You will learn how to use cues, props and metaphors to stimulate positive memories and responses from the consumer. Mastering Maintenance Sales 8 credits (M) This course builds skills that focus on teaching service advisors and managers sell your most profitable work maintenance. Mastering Marketing 6 credits (B) This course looks at marketing and the strategies that drive it. You will learn how to buy and place ads in print media, establish advertising budgets, create an in-house direct mail program and the do s and don ts of direct mail advertising. Mastering Menu Pricing 8 credits (B) Learn how to analyze the advantages, economic estimates and strategy of implementing Menu Pricing. Students review sample worksheets and analyze how they are utilized and apply the results of cash flow analysis, labor rate, and gross profit to Menu Pricing. Mastering Pay Plans 8 credits (B) This course will review the advantages of various pay plans and salary options, and how fair labor standards impact hourly and flat rate employees. Students also review and critique incentive plans, employment agreements and bonus programs. Mastering Recruiting, Hiring & Retention 8 credits (B) You will identify the positions needed for your shop and discuss methods to identify and attract quality employees. You will review Fair Labor Standards Act compliance for flat rate and commission employees. Mastering Shop Efficiency 9 credits (M) This course helps shop owners and managers evaluate the productivity, efficiency and proficiency of their personnel and facility. Mastering Time Management 4 credits (B) Discover techniques to free you from the day-to-day business. Learn to set goals and develop strategies to accomplish them by applying a critical path approach. Maximize Your Shop s Efficiency 6 credits (M) Many shops aren't making the money they would like and think if they had just one more tech, they would have the necessary income to meet their goals. The answer to low production isn't more people, it's simply better efficiency and it's not that hard to do. This class is extremely lively, humorous, fast-moving and built on practical, everyday shop owner experience. This course is specifically written for technicians and their shop owners. Both need to attend. The techs will love it. The course features 51 specific steps the office and techs can take to make the shop more efficient and help the techs and the shop make more money. Operational Excellence 10 credits (M) This book shows that operational excellence can be defined, measured, and ultimately managed, resulting in decreased operational costs, improved profitability and finally, growth.

4 Operations Management 10 credits (M) This book emphasizes management by example, not by hope or wishful thinking. It openly questions how shops are organized to make sure there is a reason for doing everything. Planning for Success: Saving Your Shop or Start a New One 6 credits (M) This course is specifically designed to get you to understand the basics of business and how to run one successfully. This course will show you how to overcome obstacles utilizing a simple business plan. You'll also learn the basics of the financial statements enough so you'll be able to read one and understand what it means. At the completion of the course, you'll not only be able to write a business plan, you'll be able to work a business plan. This course is recommended for beginner and established business owners and managers alike. Safety Communication 10 credits (M) This book looks at management s responsibility in terms of education, best practices, policies, procedures, training, and awareness. Secrets of Running a Zoo 3 credits (M) Too many of us are an integral part of our business and our jobs tend to be stressful. We might even feel like we're "Dad" to all our workers. No one can do anything without first checking with "Dad." Learn Management secrets that will allow you to get out of this hectic activity and take time to perform the management tasks. The end goal is to be able to actually take a vacation once in a while. Secrets of Success 10 credits (B) This course will walk you through the six secrets that have been used by the most successful people on earth. Now you too can put those secrets to work for you. Service Marketing for the Independent Service Facility 6 credits (M) This seminar is an introduction to the fundamentals of marketing a service facility. Topics covered include customer buying motives, identifying what your customers want to buy, developing your shop's unique selling points, how to position your shop in the market and how to perform a repair order audit in order to assess your current marketing performance. In addition to learning the difference between marketing and advertising, students also learn how to develop an advertising budget, write an advertisement that will eliminate customer confusion, study the different advertising mediums and develop an effective and inexpensive Yellow Page advertisement. The final part of the class involves studying good and bad advertisements in order to learn the difference. Upon completion of the class, the student will possess sufficient knowledge of marketing and advertising to enable them to significantly increase sales in their shop. Superior Service Advising 8 credits (M) The success of your business, your technicians, and your income, all come down to your service advisors! A great service advisor will keep your techs happy and the income flowing through good times and bad. A high pressure sales advisor, on the other hand, who spends his or her day selling to customers can turn off even the most loyal of customers, can ruin your image, and can waste thousands of advertising dollars through lost sales. Survival Skills for the Service Advisor 6 credits (M) This course is designed to help the Service Advisor with all the daily functions of the job. How to handle the different types of phone calls, including the price shoppers, scheduling arrivals and controlling the transaction from the initial reception. Surviving Attitudes 8 credits (B) Students will learn about how outside the box thinking effects negative attitude, why they need to establish sales and expense budgets, set goals, and how to build partner relationships with vendors.

5 The Competition for Customer Loyalty 6 credits (M) Historically, independent automotive repair shops have provided the repair and maintenance needs for the vast majority of vehicle owners. Providing a superior level of customer satisfaction led to building customer loyalty. Today, while delivering that same high level of service, shops are challenged to attract and retain customers. Automobile manufacturers and dealerships are attempting to be a significant influence on when and where vehicle owners have service performed. This seminar will provide automotive service professionals with an understanding of how the increased warranty periods, reduced labor times and conflicting maintenance schedules on new vehicles are impacting the industry. Consumers are confused and customer loyalty can no longer be taken for granted. The High Performance Shop 10 credits (M) The High Performance Shop is where everything comes together. It is where understanding capacity, capabilities, input, output, and throughput can help move you to the next level of both management and leadership success. This book combines the concepts, ideas, and principles of all the other volumes in the series with new and interesting topics for your analysis and assessment. It utilizes the "three C's" as a basis for creating a positive automotive service experience: Communicating Confidence to the Consumer. Total Customer Relationship Management 10 credits (M) This book focuses on creating a compelling value equation, something your target customer will not be able to resist and then delivering those products and services in a total quality service environment. Your Guide to Business Growth & Succession Planning 10 credits (B) By completing this course you will be prepared to face the pressures and concerns of succession. B = Both Collision & Mechanical M = Mechanical Only C = Collision Only To check out any of the self-study courses above, free of charge for AASP-MN members, please contact the AASP-MN office at or or aasp@aaspmn.org