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Episode 18- Margarita and Frank talk about when is it a good time to hire
151 Plays2 months ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . The three of us talk about the difficulties of finding the right person and keeping shop culture positive. Always a great time chatting with Frank and Margarita. Some good nuggets of info in this episode that really hit home the fact that your team members are super important and recruiting the right people is very important.
Visit our Facebook page at The Shop N Tread Talk Podcast!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Context
00:00:00
Frank and Margarita
is that
00:00:01
Aniz Lavji
Oh, what was that? Welcome to another episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. We've got Frank and Margarita here today. Thank you for joining us.
00:00:11
Frank and Margarita
And Sherlock.
00:00:12
Aniz Lavji
Oh, who else we got there?
00:00:14
Frank and Margarita
Sherlock. Sherlock's joining us today.
00:00:16
Aniz Lavji
There you go.
00:00:17
Frank and Margarita
Future tech right there yet?
00:00:19
Aniz Lavji
Future Tech.
00:00:23
Aniz Lavji
So on the today's episode, well, before I get into it, just wanted to mention last week's episode, we had some technical difficulties and the file got corrupted.
00:00:34
Aniz Lavji
it went online actually for, think, half a day or I think it was maybe like three or four hours and then I'm not sure what happened, but unfortunately, that episode is no can do.
00:00:48
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:00:48
Frank and Margarita
No more. It's Gandhi.
00:00:50
Aniz Lavji
So yeah, we had ah we had a great guest on there, but yeah, here
When to Hire Additional Staff
00:00:55
Aniz Lavji
we are today. We've got two familiar faces and today's topic, actually Frank, had I don't know if it was you or Margarita had the idea today, but I think The idea, when's a good time to hire? Because a lot of shops, you know they some of them are one-man shows, some of them are two people. I should shouldn't say one-man show anymore.
00:01:16
Aniz Lavji
One-person show or two-person show.
00:01:16
Frank and Margarita
There's hardly any of those anymore.
00:01:18
Aniz Lavji
But sometimes you know if you completely don't spread out your your day or if you overbook yourself, you could feel like you may need an extra person.
00:01:29
Aniz Lavji
You may not, right? It really depends on that particular shop situation. So, Not every shop is going to need more than a few people, right, Frank?
Balancing Work and Personal Life
00:01:38
Frank and Margarita
and even the days sometimes just one day can be like so overwhelming you're like oh man i wish i could have like three more people and then it's the next day it's like what am i doing with all these people i can't So, yeah, we're we're really in the thick of that right now. We've we've hired.
00:01:55
Frank and Margarita
We have hired. And now comes the thought of did we do the right thing? Was it the right time? And what's going to happen?
00:02:06
Frank and Margarita
Like we're ramping up to the busy season right now, but what's going to happen when slow season comes? And are we going to be able to keep everyone going and working? and that's That's what's going through my head. Margarita here, she thinks that stop overthinking it.
00:02:19
Frank and Margarita
So, yeah.
00:02:20
Aniz Lavji
I'm with her.
00:02:22
Frank and Margarita
I just think that like if it's going to be anything that like this last year, um we have one probably going to end up going back to school in October, and then we'll still have two techs and Frank in the shop.
00:02:22
Aniz Lavji
Margot, what do you think?
00:02:34
Frank and Margarita
I think we're going to be pretty busy still.
00:02:38
Aniz Lavji
You know, I like that, positive outlook because really the shop, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, the shop's only going to be as busy as you want it to be.
00:02:47
Frank and Margarita
Yep.
00:02:47
Aniz Lavji
i mean, I know i again, Funny thing is I've only met you guys in person once or once. And, you know, the amount of time that we've we've spoken on the podcast and everything, Frank, like I know how hard both of you work, especially Margarita.
00:03:05
Aniz Lavji
Frank, your you're you're lagging a bit, but that's okay.
00:03:08
Frank and Margarita
This is true.
00:03:08
Aniz Lavji
But that that's that's why, you know, your hands are still covered in guy knows what right now because you're still working.
00:03:09
Frank and Margarita
This paint. It's paint.
00:03:16
Aniz Lavji
But –
00:03:16
Frank and Margarita
yeah A can blew up in my hand.
00:03:19
Aniz Lavji
But you know the amount of hard work you guys put in you're only going to be as busy as as you as you as hard as you work, really. I mean, if you're marketing and you're bringing in those new customers and you're getting the referrals, you're going to be as busy as you can be because...
00:03:36
Aniz Lavji
at the end of the day, there's only so much you can do. And if you feel like you're getting too busy, spread it along the days. Some days that are a bit slower later on in the week or even next week, try to fill it up and and keep it so so you guys don't stress yourselves out, right? That was ah kind of the whole point from my understanding of you getting an extra person in the garage is take a little stress off your mind so you know you can you can relax a little bit, as as funny as it sounds.
00:04:05
Frank and Margarita
the relaxation hasn't come yet has it no and i want didn't want him working or i didn't want to work from 6 a.m to 11 p.m all summer there's more things i want to do in the summer than just work all the time that's what last year was we we worked like a lot of late nights and it's like then you go home at eight o'clock at night and you're trying to make dinner and And you just make dinner and go to bed.
00:04:27
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:29
Frank and Margarita
And it's like, you know, there's more to life than that. And I like working. I'm ah i'm a workaholic, but I'm not that bad. Like, I don't want to work all day, 24 hours a day, right? I want to be there for my family.
00:04:40
Frank and Margarita
I want to be there for my friends and and just enjoy some time other than just wrenching all the time. I love wrenching, but there's got to be a limit to it.
00:04:50
Aniz Lavji
course. Of course. I mean, there's only so much you can do, right?
00:04:53
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:04:54
Aniz Lavji
Like there's so many hours in the day and you, you didn't get into this business to always be at the shop. I mean, you, you have, you know, you've got kids and you've got birthdays coming up and this coming up and Margarita just turned 21 years old.
00:05:10
Frank and Margarita
Yeah, I know, right? I wish, I wish, yeah I wish.
00:05:12
Aniz Lavji
ah
Training and Customer Interaction
00:05:13
Aniz Lavji
Happy, happy birthday.
00:05:15
Frank and Margarita
Thank you.
00:05:15
Aniz Lavji
was yes. Yesterday.
00:05:17
Frank and Margarita
Yesterday. Yesterday, yep
00:05:18
Aniz Lavji
I mean, you're you're legally allowed to drink in the States at 21, so congratulations.
00:05:21
Frank and Margarita
yep.
00:05:26
Frank and Margarita
yeah Slightly past that, but still just as chipper.
00:05:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, but you know,
00:05:30
Frank and Margarita
Okay.
00:05:31
Aniz Lavji
life's life short and you know we don't want to have most of our memories to be in the shop, right? I mean, that's that's not fair to the family and family and friends, really, right? Because...
00:05:43
Aniz Lavji
Work is there. It's going to be there in the morning. And I, again, sometimes there's extenuating circumstances. Like I know you were, you were up late, you know fixing, fixing up that car the other night.
00:05:54
Aniz Lavji
And I know you didn't want to be doing that, but again, there's extenuating circumstances that sometimes you got to do what got to
00:05:59
Frank and Margarita
like it yeah i mean it happens right and and then there's always those things that like you said we have the employees but there's some things that they just can't do there's only certain things that i've trained them to do so until i train them to do these other things then i'm the one that has to do it and now with with the new hire that we have um
00:06:10
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:06:17
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yep.
00:06:22
Frank and Margarita
he's really good yeah with doing drivetrain stuff. But the place that he worked at before, that's all they had him do, engine transmission work. And he didn't get to experience diagnostic. He didn't get to experience, like some, right? But not much.
