Ratchet+Wrench - December 2022

The Advocate

Kristi Hudson, WIACs Female Shop Owner of the Year, is on a mission to help young women embrace auto care as a top career choice.

In this business, downtime isn’t an option. Nobody knows that better than NAPA. That’s why we’ve built America’s largest network of parts and care, here to give you the support you need to keep your business firing on all cylinders.

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BY CHRIS JONES

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Chris Jones

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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Ryan Hillebrand, Urb’s Garage; John Miller, Fifth Gear Automotive; Rob Choisser, Choisser Import Auto Services; Doug Grills, AutoStream Car Care Center; Lucas Underwood, L&N Performance Auto Repair; Bruce Howes, Atlantic Motorcar Center

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The Future Awaits

THE AUTO INDUSTRY IS ALL IN. ARE YOU?

If we’re to accept the future according to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, then the world has 40 years exactly to go from internal combustion engines to fly ing cars. The Jetsons, which took place in 2062 featured vehicles that not only flew, but also collapsed into a briefcase (how’s that for nifty?).

And while you and I both know we won’t be arriving at VISION 2062 in a Tesla Skyster, the chances may be greater that we get there in 2042 by EV.

In this month’s issue, we take a look at how shops need to prepare for electric vehicles. With the federal government ag gressively pushing states to embrace elec tric vehicles, the time to prepare is now. We spoke with Craig Van Batenburg, Carolyn Coquillette, and Joe Pegararo (p. 26) to get their take on how shops need to ease into this brave new auto care world with respect to EV training, hybrid in take, ADAS work, and the need for shop owners to think about how these tech nologies will change the everyday work ings of their shops.

And while shop owners need to stay up on trends, columnist Aaron Stokes (p. 44) advises shop owners to not be too hasty at the same time. That following the in formation matters, but don’t be the early adopter who invests hard-earned money without first seeing a clear pattern and a forward path emerge.

Perhaps something to file under things not considered, EV weight is causing quite the stir on U.S. highways. Sarah Amico, an executive chairperson with Jack Cooper, a North American car haul company that has delivered finished vehicles for many auto manu facturers talks about the challenge of transporting EVs (p. 21). According to a CNet report, “an F-150 Lightning’s battery alone weighs around 1,800 pounds, leading to a truck that weighs about 1,000 pounds more than the gasengine version, even without an engine or transmission.” This means a higher

expense to ship EVs and longer for cus tomers and dealerships to receive them.

There’s still much to learn about EVs, as we learned from Floridians dur ing Hurricane Ian, and I think that’s exciting. Much the same as a software beta test or a clinical trial, we have to see the successes and failures in real time. The latter doesn’t mean the product is faulty, flawed, or will never catch on. It just means a better way has to emerge for the benefit of consumers and that means understanding how to repair it for their sake as well.

As we close out an exciting 2022, I invite you to get involved in the ADAPT Summit event, an event aimed at keep ing repairers up to date with the latest news, trends, training, and influencers who are on the cutting edge of new tech nology and electrification. And with its timeless names, we’ll not only be the first to make sure you get the scoop on EVs and ADAS, but we’ll be the first to let you know when the next Ford Anglia takes flight over England.

CHRIS JONES, EDITOR

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JUMP START

TROY AUTO’S

Michigan-based auto repair shop wins three major industry awards in 2022

BY CHRIS JONES PHOTOS BY PAT DURHAM

One of major league baseball’s most chal lenging and sought-after accolades is the triple crown. To achieve it, a player must end the season leading their respective leagues in home runs, RBIs, and batting average. In 2022, the auto care industry honored a triple crown winner of its own—Troy Auto Care— fittingly a half-hour away from Detroit, where the last MLB triple crown was won.

Co-owners Kristi Hudson, Donnie Hudson and Frank Hudson

“When we won that NAPA AutoCare Center [of the Year] … that was just amazing. We have been celebrating that all year and then Kristi gets the phone call that she won Female Shop owner of the Year through Women in Auto Care and then last week we get the phone call that we’re AAPEX Shop of the Year. I was just like, a triple crown. I mean, that is just incredible, and I’m so passionate, I’m so excited about my team,” says Donnie Hudson, co-owner of Troy Auto Care.

Prioritizing People

To fully appreciate how a family of shops like Troy Auto Care, which has three locations in suburban Detroit, can win three major industry awards in a calendar year, you’ll need to start from its beginning.

Troy Auto Care opened in 1958 as two-bay Shell gas sta tion. Co-owner Frank Hudson, who worked alongside his father for a number of years, says the elder Hudson impressed upon both boys to “always take care of your customers and always do the right thing.” That directive remains a founda tional tenant of the shop’s culture, which went from a Shell shop to a NAPA AutoCare Center 40 years later in 1998.

“My dad was in the army during Korea, and when he came out, he always said you treat your fellow person as you would want to be treated and be fair. And we took that all through business our whole lives, and it’s worked very well,” says Frank.

And those aren’t empty words for the Hudsons. Within their three shops, there are 113 employees who aren’t referred to as such. They’re not even called team members. The Hud sons are too salt-of-the-earth for superficiality. In their shop, the people on their payroll are called family members.

“The culture here is family-oriented. Each week, we have team spirit day every Friday. We always have challenges. Our employees are involved with the decision-making. We have daily huddles, weekly meetings,” says Donnie. “I have a thing for my technicians, my managers. They don’t get vacation time. They don’t get sick time. It’s all unlimited. They get what they need. I had a manager have a baby. He needed a few weeks. He’s getting his few weeks off with pay. It’s no problem because I know what they do for us on daily basis, and I’m proud that we can do that.”

Kristi Hudson says it starts from the shop’s hiring process. The Hudsons want every employee to have a stake in the company’s growth and longevity.

“We’re honest with them, we tell them what kind of atmosphere we have, we tell them our expectations. Basically, our goal is to see that every employee that comes in here succeeds,” Kristi says. “Our end goal is to be able to have enough shops where we

Hail to the Chief Outside of running an award-winning shop, Donnie Hudson is a fire chief.

can let our key employees have a stake in that and help us out.”

For Frank Hudson, growth is about relational cohesiveness. Does everyone have the back of another?

“The big thing is teamwork. Can I get everybody to work together as a team?” Frank says.

month, and NAPA sponsors the classes and send guys there each month,” Donnie says.

Community Involvement

The Hudsons are also passionate about their community and in finding ways to give back, whether to charities or in el evating the profile of the trades within schools. It’s something they actively participate in and because of that exam ple, their team members choose to serve alongside them.

