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Confessions of a Shop Owner is hosted by Mike Allen, a third-generation shop owner, perpetual pot-stirrer, and brutally honest opinion sharer. In this weekly podcast, Mike shares his missteps so you don’t have to repeat them. Along the way, he chats with other industry personalities who’ve messed up, too, pulling back the curtain on the realities of running an independent auto repair shop. But this podcast isn’t just about Mike’s journey. It’s about confronting the divisive and questionable tactics many shop owners and managers use. Mike is here to stir the pot and address the painful truths while offering a way forward. Together, we’ll tackle the frustrations, shake things up, and help create a better future for the auto repair industry.
Mike Allen [00:00:00]:
Well, I mean, my understanding is the mechanics of bidets from a, from an ignorant standpoint is you pressure wash your balloon nut and then you dab it dry with one or two sheets of toilet paper. I think that's how it goes.
Ash Kaplan [00:00:14]:
Okay. So like detailing a car and then wiping it dry with a microfiber? Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:00:19]:
Now, are there people that have like, just like a little hand towel hanging or something and they just dab and then hang the towel back up?
Mike Allen [00:00:27]:
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive of 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. 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, here's your host, Mike Allen, with Confessions of a Shop Owner, presented by TechMetric, simply the best software ever made.
Mike Allen [00:01:04]:
So it's, we're winding down on the final day of Ignite 2026 here in Scottsdale, Arizona. You were just talking about how much you love it here. It's 75 degrees outside and sunny, the gentle breeze, whereas at home it's right now 15 degrees, very windy and snowing. Which is way out of character for central North Carolina. It's a disaster. So I'm actually not gonna fly home tonight like I'd initially intended because Delta was like, there's no fucking way you're getting home. So I actually pushed back by 24 hours. I got a room at the hotel and I've got pages of things that I need to do that have been given to me as accountability actions by my 20 group facilitator and my coach.
Ash Kaplan [00:01:53]:
So that's awesome. Well, you'll be busy.
Mike Allen [00:01:56]:
I'll be drinking my sorrows in a hotel room, working on a laptop.
Ash Kaplan [00:02:02]:
I'm a little jealous. I'm not gonna lie.
Mike Allen [00:02:04]:
What are you gonna be doing tomorrow?
Ash Kaplan [00:02:07]:
Well, I have a petting zoo at home. So it's never quiet. But I'm starting to realize it might, might be a little bit better than having a bunch of children running around. So Yeah, my house is never quiet.
Mike Allen [00:02:23]:
Well, I would say that I still, to this day, I've got a 15, a 13, and an 11-year-old. I still advocate for just getting kennels with feeder bottles and just leaving them in there.
Ash Kaplan [00:02:32]:
Like guinea pigs?
Mike Allen [00:02:33]:
So that we can go do shit.
Ash Kaplan [00:02:34]:
Hamster water bottles?
Mike Allen [00:02:36]:
My oldest has got his permit, finally.
Ash Kaplan [00:02:39]:
Oh, wow, that's terrifying.
Mike Allen [00:02:40]:
But he's fine. But in North Carolina, you have to have your learner's permit for 9 months before you can get your driver's license, and no matter when you turn 16. Which is some bullshit.
Ash Kaplan [00:02:51]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:02:51]:
Because if he gets all of the hours that he needs and then turns 16 and has a car and insurance, they're like, tough shit. Hadn't been 9 months since he got his permit.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:00]:
I mean, I don't hate it.
Mike Allen [00:03:02]:
I hate it because I want him to go to work.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:04]:
Oh yeah, no, that's fair. Yeah. So I grew up in Georgia and you have to have a permit for at least a year or wait till you're 18.
Mike Allen [00:03:12]:
Such crap.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:13]:
Yeah. Sorry.
Mike Allen [00:03:15]:
I got my driver's license the day, the morning I turned 16. I was in line.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:18]:
Really?
Mike Allen [00:03:18]:
For my driver's license. And I got pulled over for the first time that evening.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:22]:
Wow.
Mike Allen [00:03:22]:
So dare to dream.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:24]:
Wow.
Mike Allen [00:03:24]:
I was an overachiever.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:26]:
So, well, there you go.
Mike Allen [00:03:27]:
Didn't get a ticket though. Talked my way out of my first ticket.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:30]:
How did you do that?
Mike Allen [00:03:32]:
I showed a little cleavage, you know, licked my lips, direct eye contact. So, no, I think he probably thought that I was funny because I was so terrified.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:44]:
Thought that you were funny.
Mike Allen [00:03:45]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:03:46]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:03:46]:
Funny, haha, not funny. Oh, never mind. It's a different movie quote. You seen the movie Office Space?
Ash Kaplan [00:03:54]:
No. All right, well, I'll just show myself out.
Mike Allen [00:03:59]:
I was trying to commiserate with you about how out of touch some people are because Tanika hasn't seen it.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:06]:
Oh, okay. Well, if Tanika hasn't seen it, then I'm not that far off.
Mike Allen [00:04:10]:
Andrew Clement hasn't seen it. Eric Merchant hasn't.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:13]:
Okay, so we are normal and you're into some weird shit.
Mike Allen [00:04:17]:
You don't even know what the movie's about?
Ash Kaplan [00:04:18]:
No, I don't. What is it?
Mike Allen [00:04:20]:
Well, it's about hypnosis and weird shit.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:23]:
I actually would like that. I would love that.
Mike Allen [00:04:27]:
No, it's about the hell that is cubicle offices and mocking all the different things about that that make it hell and consultants.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:35]:
So like Severance?
Mike Allen [00:04:37]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:38]:
Did you watch that?
Mike Allen [00:04:40]:
No.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:40]:
Oh, yeah. Well, you're weird.
Mike Allen [00:04:42]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:42]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:04:42]:
Fair enough. Okay. So you were last on the podcast.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:48]:
In September.
Mike Allen [00:04:48]:
Yeah. It's been a few months.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:50]:
Feels like a lifetime ago.
Mike Allen [00:04:51]:
A little bit has changed in the interim.
Ash Kaplan [00:04:54]:
A little bit, yeah. I'm still the same gender. Um, I still am in the— I'm alive, I'm breathing, and all is well.
Mike Allen [00:05:03]:
Still identify as exhausted.
Ash Kaplan [00:05:05]:
I still identify as exhausted. I still have a penis tattoo on my leg. That hasn't changed.
Mike Allen [00:05:11]:
I think we need to refer to it as the dick tattoo. We're not gonna pretty it up with Don't be proper. It's a dick tattoo.
Ash Kaplan [00:05:17]:
Don't make it proper.
Mike Allen [00:05:20]:
Okay, so tell me about your venture right now.
Ash Kaplan [00:05:24]:
Yes, so Golden Hour Garage is my venture.
Mike Allen [00:05:28]:
Okay.