00:06:36
Frank and Margarita
And he didn't. So now, like I have to train him on some of the other things because I don't want him just to do engine transmissions all day long. We have other work to do.
00:06:47
Frank and Margarita
And so once once i get all the employees trained to do what
00:06:47
Aniz Lavji
Definitely. Yeah.
00:06:53
Frank and Margarita
what we need them to do, then yeah, then then the time's gonna be where I can sit back and I can i can relax a little bit more and the and the show can kind of run itself um on that part. But then in the office, right, then Margarita's kind of in the same boat. like Like you're training one right now.
00:07:10
Frank and Margarita
Yeah, yeah and and like I said, in the office, I like fresh blood. I don't like somebody that's come from a different shop that has bad habits. I like to train them the way that I want them to do things.
00:07:18
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:07:22
Aniz Lavji
You want them green.
00:07:22
Frank and Margarita
And like I said, And this way, when Frank and I are away, we don't have to close the shop. We can actually have the shop still going while we're away and making us money instead of everybody just sitting on their hands waiting.
00:07:33
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:07:36
Frank and Margarita
for us to get back. So that's going to be nice. That's like that conversation we had the other day.
00:07:39
Aniz Lavji
And then...
00:07:41
Frank and Margarita
You're you're looking for a service manager, a service writer. And that's why I said to you, you you're you probably their best bet to do what we did is hire someone who has no experience in it whatsoever, has customer service experience and train them from there.
00:07:51
Aniz Lavji
That's what I'm doing.
00:07:54
Frank and Margarita
Because then you can take like clay and mold them to what you want them to be instead of taking a tree that somebody else has made and try to reshape it into what you want it to be.
00:07:58
Aniz Lavji
that's
00:08:03
Aniz Lavji
That's literally what I'm doing. I mean, I'm searching, I'm literally searching for for anyone that has like a amazing personality that likes to talk to people and provide unreasonable hospitality.
00:08:22
Aniz Lavji
and That's, that's what it all comes down to, right?
00:08:22
Frank and Margarita
thank Yeah.
00:08:25
Aniz Lavji
Because at the end of the day the customer that's coming in to get an oil change or get their breaks done, they may not even understand fully what their work order is, but the person that's explaining it to them, they got to be the ones to make sure that the customer is fully aware, like, look, you're spending x amount of dollars on this.
00:08:48
Aniz Lavji
And, you know, your money, your hard earned money is being spent on this, not just, uh, Hey, you know, uh, Mr. Smith, uh, your bill is $652. Is that going to be visa or debit? It's like, you know, I don't want it to be, and Frank and, you know, you and I have had that conversation before that we don't want the business to be very transactional trans trans, like we want it to be more personal. Like, you know, the people that come into our shops, like,
00:09:19
Aniz Lavji
they're They're coming to our shop when they could be going to any other shop. So that means something.
00:09:25
Frank and Margarita
Exactly. But yet yeah I know like the girl that I have now, they were customers at our shop. And with me just interacting with them, I kind of got to know her and what she was like.
00:09:38
Frank and Margarita
And I'm like, well, you know what? I can train this girl to do what I want.
00:09:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:09:42
Frank and Margarita
She works in customer service now, so she knows how to do
00:09:42
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:09:46
Frank and Margarita
Be in customer service. Yes, she has no knowledge of cars. She has no knowledge of anything. Better that way. But I'm training her slowly and I'm told her just observe what David and I are doing.
00:09:57
Frank and Margarita
And then from there, you will learn to do the exact same thing we're doing and everybody will be happy.
00:10:03
Aniz Lavji
the The transactional part, which is a byproduct of the business. I mean, we have to make transactions. like That's what we do. We fix cars and we give the customer a receipt, but that's a byproduct of the actual relationship aspect of what we're doing.
00:10:21
Aniz Lavji
Like when when someone's coming in, like i was saying, they're coming in to get their vehicle fixed by Frank or, you know, whoever is in the garage, right?
00:10:21
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:10:30
Aniz Lavji
So, i mean, that means something. that There's a huge value to that. It's not just I'm going to 3D Auto and they're going to fix my car. It's like, no, you know Frank's going to take care of me, Margarita's going to take care of me, and the car's going to be done. i mean, that means that means so it's not just a transaction. I mean, you guys are know selling yourself, if as funny as that sounds, right?
00:10:52
Frank and Margarita
Well, I know a lot of our customers, they'll bring their car and they'll go and talk to Frank and be like, oh, this and this and this is wrong with my car.
00:10:54
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Oh.
00:11:00
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:11:00
Frank and Margarita
And then they'll come and bring me keys. Well, already talked to Frank. He knows. But what they don't understand is just because he is the mechanic and he is the man and we are not, doesn't mean that he sees five, six, seven, eight cars.
00:11:09
Aniz Lavji
ah
00:11:13
Frank and Margarita
He's not going to remember what you told him. He's just going to be like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And then... And I told the customer that today and they're like, no, he's not like that. And I'm like, well, you don't know. exactly like that. I'm 100% like that.
00:11:24
Frank and Margarita
You don't know how many cars he sees and they all kind of get jumbled in his brain. And I said to Frank, if we're going to have customers like that, I'm just going to stop asking.
00:11:29
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep. Yep.
00:11:33
Frank and Margarita
And then when it comes to that, I'm going to be like, well, he doesn't know what to fix on your car because you didn't tell the service writer what needs to be done. Yeah, they'll literally approach me as i'm I'm walking through the parking lot to go and pick another car or I'm doing something.
00:11:45
Frank and Margarita
And they'll approach me in the middle of a parking lot and try to hand me the keys. I'm like, no, I don't take any keys. I said, I lose keys. I don't take any keys. So then they'll tell me about it. And I said, okay, but you have to go in the office and tell them and give them the keys. But then when they go in the office, they like, oh i already talked to Frank.
00:12:01
Frank and Margarita
And then, yeah, that happened today. And she's like, no, you have to tell me what it... Well, then I guess something isn't going to get done because I don't remember what he said because I'm in the middle of doing something. I'm not going to stop.
00:12:13
Frank and Margarita
I mean, I should, but that's not my job.
00:12:13
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:12:15
Frank and Margarita
My job is to do something. My job isn't to to take that information. That's their job. That's what they're in there for. And they'll write it down because i if I don't write shit down, and I forget.
00:12:26
Frank and Margarita
so So I tell customers, I said, I don't take keys.
00:12:26
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:12:29
Frank and Margarita
I don't price anything at all. I fix the cards. If you have any information, you have to go through the office, talk to them, give them information, and they'll get it from me if they need it. But man, it's so hard to train customers to do that because like you said, they want to come and shop and get it fixed by Frank.
00:12:40
Aniz Lavji
One.
00:12:47
Frank and Margarita
That's fine. But Frank doesn't fix everything. And some of a lot of the stuff is done in in the office and stuff.
00:12:50
Aniz Lavji
flow
00:12:54
Frank and Margarita
There's stuff that they do. I don't even never notice or see or something like that.
00:12:58
Aniz Lavji
so Sometimes what it comes down to and it's funny because I kind of had that same situation where well like you guys have met my dad and everything and he i'm I'm basically writing all the service and everything and sometimes like we'll get his friends coming in and
00:13:12
Frank and Margarita
Yep.
00:13:17
Aniz Lavji
They want to get something fixed on their car. And like, I'm there. I'm the one that's kind of like, first thing I do is, okay, I need your first name, last name. And I start making a work repair order. And they're kind of looking at me like, well, know, going to, I'm going to deal with your dad and he's going to give me a better deal.
00:13:32
Aniz Lavji
Like we don't need to put anything on the computer. And I'm like, Oh, no, no, everything's going through here. And, uh, and then I, already know that customer's coming.
