Judy Zimmerman Walter is co-owner with her uncles and the CFO of, this 57-year young service business. Zimmerman’s Automotive, Mechanicsburg, PA is a true blue ‘family enterprise’ with 12 out of a team of 29 team members that are ‘IN THE FAMILY’. Zimmerman’s is a top automotive repair facility along with a quick lube and a used car division.

Among her involvement:  Women’s Board of the Car Care Council, AASP-PA Alliance of Automotive Service Providers, and the Auto Care Association. Listen to Judy’s other episodes HERE.

Jim Paiva is the owner of Elite Auto Repair in RI, which specializes in Euro and Japanese cars. Jim and Carly are also Coached by Cecil. Carly has been around this business since she was born, after graduating from high school and a Community College she decided to go after her passion and that’s automotive and in 10 years she will own the shop and that would be in the direct timeline as Jim retires. Carly is Jim’s right-hand partner in this whole plan.

Jeff Matt from Victory Auto Service in Minneapolis and St. Petersburg, FLA, was featured in episode 48. Jeff owns six locations with one being in Florida. He has over 40 team members and has grown through acquisition. Jeff opened Victory in 1997 as a one-bay shop and has slow steady growth over the years. His growth offers up a great view of multi-shop ownership. Episodes Jeff Matt is featured in HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• Judy Zimmerman  
  • Letting go as a parent- allowing mistakes to happen
  • Observing and helping buying insurance for the company- helping for the next several years
  • Gender issues- turn around and look at yourself, how you present yourself, do you know facts and sure of them, do you present yourself confidently. Sell value in product and yourself
  • Jackie completed Northwood online
  • Jackie implemented “Smash n Bash” event to raise money for the local fire company
  • Have regular hours set for Jackie- accountability

• Jeff Matt
  • Learn as you go- not succession overnight
  • Hear feedback from other staff and observe her decision-making process
  • Being the boss’s child- need to earn respect and pick your battles
  • Lauren travels with Jeff to peer group meetings
  • Relationship with daughter – communication is key
  • Lauren facilitated employee appreciation day for every location
  • Daughter knows her role in company and company knows as well- building respect with each  other
  • Financial stewardship- knows Lauren is managing own personal finances and budgeting, feels confident with her one day taking over the business  

• Jim Paiva
  • 10-year process of succession planning
  • Need continuous guidance no matter how long you’ve been in business
  • Carly attends institute service advisor academy- year-long process, work with numbers and profit margins. Leaning foundation of business first then will take leadership classes later on
  • Carly is the light of business- employees and customers 

Link too episode 401. The daughter’s podcast episodes.
Part 1 of this succession series: HERE.

Resources:

• Thanks to Judy Walter, Jim Paiva and Jeff Matt for their contribution to the aftermarket’s premier podcast.
• Link to the ‘BOOKS‘ page highlighting all books discussed in the podcast library HERE. Leaders are readers.
• Leave me an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one of them.

Be socially involved and in touch with the show:
Facebook   Twitter   Linked In    Email    Events    Speaking

Subscribe to a mobile listening app HERE.

NAPA Autotech Training helps your technicians keep their skills sharp and their NAPA Know How up to date. It’s the highest quality technical training that covers almost every vehicle system and every make and model. NAPA Autotech is presented by experienced instructors who are ASE master certified technicians. Even after a class is over, techs can access course information online with ClassPass. So when questions come up later they can get the answers. AutoCare Center owners who have taken advantage of Autotech Training say that well-trained technicians are helping to increase their shop’s repair capability and raise bay productivity. That results in fewer comebacks, more satisfied shop customers, and reduced technician turnover.

Learn more about NAPA AutoCare and the benefits of being part of the NAPA family by visiting www.NAPAAutoCare.com.



Your Learning Curve Never Sounded So Good

Jacquie Walter Hower is the Director of Operations and 3^rd generation at her family’s business, Zimmerman’s Automotive, in Mechanicsburg, PA. During high school and into college, Jacquie worked part-time for the company working in the Quick Lube department as a technician changing oil and maintaining customer vehicles. After her sophomore year of college, she was given the chance to become a manager for a new Quick Lube location for the company. Since then Jacquie’s love for the industry grew into a passion. As director of operations, she handles a number of different jobs such as customer service, service auditing, daily accounting, training, and community involvement/events. In the summer of 2016, Jacquie began the Aftermarket Management program at Northwood University where she hopes to complete her bachelor’s degree in two years. Jacquie is involved with the Car Care Women’s Board and sits on the board of directors at the Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce.  She resides in Mechanicsburg, PA with her husband, Dan, and their two young boys, Brantley (4) and Mason (2). Hear Jacquie’s Previous Episode HERE.