“Every community event that we have, we always have a lot of our employees show up and help out, not because I told them to be there, but because they want to be there. So anytime we do things in the community, they want to be involved. Some don’t even live in this community, but they want to be involved because they’re part of the family,” says Donnie.

For Kristi, service has meant returning to her alma mater, Oakland Schools Technical Campuses, Oak Tech as the locals call it. She wants students to discover automotive in a way they may not have seen before, particularly for teen girls.

“It’s making sure that the schools

are recruiting them the proper way and making sure that they have the proper equipment and tools for the kids,” Kristi says.

She says when she attended Oak Tech, the equipment was donated and outdated, and to attract and keep the attention of to day’s kids—all digital native and computer savvy—they need the latest equipment, particularly those that are computer-based, which kids today are comfortable learning on.

“Outdated donated equipment doesn’t get me excited,” says Kristi. “If we can get them top of the line [equipment] like in my shop ... we can show them all the possibilities. You don’t have to be covered in grease at the end of the day. You got scan tools and computers and iPads. They’re technicians.”

From this partnership, Troy Auto Care gains youth apprentices who get first-hand opportunities within the shop.

“We have seven apprenticeship kids that come out of high school then into that NAPA apprenticeship program, the two-year college program, to be trained to be technicians,” says Don nie Hudson.

The Cherry on Top of the Trifecta

Of course, there’s so much more to share about Troy Auto to further validate why the company and its owners have been so celebrated in 2022, first through NAPA, then Women in Auto Care, and finally AAPEX. For Kristi, who was told she couldn’t work in the field because of her gender, she now carries the mantle of be ing recognized as one of the best within it.

“Just the fact that they chose to nomi nate me meant a ton to me. I was in the automotive field way back in high school, and I started to go to college for it and I was informed I was a female, and I was in the wrong field. So, I listened to somebody, and I became a firefighter paramedic,” she says. “Now that I’m back in the field, my big goal is getting the young students, especially the females, into this field and they need a voice behind them.”

She says that’s what the organization has given to her.

“Basically, Women in Auto Care helped give me my voice back to stand up to people and say, ‘No, this is what I want to do. I can do it.’ And look, I did do it. Women and Auto Care helped me with that.”

FRANK HUDSON CO-OWNER TROY AUTO CARE

“THE BIG THING IS TEAMWORK. CAN I GET EVERYBODY TO WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM?”

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Shop Fix Academy and Leads Near Me Announce Partnership

Leads Near Me has formed a partnership with Shop Fix Academy to work together to better elevate current and new clients.

The preferred vendor status, as the relationship is dubbed, will give each businesses clients access to coaching (for Leads Near Me clients) and digital advertising (for Shop Fix Clients).

“Your shop will grow dramatically by working with Leads Near Me and Shop Fix Academy,” said Ryan Burton, founder and CEO of Leads Near Me. “They offer best-in-class coaching paired with our marketers that know how to increase your car count. It’s a lethal combination. We know because we’ve already done this hundreds of times.”

The two companies have several upcoming projects in the works.

“We are recommending that Shop Fix members use Leads Near Me for their digital marketing solutions. We will be working together in the future to make this an even more powerful relationship,” said Aaron Stokes.

Hanvey: Right to Repair Delayed a 7th Time

In his opening remarks leading into the 2022 AAPEX Opening Session, Bill Hanvey, presi dent and CEO of the Auto Care Association (ACA), announced that Right to Repair was delayed again for the seventh time.

Hanvey said automakers called compli ance to the law “impossible” and he encour aged the aftermarket industry to continue to

“apply the pressure for next year” saying the fight will go to Maine.

“This is a consumer choice issue, and we’ll make sure the vehicle owners needs are met,” said Hanvey. “Be prepared to activate your employees and your customers in this new Congress.”

He also called on shops to be more proac tive, recommending they choose a dedicated ambassador for their companies for the pur pose of interacting with legislators on behalf of the industry and their customers.

“Send a letter to your legislators. Vote early, vote often, do it now,” said Hanvey. “As we work through the legisla tive side of Right to Repair, we’re also working on the technical side. AAPEX isn’t just parts, it’s partnership.”

Paul McCarthy, president and chief op erating officer of the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA). McCarthy spoke alongside Hanvey, reiterating the importance of full industry involvement.

“Let your voice be headed in those issues that matter most to you. Speak up to your legis lator,” McCarthy said. “You are the business people who are creating our future. What you bring to work every day is creating this future and raising the bar. We are proud to support you and the work you do every single day.”

Tesla Recalls 24K Vehicles for Seat Belt Issues

Tesla has announced a recall of around 24,000 vehicles, according to Reuters.

The recall impacts some 2017-2022 Model 3 vehicles. There may be an issue with the second row left seat belt buckle and second-row center seat belt anchor

in that they, “may have been incorrectly reassembled during vehicle service,” ac cording to Reuters.

Tesla told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it has had reports of 105 service repairs for vehicles that could be related to this recall, and that includes warranty claims. These reports are from vehicles in the United States.

Proposed New Jersey Bill Seeks In-Car Subscription Restrictions

A bill introduced last month in New Jersey wants to take action against in-car subscriptions.

According to Jalopnik, Assembly Bill No. 4519 was introduced in September by New Jersey Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D - Camden and Gloucester.) The proposed bill would make it illegal for automakers to, “impose subscriptions for safety and con venience features, if the components that enable them are already pre-installed in the vehicle,” according to Jalopnik.

“The provisions of this bill do not apply to any third-party service provider that offers features such as satellite radio or in-car WiFi,” states the bill. Features that are a “live” service or need to have an active investment and development from an entity would still be allowed to use the subscription model.

If enacted, the bill proposes a penalty of no more than $10,000 for the first offense and no more than $20,000 for an additional offense. Jalopnik reinforced that this bill is for subscription services only, meaning that one-time and post-sale charges would still be legal pursuits.

THE SHOP OF THE FUTURE

While there are more ICEs on the road now than ever, tomor row’s streets and highways will start to look a little different. Industry trends like ADAS and electric vehicles (EVs) are looking to take center stage as the next advances in automotive technology. While just 17% of respondents are currently set up for ADAS work, 61% intend to invest in the technology by 2027.

As we get closer to 2030 when EVs are expected to become more common, 41%

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The HEAVY Road to Electric Vehicles

BY HANA BUBSER

Part of being involved in the incredibly interconnected automotive industry involves staying current. This is especially important with electric vehicles. Conversations surrounding EVs are constantly changing, and it can be to keep up with all the trends and challenges.

