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Ep 15 - Chris Enright
271 Plays1 month ago
Yeah, Tekmetric is the best. Are you using it? If not, touch HERE
I love things that you can set it and forget it. Not that I ever want to forget about marketing at my shop, but if I did, it would be okay. Turkey Marketing has me covered, and it's so nice to have them on my team. Learn how they can help you grow your shop HERE
Do you have a confession to make? If so, call 704-CONFESS (704-266-3377), and we might just play it back on the pod!
Today, Chris Enright of Enright Automotive talks about his focus on growth in 2025 and the difficulties in finding a new location. For Chris, social media plays a huge role in what he does. He gives us advice on what it takes to do that too. If you'd like to follow Chris on TikTok, you can HERE. Subscribe to his YouTube Channel HERE
00:00 Struggling with Training Question
09:20 Equipment Spending and Admin Hire Impact
16:55 Mostly Paid, Sometimes Free
22:21 Unpleasant Car Repair Livestream
25:28 Shop Lacks Needed Vehicle Data
30:08 Workplace Dilemma: Tool Space Issue
36:35 Optimistic Expo Classroom Expansion
42:39 "Uncertainty and Social Media Discovery"
49:29 TikTok Turned YouTube Backlash
53:10 Free Alternator Inspection Offered
55:27 Mazda Tune-Up Misunderstanding
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Show Disclaimer
00:00:00
Speaker
So normally I do like a one minute gig where i talk about the guests that we had on the episode today. And I'm sure that they were awesome. But what I really need to do right now is play for you a voicemail that we got at the podcast.
00:00:13
Speaker
Earlier this week, I think it's maybe the best voicemail in the history of all voicemails, the greatest voicemail of all time. And if you feel like you need to leave call and leave a confession on our confessional voicemail, you can call 704-CONFESS.
00:00:27
Speaker
And if you bring your A-game like this guy brings his A-game, then, i mean, maybe you get on the air. I think you should do that. Maybe we call you and have you as a guest on the program. Call and leave a message. Hi, I have a confession. I think that David and Lucas are idiots.
00:00:42
Speaker
Shopware sucks, and Changing the Industry podcast now sucks, and Confessions of a Shop Owner is the best now.
00:00:54
Speaker
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we, or our guests may say, do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have.
00:01:09
Speaker
There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, it's time for Confessions of a Shop Owner, with your host, Mike Gallen.
00:01:38
Speaker
focus right that I've got for these because Tanika sent me a wacky waving arm inflatable tube man for my desk. Oh, can you hear it? so I don't think y'all can hear it, right? No.
00:01:51
Speaker
no huh Okay, good. No, I cannot.
Trade Show Setup Challenges
00:01:57
Speaker
Speaking of disastrous audio issues, one of my sponsors is setting up an interview couch at their booth at Vision, and they want me to come and set up mics and cameras and do interviews and on the trade show floor. And like, bro, I don't think you understand.
00:02:15
Speaker
That's not how that works. that thing of work That's not how that works at all. I mean, I'll try. and They want me to try, I'm going have turn the gain so far down, and you're just goingnna have to have scream into the mic from this.
00:02:26
Speaker
yeah ra Like that. Yeah. What do you have? do you have a hypercardioid mic? That'll probably work. Hypercardioid. It's got a really small feel to pick up.
00:02:39
Speaker
I mean, well feel like you're making a joke about me there.
00:02:44
Speaker
It's actually ah the little symbol is actually a Mazda Miata.
00:02:52
Speaker
So, Chris, I apologize, but we constantly joke about Mazda Miatas because i did buy a shitbox 95 Miata for $500 late last year. to and lit it on fire.
00:03:04
Speaker
And, well, I didn't light it on fire. One of my guys did. but ge Well, extreme ownership. and You lit it on fire, Mike. yeah The crispy fried Miata lives again. so now I got to find the top for it because it's got so many leaks. did you Did you see one of my guys driving past you, driving through North Carolina?
00:03:26
Speaker
I mean, maybe. i don't know. Oh, yeah. Now I know what you're talking about. Man. yeah yeah awesome Young love. man Should we start out with the confession?
00:03:40
Speaker
I think you need to start with that story. Yes. It's a great story. So we had a we have a young guy that works for us.
Life Changes and Fresh Starts
00:03:47
Speaker
Real nice fella. um Well, he did work for us. I guess he doesn't anymore.
00:03:51
Speaker
um So anyhow, his girlfriend broke up with him last Wednesday. And he couldn't make it in Thursday. He was pretty distraught. And I was like, eh, whatever. Right? He's 22. He's whatever.
00:04:03
Speaker
and um Please tell me that she's like 38 and works at the IHOP. I don't know. And so anyways, I know her name's August, which should have been Red that's red Flag City. Next up on stage two. Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
Anyhow. Any month on the calendar. So um Friday, can't come either. He's still distraught. Like, wow, that's crazy. And so ah it turns out Saturday, yeah he went ahead and beat feet down to Florida, and he's looking for a job down there now. He's had enough up here.
00:04:42
Speaker
What? his toolbox luckies toolbox and his tools. Oh, my gosh. ah je Now, is she down in Florida? Is he chasing her? No, she is still here, from what I understand.
00:04:57
Speaker
he's just You should see if she wants to date. Probably not. no You see what it did to that guy?
00:05:05
Speaker
I don't think so. That's crazy, man.
00:05:09
Speaker
So, yeah. i am What's my other confession? What was it? Didn't I tell you have to remind me
Humorous Training App Struggles
00:05:17
Speaker
something? Oh, oh on our on our training app that I can't get this simple question right that I've been asked eight different ways now and I keep getting it wrong.
00:05:26
Speaker
And Jim Kokonas explained it to me, and I'm like, Jim, Jim, i I just don't care about the question enough, and that's why I keep getting it wrong. I don't care enough to memorize it. I go, I don't care.
00:05:36
Speaker
i don't care if the stator or the rotor on the alternator is the thing that gets excited by the PCM. I don't care. i just don't care. um Everybody knows that it's the rotor that gets excited.
00:05:50
Speaker
It is, actually. It is. had a 50-50 chance. you know Do you know um the easy way to remember it, I guess? and I will remember it now. r but R comes before S in the alphabet, so that's an input, and it's in the you know it's before.
00:06:06
Speaker
Anyhow. That would not help me at all.
00:06:11
Speaker
What's up, Chris? How are you? Good. Doing good. a Super slow this month. for that five-minute intro where we didn't talk to you at all. We're trying our best to live our our best changing the industry life over here. It's all good.
00:06:27
Speaker
Totally good. We're doing great. I enjoy to it. So are you coming to us live from your shop, or do you have a lift in your garage also? No, it's from my shop. Okay. Yeah.
00:06:37
Speaker
All right. So the the the whole 100 feet from my house takes me a long time to get here. I know a few guys like that. That's a tough commute, man. Yeah.
00:06:47
Speaker
I mean, I don't love it, but it's been a good place to start for sure. So as long as you keep your customers from knowing that you live a hundred feet from the shop, yeah they know they all know I live there. So when's the last time somebody knocked on your door on the weekend?
00:07:03
Speaker
Uh, it's actually wasn't too long ago, but it wasn't, I don't remember if that was a client or not. And it wasn't, um, it It was, well, it was my fault because it was my admin's fault, but she didn't give somebody the right code or something for their keys for their car. So they had to come to the door so I could go get their keys out of the lockbox.
00:07:23
Speaker
I guess that's manageable. It's better than having to drive across town to get the keys out of the lockbox. Yeah. Yeah, it was okay. I mean, I was not happy with my admin, but it's all good. It happens. We all make mistakes, right?
Chris Enright's Social Media Success
00:07:35
Speaker
All right. So for those that don't know, we're talking to Chris Enright of Enright Automotive in Alexandria, Ohio. Yeah. All right. All right. Yeah. Your website pulled up right over here. Cheetah.