00:13:38
Frank and Margarita
ye
00:13:41
Aniz Lavji
So I'll tell a dad, I'm like, look, you better let them know that. you know, they're, they're going to get something through the computer. And dad just tells them, actually, I'm semi-retired. I'm, I'm only here for fun.
00:13:53
Frank and Margarita
ah Customers need to understand that there's a chain of coming command. like like you don't You don't go to a restaurant and go up to the chef and say, I need i need to order a steak. The chain of command is you sit down, waitress comes and asks you, you give them the order and they go um and relay it.
00:14:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:14:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:14:10
Frank and Margarita
and and I don't understand why people think that in a garage, you can just bypass that person, and that chain of command. Yeah.
00:14:18
Aniz Lavji
they they don't understand that like, it's it's not about like, you know, pops is going to give a better deal or whatever it is. Like my dad and I are on the same page when it comes to customers that yes, we can give deals and we can give discounts and stuff, but there is a limit.
00:14:34
Aniz Lavji
And the, you know, sometimes that limit gets pressed and pressed by certain customers. And it gets to a point where it's like, is it even worth doing the job?
00:14:46
Aniz Lavji
yeah Are we just going to you know,
00:14:50
Aniz Lavji
stepping over dollars to pick up pennies like a Lucas Underwood would say. But, you know.
00:14:56
Frank and Margarita
There was... you know That reminded me of a guy that, a shop that I worked for, there was a man that came in, he was a customer there but he was also another businessman from another another business and ah he saw what was happening with the shop and he saw that that the man I was working for was a very micromanager.
00:15:09
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:15:19
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:15:19
Frank and Margarita
and And he said, you know what? His problem is that he's worried about making five dollars.
00:15:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:15:25
Frank and Margarita
That shouldn't be his problem. His problem, his his problem shouldn't be thinking about how amm i going to make five dollars. He should be thinking about how I'm going to make five hundred dollars, how I can make a thousand dollars and give you the job of figuring out how you're going to make five dollars and how are you gonna make ten dollars.
00:15:41
Frank and Margarita
And I'm like, damn, you know what? That's such a that's so smart. Because if i if if I sat there all day long and thinking, man, you know what? I should i should really charge an extra 50 cents on that on that bulb and and think about that all day long instead of thinking about how can I get this job done that's going to pay me five hours of labor or something like that.
00:16:03
Frank and Margarita
And and you got you gotta to have people in place to do that kind of stuff.
00:16:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:08
Frank and Margarita
Like that's why...
Hiring Co-op Students and Safety
00:16:11
Frank and Margarita
I'm just going to raise up the the office staff. like like that's that's what I shouldn't have to worry about those kind of things. All I'm there to worry about is how can I fix the vehicles that are brought in ever that have already been quoted out.
00:16:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:28
Frank and Margarita
and stuff like that i shouldn't have to worry about all the quoting that's why we have people in place for that that's why we have office staff that do that kind of stuff that's their speciality my speciality is not freaking pricing parts or or pricing jobs i don't do that no but we have to train customers yeah and we but we have to train our customers again yeah how our chain of command is yeah
00:16:44
Aniz Lavji
and there Like you said, there's ah there's a chain of command, right?
00:16:53
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:16:54
Frank and Margarita
and Everyone has a job, right? Yeah. and And most of our regular customers know our chain of command.
00:16:59
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:17:00
Frank and Margarita
And, like, they already come to the office. Like, even delivery guys, they'll drop the parts off in the shop, but they'll come and see us because now that we were hogging Bay 1 for a while and we kind of annoyed them so much that they miss us now that that we're not there.
00:17:07
Aniz Lavji
Yeah,
00:17:13
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:17:15
Frank and Margarita
so And it's just the new customers. They're used to certain shops. You you can just walk right in, talk to mechanics.
00:17:22
Aniz Lavji
I had
00:17:22
Frank and Margarita
you don't have to deal with office staff. And they just have to learn that our shop is a little bit different than that. Well, and that's that's the general aspect of most shops nowadays. But the thing is, people are still so ingrained on the idea that they want to talk to the mechanic directly, especially in a small town like New York.
00:17:37
Aniz Lavji
had i had it happen I had happened today. um we had a customer come in, i guess they were just in for a lube oil filter and you know one of the garage doors was open because one of my guys just brought a car out and he usually one of the guys would just shut it, but he was bringing another one right in.
00:17:58
Aniz Lavji
So the door was open. So the guy walks in the garage and, you know, my guys know, unless it's my dad, my dad's brothers, yeah my dad's friends that are, you know, retired that are, you know, here throughout the week and like very close family people, like they're not supposed to be in the garage.
00:18:18
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:18:19
Aniz Lavji
And I told him, I won't get upset with you. If you tell them you got to go, Because, you know, we've got, you know, WSIB and we've got all this insurance as we pay and I'm not going to, I'm not going to put my business on the line for someone walking around with flip flops, you know, tripping and falling on something, right?
00:18:23
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:18:36
Aniz Lavji
like It doesn't work that way.
00:18:38
Frank and Margarita
You know what? Our insurance lady came by a while ago and she said, if you're going to allow people come into your shop that are not working.
00:18:48
Frank and Margarita
And if they get hurt, we won't insure you like we will not pay for that lawsuit because they should have never been there in the first place. So I tell people, you know what, if you walk in that shop, I'm not insured.
00:19:01
Frank and Margarita
So you can't be there.
00:19:03
Aniz Lavji
it's It's very rare that we have customers come in the shop. Now, if I do, I bring them in and they're standing away from the vehicle and I'm
Handling Customers and Fair Pricing
00:19:13
Aniz Lavji
right next to them. And I'll be like, look, you know, we sent you the DVI and this is what's going on with it.
00:19:18
Aniz Lavji
I kind of just wanted to show you in person, you know, how serious this is. And a few minutes and then right after that, I escort them right out the garage because there's no reason for them to be in there anymore.
00:19:29
Frank and Margarita
What I was going to say earlier is a good remedy for people walking into the shop is like obviously we have we have ah chains that we put across in the summertime, we put across the door a chain and just don't go past that. But I have ah automatic doors.
00:19:45
Frank and Margarita
So you got you got a door fob, you open the door and and as you run the car out the door is closing.
00:19:46
Aniz Lavji
oh
00:19:52
Frank and Margarita
I actually had last summer, I was, well last winter I guess, I was running a car in and I could see the customer was intending to walk in and I already pushed the button to close the door. They ran into the door. like
00:20:06
Aniz Lavji
where Where's the video, Frank? Tell me you got it on video.
00:20:09
Frank and Margarita
I don't have cameras set up yet, but that that would have been such a great video. I'm like, oh man, it's just like, it's like, no, you don't understand.
00:20:13
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man.
00:20:17
Frank and Margarita
Like, don't follow me into the garage. And if they do happen to get in there, I just politely shoo them out, say, you're not allowed in here.
00:20:19
Aniz Lavji
That
00:20:24
Frank and Margarita
I'm sorry. And outside you,
00:20:26
Aniz Lavji
that would have been the video that beat out my snow video on TikTok.
00:20:30
Frank and Margarita
i
00:20:31
Aniz Lavji
That would have been it.
00:20:32
Frank and Margarita
I think so. I think so. We had a customer a couple weeks ago came into the shop, wanted to talk to Frank about his car that he had in the shop. And I said, well, the clock is ticking. The car is in the shop. You want him to come out?
00:20:45
Frank and Margarita
I'm still charging the same amount of time, whether he's standing in here and talking, shooting the shit with you or whether he's working.
