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Episode 26- Tina Korteland from Philly! She's a Technician who values training and shop culture
43 Plays23 days ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . We dive into shop ownership and how it all began for the both of us. We will be featuring special guests every week from the automotive industry and also a few surprise guests we have lined up in the not so distant future. We want this podcast to be fun but informative about the automotive repair industry. We are not perfect in what we do but operate with integrity and have been doing so for years. Sit back and listen in for some fun banter and conversations about the automotive repair world!
Today we had the great pleasure of chatting with Tina Korteland from Philly! We got to talk a bit about her rise in the automotive field and her experience at TOOLS. Frank got to meet her at the conference and heard part of her story. We are so glad she was able to take some time and hang out with us!
Sit back and enjoy this one! Please like and subscribe! You can also follow us on Facebook @ The Shop N Tread Talk Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Aniz Lavji
Welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. My name is Aniz and as usual we got Frank with us today. Frank, how you doing buddy?
00:00:10
Frank Wiebe
ah Well, I'm doing great today. i am getting a little bit sleepy because it's getting dark outside. But otherwise, I had a fun day. it was a beautiful warm day of like 23 degrees, which for you an American, that's really cold. But here it's here it's warm. So I had a great day.
00:00:29
Frank Wiebe
And
Guest Introduction and Background
00:00:30
Frank Wiebe
ah today we have with us Tina from Philadelphia. I think you are. um
00:00:35
Tina
Yep.
00:00:36
Frank Wiebe
Welcome to the show. Really glad to see that you're here with us today.
00:00:41
Tina
Yeah, thank you guys.
00:00:41
Frank Wiebe
uh yeah yeah
00:00:44
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, ah Tina, why don't you introduce yourself, kind of tell you tell us your story. How did you get to where you are right now, kind of where you came from, and how much you love the 76ers, you know, all the all the normal stuff about Philadelphia.
00:01:01
Tina
Oh man, you're okay.
00:01:02
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:01:03
Tina
Put me on the spot. um Yeah, so I started,
00:01:09
Tina
think back in maybe 2010. twenty a It was, ah no offense to Frank, you know, listened to a couple episodes and I know that the age range goes up and down for for the poor guy. um But it was like right after high school, i had just left another job and I was looking for just something to do.
Early Career and Transition to Corporate
00:01:31
Tina
And I just bought a motorcycle.
00:01:31
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:01:31
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:01:33
Tina
And the guy that was working on my bike was like, put up a Facebook post out was like, hey, looking for an apprentice.
00:01:37
Frank Wiebe
Thank
00:01:40
Tina
You know, if anyone's interested, reach out. um So like I said, I was in between jobs.
00:01:45
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:01:46
Tina
And I was like, you know what? I always was a kid that was taking my pen apart in school. i always was, you know, active trying to do something.
00:01:53
Frank Wiebe
you.
00:01:55
Tina
I'm a musician. I'm a drummer. So I'm always, you know, tinkering with something. um And so I ended up working with him for probably about a year. um Just kind of like literally learning the the ropes. um And he worked on a lot of like vintage stuff, older bikes, really nothing younger than
00:02:15
Tina
maybe... maybe mid eighties. Um, but a lot of CBs, he built this awesome, um, cafe racer. He built another like Mad Max style bike. So I got to learn a little bit of welding, got to learn a bit of like fabbing.
00:02:32
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:02:32
Tina
It was a lot, you know? Um, and then when I left that went back, you know, to like a retail job and was sort of like bouncing back and forth, moved to Philly, was working a corporate gig and got,
00:02:46
Tina
a random like LinkedIn or you know Indeed message or something like that, and someone's like, hey, I have a client that's looking to build a motorcycle shop.
00:02:50
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:02:57
Tina
He is looking for someone who has some interest, but also is you know wanting to learn. So linked up with this guy worked for him for a little over a year, I think.
00:03:08
Tina
And when I took, um because you know I listened to a couple of episodes, you have a couple um people that were from like PA and other states that do safety inspections.
00:03:09
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:03:18
Tina
So for PA motorcycles, you only have to do safety. You don't have to do emissions. So I went to get my safety inspector license and I overheard the teacher in that class talking to This young guy, I guess he just got fired from a job was like, yo, this local Toyota is hiring, you know, for lead techs.
00:03:39
Tina
And I was sort of at the end of my time with the the motorcycle job.
00:03:42
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Nice.
00:03:43
Tina
was like, okay. So I applied and an interview, got the job like the next week um and pretty much just started as, you know, lube tech and worked my way up to flat rate. um I was doing a bunch of training for all the new incoming lube techs after me and stuff like that.
00:04:02
Tina
um And then after about a year and a half there, I saw a girls auto clinic um and I'd had friends that had taken their cars there before.
00:04:14
Tina
I, at that time had a huge 95, 2,500 pickup Dodge Ram and the shop is three bays.
00:04:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:04:22
Tina
It's pretty small, no room for it, unfortunately. So I had never been able to take my vehicle there, but i had friends that had.
00:04:27
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:04:29
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:04:29
Tina
So I saw that Patrice was hiring, sent a message and it was like, Hey, you know, I'm looking for something new. This flat rate isn't really working out for me.
00:04:40
Tina
You know, i was in that middle area where I had some great, great master techs above me, some great younger guys that had literally started when they were teenagers in the shop um at Toyota.
00:04:53
Tina
And so I had like some good leaders around me, some good education through the dealership, but I just wasn't able to survive, you know?
00:04:57
Aniz Lavji
Right. Yeah.
00:05:02
Tina
And so like, I i liked it there. I just wasn't able to survive because I just didn't have that knowledge yet. So I never went to school. You know, here you don't have to do an apprenticeship or anything like that.
00:05:13
Aniz Lavji
right
00:05:13
Tina
So you can just start, you know, at any any shop that you find as long as they're willing to take
Girls Auto Clinic: Joining and Experiences
00:05:20
Tina
you. So, you know, I'd had about a year and a half of experience at Toyota and then got hired at Girls Auto Clinic and have been there now just about four years.
00:05:29
Aniz Lavji
Wow, that's great.
00:05:30
Tina
Yeah.
00:05:30
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, that's a cool story.
00:05:32
Tina
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:32
Frank Wiebe
I didn't know that about motorcycles. That's pretty cool. i night
00:05:34
Tina
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I miss it. I definitely want to get back to dabbling. You know, the the way that people are driving on the roads, I don't know if I'm ready to get a bike again yet, but I do i do miss it, you know.
00:05:46
Frank Wiebe
i i have a I have a bike. Actually, Marguerite and I each have a bike, but i i don't I don't work on my bike at all other than i have to rewire my taillights right now. But as far as anything else on a bike,
00:05:58
Tina
sorry.
00:05:59
Frank Wiebe
No, I ship it out. We've got a guy nearby that does an amazing job. So I'm like, I'd rather get on my bike and just ride it instead of having to do any work on it.
00:06:03
Tina
Oh, I love that.
00:06:04
Aniz Lavji
Oh, wow. Mm-hmm.
00:06:07
Tina
Yep. Yep, for sure.
00:06:08
Frank Wiebe
So I just recently had to get a tire put on it. Took it out for a Wednesday, took it out for a ride.
00:06:12
Tina
Oh, gosh.
00:06:15
Frank Wiebe
Boy, that tire gripped hard. one but and That's cool.
00:06:19
Tina
Shit, I'm not ready for that. Yeah. Yeah, I was lucky at the one the one job I got to do.
00:06:21
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:06:24
Tina
um some track tracks racing. Not racing, but we got to do it go on the track um at at the Pocono track.
00:06:28
Aniz Lavji
oh well
00:06:32
Tina
and I had never been on a sport bike. I'd always been on cruisers. so That was a my first time on a sport bike. and Then I got to do um two up with... Oh, man. I forget his name, but he's like a world world-class racer, like Gary or Greg something.
00:06:49
Tina
but We were going into turns at 120 miles an hour. and i just was So glad he was so good at what he did. um But yeah, I got to do some like really cool stuff in in a lot of these these jobs and and things like that.
00:06:57
Frank Wiebe
yep
00:07:03
Tina
I got to go to um Arma, Vintage Days, things like that when I was with the other guy. So it's been nice to sort of see that side of things. And then, you know, Frank, we met at Tools. So it was really cool to sort of see in comparison to like the motorcycle, this you know, ah not conferences, but events and stuff that I'd gone to.
00:07:22
Tina
see the way that the the auto industry does it. And it was a blast, you know.
