Are You Paying for Training? The Right Thing To Do [THA 162]

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 21^stbirthday 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 the company needs to be trained: CEO, Service Advisor, Technicians and back office
• Hire a business coach to help you run a better business and hold you accountable
• Training hours per year required and reviewed each quarter. Many owners pay an incentive to hit their training goals
• Careful. Not all training is good training. Don’t stop training if you have a bad experience, but learn about trainers, venues and content
• How to:Put monies away for training: Scrap iron can be used to fund training
• Supplier rebate’s (debit cards used to pay for training)Parts suppliers and dealers have rebates.
• Suppliers have great training. Partner with your suppliers to bring in the training you need
• Local and regional training comes to your city. You do not have to always go to national events
• Gather your local shop owners and bring in a national trainer
• In house training with a top diagnostician to teach your B and C techs
• Build training into your labor rate. No customer will notice 
•  If you pay for training you can go on better vacations

Resources:

• A special thanks to Keith Williamson, John Long, and Tyler Hubbard 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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