00:07:49
Speaker
Cheetah. Yes. A big matter research. um And also ah Chinese spyware superstar TikToker. Oh, yeah.
00:08:01
Speaker
Enright at Enright Auto. Right. At Enright Auto on TikTok, yeah, and at Enright Automotive on Instagram and YouTube and Facebook.
00:08:12
Speaker
What's your biggest channel, social channel? ah Instagram, like 113,000, I think now. Holy cow. That's awesome. Yeah, we're we're getting up there. I am officially like old guy at this point because when TikTok got shut down, i had just downloaded it like 2 weeks or earlier. i thought I would do a ah podcast TikTok.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then as soon as it got shut down, I just deleted the app. And then it's not in the app store anymore. right um And so i don't I still don't have it back. And then last week,
00:08:47
Speaker
Turnkey Marketing, ah who I use at my business, ah was giving me a hard time because i don't have Instagram. right You just have Instagram.
00:08:58
Speaker
Facebook owns it. It's all connected. Just have Instagram. Yeah. So they're doing that for me because I'm an idiot and I don't know how to do... Yeah, I mean, Instagram and Facebook are always the ones that I tell people. are you literally um You literally download the Instagram app and then you click sign in with Facebook, Mike. That's not.
00:09:16
Speaker
Sounds like a lot of friction. I know you're not a technical type person, but this is the easier side of things. ah Yeah, pretty pretty basic, but it's definitely something you should have for sure. So that's good they're getting you set up.
00:09:31
Speaker
Well, that they're taking care of me. They always do. So, um, so what's new in the world of Enright Automotive?
Business Growth Plans for 2025
00:09:41
Speaker
Uh, nothing really that much. I'm, I'm focusing this year, 2025 on growth. i getting out of this building. So whatever that takes, I'm out of here. So I got to get it figured out.
00:09:52
Speaker
So as of right now, this year, that's my main focus. Uh, I mean, last year would have been a really good year as far as like, just, I've been saving up cash for a while, but I bought a bunch of like equipment last year. i bought a key machine, tire machine, second loaner shop truck.
00:10:07
Speaker
So I spent a lot of cash that I normally wouldn't last year. And I hired my admin. She was with me for about six months. Um, So I obviously had that extra money going out as
Marketing Management Solutions
00:10:17
Speaker
well.
00:10:17
Speaker
Here's the deal. i I like to think that I'm pretty good at running an auto repair shop. It's what I've done for 20 plus years, but I'm not good at managing a marketing budget and all the different facets of a truly well-rounded marketing plan.
00:10:30
Speaker
There's mail, there's local advertising, there's website, there's Google AdWords, there's you know all the different things that go into that. And it's just not what I'm good at. So what I've chosen to do is to buy myself the time to focus on what I am good at while having someone else execute on all of those things at a way higher level than anything I could ever do.
00:10:54
Speaker
That's what turnkey auto marketing does for me. So if you feel like you could use some of that same magic, I'm going to recommend that you go to turnkeyautomarketing.com, get a free consultation. Tell them that I sent you, ah tell them that Confessions of a Shop Owner sent you.
00:11:09
Speaker
You won't be disappointed. But it was good while she was here. She did a bunch of like backed up projects that I had been working on, which I was so thankful for. So she did a really good job on all of that stuff. So.
00:11:20
Speaker
But yeah, that's like my main focus. Get out of here, get into a bigger building, hire a tech or two or 10. And you have a target size for the building.
00:11:32
Speaker
ah Do what? You have a target size for a building. You like you want to go to six bays, eight bays, 50 bays. You can go full. So from here, probably three or four bays.
00:11:44
Speaker
to, to be realistic. I mean, I'm four miles from Intel, which is, uh, most people know what Intel is, but it's a microchip company. And, um, we started looking for a building about two years and couple
Impact of Intel's Move to Ohio
00:11:58
Speaker
months ago, probably a little bit longer than don't somewhere right around there. And like quite literally like four months, maybe after we started looking is when Intel announced that they were coming to Ohio.
00:12:09
Speaker
And, uh, I was looking at commercial properties that were anywhere from three 50 to maybe 500,000. And now I can't find anything under a million. So, uh, it's the, the commercial properties quite literally insane around here.
00:12:23
Speaker
Um, so i was three for my personal therapist but what's the monthly debt service on a million dollar note right now? Uh, I have no idea. Cause I didn't even, uh, even, uh,
00:12:36
Speaker
consider it um because i can't do a million dollars i'm yeah i'm such a total nerd when it comes to numbers i'm like okay what does that make your rent factor okay what does that mean your revenue needs to be to get there and i know at like i think it was at 500 000 don't hold me to this but at that time when we originally looked at 500 000 it was going to be like three grand a month but that was obviously a couple years ago three or thirty five hundred dollars a month is what it was looking at uh For about 500 grand a month. So you're probably looking what, six or
Ohio Automotive Market Conditions
00:13:08
Speaker
seven grand a month, depending on the interest.
00:13:13
Speaker
All right. I just asked the AI overlord to do the math real quick. One thing I got to remember when when you use GTP is to tell it, don't show the work. Don't go step by step. Just give me the freaking answer, you know?
00:13:26
Speaker
It wants to lay all out, like get descriptive on you. to It wants you to know how smart it is. so Yeah, I don't care. 20-year M, 7% note, 20% down, million dollars.
00:13:41
Speaker
Payment would be $6,200 a month. Sounds about right. Yeah, I don't have 20% down either. That's manageable. Not on a million. $100,000 a month in revenue, but that works pretty well, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:56
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I'm not, I'm at like 30 ish a month now in my shop that I'm at. Well, except for February this month, uh, it's been a rough February. So i I had a record January last month, not a record month, just a record January. And, uh, this is probably the worst February I've ever had.
00:14:17
Speaker
Is it people aren't saying yes or cars aren't coming in or the phone's not ringing? What? Both cars aren't coming in and, ah phone's not ringing. and It's just a super slow month.
00:14:30
Speaker
Very, very Do you have that admin person? No, ah she put in her two weeks, like, don't know, like a month ago. So a couple weeks ago was her last, her last week. So I went around, I made like a marketing flyers and I put together some like goodie boxes and I've been going around to local businesses and just passing those out and just letting people know that I'm here.
00:14:52
Speaker
um I mean, my SEO and stuff usually works pretty good, but I don't know. Everything around here, like all the parts stores are super dead. seems like all the shops around here super dead. The Ohio market is really, really soft right now. You are not the first person that has told me that.
00:15:07
Speaker
The Ohio market is super soft right now. Yeah, it's been interesting. Bizarre. It's been very weird considering like this is my fifth year in business. So, or well, February 1st was my fifth year. It's been definitely the last year span has been very, a weird year.
00:15:25
Speaker
I mean, obviously we had the election last year too, which didn't help anything. I didn't think it was going to slow down as bad as it did ah around election time. And it got super slow around then too. Hmm. but I'm in that like weird growth phase. Like I'll have months where I'll crush it and kill it. And I can't, like, I don't have enough time to do everything. And then I'll follow up. I'll do that like three, four months in a row. And then I'll follow it up with like two, just God awful slow months, just randomly out of nowhere.
00:15:53
Speaker
It's bizarre. And it's just kind of this up and down constant ebb and flow. So trying to fill in those low, slow, slow months. So you're like a bedroom community for Columbus is it too far away?
00:16:06
Speaker
um to I'm probably like 30, 35 minutes from Columbus. Okay. So I'm just trying to think about your Honda Acura specialist primarily, right? You work on other stuff, but that's your bread and butter.
