AutoVitals sits down with Bob Conant, owner of Bob Kaiser’s Repair, and Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development for The Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, to discuss leadership and process best practices to drive growth and success.
Listen to our discussion on:
- DVI process best practice
- Leadership strategies to get team buy-in
- Transitioning from tech or a service advisor to business owner
- The importance of transparency with your customers and with your staff
- and more!
Episode Transcript
*This transcript was generated with Artificial Intelligence. Error may occur. If you identify an error please contact [email protected].
Lauren Thunen (00:02):
Great. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone who has already joined us. Thank you to everyone who joined early and was waiting so patiently in the waiting room. I love to see that. So very prompt group of shop owners that we got today. I’m really excited about today’s edition of the Digital Shop Talk Radio. Firstly, because we have an amazing shop owner, Bob Conant, who is the owner of Bob Kaiser’s repair in Hilton, New York Go Bills. And we also have Jimmy Lea. If you don’t know Jimmy Lea, he has been an influential person in the automotive industry for decades. He’s one of the core founding members of AutoVitals. He’s then worked for Kukui,
he’s now with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, which is one of the premier coaching groups in the automotive industry. So instead of me doing all the talking and telling you who wonderful these people are, Bob, could you start off and just tell us a little bit about yourself and your shop so attendees can get familiar with you?
Bob Conant (01:00):
Sure. Yeah. I’ve been here for a long time, so since the shop opened in 83, I worked on and off here for Bob for a long time. I’ve been back for 24 years now, and recently I purchased it about four years ago.
Lauren Thunen (01:16):
Got it. So you’ve been working at the shop for 24 years and then you purchased it as the owner four years ago.
Bob Conant (01:21):
Yep. I’ve done every position here from cleanup to tow truck to tech to advisor to yeah, everything.
Lauren Thunen (01:27):
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And then how long have you been working with the institute on the business coaching side of things?
Bob Conant (01:34):
Well, we rejoined, we were with the institute before and we rejoined when I purchased the business. I rejoined then. Awesome. Back with ’em for four years. I think we were with ’em for probably about five, six years before that.
Lauren Thunen (01:47):
Got it. Cool, cool, cool. And then Jimmy, could you go ahead and introduce yourself as well as tell a little bit about what the Institute does for shops?
Jimmy Lea (01:54):
Yeah, yeah. My name is Jimmy Lea. I’ve been in the automotive industry now for a while. I lost a bet and that’s why I’m here. So figure that one out. If you’ve got questions about that, we’ll have to talk on a personal basis, but I would love to tell you that story. It’s so much fun. The automotive industry has been absolutely a blessing to me, to my life, to my family, to my wife, to my children. The automotive industry is the best vertical, the best industry that we could ever anticipate or even want. It is absolutely amazing. It’s so much fun. We just have a great time and the industry is the biggest heart there is. I’ve never met a shop owner that’s not willing to go above and beyond, above and beyond the expectations. And the Institute is a premier coaching and training company within the automotive industry.
(02:54):
We help shops and shop owners to understand how to run their business and be the business side of the business. Many of them are raised in the shop, they’re raised in the shop environment. They know how to turn a wrench, they know how to service a vehicle, but there’s a whole nother skill set that they want to develop that they need to develop. And that skillset and that muscle set is business ownership. So the institute side of coaching and training is business coaching and training for shop owners to help them understand what they need to do to run their businesses the best.
Lauren Thunen (03:36):
Awesome. Thank you for that overview. And that ties in perfectly. So what we’re going to chat the most about today, I’m sure we’ll go off topic as sometimes happens with a group like this, but is about business management best practices to really take your shop to the next level, calling it the blueprint of growth and who better than Bob, who has not only been a shop owner for four years, but has made that transition, as Jimmy mentioned, from working inside of the shop to taking that next step as being the owner. So Bob, could you tell us a little bit about what were the biggest challenges that you faced in moving from role to role in the shop and then eventually taking over as the business owner?
Bob Conant (04:17):
Yeah, I think it’s the unknown. I think it’s what you don’t know. So for me, I mean I knew how to work on cars and that was the easy part. And then moving into dealing with customers, that was actually, I enjoy that part. I enjoy the interaction and whatnot, but as you move along through there and now you’re into management and trying to figure out the numbers, which are the least fun of everything to learn that. And that’s where the institute comes in and your peers of helping you go through that transition stage. It was, I mean, to learn QuickBooks and P and Ls and all that stuff. It’s the non-fun stuff, which is what I say to customers now. I said, I get to do all the non-fun stuff, pay the bills, taxes, all that kind of good stuff. So moving through that, yeah, it was tough because you just don’t know. You don’t know what you’re doing. And without the help of other shop owners and systems through the institute, man, it would’ve been even harder, which is why I rejoined the group.
