https://youtu.be/OpwPVKUNwhg

Brad Pellman first started working in the automotive industry at the age of 15 and over his career has held a wide variety of jobs at both dealerships and independent repair shops. In 1995 this dream of owning his own shop became a reality when he opened up Pellman’s Automotive in Boulder, CO with his wife, Lisa.

Brad is ASE master certified and AAM designated as well. He is currently on the Board of Directors for ASE and ASA Colorado, with past board involvement with CCPN and the TECHNET Automotive Council. He has had the added privilege of being designated as one of the Motor Age Top shops in the country. And hopes to continue to raise the awareness and importance of Independent automotive repair across the country. Brad’s previous episodes HERE.

Peter Foreman from Integra Tire, Second Generation Shop Owner, 39 Years old from Langley, BC. Peter literally grew up in the shop. As a baby, there was a cot in the office while his mom Cheryl did the books! Taking his Dad Dave’s beliefs and expanding on them, Peter went out and made a career on his own in the auto parts industry before deciding to come back and help his family bring the shop into the next age of auto service and repair in 2005. Peter is happily married with two children. His children love to visit the shop as well. Maybe there will be a third-generation one day! Learn of Peter’s Previous episodes HERE.

Paul Marquardt Started in this business in 1979 as a pump jockey and lube tech. Paul attended various training over the years, some of it daytime training 4 hours of travel time. He bought the business Northwoods Auto Techs, Rhinelander, WI, in 1990 and in 1995 expanded from 2 bays to 5 bays and became a NAPA Autocare center at the same time. He was the NAPA Stevens Point NAPA ASE Tech of the Year from 1999 through 2008 and was the National NAPA ASE Tech of the Year for 2010. Paul Joined the NAPA Autotech training team around 2011 as a contract trainer and have been doing that as well as keeping the business going. Learn of Paul’s Previous episodes HERE.

Key Talking Points: 

• Big reality is that there is enough business for everyone.
• You cannot work on all the cars that drive by your shop
• Problem is not the shop across the street or down the road
• Many shop owners have learned from their peers
• Smart shop owners are in a network and talk weekly
• There is no reason to create from scratch. Get ideas from colleagues, tweak to make them yours and implement. It is called R & D. Ripoff and Duplicate
• It is better to have friends than enemiesCall for support from a local team or network can help you solve a problem
• If you get along they can be there to help you
• You see strong comradery at events like Vision. Why can’t that get down to the very local level?
• You solve problems by having resources. Friends in your market can help you
• In Peter’s group, they used to have a Google sheet that listed all their tools so they knew what they could borrow
• If you borrow a tool twice you should own it
• You can also share business challenges and marketing ideasSome have even helped with a tech
• If you share marketing ideas use different companies to keep your identities separate
• Visit every new shop in your area. Just stop in.Ask for their opinion on things. Tools, training, etc
• Encourage the shop...

https://youtu.be/IITVoBkJ1-A

Keith Williamson is the owner of Williamson’s Repair and Tire in Bondurant, IA for over 20 years. He is a member of MWACA where he leads the Shop Owner Support Group (an amazing group of shops) in Iowa. He and his team focus on the customer experience, as well as Hybrid, Electric and emerging vehicle technologies. He recently added a solar array to his building and uses a Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Volt as shuttle vehicles and plans to add more hybrid and electric vehicles as they continually update their loaner fleet. He is a member of RLO Training’s Bottom Line Impact Group for 4 years. Listen to Keith’s previous episodes HERE.

John Long started to gain more interest in vehicles and just after his 21stbirthday he accepted a position working at National Tire & Battery as a service advisor. He knew nothing about tires or vehicle systems and how they worked, but he learned as much as he could.

In 2005, John and his wife decided it was time for a move. He arrived in San Antonio late on a Friday night after driving 24 hours straight and interviewed with Mark Roberts on Saturday morning. Mark hired John, and for the next several years he helped grow the new mechanical repair shop business. Listen to John’s previous episodes HERE.