Sarah Amico is an executive chair person with Jack Cooper, a North American car haul company that has been around since 1928. Jack Cooper delivers finished vehicles for many auto manufacturers including General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Stellantis, and more.

“As you look at the multibilliondollar investments all of our custom ers are making in the EV market, or some of our customers who are already in the EV market like a Tesla or Rivian,” Amico says. “We have to think about how that potentially could disrupt the supply chain anew.”

“One of the things about electric batteries … is that they’re heavier,” Amico says. “They’re heavier than ICE engines, and in many cases it’s a significant increase and weight.”

Amico predicts that, in the long run, technology will be developed to make these batteries lighter. She lists the already in creased efficiency of electric vehicle charg ing and the increased lifespan of a vehicle’s charge as examples of developments in a similar vein. But for right now, heavy EV batteries bring about a unique challenge.

“It poses an interesting conundrum for the finished vehicle logistics supply chain

in that we are currently limited by law to 80,000 pounds of weight on our rigs,” Ami co says. “For [many] car haul companies, the way that their cost basis will work is largely fixed around per truckload.”

Amico says that independent of the number of units put on a truck, the cost base is fixed. She explains that the price per vehicle and the number of vehicles that can be put on a rig for each trip is called a load factor.

Amico says if vehicle weights increase substantially, this means the load factor will decline. As a result, cars could be more ex pensive to ship, and shipping times could be longer. But it also provides an opportunity to look at the problem through a regulatory and legislative lens.

“We’re going to have to look at how to increase throughput as those vehicle weights increase, and one way to do that is to allow a minimal weight exemption for car haulers to carry more vehicles over short distances in a way that doesn’t disrupt the supply chain again as EVs become more and more of the percentage of cars consumers are purchas ing,” Amico says.

She points to a couple of examples such as a recent 2,000-pound weight ex emption for natural gas-powered Class 8 trucks and zero-emission propulsion heavy trucks made by Congress. Addi tionally, she mentions an authorization by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in November 2021 that spearheaded an 8,000-pound weight variant for trucks leaving the port of California.

This is to say that Amico sees what work has already been done and believes

that it is possible to keep the momentum going for car haul. She says that many car haulers drop one or two units within the first 100 to 150 miles, so a limit on the radius of a weight exemption in the first few 100 miles could be effective.

“A 4,000 to 8,000-pound weight vari ance would probably be enough to keep our supply chains really steady during the transition to EVs,” Amico says.

This story has been edited for brevity. To read the full story and listen to its accompanying podcast episode, visit adaptautomotive.com.

Sarah Amico of car haul company Jack Cooper details the challenge of heavy electric vehicles and road weight limits

SARAH AMICO Executive chairperson for Jack Cooper Investments

Hailey Auto Clinic

BY CHRIS JONES PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY MELANIE GRADY PHOTOGRAPHY

At first glance, Hailey’s Auto Clinic might strike you as a swanky circa 1950s diner complete with metallic exterior, block glass en trance, and neon lighting. Owner Adam Dunn conceived the design with the help of a builder and architect. He admits the block glass was a touch he requested, telling the team, ‘Oh, my God! That’s such a cool idea. We got to do it.’ The shop, built in 2019, also has glass bay doors.

It was a three-way design team. It took all three of us to get it done,” Dunn says. “Build ings are expensive, so you might as well have fun with it. At the end of the day, I wanted anyone that would drive past the shop to know this is a shop that cares about the final product. It isn’t just about the money. It’s someone that cares from top to bottom about the experience and about the entire repair.”

Dunn has a penchant for minimalism and efficient workspaces, which is why his waiting room and shop are both scaled to fit the need.

“When you walk through the doors, it’s a relatively small office. We’ve got like a refrigerator full of drinks and like a little snack bar there and a coffee machine. I don’t have much artwork up or anything like that. I just wanted it to be clean, not cluttery because I know if you try and do that much business out of a small space, you’re going to attract clutter,” says Dunn, adding he does have a few waiters who stick around daily for ap pointment oil changes

All Hands on Deck

One of the unique aspects of Hailey’s Auto Clinic is it’s rooftop deck. It’s a hid den gem with a view of the mountains.

“We had a deck built, and we have shop meetings up there,” Dunn says. “We can watch the Fourth of July fireworks and the Fourth of July parade right there. We make use of it as much as possible. It’s got great views.”

Glass Doors & Close Quarters

Dunn says he chose to have glass bay doors to add a layer to his commitment to transparency, in the most literal way. The shop has two bays in front and three at the back. Most of the scan tools are Wi-Fi enabled and technicians are never more than a few steps from any equip ment. That’s by design.

“There’s zero wasted space because wasted space is expensive. We just we all pack in there like sardines and crank out as much as we can. There’s just not a whole lot of breathing room, but we get it done,” says Dunn.

Clean, Not Cluttery

Columns STRAIGHT TALK

Joe Marconi

THE TRUTH ABOUT EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

At lunch a few weeks ago, a shop owner friend, we’ll call him Al, asked me, “Joe, how do I motivate my employees?” Al owns a 10bay repair shop in upstate New York. I asked him to tell me what was really on his mind. He said his employees, for the most part, are fine. But they don’t seem self-motivated. Then Al said, “I’m thinking of raising everyone’s pay. That should motivate them, shouldn’t it?”

Here are a few truths on motivation. The most important thing to remember is that no one can motivate the wrong people. Employees that align with your vision and culture will do all they can to lift your company toward success. While pay is crucial, throwing money at the wrong employees will do noth ing. In fact, it may hurt your business, especially when others see that you may be rewarding those who are not pulling their weight.

Surrounding yourself with the right people is your greatest asset. The connec tion between your company’s success and employing the right people must never be underestimated. When I look back, my best years in business were those when I had a team comprised of the right people.

Another thing to consider is the link between leadership and its impact on

motivation. The vision of the leader is a driving force for any organization. How ever, great vision means very little when you employ people who are not aligned with you and who are not self-motivated.

The reason why self-motivation is so essential is that self-motivated people do the right things for the right reasons. They strive to excel and want to con tribute to the company’s overall success. Self-motivated people align their per sonal goals with the company’s goals.

An even bigger issue is when the boss or manager demotivates their employees due to poor leadership. The right people want to be part of the company’s future. They use their talents to improve the company’s suc cess and to elevate their achievements. Leaders must be careful not to dis courage self-motivation. Leaders can help motivate people by listening, praising, and recognizing employee accomplishments.