Lauren Thunen (05:17):
Yeah, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. I always say that my job would be so much fun if I didn’t have to worry about making AutoVitals money. The end of the day when you are looking at the P and L, that’s when things get really real. So Jimmy, do you typically, what are the foundations that you work with a shop owner like Bob to cover, to make sure that they’re able to successfully make that transition from doing the fun stuff to doing the really hard stuff?
Jimmy Lea (05:44):
Yeah, that’s interesting. Every shop has a little bit of a different journey that they’re on. So imagine life is a long trail or a long path. Some are way off the path, some are close to the path. So when we bring in a shop and a shop owner into the institute to talk about their business, we’re going to meet them where they are. I’m thinking of a specific shop. You okay if I mention names?
Lauren Thunen (06:10):
Yes.
Jimmy Lea (06:11):
Tracy Holt with Performance Place. He came to us and said, Hey look, don’t talk to me about car count. Don’t talk to me about average repair order. That’s not what I need. I am doing very well in those spots right now. I’m a 7% net profit shop. I want more. I can’t break that 7%, that 8%, I’m stuck. And I’ve been through three other training companies. That’s the first thing they want to talk about is about average repair order and about car count. He says, I need shop efficiencies. Help me with my shop efficiency and we will grow this business exponentially. Five technicians, 14 bays, big shop in, is he in Sandy or South Jordan? I think he might be south. Jordan, Utah. He’s in Utah. I went and visited his shop, phenomenal. Been in the family for generations. The oldest business in city, wherever he is, man, I can’t remember.
(07:16):
I think it’s South Jordan, the oldest business. Back in the day when dad was doing the business, it was all about working on the agricultural vehicles, agricultural tractors and that stuff. So we need to meet people where they are and then take them from there. So anytime somebody comes into the institute, the first thing we’re going to do is have those one-on-one meetings with the coach because we want those meetings to be discovery. Where are you at? What are your inefficiencies? How can we help you the most? And there’s a time period somewhere between three and nine months when a shop comes into the institute, somewhere in between that three to nine months that it clicks, the lights turn on. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I get it. I understand. Now this makes sense. Okay, now when that happens, there’s a hockey stick, their business increases exponentially.
(08:13):
And the progression, the natural progression of a shop and a shop owner is to go from one-on-one coaching and training into a group environment. When you have that mastermind, that peer to peer learning, that the learning, the stickiness, the retention is so much higher than when it’s just the one-on-one experience. The reason we don’t throw people into that group environment first is because they’re not ready yet. Their numbers aren’t right. Their books aren’t right. Their P and L doesn’t look right. They may have personal expenses mixed in with their business expenses. I get it. I understand. I know it happens, right, Bob? I dunno
Bob Conant (08:56):
What you’re talking about. No,
Jimmy Lea (08:58):
Not anymore. Not anymore. Right. But it does. It happens. And shop owners, we do that. So there was a shop owner we were talking to the other day, $1,200 a month for Walmart. What’s this in your P and L? Oh, that’s my groceries. I’m buying my groceries. Okay, well I understand. Don’t do that. Give yourself a raise. Buy your groceries out of your own private and then have the business be the business. So when they get into this group environment, peer to peer, they open their books, they show each other, they have a composite partner. Who’s your comp? Are you in a group, Bob?
Bob Conant (09:37):
Yes.
Jimmy Lea (09:37):
Yes. What group are you in?
Bob Conant (09:40):
Oh, I mean I’m group two, the best group,
Jimmy Lea (09:44):
Group two, I do agree. Group two is a phenomenal group of the group. They each have their own dynamics and group two is very, let’s say high tech. They’re tech savvy. They’re tech hungry, they’re tech implementers. They’re the alphas. If somebody’s in beta group two is the one that’s in the alphas that is testing it vapor. The betas are testing it. This is a group that is really tech forward. So to your group, Bob, that’s a phenomenal group. If I was to put somebody in Bob’s group today, Joe’s Garage, he would be embarrassed because he would have to stand up in front of the group and talk about his numbers and talk about his shop and talk about his business. But he’s not ready yet. His P and L’s dirty, he’s got personal expenses in there. It’s not a good thing. So we’ve got to get them ready with that time period with a one-on-one coach. So they’re meeting twice a month for an hour. Every other week they meet with the coach, and the coach is helping them to see where their inefficiencies are. So back to my story with Tracy Holt, 7% net profit in the month of, it was either December or January had a record breaking month. And by the way, he’s continues to have record breaking months to the point that he is now 20. It was 23.9% net profit.