00:16:20
Speaker
Correct. Yeah. About 52 to 54% of my revenue comes from Honda. And then there's like maybe 10 to 12% from
00:16:30
Speaker
I'm just sitting here i'm going I'm going into overdrive in my brain thinking about trying to drive Honda's and Acura's to your Bay door. Yeah. what I'm always thinking. yeah You can buy mailing list of specific vehicle registrations. So date, year range, and you can tag it to five-mile radius or whatever the appropriate radius is for your density.
00:16:51
Speaker
And you can mail postcards to Honda owners only and Acura owners only and say, I only want 2007 to 2022 registrations. I don't realize you could get that detailed on it.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah. Brian and Kim can definitely do that for you. Okay. So of you work with them, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay, cool. but If you do, great. If you don't, let me hook you up with Carrie Lynn.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yes, I work with Brian and Kim. Yeah, I've done that with, ah you know, Euro, ah like Land Rover that works really well with and BMW, Mercedes that works really well with.
00:17:34
Speaker
Audi a little bit less so, but I think... You sent mailers to Land Rover owners? It's like a $2,500 average repair order, man. They all need tons of shit. They all, $2,500 average repair order. They take five times as long to fix.
00:17:47
Speaker
They just all need all the, it's like doing 500 on Chevy Cobalt. It's not, it's not that great. yeah
00:17:55
Speaker
i mean, yeah they're all leaking
Debate on Free Diagnostics
00:17:58
Speaker
coolant. They all need repairs. It's when they have electrical problems that we're like, just charge, baby charge.
00:18:08
Speaker
the problem is that I don't, is the issue. So you do a lot of free Diag, Chris? No, but I hear you love it.
00:18:19
Speaker
I don't, I don't do any free Diag. It's pretty rare. I mean, I can't say I don't do any, but I have done some, but it's pretty rare for me. Try not to do any. Yes. I would say 99% of my Diag work is charged for, there's a small percentage in there. Like I did just do a,
00:18:35
Speaker
Diag for a kid from advanced auto parts. And I had like three hours in it and I gave him two hours for free just to help him out. Cause I was feeling nice. i figured if I'm not going to make any money this month, might as well make it worse and give away two hours of free. yeah So felt, felt the, my, my heartstrings getting tugged on to help the young kid out. So I did charge an hour though.
00:19:00
Speaker
I feel that I should clarify that, uh, You should never, ever ever, ever, ever, ever do free Diag if you're small and you've got a lot of cars or if your facility is going at red line and wide open and you're busy as all get out and you're booking out a week.
00:19:20
Speaker
Why would you give anything away? I advocate for free Diag if you're actively trying to grow and you have a lot of capacity for additional cars. That's the only reason. And there's a lot more to it than that, but...
00:19:34
Speaker
Well, what's crazy too is like, you always hear about these shops that are booked out. I mean, I get the comments all the time, on social media. It's like, I'm booked out two to three weeks, you know? And I'm like,
00:19:45
Speaker
Well, why are you booked out for two to three weeks? That's not a good thing. um And, you know, so many people are so convinced that that's a good thing, which is crazy to me. But I mean, I can't say anything because I used to think it was a good thing, too.
00:19:58
Speaker
yeah i think You can't get new customers that way. It's okay to be booked out two weeks on stuff that you don't feel like doing. But if somebody calls and they're like, hey, my brakes are grinding.
00:20:10
Speaker
That needs to be not like two weeks. That needs to be um like out two to three minutes then. Come on. yeah like yeah When can you get it here? yeah Hey, Brian, did you look at that one truck out back yet No, because it is hostage. They can't drive it away from here.
00:20:25
Speaker
These brakes grinding. We have iron to hang. i mean, I had dinner Friday night in Asheville for an ASTA event, and it was a bunch of shop owners from the Southern Mountains of North Carolina.
00:20:38
Speaker
And there was a dude there it was like, I'm two to three weeks out. I'm like, man, hire more people, add more bays, or raise your damn rates. I would say like the majority that I talk to anyways, when I ask them, I'm like, all right, what's your hourly rate? They're almost always way too cheap.
00:20:55
Speaker
Hey there. I'm going to tell you about something that has completely transformed how I run my shop, TechMetric. As a 20-year shop owner, outdated systems used to slow us down. Everything was clunky from check-in to estimate building to customer updates. It all felt just...
00:21:11
Speaker
Super inefficient. Switching to TechMetric has changed everything. With TechMetric, you get a powerful shop management system that includes DVI, quick and easy estimate building, inventory management, real-time reporting, amazing customer communication, and it's really easy for your employees to learn how to use the software.
00:21:28
Speaker
I'm talking like a one-day learning curve. On top of that, TechMetric has tons of other tools to make you an even better operator. Stuff like integrated payments with buy now, pay later options is a huge asset. Ask me how I know.
00:21:42
Speaker
And recently, they've added a CRM component with their partnership with Shopgenie, which I'm a happy Shopgenie customer already. So I'm super excited about that. Obviously, there are a lot of factors at play here, but I want to give you some facts about my business since I made the change to TechMetric.
00:21:56
Speaker
In September of 2020, when I switched to TechMetric, my ARO was $293. In September 300% growth. we were nine hundred and sixteen dollars that's over three hundred percent growth Now, I'm not saying that TechMetric created all of that change, but I'm 100% saying that I couldn't have come this far without TechMetric.
Scheduling and Booking Challenges
00:22:14
Speaker
It's a key factor in our growth and success.
00:22:17
Speaker
If you're ready to level up your shop, TechMetric has everything you need. Productivity, revenue, customer experience. Measure up by every measure with TechMetric. Tap the link in the show notes to learn more.
00:22:28
Speaker
the one dude like showed me a picture of his parking lot and it was slam impact full 85 bucks an hour. He was, he was 80 bucks an hour. And I was like, yeah, 80, you've got to be kidding me. 80 bucks an hour. I said, no wonder you're slam busy. I could be booked out two or three months at 80 bucks an hour. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I was at, when I was at 80, I was, I was three weeks booked out most of the time.
00:22:52
Speaker
So, and then I started raising my rates and now I'm, I mean, I try two to three days as my max. I don't like going three days, but there are some months where I'm close to a week. Well, that's it's the classic entrepreneur um technician who goes out and says, I can make a lot of money and do it for a lot less than the dealer or my boss was. Right? and Yeah.
00:23:15
Speaker
You don't know what you don't know. Right? And you got it in some people flounder in that ignorance for a decade or more. And then there are other people who, like yourself, who figure it out pretty quickly.
00:23:31
Speaker
Um, yeah, thank God. an episode, we did an episode, um, couple weeks ago with Josh Coombs, um, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, and he's had a brick and mortar for a year and I'm pretty sure he's one of the most expensive dudes in his market and he's growing rapidly, you know? So, um, it's exciting to see that you don't have to suffer in that wilderness you know, 75, 85, $95 hour.
00:24:00
Speaker
trying to swim through a sea of broken cars. Well, I was thinking about it today too. was like, I did a ah stitch video on a tick tock there. Cause somebody commented on Jamie Caldwell. Do you know, do you guys know Jamie Caldwell?
00:24:17
Speaker
ah Yeah. Florida, like yeah three locations. Yeah. um He posted a video, like he's doing ah a video series on buying, like what he, what he does when he buys a shop.
00:24:28
Speaker
what he looks for and all all that stuff. And somebody commented on there like, this is just a classic upsell shop. Don't, this is where you don't want to go. They make us good mechanics look bad. and And I did a stitch response for that, but I was thinking about it today.
00:24:42
Speaker
Again, like these are the same guys that say that site, they make those types of comments, but they're the same guys who complain about not getting paid enough. and having to buy expensive tools and you know what i mean and they usually can't fix anything anyways they usually don't know what they're doing anyways uh shitty bosses and then they go up in their own shop and they get ground down to it they're like i'm special i don't know anything but i don't do flushes that guy doesn't know anything and he does splashes he sucks more than i do wait a second
00:25:14
Speaker
You both don't know anything. What's the difference? Oh, gosh. Anybody who does it differently than the way that I do it is either obviously unethical or stupid. Oh, my gosh.