I told Al to look at himself first: “Have you slipped lately and not been the leader you should be? Have you become complacent?” I also advised him to honestly assess his employees, “Do you have a team of superstars? Or

j.marconi@eliteworldwide.com

ratchetandwrench.com/marconi

are some of your employees bringing down the rest?” Remember that one bad apple in the barrel will affect the entire bunch.

Every company needs strong lead ership. But your ability to attract and retain the right people will become your pathway to future growth and long-term success. With the right people and the right leadership, the is sue of employee motivation takes care of itself.

Joe Marconi has more than four decades of experience in the automotive repair industry. He is the former owner of Osceola Garage in Baldwin Place, N.Y., a business development coach for Elite Worldwide, and co-founder of autoshopowner.com.

BUILDING THE SHOP OF THE FUTURE

BY CHRIS JONES

The automotive aftermarket is moving fast towards what many have dubbed “the elec tric future.” New vehicles, new technology, and new players in the game are emerging at a rapid pace to get a piece of the pie. For auto repair shop owners, this is a time of watchfulness and preparation, but most important, action.

While internal-combustion engines continue to be the dominant factor driving service and revenue, according to the 2022 Ratchet+Wrench Industry Survey, sponsored by AutoZone, 61% of the 904 respondents indicated that by 2027, they would make investments in providing ADAS services, and 41% said EVs would be an area of service focus. When asked if they were prepared for ADAS-equipped vehicles today, 83% of shops were not.

Ratchet+Wrench interviewed three in dustry professionals regarding hybrids, EVs, and ADAS. Each shared how today’s auto re pair shop could become tomorrow’s shop of the future.

Data from the 2022 Ratchet+Wrench Industry Survey are sponsored by AutoZone.

Carolyn Coquilette, founder of Luscious Garage

LEADING EDGE

SHOPS ALREADY SPECIALIZING IN EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

HYBRID REPAIR

EV REPAIR

Craig Van Batenburg, CEO of Automotive Career Development Center

Joe Pegararo, owner of Pegoraro Auto Repair

TOOLBOX

Find the Ultimate Industry Mentor

Proven strategies to help you choose the right person to guide you in business

BY KIMANZI CONSTABLE

According to the Ratchet & Wrench 2022 Industry Survey, the shops that grossed the most revenue had a shop owner un der the teaching of a coach or mentor.

There’s no denying the value in being guided by someone who’s built the kind of shop your strive to create, learned lessons through experience, and can offer advice that saves time and makes a shop more money.

“Shops should have a mentor before they get a shop—yesterday is not soon enough,” says Cecil Bullard, CEO and President of The Institute for Automotive Business Excellence.

“You don’t know what you don’t know—and that’s the problem. You don’t know the right questions to ask. Mentors have made the mistakes you don’t want to make, and they can teach you. They can save you time and heartache, and consum ers want to do business with shops with smart mentors.”

Hiring mentors and coaches is a strat egy that pays dividends, but it’s essential

to ensure you hire someone who is the right fit. Here’s what you need to know about hiring mentors and coaches.

How to Know When to Select a Mentor

Bullard, an industry veteran, believes you should hire a mentor even as you’re opening your shop. He notes that the shop owners they’ve worked with have seen their overall profit increase from $70,000 to $150,000 through mentorship, and some shop owners are experiencing $60,000 months (in profit).

“Mentorship teaches things you don’t know and leads to real results. You learn how to price better, find suppliers, and can absorb the experience. You can learn a different way of thinking,” says Bullard.

You’ll know it’s time to hire a mentor when you can self-assess and identify your needs. Building a shop is about more than employees and equipment—a growth mind set and having the right strategies can be the

difference between tremendous profit or a shop that’s not growing.

“Our industry has not done a great job historically of creating mentor ships,” says Jimmy Alauria, owner of 3A Automotive & Diesel Repair, and CEO of Victory TeamBuilding Group.

“We’re in a position now where the average Master Technician is about in their mid-50s—we’re running out of people. It’s a requirement now of everyone in the automotive industry to implement mentorship programs in our shops—it’s a matter of survival. We should look at multiple ways to implement mentorship in our shops because we’re in an industry that re quires hands-on training.”

Evaluate what information you’re lacking. Think through each aspect of your shop and where they could be an improvement. Look for mentors that could help you in those areas.

How to Locate and Vet a Mentor

We live in the digital information age, which means we have access to people and informa tion in ways that were not previously possible. You can find mentors online or in person.

“You should have more than one men tor—one local and one online,” says Bul lard. “Choose coaching and consulting companies to work with that are the right fit and give you the answers you’re look ing for. Every shop should be involved with the national associations because of what they can do for you. The owners that participate in mentorships have more successful shops.”

Bullard notes that there are online groups offering mentorship at no cost. He points to ward podcasts and other online resources to get started in your mentorship journey. He says there are different types of men tors in your community, and to always sur round yourself with people who are smarter than you.

Once you find mentors and coaches, ensure they’re the right fit. You want mentors that fit your style but also have the experience you could benefit from. Look for testimonials from those they’ve worked with, what experience they bring, and what level of success they’ve achieved. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

How to Set Goals When Working With a Mentor

With clarity on the need for a mentor and

having found one, set goals for your time with a mentor. You’ll go nowhere if you don’t have clarity on what direction to take. Each mentoring relationship will only be as successful as the goals you set—determine what success is in the relationship.

Get clarity on all the personal and pro fessional goals you want to accomplish, and make sure your mentor has that list. Giving a mentor a clear list of objectives gives each of your the best opportunity to achieve your goals.

“You can’t have unrealistic expectations with mentorship,” says Alauria. “We can’t expect to go from $250,000 to $10 million. We need to set targets that gradually get us more towards an ideal scene. Think about metrics that are trackable and realistic to attach expectations to. Most of the time, you’re doing things right, but just need clarity on some of the pieces that help you reach your next level of growth.”

How to Know When It’s Time to Move On From a Mentor

Every relationship eventually reaches a point where you question if it’s wise to move forward. Sometimes you can out grow mentor relationships, and it’s good to know when that point is reached. Practically, you don’t want to pay for a service you’re not benefiting from any more.

“In this day and age, business and life have become so difficult that shop

owners could benefit from someone guiding them,” says Mike Bennett, pro gram manager for the Automotive Train ing Institute.

“Sometimes, you bring in a mentor to help you solve a specific need. However, it may be time to move on when that potential has been realized. You have to ask yourself if the value is still there—are you still growing? You can’t be afraid to move on from a mentor if the value is no longer there.”

Evaluate every mentor situation you’re in. Even if it’s a free Facebook group, it costs you one of your most valuable re sources: time. Determine if you’re still getting value from the mentorship, and make the best decision for your time, money, and mindset. The goal should be constant growth.