00:20:50
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:20:51
Frank and Margarita
Well, I need to tell him. I said, that's what I'm here for. You can tell me. He can keep working over there, but if you want him to come here, you're still paying me time for him to stand here and talk to you.
00:21:03
Frank and Margarita
And then it changes there too.
00:21:04
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:21:05
Frank and Margarita
And most of the time when people call, can I talk to Frank? I said, no, he's busy. What can I help you with? Yep.
00:21:09
Aniz Lavji
So if you if you think on that, that's actually a good point. like like our topic is when's a good time to hire. Let's say if it, Frank, if it was just you and one other person in the garage, right? And you know, you guys are busy for the whole day And now every half an hour, you know, a customer comes and Margarita says they want to talk to you and they won't leave until you come out. So now you stop what you're doing and you come out.
00:21:34
Aniz Lavji
And let's say you did that eight times in a day. at the end of the day, you may think like, oh man, more like, I think we need, we need another person because, you know, I'm running all over the place, but it's not that it's, it's a lot of times it's the customers that are not letting you do your work.
00:21:39
Frank and Margarita
That's ours.
00:21:45
Frank and Margarita
Yep.
00:21:50
Aniz Lavji
And they're not, again, following the change of command that, okay, if you have something that you want to relay to Frank, you know, Margarita's there. She's going to talk to you and whatever it is, I'm writing down the notes. And as soon as I click this button, Frank sees it in the back when he gets a minute.
00:22:07
Frank and Margarita
I have a friend that runs a shop all by himself. It's just him. He doesn't anyone in there to do the paperwork, answer the phone, nothing.
00:22:11
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:22:15
Frank and Margarita
He does that everything himself.
00:22:17
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:22:17
Frank and Margarita
And I'm like, and if that was me I'd probably get maybe one or two jobs done a day. Like you get one break job in the morning, you might get a suspension job in the afternoon and that's it.
00:22:28
Frank and Margarita
That's all you would have time for between answering phones, pricing and and and billing and stuff like that.
00:22:30
Aniz Lavji
that's tough yeah That's amazing.
00:22:34
Frank and Margarita
And you wouldn't even because Monday we had no jobs booked for the rest of the week. We were like, Monday was all I had booked by the end of the day, Monday, I had my whole week full and I'm booking into the next week and we're at,
00:22:48
Frank and Margarita
Tuesday or is it Tuesday or Wednesday? tuesday It's Tuesday today. And we're booking into next week. And if he had to like Monday, I think minimum, we got like 20 calls in one day.
00:23:00
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:23:00
Frank and Margarita
And I'm like, how are we supposed to keep up with that? And even more, because David and I were on the phone almost the whole entire eight hours. We were there and it was crazy.
00:23:09
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:23:10
Frank and Margarita
And I'm like, if Frank had to answer all of those phone calls, he would never get anywhere.
Team Dynamics and Industry Changes
00:23:15
Aniz Lavji
No. And then you're going to get customers saying, well, why is my car taking so long? It's like, look, you're now the ninth person today that has not followed what I'm, you know, what you're supposed to be doing is
00:23:20
Frank and Margarita
know
00:23:30
Aniz Lavji
talk to the service advisor and let me do my work. Cause if I didn't have to stop eight times doing this one job, i probably would have had your car out a long time ago, but you know, this is,
00:23:40
Frank and Margarita
I got a customer on Monday that called and wanted to know if we could write a, he had had a safety last year and now he was going to sell his vehicle, whatever he was. I forget what it was. but yeah And then he's like, well, can you like just write, can I talk to Frank? And I said, well, no, he's working.
00:24:00
Frank and Margarita
Like you can talk to me. and then he's like, well, I'm just wondering if, um you know, Frank might be able to write me a safety. without charging me for it. You know, just write me a quick a little safety. And I said, it's not a quick little safety.
00:24:14
Frank and Margarita
I said, every time we put a safety through, it costs me money.
00:24:18
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:24:18
Frank and Margarita
Every time Frank has to do a safety, it's an automatic hour of his time. i said, so no, it's going to cost you this.
00:24:23
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:24:26
Frank and Margarita
But if I would talk to Frank, he would let me have it for free. I said, no, he wouldn't because everything comes through my office. And I said, safeties have to, especially safeties, we have to keep track of Every single safety we wrote, every single safety that came through, I have to know all of these things.
00:24:37
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:24:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:24:42
Frank and Margarita
I said, no, he won't just quickly write you a safety. It's not, it doesn't work like that in our business. And so he never brought it.
00:24:48
Aniz Lavji
okay
00:24:49
Frank and Margarita
He was going to go find someone else to write him a quick little safety.
00:24:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:24:53
Frank and Margarita
I'm like,
00:24:53
Aniz Lavji
And again, those customers, I'm not sure if that's a a customer has been to you very often, but those are the customers that you don't want and you don't need because they're, they're never going to be happy.
00:25:04
Aniz Lavji
And if they're asking for a quick little safety, they're never going to spend money with you.
00:25:08
Frank and Margarita
Mm-hmm. yeah
00:25:11
Aniz Lavji
Those are the guys are going to come in for, you know, yeah the oil change. And then you do inspection on the vehicle and he needs amount of dollars stuff. And he's like, well, I got a guy in Mississauga that'll do it.
00:25:21
Aniz Lavji
Those are those type of customers. And those are the ones you got to fire because if they don't trust you enough to do the work at your place and they're going to go to some rando out in Brampton or Mississauga and they're going to jack the vehicle up, you know, in the center, Frank already knows what I'm talking about.
00:25:38
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:25:39
Frank and Margarita
We had one of those in today and this girl got, she got ripped. Oh, I feel so bad for her. Yeah. She took forever to find a job, but she finally found a job.
00:25:50
Frank and Margarita
She saved up all her money. She went and bought this 2011, no, 10, 9, 2009 Honda CRV. ten nine two thousand and nine hanna crv Looked really nice.
00:26:00
Frank and Margarita
I put it up in the air and I said, there's no way I can safety this thing. It's so raw. And her dad came in, she had been crying and I'm like, I feel so bad, but he's like, it's not your fault. You're just doing, you're doing the job that you have to do. And I said, I am.
00:26:13
Frank and Margarita
And I just can't safety it. I can't, I couldn't even, I couldn't even think about writing the safety and putting this young girl in it and being like, like,
00:26:23
Frank and Margarita
you know what, this is okay for you to have this car and I was like felt so bad for her. But then she was immediately, yeah well the Honda CR-V has that problem where they rot out by the rear control arms where it goes into the frame and Honda actually has a recall on it where they take this little L-bracket bolted on there so that when it does let go, that it doesn't the arm doesn't fly away.
00:26:28
Aniz Lavji
Was like rockers or was rusted out?
00:26:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:26:47
Frank and Margarita
And and it's yeah it's that bad. And it's like, this is insane. And it already had those brackets on there. And I'm like, no, this thing is beyond beyond repair. I said, well, nothing's beyond repair. You take it to the right person, spend the right amount of money, anything can be repaired.
00:27:03
Frank and Margarita
But is it worth it? I said, it's probably not worth it. He's like, yeah, she already spent $6,500 buying this thing. I'm like, holy cow. And in those instances, I wish I had as you know a little petty cash fund that I could draw from and and help this poor girl out because she moved here from Central America.
00:27:22
Frank and Margarita
and she's fine she saved up from last year of May to today to be able to buy this car because it took her so long to find a job.
00:27:26
Aniz Lavji
my God.
00:27:31
Frank and Margarita
And then now this happens to her, like it's just so unfair. I wish, like I said, I wish I had like a GoFundMe or something that I could help her buy a car because I feel horrible for her.
00:27:41
Aniz Lavji
yes That's brutal.