(11:13):
That was within a nine month time period. He went from a 7% net profit to a 2320 4% net profit. That’s pretty cool. That’s a good place to be and absolutely phenomenal. In fact, we’ll talk here in a minute. When you ask me another question, we’re going to talk about some clubs that we have here with the institute that are pretty amazing.
Lauren Thunen (11:37):
Awesome. Cool. Yeah, thank you for sharing that, Jimmy. And you mentioned that Bob’s group too is very tech forward. That is actually something that I wanted to ask you, Bob, because your shop is in a small town, right? Population’s in the 7,000 to 10,000, right? In Hilton, yes. State, New York, if you’re not familiar, almost as close to Canada as you can get without actually being in Canada. What kind of was the impulse to be? You have such a heavy investment in technology, you’ve been with AutoVitals for a while. I think you’re using almost every product that we offer. I know you’re also with Tech Metric. What has really driven that strategy? Because I hear a lot of shops that might be in a more, not in a big city, say like, oh, we don’t need that. We don’t need that. We know our customers. What was the impulse to be such a tech forward shop, especially given where you’re located
Bob Conant (12:26):
Well, again, if you ask my family, I’ve always looked for the latest tech stuff and that kind of stuff is always kind of cool. But for me it was just for efficiency and for ease. I mean, going from written paper to a point of sale that now it integrates in with looking up your parts and then you tie that in with AutoVitals to where you’re able to do, we call ’em health evaluations on vehicles and look these things over and document everything. And really it was more for me of the documenting stuff to be able to look back at, I mean, I remember the days of trying to find an invoice and it was sometime in June. Now you got to go upstairs, go into the file and kind of look through and hope someone actually put it in a proper spot. Where today everything is scanned in organized on a Google Drive, and you can find it by typing into search field. So it’s a lot about efficiency and convenience, and for me it’s been a huge change over the years compared to where we were. That’s for sure.
Jimmy Lea (13:37):
Oh yeah. And the tech forward that Bob is doing is to educate the clients, educate the customer, those DVIs, they help that vehicle health check. That helps educate a customer so much when you can show what’s worn, torn, leaking, broken, cracked, seeping. When you show that I as a client and much more educated, I make better decisions when Bob calls on the phone and says, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All these things are broken. $2,500, dude, I drove my car in. I’m going to drive it out. I just want you to change. The oil education is so paramount, and there’s been beautiful ways that we’ve been able to educate our customers and our clients through DVIs, digital inspections, through animated videos, tech videos, informational videos that talk about a water pump, a water cooler, a timing belt, why it’s important, why it needs to be serviced, why you need to change it now instead of down the road when you’re stuck on the side of the road because your timing belt was thrown, broken, worn out. The time to do your maintenance is now not then,
Bob Conant (14:58):
And it just holds in for all the documentation. You can see what it was last time it was in and what it is this time, how it’s progressed, things like that. It really is it, for me, it’s just one of those things of it’s the transparency of the customer. They’re actually looking at what we’re looking at, and it can be done in relatively real time. So that part of the technology of the days of having to try to explain it to ’em and then when they come in, show it to ’em, hang onto the parts for ’em if they wanted them. Nowadays you’re not seeing that because it’s all already documented. They’ve already seen it. They could tell that it was bent or broken or leaking, whatever it is. So all that is already handled and it makes more seamless and more value to the customer for sure.
Jimmy Lea (15:41):
Yeah. Bob, did you have clients or customers that you’d take pictures and your DVI and you’re like, yeah, your upper sway bars are worn out, or your ball joints are worn, or that bushing is gone, or that motor mount and you send ’em a picture, so to you or to your technicians, it’s like, yeah, right here, that motor mount, a client looks at it and goes, dude, I don’t even know what I’m looking at.
Bob Conant (16:06):
Right? Yes. Yeah, well, yeah, we’ve had that because before AutoVitals and the other DVI companies out there, we were physically still taking pictures with cameras and on a hard drive and storing all those. So it was, yeah, people don’t know. I mean, it’s just like if someone showed the inside of your body without having someone explaining it to you, arrows, circles, whatever it is, you’d have no idea. So that’s where all that information that ties in with it comes in handy. I mean all the documentation of stuff of what a water pump does and all that kind of value to the customer, and it is teaching them to get a little bit more educated on the subjects.
Lauren Thunen (16:47):
Yeah. And Bob, I know your shop is truly best in class in terms of the documentation I was just pulling up, you’re at about 60 pictures per inspection, so how many topics are you doing on your inspection? And then talk a little bit about that picture count and how you get there. Because if you’re watching this webinar, you don’t already know the picture rate is one of the highest correlations to average repair order value. When we take a look at our inspection, so what’s driving that picture count for your shop?