Ash Kaplan [00:05:28]:
Golden Hour Garage is my bigger vision of what I wanted to do originally. So for years when I was training advisors, my like slogan that they would roll their eyes back whenever I would say was, we have a golden hour from the moment the customer drops the keys off until we first communicate with Solutions. So I would repeat that over and over and drill that into their head that we have to optimize every process from keys in hand to calling with an estimate. And so that's the golden hour. And so when things didn't work out the way that I originally planned and built, I had a bit of a moment of realization, almost like an Eat, Pray, Love kind of moment. Like, what do I want to do with my life? And I just got back to the drawing board that I'm still very passionate about this. There's still a huge gap in the industry for better efficiency to speed that process up. So we started over and we are now rocking and rolling with shops under Golden Hour Garage and changing the game for them.
Ash Kaplan [00:06:28]:
So it's a lot of fun. There's a lot more to come. There's going to be a lot under the Golden Hour Garage wing. So I'm really excited about that. But obviously I can only share so much right now.
Mike Allen [00:06:40]:
Well, that was my next question is, so what Do you have on your menu of services right now?
Ash Kaplan [00:06:45]:
Yeah. So right now it's the remote estimate building, extended warranty calls, and then fleet submissions. Okay. And then loaner advisors. So if your shop has been working with our team for at least 3 months and you need a temporary advisor in the shop, we'll send a team member that's already familiar with your shop into the shop for you. It is a fraction of the cost of what you would lose in revenue. To travel, lodging, a little bit of a fee, but.
Mike Allen [00:07:15]:
So like if I have an advisor who goes out on maternity leave.
Ash Kaplan [00:07:18]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:07:18]:
Like would you do 8 weeks?
Ash Kaplan [00:07:22]:
So we haven't gone out that far yet, but we could definitely explore it. We could look at longer term renting, you know, like Airbnb and situations like that. If it makes sense for your shop and it makes sense for our team, we'll make it work.
Mike Allen [00:07:34]:
How do you vet your advisors to know that, like, being able to sit at the house and do warranty calls or build estimates remotely versus being like an on-point advisor. Those are—
Ash Kaplan [00:07:46]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:07:46]:
There's overlap in those skill sets, but there's some difference. Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:07:50]:
If you don't already know, part of my hiring process is pretty detailed. So we have a 3-step hiring process and we only hire former service advisors. I myself am very picky. Those that know me well, service advising, I don't take as a, I don't take it lightly. And so I look for really talented people. So when I'm, when they're doing warranty calls and they're doing estimates, all of those things are recorded and we have an auditing process. So our team is graded and all of their work is reviewed and all of that goes into that. So we have only the managers or like top tier advisors that would go out into shops.
Mike Allen [00:08:25]:
Copy.
Ash Kaplan [00:08:26]:
Yeah. And you would get a list of who your teammates are and basically rank them. So the order of their phone presence, you get phone recordings from warranty calls, you know their estimate style already, and you can choose from the 5 advisors that you have access to at all times, which one you want in your shop.
Mike Allen [00:08:42]:
And if they're available and willing to go travel.
Ash Kaplan [00:08:45]:
Well, they are, they, that's part of our hiring process. They have to be willing to travel.
Mike Allen [00:08:48]:
Oh, okay. All right. So what is, one of the things that we've discussed in side conversations in the past is, With a remote, with a remote estimating service is, um, how you ensure quality control because there can be like human motivations to crank as many estimates as possible, but if they're estimates that you have to redo on site, then it's, there's no benefit, right?
Ash Kaplan [00:09:18]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:09:18]:
So how do you quality control, uh, and, and make sure that you're getting the quality of estimate that you would want if you were running the store?
Ash Kaplan [00:09:25]:
Yeah. The number one factor is really clear intentions on onboarding. So slower onboarding in the beginning, more intentional, not just jumping in on day one and jumping right into estimates. Our onboarding survey that shops have to fill out is extremely detailed. It goes into basically every system on a vehicle to learn beyond just, you know, 5 or 6 preferences, like every system, all your vendors. Um, and then for our team, like I mentioned, like the auditing and the way that we grade things. So if there are opportunities where they're falling below our standards, we're doing in-house training, but each team of our advisors have a manager that oversees that daily. So there's a quality control check process before an estimate gets sent to a shop, and then after estimates are sent to a shop, they're going through an audit system as well.
Mike Allen [00:10:18]:
So multiple touchpoints for QC.
Mike Allen [00:10:20]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:10:22]:
It's good. That's, that's different than what the experience was at your previous place. So that's, that's nice. I don't want numbers because numbers change over time, but how do you try to, or how do you get compensated for the service? Is it a percentage of revenue of gross profit? Is it a fixed number based on car count? How does that work?
Ash Kaplan [00:10:44]:
Yeah, it's a fixed number based on volume.
Mike Allen [00:10:46]:
Okay.
Ash Kaplan [00:10:47]:
So we do a pretty detailed discovery call because what I have found from our last company is your car count is a, it's a number. It's a helpful number, but it doesn't really mean anything. You could have 200 cars a month and we're estimating 30-minute-long estimates on every 200 car or 200 cars and we're doing 5-minute estimates on them. So a lot of it is a good intake process, good vetting process and interview with the shop. Versus what's your car count, here's the fee. So it is tiered based on averages. So we take the last 12 months, last 3 months, and look at what your trend is. And then that falls into a tier.
Ash Kaplan [00:11:27]:
Once we determine what that tier is, then we look at the other variables, state inspections, your actual inspections. We ask for the estimates that you've built. So send us a couple copies of estimates you've built in-house so we can see what your expectations are. And then align it from there. So usually a 30-minute to hour discovery call, we can pretty accurately find what the cost is that works for your shop. And it still ends up being a fraction of a service advisor. So you get a team of 5, you don't have to worry about vacations, sick days, kid threw up and I gotta clock out, like none of that you have to worry about.
Mike Allen [00:12:02]:
Okay, communicate with the shops through Slack?
Ash Kaplan [00:12:06]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:12:06]:
Okay. Warranty calls are built into that pricing structure, or is that a separate entity?
Ash Kaplan [00:12:14]:
Yeah, so our base estimate service includes up to a few warranty calls a month, and then depending on the shop's needs and volumes, that can change. So the cost for warranty calls is far less than the estimate process. There's a lot of multitasking done by our teams, so they're typically on hold with warranties while they're building estimates so that they can do more for you. So sometimes if you have really high estimate volume, your total monthly investment might be a few hundred dollars more than what the estimate one would be. But that's usually for much higher warranty volume. So most shops tend to be able to absorb their warranty volume into their estimate package. Okay.
Mike Allen [00:12:55]:
What if one of our listeners is interested in utilizing Golden Hour for warranty processing, but not for standard estimating? Is that an à la carte option?
Ash Kaplan [00:13:04]:
Yeah, that is absolutely an option. Yeah. Okay. Fleet processing and estimates can, or warranty, excuse me, can be separate.
Mike Allen [00:13:08]:
Okay.