Tyler Hubbard is the owner, I-70 Auto Service, Kansas City, MO. Listen to Tyler’s previous episodes HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• One of the best ways to grow your technicians is to pay for their training
• Consider incentives for the number of hours. See this episode with Bill Hill: FTR 075: Bill Hill – Yearly Bonus is All About a Commitment to Training
• Promote to your customer that you are closed for trainingLet them know of your commitment to stay on the cutting edge
• Use your invoices, signs and social media to promote your training commitment
• The best networking happens at the breaks and in social events during any conference, especially at Vision
• When back at work hold lunch and learns and share what each other learned and what resources are available.When you teach you learn
• Hold deep discussions on what each learned. Do this over a few weeks so you can spend some quality time on each lesson
• Team bonding is at an all-time high when you bring your team to a training conference.
• Some techs will leave shops when they will not pay for their training
• Be sure that your techs all go to different classes
• Lunch and learn where your techs share new ideas that they discovered or learned. Make this a part of your meetings
• How do we test if the training worked
• You need to want to see your people be successful
• Track comebacks to find weaknesses in training
• Training saves your tech time. Time is money
• If you are going to provide the best customer service, not training your techs hurts that commitment
• You gain a competitive advantage with your commitment to training
• You need to fix yourself and then you’ll find better ways to build a better business
• Investment in training as a percent of sales needs to be budgeted
• John Long spent $90,000 on training. It was 3% of his business
• Techs want to be trained. If they don’t it is time for them to find another shop
• Every position in...

https://youtu.be/QBQiSKOEIG4

Bambi Crozier, wife and co-owner with Neil Crozier, of Car Clinic in Lowell, AR (Northwest Arkansas), has a passion for the hardworking shop owner. Her vision to Change the Face of Automotive Care motivates and inspires every aspect of her daily operation. She entered the industry in 2012 as an entrepreneur shortly after moving back to Arkansas. She spent more than 11 years at AT&T in client relation roles and has a talent for looking at her business and the auto industry through the lens of a client. Bambi’s previous episodes HERE.

Kim Auernheimer, AAM is the Co-Owner & Business Manager of CS Automotive in Brentwood, Tennessee. CS Automotive was opened in October of 2006 in the back of a warehouse and now they call a 6,400 square foot, 10-bay shop home. Prior to joining her husband Rob in the business on a full-time basis, Kim had a career in Commercial Real Estate and Property Management. In July of 2011, she stepped out from the background of the business and joined her husband in the venture of creating an industry-leading standout

Kim continuously seeks out training for her and her entire team and put the teachings to use. Her belief in industry education has been a large influence on how much success and growth they have had over the last few years. She has a passion to improve the reputation of the Automotive Repair industry working alongside other shop owners and industry leaders to improve the overall experience of the customer from the moment they make that first call to the shop until they drive their car off the lot instilling transparency and developing trust during the entire process.

In 2017, she obtained her Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation. This is a result of 120-credit hours of coursework in several core competencies including leadership, marketing, customer relations, accounting, and several other areas of automotive repair business management. Listen to Kim’s Episodes HERE.

Brad Hazelwonder is an Insurance Marketing Representative for Federated Insurance. His areas of expertise: Business Insurance, Life & Disability Insurance, Estate Planning, Business Succession, and Key Employee Retention

Key Talking Points:

• Insurance is a contract between the business and the insurance company
• Two typesPhysical propertyWhat you own
• Your Customers property
• LiabilityYou are responsible for damage to others and their property
• You have more responsibility than an individual
• When you hire someone you say you trust that person
• When they do something wrong the liability is on you.
• These claims are going through the roof
• Yearly audits are done with your agent. Sometimes twice. They may ask:Are there name change
• New property
• Mailing address
• Changes in equipment
• Look at revenue
• Changes in payroll
• Look at loaners and the limits you want
• And many more
• LoanersYou must check if your customer has a valid license
• You must check if they have valid insurance
• No different than a rental car contract
• You need to get a signed agreement with the customer on the use of the loaner car. Your...

https://youtu.be/fi3oBrNmE9Q

Andy Bizub from Midwest Performance Cars in Chicago is also a native of Chicago. His first career was 25 years as a commodity trader. He entered the professional auto industry in 2014 by acquiring a failing shop in downtown Chicago that he was a customer of and started a turnaround. Andy now has two locations. He bought his first car at age 19, a 1972 Triumph Spitfire, which was the start of his gas, oil, and automobile obsession. Listen to Andy’s previous episodes HERE.

Maryann Croce was a banker turned business owner. Tony was a technician turned shop owner. Her biggest mistake as a new business owner was thinking she had to do it all. This is one of the reasons why her signature talk “Gain Control by Letting Go” was created. Maryann is also a member of Women in Auto Care and owns smallbizvantage.com. Hear Maryann in her previous episodes HERE.

Tony Tatich is the General Manager of TMT Automotive, Bremen, IN. He works on solidifying his current shop while building human capital. He is, currently, exploring a second location with the second shop already located. One of his present challenges is finding the right person for the second location. He thinks about his continued growth personally, business, and into multiple facilities. he is working through challenges of growth & being a Yes shop in massive growth periods.