00:27:45
Frank and Margarita
And we see that all the time. We had that truck last year. Yeah. The girl all got ripped off like that.
00:27:48
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:27:49
Frank and Margarita
Yeah. and And honestly, we see it so often and it's like, man, And people are, and and um there's no way that guy didn't know. And then the vehicle also had engine problems. So she, this was just a money pit. And this guy was like, oh yeah, I just got it safety last year. There should be nothing wrong with say
00:28:07
Aniz Lavji
Of course.
00:28:08
Frank and Margarita
He knew that there was something wrong with it. Okay.
00:28:11
Aniz Lavji
Well, that's why that's why you're selling. you're You're buying someone else's junk, right? And that's, you know, even my customers, when they're buying vehicles and and I've told them like, hey, you know, you need to bring that vehicle in for a pre-inspection, like before you buy it.
00:28:29
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:28:29
Aniz Lavji
like bring it over and let me take a look at it And, and some of my really good customers, I'm like, look, just drive it over here. Let me even, even look at it from the outside for five minutes.
00:28:40
Aniz Lavji
Like, because I can give you somewhat of an idea if I see something that's off or, you know,
00:28:46
Frank and Margarita
You have that?
00:28:47
Aniz Lavji
Bring me the Carfax for it. Let me look at the Carfax. Do some sort of research on you know this investment. But once you buy it and he signs that ownership over to you and it's done.
00:29:00
Frank and Margarita
It's hilarious.
00:29:00
Aniz Lavji
we're...
00:29:02
Frank and Margarita
Yeah. Yeah. You're stuck with it. Yeah. I, it, it should just be mandatory that you have to take a vehicle for pre-inspection before you purchase anything. Like, I mean, I understand why you want to sell as is, but man, customers should just be understanding that before you hand over the cash, take it to someone, a professional that you trust and get it looked at.
00:29:12
Aniz Lavji
and i know
00:29:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I know we're...
00:29:27
Frank and Margarita
Cause I, Sorry, go ahead.
00:29:29
Aniz Lavji
Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead.
00:29:30
Frank and Margarita
I know um there was another person recently. They said they were going to go buy a car and they had said, oh, let me go call my mechanic and I'm gonna take it over there before I pay you. And the guy had just ghosted them. Yeah.
00:29:43
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:44
Frank and Margarita
And so they knew. And I said, sometimes just saying those words is enough to scare the shady guy that's trying to get rid of his garbage.
00:29:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:53
Frank and Margarita
Instead of, you know, scrapping it out like he should, he's selling it for big enough money.
00:30:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:30:00
Frank and Margarita
It's just sad.
00:30:01
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. I know we're getting off topic and everything, but the, you know, the, on this thing, the one thing I will say is I really wish they would do the mandatory yearly safeties on passenger vehicles, because I really think that would get rid of a lot of the junk that's on the road that, you know, people are driving some of these vehicles on the same roads as, you know, you and our families and everything.
00:30:15
Frank and Margarita
Yes, very much so. Good job, Michael.
00:30:29
Aniz Lavji
And, they shouldn't even be crossing over the driveway of from where they're parked. So.
00:30:36
Frank and Margarita
Well, and and the only way to change it is if we as shops get a petition and we start going around and like we all as shops stand together and say, this has to happen.
00:30:39
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:30:47
Frank and Margarita
And I think we need to ah present it to our Ontario premier and be like, this needs to change.
00:30:47
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:30:53
Frank and Margarita
But then we'd have to hire people for that too. It's fine. Or we hire enough people so that we can do that. Yeah. We can start being, we can go around and start advocating in Elmer and then we'll go to Waterloo and do it there. Yeah.
00:31:04
Aniz Lavji
So if they did mandatory safeties, then we would know that this is a great time to hire
00:31:11
Frank and Margarita
Yep, more people.
00:31:12
Aniz Lavji
So that would actually create more jobs and,
00:31:14
Frank and Margarita
every time Every time I talk about that online, everyone's always like, oh you're just you just want more work. you Like, man, dude, I don't i got enough work. Like, i i don't need more work right now.
00:31:26
Frank and Margarita
I will eventually. We're always looking for work at some point, you right? But, man, we're we're we're swimming in work, and it's not like...
00:31:32
Aniz Lavji
So, but Frank, it's not about getting more work. Like if someone asked me, you know, if I told them, yo, a mandatory safety, that thing would be great. And they go you know, you're, you just want to make more money.
00:31:41
Frank and Margarita
Oh, yeah.
00:31:43
Aniz Lavji
like,
00:31:45
Frank and Margarita
Just want to take a moment of you out of my pocket.
00:31:45
Aniz Lavji
Sure I do. Of course I want to make more money. But do you think I'm going to be able to do all the safeties in Ontario? no I'll get some runoff. I'll get some here and there, but that's not the point of it.
00:31:56
Aniz Lavji
Of course it's going to bring in revenue to to the province.
00:31:57
Frank and Margarita
What?
00:32:00
Aniz Lavji
It's to bring in revenue to all the shops, 100%. But the revenue is not the point. You're getting all those shitboxes off the road.
00:32:08
Frank and Margarita
Well, not only that, but the customers need to understand that, A, it'll keep, yeah, like you say, garbage off the road, but the stuff that's preventable will stay preventable and you'll keep on top of your maintenance.
00:32:08
Aniz Lavji
That's the point.
00:32:22
Frank and Margarita
And then, yeah, okay, the first the first couple of years would be like a huge abundance of stuff and work and stuff like that.
00:32:22
Aniz Lavji
Yes.
00:32:28
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
00:32:28
Frank and Margarita
But after that, it would be like the customers would also sudden and understand be like, oh, wow, my repair costs have gone down this year compared to the last three years.
00:32:35
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:32:36
Frank and Margarita
Like, but But then also you would have to have MTO that are after. They'd have to hire actual decent MTOs. like ah Something I was saying the other day is you're doing safeties and they see you put the safety in the tablet.
00:32:51
Frank and Margarita
They wait till you have it completed and they said there will be an MTO officer there in 30 minutes to come and make sure that the safety you just did was actually done properly so that none of these fake safeties come out anymore.
00:33:02
Aniz Lavji
Really?
00:33:05
Frank and Margarita
I think that would be huge if they would
00:33:05
Aniz Lavji
Oh, I thought you said that's what happened to you.
00:33:08
Frank and Margarita
No, we need to.
00:33:08
Aniz Lavji
I'm like, oh, man.
00:33:10
Frank and Margarita
We need to have that. I would love that. Yeah, but in order for that to happen, they'd have to hire i don't know so many. when this when the When the tablet safety started, I talked to an MTO and I said, is an annual safety ever going to happen? He said, it can't in Ontario.
00:33:25
Frank and Margarita
He said, we don't have enough shops, we don't have enough mechanics, and we don't have enough MTO officers to enforce it, to make it happen. Yeah, but it could happen.
00:33:33
Aniz Lavji
Even if you did like every two years or or something like that, because it'll give you give people time.
00:33:34
Frank and Margarita
It's not possible.
00:33:38
Frank and Margarita
in
00:33:40
Aniz Lavji
Like, let's say if you knew that next year need get safety, little by little, you can start doing a bit more, a bit more to get your car up to snuff. And then by the time that safety comes, then it's not going to be a big hit.
00:33:52
Aniz Lavji
But, you know, a lot of customers want leave their vehicles till you know they're about to break down.
00:33:52
Frank and Margarita
No, you- Wasn't that Ray always cool? I don't know. His model that you said, yeah. You'd have to hire a lot of people. like There would have to be a lot more garages. like In Elmer alone, I think there's like 10 garages.
00:34:09
Frank and Margarita
and And if all of those if had to hire another four people just to keep going, right where do you find the people?