Find a Mentor

Finding mentors and coaches for your self and your employees has tremendous benefits. Investing in yourself is a busi ness growth strategy that leads to more profit and a stronger shop.

Be sure to vet mentors, change them when needed, and follow their advice. Advice is great, but it will mean noth ing if the mentor’s advice is not imple mented. The future growth of your shop depends on your ability to surround yourself with the right people—men tors are a good option.

FROM SUCCESSION TO SUCCESS

How Nichole Bennecoff saved her family’s shop after suddenly finding herself in charge without a plan

BY CHRIS JONES

For future shop owners inheriting the busi ness from a family member, having a tangible succession plan and being eased into owner ship is the ideal process. According to the 2022 Ratchet+Wrench Industry Survey, 25% of shop owners expect this to be the process by which they hand off their shops to their successors. But that’s not what happened to Nichole Bennecoff. She found herself sud denly thrust into the shop owner role with no prior guidance.

The Backstory

In 2018, Nichole Bennecoff was thrust into ownership of The Subie Guys, a Traverse City, Michigan-based Subaru repair shop, when her father abruptly exited the business. She

entered the business with her mother and younger brother—a technician content only with turning his wrench. She was left to navigate uncharted territory. “I had no idea what a KPI (key performance in dicators) was when I started that journey,” says Bennecoff. “You only know what you know, right?”

The Problem

Without a clear succession plan passed down from her father, Bennecoff had to learn the ins and outs of running an auto repair business on the fly. Though she loved business, she didn’t know the auto care busi ness and invariably had to deal with a steep learning curve.

“It was a lot of digging and learning and trying to figure out where we’re at as a business and what our status was at that time,” Bennecoff says.

Beyond learning how to operate an auto repair shop, she had the challenge of being in the shadow of her father in the eyes of the customers, who noticed his absence from the business.

“When my dad had been the face of the business, his personality and how he treated people was a big part of the busi ness’s success, which I think you see a lot with family businesses,” Bennecoff says.

Lastly, she found herself face to face with the problem of zeal without knowledge.

“It can be really overwhelming when you have the desire to do something, but you do not know where to start,” she says. “I asked around … [did] a lot of Google

searches, read trade articles, and read Ratchet+Wrench stories of other shop owners and what they did.”

The Solution

One of Bennecoff’s first moves was to get a snapshot of the shop’s financial health. She hired a bookkeeper to review the shop’s financials, which were found to be “not completely up to date” she says. Next, she enlisted the help of a few coaches along the way—Gerry and Laura Frank, Bill Hill and Leigh Anne Best, and Mike Tatich. Finally, she immersed herself in individual and collaborative education, like read ing Ratchet+Wrench and attending the Ratchet+Wrench Management Conference.

“[I did] a lot of research and digging for resources,” Bennecoff says. “Then I went to my first Ratchet+Wrench conference and I was just blown away … I was think ing, ‘Whoa, this is so much bigger than I even had any idea about, there’s so much to learn’ It was humbling and scary, but that was what started me on my journey, and in the last four years, it’s been a very fast growth.”

The Aftermath

Since taking over the shop full-time in 2018, Bennecoff has taken The Subie Guys to its most profitable time in its 24-year existence, growing revenue on average of 20% to 22% year over year. She attributes it to understanding the business, how it works, and following proven methods, like tracking KPI to set goals for the shop.

“It’s the humility to accept that you don’t know everything, but there are peo ple who do know a lot more than you. So, find the people that do know, learn from them, but be gutsy enough to do it. Once you’re aligned with people that can help you, your chances of success are drastically increased,” Bennecoff says.

The Takeaway

Succeeding without a succession plan is difficult, but possible. Once you step back, take inventory of the business, and figure out where your strengths and weaknesses lie in growing the business, then you can make the necessary adjustments and create a profitable shop.

“Before, it was like, the cars come in, we work on them, we get paid,” says Ben necoff, Once you learn the factors, you start to see that you can do things on purpose.”

She also relied on setting goals, which works like gamification. In getting her team to buy in, Bennecoff was able to el evate the productivity of the entire shop and get that momentum behind her.

“We never set goals in our business before, nothing that was tangible. So be ing able to share key KPIs with our team that first year when we started doing that, we had the goal up on the board, and ev erybody was working together to reach our sales goal for the year. And for the first time, you start to see the light bulb go off in people’s minds. To me, that’s life changing.”

How to have effective one-on-ones

Using regular meetings to inspire team growth

BY ALISON JOHNSON

Most auto care centers have regular staff meetings, sometimes even every morning. But according to shop owners who swear by one-on-one meetings with their employees, those gatherings aren’t enough.

Individual sessions, they say, are where they can truly learn about an employee’s short- and long-term goals and—at work and at home.

At Done with Care Auto Repair in Mer riam, Kansas, owner David Roman schedules recurring weekly meetings with his four tech nicians and one service advisor. He calls the closed-door, lunchtime appointments in his of

fice “personal development interviews.”

The first part of each 30-minute meeting focuses on accomplishments, concerns, com plaints, and ideas about shop operations. The rest is a free-ranging chat about the future: potential training and certification opportu nities, budgeting concerns, investment op tions, family plans, hobbies, bucket list items and much more.

“If we’re invested in them, they’re in vested in us,” Roman says. “In my mind, the shops that will succeed in the next three to five years are the ones that can retain ex

perienced, skilled technicians. Even if you can’t out-pay another shop, you can offer that personal connection and show em ployees that you want to help them grow as people.”

The sessions also have taken pressure off him as a leader, he adds: “The thought that an owner has to come up with every thought or solution for a business is ludicrous. Empower your employees. If someone has a great idea, try it out or bring it to a group meeting.”

Rob Choisser, owner of Choisser Import Auto Services in Davidsonville, Maryland,

aims to hold individual meetings with his 10 employees at least once every two weeks. Choisser, himself a former auto technician, wants them to feel their job is about more than a paycheck.

“If they don’t see a bigger purpose–if ev erything is just transactional–they’re not as likely to buy in,” he notes.

“They’re also probably not going to handle stressful or busy days as well. To me, one-on-ones are vitally important to staying on the same page and staying cohesive as a team. If you feel someone cares about you, you’ll work harder.”

Both Roman and Choisser use group meetings very differently than one-on-one ses sions, while never substituting one for the other.

Roman has a rule to discusses only positive points and celebrate wins during the larger gatherings, leaving the nega tives to private conversations that have replaced annual employee evaluations at his shop.