Ash Kaplan [00:13:09]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:13:09]:
Is that, in that instance, is that done à la carte or is it like a percentage of the ticket or is it?
Ash Kaplan [00:13:15]:
Yeah, it's a tier base as well. Okay. So we just look at, it can be a little bit difficult in the beginning to navigate what your needs are. Some shops do a really good job. Your shop did a great job with tracking, right? The extended warranties, you guys had a can job, I think I remember. Um, and so you're easily able to tell how many you're doing a month. Some shops don't know. So usually the first month we absorb the difference.
Ash Kaplan [00:13:37]:
So we're usually starting out your first month to 3 months a little bit lower. And then as we taper in and your team gets more comfortable with the support, usually naturally you'll add more to our plate and give us more to take on for you. Um, so we just adjust it every 3 months if needed, like we'll observe it and adjust if needed every 3 months.
Mike Allen [00:13:56]:
So I'm gonna be honest with you. I, I'm clearly asking these questions as if I'm interviewing a vendor that I'm considering working with, right? Because that's what this is and I'm just recording it. If I wanted to utilize just the à la carte for warranty services at first, and do they build the estimate and call or do they just make the call, sit on hold, do the negotiations if we're not using the estimating service also?
Ash Kaplan [00:14:21]:
Whichever is better for you. So we have some shops that they'll build out the bulk of the warranty jobs, send it over to us and we handle the call, and we have some that we build the estimate out. So if we are building the estimate out and doing the warranty call, it's a very, very small estimating tier with the warranty calls included. Copy. So that's a really inexpensive package, but it does still provide some relief for the shop where the biggest benefit and impact they see is really leveraging like all of the support and taking it all off of the advisor's plate. So it's just happening in the background. Not even something they have to worry about. It's just check the customer in, tech looks at it, estimate's ready, holy crap, sell it.
Mike Allen [00:15:00]:
Yeah, yeah, awesome. Um, so I'm trying to think, like, there's a motivation to get the, the best quality estimate and the highest profitability when you're dealing with extended service contract companies, right?
Ash Kaplan [00:15:26]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:15:28]:
But getting the absolute max out of warranty company is a pain in the ass because you have to haggle with them and everything else. And, you know, I wish that I could just charge a fee for dealing with like a bullshit fee, right? And, and I know there are some guys out there who do that successfully and they say, hey, if you want me to use your extended service contract, it's going to be $149, you know, processing fee. Or whatever it might be. But I'm not sure that that's something that I'm ready to try to pull off. But the amount of time that's sucked into that, how do you ensure that your folks are going to put the same level of effort in? That's not a fair question.
Ash Kaplan [00:16:10]:
No, I think I get where you're going. Like, how are they motivated to get you the most money possible? Money.
Mike Allen [00:16:16]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:16:17]:
So everyone is paid a base. They have a base pay and then we have incentives. So the better that the gross profit is, the more that they can make. So they can make a couple bucks here and there for the gross profit being over 50%. So if it's less than 50%, great, they got paid to do their job. But if the gross profit's over 50, then they get a little extra. So it highly incentivizes them to make sure that they're focusing on the gross profit. Our rates are pretty interesting.
Ash Kaplan [00:16:45]:
So I learned that the industry standard for or the industry average gross profit on extended warranty, and it counts insurance as well, like mechanical insurance, is 31%. Yes.
Mike Allen [00:17:00]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:17:01]:
Ours is 62.5%. So that doesn't— obviously we don't do insurance calls, but 62.5% at an 89% approval rate, it's pretty good in my book.
Mike Allen [00:17:11]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:17:12]:
We're not superhuman. We're not like waving a magic wand and hypnotizing these warranty reps into doing what they, more than they normally do. It's just because we're not bogged down with everything that you are in the shop and trying to rush to get off the phone, they can sit there and actually go through their due diligence and push the warranty people a little bit more to get the max payout. So sometimes it involves multiple calls, but we do all of that. So all your team has to do is literally just put a phone number on the RO. And then submit an invoice for payment. And that's it.
Mike Allen [00:17:46]:
Awesome. Awesome. What about if somebody calls you and they want to use your remote estimating service and they want you to also call their customers and be just a remote service advisor?
Ash Kaplan [00:17:58]:
I'm flattered. I would love to do it because that's where I thrive. But I truly believe that the shop needs to have that relationship with the customer. So, I mean, that's our mission statement is to empower shops to grow with reclaimed time, sustainable profit, and meaningful connections. So heavy on the meaningful connections. If we're saving you a lot of time by building estimates and doing warranty calls, I think that it's fair to spend a little bit more time with the customer. And Rilla did a really good job of showing us that statistic earlier. I took a picture of it and I was like giddy over it because it showed that when top performance, top performers spent more time with their appointment or their customer, it resulted in higher sales.
Ash Kaplan [00:18:46]:
Josh Overlander, he did a really great presentation as well with Detect Auto. And one of the slides also showed like the optimization of that first hour from drop-off and another one where I'm so giddy that there's finally information going out to shops, to shop owners that are showing you like, this isn't a crazy concept. It is psychological. So customers drop their car off. If you can contact them within an hour with solutions, they are going to buy more. It just, it's, I mean, how many, I've been in situations before where it's out of your control. The shop just is busier than normal or XYZ situation. And there's a little bit of a delay calling a customer.
Ash Kaplan [00:19:28]:
They've disengaged. They've lost some interest. I think the statistic that Josh shared was Every hour past that first hour, so after your golden hour, every hour past that that you don't communicate with the customer, you lose another 10% of closing the sale, which is massive. And it takes shops a long time sometimes to call a customer. Some of the data that I ran was it takes an average of 90 minutes for a shop to build an estimate. But we did notice a correlation when the estimates were done so much faster. Where the close ratios would go up. You experience this, you know this to be true.
Ash Kaplan [00:20:05]:
Initially, the close ratio goes down a little bit as advisors are in a little bit of a shock phase and like, okay, my, my estimates are a little bit more than I'm used to presenting. And now they have to get comfortable presenting full inspections, full estimates, maintenance, and all the things. And then once they do that, their close ratio starts to go back up. Once customers are more satisfied, customers are getting estimates faster. They're getting thorough estimates, so they're getting to make informed decisions by everything that the car needed. So anyways, my long soapbox of happier customers.
Mike Allen [00:20:42]:
Are you, are you able to use a tool like Orilla or some other tool like that to monitor and grade your, uh, your warranty calls, or are you doing it manually?
Ash Kaplan [00:20:55]:
Right now it is manual. We are in the works with potentially Dialpad is one that we've looked at. Okay. Brille is a great option. So we're looking into some other options for that. Obviously I am one person and as we continue to scale, I can't be listening to every warranty call. So I think what would be really awesome is having like a sentiment feel of calls where if an extended warranty rep, if there was any friction, they could patch a manager in or a supervisor in. So that's in the works as we scale.