00:34:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Where'd you find the people? Yeah.
00:34:17
Frank and Margarita
Where are you going to find that? like like As it is, as you know, it's hard enough to find one person.
00:34:23
Aniz Lavji
Well, even if they didn't do safety inspections, like, like, like in North Carolina and, and different, uh, I was listening to a podcast earlier and I think in North Carolina, they have
00:34:23
Frank and Margarita
Unless you've never defined before now.
Improving Industry Image and Training Opportunities
00:34:35
Aniz Lavji
the inspections.
00:34:35
Aniz Lavji
I think it's 13 or 20 bucks or something like that, where, they basically get the vehicle up and they just take a very quick look and just make sure that it's somewhat sound to be on the road. I mean, even something like that, like if a car comes in and, you know, it has bald tires and ah the windshield's cracked, you know, even something as, as small, I use that with air quotes as that they would fail because that's something that they'd have to get fixed. There's major things.
00:35:08
Frank and Margarita
But then you also have shops that would go and even if they didn't find something wrong, that they would make something wrong just that they could make a buck. And like, that's also one of the reasons people don't trust mechanic shops because people like that.
00:35:24
Aniz Lavji
yeah and i mean going back to what we were saying about about hiring i mean that's the thing the stigma is is different wherever you know in different provinces in different areas like some you know mechanics they're always out there to get the money get your money their mechanics are just going to screw you here and there but That also doesn't help when it comes time for us to try and find people to come work in our industry because they may have been tainted by somebody in the past as well. And they're like, ah you know what? I don't want to be in that kind of field because my dad got hosed by some guy up north for a couple thousand bucks and he didn't need it. So, you know what? I don't want to be in that kind of industry.
00:36:07
Aniz Lavji
So if we don't try and change that stigma, which I think the industry has changed a lot and it's not like it was, but you know if we don't continue to provide the excellent service, it's going to be tough to get people to come work in this industry from a young age.
00:36:25
Aniz Lavji
Because what happens at a young age, Frank, I'm sure you'll agree, is you get these kids coming into dealerships and out out of high school and they get put into the tire bay. So then they're doing tires and they want to be mechanics, but they never get that chance to actually go up in the ranks. So they, they do tires for a year that turns into two years, turns into four years.
00:36:50
Aniz Lavji
And then they just get tired of it that, you know what, I quit. I'm just gonna do something else. But if that person would have got a chance to actually become an apprentice or do something other than that, that could have been the next great mechanic. But a lot of places don't give them the chance. They just wash them out with tires and make them hate the industry. And then they end up being and an accountant or something else. But you know in the back of their mind, they're probably thinking, man, I really could have enjoyed working with my hands and being a mechanic.
00:37:20
Frank and Margarita
Well, that was that reminds me we have the co-op student. One of the co-op teachers came in today and he saw that Frank was letting our co-op student work on vehicles.
00:37:23
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:37:29
Frank and Margarita
Well, mind you, was supervision, but he was letting him do things. And he said, you know what? I just came from, i think he said, two or three other shops. And he said, all the kids there have done is push a broom.
00:37:41
Frank and Margarita
He's like, they they haven't they haven't taken the tire off. They've not been allowed to touch a tool. They've not been allowed to do anything but sweep. And he's like, this is why a lot of these kids don't want to work in the industry because all they think is, well, I'm going to work here and all I'm going to have to do is sweep all day.
00:37:56
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:37:59
Frank and Margarita
It's it's smart enough it's hard enough to have to get people in the industry. So when you find someone that actually wants to do some of the work, don't just stick them in a spot where they where they're going to hate it, like you said.
00:38:10
Frank and Margarita
get Get them involved in it. Get them get them knowing about everything. Like I said, when I have a co-op student come in, even if it's just a co-op student, I know there's going to be there for two months. The first thing I teach them is what a torque wrench is, how to use a torque wrench.
00:38:22
Aniz Lavji
then
00:38:23
Frank and Margarita
And then I teach them how to put a car on the hoist and take off wheels, take parts, take apart brakes and oil changes and put brakes back together and torque it and put wheels on.
00:38:35
Frank and Margarita
Like they need to know these things. And that's one of the that's usually the very fundamentals of what I teach them. And once they learn that, once they learn how to how to tor tighten a bolt properly and all that kind of stuff, man, the rest of it just kind of falls into place. and then then And then after that, the training is easy, especially with kids that want to be there. So if you have young kids out of the high school that want to learn and that want to be in the industry, don't push them into a corner and give them a broom.
00:39:01
Frank and Margarita
And say that's all you're good for.
00:39:02
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:39:04
Frank and Margarita
or Or put them on tires.
00:39:04
Aniz Lavji
And I mean,
00:39:05
Frank and Margarita
give them Give them work to do.
00:39:06
Aniz Lavji
Even, even.
00:39:07
Frank and Margarita
Show them what the industry is. Show them how much fun. I always tell i tell my people, I said, like, sometimes I regret my decision. But other days, man, I love my job.
00:39:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:39:16
Frank and Margarita
For the last 30 years, I've loved my job. I still do. I enjoy it. Do you really?
00:39:20
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:39:21
Frank and Margarita
I do.
00:39:21
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:39:22
Frank and Margarita
With me there? Yeah, you're a little bit of a struggle, but we make it work. I'm told I'm bad luck because like when I ask the guys how much longer before the vehicle is done, they always tell me I'm bad luck and then I get chewed out of the shop. Yeah. No, don't come and ask that. But it's it's it's a fun it's a fun trade. and And when people actually want to come in and do it, then why not give them the opportunity? Yeah.
00:39:43
Aniz Lavji
But even if you know i decide if a kid or somebody comes in and works for you, the the one simple question that you can ask them that I bet they never get asked is,
00:39:55
Aniz Lavji
what do you want to know or what do you want to learn? I mean, what interests you?
00:39:58
Frank and Margarita
Yep, perfect.
00:39:59
Aniz Lavji
I mean, that that person could all of a sudden be like, oh, you know, in my spare time, i like taking, you know, cordless tools apart and looking at all the wires and seeing what this does.
00:40:11
Aniz Lavji
I mean, you would have never known that. Or they may be someone that, that actually is really into technical things or diagnostic of something or the other. But again, if you don't ask these questions of what their actual interests are, they are just going to sweep and they are going to get tired of the industry and they're not going to get the experience on, they're not going to get the experience how much fun it could be.
00:40:38
Frank and Margarita
I think
00:40:38
Aniz Lavji
They're just going to be exactly what you said is broom sweepers. That's it.
00:40:42
Frank and Margarita
yeah i think i think the key to to hiring, especially for in the shop, is hiring someone that has a desire to fix something. Whatever it is, like you said, it could it could be an electric tool.
00:40:54
Frank and Margarita
It could be like in the case of the co-op student I have now, he he rides dirt bikes and he knows how to fix his dirt bike and work on his dirt bike.
00:40:59
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:41:01
Frank and Margarita
Or the kid I had before him, electric scooters. That was his thing. He would buy electric scooters and take them apart and fix them up and sell them. And that was his thing, and he loved it. So once you have that mechanical mindset, the rest of it comes pretty naturally. You were saying you were looking for help in the office. Why don't you reach out to your local high school?
00:41:21
Frank and Margarita
And have a grade 12 student come and you start training them like while they're in co-op. And then once you have them mostly trained, you could hire them on for the summer and see how they do.
00:41:33
Aniz Lavji
I think I can only have one Actually, no, it wouldn't count him because I've got one apprentice.
00:41:39
Frank and Margarita
It wouldn't count as an apprenticeship.
00:41:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:41:41
Frank and Margarita
No, but that's what I mean. Like a lot of shops don't realize that or offices don't realize you can utilize all of these young people to come in your office and work for you in the office too.