If a single auto technician isn’t cleaning cars well before returning them to customers, for example, Roman covers that with the in dividual rather than bringing it up as a prob lem to the entire team.

“Otherwise, the morale of your top per formers is going to come down, while the low performers get to hide,” he says. “You’ve just got to have the guts to have the honest, goodand-bad conversations with people, and to be clear about what you need.”

Constant communication should pre vent skilled technicians from suddenly quitting a job out of stress or frustration, which is a major shock and financial bur den for owners. Choisser likes to ask em ployees about their biggest “pain point” during the workday.

Past answers have included ineffec tive equipment, inconvenient loca tions for parts in the shop and poor lighting in a work area. Once he is aware of an issue, Choisser checks to see if other staff have the same con cerns and brainstorms fixes.

“If I were to ask that same question in a group, I’m more than likely just going to get silence,” he says. “No one will want to speak up.”

Employees also have time during solo meetings to share details on how they handled more difficult or unusual re pairs. If Choisser thinks a particular job has lessons that would be valuable to all employees, he adds it to group meeting agendas.

Owners need to be careful to meet em ployees where they are in life, based on age and situation, he notes. If a young technician doesn’t have any one- or five-year goals, a leader can gently nudge him or her to set a few. Pass ing along information on industry certification courses and credentials also is advantageous to employers and employees alike.

to see if a concern has been addressed. Or, if they’ve requested information on topics such as continuing education or budgeting, connect them with resources and later ask for feedback.

6. Be honest. Employees should always know where their boss stands by the end of a meeting. If they don’t, insecurity likely will affect their job performance.

A Shop Management Software That Grows With You

While the past year has been an eventful one for most, the new year is just around the corner. Maybe your shop has raced ahead with some unexpected growth or maybe you could use some help keeping up with the breakneck changes happening in the industry. Whether your shop is seeing more volume than your current system can handle or if you just want help with a fresh start, Bay-master is the shop management system that can take your next steps forward with you.

We’ve stuck around by developing e cient, adaptive, and creative shop management solutions for your daily and long-term needs. The company is 100% based in the United States and has been serving mechanic repair shops for over twenty years. The Bay-master team is close-knit with a deep interest in how day-to-day changes in our industry a ect you. Our software and our company has been able to stay healthy by forging relationships with our shops. With the rapport we build, we can understand actual user needs which tell us what updates and features should roll out.

The program boasts a massive amount of features at nearly half of what our competitors go for and that feature list will only continue to grow. Please read on about just a few of the features Bay-master can o er you to grow with us.

Automation

Our program is about you and your shop. We want to free you up from as much desk work as possible to keep you doing what’s important. Bay-master’s various automations will let you do that without any extra clicks. Reach out to customers or pull profi t, tax, or cost records for a whole quarter in seconds. Set yourself up with pre-made jobs that know what inventory parts to pull on the work order, saving you a step as you get ready for repairs. Turn on automatic marketing options to let your customers know what’s happening at your shop or just to say thanks for their business.

Customer engagement

Keeping up with your customers is one of the hardest parts of the job.

With our help, you’ll have a full texting suite to keep up with them. Simple questions, appointment reminders, messages to inactive customers, remote payment, or text blasts to your entire customer base are all at your disposal. Texting is by and large the easiest way to get a hold of your clientele and Bay-master lets you do that without leaving our program.

Open customization

We know that every shop is a little di erent. State regulations, your customers, or even personal preference means not everyone is going to have the same way of doing things. Our program comes with a lot of automation pre-made for you, but we know that everyone is di erent and allow for customization of your saved jobs, your inspections, invoices, and messages. You and your shop’s identity are important to us as much as it is you. We make sure the program reflects that.

Vendor integration and comparison

More and more of the industry is going online. Ordering parts from all of your suppliers is easy to get to, but now you need to keep multiple websites in order to make sure you’re not paying too much. Bay-master’s vendor integration not only lets you place and add any parts order to your tickets, but you can also see the same part from your di erent vendors side-by-side. Don’t miss out on a lower part cost. Save you and your customer as much as you can.

Performance tracking

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what is or isn’t working at your shop. You can go by raw numbers, profi ts, and sales, but sometimes it’s even hard to start there. We can look at your sales and profi ts, but we can give you more than that. Our program provides the diagnostic tools for you to look at stats like your best selling parts, your actual time on jobs against billed time, or your own shop’s performance over time as well as how you compare to other shops through a variety of visualizations.

Auto Repair Customers Feel the Sting of Record-High Inflation

What are you doing to relieve the stress of auto repair costs?

BY EASYPAY FINANCE

Nationwide sales support and all-star merchant and customer service have cemented EasyPay as the industry preference among main street auto repair shops. Our Merchant Partners are not the only beneficiaries of EasyPay’s expertise; thousands of customers across the US have been provided access to credit they might not have otherwise. We exist to help bridge the everbroadening gap of financial access and inclusion that prevents everyday Americans from accessing the goods and services they need.

We are committed to providing your customers with transparent payment options to help them through their precarious fi nancial situations. Primary credit o erings often have stringent approval requirements leaving large swaths of the population unable to access fi nancing. EasyPay approves customers with a wide range of credit scores and credit history, enabling purchases for customers cast aside by primary credit o erings.

Americans in all corners of the country are feeling the sting of decades-high infl ation rates and rising auto repair costs. Not only have auto repair costs increased an average of 61% since 20001 , but with national infl ation at 8.5%2 customers are struggling more than ever to a ord scheduled and preventative maintenance costs. Contrary to popular belief, a majority (61%) of the country is living paycheck to paycheck 3 . Even households earning 6-fi gure salaries are fi nding themselves short of cash for routine car repairs 4

This is a stark contrast to a commonly held belief in the industry that only customers with broken down cars from the mid-2000’s need financing.

Identifying the need for credit is much more complex than assessing a customer’s vehicle or state of potential repairs. Even those who are potentially fi nancially stable can struggle with unexpected expenses and might need alternative payment options. Our decades of experience in the industry have taught us that the need for credit is shared by individuals and families residing in several di erent tax brackets. These customers may not be vocal about their lack of purchasing power; instead, they rely on you to recognize their need and help them solve it.

One of your local competitors may be leveraging EasyPay to maintain high weekly car counts and ARO’s; becoming an EasyPay Merchant Partner is the fi rst step to ensuring you’re keeping up with

your competition while doing the most for your customers. There are hundreds of thousands of searches online for “mechanics who take fi nancing” and “auto repair fi nancing” amongst others. These potential customers are looking for auto shops who use services like ours. Partnering with EasyPay Finance increases your exposure online and helps more customers fi nd you.