Ash Kaplan [00:21:23]:
I'm very, very, very motivated to work through some more optimization like that, to be able to provide our clients more data too, to see kind of the behind the scenes insight of, we're not just, you know, it's estimates and warranty calls, but like show data on anything that needed escalated. Because when that process gets removed from the shop, sometimes you forget how the process works. So I think it would just help with a little bit more transparency too. I do want to talk about my bigger picture of and say some— it's a little shocking to say, and I'm trying to word it carefully. I posted it on Facebook and I just don't know if it really quite— without hearing me say it, I don't know if it quite has the same impact, but I really don't— I care. I care about a lot of things. I don't care about estimates and warranty calls as much as I care about other things. I think they're very important.
Ash Kaplan [00:22:22]:
Obviously, I've done a lot of research and data to show why they're important and why process is important with them. But as a whole, estimates and warranty calls are just like, they're two pieces of making shops more efficient. So helping shops just be more efficient and profitable. That's where Ashley gets excited. So with that, the whole Golden Hour Garage, like I shared, estimates and warranty calls fleet, those are pieces of a much bigger puzzle. So 2026 is going to be interesting. There's going to be some groundbreaking things that happen this year and a lot of work done to create something really massive to really help a lot of shops. So that's what I'm very excited about.
Mike Allen [00:23:08]:
But, and you can't tell us anything else. You just got to tease us like that and not give any, I mean, come on. We're just, just, it's just the two of us here.
Ash Kaplan [00:23:16]:
Nobody's listening. I just want to help other service advisors elevate their game a little bit. You know, I, so I had a really good conversation with Jeff Compton and we were talking about advisors and I, I got a little heated. Um, so if anyone listens to that at some point, I apologize. Um, not all service advisors suck, but a lot of them do. And I love them dearly. But I've noticed in the last—
Mike Allen [00:23:41]:
You know, the ones who suck the most are the ones that were former technicians, Jeff. Sorry, go ahead. I apologize.
Ash Kaplan [00:23:48]:
So, I cannot confirm or deny. No, it just, I've noticed like the last several years, service advising has become like a, go do this if you want to make great money, but the training for some reason, like I think I equated it to like, if you're a police officer, you have to go through training. You have to learn the law, like laws and safety things, whatever.
Mike Allen [00:24:12]:
Maybe.
Ash Kaplan [00:24:12]:
Maybe it's controversial. I shouldn't have used that. But like there's policies and training involved. And like with service advisors, you can just jump into a shop and pick up a phone and you can really do damage. Not as much damage as an untrained anyways, but you can do damage. And so I just wondered, like, if there was some kind of process where to become a service advisor, you almost had to be certified or like go through mandated training first.
Mike Allen [00:24:40]:
8-week police academy or 8-week advisor academy?
Ash Kaplan [00:24:43]:
Kind of. Yeah. So coming soon to you. No, but that's, that's my big vision. Like, I want to create a big ecosystem for training to exist on a more hands-on level. So you and I have talked about it and I've talked to a lot of other shop owners about hands-on, on the ground in your shop training. And so that's a Monday through Friday course with right now just me in your shop until I grow minions that I trust to have the same level of integrity. But yeah, in your shop Monday through Friday, clear intentions each day of the week, helping your team, immersing myself with your team.
Ash Kaplan [00:25:20]:
So I'm From answering the phone and talking to your customers and leading by example to teaching them how to do better processes, teaching them things that they can implement after I leave that make an immediate impact.
Mike Allen [00:25:33]:
So what level of experience do you want to see in an advisor before they can get maximum benefit from a service like that? Like pure greenhorn straight out of the, straight out of the hotel industry and never been in a shop or?
Ash Kaplan [00:25:46]:
Yeah, yeah, honestly. I mean, each type of advisor experience level is going to determine the tailor of like coaching that they're going to need. But whether they're green and they've never, they don't know what a bolt is, or if they've been a service advisor for 30 years and they need to learn modern new practices to be more efficient. Yeah, all of them. One realistic thing is a shop owner has to definitely be open to the Changes, I guess. Well, the realization that this also means you may determine who is not a good fit for your company anymore. If you are wanting to grow your company, which you should be wanting to grow your company. You're growing or you're dying.
Ash Kaplan [00:26:29]:
If you have team members that are holding you back or staying stagnant and they're not committed to the same vision that you are, it's time to let them go. Yeah. So, and they're probably going to do great somewhere else. And maybe their motivation changes, maybe their why changes and they thrive somewhere else. So, like Tanika, when she talks about her dad, I almost get emotional. I don't even know the man yet. I don't know him, but she speaks so highly of him and it feels like you know him just from the way that she shares. And she talks about a story about her father having somebody that worked for him that he had to let go of because he saw so much potential in him.
Ash Kaplan [00:27:07]:
And it's so easy, like, you could keep that person around because you know that they're going to benefit you. But when you know that they could do bigger and better without you, like, you have to do them that service of letting them go. And same the other way, if they're not doing you a service, but you genuinely believe they're a good person, like, you want to see them do well. And sometimes it's just not under your leadership.
Mike Allen [00:27:27]:
I think that's definitely something that's happened to me in the past is that I've had multiple people come into my business over the years. That I was able to help them grow to a certain level. And then, like, I struggle with helping continue that push. And either I overpromote them and they don't succeed and they burn out and quit, or I overpromote them and they don't succeed and I fire them, but we stay in contact or whatever else. There are multiple people that have capped what I was able to help them develop and they've gone elsewhere and been hugely successful. So either I'm an asshole who can't take, you know, make the best out of high-quality people, I can attract high-quality people and then I can't, you know, help them succeed, or I help them grow to a point where then they go elsewhere and continue that growth. It's probably a little bit more of the asshole side, if I'm going to be honest with you, but I mean, you're human.
Ash Kaplan [00:28:31]:
You know, you wear this whole evil shop owner cape, whatever, but you're just human, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:28:37]:
We're all just people.
Ash Kaplan [00:28:39]:
We're just ordinary people. No, really, like, there's— how do you do things 100% correct? Like, I struggle with that. This is an everyday battle with me. You know, um, some of my team members and They're really good at, like, pulling me out of that dark place when I get there because I'm like, ready to burn it down one day because I'm like, I failed today.
Mike Allen [00:29:03]:
Total transparency. One of your team members is one of my former team members.
Ash Kaplan [00:29:06]:
Are we going there?
Mike Allen [00:29:07]:
I mean, I don't know that we get into names. That individual will know who we're talking about, right?
Ash Kaplan [00:29:12]:
Yeah. You know who you are.
Mike Allen [00:29:14]:
I suspect that you only have one employee who is also a former employee.
Ash Kaplan [00:29:17]:
I only have one of your former employees. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:29:19]:
So.
Ash Kaplan [00:29:21]:
But I mean, that's a good person who is a good person who didn't fit with your company at the time.
Mike Allen [00:29:30]:
Or I didn't, I didn't give them the support that they needed to be able to succeed. I don't know.
