There's plenty to be said about not being complacent. After all, complacency breeds mediocrity. And in today's competitive service environment, where the name of the game is standing out amidst your competition - being at the forefront in your line of work will bring increased visibility and more customers to your shop.

In striving for excellence, to elevate your shop to be a cut above the rest, you need to define your place in the market, create ways to leverage your expertise and constantly look for ways to improve upon the building blocks of your business.

For your shop to be at its competitive best requires a conscious, concerted effort among all members of your team. It means examining the details of your everyday operations. It means identifying ways to work smarter. It means making customer service a top priority. And, it means never delivering anything less than service excellence and professionalism.

Drill down within your shop's foundation to find out which areas need most attention. Maybe it's things like upgrading your shop's appearance, adding new equipment, boosting your advertising efforts, increasing training, expanding service offerings, better communicating with customers, seeking ways to be more productive or focusing on maintenance services.

Some of you are already headed in the right direction. In a recent survey of ImportCar readers, respondents indicated that they've made positiv...