Our decades of experience have taught us that with top-notch customer and merchant service comes flourishing partnerships and satisfied customers. This is precisely the reason that we have thousands of active and prosperous Merchant Partners. We want to enable transactions between you and the customers struggling to a ord your recommended repairs.

Provide your customers with purchasing power and watch the customer loyalty and repeat business follow suit.

Today is the day to begin anew and partner with a true authority in the auto repair fi nancing industry: EasyPay Finance. The fi rst step is simply enrolling your business in our Merchant Partner Program. Together we can help your customers meet their repair needs through better access to credit, post-purchase fi nancial education, and flexible and transparent customer contracts.

EasyPay has helped transform countless businesses across the nation, and we want your shop to be next. We’re looking to work with you and your shop to serve your community. You work tirelessly, day-in and day-out, to keep your customers cars on the road and driving reliably; it’s time for you to have a partner just as committed. Enroll today and watch the seeds of change take root in your community. We couldn’t be more excited to have you join our network of industry professionals and continue progressing your community forward.

Loans made by Transportation Alliance Bank, Inc., dba TAB Bank. See exclusions at www.easypayfinance.com/privacy-policy.

1 Forbes: Soaring Cost Of Parts Means Your Car Is More Likely To Be Totaled In An Accident

2 U.S. Infl ation Calculator

3 PYMTS: New Reality Check: The Paycheck-To-Paycheck Report

4 CNBC: Amid high infl ation, 36% of employees earning $100,000 or more say they are living paycheck to paycheck

Digital Marketing for Your Auto Service Shop

Leads Near Me can help your business uncover new potential customers

BY DIAMOND GARDNER

Auto repair shops are essential in every community to keep us on the road safely and efficiently. But how do shop owners make sure that they are reaching the people they need to keep the service exchange going? Many auto repair shop owners rely heavily on word of mouth, which is a good tool to use, but it should be combined with digital marketing. For many years, Ryan Burton, founder and CEO of Leads Near Me, has been bridging the gap for shop owners from word-of-mouth advertising to digital marketing. Digital marketing allows business owners to reach more people who need their services and, in return, increases their shops’ call volume, customer conversion rates, and revenue. The auto repair shops that are fortunate to work with Ryan and Leads Near Me have seen tremendous growth with his team’s expertise and knowledge in the world of digital marketing.

How to find the right marketing company

The challenge that most auto repair shop owners face is customers being unable to find their website, the presentation of their website, and increased conversion rates. As a shop owner, you are in charge of many roles, but marketing should not be one of them. Finding the right marketing company can save your shop both time and money. With the right marketing company, such as Leads Near Me, shop owners are able to focus on the other aspects of their business and trust that the marketing company they have partnered with will work diligently to continuously increase their number of customers.

When an auto repair shop owner is fortunate enough to find an outstanding marketing company such as Leads Near Me, some initial conversations need to take place. It is important that the marketing company you choose to collaborate with recognizes and acknowledges the work that has already been done. Still, in order to achieve the results that shop owners expect, it is important to focus mainly on the facts and to make changes accordingly. Ryan has been able to successfully work with all of his shop owners and provide them with constructive feedback so that the owners are educated on what is not working and what changes need to be made to achieve their goals.

How to make the phone ring with Google ads

The majority of auto repair shop owners are not using Google Ads simply because they are not aware of how it works and how effective it is. With Leads Near Me, Ryan has had success over time in encouraging more auto repair shops to utilize Google Ads in order to increase traffic to their website and, in return, increase conversion rates.

Having a skilled marketing team run and optimize a company’s Google Ads campaign can save that company both time and money. Google has technically constructed Google Ads as a self-serve platform, but it takes a lot of expertise to optimize it to the best of its ability. Well-written ads need to be keyword rich and include all of the aspects Google looks for when ranking your ad. Along with fully optimizing Google Ads to get calls in, there are also a few key elements that a shop would need to focus on in order to tie everything together. A couple of those elements would be budget and a good website for your customers to land on after clicking your ad. Having a budget for your marketing, specifically Google Ads, is essential for the success of your marketing campaign. Ryan with Leads Near Me is a strong believer that a company should not leave their budget the same as they grow—it should always increase as the shop increases.

After a customer finds your Google Ad and you have successfully caught their attention, the next page that they are going to land on is typically your website. A good-looking website is definitely a part of the formula for customer conversion rates, but it does not top the importance of keywordrich content throughout the website, as Google uses those keywords to bring your website to the attention of customers.

How to answer phones

Once you work with Leads Near Me to get your Google Ads going, it is guaranteed that your phone will be ringing off the hook afterward, so it’s important to know how to actually handle those calls. The best way to measure your success with answering phone calls is to actually listen to them. Listening back to phone calls that have been taken allows you to see what can be improved, and it can even give you the opportunity to take notes on what went really well for future conversations.

Increase Profitability in Your Shop With a Consistent Customer Experience

When it comes to building a successful business, one of the most significant factors to consider are the people who are being served – the customers. The customer experience – whether good or bad – can make the difference between the customer returning or leaving forever, and that can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. From hotels and fast food to auto repair shops, the most profitable businesses are those that create and maintain a consistent customer experience, no matter who the customer is or which location they visit.

At an auto repair shop, creating a consistent customer experience can be a direct path to growth, whether for a single-location shop or a multi-shop organization. When a customer has a great experience at an auto repair shop, they are building trust and loyalty with the business that increases their likelihood of returning for future repairs. Businesses continue to prove over and over that retaining existing customers is more profi table than fi nding new ones. The most profi table hotels, fast food restaurants and auto shops retain their most valuable customers with consistent customer experiences - no matter which location they visit. When that experience is consistent, more customers are satisfi ed with the service and return for future repairs, thereby leading the way to increased profi ts and continued shop growth.

Establish A Centralized Data Management System

Regardless of your shop size, the first step to creating a consistent customer experience is establishing a centralized data management system. When all your data is located in the same, easily accessible system, you are better able to review that information and make adjustments to operations to improve the shop’s performance.

Track Key Metrics

After establishing a data management system and beginning to collect data, you must also take steps to measure that data over time. An all-in-one system like Tekmetric allows shops to measure over 50 key metrics consistently and automatically, from the daily shop performance to overall ROI. When a shop has multiple locations, a uniform system also allows you to access your shop’s data on any device, anywhere. Make sure you can review individual shop data, compare shops or look at all locations, so you can make informed decisions that benefit the entire business.

