THA 077: Business Coaches LAB – Standards

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The Panel:

Bob Greenwood, AMAM (Accredited Master Automotive Manager) is President and C.E.O. of Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre Ltd. (AAEC). AAEC is a company focused on providing Business Management Resources and Development for the Independent Sector of the aftermarket industry. AAEC content and technology is recognized as part of the curriculum of the Fixed Operations Diploma and the Aftermarket Degree courses taken at the Automotive Business School of Canada at Georgian College located in Barrie Ontario Canada. This school is the leader and only college in Canada that offers an automotive business education. AAEC is also recognized by the Automotive Management Institute (AMI), located in North Richland Hills, Texas USA, allowing 80 credits for successful completion of the AAEC E-Learning portion of the site towards the 120 credits required to obtain the reputable Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation.

Bob has over 40 years of Business Management experience within the Independent sector of the automotive aftermarket industry in North America, consulting Independent retail shops on all facets of their business operations. His 18 years of running his own local consulting and accounting firm in Ottawa, Ontario Canada created some of the most productive and financially successful entrepreneurs within the Independent sector today.

Bob is one of 150 wworldwideAMI approved instructors. He has created Business Management development courses for aftermarket shop employers/managers, Jobbers and Jobber Sales representatives which are recognized as being the most comprehensive, industry specific courses of their kind in North America. His courses address the creation of measurable bottom-line profitability and not just developing activity to keep busy, by covering the very detailed nuts and bolts issues that are required to be clearly understood by every level of the industry if an independent shop is going to financially prosper and enjoy a professional future. Bob’s previous episodes are HERE.   Link to Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre Ltd. (AAEC) HERE.

Cecil Bullard is President of the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. He is a trainer and business coach in the automotive aftermarket working closely with service professionals. Previous episodes featuring or mentioning Cecil, click HERE.  Institute for Automotive Business Excellence HERE.

Jude Larson is the Director of New Business Development for the ACT Group.  He is a frequent speaker and trainer at industry events. Jude has vast business experience including being a highly successful service advisor, the owner and operator of a hybrid online and print marketing company, a top performer in the financial industry, and had a record-setting career in retail management.

Jude is also a shop owner, Valley Repair in Tenino, WA. Listen to Jude’s Episodes HERE. Jude uses his rich experience and business success as he consults, trains and coaches results-focused solutions with clients. ACT Group website HERE.

Find the Business Coaches LAB Series HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• From Rick White: Standard in a business is the bar, the ruler, that one sets for the level of quality, service, experience, caring, and engagement. The problem is so many times the owner is so busy doing whatever he’s doing in his business mistakenly believing his job is to make sure cars are fixed, that they forget about the standard and now the standard is being set by whoever the customer is dealing with or whoever is working on the car which can lead to disastrous results.
• Customer/Client. Define your market. Define your client. Identifying who your ideal customer is will improve your profits and workflow. Find podcasts on Ideal Customer HERE. Set your standard on who your customer is.
• If you do your marketing right it will chase the customers you do not want from you.
• Client vs customer denotes responsibility and relationship.
• How will you take care of your customers?
  • How many techs, how many service advisors.
• Books. Markets of One.  Chris Norton and Ross Honeywill.
• Standards include having a moral and ethics statement.
• You don’t want to be busy you want to be steady.
• Create standards that make it possible for your team to do their job.
• Are there standards in place that allow:
  • Technicians to do a correct inspection.
  • Do not encourage waiters that push the workflow.
  • Scheduling correctly to give time to do a correct job.
• Communication of standards is critical for the team.
• There are minimum standards of execution. How you do what you do.
• You create a culture of taking care of the customer from start to finish.
• Creating procedures on all defining repair concerns for the clients’ vehicle because of reliability and safety.
• Don’t feel that building your standards is beyond your abilities. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Pick the area that you need the most work on that will shore up your leaking shop.
  • Take them one at a time.
  • Small consistent improvements.
  • Work on two items at a time.
  • You may be looking at a two to three-year process to make major changes in your business.
  • Consider doing a new change in your company for 60 days before ever considering abandoning it. The team needs to own it and work it for 60 days.
• In business, there is no floating. You either going up or down. (Cecil Bullard)
• Create trust with your team.
  • The more trust the more real change.
  • Involve them.
• Meeting with the team are important to involve them and gain buy-in.
• #1 problem in business is lack of communication.
• A good process helps put money in the bank.
• A standard, for example, is training. How many hours are required for the entire team including the CEO? Training is too expensive not to do. Education is part of the culture, in the pay plan and starts with the job interview. Training is an investment.
  • With a struggling shop, you can listen to a Remarkable Results podcast or watch a technical training video among other affordable training initiatives.
• Processes and procedures are an important part of your companies standards.
  • Well documented processes maintain your work quality and expectations
  • Documented processes provide consistency and allow new team members not to change the way things are done.
  • This solves the problem of meeting promise times for your customers.
  • The panel says that whey they take on a new client
• Book: Work the System by Sam Carpenter. Recommended by Jude Larson a free resource.
• Book: E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Recommended by Cecil Bullard. Find many interviews covered on this podcast on the E-Myth HERE.
• Setting standards builds strong team players and customers that value you.
• With a team of owners, the business can go to great places. 

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