00:25:25
Speaker
I a lot. The way that I do it even worse. I did a live stream on my, I was doing my wife's axle the other day on her odyssey on Sunday or whatever day it was. And I was like, Oh, I never do live streams and work on cars or even do videos and work on cars. Cause I absolutely hate it. i would rather people talk trash to me about tools than the way I'm doing my job.
00:25:44
Speaker
And, ah Of course, I'm doing the axle and they're like, there's a tool for that. And I'm like, yeah, my hammer and my hand to break the ball joint loose. I'm like, it's okay.
00:25:56
Speaker
I'm like, just leave me alone for the love of God. Let me do my axle, please.
Social Media Negativity Patterns
00:26:01
Speaker
I've only done probably thousands of them in my career. k Chris and I will come across a couple of things on a social media. And our favorite saying is, oh, there's something in the water again.
00:26:13
Speaker
It's been going around lately again. There's something in the water again, I think. Don't you feel like it goes through phases? feel like we'll have like a couple months where it's like just idiotic comment after idiotic comment, and then it'll like die down. and then for a couple months and because they're shame they're shamed into hiding for a little while something something i don't get it but it is bizarre and it's like it's in the facebook groups it's on my comments on my videos brian gets them i'm like where are these people coming from it's like they all get together and talk about it like hey let's go out and make some stupid comments today
00:26:47
Speaker
Well, most of the times I deserve it because I'm usually mouthing off pretty good. Well, I'm getting more and more savage in in front of our eyes in real time. I mean, some of the shit I'm seeing him put on comments are just and I'm not even in a lot of the technical groups that I know that you guys are in. But I think there was one today about. ah Um, it was, uh, air suspension on an old Ford. Oh gosh.
00:27:12
Speaker
He was like, how are you asking this question? Everyone has known this for 25 years. Just read the manual. Yeah. And then somebody is like, the guy's probably not 25 years old. I got you saying that he can't read the manual. Cause he's too young. Like, what are you trying to say?
00:27:28
Speaker
And somebody's like, you could have just told him what the problem is. And I'm like, well then what? I'm like, it's like, he listened to somebody else's instead of reading the manual. He didn't take my advice. He took the advice of some rando in the comments. See, and this is my issue with these groups, when they with the technical advice. He took the issues of some rando in the comments. Do you know what the rando in the comments told him to do?
00:27:47
Speaker
Told him to go drive the Crown Victoria with the airbags flattened out. So guess what it needs now? It needs two airbags. Good thing you didn't read the manual. Good thing you listened to the rando in the comments who's just as stupid as you are.
00:27:58
Speaker
How'd that go? He listened to the answer that was easiest to follow. that's what He could have looked it up in the amount of time it took him to type the post out.
00:28:10
Speaker
He could have looked it up. How much you want to bet he doesn't have service information? Guarantee. guaranteed he doesn't have service information i told you that the shop 85 an hour and booked out three weeks he's probably booked out two months and he's probably freaking 54 an hour because he doesn't have service info and it's freaking cash no tax and who knows what else that's that local guy i told you guys about he he just stopped by the shop the other day because his you wife's vehicle is having issues. He's like, you ever heard of that? and i'm like, I bet you, if you had service information, you could look up the bulletin on that car and find out exactly what's wrong with it.
00:28:48
Speaker
But instead you're coming to me for the answer and, Oh, sorry, I don't have the answer for you. Like I, I get tired of giving him free information. So I'm like, you're a shop and you don't have all data.
00:29:00
Speaker
He has nothing. He has literally no service information and it's a shop. I'm like, I guess Google. I got a call from a guy. I got a call from a guy. asked him if he followed the bulletin on how to regen the truck. He said, well, we don't have service information. ah How are you working on late model diesel pickup trucks? You don't have service info.
00:29:16
Speaker
Like, what are you going to do? Like, you're going to call Bosch and ask him how they made it? Like, you're going to Google it? Like, what what are you even talking about right now? I don't know. I think people just... Freaking water, man.
00:29:26
Speaker
They just get stuck in their ways, I guess. I should asked him for a zip code. You can look all that stuff up through Freedom Information. I should have asked him for a zip code and then looked up how much fluoride was in his water.
00:29:39
Speaker
Oh, my gosh.
Fluoride and Conspiracy Theories
00:29:41
Speaker
Guarantee it's through the room. epic My wife is a dentist, and she's very much pro-fluoride. That's okay. Okay.
00:29:54
Speaker
I tease her about it because more and more people are very anti-fluoride now. And so anytime, I honestly don't know what the deal is. I just know that it's a thing that people talked about. So i just stuck it in there.
00:30:05
Speaker
I really don't know. She went to a chiropractor last week. Uh, ah the chiropractor gave her a bunch of literature about different things. And, uh, one of the things we was talking, it was a supplement um and it was the information with the supplement was talking about the different manmade chemicals that are destroying our bodies, yada, yada, yada. It was oh very granola.
00:30:27
Speaker
And they were talking about there's a natural fluoride that is like a wonderful, wild but don't confuse this with the fluoride that's added to your drinking water, which is a horrible man-made chemical that is killing you.
00:30:40
Speaker
um Oh, no. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's thanks Oh, gosh. Did she burn the paper? No, we laughed about it and we went on about our day. Oh, that's awesome.
00:30:55
Speaker
She doesn't get really upset about stuff like that. She doesn't she doesn't go on you know moral crusades for things like that. i would i would i would have burnt the guy's Facebook page to the ground.
00:31:06
Speaker
Just saying. I've seen me do it. ah You're becoming very good at burning Facebook pages to the ground yeah yeah and generating dirty deletes ah from people.
00:31:18
Speaker
ah i One of the things that I'm learning about some of you guys that never even occurred to me, um and it should have because years ago when I first got to be good friends with Lucas, I would see how frequently he takes screenshots of conversations.
00:31:34
Speaker
And you guys take screenshots of Facebook posts and comments the time. Yeah, it's it's literally my job to research and document. That's what I do for a living. I figure shit out. I research and document.
00:31:46
Speaker
If you tell me i don't know what I'm talking about and you're doing work out of a storage set and you don't even have a tax ID number, I'm going freaking find out. And if I can't find out, I guarantee you I know a woman who will find you.
00:31:59
Speaker
like that that you professional researchers you gotta have the receipts man that's why you screenshot you gotta to save your receipts man gotta save your receipts i always keep my receipts especially when i know i'm 100 right yep somebody dirty deleted uh last week and i commented on it uh and then some dude called me out for sounding like a teenage girl for saying dirty delete Did you screenshot it?
00:32:25
Speaker
No, I didn't. Now I can't get back. You got to have it for next time he says something that sounds like he's a teenage girl. Go ahead. You can file. You can file that in your phone, Mike. You can put it over different files. yeah That's awesome.
00:32:37
Speaker
Chris, did you see the one I dropped about firing the guy? Because... ah I hired a guy with too big of a toolbox. Did you see that one that put in that Shop Owners Hangout? No. No, I left that group because I was so sick of all the idiots. I left that group.
00:32:52
Speaker
So it's so stupid. the the new The new fun thing that we do is usually around Friday night, we try to post something that is just insanely outrageous, but because of how crazy some of the real posts are, it's somewhat believable, right? So this past Friday night,
00:33:10
Speaker
i posted There were some really good ones Friday night. Yeah. I posted that. I hired a new technician, and I kind of overpromised. I promised him two bays. and he And he shows up, and I had a picture of a snap on Mr. Big Toolbox. He shows up with this toolbox, and like,
00:33:27
Speaker
And I didn't really count on his toolbox taking up that much room. So I had to fire the guy that worked in the other bay because I didn't have room for his little toolbox anymore. And now he wants unemployment and he's talking about a wrongful termination lawsuit. What should I do?