Bob Conant (17:18):
Yeah, one guy that’s picture happy, that does a good job. So the other guys are learning from that. So obviously we have our operating procedure of what we expect to have pictures of all the good, all the bad. And a lot of it is for documenting. I mean, if it’s good and the tires are good and the struts and shocks are good, and you’re documenting that you have that information for future. So we had one guy that was, I’d say overzealous on pitchers and he was actually the backbone of looking at it going, look at, we can get all these pictures. You’re not still spending a ton of time doing it and document it for down the road. So at least for me, if I’m an advisor and you call up and you say, well, what kind of condition the vehicle’s in? I’ve got enough pictures that really to be able to evaluate it and say it’s great or it’s not. And without that, we used to take pictures of all your basics, your steering, your suspension stuff, your tires, and then you get into more stuff with frame condition points and just exhaust everything in between. You can look at it and I have no questions for the technician, which means I can service the customer better, give ’em more information.
(18:32):
It is been a huge thing. I almost thought it was too many pictures, but an average of 60 is a lot. But it’s great for documentation. We’ve had it save our butt from time to time and it’s great to be able to have the customer see what we’re seeing.
Jimmy Lea (18:49):
So Bob, to your 60 pictures, I mean that just absolutely blows my mind. I remember the early days of AutoVitals and I was really pounding the drum saying, come on, you guys get 12. Make your standard 12 pictures per DVI and it’ll increase your average repair order. 18%, 20, 20 pictures average 20 pictures. Okay, CYA totally different topic. Yes, 60 pictures is definitely going to cover your behind. Have you analyzed each of these technicians to say, alright, Joe, 60 pictures, your average repair order is $1,800 or $800 or 900, whatever the number is, you’re this number and Mary and Susie, your DVIs are 20 pictures and your average repair order is $300. Is there that plain and obvious of a correlation between these two?
Bob Conant (19:50):
No. No. And it’s not really cut and dry. And actually we just had this conversation about it is 60 pitchers too overwhelming? Either way, it goes back to most customers don’t know what they’re looking at, which is why it’s our job to advise them of what they’re looking at and the condition of it. That’s actually the best part of my job is our job here really is to just educate the customer or the condition of the vehicle. Whether you have it done here or not really doesn’t matter to me. If you can trust me, then you’ll have it done here. Otherwise, my job is to inform you what it needs and when it needs it. So that’s why we document as much as we do. Oh,
Jimmy Lea (20:32):
That’s good. That’s really good. And I like the advocacy that you’re having for the vehicle that says, Hey, this is what your vehicle needs, whether you have us do it or Uncle Fred or whomever, the guy down the road, or you take it back home to Arizona and have somebody down there do it. It doesn’t matter. It still needs to be done. Here’s the information that you make a decision.
Bob Conant (20:55):
Yes.
Lauren Thunen (20:56):
Yeah. We have a couple questions in the chat about the pictures. So Kelly was just saying 60 pictures is impressive. We average 40 Sal. Just ask similar to what you asked Jimmy, is there a point where it’s too many overload also? Hi Sal, it’s nice to see you. We haven’t chatted in a while. I think you definitely toy a fine line there. Think probably Bob what set in your shop apart as well as your ability to walk the customer through the inspection. And also a lot of those pictures I know because taken a look at your inspections are on items that are good, where the customer might not be spending a ton of time going through that good section of the inspection. They’re just like, oh, great. They’re taking photographic evidence. They’re not just looking for the things that are bad on my vehicle. They’re actually documenting for my reference.
(21:43):
What’s good. And then you can use those pictures later on to compare when something moves into the yellow or red of like, Hey, this was great last time we took it into the shop. No issues on your tread depth, but now 10,000 miles later, you’re going to have to start looking at replacing your tires. So I think it’s also just like it’s not all 60 photos in the red and yellow where folks are swiping through 60 photos. It’s spread out through every single inspection topic. And that’s something that at AutoVitals we really remind folks is take pictures of what is good. That’s so important. And then I also just wanted to share, kind of had this off the cuff, you’re going to see my whole desktop. I’m sorry about that. Just the way this Zoom share is, but I’ll spread it out, is I actually took a look at all of our 2024 shop data that we collect and I graphed number of pictures in average repair order.
(22:32):
So again, this is all AutoVitals clients. There’s some weird stuff that happens in this five to 20 range where there’s not a ton of change, but when you get into that 30 plus, I didn’t map 60 plus because there’s not a ton of shops in that area, but Bob, you’re the only one dramatically increases when you move past that 30 threshold range. The biggest thing is because you’re giving something for the customers to look at. Obviously folks that are having 40 plus pictures are not only recommending two items, so there’s some correlating factors, but numbers don’t lie. If you’re getting into that 30 40 range, your a RO will increase. That is a cool thing to see.