Carly Paiva is 22 years old and she has always been around the automotive business since she was 2 years old. Her parents opened Elite Auto Repair April of ’98. Due to them both trying to start a new business, she was always at the shop. She started working in the business as soon as she could. Her mom would bring home office work such as filing, making new folders for new customers, mailers and a lot of other stuff. Once she could drive, she would go after school. She went to college full time and worked around her school schedule. She attended a community college in RI where she received an associates degree in business. The longer she worked there, the more responsibilities she had. She did office work, bookkeeping, and was even a driver for awhile picking up customers, washing cars, picking up parts etc. It wasn’t just up until this year where she started writing service. Three years ago their shop joined Cecil’s Smart Group and Carly have attended many of his classes. She is currently attending one. Listen to Carly’s previous episodes HERE.

Lauren Anderson is an Executive Assistant to her dad. In her position, she gets the opportunity to learn all aspects of the business, through her dad’s experience and perspective. She also takes care of anything that her dad asks her to.

She is responsible for the management of the company’s security including keys, alarm codes, login information, online presence and completing monthly reports. Her dad gave her the Freedom to speak up on any subject at any time either to make suggestions or to ask questions. Freedom to manage her own calendar, schedule, tasks, and responsibilities.

Lauren is finding solutions to setting their staff for success. Listen to Lauren’s previous episodes HERE.

Key Talking Points:

• Millennials are looking for transparency in their relationship with you.
• They want to know if you have the same values as you.
• Some millennials do like to get mail.
• Facebook ads need to be attractive.
• Millennials have a short attention span.
• The focus should be on video content and simplifying the message in a way that they would understand.
• Instagram is up and coming. In fact getting very important.
• Millennials prefer texting vs phone calls.
• There is a need to train the service advisor to embrace the generations on how to engage with them as a customer. Their preferences.
• Your public image must meet your real image. Millennials will see a gap if your website pictures do not match your actual environment when they walk in the door.
• Community outreach is important to millennials. They like causes. If you are doing them you must share the story of your contribution to the community.
  • Be humble to a point, but not humble to a fault.
  • Don’t be afraid to share your heart. You should brag when you are doing great things in your community.
• Millennials have no patience. They want it now!
  • They will research how long it takes.
• Digital inspections is important when doing business with millennials.
  • They like to see the evidence of the problem. Proof and assurance.
  • A picture tells a thousand words.
• Every time you take a picture or video you know you have content to share with your customer especially your millennial.
  • They like short.
  • Lauren did a short video called rocking chair that showed the importance of changing your air filter. Was a minute long. Had a strong response.
• Pictures of customers can be posted in the shop on a TV.
• Your smartphone is a business tool because it has a camera that helps you tell the story. Continually
• Build a library of content of actual events that happen at your shop that you can pull from any time.
• Look for social posts that would be interesting to a millennial.
  • Post pics and ask is anyone knows if they know what it is!
• Don’t change your focus and just market to millennials you need to connect with your customers, all of them.
• Facebook gives you a broad spectrum of generations don’t necessarily create posts for one generation only, however, respect what the millennial likes.
• Millennials want a great experience and want you to see your reply to your Google reviews.
• Be creative on all your approaches to social media posting and campaigns.
• Create events at your business to attract community and customers.
• Instagram is a strong millennial outlet.
  • Get to the point.
• Simplify your waiting room and lobby. Create customer service pods instead of your full counter.

Resources:

• A special thanks to  Jacquie Hower, Lauren Anderson, and Carly Paiva for their contribution to the aftermarket.
• Books Page HERE
• Zimmerman’s Automotive website HERE.
• Leave me an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one of them.

Subscribe to a mobile listening app HERE.