00:33:42
Speaker
put that in there. If people, if I'm not kidding you, 75% of the people took a hook, line, and sinker. They swallowed the bait. They freaking swallowed the bait. The fish are dead. You can't get the hook out. They swallowed bait, man.
00:33:55
Speaker
I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm like, I did a good one on that one. There were a lot of good ones Friday night. There was...
Fake Shop Dilemmas Online
00:34:03
Speaker
JK did the one about how his technician knocked up the wife of his number one fleet account.
00:34:10
Speaker
Should he fire the technician or lose the fleet account? Oh my gosh. got Josh Coombs. The boots with the big boots. He did one where he ah he buys the footwear for the guys and he had to let his tech go and he made them leave the work boots behind. used work boots.
00:34:27
Speaker
ah got yeah The sad part is those sound like something that shop owners... I know! know! I know! You know, yeah the thing that makes it so funny is that it's just...
00:34:39
Speaker
just believable enough that people come in and they're like, you really need help here. Like people like out of the goodness of their heart are trying to give advice. 75% of the comments were like, yeah, this is kind of how this goes. You need to talk to an attorney. And that's set the thing I'm like, this isn't real, man, but they don't know.
00:34:59
Speaker
Cause some of the real posts are that crazy. Right. ah They don't know. Like I said, that's exactly why I left that group. I could not take it anymore. Jeff Barnes started his with serious question.
00:35:13
Speaker
ah
00:35:16
Speaker
When you go get parts that pull apart, do you pass the core charges and the $3 entry fee onto the customer? Oh, my gosh. ah and Oh, that was way too much bourbon at once. That's awesome. That was great. I digress.
00:35:34
Speaker
um Anyway, anyway. gosh. Do you โ
00:35:38
Speaker
oh goha do you um The title of the podcast is Confessions of a Shop
Overcoming a Slow Business Month
00:35:44
Speaker
Owner. So we want to ask, do you have any confessions that you'd like to share with us? No one will hear. and Your secrets are safe with us.
00:35:51
Speaker
um But about how the shop's going right now. Any confessions? ah Like...
00:36:00
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, no i' mean, I'm having a terrible February. You don't trust us You think that we would tell someone else? No, I mean, I don't care if everybody knows. i like I am one of those people. I will literally tell you everything. I do not care.
00:36:13
Speaker
but im I'm quite literally $20,000 or less than last month. It's so bad right now. I'm like, this blows hard, but it's all right. It happens. We'll pick back up. February has been the slowest month of the year for us for 20 years. You know what's funny? It's like two years ago, we took our first, it was almost two week vacation. And I've never taken that long of a vacation before.
00:36:40
Speaker
Right before then, it was super slow. We went on our vacation. While I was on vacation, I got so many calls. And then when I got back, I was buried for what like a week or something that and then dead again.
00:36:54
Speaker
So like it was so bizarre. I'm like, oh, it's just only because I'm leaving. It's the only reason i'm people are calling me. I'm out of town and I can't fix their cars. so You just need to plan a vacation and tell everyone you're going on vacation and then just hang out of the shop.
00:37:07
Speaker
I legit have thought about doing that. I'm not lying because that happens every single time without fail. I'm actually going out of town this Thursday and Friday. So I'm curious to see how many calls I start getting tomorrow and Wednesday.
00:37:20
Speaker
So speaking of going out of town, are you going to any trade shows or training events this year? I'm for sure. I always go to ASTA for sure. It's the one I don't miss. My wife loves that one too. i might go to tools.
00:37:32
Speaker
I'm not a hundred percent sure yet because this year um not doing as many trade shows because I did so many last year. Cause I was teaching. And like I said, I want to focus on the shop.
00:37:44
Speaker
um But I'm going to do SEMA this year for content creation. So, and collabs like getting connected with more companies to collab with on social media. uh and then there's some sort of tool show in florida but i can't i can never remember the name of it but there's it's like tools only essentially and it's like a basically a tool expo uh and then milwaukee usually invites me to the pipeline event as well so i have that so i'll i'll do those but as far as like just automotive training asta for sure and then maybe tools you should go to tools in pennsylvania
00:38:18
Speaker
I had a really good time last time. So and was it was, I'm going to go, I probably won't leave early this time. Okay. I think I got this whole dance recital thing straightened out. to have to leave early. Good. This will be my first time going to tools. It'll also be my first time going to vision.
00:38:32
Speaker
So I've never been to either, but I'm excited about tools. I went to vision. You know, I won the scholarship. How many ever years ago that was? I think it's been three years now, excuse me. And,
00:38:44
Speaker
I had a really good time. Last year, i was not super impressed with the classes, a lot of basic classes. And I got that a lot from other people, just talking to people. I got the same response or same feedback, but it wasn't like that the first year I went. So um I don't know if it was just randomly that year. I mean, I obviously know there's new classes every year or could have just been the classes I picked.
00:39:05
Speaker
I will say that I, because I knew I was going to so many training events, I went to a lot of trainers that I did not know or never heard of. And so that could have been why as well. So I don't know.
00:39:16
Speaker
I'll tell you from ah from, you know, pulling the curtain back a little bit from the logistics of putting on a training event. um And, you know, ASTA Expo is quarter the size of Vision, right? Yeah. ah But it will be bigger this year than it's ever been because we're going to a bigger facility. We're finally going to a nicer facility where we can spread out a little bit more. Sweet. And the air conditioning works.
00:39:39
Speaker
and the air conditioning works and the roof doesn't leak and yeah, all
Organizing the ASTA Expo
00:39:44
Speaker
those things. Um, but striking a balance, uh, between entry level journeyman level expert level classes, striking a balance between the coaches that everybody wants to hear from and giving some new people a chance to cut their teeth and see if maybe they're the next person that everybody wants, you know,
00:40:06
Speaker
um It's challenging when you have a limited number of classroom spaces. um So I'm excited to see what happens this year at the expo because we're going to have way more classroom and way more. training That's cool. so I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be freaking awesome.
00:40:26
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's always different perspectives, right? Because I never thought about that as far as like being limited and then obviously have to pick and choose which classes. I'm assuming have more. We had to turn away like 25 classes last year.
00:40:39
Speaker
That's what i was wondering. was just going to say there. And now I'm like, please, God, I hope they submit again this year because we have space for them and I don't want to piss them off. Right. so Yeah, that'll be That's a tough position to be in.
00:40:52
Speaker
It is. Well, and I feel like the classes always fill up. Like the really good ones always fill up really fast. And then sometimes there's nothing left. Like you're just stuck taking whatever, a filler class, or you just hang out. So um it's always good to have. I mean, that's how I felt about STX. Like there was no shortage of classes. But being that they're only every two years, it's a little different. and Worldpack is massive, of course.
00:41:15
Speaker
so yeah But I equate, like I told people STX is like, is like ASTA, but just way bigger. But like the feel was really cool about it. Like that's what I like about ASTA because the cultures, it's so much different than any of the other training events that I've been to.
00:41:34
Speaker
So like, that's why it's the one that I won't miss because the culture I love the culture. So.
00:41:41
Speaker
Well, awesome. I'm excited to have you down there. I'm trying. So like we're moving downtown Raleigh this year, right? So it's cool not as convenient to the go-kart track as it has been. Yeah. And in fact, trying to figure out what we're going to do for the opening night party.
Logistics of a Trade Show Pizza Party
00:41:54
Speaker
um And, ah you know, Thursday night's a hard night to get an entire restaurant and bar rented in a downtown district because it's one of the biggest nights for them.
00:42:05
Speaker
And so trying to find something fun and a little bit obnoxious and a little bit. Pizzas. Order a lot of pizza, Mike. We do pizza party for Friday night, dog. Freaky pizza party.