Ash Kaplan [00:29:34]:
But you know, let's have her on.
Mike Allen [00:29:36]:
I'm in a period of self-doubt. I'm in a period of reflection and self-doubt.
Ash Kaplan [00:29:41]:
No, that's fair. Yeah, you're in your Eat, Pray, Love moment.
Mike Allen [00:29:44]:
I don't know what an Eat, Pray, Love moment is. I just know that basic white bitches have that sign in their kitchen.
Mike Allen [00:29:50]:
Hey, it's me, Mike's kid. Want to tell us your wild shop stories? Or maybe you just think my dad's totally wrong. Call us at 704-CONFESS and leave a message. You can tell us we're awesome, or you can tell us we're idiots. We're cool either way. That's 704-CONFESS. Just don't make it too weird.
Mike Allen [00:30:08]:
What?
Ash Kaplan [00:30:09]:
Let me call my husband and make sure we take that down today. No, I don't have that in my kitchen.
Mike Allen [00:30:16]:
Was it a book or a movie or both or what?
Ash Kaplan [00:30:18]:
Yeah, it was a movie and it was I'm so bad at remembering actresses. Pretty actress, blonde hair, whatever. They're all pretty and blonde hair. Yeah. Um, and I think she like went through a bad divorce or some major life event, and she's like, I need to reinvent my— reinvent myself. And she like travels the world and learns about different religions and got involved in OnlyFans. This is before that time.
Mike Allen [00:30:41]:
Okay.
Ash Kaplan [00:30:41]:
Um, but yeah, so anyways, I think what she learned was like the different places she went in the world, this— the same thing that she learned each place was like how they loved people. And like love and food were like the common themes anyways. It's a whole woo-woo movie.
Mike Allen [00:30:57]:
So was that the basis of all the stupid signs that are on homemade shiplap walls and kitchens across America?
Ash Kaplan [00:31:03]:
Yeah, I think so.
Mike Allen [00:31:04]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:31:04]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:31:04]:
And that and that show with the couple in Texas.
Ash Kaplan [00:31:09]:
Yes.
Mike Allen [00:31:09]:
They shiplap everything.
Ash Kaplan [00:31:10]:
Potato Chip and whatever her name is. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:31:13]:
What's her face? Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:31:16]:
Gonna get canceled for that. Sorry. Shiplap. Yeah, so over it.
Mike Allen [00:31:21]:
Shipload.
Ash Kaplan [00:31:23]:
Um, I'm struggling with that right now, like knowing what color do I paint my wall so it's not like a month— like an atrocity later that it was a terrible fad.
Mike Allen [00:31:31]:
We just don't have a barn door in your living room. Do you have a barn?
Ash Kaplan [00:31:35]:
I have a barn door in my bathroom. But listen, Arizona houses don't have bathroom doors. Like, this is a thing out here.
Mike Allen [00:31:41]:
Is your poop not staying?
Ash Kaplan [00:31:44]:
There's a door to the toilet room. Like, there's a toilet room.
Mike Allen [00:31:47]:
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:31:49]:
There's a toilet room.
Mike Allen [00:31:50]:
Where do you stand on the bidet conversation?
Ash Kaplan [00:31:52]:
You know, I guess don't knock it till you try it. I haven't tried it, so I can't really say anything.
Mike Allen [00:31:57]:
I've hated it and I've hated it. And somebody said something to me the other day that made me think, gosh, maybe they have a point. So if you got shit on your arm.
Ash Kaplan [00:32:06]:
Yeah, fair enough.
Mike Allen [00:32:07]:
Would you take a dry cloth and do that a couple of times and be good, or would you wash it with, like, water?
Ash Kaplan [00:32:15]:
And so, so I haven't experienced shit on my arm, but I do have a petting zoo. So I, if there is shit on the floor, I wipe it up with something dry first and then go back with a wet Clorox cleaner. Yeah. So, I mean, I think dual action is probably the best way to clean your bum hole.
Mike Allen [00:32:37]:
Well, I mean, my understanding is the mechanics of bidets from a, from an standpoint is you pressure wash your balloon nut and then you dab it dry. With 1 or 2 sheets of toilet paper. I think that's how it goes.
Ash Kaplan [00:32:51]:
Okay, so like detailing a car and then wiping it dry with a microfiber? Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:32:56]:
Now, are there people that have like just like a little hand towel hanging next to them and they just dab and then hang the towel back up? Or do you—
Ash Kaplan [00:33:03]:
Have you seen the like ultimate cheapskate people that like share? Oh gosh, this is so terrible.
Mike Allen [00:33:11]:
Do you have monogrammed bidet towels next to the toilet?
Ash Kaplan [00:33:13]:
No, it's not fancy.
Mike Allen [00:33:14]:
This one's for my knot, this one's for your knot.
Ash Kaplan [00:33:16]:
They have like a poop knife that they use. They share as a family and they cut their turd. Like, it's a whole poop— it's a whole thing. It— yeah.
Mike Allen [00:33:24]:
Why do you need to cut your turds up?
Ash Kaplan [00:33:26]:
They have a sponge on a stick that the whole family shares that they— instead of toilet paper because they're so cheap. It's a whole thing. It's on YouTube or TikTok or one of the—
Mike Allen [00:33:36]:
yeah. You know, sometimes I'm thankful that I don't spend as much time as I used to on that stuff. Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:33:42]:
What's your strange addiction?
Mike Allen [00:33:47]:
So many horribly inappropriate jokes just flew through my mind. You know, I've cut back significantly on podcasts and social media. Most of my social media is spent minimally responding to content, comments, and shares and that kind of stuff from the podcast. Audible. Listen to stupid sci-fi on Audible, like space operas and that kind of stuff.
Ash Kaplan [00:34:20]:
When do you tell me that you're fucking with me?
Mike Allen [00:34:22]:
No, it's totally—
Ash Kaplan [00:34:23]:
No, you're being so serious. Yeah. Oh, okay.
Mike Allen [00:34:26]:
Like, I have things that would be a major distraction to me, but thankfully they're far away. Like, I'm a degenerate gambler.
Ash Kaplan [00:34:32]:
Are you really?
Mike Allen [00:34:33]:
I love playing craps. I love going to the casino and throwing—
Ash Kaplan [00:34:36]:
You love to gamble? Yes. Oh, great. Well, I have a service where I can go in your shop and help your team improve and make you more money. Would you like to gamble on it? Was that good? Was that good?
Mike Allen [00:34:47]:
That was nice. It was a good way to pull us back in.
Ash Kaplan [00:34:49]:
Thank you.
Mike Allen [00:34:51]:
Yeah, there's a casino like 5 miles from here.
Ash Kaplan [00:34:53]:
I'm actually like, I hate gambling.
Mike Allen [00:34:55]:
Well, it's a tax on people who are bad at math because it's a tax on people who are bad at math because you always lose in the long run.