Jacquie Walter Hower is the Director of Operations and 3^rd generation at her family’s business, Zimmerman’s Automotive, in Mechanicsburg, PA. During high school and into college, Jacquie worked part-time for the company working in the Quick Lube department as a technician changing oil and maintaining customer vehicles. After her sophomore year of college, she was given the chance to become a manager for a new Quick Lube location for the company. Since then Jacquie’s love for the industry grew into a passion. As director of operations, she handles a number of different jobs such as customer service, service auditing, daily accounting, training, and community involvement/events. In the summer of 2016, Jacquie began the Aftermarket Management program at Northwood University where she hopes to complete her bachelor’s degree in two years. Jacquie is involved with the Car Care Women’s Board and sits on the board of directors at the Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce.  She resides in Mechanicsburg, PA with her husband, Dan, and their two young boys, Brantley (4) and Mason (2). Hear Jacquie’s Previous Episode HERE.

Carly Paiva is 22 years old and she has always been around the automotive business since she was 2 years old. Her parents opened Elite Auto Repair April of ’98. Due to them both trying to start a new business, she was always at the shop. She started working in the business as soon as she could. Her mom would bring home office work such as filing, making new folders for new customers, mailers and a lot of other stuff. Once she could drive, she would go after school. She went to college full time and worked around her school schedule. She attended a community college in RI where she received an associates degree in business. The longer she worked there, the more responsibilities she had. She did office work, bookkeeping, and was even a driver for awhile picking up customers, washing cars, picking up parts etc. It wasn’t just up until this year where she started writing service. Three years ago their shop joined Cecil’s Smart Group and Carly have attended many of his classes. She is currently attending one.

Lauren Anderson is an Executive Assistant to her dad. In her position, she gets the opportunity to learn all aspects of the business, through her dad’s experience and perspective. She also takes care of anything that her dad asks her to. She is responsible for the management of the company’s security including keys, alarm codes, login information, online presence and completing monthly reports. Her dad gave her the Freedom to speak up on any subject at any time either to make suggestions or to ask questions. Freedom to manage her own calendar, schedule, tasks, and responsibilities. She is finding solutions to setting their staff for success.

Key Talking Points:

• Know your role
• Know your communication style (example DISC)
• Mutual Respect
• Multiple family members need to understand the parents plan for succession that there will be one leader (president). These tough conversations must be had.
• Room to fail
• Get training on leadership and the different roles/jobs inside the company
• A mountain to learn, gain trust and build relationships
• A mentor for both the successor and successee will help.
• Jacquie’s mentor has been one of her best assets.
• Jacquie’s mentor came through the Women In Auto Care.   WIAC Website HERE.
• Connect and keep relationships with the instructor’ whose class you’ve attended.
• You will need to learn about your team’s ability to change
• Seize opportunities to take on projects or responsibilities
• Create a personal timeline   for your training and immersion into your leadership role
• Don’t make a change for the cause of change. You need a strong solution.
• Some of the ladies initiatives and accomplishments:
  • 5 day work week.
  • Digitized a lot of paperwork.
  • Direct payroll deposits.
  • Involved with the community bigger than ever – First Responders – Jacquie saw the results of that effort faster than many other programs.

Resources:

• Thanks to Carly Paiva, Jacquie Hower, and Lauren Anderson for their contribution to the aftermarket’s premier podcast.
• Link to the ‘BOOKS‘ page highlighting all books discussed in the podcast library HERE. Leaders are readers.
• Leave me an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one of them.

Be socially involved and in touch with the show:
Facebook   Twitter   Linked In   Email    Events    Speaking

The auto care industry is revving up.  New technologies are changing cars and the way people use them. To stay in the driver’s seat of all these advancements, you need to take charge of your learning, your business and your legacy. That’s where the 2020 NAPA EXPO comes in. With help from industry experts and the best suppliers and manufacturers, the 2020 NAPA EXPO will provide the innovations and answers you need to charge forward into the future.

This is your chance to: network with experts in the industry, discover the latest innovations that will help you stay market competitive, and learn more about the new products, services and equipment you’ll soon be using every day.

Join us in Las Vegas, April 6-9, 2020!  Contact your NAPA AUTO PARTS store today to reserve your package for this can’t miss event. Enrollment is going on now.

To learn more about NAPA AutoCare and the benefits of being part of the NAPA family, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

Subscribe to a mobile listening app HERE.