Bob Conant (23:15):
And I say we’ve seen that and a lot of it is it’s really just informing. I mean, you’re going to get it if you’re looking at the vehicle and looking it over, you’re going to find stuff that’s needed and as long as you’re not ramming it down someone’s throat, you you’re going to eventually get the sale on.
Jimmy Lea (23:34):
Oh yeah, if you showed me 60 pictures and it was all red and yellow emergency, you have to do it now. I’d be like, deuces, I’m trading her in. I’m done. I’m driving Swiss cheese here. No
Bob Conant (23:52):
Yeah, I don’t know if you could tell how many are good or how many are marked good or not off of it. Then we take a lot of pictures of good stuff
Jimmy Lea (24:01):
Because
Bob Conant (24:02):
That’s really what matters. What’s the condition of the vehicle? What do you need to get out of it? How long is it going to last? When are you going to need it? Those are really the biggest questions, right? So
Jimmy Lea (24:12):
Yeah, what’s your dreams with this vehicle? And there’s probably some people that you talked to, Bob, where it’s been for sale for, it’s going to be sold next month for the last three years,
Bob Conant (24:22):
Right? Yes, that happens.
Jimmy Lea (24:24):
It does. It does. And maybe that’s their true intention. I do intend on selling it, but then when it comes down to it, they just don’t and who knows, but to be safe on the road, these are the things you need to pay attention to.
Bob Conant (24:39):
Absolutely.
Lauren Thunen (24:41):
I saw that Kelly was interested in the graph that I shared, so I’m just going to show one more graph that is similar in what we’re talking about. So the other thing that I’m sure Bob and our shops folks a lot on is customer research time, which is just the measure of how long folks are looking at the inspection. And again, keep in mind, these are all AutoVitals clients. These are not just specialty shops, but you guys can see my screen if you’re able to get, this is the most direct correlation. If you’re able to get a customer looking at an inspection for over 400 seconds, statistically compared to someone that’s looking at the inspection for a minute and a half, your A RO is going to be over double that amount if you’re following industry best practices. So again, that’s tying into what Bob’s telling us is to get someone to look at the inspection for over 400 seconds, you have to have a lot for them to look through and for a lot for them to research. And your service advisors have to be making sure on the phone, Hey, pull up the inspection. Let’s walk through the yellow and red together. So it’s a combination of a great DVI process, a great selling process from the service advisor and setting great customer expectations of what you want them to do with that DVI when you send it to them.
Jimmy Lea (25:48):
Yeah, yeah, that makes total sense too. If people that are down at that lower range, they’re looking at it for a minute and a half, two minutes, three minutes, that’s the quick decision of Yeah, yeah, okay. Yep. Nope. Okay, do it. Those are the things, yeah, let’s do it. When it gets up in that $1,100 average repair order, it’s probably got three or four or $5,000 worth of work that needs to be done. They’re having to look at it to prioritize, all right, Bob, what do I have to do today and what can I do in 60 days and what can I do in 120 days?
Bob Conant (26:27):
That’s the whole purpose of it. And again, it is a lot of pictures and you got to take good quality pictures and informative pictures, but we’ve been looking, trying to look at that to see is it too much? Are people, and we’ve been asking our clients, and for the most part the response is, wow, you guys, I didn’t know there was that much in my vehicle. And you guys really take a lot of pictures and look these things over. So everything’s a work in progress. So you have to look at that and say, okay, are we giving the customers what they need
Jimmy Lea (26:58):
Though? And it sounds like you are. The customers are saying, no, don’t change it. We like what you’re doing. Thank you.
Bob Conant (27:05):
The response has been overwhelming, especially for new clients that come in that a lot other shops may not be up to this speed and they’re getting a report and they’re like, oh my gosh, I had no idea. So which is what you want?
Jimmy Lea (27:21):
Oh, that’s good. That’s super good.
Lauren Thunen (27:23):
Awesome. Cool. I want to change, pivot a little bit slightly. That was a great conversation about the DVI process. Bob, I know you had mentioned that one of the biggest things that your focus when you became the owner of Bob Kaiser’s repair is on efficiency. So what are some of the biggest wins that you’ve made in the shop since you’ve been in the shop to increase the overall efficiency?