00:07:27
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:07:28
Aniz Lavji
Was that your first ah your first conference, Tools?
00:07:28
Frank Wiebe
Oh, that's Well,
00:07:31
Tina
yeah Yeah, that was my first first conference. Never heard of it. you know i knew that there was always kind of knew that there's like groups and stuff around in the states, our continent, whatever.
00:07:40
Aniz Lavji
That's amazing.
00:07:43
Tina
But yeah, this was the first I heard of it. And my boss was like, hey, I'm going to sign you up for this thing if you've got time to go. so i yeah, I was so thankful I got to do that.
00:07:50
Aniz Lavji
amazing
00:07:50
Frank Wiebe
that's amazing.
00:07:53
Tina
um you know And like I said, even meeting you, Frank, it's nice for someone like me who... lacks in that like scholastic education to now have more connections with people who are like mentors to be able to like ask questions or even just to to have that support and and have you in my back pocket, you know, when when I'm sure something comes down the line and I'm like, I i need i need this dude's help.
00:08:19
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Definitely.
00:08:19
Frank Wiebe
And a hundred percent.
00:08:19
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:08:20
Frank Wiebe
And that's what it's all about for something like that is making those connections. And I went on a journey too.
Connecting Through Social Media and Industry Insights
00:08:25
Frank Wiebe
And believe it or not, that was my first conference as well. And the reason, the reason I was there is because my whole journey this year is to make connections.
00:08:28
Tina
Yeah.
00:08:34
Frank Wiebe
This is how Anis and I met through, through TikTok actually.
00:08:38
Tina
Oh, that's cool.
00:08:38
Frank Wiebe
And yeah.
00:08:39
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:08:40
Frank Wiebe
And, ah and i have met, I have met so many people. And like you say, now there's people that I can call on and be like, Hey, I've got this problem. I need some help with it. And I've been in the industry for a lot of years and I still need help.
00:08:51
Frank Wiebe
I still need help. Right. So yeah, just, just to having these people.
00:08:52
Tina
For sure. Yeah.
00:08:53
Aniz Lavji
I've basically bugging the hell out of frank bugging the hell out of Frank since we met to go to a conference since like day one.
00:08:59
Frank Wiebe
Oh yeah. yeah
00:09:01
Tina
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:02
Aniz Lavji
And now he now he went to one. Now he's got the itch.
00:09:05
Tina
yeah i was going to say it.
00:09:05
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Yeah. Now, well, I got to go to second. I'm signed up and paid for the, uh, for the, uh, uh, at ASTA in North Carolina.
00:09:12
Aniz Lavji
ASTA.
00:09:14
Tina
Down in North Carolina. Yeah. Yeah. If I, if I can't do that one, i want to try to do the super Saturday that's around us.
00:09:16
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:21
Tina
um
00:09:22
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:09:22
Tina
But yeah, definitely want to try to get to as many of those as possible.
00:09:26
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Sure.
00:09:27
Tina
Just like I said to, I don't know. I learned so much. I learned so much and it was able to bring it back to the shop. You know, we've lost our like master tech. So now a lot of us are the three of us who work in the shop are sort of on our own, you know, and there's so much new stuff out there.
00:09:44
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:09:48
Tina
There's so much old stuff out there and all of us each, it's great because we each have our own like unique skills, I feel like. Um, so we're able to bounce things off of each other a lot. Our service advisors are great.
00:10:00
Tina
You know, they're always checking in on us. They are doing such an amazing job this year. you know, it's been a tough year just because of the economy, but, Everyone is is really, i don't know, it feels like we're doing a really great job with everything that's been thrown at us.
00:10:08
Aniz Lavji
Definitely.
00:10:14
Tina
um But, you know, being able to sort of like keep that team mindset going, you know, just to be like, all right, the three of us might need to to put our heads together for this car just to to try to figure it out.
00:10:26
Aniz Lavji
but It sounds like you've got a very good culture just from the little bit I'm hearing at your shop. I mean, cause again, you said that you're, you're the, the owner of the shop or your boss sent you to tools.
00:10:39
Tina
Yeah.
00:10:39
Aniz Lavji
I mean, that's, that's a huge statement in that because there are a lot of shop owners and Frank will agree that they don't have that same kind of mindset where they're going to send their, their team members.
00:10:41
Tina
Incredible. Yeah.
00:10:51
Aniz Lavji
i try not to use the word employees, but they're, they're team members to training.
00:10:53
Tina
Yeah. For sure.
00:10:56
Aniz Lavji
I mean, that's massive. I think even,
00:10:57
Tina
Yeah, yeah.
00:10:58
Aniz Lavji
Even when Frank went to, Frank with the tools, one of his team members, he sent him out for training for, I believe it electrical, right, Frank?
00:11:06
Frank Wiebe
yeah Yeah, he had to go to Northbury for electric training, and it was it was his first time going as well.
00:11:07
Tina
awesome.
00:11:13
Frank Wiebe
Now, it wasn't a conference. It was just like a one block of training for three days.
00:11:17
Tina
Yep. Yep.
00:11:18
Frank Wiebe
but But he came back with an incredible amount of knowledge, and I'm like, yeah.
00:11:23
Tina
Yeah, you come back excited, you know?
00:11:23
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:11:25
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. but But I told him too, I said, look, if you don't use this, you're going to lose it now. And that's something they told us to do.
00:11:31
Tina
Yeah.
00:11:32
Frank Wiebe
So so a couple of times I've pulled him into a job that I'm doing.
00:11:32
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yep.
00:11:33
Tina
Yeah.
00:11:36
Frank Wiebe
I'm like, okay, well, I know this is what you what you've learned. So let's let's reiterate this so that you don't forget it.
00:11:42
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:11:44
Tina
Yeah.
00:11:44
Frank Wiebe
But you can't just rely on doing it all at work because sometimes you have to do that kind of stuff at home.
00:11:48
Frank Wiebe
You have to really be into it.
00:11:49
Tina
yeah for sure
00:11:51
Frank Wiebe
and Stuff like that that I missed out on many years because I didn't have the support to do that kind of stuff. Now, want to make sure that my employees or team members have that support to be like, this is something that you you need to you need to work on. You need to learn. You need to build on it.
00:12:09
Frank Wiebe
And the more you build on it, the better you are going to become at your job. And in turn, the better you are at your job, you're going to make more money. it's That's how this society, that's how this whole system works.
00:12:20
Tina
Absolutely.
00:12:22
Frank Wiebe
Right?
00:12:23
Aniz Lavji
Things can only change if we change, right?
00:12:25
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, exactly.
00:12:26
Aniz Lavji
if we're going to just keep doing the same thing over and over again, it's just going to be a ah the same cycle.
00:12:26
Tina
Absolutely.
00:12:32
Aniz Lavji
Nothing's going to break. So,
00:12:33
Tina
Yeah.
00:12:33
Aniz Lavji
You don't break the cycle of hey, you know what? This this conference this conference you know could be something that you're going to learn a lot from. There's these certain instructors are going to be there.
00:12:46
Aniz Lavji
Top-notch from North America, instructors are going to be there teaching this class, and you can gain a lot from it. if you're If you're not even encouraged by your employer to to go to these kind of events,
00:12:59
Tina
Yeah.
00:13:00
Aniz Lavji
That's a little bit of a red flag as well, especially you're if they're not sending you to any kind of training, whether it's an expert or not.
00:13:02
Tina
For sure.
00:13:05
Tina
For sure.
00:13:07
Aniz Lavji
If you're not being encouraged to get training or go to training, then there there's a you know whole other conversation you've to have with yourself.
00:13:15
Tina
Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:16
Aniz Lavji
Because in this industry, you've got to be able to grow.
00:13:16
Tina
i feel like we've, we've gone.
00:13:18
Aniz Lavji
And the only way to grow is to have that encouragement that, hey, you know there's this training.
00:13:18
Tina
oh yeah.
00:13:23
Aniz Lavji
Why don't you go and sign up? Why don't you do this? But if you stay stagnant the same spot and doing the same thing and not increasing your skills or or finding yourself being challenged, then you know you kind of get in that funk where you're like, well,
00:13:40
Aniz Lavji
let's do another brake job on a Corolla. And then tomorrow, let's do a brake job on a Civic.
00:13:42
Tina
Yep.
00:13:44
Aniz Lavji
And ooh, maybe maybe the next day I might get a Dodge Ram. You know, I mean, you you want to feel challenged.
00:13:48
Tina
Right.
