Growing gracefully: Ross shares lessons from building his business

Most 19-year-olds, fresh out of their apprenticeship, aren’t thinking about buying a workshop. But Ross Menniti wasn’t most teenagers.

I was very ambitious at that age,” Ross said. “I still am, but I was full of confidence. I just really wanted to get ahead, and I understood that pretty well the only way to do that in this industry was by owning your own business.”

Ross had already started his own mobile mechanic business when a friend mentioned that Midway Autoport in Ryde in north-west Sydney—the area where he grew up—was for sale. Ross saw an opportunity.

“I went and spoke to the guy who owned it and we struck up a deal,” Ross said. “Within two weeks, I was running the show.”

He’d not long turned 20. That was fifteen years ago, and in that time Ross has transformed the business. He’s grown it from two staff to four, tripled the daily volume of vehicles being serviced, invested in technology—including an innovative app that’s about to attract a lot of attention in the automotive aftermarket—and focused on improving processes and efficiency.

There have been plenty of challenges along the way. Ross describes those early years as “sink or swim”. Fortunately, he’d gained some insight into how to run a workshop during his apprenticeship, when he and the other apprentices were often left to open and close, order parts, deal with customers and issue invoices by themselves.

“It removed that mental barrier for me very early on; I saw that it could be done,” he said.

Being so young, perhaps Ross’s biggest challenge in those early days was establishing his credibility with Midway’s customers.

“I felt I had a point to prove to everyone, so I did whatever I could,” he said. “I went above and beyond—and I still do go above and beyond—to do whatever I could to ensure customer satisfaction, because people could see my age in my face, whether they said it or not. I would try very hard to win their approval.”

There were also the usual realities of running a business. An apprentice he inherited with the business had to be let go (although they’re still friends today). He had to find and learn to manage staff. He had to learn about accounting, financial management and workshop workflows.

“Being as organised as possible is fundamental,” he said. “Having a process for the how the day flows. We have a cap on the amount of cars we can take in, which at the moment is roughly seven or eight, plus 10 to 15 for registration inspections each day. Get the bookings in, get the cars dropped off early, take them straight out for a test drive, get the reports written, then within an hour you need to be sitting down, making those phone calls, getting approvals. Nothing gets done without approval.”

Ross said he’s strict about the kinds of services and repairs the workshop takes on.

“We know what we can do and we don’t get in over our head,” he said. “If you can’t do it, it’s better to give the customer a recommendation and move them along. I’ve never had someone say they were offended because I sent them elsewhere. Communication is key. It’s sticking to the process, making sure the work flows, being transparent with customers, and just earning their trust through competency.”

These days Ross is focused on digital innovation. After three years of development, he recently launched Autoport, a comprehensive vehicle management app that he believes represents the future of customer service in the automotive aftermarket.

“It’s essentially a virtual garage for customers,” Ross said. “They put in their registration plate and their car’s details are automatically uploaded. It tracks when their insurance and services are due and it stores all their documents, policies and service records about the car.”

It also does everything from locating service points to explaining dashboard warning lights to finding the nearest petrol station and details of their current fuel price.

The app provides a central channel for customers to book in services, receive their invoices, view inspection reports, and receive reminders when services are due.

Ross gives it to his customers and the public for free, and its available as a subscription for any workshop to use.

At the business end, there’s a second app that takes bookings, enquiries and payments and is used to issue inspection reports.

It’s all aligned with Ross’s wider business philosophy—the one that’s seen him build a successful business by the age of 35.

“Everything works like clockwork; that’s where the secret really is,” he said. “When you do that day after day, week after week, month after month, everyone who comes in leaves smiling, happy and saying thank you. We keep the workshop immaculate. We never have a situation where a customer comes in at the time we told them to and the car isn’t ready. You can’t make any issue experienced in the workshop the customer’s problem. It’s our job to fix problems and make it look like a magic trick.”