Bob Conant (27:46):
Well, I think a lot of it, it starts with my staff. I mean, I’ve got a great group of guys now, and I think for that is they were, they’re all on board and they’re bought into what we’re trying to accomplish. And there’s a lot of communication back and forth to where everybody has input. So if you want things to change, you need everyone to make a change. And for me, that’s been the biggest thing for me, is just sitting down with everyone and going, all right, Hey, let’s figure this out. How can we do it? Instead of me just saying, this is how we’re going to do it, you need everyone’s input. So I think that has increased the flow of knowing why we’re doing things and pushing it in that direction. So yeah, for me it is been my staff. I’ve been very fortunate that it is been easy. I haven’t had a lot of fight back on any of the things we’ve implemented, so
Lauren Thunen (28:39):
Yeah. And why do you think that is that you haven’t had a lot of pushback? I think that probably speaks to you being a great leader, and I think that’s one of the most important things as a shop owner. So what have you done to get everybody on board? Give yourself some credit.
Bob Conant (28:52):
I, I’d like to have fun. So for me, I want to come to work every day and have fun. We all know we’re going to have problems. We all know that this industry and this job can suck at times. So it’s the best of what it is, whatever you make of it. And for me, I’ve always told my advisors and my techs look at, we know things are going to go wrong. It’s all on how you respond to ’em. That makes a difference. So for me, when things go wrong for me not flying off the handle and handling it in a certain manner gets them in that same kind of habit of affecting addressing things the same way. So yeah, I think for me it’s just been, I like to have fun. I do a lot for my staff. We do a lot of things together and cooking breakfast and lunch and cornhole games and all that kind of stuff in the shop. So I think I just like to have fun, which I guess my personality kind of goes to them and lets them enjoy their job, I guess.
Lauren Thunen (29:54):
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, that’s great to hear, especially with, I know a ton of shops are having retention issues across positions in the shop, and you can’t underrate liking where you work, even if you’re not getting paid as well as the shop maybe next door or there might be a different opportunity that you want to explore if you like going to work. Most folks are not going to be shopping around for another job.
Bob Conant (30:18):
Yeah, it definitely makes a difference. I mean, your culture and atmosphere are huge in retention and nowadays, I mean, it’s bad enough trying to find, everyone is dealing with the staffing issues and it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, I don’t know where everyone went, but everyone’s having a hard time finding staff, and in this industry it’s even worse. A lot of the older guys are going away and the new generation doesn’t want to learn the older generation, so it’s a little challenging at times.
Lauren Thunen (30:50):
Yeah. And Jimmy, from the institute’s perspective and your perspective, when you think about workflow inefficiencies, what are some of the common areas that you guys recommend shops taking a look at in their process to improve efficiency?
Jimmy Lea (31:05):
Yeah, thanks. That’s a great question. I think a lot of that falls right in line with the technician and their efficiencies. What I see a lot of shops is that they are 50% or lower, the 50% or worse in their efficiencies, the national average is about a 70% at the institute we’re shooting for a hundred, 110, 120% tech efficiency. How do you do that? Well, it takes some leadership, it takes some direction, and getting their buy-in to do that is paramount. So when Bob stands up and talks to his technicians, talks to his shop, talks to his people, he’s probably asking a lot of questions like, Hey guys, what can we do to be more efficient? I want your input first, and then we’ll talk about what Bob sees that he thinks needs input. Bob, is that about right? Yeah.
Bob Conant (32:03):
No, right. Again, they’re the ones that are pedaling the bike, right? So you need to get their input too. Just find out what they know and what they know works and what doesn’t work, and then you still guide it from there.
Jimmy Lea (32:17):
Yeah. So I’m going to use just some numbers, easy numbers, easy math because public math is never a good thing. So for example, if your door rate is $200 and your technicians are 50% efficient, you are not making $200 an hour, you might be making a hundred, maybe 120 because those techs just aren’t efficient. Improving their efficiencies through parts, how they’re ordered, how they’re brought in, how they’re staged for the technicians, huge. Putting your filters by the quick lube bay, paramount. Why are you making the tech walk six miles a day just to get those filters, put the filters close, what can we do? So ask, I would start by asking the technicians, what can we do inside the shop? What have you noticed? What would you change? If you had your magic wand bing, and there was something you could change inside of our shop to be more efficient, what would you change? And you’d be surprised at what they come up with. Hey boss, we need a coffee machine in the shop because there’s a black trail from the shop to the coffee machine inside of the customer waiting area, right? Bob, you’re laughing. Is this your story?
Bob Conant (33:47):
No, no, no, no, no, no. They’re pretty good
Jimmy Lea (33:51):
Because if the techs don’t have their coffee machine out there, they’re going to come get the coffee. So what can we do to be more efficient? They can have a coffee machine in the shop, saves them all those steps, all those back and forth, and the customer waiting area is cleaner. The customers have a better experience and your technicians aren’t gone as long. They’re able to stay at the vehicle longer. It just goes a long way. I know some shops that they’re buying Red Bull and Monster and Rock Stars and whatever it is that the technician wants to consume during the day, Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, mountain Dew, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. They keep the fridge stocked for ’em so that they don’t have to leave, go to the gas station and then come back. That keeps them at the shop and they’re more efficient because they’re constantly working inside the shop.