00:13:51
Aniz Lavji
You want to feel like it's not the same thing every single day. And again, some days it's nice to have the same thing every day if you've had a crazy week.
00:13:56
Tina
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. i have That balance.
00:13:59
Aniz Lavji
But you want to you want to have some sort of a challenge at least. so you know, sharpen your skills and and learn something new because this industry is involving, know, every month. I mean, with ai and everything, you could learn something today. And then, you know, six months later, something else has come out. And if you don't know about it, you're gonna be left in the dust.
00:14:19
Tina
absolutely yeah I feel like our shop we've definitely gone through like some growing pains but like some incredible growth through, through that.
00:14:31
Tina
Um, you know, our boss is really pushing lately to do not just conferences, but you know, the smaller classes that like our local auto parts places like, uh, churches, um and Barrett in, like they'll have, you know, little classes, you get a dinner, you hang out, listen to an instructor for a while.
00:14:41
Aniz Lavji
exactly
00:14:50
Tina
And just being able to like send us to stuff like that so that we have that little bit more information and that little, you know, that next step.
00:14:57
Aniz Lavji
exactly
00:14:58
Tina
And then seeing, you know, a lot of the um classes I took at tools were for the diagnostic process and realizing throughout my education, especially through other people, you know, we all have our own way of doing stuff, but making sure that I have a solid starting point, you know, of, you know, that's what they were saying is,
00:15:15
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep. All right.
00:15:18
Tina
do the same thing as best you can every time and you will be able to find those, those answers easier and it'll become more fluid and, you know, being able to, to have that.
00:15:27
Frank Wiebe
So,
00:15:29
Tina
And like I said, coming back excited, sharing that with my teammates, you know, being able to, Also learn from them. You know, i am not an electrical wizard.
00:15:39
Tina
I have tried my best. I know it's not my strength, but having people there that are good at that, you know, and being able to be like, hey, I remind me how to check the resistance of this again.
00:15:46
Aniz Lavji
Yep. For sure. Yep.
00:15:51
Tina
Can can you remind me how to do that? And all of us being able to, you know, work on each other.
00:15:55
Aniz Lavji
for sure
00:15:55
Tina
But yeah, it's been We've really like taken that time to to really focus on getting ourselves educated, getting ourselves up to speed. We have connections with other shops in the area. So when something is out of our depth, we're going to send you to someone that we trust to do it.
00:16:11
Tina
you know um you know And there's certain, of course, like dealer things that we can't do, but trying to navigate that, learn that stuff and build that trust with our clients and customers. to be able so that they know like, oh, okay, these people know what they're talking about. This is, this is the next step that I need to take and being able to do that, you know, and being able to share the stuff like, um,
00:16:33
Tina
I met Coralie, you know, I listened to her, her episode that you guys had and, you know, just hearing her story and hearing just like the similarities of like, Oh, I'm so excited about this.
00:16:34
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:37
Aniz Lavji
She's awesome. Yep.
00:16:44
Tina
I want to share it with people. And, you know, that's what girls auto clinic is about. And Patrice goes around and she'll share, you know, basic car maintenance and then other more in depth stuff for people so that they can feel that comfortable feeling.
00:16:57
Tina
confidence in taking care of their vehicle because it's what we unfortunately and fortunately need nowadays to get ourselves to and fro, you know?
00:17:07
Aniz Lavji
one One thing I want to touch on, you said something actually really interesting and important that sometimes you'll get a vehicle that's not in your wheelhouse and you will send it out.
00:17:19
Tina
Yeah.
00:17:20
Aniz Lavji
A lot of shops, including mine, you know kind of back in the day, would try to take that job on. and see if we could do it, kind of be the hero.
00:17:32
Aniz Lavji
Like, oh yeah, know I can do this.
00:17:33
Tina
Yeah.
00:17:34
Aniz Lavji
We can figure it out. I have i have a mechanic. Well, why can't we do it?
00:17:36
Tina
Right.
00:17:37
Aniz Lavji
you know it's it's not
00:17:37
Tina
Right.
00:17:38
Aniz Lavji
It's not that. it's If it's not something that you regularly do or you're kind of trained in that particular thing, sometimes you can open up a can of worms and then you're going to end up having to ship it out to someone to fix your screw up
00:17:49
Tina
For sure.
00:17:54
Tina
For sure.
00:17:55
Aniz Lavji
Then you look like an idiot because and the customer's like, well, what happened?
00:17:56
Tina
Yep.
00:17:58
Aniz Lavji
Where's my car? Well, I had to take it to another another mechanic. That customer's gone. has never come back to you.
00:18:03
Tina
Yeah, out of there.
00:18:04
Frank Wiebe
the The best business practice you can have is understanding what you can and cannot do and realizing that when you can't do it, just, just,
00:18:10
Tina
Yeah.
00:18:10
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:18:15
Frank Wiebe
Like we had one the other day and we're just like, hey, you know what? We can't do this. Here's a number of somebody that can. We trust this garage.
00:18:21
Tina
Yeah.
00:18:21
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:18:22
Frank Wiebe
We trust this person.
00:18:22
Tina
a
00:18:23
Frank Wiebe
Send them over there.
Customer Service and Specialist Referrals
00:18:25
Frank Wiebe
Because if you do that, you know that you're next the next time they need something, that isn't what that they'll call you first.
00:18:32
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:18:32
Tina
For sure.
00:18:32
Frank Wiebe
um ah They trust you. They trust and say that, hey, you know what? This is this is a garage. This is a mechanic that I can trust. That's going to have my best interest at heart, regardless of whether they fix it or not.
00:18:42
Aniz Lavji
Exactly. It's not about the money.
00:18:44
Tina
Right.
00:18:45
Aniz Lavji
You know, you got to, you got, you got to do what's right by the customer.
00:18:46
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:18:49
Tina
Yeah.
00:18:50
Frank Wiebe
And there's enough there's enough work out there for everybody.
00:18:52
Frank Wiebe
So if we, like, I don't work on German cars, right?
00:18:52
Tina
Absolutely.
00:18:55
Frank Wiebe
So I take the car, ship them to the neighbors, right? Let them let deal with it because they're good at that.
00:18:58
Tina
Yeah. They're the pros.
00:19:02
Frank Wiebe
They're the pros at that. So why would I try to figure something out that I really don't understand?
00:19:03
Tina
Yeah.
00:19:07
Tina
Mm-hmm.
00:19:07
Frank Wiebe
Maybe if I want a challenge and I got nothing else to and I'll try to challenge myself to learn it.
00:19:13
Frank Wiebe
But as far as on a regular production day, man, I just, I would rather just you take it over the air for your sake, for their sake, for everyone's sake, and it'll be healthier for everybody.
00:19:20
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:19:22
Tina
Absolutely.
00:19:24
Aniz Lavji
yeah a lot of that euro stuff like besides suspension brakes and tires nope i'm sorry i'm not getting into it you know if if it's a
00:19:29
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:19:31
Tina
Yeah, we definitely definitely pick and choose our battles with that stuff.
00:19:31
Frank Wiebe
yeah
00:19:36
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, and then and then mar Margarito punishes me by buying a mini, so now we have to.
00:19:43
Aniz Lavji
You now by default have to become an expert. so
00:19:46
Frank Wiebe
I will fix it, honey, when I get a minute.
00:19:49
Tina
Oh, it's broken already?
00:19:51
Aniz Lavji
Frank, you got to be fixing her car first, then What are you talking about?
00:19:51
Frank Wiebe
No, we bought it broken. We're going to fix it. We're going to fix it together. We're going to fix it together.
00:19:56
Tina
Got you.
00:19:57
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:19:58
Tina
Oh, that's sweet.
00:19:58
Aniz Lavji
I mean, really, you shouldn't even be recording right now, Frank. You should be fixing her car. This is the time off.
00:20:01
Tina
Get out there.
00:20:04
Frank Wiebe
No, it's dark outside. I can't work when it's dark. ah
00:20:07
Aniz Lavji
Oh, my God.
00:20:08
Tina
All those headlamps that you bought, I'm sure. it's fine. Yeah.
00:20:11
Aniz Lavji
All those also tool lights are not going to help you fix the car at night.
00:20:12
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:20:14
Aniz Lavji
Come on.
00:20:15
Frank Wiebe
Nope, nope, nope.
00:20:17
Aniz Lavji
Oh my gosh.
00:20:19
Frank Wiebe
But anyways, that one, that one when when we finally get time to work on it, it's moving up on our part.
00:20:26
Tina
I believe in y'all.
