THA 094: ASE – The Industry Credential and YOU!
ASE: The Industry Credential and You
It is time to best understand “your” role in bringing the value of ASE to your technician, your customer, and the industry. It’s time we, you, stepped to the plate and used ASE for what it does for you.
Since ASE is a non-for-profit it is not their role to promote your people’s certifications. They do want to do more, but it is your role to promote your technician’s credentials in all your marketing, and on uniforms and inside your shop. ASE must become an ingrained part of your training program and used as an assessment to that means.
We had some candid dialogue, with some great input from the ZOOM chat stream. We also learned of some long-awaited improvements to the ASE program from Mike Coley, the Sr. Vice President at the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence(ASE). You’ll be happy to hear about them.
Also with us is Jeff Walker President of Walker’s Automotive Service of Pleasantville, New Jersey a current ASE board member and ASE past chairman and Amy Mattinat, President of Autocraftsmen, Montpelier, VT who shares a bunch of ideas on how to market and ingrain ASE into your business culture.
THA 093: How Not To Be a Micro Manager
Stop Being a Micro Manager
Have you ever said I need to give my people the freedom to spread their wings and make more decisions? Ever wondered why they won’t. It could be because you are a micro manager.
If you are a micro manager discover why you need to stop. Sharing their first-hand experience is Maryann Croce of Croce Transmissions in Norwalk, CT, and smalllbizvantage.com, Dennis McCarron, Executive Director of Dealer Strategic Planning and Tom Lambert, President of Shadetree Automotive. These three have the experience to share with you how and why you need to stop being a micro manager and become a strategic leader and get your team totally engaged in your mission, vision, and purpose.
Warning this academy episode just may change your life.
THA 092: The Extreme Value of Shop Tours
The Extreme Value of Shop Tours
Recorded live at Franks European in Las Vegas, NV, listen to Frank Scandura, Vinnie Lucido, Andy Bizub, Deb Van Batenburg, Greg Bunch, Jimmy Lea, Bill Nalu, Shari Pheasant, and Vic Tarasik all providing their wisdom and insights on shop tours. We had fun and you’ll learn about what these professionals value by taking and giving shop tours.
You not only need to get a shop tour but also give them and ask for feedback. Sometimes you do not see things that your peers will see. Take their ideas and give your feedback constructively.
This team believes that shop tours are a very important tool in your perpetual improvement strategy. Growing your business comes from the ideas of others. As Frank Scandura says do R & D …. Rip off and Duplicate. Learn from your network and from shop tours.
THA 091: Workshop – Service Adviser Roleplay – Part 2
Service Adviser Role Play Part 2
Again this team digs deep to help aftermarket professionals learn more about the service advisor position. This is one of the most important and challenging jobs in the industry. The service adviser is the face of the business and is faced with building trust and strong relationships while generating profitable revenue.
Enjoy four different role plays and the ensuing discussion. Critique each role play yourself and enjoy the comments from this team. With me is Barry Barrett, Director of Training at RLO, Clint White, shop manager at Coopers Auto Repair Specialists in Tacoma, WA and John Vasquez, Service Adviser at Los Gators Auto Service Campbell, CA.
THA 090: Business Coaches Lab: Five Dysfunctions of a CEO
The Business Coaches LAB: The Five Dysfunctions of a CEO. Becoming a Better Leader.
Learn about these Dysfunctions: the Absence of Trust, the Fear of Conflict, the Lack of Commitment, the Avoidance of Accountability and the Inattention to Results.
In the LAB is Bob Greenwood from the Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Center, Cecil Bullard, with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, Jude Larson from the ACT Group, Rick White from 180 Biz and Murray Voth, from RPM Training.
There is a large amount of bonus material and links to their firms and their previous episodes on the show notes page at remarkableresults.biz/a090.
THA 089: Open Four, Five or Six Days a Week. You Decide.
Open Four, Five, Six Days a Week. Listen to the Debate.
The panel includes Tom Piippo Tri-County Motors, Rudyard, MI, Bill Nalu, Interstate Auto Care Madison Heights, MI, and Alan ‘Ollie’ Gelfand, from German Car Depot, Hollywood, FL.
Learn how each defines or defends their days open and outlines the challenges each has in hiring, serving and making money.
Tom is a four day a week shop, however, Bill and Alan have their thoughts on how to create a four day work week for their team and still be there to serve their customer’s busy lives. Each day of the week takes on a different personality such as Saturday’s helps feed Monday and Tuesday. And Saturday’s can be a big maintenance day.