00:42:17
Speaker
We bought like 400 pizzas last year on the same night as the ASOG dinner. We got to get something shipped in from Buffalo. We have to talk about your pizza, Mike. Little Caesars, one topping only. like Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
00:42:31
Speaker
that's some serious esl stuff right there
00:42:37
Speaker
evil shop evil show operator evil show operator um well cool man uh how was your experience teaching um loved it hated it i loved it oh sorry yeah you're talking to me or brian I'm not talking to Brian. I talk to him all the time. i love i love teaching. Honestly, i definitely see it in my future for sure.
00:43:05
Speaker
ah Whether that's social media or something else, I absolutely loved
Teaching Social Media to Shops
00:43:10
Speaker
it. I mean, I was a nervous wreck the first few times, but I got super comfortable with it. and Really enjoyed it. Honestly, if it wasn't just me in the shop, I would be pursuing it more currently.
00:43:20
Speaker
But it was really tough last year to take all that time off, obviously, and not have the revenue from the shop and not get paid while was there. So um um that was that was rough. Who were you teaching for?
00:43:32
Speaker
Or were you just Chris Enright teaching? I was teaching with shop marketing pros. Okay. All right. Yeah. um What content were you teaching? Were you teaching technical stuff or were you teaching- Social media.
00:43:44
Speaker
oh also So Brian did the marketing side. he he taught like the marketing side of things. Then I taught the like short form and social media for shops and how to use it. So yeah, it was really fun.
00:43:57
Speaker
um Would you want to teach social media or would you want to teach that and technical? Oh, I don't know. It's a different set of students in the class for sure. I know. I don't know if I like, I don't know if I have the confidence. I tell Brian and Jeff this all the time. Like that's my biggest thing when it comes to technical stuff. I don't feel like I have the confidence enough to teach technical stuff. You can just make it up.
00:44:19
Speaker
Everybody else does. ah Just make it up. I could teach maybe technical stuff on like, shop owner side but then again i feel like there's so many more people who know much more about shop owner stuff than i do so i think what we need is we we need some surface level technical training for service advisors oh yeah i mean just basic fundamentals of how systems work explained in non-technical jargon you run into that dangerous situation where uh
00:44:52
Speaker
you You teach them a couple things, and then they think they know stuff.
Risks of Technical Knowledge for Advisors
00:44:57
Speaker
And then they're out there giving wrong answers, sounding like idiots. And you're in the back bay rolling your eyes, and you're like, oh, my gosh, why did I tell that kid that? Because now he thinks he understands how this works.
00:45:09
Speaker
Oh, gosh. Or or you you teach them you get, ah what was it? What does he call me? Oh, gosh. I can't remember.
00:45:21
Speaker
called me like a country hick or something like that. One of my feedbacks from one of my class said that I was arrogant and a country hick or something. can't remember. like the complete like I'm definitely arrogant in a lot of things for sure.
00:45:34
Speaker
So he was right on about that. but Also super humble. yeah but i'm way more humble than you but the country thing was like what like what are you talking about like i don't understand then i found out who he was what shop he was with who his mom was in the shop and i was and i looked up their social media about 10 years ago their Their social media page had like 300 followers and he said, I didn't know what I was talking about and like went on this whole rant about this whole thing. And i so I was like, all right, well, is it legit or not? Like maybe it's possible because these are my first few classes I've ever taught. So I don't want to be like, oh, he's wrong. So was like, all you know, I'm going to sit down and think about this. And I like, well, let me look and see what their social media is. So I found out who he was. He like left his name there, left his phone number.
00:46:22
Speaker
So I found their shop, looked at their social media and I was like, That's all I needed to know. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate you. And that was it. 300 followers. We have 300 followers by accident on ours.
00:46:35
Speaker
We've never done anything with it. We put a picture of the dog on there like in 2014.
00:46:43
Speaker
300 followers by accident. That might not be true. i don't know how many followers we have. Well, I don't claim to know everything, but his... What's that, Mike? Wilco Auto Care? Yep. i am We're going find out.
00:46:57
Speaker
Do you have a page? I don't know. I think we do. We definitely do because I keep getting the alerts that it's a messenger. Wait a minute. yeah you do Yeah, do. The first post that comes up is a big post ah from Sean White is at Wilco Auto Care in February of 2020.
00:47:15
Speaker
And it's a pizza party for your staff. February 2020. Was that the last post?
00:47:21
Speaker
was that the last post That's just the first one that came up when I searched you. And that wasn't even our post. That was just somebody saying he was there. The most recent one is Carm and Tracy with you. Carm and Tracy. Oh, we have a couple things on there.
00:47:39
Speaker
It's all Carm and Tracy.
00:47:43
Speaker
they should are Do they manage your social media for you by proxy?
00:47:49
Speaker
I don't know. i don't think so. We don't do any marketing. I don't know how it works.
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I haven't. Yeah. I'm back to 2021 and y'all haven't generated a post yet. It's all other people tagging. I'm telling you, I, I wasn't, I
Complexity of Social Media Management
00:48:08
Speaker
wouldn't lie to you. I'm like, I wouldn't lie to you about how incompetent I am.
00:48:14
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Oh, Oh, man. So anyway, I would lie to you and be like, I'm way more incompetent than you think. That would be like ah that'd be like a stupid spot to lie. i should lie the other way.
00:48:26
Speaker
Well, like I stopped doing any social media at all like a year and a half ago, and I just got signed up again with Turnkey, and they're like, oh, my God, Mike, how can you be so stupid? It's free, man. It's free.
00:48:39
Speaker
it's free I got a lesson in how the thing is way more complicated than I thought it was. Like, I thought that you just put some posts out and this, that, everything. And Dan and Rachel over to Amtown, they're like, oh, rural Joe, you don't know any better.
00:48:58
Speaker
like you you poor thing you're in your own little world up there. That's what they say. You're in your own little world up there. You don't know how this like thought this auto to repair stuff works. Oh gosh. That's pretty crazy what you can do with social media.
YouTube Channel Criticism and Growth
00:49:11
Speaker
That's for sure. If you do it right. I mean, even like if you look at the whole Dave's auto drama, like it still helps him.
00:49:18
Speaker
Like even with all the negativity that he's gotten, it's still does some good. So, yeah. Well, and he has, ah YouTube warriors coming to his defense who are just fans of the page and kind of the energy they put out there. And maybe they don't know shit about cars, but they come to his defense and that's all that matter Don't matter, man. They're on the interwebs. They're all experts.
00:49:42
Speaker
I mean, I'm told from the beginning, janitor at the middle school, night job, automotive expert.
00:49:52
Speaker
keyboard automotive expert yes but that's that's what i said from the beginning is like he doesn't do the social media all he does is goes out there his his guys like hey we're going to record a video on this car this is what the tech's doing here's what you're going to talk about and go and there we go and that's how that i mean you know what mean it's not like he's sitting around brainstorming about social media content which technically i mean when you're a bigger shop like that's like that's the way it should be He's like the Joe Biden of it. He's holding up an intake airtime sensor on a Dodge and I'll tell everybody it's a math sensor. I'm like, they don't even have those on them things.
00:50:28
Speaker
What are you talking about? ah You're confused. I don't think he ever deleted that that video. I'm pretty sure they left that up. That was one of my biggest complaints. It's like, it's like which it doesn't matter whether it's good press or bad press.
00:50:44
Speaker
It doesn't really my matter if the number is positive or negative. It's that many digits away from zero. i mean youre That's how it works. Yeah. You're not wrong. I mean, that was, that was my biggest complaint when I, cause I had talked about his page in my classes and I was like, well, I like Dave's auto, but I'm like, he doesn't delete or admit when he's wrong very often. So i but just keep that in mind when you're following his page.
00:51:06
Speaker
He doesn't care. He's a baller. still good not learn and I think, I think in the last decade we've learned that you just say whatever the fuck you want to say confidently and never apologize.