00:20:27
Frank Wiebe
But it it'll be a fun car. It'll be fun car when we have it. But it it'll be a learning process for sure because it needs some it needs some body work.
00:20:30
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:20:30
Tina
Yeah.
00:20:34
Frank Wiebe
It needs some electrical work.
00:20:35
Tina
Oh.
00:20:37
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, you know whatever. We'll figure it out.
00:20:39
Tina
Some fun stuff. Yeah.
00:20:40
Aniz Lavji
But see, that's, that's, it's your own vehicle, right? So when you, when you take the same, same, ah same look at a customer's vehicle that they're expecting to drop the vehicle off and you tell them, you know, I'll have it ready in a few days.
00:20:43
Tina
Right.
00:20:43
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:20:54
Tina
right
00:20:54
Aniz Lavji
And then you call them few days and you're like, yeah, we're still trying to figure out the wiring on this and that, because this is not starting and i can't find this diagram. They're going to say, well, why the hell did I leave the car here?
00:21:06
Tina
Yeah.
00:21:06
Frank Wiebe
I've been there, buddy. I have been there. And it's one of those things when it just drives you up the wall.
00:21:08
Tina
Yeah. Mm-hmm. yeah
00:21:11
Frank Wiebe
Sometimes you just, sometimes you just got to walk away from it. And sometimes what I do is I just park it.
00:21:15
Aniz Lavji
But it's sometimes we get that. Yeah.
00:21:17
Frank Wiebe
And then I go back in the evening when there's no one to bother me, nothing. And then I can really think about it. And then it's like, Oh, you know what? I haven't checked this or this and this. And then you can work through Sometimes you can work through it that way better than if you have the stress of the whole day around you.
00:21:29
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:21:31
Tina
Just staying stuck on it. Yeah, I definitely find myself having to like, if it's real frustrating, I'll walk away. Like i'll I'll walk to the back lot, take a little breather, come back to it. You know, sometimes I don't have the time to like drop it.
00:21:43
Tina
But you know, if we call a customer, hey, we know we need another day. Usually they're they're pretty relaxed about it.
00:21:47
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:21:48
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:21:49
Tina
um And just letting them know like we want to make sure we're right about this, want to make sure we're thorough. But you know it's it's usually never an issue, but yeah, definitely need to take that time to to step away.
00:21:59
Tina
Because i you know I want to fix it.
00:22:00
Aniz Lavji
That's whole, that's the whole, the whole man of the game.
00:22:03
Tina
that's I want to fix the problem.
00:22:05
Aniz Lavji
Hmm.
00:22:05
Tina
Yeah, and then I'll just like, I can't get this ball joint out, or I can't figure out this diagram, and I can't, you know and just like sitting there, and I'm like, you know I am not helping myself. Let me maybe scream a little bit, maybe a a couple of choice words, and then I'll go do something else.
00:22:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:22
Frank Wiebe
You know what I always tell i always tell my apprentice and he he gets frustrated easy, but I always tell him like, once you get frustrated, you're losing focus, right?
00:22:22
Aniz Lavji
it fun
00:22:31
Frank Wiebe
if you're If you're frustrated and it's just not working, just walk away from it. Go take five minutes, do whatever, think about something completely else and then come back to it when you got a clear mind and a clear and then start over again and be like, oh crap, that's what I missed.
00:22:46
Frank Wiebe
And then all sudden it just works, right?
00:22:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:22:49
Frank Wiebe
it really It really is a very simple mind-out weight. The more you get mad at it, the worse it's going to be. You can't get that bolt out. Look at it from a different angle.
00:22:59
Frank Wiebe
right Do something else.
00:22:59
Tina
Right.
00:23:00
Frank Wiebe
we had a to want Today, we had a belt tensioner. Couldn't get it out. Couldn't get it out for nothing. funny yeah I look over and I said, look, just just take the motor around out, jack it up a bit.
00:23:10
Frank Wiebe
It'll pop right out. I heard him heard him say, he's like, well, I'll never do that without jacking up the motor mount again. And it was just like, it came so easy, right?
00:23:19
Tina
Right, right.
00:23:20
Frank Wiebe
You needed a different point of view. You needed ah a different mindset and just change what you're seeing, and change what you're thinking.
00:23:24
Tina
Yeah.
00:23:26
Frank Wiebe
And all of a sudden it works.
00:23:29
Tina
Yep.
00:23:29
Aniz Lavji
You know, so sometimes half the issue is the shop owners
00:23:35
Aniz Lavji
trying to have that. I am looking at you, Frank and myself too, but you you know, sometimes it's a shop owners that have, have that hero mentality that, you know, I want to be the person that can get this car fixed because you know, the other four shops couldn't fix the car, but no, my shop can fix it.
00:23:38
Frank Wiebe
ah
00:23:38
Tina
Yep.
00:23:55
Aniz Lavji
And I know that Frank is really good at fixing this on Tuesdays and you know, He can fix it. And then you give the car to Frank and he's like, what the hell is this?
00:24:05
Aniz Lavji
I don't work on this stuff.
00:24:06
Frank Wiebe
so
00:24:06
Tina
Right.
00:24:07
Aniz Lavji
i But then the shop owner is like, no, but Frank, you're a mechanic. You can do it, right? So what happens is Frank's like, okay, well, I guess there's no work. Let's work on it. And then it doesn't, let's say it doesn't get time.
00:24:19
Aniz Lavji
it doesn't get done in the time that you have allotted for the job.
00:24:22
Tina
Mm.
00:24:24
Aniz Lavji
And then it's taking longer. And then you are now upset with your mechanic because it's not getting done in the time that you wanted it to get it done.
00:24:32
Tina
Right.
00:24:34
Aniz Lavji
So now you've now created friction with your tech for no reason because it was your fault in the beginning for taking the job that is not in your wheelhouse.
00:24:44
Tina
Right.
00:24:45
Aniz Lavji
So a lot of that frustration that you know Frank's talking about, what he was talking about is kind of ah another situation, but you bring that frustration onto your tech sometimes by giving them these jobs that are not anywhere near what they're used to doing.
00:25:01
Aniz Lavji
You know, if it's something way out in left field, you know, at least have that conversation with the with the tech and say, hey, look, I'm thinking about taking this job.
00:25:12
Aniz Lavji
What do you think? Because you're the one working on, not me.
00:25:13
Tina
Yeah.
00:25:15
Tina
For sure.
00:25:15
Aniz Lavji
I'm going to be typing some numbers and clicking some buttons and then tell the customer that, hey, yeah we'll get it done.
00:25:22
Aniz Lavji
But the tech themselves, if it's something that they're not comfortable doing, don't freaking start it because you're just going open up a can of worms and get that one star Google review for what?
00:25:32
Frank Wiebe
You know, I had a i had a conversation recently with the with the man that gave me my first job. He's a wonderful man. He's 91 years old now. And last Wednesday when I was riding my motorbike, I seen his bike was out. So I stopped and talked with him.
00:25:47
Frank Wiebe
Yes, he still rides at 91. Yep.
00:25:50
Tina
Beautiful.
00:25:51
Frank Wiebe
yep And he was talking about talking about when ah when I started for him. one night One day he had given me a job and he said, hey, go to that Ford over there and give it a carburetor adjustment.
00:25:57
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:26:02
Frank Wiebe
he handed me a screwdriver. And I looked at the screwdriver and I looked at him and I looked at the car and I said, you do realize that I was born after carburetors were extinct?
00:26:15
Frank Wiebe
And well, it wasn't quite. I was a few years earlier than that. he looked at me and he's like, Oh, I guess you're right. And I just never, i I never worked on carburetors and I didn't know nothing about them.
00:26:25
Tina
the right yeah
00:26:27
Frank Wiebe
Right. But he didn't even think it. And then he's like, oh yeah, well, I guess you're not going to work on it. So he gave it to the other guys, but what, and he, yeah he understood that I didn't know how to do that job.
00:26:40
Tina
yeah
00:26:40
Frank Wiebe
And now I needed to be trained and taught how to do that job. And I got, I never understood carburetors. So it wasn't my thing. I was a fuel injection guy for sure. Right.
00:26:50
Tina
Oh, yeah. i'm I'm a carburetor gal.
00:26:51
Frank Wiebe
So.
00:26:53
Tina
prefer them.
00:26:55
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:26:55
Frank Wiebe
oh
00:26:55
Tina
I also like I think one of the first things that I got to do, we had a ah bike that was just really bogged down. And I took the carbs off just like, you know, and check the bowls and the floats and it was just like crusted over.