Ash Kaplan [00:35:06]:
I guess, I guess that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I do like penny kino, or like kino. Yeah, I love it because I put $5 in, they give me a free beer, and then I get my $5 back, so it's a win-win.
Mike Allen [00:35:19]:
Apex this year, I met up with Dan Bus at, uh, the piano bar in Harris.
Ash Kaplan [00:35:25]:
Oh, the Dual Piano Bar, which is a great piano bar, right? Is it the Dueling Piano Bar?
Mike Allen [00:35:29]:
Yeah, sit at the bar. Put $50 in the little blackjack thing at the bar. The only reason I put $50 in that fucking thing was so I'd get a free beer, right? $15 for my beer. And I had $50.
Ash Kaplan [00:35:42]:
I'm sorry, you just said something about gambling, math, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever you said. And then you said you paid $50 to get a free beer.
Mike Allen [00:35:51]:
Well, I was going to put it in, get the free beer, and then take my little ticket to get it back out. Matt Lofton, if you're hearing this, Look, all right, there's a whole thing forever. If you're playing the machine, you get the free booze. And it didn't happen that night. I was very upset. It ruined the Dueling Piano Bar for me.
Ash Kaplan [00:36:10]:
Oh man. Those are so cool. I love when they go, well, I can get on a whole thing. Elton John, anything Elton John, Duel Piano Bar. So cool.
Mike Allen [00:36:20]:
You know, it's Rocky Top versus New York, New York, back and forth. That's always a good one.
Ash Kaplan [00:36:26]:
Yeah, because you get the drunk rednecks and the drunk city folks counter tipping a piano bar or like any jazz, live music thing makes me go back to, like, craving cigarettes. Isn't that weird?
Mike Allen [00:36:41]:
I mean, I always want a cigarette, right?
Ash Kaplan [00:36:44]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:36:45]:
So they're that ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Sound of a casino makes me want dice in my hand, you know, And a whiskey.
Ash Kaplan [00:36:53]:
Come on down. Yeah, I'm. I don't even know. Like, I was watching you guys at ASTA play whatever you were playing. I don't even know what it was. Um, and I'm like, I'm so lost. I, I can play solitaire. I'm really good at solitaire.
Ash Kaplan [00:37:08]:
I am really good at solitaire and chess. So chess and solitaire, I'm your girl. But blackjack, uh, I, I won't sit down and play because I don't know how and I'll lose all my money.
Mike Allen [00:37:18]:
So if you play really good blackjack, you just lose your money really slowly. It's one of the slowest ways to lose your money.
Ash Kaplan [00:37:24]:
I just don't like losing money, period.
Mike Allen [00:37:26]:
So that's why I do, you know, just don't go.
Ash Kaplan [00:37:27]:
$10, $20, it comes right back.
Mike Allen [00:37:29]:
I feel like the last 15 minutes have brought a lot of value to our listeners.
Ash Kaplan [00:37:32]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:37:33]:
Should we go back to talking about shit that might bring value to our listeners?
Ash Kaplan [00:37:37]:
Yeah, why not? I mean, this is for them, right?
Mike Allen [00:37:39]:
If I wanted Ash Kaplan to come to my business and hang out with my advisors and work with them for a week, what type of investment am I looking at?
Ash Kaplan [00:37:50]:
Yeah, so get it while it's cheap. That's what I'll say. No, so I'm very fair. I don't want to put anybody in a financial bind. I want you to see the value and what the processes would actually do for your shop in the long term. So there's a couple of ways we can do it, which we can explore what works best for your shop. Total investment-wise, it is, I would guess—
Mike Allen [00:38:14]:
You don't have to name a number if you don't want to, if it's going to change in 3 months.
Ash Kaplan [00:38:18]:
So the only reason I'm not naming a number is because again, it's It's kind of like our normal services. They are so variable. Everything is tailored to your shop. Because I don't want to spitball a number just because it sounds good to me, but it's completely unrealistic for where you're at and your needs. So travel costs, lodging, transportation, the cost associated with getting to a shop and being in a shop in a week. It is that. Plus some cost for my time. And I do cost money.
Ash Kaplan [00:38:53]:
So it's very small compared to what eventually one day it could be. But right now, it's my focus is just to get in, make an impact, let you see the immediate, like, profit growth. And then from there, we can kind of reevaluate as I scale. Obviously, when I start bringing team members in, things are going to change, which is why I say take advantage of it while I am charging a very low rate.
Mike Allen [00:39:19]:
When are you coming to North Carolina next month? I know that you're going to be down in Frog Pond.
Ash Kaplan [00:39:23]:
Yeah, so the last week of the month. So right now my plan is the 26th through the 1st of March. But, you know, it's subject to change.
Mike Allen [00:39:32]:
Who are you hanging out with while you're down there?
Ash Kaplan [00:39:34]:
You, my friend.
Mike Allen [00:39:35]:
Oh, all right then.
Ash Kaplan [00:39:37]:
No, I want to just do some shop tours. So I didn't really get a chance to do that while I was there for ASTA. So I want to come see your shops, Tanika's shop, Coombs, Presnell. So some of my friends, maybe if I can make it over to Lucas, but he's a good hike, right?
Mike Allen [00:39:54]:
Well, so like I'm in Raleigh, you'll probably be flying into Charlotte.
Ash Kaplan [00:39:58]:
No, I'm going to fly into Raleigh.
Mike Allen [00:40:00]:
Okay.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:00]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:40:01]:
So Tanika and my shops are all kind of right in there.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:03]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:40:05]:
Coombs is an hour and a half southeast.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:07]:
Right. Fayetteville.
Mike Allen [00:40:08]:
Lucas is 2 and a half hours west.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:11]:
Blowing Rock.
Mike Allen [00:40:12]:
Yeah. And then Frog Pond's an hour and a half south.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:14]:
Yeah. So if I can manage my time well to do 3 or 4 shops in one day, that's the plan. But if I need to come out longer, then I will.
Mike Allen [00:40:24]:
Yeah. Well, let's have a conversation off air. Maybe we can find a way to hang out more.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:28]:
For sure.
Mike Allen [00:40:32]:
What's your travel schedule like this year as far as events and shows? Are you— I know you're coming to ASTA Expo.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:39]:
Oh, 100%.
Mike Allen [00:40:40]:
Vision.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:40]:
Can I— oh yeah, let's go through that and then I want to talk about ASTA. Vision. I don't have it right in front of me to list them all off. A lot of them. So the Women in Auto Care Conference in Fort Worth in February. Vision. I will not be at Tools, unfortunately. Tectonic.
Ash Kaplan [00:40:58]:
Yes, tectonic. What is that? April. There's nothing in May. I think May is the only month I have like nothing. No, it's June. June is the only month I have nothing planned, and I'm like, I may just block my calendar off. Um, what is in July? There's something in July. Sunrise back here.
Mike Allen [00:41:18]:
That's back in Arizona. I love when I don't have to fly.