THA 088: Everything I Did Wrong and What I Learned
Everything I Did Wrong and What I Learned
If you are a person who thinks you can do everything yourself, then you need to listen to this trio explain their knock upside the head ‘V8’ moments when they realized it was the worse thing they could have ever done. Learn about this panels school of hard knocks so you don’t spend too much time in the places they were and accelerate your business because you now have the proof of what to do to prevent your business from being stuck in neutral.
It is not what you don’t know it is also about what your people don’t know. We talk micromanaging, training, business models, KPI’s and empowering your people and yes they will make mistakes just like you did.
With me for this Academy is Bambi Crozier, Car Clinic in Lowell, AR, // Frank Scandura, from Franks European in Las Vegas, NV and Tom Lambert, from Shadetree Automotive, Layton, UT
THA 087: Automotive Career’s Starts in High School and in the Home!
An Automotive Career Starts in High School and in the Home!l
We, as a collective aftermarket, need to stop talking about the need for quality automotive training and the technician shortage and get involved. It will be our fault for the lack of young people joining our industry.
The schools are there for industry. Superintendents and presidents need to hear from industry. A good advisory board will make a huge difference in the quality of instruction, investment from the school and placement of students.
The panel includes James Halderman, ASE Master Technician, and author of 18 Automotive Textbooks and James Pressly, Trade and Industrial Specialist, Career and Technical Education with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and Shane Hawkins, East Gaston High School in Mount Holly, NC and adjunct instructor for Gaston College. Also an impromptu visit from Kyle Holt of S/P2.
THA 086: Stop Being Busy and Improve Your Productivity!
Stop Being Busy and Improve Your Productivity
The panel includes Dennis McCarran, Executive Director of Dealer Strategic Planning, Justin Galsgow, Performance Tire & Wheel, Topeka, KS and Darren McClea from McClea’s Tire and Automotive, Santa Rosa, CA.
We talk your to-do-list, delegating, emails, time wasters, texts, finishing, priorities, and making time to get things done. A suggestion to get into work early and review your day and prioritize the critical task.
Consider batching your projects. Seeing reps; consider Tuesdays are the day for reps. This tightens up your planning efforts.
THA 085: 21 Tips to Gain an Edge over the Competition – Part 3!
21 Tips To Gain An Edge Over Your Competition – Part 3
With me, in this part three is the same crew from part two and part three. Todd Westerlund, CEO of Kukui , Jeremy O’Neal Freedom Automotive in Hesperia, CA and President and lead sales trainer for Advisorfix and Mark Goldsmith Mark’s Independent Service in Chatsworth, CA
There was a special challenge put forth by Todd Westerlund from Kukui and you’ll discover that at the end of the episode. The combined tips between the three parts are 68 which includes bonus tips.
Too many to list, but you’ll find not only great ideas in this episodes but trends you must be implementing if you plan to stay relevant and in business.
THA 084: Buying Technician Tools: Create Your Program!
Buying Technician Tools: Create Your Program
We are talking ‘Buying Technicians Tools; The How’ and with me is Keith Williamson, owner of Williamson’s Repair and Tire in Bondurant, IA, Andy Bizub Shop Owner of Porsche Specialist Midwest Performance Cars LLC, and Seth Thorson, Shop Owner, Eurotech, New Brighton, MN, a Euro Specialist and owner of the BMW tech support company LMV Bavarian.
Among the discussion; Is making employees supply tools an outdated tradition? Is buying technicians tools a recruiting and retention tool for your business?
The team says owners don’t want to see their techs in debt and you’ll hear ideas and solutions to create your own program to transition into supporting tools as a benefit and retention tool.
THA 083: What Separates the Outstanding Technicians
What Separates the Outstanding Technician
Outstanding shops attract outstanding technicians. Outstanding technicians want to work for outstanding shops.
Listen in on a great dialogue that covers qualities and attributes like Passion, Precision, Pride, Perseverance, and Humility. This episode is not about being an A, B or C tech it is about all other traits that make for an outstanding technician. The discussion relates to just about any other job in a professional service center today.
With Carm Capriotto for this Academy is Matt Fanslow, Shop Manager, Diagnostician, and Trainer, at Riverside Automotive, Red Wing, MN, Wayne ‘Jerry’ Bishop, PTS Instructor, Standard Motor Products and Kevin Eckler, Shop Owner, Foreign Car Specialists, Poughkeepsie, NY.
THA 082: Acquisition Strategies
Acquisition Strategies
This a perfect bookend episode that connects with Town Hall Academy Episode 075. There we talked ‘Am I ready for my second branch?’