00:27:08
Tina
And so I got to take it home. And like one of the first things I got to do was just cleaning out a carburetor.
00:27:12
Aniz Lavji
it's satisfying yeah
00:27:13
Tina
And it was just, you know, oh, this is the jet screw, you know, and just like getting to mess with it. And, you know, later on, we had another bike that was fuel injected and he and I couldn't figure it out.
00:27:23
Tina
I'm sure it was something easy now that I have a little bit more knowledge now, but it just felt so foreign after working on carbureted bikes, you know, two strokes and, and things that were just a bit more, here's A, here's B, this is it.
00:27:38
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah.
00:27:41
Frank Wiebe
If you don't have the information on a fuel injection, like ah like ah a directional so bi-directional scan tool a that can really read the information and then being able to learn how to interpret that information that you're seeing, you're going to be lost.
00:27:48
Tina
Right.
00:27:53
Tina
Mm-hmm.
00:27:55
Frank Wiebe
you're gonna be lost and then and Then I can understand where a carburetor is a thousand times easier right because there's it's just air and fuel and you just have to make it work together.
00:27:55
Tina
Lost in the sauce.
00:28:03
Tina
Right.
00:28:05
Frank Wiebe
right I understand that.
00:28:05
Tina
Yeah. Yeah.
Team Communication and Workplace Culture
00:28:08
Tina
Yeah. i feel like it's, um that's what you were talking about was one of the things that um our service advisors have gotten really good at lately is we're, we usually don't take walk-ins.
00:28:10
Aniz Lavji
That's good.
00:28:21
Tina
We're booked about a week out. um So what they'll often do, especially if it's you know something they're not sure of, is we always have like a daily meeting in the morning just to go over our schedule and you know see what's going on.
00:28:37
Tina
But if they see a weird job or or something that is new, like you were saying, they'll be like, hey, Tina, is this something that you've done before? are you familiar with it? I'm not, but my other tour worker might be.
00:28:37
Aniz Lavji
good
00:28:49
Tina
I'll be like, yeah, this one's this one's fine. you know They'll check the times with us about it. But I feel like that has definitely helped.
00:28:57
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:28:57
Tina
you know We don't catch it all the time, especially when there's some of those like snowball jobs where it's like, all right, went to do this and then see that this is broken or this did break.
00:29:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. The conversation was had, right? That's the important thing.
00:29:06
Tina
Yeah.
00:29:07
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:07
Tina
Yeah. And I think that that's definitely helped us out a lot. And then with the expectation, like you said, on the customer end of now my service advisors have much more knowledge because we've had this conversation to be like, okay, we see this field pump job where we have to drop the tank.
00:29:23
Tina
You know, it's going to be this amount of time as opposed to what this one might be where we're just in the backseat, you know, so being able to have just
00:29:23
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:29:32
Tina
Those sorts of conversations has really helped us out, I feel like, a lot to know what our capabilities are and also like to help us know what are the other things that we want to learn, you know what what stuff is going to help us get to that next level with where we're at now, the things we're comfortable with, the things we're getting more proficient at.
00:29:51
Tina
And then we do want to push ourselves. And like you said, we don't want to jump to this job I've never, ever seen before, never done before, you know, have no experience with, and I'll just give it a shot.
00:29:58
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:30:02
Tina
But finding that balance of, all right, this is something close to what I've done. i have someone who has that expertise that's working with me, you know, getting that stuff completed. But yeah, I feel like those conversations are so important.
00:30:14
Tina
to have just especially ahead of time so that the expectation is laid out for the tech and the customer and the service advisor knows how to have those conversations either way, you know, because they always have that balancing act of having to placate us grumpy little technicians and then also, you know, working with the with the customers to to navigate whatever else they might need to do.
00:30:37
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:30:38
Aniz Lavji
You also show a level of respect to the technician when you're asking them that, Hey, you know, that there's this job that's coming up, you know, let me get your thoughts on it.
00:30:42
Tina
yeah.
00:30:49
Aniz Lavji
Right. Because like I said, you gotta, you gotta have the respect of asking them, like, what do you think? Is this something that you're comfortable with? Because at least that tech knows that the owner is thinking about them and, and they're not just going to throw a job and say, here, do it.
00:30:59
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:01
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:05
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:06
Aniz Lavji
Right.
00:31:07
Tina
Yeah, because that ends up hurting hurting you guys. with You know, and we don't want that.
00:31:11
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah. No. Then no one's happy, right?
00:31:16
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:17
Frank Wiebe
and it's It's good for the for the service advisors and the owners to believe in their in their staff, but you have to know their staff limitations as well.
00:31:26
Tina
For sure.
00:31:27
Frank Wiebe
right you You can't just go to the staff, like I heard one time say, oh, it's just nuts and bolts.
00:31:27
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:33
Aniz Lavji
Oh, God.
00:31:34
Frank Wiebe
what It is just nuts and bolts an extent, but you know there's more to it than that.
00:31:36
Tina
Sure.
00:31:42
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:43
Frank Wiebe
If you don't know how to take it apart or you don't know how Like you wouldn't go throw a rookie into a timing chain job and say, here, it's just, let's just take it apart, put it back together.
00:31:50
Tina
Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
00:31:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:31:53
Frank Wiebe
Right.
00:31:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:31:53
Frank Wiebe
it
00:31:53
Tina
Yeah.
00:31:54
Frank Wiebe
More intricate than that. So, so when, when the, when the service advisors, the owners, when they understand that, then they can be like, you like you said, you, you, you decide which, which tech, which apprentice, which, which employee,
00:32:09
Frank Wiebe
and to be the best fit for this job and and not give them a job that they're going absolutely struggle with and fight with and not be able to comprehend.
00:32:17
Tina
Right.
00:32:19
Frank Wiebe
Right.
00:32:20
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:32:20
Frank Wiebe
So, so like, yeah.
00:32:20
Aniz Lavji
I think, Frank, you and I just had that conversation the other day um about just basically, you know, you'll you'll have ah handful techs that, you know, tech A loves doing steering suspension.
00:32:24
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:32:33
Aniz Lavji
You know, when when they get this job should take three hours, they knock it out an hour and a half because it's so they do in their sleep. And then this tech here loves wiring diagrams and does this.
00:32:45
Aniz Lavji
Give give the techs that have those particular strengths, give them those jobs. because they're going to whip through that like it's butter, and the time that they save, they can actually go and help tech A over here that might need a hand.
00:32:59
Aniz Lavji
So you're everyone's winning, right?
00:33:01
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:33:01
Tina
Yeah.
00:33:02
Tina
Yeah.
00:33:02
Aniz Lavji
So you just have to play on the strengths.
00:33:05
Tina
Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:05
Frank Wiebe
And it's nice.
00:33:06
Frank Wiebe
It's nice to be able to to help each other out when you're in a shop setting like that, not just be like, that's what I've, I've never worked in a shop where it was flat rate only where, and like, how would you ever get help if, if you're like stuck on flat rate and you can't, right?
00:33:16
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:33:22
Frank Wiebe
So I think it's very important to work in a shop where you can help each other and and lift each other up and,
00:33:22
Tina
Yeah.
00:33:22
Aniz Lavji
It depends on the shop.
00:33:24
Aniz Lavji
point There are some.
00:33:28
Frank Wiebe
You're like, hey, you know what? I know you're struggling with that. This is how I do it.
00:33:34
Tina
Yeah.
00:33:34
Frank Wiebe
If it helps make your life easier.
00:33:37
Tina
yeah Yeah. I mean, that's why I feel like I got really lucky. Yeah. when I was working at the dealership, because, you know, everyone above you is flat rate. But the fact that they all still were willing to take time to show me jobs to, you know, train me for weeks on end to to get me leveled up to to the next steps, you know, that's the sort of stuff that I, yeah, that I hang on to and I keep with me is,
00:33:50
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:33:51
Aniz Lavji
nice.
00:33:59
Aniz Lavji
We'll speak volumes. Yep.
00:34:03
Tina
It doesn't matter what I'm doing. Like you said, we all win when we're all winning. And being able to take that 10 minutes, teach someone something new or learn something new yourself. And then you have that experience, expertise to be able to share with other people.
00:34:19
Tina
And I think that that's something that no matter... the situation in your shop, that's something positive to look for. Not the the time hoarding, you know, the people that, oh, well, I know that Gary is going to give me the best jobs, you know, that sort of thing.