00:41:54
Frank and Margarita
yeah And yet they never get the chance to because that part of the industry gets overlooked. You could hire amazing service writers right out of high school.
00:42:01
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:42:06
Frank and Margarita
You have them for two months, train them. If you then feel like they potential, you can keep them. If you don't think they potential, you move on to the next one.
00:42:16
Frank and Margarita
I've often thought of that. You're right.
00:42:18
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:42:19
Frank and Margarita
If you went there and asked for somebody that was looking to go into office administration or something like that. Or somebody that has really good computer skills, the rest of it's trainable. Yeah.
00:42:29
Aniz Lavji
Definitely. And I think that one thing, one thing that our industry lacks is you know, that's actually a good idea, Marguerite.
00:42:30
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:42:36
Aniz Lavji
I'm actually going to look into that probably next week. But one, one thing is a lot of people think that, you know, good employees, or I should say good team members are just going to fall in your lap.
00:42:48
Aniz Lavji
I mean, it's not, it doesn't work that way. You really have to go out and search and, and find people that care, you know, I mean, we don't want to just hire anyone because then you're going to get a dud and that person's not going to care about the vehicles like you do.
00:42:51
Frank and Margarita
ah We got lucky. well
00:42:57
Frank and Margarita
oh
00:43:00
Aniz Lavji
Right.
00:43:00
Frank and Margarita
yeah ah Both of ours that we just hired landed in our laps. Well, technically not. we we did We did do it for the mechanic. We did do an interview. The first guy that we interviewed was a hard no. And this, this it was a hard no.
00:43:15
Frank and Margarita
But then this guy walked in like not even 10 minutes later, I just finished the interview. And then this guy walked in and he said, he said, oh, I hear you're looking for a mechanic. I'm like, thank you.
00:43:25
Frank and Margarita
And and yeah no, dude, we we had ah we had a good talk.
00:43:26
Aniz Lavji
No, it
00:43:29
Frank and Margarita
We had a good interview. And I'm like, I think this was a potential. Then she wasn't there at the time. ah We called him back for a second interview and then she interviewed him and she's like, yeah, this is going to work. and And yeah, it was just, that was just like,
00:43:41
Frank and Margarita
lucky like we're so fortunate yeah but and know if that doesn't always happen right like you said sometimes you just gotta look and look and look yeah but i also look at the team like our team dynamic like i get to know every one of our employees so when i hire another employee if it doesn't work with the team dynamic or i don't think that it's going to work with the team dynamic there's no point in bringing this guy in for three months and wasting everyone's time but the same thing with office staff like
00:43:45
Aniz Lavji
no it doesn't.
00:43:55
Aniz Lavji
A culture.
00:44:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. 100%.
00:44:07
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:44:10
Frank and Margarita
I knew this girl was going to be good with my other so um office staff. and When I was talking to her and her boyfriend at the time, I think it was, all three of us were you know goofing around, having a good time, laughing, talking. I'm like, you know what? This dynamic is going to work. Because if you get somebody that's just like, I'm just going to sit in my corner and work and don't talk to me. and don like that That just makes everyone's life miserable.
00:44:38
Frank and Margarita
Yeah, very
00:44:39
Aniz Lavji
Whoever you hire got match the culture or bring something to it. Not and not even just match it. Bring some kind of feeling or some kind of attribute to the culture of the shop because you you don't if you have someone that comes in that brings down the whole culture and you know you you come to work the next day like man they you know this is just it's not working and you just feel like everyone else is being dragged down you know that's you you got to stop the leak right because you're going end up corrupting the rest of your team right
00:45:14
Frank and Margarita
Well, you have one bad apple and all of a sudden your whole entire bushel is bad, right? Like, that's just how it goes.
00:45:19
Aniz Lavji
yeah it's all It's all about culture. The culture in the shop is very, very important. If you get happy team members, those team members are going to spread the love to everybody. And it rubs off on all the customers. I mean, they if they see that your your team's happy and they come in to get the keys and you know you can joke with your your team members and say, hey you know that car, we need it done today and ha ha. You got to have that kind of rapport with them where you can make a few jokes with them, but they know that, you know, when it comes time to work, it's time to work, but they're, they're, they're part of a family, not just people that you write a check to on Friday.
00:46:01
Frank and Margarita
and And like I said too, like with my team members, the other thing that is very important in the office setting for us is when I hear, when I'm in the office and I hear one of my office staff is being verbally abused by a customer, i will pause that conversation right there and I will say, it's my turn.
00:46:21
Frank and Margarita
Like I will deal with them.
00:46:21
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:46:22
Frank and Margarita
I do not allow customers to mistreat my employees at any given time. I tell a customer, i I've had to do this numerous times now where they've been rude to our staff and I take the phone and I said, look, this is not okay.
00:46:37
Frank and Margarita
I said, if you want to be my customer, there is respect.
00:46:37
Aniz Lavji
yeah Exactly.
00:46:40
Frank and Margarita
you If you have a problem, you talk to me. you do not You do not criticize my staff. You do not do anything with my staff. You ask for me and I will deal with you. That is the only way that this works.
00:46:53
Aniz Lavji
You've got to have your teams back. I mean, and and they appreciate that too right? Because they know that you're you're going to bat for them. Like, same with me. I wouldn't let anyone talk to my staff that way. And I'm like, look, you got a problem. Let's figure it out. But you're not going to be talking to And a matter of fact, when we're done with this conversation, we're done. i I don't even put up with it. I just fire the customer right away. I'm like, you know what? We're not a good fit. There's a lot of good shops in town.
00:47:19
Aniz Lavji
I think you better go visit them because you're not welcome here.
00:47:22
Frank and Margarita
yeah I know we had one customer was really, really, really difficult on on me. And like, I was mentally drained. And I basically said to them when they came and got their vehicle, I said, you know what, I think it's best that we we are done with this service.
00:47:39
Frank and Margarita
Like, there's other shops.
00:47:40
Aniz Lavji
yeah. yeah.
00:47:40
Frank and Margarita
Well, this customer now came back and was like, um my vehicle needs brakes. Can you put brakes on my vehicle?
00:47:48
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:47:49
Frank and Margarita
And my office staff already knew what my stance was. So they put them on hold and said, are you okay with this? And I said on one condition that he's okay with my price.
00:48:02
Frank and Margarita
They are going to be okay with how we do the job. And they're not going to call and be like, well, I found that at this shop, I got $10 less. So I want you to price match. I said, I don't need that.
00:48:12
Aniz Lavji
Oh my God. Price match.
00:48:14
Frank and Margarita
Right.
00:48:14
Aniz Lavji
Oh.
00:48:14
Frank and Margarita
and And I don't need you going, well, your office staff said this and now you're saying this and why are you doing this? and why i don't need that. You come in, I quote the job, you're either happy with it or you're not.
00:48:26
Frank and Margarita
No more of this back and forth.
00:48:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:48:28
Frank and Margarita
And then screaming at me and hollering at me and and trying to, you know, carrying me into something. I'm like, no, I'm not. This is it. And I'm not gonna go and buy one price at this supplier, one price at that supplier, and one over here, and then I'm supposed to warranty all of this and figure out, no.
00:48:47
Frank and Margarita
Buy it from here. I might be $10 more than if I went and bought it from 20 different people, but at the end of the day, it's not worth it.
00:48:53
Aniz Lavji
Exactly.
00:48:56
Frank and Margarita
No.
00:48:56
Aniz Lavji
no I mean, you you have to, you have to hold your ground and if they don't like the way you do things, then, you know, kick rocks.
00:49:04
Frank and Margarita
Exactly.