(34:48):
They don’t leave. In fact, there’s another shop up in, I think it’s up in Michigan every day. Lunch is at the shop. All the technicians, the shop owner brings in lunch every day. They eat together. So techs don’t leave. They don’t have to leave and come back. They’re there. They get some relaxed time. So it only takes, what, 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes to eat. But if you’re going offsite all the time, it’s 10, 15 minutes to drive. You wait, you order, you have to shovel quick. You’re 10, 15 minutes back, and what if you’re late? Now you’re 5, 10, 15 minutes late getting back to the shop. I thought it was brilliant that this shop owner brings in food for everybody every day.
Lauren Thunen (35:36):
Yeah, it’s a good to call out that there’s a lot of things that technology can help with on terms of the efficiency, but also there’s a lot of quick wins that regardless of what you’re using for your workflow process, just sitting in the back of the shop. And something that we did at AutoVitals, I’m sure Jimmy you’ll remember this when we first started, is we went and clocked how long with a stopwatch it takes technicians to run from the front to the back of the shop to ask the service advisor questions. It adds up to nine hours a month per technician of wasted time running back and forth to the shop. So just things like whenever you can minimize running from front to back of the shop, whether it’s implementing a automatic dispatching system through workflow or an internal chat or moving the fridge to the back of the shop, you could save nine hours a month per technician. That’s a lot of money. And I just wanted to compliment Bob, I was just taking, again, taking a look at your numbers, you have one of the best technician efficiency rates. I see when I just pull numbers. You’re over 130% efficient for your technicians. So again, going back to what Jimmy mentioned, that if your walk-in rate’s $200, you’re able to make more than $200 an hour because your technicians are producing more than what they’re billing. So just great job numbers are looking great. Love it. That’s super awesome. Congrats.
Bob Conant (36:55):
I got a great staff. I got a great staff for sure.
Lauren Thunen (36:57):
Yeah. And then Bob, one question for you, someone in the chat asked, how many cars a week do you do at your shop?
Bob Conant (37:06):
We’re scaled down. It’s kind of funny because when I was prepping for looking at this webinar, I’m like, some of the challenges we’ve had, I’m like, I remember we used to be a breakdown shop and we’re a four bay shop in a old bus garage. It’s got two bay doors and four lifts. We were doing over 500 cars a week and we were, or a month, I’m sorry, and we were just a breakdown shop. And then we kind of said, all right, we need to slow it down and service our customers, look these vehicles over and take the time and give the customers what they should be getting. So now we’re down to about, we average probably about 60 to 70 cars, let’s say a week. Yeah,
Lauren Thunen (37:49):
Nice. And I think you call that an important thing, and I think a lot of shops especially that move into a more robust DVI process start to actually reduce their car count because they’re getting more out of every car and kind of shifting the focus from turning and burning to let’s spend a little bit more time on every car, and typically you end up making a little bit more money anyway with that strategy.
Bob Conant (38:12):
Yeah, I mean, for ours, we realized we weren’t servicing the customer and we’re going back a lot of years, but we had a customer come in with a leaking fuel filter, and his car had already been in three times for that year, and he gets towed in because he has a fuel filter leaking well, whose fault’s that? Well, it’s clearly ours. So that’s kind of when the light bulb went off and said, Hey, look, we need to make sure it’s not just a breakdown. You get it in, it’s down, you fix it, you get on the road. We need to start looking these vehicles over. And for me, I’d love to see that our tow in rate is low for our clients because we’re maintaining their vehicle and advising on what it needs. So if they’re getting towed in, either we did miss something or it’s just because it wasn’t done when it should have been done when they were advised, but again, that falls back on us and that’s our job to advise them. We’re the professionals.
Jimmy Lea (39:06):
Yeah, that’s awesome. I’ve heard a lot of shops that auto repair, they also have a towing side of their business. Once they’re educating their customers, their clients using technology, DVIs, texting, communicating videos, their tows went down so much that they decided to sell off their tow trucks because you’re not towing your clients in anymore because they’re not breaking down. They’re maintaining their vehicles, not breaking their vehicles. Yeah, absolutely.
Lauren Thunen (39:35):
Yeah. Awesome. Well, we got about five minutes left, so just a note to attendees, if you have any questions for Bob and Jimmy while we have them, throw them in the q and a. It’s at the bottom of your screen. You might have to you just start, I know this is one of the fastest 45 minutes I think since I’ve been back doing the digital shop talk radio, and I wanted to ask both of you your parting thoughts, Bob, I’ll have you go first of when you look over the past four years as being the business owner and making that transition, what is your biggest piece of advice to the other shop owners on this webinar to really continue to maximize their business and grow their business?