The Panel includes multi shop owners, with growth plans; Greg Bunch, from Aspen Auto Clinic, Colorado Springs and Denver, CO, Greg is also the CEO of Transformers Institute, Dwayne Myers, Dynamic Automotive, Frederick, MD, and Brian Sump, Avalon Motorsports, Denver, CO.
The key talking points are already done for you, sitting on the show notes page at remarkableresults.biz/a075; use them as a to-do list. Just a few highlights: negotiations, scouting leads, approaching owners, financing and a lot more. Another power packed aftermarket lesson for the forever student.
THA 081: Niche. Should We Find Specialties and Create a New Business Model or Services?
Niche. Finding Specialties to Create New Business Services.
A very interesting summit, a lesson for the forever student of the aftermarket. We’re talking Niche or Finding Specialties to Create New Business Services. A vibrant discussion to challenge the use of your talent and facility and to listen to your customers and find out exactly what they want and need from you.
The panel warns you to keep your eyes open. The shift is coming. Toss out those unprofitable jobs. Clean out your closet. Review your current business model. We will not survive doing what we always have done.
The panel will help you understand How to consider a specialty, product based niche vs. service based niche; but an overlying theme is to be sure the basics are being done right. You cannot add a new service if you don’t aren’t fixing your customers’ problem right the first time. Get your house in order before adding.
THA 080: Bring Them Back: How To Revitalize a Lost Customer
Bring Them Back: How To Revitalize a Lost Customer
Our lively discussion starts with the Customer Retention Myth and ends with taking extreme ownership of your customer and keeping them in the fold. We talk about steps to get lost customers back, the power of relationships, the power of culture in customer retention and what type of marketing works for retention and revitalization up to and including a phone call.
The panel: Shari Pheasant, owner with her husband of A Master Mechanic, in Reno, NV and is a business coach and president of Horsepower Strategies and Ron Ipach, co-founder of Repair Shop Coach and known as Captain Car Count and David Roman, owner of Done With Care Auto Repair in Merriam, KS.
THA 079: What Drives Your Parts Buying Decisions?
What Drives Your Parts Buying Decision?
This Town Hall Academy summit features Keith Williamson, owner of Williamson’s Repair and Tire in Bondurant, IA, John Long partner in Schertz Auto Service in Schertz, TX, and Keith Katz, owner of Quality Service Center in York, PA.
The panel covers part quality, service, availability, training, price, and warranty. We also get into credits and returns, their salesperson, volume rebates, e-commerce, and labor claims. There is a consensus on the value their supplier brings to their business.
Compare your supplier needs and relationship to what this panel has to say about their parts buying decisions.
THA 078: Low Hanging Financial Fruit That Will Increase Your Profits
Low Hanging Financial Fruit That Will Improve Your Profits
The cost of doing business rises each year. Net profits that are necessary to move your business forward are challenged each day.
Our panel talks about the value of inspections on your sales, association membership, and billing for all parts and fluids used on a repair. We get into some cost savings ideas and using the power of a company credit card to help with training costs.
THA 077: Business Coaches LAB – Standards
Business Coaches LAB on Standards
Standards, in a business is the bar, the rules that set 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.
Owners forget about the standards that set the tone and pulse of the business when it comes to customers, processes, training, conduct, dress code, ethics, financial, execution and performance among others.
You do not want your ‘standards’ to be set by others so you must create them if not chaos is ensured and as panel member Cecil Bullard says, “In business, there is no floating. You either going up or down.”
THA 076: Improving Your Soft Skills. How To Lead and Spread a Positive Vibe.
Improving Your Soft Skills. How to Lead and Spread a Positive Vibe.
Soft skills are the personal attributes that go a long way in building and enabling you to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. A soft skills inventory can be active listening, Enthusiasm, Attitude, Communication skills, Teamwork, Work ethic, Flexibility, and Courtesy, among others.
Our panel Amy Mattinat, from Autocraftsmen, Mt. Montpelier, VT, trainer, Former President of Women in Autocare, along with Greg Buckley, Buckley’s Personalized Auto Care, Wilmington, DE, and Jeremy O’Neal from Freedom Automotive and CEO of AdvisorFix.
Our Academy panel dives deep into the value of soft skills for a leader and among the entire team. We talk roles and responsibilities, the value of a success coach, and the value that soft skills bring to the technician, service advisor, customer relationship.
THA 075: Am I ready For My Second Branch?
Is there another branch location in your plans.
Have you ever thought of growing your brand into other communities? There is an art and science to intelligent growth. According to this Academy panel, it is not an easy task. You can choose an acquisition or open a brand new location.