00:49:05
Aniz Lavji
Like I tell all my customers, if you have a complaint, my warranty department is 3D Auto. You can take all the warranty claims over there and you know they'd love to take care of them and it's all free of charge. I mean, it's great.
00:49:17
Frank and Margarita
hey Hey, don't make too much fun. We did a, we actually did a job for a customer that lives in Waterloo.
00:49:23
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
00:49:24
Frank and Margarita
Yeah, but no, it was it was our it was our daughter's friend and she was down here visiting when we worked on her car.
00:49:25
Aniz Lavji
Gee, wasn't my customer, was it?
00:49:32
Frank and Margarita
but
00:49:33
Aniz Lavji
I did mention, by the way, that Ford Fusion I sold, they live in St. Thomas, so I gave them your your contact info.
00:49:40
Frank and Margarita
Oh, perfect.
00:49:41
Aniz Lavji
because they They don't have a mechanic in that area. so
00:49:43
Frank and Margarita
Yeah. I told this girl if she wanted to go for service to like for for regular service to come and see you, we'll see if she did.
00:49:51
Aniz Lavji
To do it wrong, right?
00:49:52
Frank and Margarita
Yeah. Well, see, a lot of this young girl's problems could have been like avoided.
00:49:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:49:57
Frank and Margarita
So she didn't have such a massive bill had she done regular services and done little things, right?
00:50:01
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:50:03
Frank and Margarita
Instead of waiting till it became a big thing.
00:50:06
Aniz Lavji
it's A lot of it is, um you know, back me up if if I'm wrong or let me know. But if you're if you're taking your vehicle, and I use this term very loosely, to the wrong shop,
00:50:19
Frank and Margarita
Yep.
00:50:19
Aniz Lavji
that's not fixing the vehicle. They're kind of like band-aiding it. Like you go in I'm hearing a sound and, you know, your brake pads are down to nothing. They'll throw a set of pads in for 60 bucks cash.
00:50:33
Frank and Margarita
Yep.
00:50:33
Aniz Lavji
And then, you know, leads you along a little longer.
00:50:34
Frank and Margarita
Leave the rotor the way it is.
00:50:37
Aniz Lavji
And then you end up at another shop that's not in the area, but you need something done. And all of a sudden they do inspection on it and you need like four grand worth of work and they freak out and they're like, Oh my God, like what's going on here. And then they they have in their minds, like, do I actually need all this work or do I go back to my other guy? That's going to fix whatever it needs to be done for 40 bucks, 50 bucks. Like if those guys that are doing the cheap, cheap stuff,
00:51:07
Aniz Lavji
keep doing this, you're not really you're not seasoning the customer to understand that your vehicle is going to cost money to maintain. like These $40, $50 fixes, you're not helping anyone.
00:51:20
Frank and Margarita
or of what
00:51:20
Aniz Lavji
All you're doing is you're you're putting cash in someone else's hands. And that guy that's making the $40 here, $50 here ain't going to be around for long because you can't survive on that.
00:51:31
Frank and Margarita
Yeah, or the $40, $50 oil changes, right? Dude, the biggest issue that we see is cabin air filters. If you go to just somebody who doesn't do a full inspection and they do an oil change, yeah, you know what?
00:51:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:51:47
Frank and Margarita
Anyone can do an oil change, but if you're not going to check it out and actually look at things, you have no idea. Even this last week, we saw a cabin air filter. I think the car was a...
00:51:59
Frank and Margarita
2019 or something like that. And it had the original cabin air filter. It was black, like blacker than my hand. And it's unreal. It's unreal. and And it's like, okay, well, here's a car that's five, six years old.
00:52:13
Frank and Margarita
And no one has ever, ever, ever checked the cabin air filter until a customer complains. as i say Oh, I got this musty smell in my car. Oh shit. Maybe we should check the cabin air filter. Right.
00:52:24
Aniz Lavji
It's beyond me. I mean, your your job is to sell service and inspect the vehicle.
00:52:30
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:52:30
Aniz Lavji
I mean, the easiest thing is a cabin air filter.
00:52:31
Frank and Margarita
Yeah. And and and that's so some customers come across and say, oh, you're just trying to act for extra money. No, dude, you know what? You don't put a filter in. That's that's on you. I don't care. I'm just letting you know you should probably change this before it starts to get moldy and musty and smelling in your car.
00:52:46
Frank and Margarita
Just here to.
00:52:47
Aniz Lavji
We're going to give you a menu of things that are potentially wrong with your vehicle.
00:52:47
Frank and Margarita
Yeah.
00:52:53
Frank and Margarita
yep
00:52:53
Aniz Lavji
And it's your choice if you want to select the appetizer, the
00:52:59
Frank and Margarita
main course Yeah.
00:52:59
Aniz Lavji
add-ons, the main course. And if you want dessert, it's on the last page. So you select what you want, sign here, and we'll do whatever you want. you know There's no pressure. But if you don't want to maintain your vehicle, hey, that's up to you. But our our job is to...
00:53:17
Aniz Lavji
just Just let you know, like, this is what's going on with your vehicle, whether you want to do it or not. you know, that's our responsibility, right?
00:53:23
Frank and Margarita
and And if you train the people right, like you've got your employees and you train them right to do that, You know what, you can do it in a very non demeaning manner. You can do in a very, very professional manner and say, listen, this is what we recommend for your vehicle.
00:53:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:53:35
Frank and Margarita
It's totally up to you whether you want to do it or not. But our recommendation is that you do this. And if they ask why you say because of such and such, because it can at the end of the day save you money. And, and also don't be pushy about it. yeah People like information.
00:53:47
Aniz Lavji
Correct.
00:53:49
Frank and Margarita
They like to, like, we've got customers will call me like, Hey, your car needs give me 10 minutes. You know what? Take the time you need. I'll run your car when you're ready. Let me know if we can proceed.
00:53:58
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:54:00
Frank and Margarita
Right. And I know for the guys, it sucks that, you know, you got the car up, they got the wheels off, whatever.
00:54:02
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:54:06
Frank and Margarita
But at the same time, you give that customer the time to mull things over and get their finances organized.
00:54:11
Aniz Lavji
Exactly.
00:54:12
Frank and Margarita
They'll always come back and then feel respected.
00:54:15
Aniz Lavji
It goes back to how you, like, like you're saying, how you train your staff. And if you get someone that's green, Margarita, like you were saying, you can, you can train them the way that you want to train them. And, you know, they'll end up being a copycat of what you're saying in it. And then you have the confidence that like, you can go out of town and do whatever you got to do. And this person's just to take care of it. Right.
00:54:36
Frank and Margarita
Exactly. And then also you're having to have the patience to train someone that's green that that's that's the hardest part I think.
00:54:37
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:54:42
Aniz Lavji
but But it all comes down to the type of owners that are going to be training these people as well.
00:54:43
Frank and Margarita
Yep.
00:54:49
Aniz Lavji
So if you've got owners that are disciplined and are running a shop in the right way, then that's how they're going to be passing on the information.
00:54:56
Frank and Margarita
and
00:54:57
Aniz Lavji
Right. So it starts at the top.
00:54:58
Frank and Margarita
yep
00:55:01
Aniz Lavji
Well, guys, that was ah was a lot of fun. And I do appreciate you guys staying up. I know Margarita, you're, you're only 21 years old so this is quite early for you frank uh 20 23 and a half now 23 and a half no but as always uh nice talking to you guys and um thank you everyone for joining us for another episode follow us on facebook shop and trad talk podcast and we'll see you on the next episode see ya
00:55:16
Frank and Margarita
At 50, I'm getting a little bit tired. and Yeah. All
00:55:34
Frank and Margarita
right, man. Have a good one.