Bob Conant (40:18):
That’s a great question. I think for me, it’s just for me, I’ve been me to my employees and I don’t hide anything. I share everything with ’em. They know all the goods and the bads. So for me, I think that’s been the biggest difference for me from other employers that I’ve worked for, is I’m more upfront and honest and what you see is what you get. I’m not hiding numbers. I’m not hiding the goods and the bads because they should know it. They’re all part of it. So yeah, I would say that’s it for me.
Lauren Thunen (40:52):
Yeah, I mean that’s awesome. And that’s something I think I hear echoed through all of our top shop owners and if you’re providing the transparency to the customer on the DVI, you have all that information, all of the numbers through the business control panel, through your point of sale, share that be just as transparent with your staff because that is one of the biggest things in terms of retention as well, is folks want to know how the business that they’re working for is doing. No one wants to be blindsided. It’s okay to have a bad month. It’s okay to even have a bad year. As long as folks feel like they’re on board, they know what’s going on and that you’re really working to make changes, you’re going to have a bad, it just happens.
Bob Conant (41:32):
We’re all people, we’re all the same boat.
Lauren Thunen (41:34):
Yep. Awesome. Yeah, that’s great Bob, and then Jimmy, when you’re thinking about, I know you visited thousands and thousands of shops. What is your biggest, if you could give one piece of advice, what’s the biggest thing that you echo?
Jimmy Lea (41:48):
Oh, thank you. Yeah, and I have been in thousands of shops all across North America, which has been such a blessing to see each one of these shops. They’re unique, what makes them different, what makes ’em stand out? What is that thing that they’re doing that is just a little bit different? And it’s wonderful. Some shops, you can walk in and you can feel the tension. You can feel a horrible culture. It’s so hard. There are shops that you can walk in and feel the excitement and the light and the energy. It’s just absolutely paramount that we as business owners, take care of our people to Bob’s credit and props to you, Bob, for informing your clients, not your clients, your staff, your people, your team, that they know all the numbers. The beauty of doing that is you may be developing the next entrepreneur and helping him or her understand how to run a business properly so that they can be efficient in their shop or in their business, who knows what they’re going to do, but you can help them to see what’s coming down the road.
(43:02):
Props to you for doing that, bro. So my recommendation as I go around and I see a lot of shops is start where you’re at. Look at your, a lot of shops come to the institute and they want coaching and training. My car count is down, my average repair is down. I need to ramp up my marketing. Okay, well, let’s look at what’s going on inside the machine first before we go marketing the machine. Start with those efficiencies inside. What are you doing? How are you doing it? Is it documented? Does everybody understand the process, the program, the mission, the vision? Do they all understand why we’re working here every day? That is going to help that shop more than marketing. Marketing might sink that ship. If you are an inefficient shop, and let’s say for example, you’re doing a hundred cars a week and you do some marketing and now you’re 150 cars a week, your shop can’t take that
(44:09):
You don’t have the policies, process, procedures in place to take care of the people, the product and the program, it’s not going to work. Work inside, get the efficiencies down. Then we can look at ramping things up. And like with Tracy Holt, his shop, the natural result of not paying attention to car count and average repair order looking exclusively at the efficiencies, the beauty of that the come around is because they were more efficient. Their average repair order went up because they were more efficient, they had more time to take care of more cars. The car count came up and Tracy is in group three. So shout out to group three as well and shout out to any and all mastermind groups. When you are in that peer environment, you’ve got another set of eyes looking at your business. We become snow blind to certain items or things. When you have an accountability partner looking at your business, he or she’s going to point out things about your business, Bob, that you may glance over. You don’t hold yourself accountable for. They’re going to hold you accountable for it.
Bob Conant (45:25):
For sure.
Lauren Thunen (45:26):
Yeah, definitely. Well, that takes us exactly to 10:45. So thank you so much Bob and Jimmy for spending almost an hour. I know you both are extremely busy and your time is very valuable. So thank you for sharing it with us. Anyone watching this, we will send the recording to you via email, the email that you registered with after this. If you have any additional questions, just reply to that email and we’ll make sure that your questions get answered. We’ll also include a link to the Institute’s website if you’re interested in how to stay in touch with Jimmy, and if you want to join one of the groups, get some more information, that’ll all be included in the follow up email. So stay on lookout for that. With that being said, thank you so much Bob and Jimmy, I’ll follow up with you over email as well and have a great rest of your day.
Bob Conant (46:08):
Thanks, you too. Thank you.
Lauren Thunen (46:10):
Thank you very
Bob Conant (46:10):
Much.
Lauren Thunen (46:11):
Bye.