00:34:35
Tina
Like I've heard these stories, but I've just been really lucky with the places I've worked where the people actually worked as a team, you know, and there's always going to be ups and downs and things like that, but like still having that team oriented goal of we want to turn these cars out. We want to make sure that our customers are happy.
00:34:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:34:55
Tina
we want to continue to grow our skills and also not overwhelm ourselves, you know, so that we burn out in five to eight years doing this.
00:35:04
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, exactly.
00:35:05
Tina
Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:05
Aniz Lavji
Burnout is very real.
00:35:08
Frank Wiebe
I, I've been there. I was there. I was there a couple of times and, and a few times where I felt like I was completely burned out. I'm like, okay, I mean, I need to take a week off and, and I took a week off, just chilled at home, just did whatever.
00:35:18
Tina
Yeah.
00:35:21
Frank Wiebe
And then I was able to go back to work and under, you know, continue again. But there gets to the point where if you're actually constantly just being pushed and push and pushing, pushing, pushing, like, I can't do this anymore.
00:35:25
Tina
Yeah.
00:35:32
Tina
Yeah.
00:35:32
Frank Wiebe
And if I, if I hadn't,
00:35:34
Frank Wiebe
If I hadn't quit my job when I did and got to start my own shop, I wouldn't be in the trade right now.
00:35:39
Tina
Right.
00:35:41
Frank Wiebe
i would I would have quit the trade.
00:35:41
Tina
Yeah.
00:35:43
Frank Wiebe
I would have done something else just because I'm like, I just couldn't do it anymore.
00:35:47
Tina
Yeah.
00:35:48
Aniz Lavji
I think you would have probablyly been a hair model, Frank.
00:35:48
Frank Wiebe
But now i have a new life.
00:35:48
Tina
Yeah.
00:35:50
Aniz Lavji
I already know.
00:35:51
Frank Wiebe
What's that?
00:35:52
Aniz Lavji
Frank would have been a hair model by now, that's for sure.
00:35:55
Tina
is Beautiful. Yep.
00:35:58
Frank Wiebe
That's right.
00:35:58
Aniz Lavji
No
00:35:58
Frank Wiebe
yep But only only at the front, not at the back. Don't look at the back.
00:36:01
Tina
just Just front shots.
00:36:02
Aniz Lavji
no one said about the back of your head, Frank.
00:36:03
Tina
Yeah.
00:36:04
Aniz Lavji
Just just the front-facing model. That's okay.
00:36:06
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, i can I can do kind of a side model too.
00:36:09
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:36:09
Tina
Yeah.
00:36:10
Tina
Yeah.
00:36:10
Aniz Lavji
Just don't do a 360 because then you'll lose the job.
00:36:13
Tina
Yeah.
00:36:14
Frank Wiebe
you're lucky I'll be like that new Toy toy Story movie where where ah Buzz comes and he takes his hat off and he's got a nice shiny bald spot back there. Yep,
00:36:25
Aniz Lavji
This wasn't in your resume, Frank.
00:36:26
Tina
You lied to us. Yeah.
00:36:32
Frank Wiebe
yep
00:36:33
Aniz Lavji
But, you know, in in all seriousness, sometimes it takes a mentor, it takes a friend, it takes an acquaintance to change your perspective on on your job, on your worth ethic.
00:36:33
Frank Wiebe
yep
00:36:50
Aniz Lavji
on life in general, when it comes to this industry, because this industry is very tough. It's not for everybody. It's not a walk in the park. Uh, People may think that you know even us owners were were there and we may look like we're not doing something, but we got that stress on our head and we've got to to worry about paying all the bills, paying all our team members and and keep everything floating.
00:37:00
Frank Wiebe
She's not. She's.
00:37:11
Tina
For sure.
00:37:15
Aniz Lavji
But at the same time, without having that team of techs in there, shop's nothing.
00:37:22
Tina
Yeah.
00:37:23
Aniz Lavji
and And a lot of owners need to realize that you need to... Keep your techs happy. It's not all about just giving them a pizza party once a month or something.
00:37:33
Tina
True.
00:37:34
Aniz Lavji
It's not about that.
00:37:34
Tina
right
00:37:37
Aniz Lavji
You got to keep them happy, pay them well, and again, show them respect.
00:37:43
Tina
Yeah, absolutely.
00:37:44
Aniz Lavji
Because, you know, there was a poll, i can't remember who was telling me, but, you know, pay is not even in the top three things that the the tech is concerned about.
00:37:55
Aniz Lavji
It's down to about six or seven.
00:37:58
Tina
Yeah, I believe that.
00:37:59
Aniz Lavji
because Because a lot of a lot of people will would be okay making a few bucks less, but when they walk into work, they feel respected. They feel like they belong there.
00:38:08
Tina
Yeah, absolutely.
00:38:09
Aniz Lavji
and And they don't wake up in the morning, oh, God, I got to go to Frank's Garage. Oh, my God. Again.
00:38:17
Tina
Not again.
00:38:18
Tina
Yeah.
00:38:18
Frank Wiebe
and I can understand that.
00:38:20
Aniz Lavji
What?
00:38:20
Tina
Cool.
00:38:21
Frank Wiebe
I work at a place like that, okay? and And it's not fun, right?
00:38:23
Aniz Lavji
yeahp
00:38:25
Frank Wiebe
be Dreading having to go to work.
00:38:28
Aniz Lavji
Life's short, right?
00:38:28
Tina
oh
00:38:29
Aniz Lavji
You know, like you got to, you really got to enjoy what you do. And because there's a lot of choices of employment, right?
00:38:34
Frank Wiebe
um mike
00:38:37
Aniz Lavji
So if you're going to go into work somewhere, you better enjoy it.
00:38:37
Tina
yeah
00:38:40
Frank Wiebe
My text said to me the other day, it's really nice coming to a shop, coming to work, and not getting yelled at. And I'm like, I never thought it would be my place.
00:38:47
Tina
It's a beautiful...
00:38:49
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:38:49
Frank Wiebe
So maybe I should start.
00:38:52
Aniz Lavji
Well,
00:38:52
Tina
The bar is so low for a lot of techs, especially like newer, younger techs. So just how like people feel comfortable treating newer people in the industry.
00:39:00
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:39:02
Tina
And I feel like I've heard such like horror stories about people pretty much...
00:39:05
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:39:10
Tina
feeling like they're getting pushed out, you know, because of stuff like that. But, you know, that's why I've been at this place for four years, we have a four day work week, you know, we have trainings that are provided.
00:39:22
Tina
And, you know, there's there's other benefits beyond, like you said, just the financial aspect of my my literal pay that have helped make my work life balance so much better.
00:39:27
Frank Wiebe
Bye.
00:39:34
Tina
i now have the energy to do things when I'm off work, but I also now have the energy and the rest time to be able to come back to work as a whole person, you know, and you definitely we all have had experiences in those places that it just drains you or it feels like
00:39:45
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:39:51
Tina
like you said, i do not want to go into work. And I feel like I haven't had that feeling working here. You know, there are rough days, of course, there are days that I'm like, man, I'm i'm here late an extra two hours trying to finish this up, you know, to to to get this work in or whatever. But i I feel like I haven't had that, that sinking feeling, you know, that I've definitely had in, in, in other jobs before.
00:40:15
Tina
um and being able to find a place where, like you said, you can feel comfortable coming into work. And even if you mess up, you're not going to get screamed at and called stupid. You know, I've had that happen to me where I didn't know something and, you know, someone calls me stupid and I'm just like, well, you lost all my trust.
00:40:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:40:32
Tina
You know, I,
00:40:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I'm out of here.
00:40:34
Tina
yeah, there no reason for me to be here anymore. But being able to be like, oh, you don't know something, let's try to get you some classes, education for it. Here's some support through this, you know, being able to do stuff like that, whether it's financial, whether it's just literal support, you know, it's such a huge thing.
00:40:51
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:40:52
Tina
And I think, like you said, a lot of shop owners are starting to sort of pick up on that of, You know, yeah, pay is important, but also the the culture of your facility is just as important.
00:41:02
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:41:02
Tina
And the health of your technicians and mental health or physical health is just as important. Supplying PPE, you know, making sure you got good facilities, the simple things like that are so important to take care of your team, you know.
00:41:19
Aniz Lavji
I mean, frank Frank, I'm sure you'll agree with me. As hard as it is to find... find techs and find help. I mean, the techs and the team members you have right now, treat them like gold because you know they're they're working at your place.