Implement Standardized Processes

Whether you are growing one location or expanding into multiple locations, you must also implement standard procedures and processes across all shops. This not only helps maintain consistency when measuring data; it also ensures that anyone who walks into your shop knows exactly what service they will receive.

Overall, whether you are a single-location shop or a multi-shop organization, creating a consistent customer experience can give you the boost you need to increase trust and customer loyalty. In the long-term, this leads to profit growth, allowing you to explore new growth opportunities for your shop, whether that means adding a new bay or a new location.

Tekmetric’s new feature-set, Tekmetric Multi-Shop, allows multi-shop organizations the ability to run your entire organization from one central location. This provides an easy-to-manage system that will increase your efficiency and strengthen your customer experience. Want to know more? Sign up for our webinar, “How to Grow Your Shop in a Recession,” with Ratchet + Wrench this December, or visit www.tekmetric.com.

The 3 Keys to Fundamental Profit

There is a new empowered consumer. This savvy consumer shops and compares internet parts prices before authorizing a sale. The traditional markup that many shops use is no longer e ective. It is a common misconception that hitting gross traditional profi t targets will deliver the desired result. Gross profi t targets focus on a top-down fi nancial model that may not account for the total cost of the job. Alternatively, a bottomup fi nancial model that starts with net profi t and accounts for all expenses will produce the desired profi tability. The key to creating a bottom-up profi t strategy and winning with the consumers lies in 3 fundamental concepts.

1. Labor Sales Must Carry the Weight of Profi tability

Many shops use a 50/50 blend of part sales vs. labor sales. The shop owner is then counting on the parts sales to create half of the profit. The problem with this method is two-fold. First, most shop management programs do not catch part slippage. Part slippage is the money lost by ine cient inventory management and not every part installed on a car gets billed out. Second, over 85% of consumers will check pricing on a repair either before,

during, or after the transaction. A savvy consumer has access to parts pricing. Now we have a consumer that can judge the value of a transaction based on a perceived mark-up. If the internet is going to set the market value on parts, it will lead to a lack of trust, lower profit margins, and more customer turnover. When the parts sales do not generate the profit forecasted, profitability su ers. Repair shops cannot count on the parts profit to cover the shortfalls of labor slippage. It is time to consider shifting the revenue split to a laborbiased ratio. For example, 65/35, where 65% of the revenue is labor sales.

2. The New Labor Force

The team your shop has assembled is a unique labor force that cannot be duplicated. We must value the time invested in delivering the fi nished product. This includes every front-line person involved in the process. A service advisor who invests 30 minutes to build an estimate, source parts, receive parts, dispatch parts, organize the workflow, communicate with the customer and technician, fi nalize the repair order, quality inspect the vehicle, and deliver the vehicle is the real labor revenue. This is lost revenue many shop owners do not build into their invoice.

3. A Labor Rate to Sustain Profi tability

Statistically, many shops in the United States are substantially below the labor rate they should be charging. To attract the talent needed to thrive in the future, automotive technicians need to be paid signifi cantly more per hour, plus benefits. Would we have a technician shortage if our techs could earn a six-fi gure income? To pay these salaries and benefits, it will require a much higher labor rate to maintain profitability and a comfortable lifestyle.

This is the direction the top shops are heading towards. By placing more weight on the labor side of the invoice and less on the parts side, you will retain increased profit margins, attract a better pool of techs, and the customer will perceive a greater value.

Auto care news where you need it, when you want it.

Columns THE FIXER

Aaron Stokes

DON’T BE FIRST

Don’t let fear of missing out cause you to make poor choices

Remember when everybody was buying hydrogen machines to put hydrogen into car tires? People said, ‘This is going to be the future. Every body’s going to do it. You’ve got to do it.’ A lot of people tried it, but it didn’t stick. We all raced out and spent mon ey. Now we’re seeing that again with the new A/C machines. People ran out and bought these two to three years ago when they weren’t serving cars yet, and now prices continue to drop. We’re just now getting to where it’s common that we’ve needed one consistently in all of our stores, but people were buy ing them too early—back in 2018.

I believe that when you run out to be come the first on any equipment or adopt any change in the industry, you also risk being totally wrong. As we watch some of the massive changes heading our way, yes, we need to keep an eye on electric cars, but also with what’s hap pening with gasoline cars, hybrid cars, and diesels. One of the big issues com ing is this battery crisis. Batteries are going to be extremely expensive, and customers will need financing options to fix their cars. I’m seeing more prob lems develop around the issues of elec tric vehicles and, with California and other states claiming they’re going to try to force only electric cars to be sold after certain years, people are going to panic. We need to be careful not to rush into this too quickly, but instead, go to some of our mentors, the old-timers in the industry. We need to say, ‘Hey, re member we went to fuel injection? Re member when we went to every car hav ing A/C, power windows, a sunroof, and automatic transmission?’ As an industry, we’ve seen fads come and go; we’ve seen changes stay and we’ve had to adapt. But

if you adopt too quickly, you can spend a lot of money only to find yourself hung out to dry wishing you had not gone down that path.

That said, I’m a big believer in be ing out there on the front end of things, but not so far that I get my nose cut off. I want to make sure that I’m conserva tive, but at the same time, that I’m not stuck behind the eight ball. This means I have to pay attention to the trends in the industry and ask, ‘Is this going to stick? Is this something that I think is going to continue?’ For example, look at all the new refrigerants for cars. I have to pause and ask myself, ‘OK, who is forc ing this? The EPA. What are the odds they’re going to keep forcing it? Pretty high. All right, I’m going to invest in this A/C machine.’ Next, I have to de cide when to do it. If I’m the first, I’m go ing to pay $10,000 for an A/C machine. Three years later, that same machine is $2,900. So, there has to be a return on investment that makes sense before I leap ahead of everybody else. You may think leaping ahead with some new equip ment is going to make you the biggest and the best, like some shops did with ADAS, but you have to be careful not to get too far ahead. If you want to be ahead in our industry, be ahead in re pair service, be ahead in customer ser vice, be ahead in the way you pick up and deliver cars, in the way you answer the phone, in the way you leave candy on the seat for your customer, in the way you leave a thank you card on the seat for your customer. That can help you get to the next level because if you follow the wrong trend, you go broke. Be watchful and follow the right trend, and you will make a lot of money. Just don’t be first.

aaron@shopfixacademy.com

ratchetandwrench.com/stokes

Aaron Stokes grew his business, AutoFix, into a six-shop operation that is widely regarded as one of the top repair businesses in the country. He is also the founder of Shop Fix Academy.

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