00:51:20
Speaker
yeah You're not wrong. You learned that last week in a group chat with Zev. Not the last decade. Say whatever you want.
00:51:31
Speaker
Never apologize.
Online Persona vs. Real-Life Behavior
00:51:32
Speaker
World domination 101. Unfuck you, I guess. Is that why he apologizes? yeah like Yeah, that's his apology. He's awesome. You don't have to.
00:51:48
Speaker
definitely don't have to. I'm now scrolling Dave's Auto Center. I always hear people reference them in some kind of drama, but I've never followed any of their stuff. so If you look at his โ so if you pull him on YouTube and then you scroll back down through his videos, you can see โ it's like a โ and black and white line or a black line drawn of when before they hired their editor whoever whatever's doing their social media and then after because their videos went from like a couple thousand views to maybe 10,000 views to like 400,000 views out of nowhere like just oh really yeah like it is it's like a wall it's crazy like was scrolling through he's got a video from last month that's gotten 900,000 views it's insane it's absolutely wild
00:52:36
Speaker
They're doing something. Royalty autos do the same way. Like they started YouTube and they got roasted in the, cause they were only doing tech talk for a long time. And then, so then they started a YouTube page and they would like record the video like they normally would.
00:52:49
Speaker
But at the very end of the video, they'd be like, well, if you want the answer, head over to our YouTube page and people destroyed them in the comments. They hated them for it. So then they finally stopped doing that. And they're like, oh, ah we we heard you guys loud and clear. We'll give you the answer. Because people that are โ it's weird. TikTok is like the one platform out of all of them that but I feel like โ and I don't know. i don't have the stats for this. This is just my feeling, but I hear it lot.
00:53:16
Speaker
It's like if you have TikTok, it's the only app you have. Versus like if you have Instagram, a lot of times you'll have Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, like you'll have multiples, but there's a lot more people on TikTok that only have TikTok than someone who's just on Facebook and only on Facebook.
00:53:35
Speaker
So they don't want to go anywhere else. They want to stay on TikTok. So trying to force them to another page, people get upset. So I guess they're gonna have to learn how to fix cars themselves. Well, you saw your I don't remember if you saw that when Chuck, he was doing a video and he got it was like an ad with AutoZone and people lost their minds because he was doing ads. They're like, we don't want to see AutoZone ads.
00:54:00
Speaker
And I'm like, see what happens when you have a bunch of shade tree DIY wires follow you that want silver bullet answers. I only put I only got tick tock because you and Jeff sent me so many tick tock things and I was so sick of the way it opened on my phone without tick tock.
00:54:14
Speaker
ah So then I got it and deleted it. But if you have an Android and you're a little bit technical, you can get it back on there. So that's what I did. All right, look, so i'm I'm super behind on automotive social media. So who are the rage bait ones that I need to follow? I followed Dave's and Royal just while y'all were talking.
00:54:36
Speaker
Subaru. Mr. Subaru. oh and yo your knows He knows everything. Just watch the video. He knows everything there is to know about everything there ever was.
00:54:48
Speaker
He's the best tech ever, which is why he's doing so good with his shop that he doesn't own. Top five reason Subaru beats Toyota is his first post. So he's an idiot. I can't.
00:54:59
Speaker
He is. He's probably a nice guy. i shouldn't say. Super nice guy in person. It's all. probably nice guy sona Yeah, he's probably a really nice guy. he just. I met him two years ago at the Milwaukee pipeline event and I was very surprised. Like i knew that there are people that had like online personas and like portrayed, you know, whatever.
00:55:21
Speaker
this type of person, but I had never like actually met anybody like that. Cause like I am who I am. like you see my posts. I'm no different from my posts to what I am in person. And, uh, when I met him, I'm like, Oh my gosh, this guy's nothing like his videos.
00:55:36
Speaker
Super nice, genuine, like just really friendly guy. and I'm like, Oh, I just, I couldn't do that. I couldn't deal with all the drama. I don't do drama. That's why I never stitch any of those Dave's videos or get into all that crap with all them guys. I'm just like, ah I don't care. It's like high school girl drama crap.
00:55:55
Speaker
Like just let's, let's post good stuff. Like let's like the stuff where somebody's whining and crying about having to pay for Diag or something like that. Like let's, let's do videos on that kind of stuff.
00:56:07
Speaker
I never have that problem.
00:56:11
Speaker
Oh boy. We do have today, we had its a 2007 Ram 1500 customer called in asking for a price on an alternator.
Identifying Red Flag Customer Calls
00:56:24
Speaker
ah you know, when they call in asking for a price on something, sometimes it can be difficult to be like, I mean, i don't know, we need to inspect that first, right? And we're going to charge you to inspect. So for us, it's what type of problem are you having?
00:56:37
Speaker
ah Anytime you are having that problem, it's really important that I have one of my ASC certified technicians inspect that for you. ah I'm going to do that for you yet no charge and give you a complete written estimate. And I can do that right now. Does that sound good?
00:56:51
Speaker
Right. So that's super easy, right? um Pay the technician. You eat the the loss on the assumption that you'll be able to. ah Win them over and get the repair.
00:57:03
Speaker
And on this one, vehicle is dead because it needs an alternator. And so took the jump and and towed it in also. Right. So we're a little we're we're double ah double into it.
00:57:15
Speaker
ah definitely needs an alternator and a battery. And, uh, and I'm sure that he'd be happy to do that, but the frame's about to break in half from the rust. Uh, so it's like, Hey man, you absolutely need an alternator and a battery. How'd you get one of my cars down there?
00:57:31
Speaker
And I would like to tow it back to you right now. And I'm just going to eat both tow bills and the Diag because I can't in good faith, put an alternator on this vehicle. We had a, we had a RAV4 today that needed, just needed spark plugs.
00:57:44
Speaker
Um, and And about right up by the timing cover, you could actually inspect the inside of the crankcase from the outside. Just needed spark plugs. It's where the had a window had a window on the engine block. and Spark plugs. Yeah, but ah whatever you say, dog pound, if you were going to charge him any more than $50, you're ripping him off. Just so you know.
00:58:06
Speaker
What is, uh, had a red flag call today. So we were super short staffed today. So I actually had to answer the phone. Some even wrote some people up and did some sales calls. It was fucking awkward. It was terrible. Look at you. um look at you doing all those worky type things.
00:58:20
Speaker
and Well, and the dudes of the shop were like, ah, We'll handle it. yeah well Get out of here. This place runs smoother without you. so does.
00:58:32
Speaker
But it was, hey, how much for a tune-up on my Mazda? like Nobody calls to ask for a tune-up. That means they're having a problem. right And they're hoping that a tune-up will fix it because that's what their uncle's grandfather's cousin's neighbor said. I said, what type of concern are you having and that makes you believe that you might need a tune-up?
00:58:53
Speaker
Oh, I've just never done one, so I'm pretty sure it just needs a tune-up. Yeah, but what type of problem are you having? I don't have any problems. just need tune-up.
00:59:02
Speaker
i don't believe you. I don't believe you. But same deal, right? It's a little bit easier to deal with that. Well, anytime you think you might need a tune-up, you need to have it inspected by one of our technicians. We'll give you a complete estimate for anything we see that you need at no charge, and we can look at it this afternoon. You want to come in right now?
00:59:19
Speaker
So, I mean, it's still easy to win it, but she's fucking lying. she She's got a problem. ah There's something going on. It's got a noise or Jiffy Lube, you know, drained the oil and didn't put it back in. Or put 12 cores in it.
00:59:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's often a good couple of four core motor. Yeah. Do you, it Mike, do you track your analytics on? Because like I know you said you, the assumption is that you're going to win that over.