Ash Kaplan [00:41:22]:
Um, it's a great question. It's in Phoenix and somewhere around Phoenix. Everything is Phoenix here, so like I live in Phoenix but I live in Litchfield Park. Yeah, it's like Cary, Raleigh. Yeah, uh, what is the other one? Durham? Is that how you say it? Um, yeah, a lot of stuff this year, so it's gonna be exciting.
Mike Allen [00:41:47]:
Um, ASTA?
Ash Kaplan [00:41:48]:
Yes, um, ASTA has quickly become my favorite event Because it's fucking awesome. It is. It's, well, it's life-changing for me. So, you know, where I was at last year, I was in a turning point of, do I continue working on something that is dead? Or do I take control of my life, go after what I'm passionate about and continue with the relationships that I built? And I was in a really torn place. I still believed heavily that I could— it's like a bad relationship. I can fix him, I swear. And that's how I felt. I still had hope that I could fix things, and they were past the point of fixing.
Ash Kaplan [00:42:34]:
And it was the relationships that I built. Honestly, it started with you, not to get sappy.
Mike Allen [00:42:41]:
I'm so sorry.
Ash Kaplan [00:42:42]:
No. But like, it's one of— have you heard of What is it, Red String Theory? It's like, it's like, I'm not gonna go too far woo-woo, but essentially, I mean, whether you're religious or spiritual or just woo-woo like me, the universe, God puts certain people in your life and you don't know why. And then later you meet somebody else that's impactful, and it's like you wouldn't have met that person without that person and whatever, like a domino effect almost. So I met you through somebody that we had hired to help with like kind of outside sales with the previous company. Wasn't a long-term fit, but he brought value in for a period of time, introduced me to you. Never, never heard of this evil shop owner guy. And then you started opening the floodgates and introducing me to people. Then I met Tanika and she is awesome.
Ash Kaplan [00:43:41]:
She is the bee's knees. We had a discovery call and it was like 2 and a half hours. And I think 2 hours and 29 minutes was just us becoming best friends and a minute of talking about my service. And she's like, okay, yeah, we'll just, we'll sign up Monday anyways. And we've, she's like my, I call her my auntie now. And she has been life-changing. And then I met some other incredible women. So I never had women in the industry that I could look up to, that I could trust.
Ash Kaplan [00:44:16]:
I've always been the only girl in a room of men. I've always been more comfortable in male-dominated spaces. So it was a little uncomfortable for me, but I've made some amazing friends. And these are the same people that came to me and told me they believed in me. And you need to go do this on your own. And I wouldn't have done it without anybody here. And I wouldn't have done it without going to ASTA. And like the vibe of ASTA, like the positivity, everybody there is best friends.
Ash Kaplan [00:44:46]:
It's all like one huge hangout session. You just have to be there. Like you have to do whatever you can do to get your butt there.
Mike Allen [00:44:53]:
One of the things that I really enjoyed about ASTA when I first started coming to the expo and it was the convention or, you know, it's had multiple names over the years, but Like if you're a first-time attendee, there's a visual cue on your lanyard or name badge that you don't even know is a visual cue.
Ash Kaplan [00:45:10]:
Really?
Mike Allen [00:45:11]:
The board members all know is an indicator that you're a first-time attendee.
Ash Kaplan [00:45:15]:
Interesting. I still have my tag.
Mike Allen [00:45:17]:
And so the board is coached, like, you find those first-time attendees and you make sure that they feel welcome and that you know what they're there for and that you make connections for them so that they can find people Wow, that's so intentional. And it worked incredibly. Now it's harder and harder as there are more and more people, you know, I think 1,500 people last year, it's probably going to be 2,000 people this year. But it's created this environment where there are so many people who came there, and on their first time they had that experience. And so now they're being that person for other people when they find somebody who's there for their first time experience.
Ash Kaplan [00:45:54]:
Wow.
Mike Allen [00:45:55]:
I mean, Lucas, tells the story about his first time there. He was going to get some diesel tech training because he was planning on closing the shop and going to work at the dealership.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:03]:
Really?
Mike Allen [00:46:04]:
And he got drug out of a diesel class and pushed into a management class.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:09]:
And now we have his walking, talking videos.
Mike Allen [00:46:11]:
Now his fucking walkie-talkie videos, man. Oh my God. But I mean, there are just so many stories like that. And Benji and Chad and that whole group. I mean, there couldn't possibly— I mean, it's Southern hospitality, man. There couldn't possibly be a group of people that are more welcoming and more inviting and are just happy to make new friends. So I love it. And it's only going to get better now because I'm no longer president.
Mike Allen [00:46:39]:
My term is up. And our new president, Mimby, is amazing. She probably won't be as out there as maybe I have been, but the vice president is now Ms. Haynes.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:51]:
Yes, we are in such good hands.
Mike Allen [00:46:53]:
I think those two ladies are going to do incredible things.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:55]:
They're so powerful.
Mike Allen [00:46:56]:
Yeah.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:57]:
So, no, it's amazing. I've been talking to some people on Facebook and it like has become a conversation starter. I'm like, so will I see you at ASTA? And they're like, I don't know. Fucking go. And I'm like, you have to figure out a way to go. Like if there's any of, if there's anything that you find like a way to invest in, do it at ASTA. And I was not paid to say this. I was not asked to say this, but it literally changed my life.
Ash Kaplan [00:47:23]:
Like, I had been shoved so far down with all these limiting beliefs for the last few years. And it literally took these people providing a safe space for me to just be myself and share some vulnerable struggles. And they're like, and they pulled it out of me, like the things that I had been shoving down. Like, I believed in myself deep down. I knew what I was capable of deep down., but they're the ones that brought it to the surface. And it was literally ASTA that, well, if a certain person listens to this, it might create an issue, but ASTA was the deciding point for me to go forward with what I was thinking about doing. So it literally couldn't have happened otherwise.
Mike Allen [00:48:06]:
Well, if you're listening to this and you're considering coming to a trade show training event in 2026, then there are lots of options out there. But if you do come to ASTA, or if you go to any of them, don't just go to class and go back to your hotel room. Stay, if you at all possibly can, stay at the hotel that's hosting the event and hang out in the atrium and in the lobby and at the restaurant in the hotel. Do the social events. If there's a hospitality suite, go to the hospitality suite. If there are mixers, go to the mixers. That's one of the ways that ASTA Expo has been so good is because we have an intentional hospitality suite and because we have whiskey tasting events and cigar rolling events and we have young technician events and we have a 30 Under 30 group. And so that type of stuff provides opportunities for you to make connections with other shop owners, other technicians, other advisors, other managers, other vendors, right? You can get to know, like, if you look through the vendor list and you're like, well, I want to talk to these people and these people and these people, and I want to explore this type of service, and there are 3 vendors that supply that service, you can go hang out with them and get to know them as a person before you talk business and know if you want to do business with them before you ever get to that point in the conversation.
Mike Allen [00:49:27]:
It's super valuable.