The Panel includes multi shop owners Greg Bunch, from Aspen Auto Clinic, Colorado Springs and Denver, CO, Dwayne Myers, Dynamic Automotive, Frederick, MD, and Brian Sump, Avalon Motorsports, Denver, CO. They all have additional growth plans.
You will get a solid overview of growing your location count from the panel who have already made a ton of mistakes. Learn from them and take their wisdom to account in your growth plans.
THA 074: Can David Beat Goliath?
Can David Beat Goliath?
The Academy panel dives into the dichotomy of David and Goliath. David, quick nimble and did not perceive that he was an underdog. The panel considers that larger industry players can be Goliath-like … complacent, too structured, weighed down with rules and inflexible. It doesn’t mean that it is bad, but they say small and nimble is better than big and sluggish. They are quick to point out that we can learn a lot from Goliath’s as it pertains to systems and processes.
Ironically we did discuss that having a Goliath mentality may be good for a David. We talked about business models, being able to adapt to changes in the marketplace and consumers habits. A great example in the discussion was that Starbucks is a Goliath but they hire Davids. A very potent strategy for success. We also talk customer loyalty and what we can learn from the Goliaths of the aftermarket.
The Panel: Bambi Crozier, from Car Clinic in Lowel, AR, Jeremy O’Neal, Freedom Automotive, Freedom Automotive in Hesperia, CA and President and Lead Sales Trainer at AdvisorFix and Scott Pelava, Lonsdale Auto Works in Lonsdale, MN
THA 073: Your Turning Point: The PIVOT(s) That Improved Your Business
Your Turning Point: The pivot that improved your business.
Have you ever thought about a big event that you could call a life pivot? A circumstance that made a change in your life or your business? Many of us can claim distinction to some monumental occurrence that could be classified as an important pivot point. This Academy is all about those pivots.
Kim Auernheimer partner with husband Rob in CS Automotive, Brentwood, TN, Patrick McHugh, shop owner, Bimmer Rescue, Richmond, VA, Alan Symmes, shop owner, Revolution Automotive Services, Norwood, MA and Cecil Bullard, CEO, The Institute for Automotive Business join in the discussion.
Listen to real examples of important pivot points from these shop owners. Hear how pivot points arrive when you put your family priorities in play. Pivots show up when you start to run your business as a business. You will have tough days so you need to have great mentors and a strong network and a business coach to support your progress.
THA 072: Technician Training Strategies & Rewards
Training Technicians is an Investment That Must Be Made and Funded.
Shop owners must create a learning culture in the business. This allows the entire team to understand the value of training. It doesn’t end at 5 PM. The shop owner must generate the profits necessary to invest in a comprehensive training program for the entire company.
All roles in the business including CEO, service advisor and technicians must be included in the strategy. Owners must lead the way by attending business management training. Training is a retention tool.
Listen on how to work with your suppliers to get the type of training on their local/regional training schedules. Listen for ideas on rewards and that associations are a great source for training.
THA 071: Underutilized Shop Management Systems (SMS)
Underutilized Shop Management Systems.
The panel is all about max utilization for your SMS. You are going to learn a lot and maybe walk away with an action plan to better utilize your SMS.
Listen to Tom Ham, Automotive Management Network and shop owner of Auto Centric in Grand Rapids, MI, Scott Brown, from Diagnostic Network and shop owner of Connie & Dicks Service Center, Claremont, CA and David Roman Shop owner of Done With Care Auto Repair in Merriam, KS and Facebook Group Founder, Ask-A-Mechanic.
Among the talking points: There is a training gap on features and actual uses, cloud-based SMS is where we are heading, and it is the shop owner’s responsibility to request and get the training from your SMS supplier.
From a marketing and customer perception, when you are all digital and you come across as ‘high tech’ from counter to bays, it also puts you ahead of the pack and provides a certain level of differentiation.
THA 070: Business Coaches LAB – Leadership
Business Coach LAB on Leadership
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”. –Warren Bennis
The passion behind the vision is what makes people leaders. This is a first in an episodic series called the Business Coaches LAB. With me for the ‘Leadership LAB’ is Cecil Bullard, Bob Greenwood, Jude Larson, Rick White and Murray Voth. Find the coaches bio, previous podcast episodes and their companies website on the show notes page: remarkableresults.biz/a070. Also, find the cliff note ‘talking points’ there that can act as a great action to do list for you.
We get into some very deep discussion on the value of leadership, but also on how you can start to be a better leader. Yes, leadership can be learned and practiced. The value of this lesson will bring you rewards for years to come.