00:41:38
Aniz Lavji
They're taking care of your customers that you have spent all your marketing dollars on getting through the door that you have groomed from like ah like a little like a plant from a seed into this tree.
00:41:41
Tina
Sure.
00:41:53
Aniz Lavji
And this tree keeps producing and coming back to you and coming back to you. But if you if you're not taking care of the the tree trimmer, which I guess you can call the tax, then that tree is going to die and that tree is going to go back into the ground and it's gone.
00:42:09
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:42:09
Aniz Lavji
And that customer is going to go to another shop and that other shop is going to treat them like gold and that's it.
00:42:15
Tina
Mm-hmm.
00:42:16
Aniz Lavji
It's done.
00:42:16
Tina
Yeah.
00:42:16
Aniz Lavji
All that time you put into... acquiring that customer, taking care of that customer can be gone very easily. And it could just be a misunderstanding that you may have had with the tech or something that was said that both of you don't like how things ended, but there was no conversation to fix it.
00:42:24
Tina
So quickly.
00:42:37
Aniz Lavji
So that just lingers on, lingers on
00:42:37
Tina
Right.
00:42:39
Aniz Lavji
And then you get a really good customer coming in for a simple break job, let's say, and the tech walks in and takes the key out of the hands and says, What do you want front brakes? All right.
00:42:51
Aniz Lavji
And just that little thing like that, that customers say, well, something's changed. Like I'm getting this weird vibe, weird aura.
00:42:55
Tina
Yeah.
00:42:58
Aniz Lavji
I'm going to get my brakes done this time, but the next time I need something done, I'm going to make a few phone calls because something's different here.
00:43:04
Tina
For sure.
00:43:05
Aniz Lavji
Right. and That just ruins, ruins stuff. Right. I mean, Again, Frank knows it's not hard to, its start sorry, it's not easy to find new customers and it's even harder to keep the same ones because there is a lot of options around to take your vehicle, right?
00:43:22
Aniz Lavji
So you want
Enhancing Customer Experience
00:43:23
Aniz Lavji
to make sure that you are the best option for that customer.
00:43:23
Tina
Absolutely.
00:43:26
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, you always got to have something that would give them a reason to come back, whether it's a smiling face or whether it's a bowl of candy. We got one customer come in because he can he loves taking a handful of candy in.
00:43:40
Tina
His little snacks Yeah
00:43:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:43:41
Frank Wiebe
Oh, it's amazing. But it's sometimes it's something that's little things like that or or a comfortable atmosphere where they can, you know, everyone says we don't want to have waiters, but you'll always have some.
00:43:43
Aniz Lavji
We have those.
00:43:50
Frank Wiebe
But if they got a comfortable place to sit, right, like not ah that your waiting room feels like ah like a dungeon or an easy, your popcorn machine.
00:43:53
Tina
no
00:43:57
Tina
Yeah, or a doctor's office
00:44:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:44:00
Frank Wiebe
and Yeah. So it's stuff like that. Or if or like we started recently where, um we would give a customer, give them a ride back into town.
00:44:11
Frank Wiebe
We were just outside of town.
00:44:12
Tina
Nice. Yeah, yeah
00:44:13
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:44:13
Frank Wiebe
So we started doing that and man, it's summer.
00:44:14
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:44:16
Frank Wiebe
People are like, Oh really? Oh, that's amazing. Like, like, uh, yeah, drop me off. Yeah. Pick me up that kind of stuff. Like it's a great service and it's, and it's, it's, it's really a little thing, but if you have the staff and you're able to do that kind of stuff, that's a great service to offer to the customers.
00:44:24
Tina
yeah.
00:44:28
Tina
Yeah.
00:44:34
Frank Wiebe
And now you can, you can, uh, Have a different type of clientele, a better clientele or clientele that you're catering to, you know, air quotes and and making making things work for them because otherwise they would have been like, oh, man, i don't know when I can drop that off.
00:44:40
Tina
Right.
00:44:44
Tina
Right. Right.
00:44:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:44:51
Frank Wiebe
I don't know this or that. or like Or like be open different hours, right? Maybe you open at 7, maybe you close at 6 so that customers have a chance to pick up and drop off and before they go to work or something like that, right?
00:44:56
Tina
Right.
00:45:01
Tina
right
00:45:04
Frank Wiebe
All those kinds of things, little things that can make the experience that much easier and better for them. Because having to fix your car is stressful enough.
00:45:15
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:45:16
Tina
Yes.
00:45:16
Frank Wiebe
Having to having a deal with all that other kind of stuff, that that yeah that's no fun, right?
00:45:20
Tina
Yeah, absolutely.
00:45:21
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:45:21
Tina
Yeah, I mean, we're we're lucky we have, you know,
00:45:22
Aniz Lavji
We just...
00:45:25
Tina
One of the big things about Girls Auto is we have a nail salon that's attached. So our nail tech, Miss Maggie, every customer can get a free manicure, you know, with with whatever service they're getting.
00:45:29
Aniz Lavji
nice.
00:45:37
Tina
um But we have like a couple different waiting areas and people will, you know, hang out whether we knew they were waiting or not, but they'll come and hang out.
00:45:38
Aniz Lavji
Oh, nice.
00:45:46
Tina
bring their computers, do some work, you know, some people take a nap, like just as long as you feel comfortable, you know, and being able to trust that like, yeah, we're going to take care of your car.
00:45:51
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:45:57
Tina
You can sit back, relax, you know, and just being able to, like you said, create that atmosphere of just comfort in multiple ways beyond just we're going to keep your car safe. You know, you're you are a part of this as well.
00:46:10
Tina
Whether it's good news or bad news, I got to tell you, you know, what can we fix?
00:46:10
Frank Wiebe
exactly
00:46:10
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:46:14
Tina
What do we need to do That sort of stuff like, you know, it's going to be different and the same every day. But having a place where people can feel comfortable expressing, the natural emotions that come with like, I have a car in this economy, you know, it's, it's not easy sometimes.
00:46:33
Aniz Lavji
A lot of this extra stuff is all kind of baked into your your labor rate and shop supplies and stuff like that. So, you know, sometimes ah haven't in a while, but sometimes they'll ask, you know, why is your labor rate higher than the others? I'm like, because my service is unlike any other.
00:46:52
Aniz Lavji
Can you disagree? They're like, I mean, no. I'm like, no.
00:46:55
Tina
Yeah.
00:46:56
Aniz Lavji
And, you know, we send like Frank is dropping off customer stuff. We, we don't have an extra person to kind of drop off. So I just send everyone home in an Uber and, and sometimes they'll get an Uber back or they'll, those message me, Hey, you know, are you able to pick me up?
00:47:07
Tina
Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:14
Aniz Lavji
I'll say, Nope, I'll just send it a car and bring them back.
00:47:16
Tina
yeah
00:47:17
Aniz Lavji
It's 20 bucks, 30 bucks, 40 bucks round trip.
00:47:17
Tina
yeah
00:47:20
Aniz Lavji
But, Who cares? The 40 bucks is just cost of doing business. The customer's happy.
00:47:25
Tina
Right.
00:47:26
Tina
Right.
00:47:26
Aniz Lavji
They got to go home in their, sit in their pajamas while you fix their car.
00:47:30
Aniz Lavji
And, know, they come back, then their car is done.
00:47:31
Tina
Absolutely.
00:47:33
Aniz Lavji
They pay and they go.
00:47:35
Frank Wiebe
yes we don't have the option of uber we live in a small town we are the uber
00:47:40
Tina
You are the Uber.
00:47:41
Aniz Lavji
Frank is who.
00:47:45
Aniz Lavji
No, but, you know, again, serving your customer, taking care of your customer. that's a That's the name of the game. And if you do that, the shop will take care of you.
00:47:56
Tina
Yeah.
00:47:57
Aniz Lavji
The customers will take care of you. You'll get those customers coming in asking for you in particular because they know how you take care of their vehicle.
00:48:02
Tina
Yeah.
00:48:05
Tina
Yeah, for sure.
00:48:06
Aniz Lavji
And you know when that starts happening, the the owner of the business, again, they look at that stuff like, oh, a customer comes in. now I want Tina to look at my car because she'll make sure that it's not going to blow up.
00:48:17
Aniz Lavji
All right.
00:48:18
Tina
Yeah. Yep.
00:48:19
Aniz Lavji
Make sure she looks at it.
00:48:20
Tina
I'll do my best.