He is looking for harmony and to build a shop that runs 100% without his involvement. He leads a staff of technicians that are 21, 28, & 33 with a senior technician @ 54, Growing out next people homegrown! He is very excited about –  2nd child on the way, 19.8% growth in the first 6 months! Find out more about Tony’s episodes HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• Where are you getting your new customers?Old fashion mailers
• Facebook groups
• Small fleets (other business owners)
• Building relationships from all sectors, building trust
• Google ad words
• Community
• Social media. Paid and organic
• Mailers
• Show you are different in your value proposition
• Google My BusinessAndy was able to cut his cost of clicks down substantially
• Growth strategy from TMT (Tony) took them some time to find their first. They have a goal of 5 storesMany have goals to grow and sell to a regional consolidator
• Time hack:Get off of Facebook
• Manage your time by theme days or activities
• Manage your tasksSend a text on your tasks to yourself and not open it until morning
• Plan your day the night before
• Find a brick of time (blocks)
• Cross of a list and get the closure of completion
• Average Repair Order GrowthLook for the ‘Smalls’Lightbulbs, air filters, cabin filters
• 400% Rule100% Inspected
• 100% Quoted
• 100% Talked to Client
• 100% of Follow Up
• Balancing with Rotation
• Be responsible for...

https://youtu.be/t3cgw0Mbc2Y

Jeremy O’Neal President and lead sales trainer for Advisorfix, began his career as a Service Advisor and moved into Service Management at the dealership level for VW, Audi, and Porsche. He consistently placed in the top 3% of Service Advisors across the nation.

With a passion for helping others, Jeremy started coaching Service Advisers in 2007. Jeremy also owns an independent auto repair shop Freedom Auto Repair in Hesperia, CA. Previous episodes HERE. Link to Advisorfix HERE.

Todd Zimmerman is Dynamic Automotive's Location leader. Previous episodes HERE.

Jayson Preston. Supervisor, Parts and Service, Curt's Service Inc., Oak Park, MI Previous episodes HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• Role Play #1 - Incoming Lead: Calling for a price on a Timing Belt. 2012 Honda Odyssey Touring 3.5 122,500 Miles. Original Belt
• Getting the car into the shop is a priority
• No dead air on phone call- connect with customer and keep them talking, guide call and establish control of the conversation 
• When you answer the phone be fully present
• Pricing is transparent, don’t be afraid of it
• Role Play #2 - Sales Presentation - Oil Change Customer. 2017 Honda CRV AWD 63,900 Miles.People deny work depending on price, trust, or no time 
• If you don’t know why the customer is turning down work then you can’t fix vehicle problem
• Brake pads- safety issue
• Give one total price instead of line by line price 
• Role Play #3 - Selling Diagnostic Services over the phone. The customer calls in and asks how much to diagnose my check engine light.
• Asked for appointment multiple times
• Need to ask the type of vehicle
• Stand ground for a testing fee- able to accurately fix the vehicle with running proper testing, taking the guesswork out of the equation
• Safe to drive? Yes can drive it to shop to get it fixed
• RCA- root cause analysis  

Resources:

• A special thanks to Jeremy O'Neal, Todd Zimmerman, and Jayson Preston for their contribution to the aftermarket.
• Books Page HERE
• Listen to all Remarkable Results Radio, For The Record and Town Hall Academy episodes.

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Panel:

• Rachael Wacha, City Auto Repair, Gainsville, FL
• Kate Jonasee, K-Tech, Sebastopol, CA (MSO)
• Donnie Hudson, Troy Auto Care, Troy, MI (MSO)
• Jeremy Winters, Service Manager at Weavers Auto Center, Shawnee, KS

Talking Points:

• Kate’s big thing was the improvement in her company culture and the psychology of herself as a leader was impactful.
• Rachael, getting yourself centered so you can make a change with your team
• Some on your team will exit themselves as they choose not to be team players
• Technical and management training is so important to the development of your team
• Donnie does cross-training so each other knows the other job
• Training happens when the culture breeds continuing education
• Localize training needs to be more hands-onHire a national trainer and split costs with fellow shop owners and set up a Saturday for a daytime hands-on
• Labor rates are a reflection of your value proposition. 
• Labor rates should be a function of the business not of the market
• If you did your job right it is never about the labor rate
• Customers want to trust you  
• Rachel sells here value vs price or labor rate
• Customers ask price or rates because they don’t know what else to ask
• Focusing on the customer is part of your culture. They will now it and feel it
• You can offer a value proposition for your customers even if you just started. Start out strong with a strong culture and commitment to your team and your customerSurround yourself with people smarter than you
• Ask other shop owners 90% of them want to help. Put your ego on the shelf. Be humble
• Weavers got completely off of flat rate. They have six-figure technicians on an hourly planYou can tie many performance bonuses
• Donnie and kate has put in place an IRA plan for their techs
• Comebacks:Handled as a #1 priorityThis show the character of the company by how you handle come backs
• Consider a system to track every come back to spot a trend
• Kate and Jeremy are watching the growth of EV’s 
• Kate and Donny are not heavily into Hybrids
• Rachael feels that having peers and colleagues helping her has had a big impact on here business
• Kate feels that her business coach has had a huge impact on her businessShe recently had 36 other shop owners touring her facility where there was knowledge transfer happening for everyoneBonding and Q & A happening
• Idea sharing
• Jeremy has seen the impact of a business coach on the business. A game-changer
• Donnie’s coaching experience is from his local business development group. Sharing, caring, teaching
• Succession planning. How do you plan to doEvery decision you make should be on succeeding the business
• Family businesses have unique dynamics. Open communication is critical
• If you can’t find a successor with the passion necessary you don’t have a good candidate

Resources:

• A special thanks to Donnie Hudson, Kate Jonasee, Rachel Wacha and Jeremy Winters for their contribution to the aftermarket.
• Books Page HERE
• Leave me an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one of them.
• Listen to all 

• Jeff Matt: I've never met an hourly paid technician or a technician with a high guarantee of pay that is a high producing technician.
• Our limited commodity is time.
• To be an effective leader we need to know that pay is just one part of an employee experience
• You need to keep your shop full
• When they produce you need to be willing to pay them
• Mike’s tech's hourly rate goes up fast when they hit the breakeven number. He has tiers of hour they need to perform
• Jeff:End of day on a Friday when a battery comes in the door....

https://youtu.be/FTGZbgwjMXE

The Panel:

Bryan Gossel, BG Automotive, Fort Collins CO  Brian's Previous Episodes HERE.

Phil Carpenter, Director of Operations, Urban AutoCare and Avalon Motorsports.

Judi Haglin and husband Dana own Haglin Automotive Inc., a full-service auto repair shop in Boulder, CO, and they’ve been leaders in the Boulder auto repair industry since 1981.

Judi and Dana have a super working relationship and they pay attention to details, share a core value; ‘Everyone Speaks’ that is part of their strong business culture.

They received Motor Age’s Top Shop honor in 2015. Key to their success is they know their roles and together make a strong business owner. They say, “Fixing cars is secondary, we are primarily solving our customer’s problems”. Judi’s previous episodes HERE.

Brad Pellman first started working in the automotive industry at the age of 15 and over his career has held a wide variety of jobs at both dealerships and independent repair shops. In 1995 this dream of owning his own shop became a reality when he opened up Pellman’s Automotive in Boulder, CO with his wife, Lisa.

Brad is ASE master certified and AAM designated as well. He is currently on the Board of Directors for ASE and ASA Colorado, with past board involvement with CCPN and the TECHNET Automotive Council. He has had the added privilege of being designated as one of the Motor Age Top shops in the country. And hopes to continue to raise the awareness and importance of Independent automotive repair across the country. Brad’s previous episodes HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• Training is Maintenance
• Why is the participation low at so many regional and/or national events
• Listen to the commitment from Phil Carpenter as to the number of venues and how many of his team are going to matter how far including Vision, ASA Colorado Summit and STX
• Localize training with your fellow shop owners. Don’t call them competitors call them allies
• Classes for technicians, service advisers and owners
• The power of networking beyond the training
• Build grassroots in your community and create a culture of sharing
• Be the hand up not the handout. Give.
• Also, be willing to receive and then implement a great idea. Don’t regret for years not implementing
• Realize that there is enough business for everyone. You cannot fix all the cars
• A good shop wants the shop across the street to be as good as them
• Same faces show up for training
• When will shops hit the wall because they are not training? Many may have already
• Bring in national trainers to your marketplace, get together with your allies and split the costs
• Have all local competitors work together on training. There is no competition when it comes to the power and value of training
• If you don’t implement the key things you learn you just wasted your time
• When you teach you learn
• ADAS training should be required for all owners, techs and service advisers. Understanding the complexities and calibration routines will help communicate with your customer and respect the technology while working on an ADAS equipped vehicle
• Asking for help is a sign of strength not weakness
• Consider a training bonus at year-end
• Pay for all training
• Do not ask for a written commitment to stay with the shop after you invest in training
• Find a close friend who owns a shop and work together as...