Ash Kaplan [00:49:28]:
So I think it's really easy to feel like you're on an island in this industry. I think that was for me, like, 10 years, the last 10 years before ASTA. I had worked for a lot of shops that I was a very high performer. And so I was kind of put, like tucked away in a sense. Like these opportunities were never given to me. I didn't know trade shows were even a, like I knew they were a thing. I knew SEMA existed, but like these events, these trainings, like it just wasn't available to me. So shop owners as well, like get your people there.
Ash Kaplan [00:50:04]:
This isn't just for you. Your people need to be there. They need to feel the community and support. So yeah, you gotta get uncomfortable. You have to talk to people. You don't have to do this alone. Like that was a big takeaway for me. Like I'm in a space that nobody else is in, right? So there is nobody that I can go to and say, so how did you do it when you started your remote estimating company? Like it doesn't exist.
Ash Kaplan [00:50:31]:
But what does exist is so many people that speak my language. So many people that understand business is hard that I can now lean on and have support from and kind of carry me when I can't carry myself. And I, that stuff is invaluable.
Mike Allen [00:50:48]:
So I know that your primary platform is TechMetric.
Ash Kaplan [00:50:53]:
Yes.
Mike Allen [00:50:53]:
Have you branched out to any others yet?
Ash Kaplan [00:50:55]:
Yeah. So we did explore Shopware.
Mike Allen [00:51:01]:
Unfortunately, poor people. Yeah, poor people that have to live life with that software.
Ash Kaplan [00:51:05]:
I know. Unfortunately, software doesn't have the developments that TechMetric does to allow us to implement the efficiency of our process. So we did have to table that again. Gotcha.
Mike Allen [00:51:16]:
Yeah. So real quick, if you are interested in going to a training event, that's for the whole shop that has ownership training, technical training, service advisor training, manager training, all that kind of stuff, and you don't want to wait all the way to September and go to ASTA Expo, you should do that. But there's also the opportunity April 9th through 11th in Houston to go to TechMetrics Tectonic Conference.
Ash Kaplan [00:51:44]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:51:45]:
And it's going to have everything that we've just been discussing.
Ash Kaplan [00:51:49]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:51:49]:
And if you know the team at TechMetrics, Metric, they don't do anything halfway. So I'm excited about it. It's their inaugural event of this nature. So I'm excited to see what that's going to look like.
Ash Kaplan [00:51:59]:
I am so excited.
Mike Allen [00:52:00]:
If you're interested in going, go to techmetric.com/tectonic. That's T-E-C-T-O-N-I-C. Use Confessions500 to get $500 off your ticket.
Ash Kaplan [00:52:13]:
I will be doing that. I will be doing that.
Mike Allen [00:52:17]:
It's going to be awesome. We'll be there recording and hanging out and meeting new people and and getting our learn on. So come and see us there.
Ash Kaplan [00:52:27]:
Yeah, don't fall behind the times. Our industry is about to change so fast.
Mike Allen [00:52:32]:
It's true. I mean, I think what our industry looks like right now versus 2 years from now, it's gonna be drastically different.
Ash Kaplan [00:52:40]:
Yeah, it's gonna—
Mike Allen [00:52:41]:
'Cause the technology's evolving so fast. Yeah. So, but human connection is always gonna be there and it's always gonna be, one of the keys to separating yourself from the, from the crowd is being able to build human relationships and maintain them.
Ash Kaplan [00:52:56]:
Outsource everything that does not contribute to building better relationships. Use AI where you can use AI. Use other people's skills, estimates, warranty calls, marketing companies, accounting companies, like outsource the things that are taking you away from providing a better experience for your customers. Because also we're drowning in AI. So is our customer. Our customer wants to walk in and see a person. I mean, we literally like went— I went to Taco Bell recently and like you pull up to the window and it's an automated thing and I'm like, oh, okay. Like, that's how fast things are going.
Ash Kaplan [00:53:32]:
So I think customers are going to find it very refreshing when you actually look at them and talk to them like a human again.
Mike Allen [00:53:37]:
I think I toyed with the idea of an AI, automated AI receptionist, right? But we know, yeah, we need to answer the phone when we're open. But I think when we're busy and all the lines are busy or after hours, I think an AI receptionist tool that can book appointments and answer most of the common questions is a reasonable thing.
Ash Kaplan [00:54:01]:
I think if you can find one that works great. I have one. So if you go to my website, goldenhourgarage.com, there, the phone number is 602 492-1217. If you call it, there's an AI receptionist. It does a decent job. You have to train them, obviously, like any AI, but if you call it and abuse it, is it funny?
Mike Allen [00:54:23]:
Do you get the recordings of the abuse?
Ash Kaplan [00:54:24]:
I, I can see the recordings of anything, but you can't— like, what I do appreciate about it is at any point, if you say, I would like to speak with somebody, it will not push you any further and it will directly transfer you to the live line. So yeah, the AI phone systems are really interesting. I've toyed around with a few of them. The one I'm on right now, I like it, but I don't love it. So I'm interested. There was one here. Voice controller. Yeah, so I'm interested in exploring some of theirs because I think it would be very helpful for, like, if your phone rings, you're doing marketing, you're doing the right things, and your phone rings 6 times at once, you don't have 6 Your cost of your customer acquisition is north of $100 for almost everybody.
Mike Allen [00:55:06]:
Wow. And if you spend $100 to make the phone ring and nobody answers it, that's infuriating.
Ash Kaplan [00:55:11]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:55:12]:
Right? So, you know, it is suboptimal to not have a human answering the phone, but an AI, a good AI after hours or when all the lines are busy is better than leave a message after the beep.
Ash Kaplan [00:55:27]:
I agree. I don't even think people really leave voicemails anymore. No. Yeah, a phone system where you could call and it could say like, hey, a representative will be with you shortly. Can I start with your name? And we'll like start pulling your information up. Like they know a human is coming, but they can start to weed out the repeatable information.
Mike Allen [00:55:48]:
Like your crazy robot receptionist.
Ash Kaplan [00:55:50]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:55:50]:
Yeah. All the humans are talking to other humans right now.
Ash Kaplan [00:55:54]:
A human will be with you shortly.
Mike Allen [00:55:55]:
Give me a minute and I'll go get my human overlord to come answer the phone.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:00]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:56:01]:
Well, cool. I've enjoyed hanging out.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:03]:
Thanks.
Mike Allen [00:56:03]:
An hour went by really quick.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:05]:
It always does with you.
Mike Allen [00:56:06]:
Wow.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:06]:
I love to chit-chat. I love to chit-chat.
Mike Allen [00:56:10]:
Be cool. I'll talk to you in a little bit.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:12]:
Thanks.
Mike Allen [00:56:13]:
Bye. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out. The good, the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros We screw it up sometimes, so why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit, and maybe have another drink? 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@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. Join us on the crazy journey that is shop ownership.
Mike Allen [00:56:49]:
I'll see you on the next episode.