00:48:23
Frank Wiebe
speaking of blowing up sometimes customers cars do catch fire and and i wasn't to blame for it either and i did watch one of my customers cars burn down on last saturday yeah yeah we uh wasn't it wasn't at the shop it was it was in town and i just happened to be around
00:48:27
Tina
Uh-huh.
00:48:33
Tina
Hey.
00:48:39
Tina
oh man.
00:48:39
Aniz Lavji
Oh, geez.
00:48:45
Tina
Mm.
00:48:47
Frank Wiebe
and uh i said well i was talking to the people around i said well this look kind of looks bad on me because i'm the mechanic of that car like and here i'm standing there watching it burn yeah yeah ah it was it was it was cool experience to stand there and watch car i've never watched a car burn to the ground before but this this one did so
00:48:58
Tina
Now you're standing and watching a burn. That's a wild burn.
00:49:07
Tina
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:12
Tina
Oh, man.
00:49:14
Frank Wiebe
that that was that That was real customer service right there. We we really took care of them.
00:49:19
Tina
were there to support them. I think they they probably appreciated that.
00:49:22
Frank Wiebe
I was there to support them.
00:49:23
Tina
Yeah.
00:49:23
Aniz Lavji
Well, hopefully, Frank, you didn't try to sell them a ma Chevy Cruze or something.
00:49:26
Frank Wiebe
No.
00:49:26
Tina
Oh, man.
00:49:29
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man.
00:49:30
Tina
Wow.
00:49:31
Aniz Lavji
Oh, she's burning.
00:49:34
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, it was it was on fire.
00:49:39
Aniz Lavji
Jeez.
00:49:40
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:49:42
Tina
Holy moly.
00:49:43
Frank Wiebe
Nice old Buick. But yeah, and don't know why. Don't know why. We had it in for so while we added in for rear sway bar links just earlier that week.
00:49:52
Aniz Lavji
That's got to be it. Yep.
00:49:54
Tina
Yeah, ever since you...
00:49:56
Aniz Lavji
Ever since we put sway bar links in, my my car started smelling like smoke and then it caught on fire.
00:50:00
Frank Wiebe
Car caught on fire, yeah. the
00:50:02
Tina
Oh my goodness.
00:50:04
Tina
Well, I hope a pleasant insurance experience for them.
00:50:04
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:50:09
Frank Wiebe
Well, let's see.
00:50:10
Aniz Lavji
Jeez.
00:50:10
Frank Wiebe
they they were supposed they They were supposed to bring me another car today to look at, but for some reason it didn't happen. We're looking at a newer Buick, but we'll see we'll see what happens.
00:50:20
Tina
Yeah.
00:50:21
Aniz Lavji
It's not easy to find replacement cars right now too, especially, again that that's why a lot of people are approving a lot of work because for them to find ah a newer vehicle or buy a new car, or it's just not in the budget.
00:50:23
Tina
Oh my goodness, no.
00:50:33
Aniz Lavji
So they'll spend a couple thousand bucks to keep the car going, right?
00:50:36
Tina
Yeah.
00:50:36
Frank Wiebe
And to find a good car, especially in our era that doesn't have all kinds of rust, it's really hard.
00:50:39
Tina
Yeah.
00:50:41
Aniz Lavji
Rust and everything.
00:50:41
Tina
Yeah.
00:50:43
Frank Wiebe
Really hard to find something new at at a decent price. Anything that's, you know, you got to look for almost like a five four, five, six-year-old car if you don't want something that's all rotted out and 300,000 kilometers on it
00:50:56
Tina
yeah
00:50:57
Aniz Lavji
Tina, at at the shop you're right now, do y all do like digital inspections or how do you communicate with your customers?
00:51:06
Tina
but So we use shopware. um It has like our, you know, MPI on there, checkboxes for the things that we inspect.
00:51:13
Aniz Lavji
Okay. Digital experience something. I think that's what they, what what's it called? They're, no, no, sorry.
00:51:20
Tina
The program.
00:51:22
Aniz Lavji
the The inspection, they have a special name for it I can't remember.
00:51:26
Tina
we We call it it like a Courtesy visual inspection. Like that's kind of the basic one. That's the free one we do with every car.
00:51:33
Aniz Lavji
Okay. And you can see with pictures and videos of what's going on.
00:51:34
Tina
um Yeah.
00:51:37
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:51:37
Tina
Yeah. So we'll do, you know, any body damage, do the walk arounds. We're trying to,
00:51:42
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:51:43
Tina
get back into doing, you know, just like the general videos. I'm not the best at remembering, but my service advisors make sure to let me know that I'm missing them. But I'll do videos for sounds, you know, if we're hearing something, if we've got someone in the air with the car.
00:51:53
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:51:59
Tina
But yeah, so we can take pictures, multiple pictures of everything, multiple videos of sounds and stuff like that.
00:52:05
Tina
Um, so then, and they can see that in real time. So we'll have some customers that like, once we add a new thing and then the service advisor puts the next job on, they're like in the office, like, Hey, can you prove my wipers? Hey, can you, you know, so well we have some people excited like that, but for the most part, um, you know, we'll check off everything. We'll do our inspection.
00:52:05
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:52:26
Tina
It'll get emailed or texted to the customer. Then they can look through it. check everything, look at the pictures, and then they can literally click and approve, or they can, you know, do a phone call as well, um but they can self self-approve as well on there.
00:52:33
Aniz Lavji
everything.
00:52:40
Aniz Lavji
that's ah have you Have you had that for a while at the shop you're at
00:52:44
Tina
Yeah, yeah, I think she's used it as long as I've been there, and possibly longer, i think for the most part, yeah.
00:52:51
Aniz Lavji
at? Game changer software, really. Yeah.
00:52:53
Tina
Yeah. Yeah. It's I mean, it's nice to to have that kind of communication with people so they can see it. And also when we have things like, you know, we've had a couple of those lovely Kia engines with the oil consumption.
00:53:05
Tina
So, you know, trying to get people that still might be in warranty over there, but we'll be like, hey, you can show them all this information. we did check it these three times, but we don't have the proper information.
00:53:16
Tina
you know, systems that they need to be able to get you a new engine. Um, so we'll do stuff like that of like, all right, now here's the information that you guys have.
00:53:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:53:26
Tina
You can take that to the dealership to get the proper work done, but they can also see the history of we've noticed this, they only went a thousand miles and they're out, you know, that sort of thing.
00:53:26
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:53:30
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:53:36
Aniz Lavji
Okay. No, that's great.
00:53:37
Tina
Yeah.
00:53:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, i think I think that's, for the industry, that's been really good. It gives customers a sense of, you know, like this shop's not trying to take advantage of me and you can actually see, okay, yep, I need brakes because, you know, there's no pad or the rotors are look like the surface of the moon.
00:53:49
Tina
Yeah.
00:53:55
Tina
Yeah.
00:53:57
Aniz Lavji
So that adds add some validity to everything that we say.
00:53:57
Tina
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:54:02
Aniz Lavji
That's
00:54:02
Tina
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's some some good stuff out there.
00:54:06
Aniz Lavji
good.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:54:08
Aniz Lavji
Tina, thank you so much. we We're almost pushing an hour here and I can see Frank looking a little bit sleepy over there.
00:54:10
Tina
Absolutely.
00:54:16
Frank Wiebe
I'm old. Remember that.
00:54:17
Tina
but
00:54:18
Aniz Lavji
I know, he he turned 29. 29 and a half.
00:54:20
Tina
All these excuses, man.
00:54:20
Frank Wiebe
i did
00:54:21
Tina
Yeah.
00:54:23
Frank Wiebe
Wait till you get to be my age.
00:54:26
Aniz Lavji
You know, hopefully we'll see you at ASTA in September, end September.
00:54:30
Tina
yeah Yeah, definitely going to try to get down there.
00:54:33
Aniz Lavji
And um if I'm I shouldn't be going. i haven't booked my spot yet, but I should be going.
00:54:40
Frank Wiebe
has booked.
00:54:41
Aniz Lavji
I know Frank, I'll, I'll be there. Um, if anyone listening is interested in attending ASDA, if you go on, um, on Google, just search at ASDA expo, it's in a rally, North Carolina, definitely a game changer. I've been there once and it really, really was one of the best expos I've ever been to.
00:55:03
Tina
Yeah.
00:55:04
Aniz Lavji
So definitely if you want to check it out, go on Google search for that. Thank you everyone for listening. Search for us on Facebook, Shop and Tread Talk podcast. And thank you very much. Tina, hang on the line. And everyone, good night.
00:55:21
Frank Wiebe
See ya.