00:59:44
Speaker
But ah do you attract the analytics of the ones you do and don't want over? Like, how how often are you not getting the jobs? um Not individually. I just look at kind of the large scale numbers. okay It's one of the easiest things about TechMetric, the best software in the market.
01:00:02
Speaker
ah That's right, baby. is You know, I just look at... Oh, that's nice. Look at overall closing rate, average pair order, and tech average quote. Did see Chris to whip out his TechMetrics swag? Hold on. He's just looking for it.
01:00:14
Speaker
He's got to go get it.
01:00:18
Speaker
Best software ever. Oh, you got the same cup as I do. Oh, look at that. Yeah. So you're just looking at the overall big picture then. Yeah. So, I mean, if I look at closing rate and effective labor rate, so giving away free Diag, right?
01:00:34
Speaker
And pay you still pay your technicians for it. It kills your effective labor rate. yeah So jack up your base rate to offset the time you're giving away across the board. So that's what Brian always tells me is I charge for Diag. I just charge everybody for that person's Diag. Yeah, he's just he's just a commie.
01:00:51
Speaker
I'm spreading the love. But ah you last month, our closing rate was 33%. ah Average pair order was 966. So was roughly a $3,000 tech average quote.
01:01:06
Speaker
um I feel pretty good about that. you know That's ah where I want to be. And effective labor rate was where I wanted it to be. So... and keep trying Now, if those numbers start to tank, then I'll dig deeper.
01:01:20
Speaker
But as long as the numbers are hitting our goals, then we keep trucking. so okay Yeah, I was just curious. I just wasn't sure if that's what you were doing, like i just the overall close ratio or if you were tracking like individually which ones. But if you're doing on every car, I mean, obviously that makes sense. like I guess you could pull the reports to see what the closing rate and what the average pay order was on tickets that had a one-hour die. I got no charge.
01:01:44
Speaker
Because if they need... like four hours of extensive Diag, we do charge them for that. Like we give them an hour to get a baseline and then we charge for secondary testing if it's necessary, but that's, you one in 10 Diags need additional testing and a charge. So, um, yeah, I mean, I don't get, and I'm the same. I don't get too many. I mean, obviously working on Hondas, you don't get too many difficult Diags. So, um, uh, but yeah, I mean, I, I'm the same way an hour, most of them, nine out of 10, I get figured in an hour and then,
01:02:13
Speaker
How do you specialize in cars that last forever and don't fuck up? Timing belts. Timing belts. You do a lot of ah lot of maintenance. A lot of maintenance. Solenoids.
01:02:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Spool valves. Spool valves. Timing belts. Timing belts. Timing chains. Sparkle plugs. Sparkle plugs. 105K services valve adjustments.
01:02:38
Speaker
Valve cover gaskets. Lots of brakes. Lots and lots of brakes. He does a lot of timing chains after somebody else already put a cam sensor in it. I get a lot of those, too. Yeah, totally. I get a lot of people that have been around to, like, multiple dealerships somehow. How do you go to a Honda dealership and they can't figure out a timing chain?
01:02:58
Speaker
ah Just mind-boggling. We get that, and we get the people that got the crank sensor, and they've got the noisiest starter motor electrically on the face of the planet. And it's like in the freeze frame, it says the car was at zero RPM.
01:03:11
Speaker
Like it tells, it gives you the answer. Like you could like even not even do anything. You just blindly put a starter in it and fix the car and people still don't do it. Yeah. But wild. There's not much training going on. So they have no clue. That's why they coming from the dealership background. Like even the training that I got was very, very basic.
01:03:31
Speaker
So like the Honda school training, it's very basic. Yeah. but ah Hey, man. Good. I hope that the dealerships keep being terrible. Right? Because that's good for us.
01:03:42
Speaker
It is good for us. And let let's not kid ourselves. There's plenty of terrible aftermarket shops also. yeah yeah so I will say that's where I get most of my...
01:03:54
Speaker
The ratio the same. and yeah the The qualified, the good technicians, whether it doesn't matter. You have to go through the same amount to find a good one, whether it's dealer guy or an independent guy. It doesn't matter. What think the ratio is for overall shop quality, like middle of the road?
01:04:15
Speaker
average. Like what do you mean? able to Able to correct and not do a hack type repair? Like able to diagnose the car and not do a hack repair? Dealership, chain stores, independents.
01:04:27
Speaker
I think independents probably have the worst rate of of poor quality repairs. Yeah. um mean I mean, in my experience, that's what I've gotten. Yeah, I agree. For sure. i would But I don't know. Dealerships are pretty close second.
01:04:40
Speaker
i mean They are. And you know what happens is not a lot of those cars escape. Like you don't get to find out about them. Yeah. Like I get to find out about a fair amount of people that were charged $2,400, you know, and we're going to try an EBCM, but there's no guarantee. And then the car comes to me and I fixed the wire that was broke.
01:05:00
Speaker
yeah Right. Like I get to see those stories. Most shops don't get to see those stories. I mean, when I was at the dealership, they put an engine in a lady's car because it was knocking, and he put the engine in, and then it was still knocking afterwards, and guess what it needed?
01:05:14
Speaker
A compressor. Compressor. So then guess what they did? not They didn't give her the compressor for free. They sold her the freaking compressor afterwards, too. I mean, I'm like, you guys are straight up thieves.
01:05:27
Speaker
It's insanity. How do you sell someone in jail? Give her the compressor for free. She should have paid for the compressor. She just had a free motor. She should have, but I mean, it's, I don't know. It's crazy. think they charged her for the Diagon, the compressor.
01:05:44
Speaker
Oh, they charged her everything. They literally charged her everything. I'm not kidding. Like $1,100 more because she needed a compressor when it was done. We had a RAV4 in for a, um and this was a Honda dealership. So we, you know, everybody whined and complained anything that wasn't a Honda.
01:05:59
Speaker
And we had a RAV4 that came in for a steering rack and you know how Toyota is with their labor rates. It was 18 hours to do a rack because they want you to pull the engine. Yeah. An hour and 10 minutes later, the rack. yeah Yeah, exactly. And so they're like, Oh, we'll cut her a break and charged her 15 hours. I'm like, guys, like flat rate or flat broke, baby.
01:06:22
Speaker
it It was just crazy. I mean, but again, then I went to an independent shop and I misdiagged a car like three times and the ticket ended up being like $4,000 and the owner flat out told me, I love this guy.
01:06:36
Speaker
And I'm like, dude, I, the, so that what happened was ended up being, Something was missing from the wiring diagram. I can't remember who we were using Mitchell or all data, one or the other, but there was something missing on the wiring diagram that was never there.
Dealership Misdiagnosis Story
01:06:51
Speaker
And so, uh, I think I, I can't remember. I can't remember exactly how it all panned out as far as what I misdiagged, but I misdiagged several times and it ended up needing something simple, like a wire was broke or something. Right.
01:07:04
Speaker
And they charged her full boat. And his exact quote was, man, this guy makes me a lot of money. I love this guy. I'm like, dude, this was my mistake. This was not the client's. Like I'm the one that misdiagnosed it. Technically it was the wiring diagram, but I still screwed up. Like I should have known.
01:07:20
Speaker
So it was my, my fault. And so that was, you know I have it from both sides. Like it's just crazy. don't I just can't do that. It's the same everywhere. It is. It's the same everywhere.
01:07:32
Speaker
Unfortunately. Dishonest people are going to be dishonest.
Integrity in the Automotive Industry
01:07:35
Speaker
so Yeah. You know, what is it that Roman says? um You know, 10% of people will do the right thing no matter what. 10% of people will do the wrong thing no matter what. And 80% in the middle can be swayed one way or the other.
01:07:48
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out. The good, and the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes. So why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit, and maybe have another drink.
01:08:02
Speaker
You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover? Or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike at confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's 704-266-3377. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow.
01:08:22
Speaker
Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you on the next episode.
01:08:56
Speaker
Cheers.