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The Gearbox Podcast brings on industry professionals to explore the day-to-day operations of owning and operating a shop. From common frustrations to industry-wide shifts, this podcast covers it with fun and insightful conversations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
Welcome to the Gearbox podcast. I'm your host, Jimmy Purdy. On this podcast, we're not just exploring the latest trends and technologies in the automotive industry. We're also getting real about the journey. Yes, the bumpy road of mistakes and lessons learned hard along the way. This is the Gearbox podcast, Mars 2024.
Parker Branch [00:00:36]:
Here we are.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:37]:
It's awesome, huh? Yeah, my first time at Mars.
Parker Branch [00:00:40]:
So, what do you think so far?
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:42]:
I like it. This is. I mean, I like all the networking events. I'll be in part of the institute, like, the coaching program and meeting people, and then, like, seeing familiar faces at the events, and then, like, every event, you go to see more of the friendly faces, and that's nice.
Parker Branch [00:00:56]:
It's like, yeah, the more you show up, the more friends you make and acquaintances. And there's so much information that all of us have to share.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:07]:
Yeah, that's. That's the big takeaway I really appreciated. Like, the presentations that we've had so far is, like, just kind of, like, showing what the services offer instead of, like, so selling the product 100%.
Parker Branch [00:01:21]:
Like, you don't feel like you're here for a sales pitch.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:24]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:01:25]:
We let all the vendors talk about what their product is, how it can help you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:29]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:01:30]:
And then you're free to reach out, talk to them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:33]:
Yeah. Like, if that's a hole that's in your shop, that sounds like something I need. I'm gonna ask him more questions about instead of getting this hour long sales presentation about, like, what exactly their shop, their business can do for you, and it's like. So it's. Yeah. Really well done.
Parker Branch [00:01:47]:
Yeah. Having them talk about the theory behind what they're doing and how it can help us. Yeah, yeah. The proof. So, I knew when I was coming, there were a few things. I had an agenda.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:59]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:02:00]:
Of a couple of things that I knew we could do better, and I knew those vendors would be here and having a chance to hear them talk and then go network with them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:10]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:02:11]:
It's serving the purpose I was hoping for.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:13]:
And meet the people that are, like, actually running those companies. Like, how cool is that, right?
Parker Branch [00:02:18]:
Very cool. Seeing some of the clients that they have that are, you know, peers that we know. Right, right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:27]:
Then you get real feedback.
Parker Branch [00:02:29]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:29]:
And you can call them out, like, right away. Like, hey, I heard this happen. How do you hear that? He's. Because he just told me.
Parker Branch [00:02:34]:
Yeah, I think I spoke up today after steer was done presenting, and, you know, I kind of said, hey, talk to me about, you know, kind of auditing your performance. For a client and how that looks and what you can do. Oh, yeah, absolutely. We can show you. We can go through your campaigns, and that's great. That sounds good, because I am your customer, and now I'm ready to do that with you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:58]:
When can we do that? Hold them accountable, you know?
Parker Branch [00:03:02]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:03]:
And I've had a few conversations this week about that, you know, and how important it is when you have a business where you need that accountability. Right. And, like, contracts is a big one. Like, if they're asking for a contract, like, 100% of the time, you're not gonna need, like, it's not gonna work for you. Right. And. And the accountability and holding them accountable, I think that's a big problem in the industry of, like, shop owners in general, holding anybody accountable for anything, whether, whether it's your employees or anybody else.
Parker Branch [00:03:33]:
The best vendors that are here, that I've done business with or do business with. Still no contract. No worries. Let us take that off the table. So you're not like, oh, geez, am I going to have to commit something for a year that I really don't even know how I feel about it 100%? I think I have that need, but, you know, I hate to be locked into something that long. And so we have quite a few vendors that are like, yeah, come on board. Let's go. Yeah, the free demos, like the institute.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:05]:
Yep.
Parker Branch [00:04:05]:
If you decide in a month it's not for you, then we're done.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:09]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:04:10]:
And you take that little bit of fear away. I think that helps more people engage, loosen up, and it just works.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:18]:
Yeah. I mean, yeah. You book a demo, 15 days, 30 days, if you just all. You're gonna realize pretty quickly that you need that or you don't need that. And it's like, no harm, no foul. Like, if. Because at the end of day, if you have one of these software programs and you're selling them to, selling it to people that don't need it, that's not gonna work.
Parker Branch [00:04:40]:
You're not gonna have so many fans.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:42]:
If you were, if you work on Honda's and all of a sudden you're trying to, you know, market towards volkswagens, why are you doing that? It doesn't make any damn sense. So, on that note, a little bit of your background.
Parker Branch [00:04:57]:
Yeah, I started working on cars when I was in high school. Started working at the Sears back in the eighties, and got out of high school, went to engineering school for a year and a half, and my passion for cars had me working at the shop on the weekends, and I realized that that was going to be my path. So I left engineering school after a year and a half and went into trade school after that. I went to work for General Motors as a dealership technician and spent the better part of 20 years doing that. Things kind of quieted down in 0809, and that got me thinking about opening up my own place, really just trying to better my earnings and path, take control of it. And so I went out on my own. January 2010, was a diesel specialist and a transmission builder at GM, so wanted to pursue the diesel side of things and just started getting customers. We do diesel mission testing in the state of Colorado, so we have a chassis dynamometer.
Parker Branch [00:06:05]:
And customers were finding us for the need of an emissions test and converting those customers into service customers. And fast forward 14. Almost 15 years later, we had great growth, and we're just having fun fixing trucks.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:21]:
Nice. You're like the quintess, quintessential tech turned owner success story.
Parker Branch [00:06:27]:
Thank God for coaching.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:30]:
So how early on did you start coaching?
Parker Branch [00:06:32]:
So, started the shop in ten, and we were right across the parking lot from a Napa. And so obviously they approached us and we became a Napa autocare. We started off trying to use quickbooks to run all our invoicing and stuff like that, and that was a disaster. Nothing searchable and so forth. So Napa being right there, they talked us into being an autocare. We got on the Napa Traxxas. So our first point of sale, and we were just kind of struggling through, fumbling through, had no idea what margins should be and so forth. And Napa had a coach.
Parker Branch [00:07:14]:
His name is Vin Waterhouse.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:15]:
Oh, yeah.
Parker Branch [00:07:16]:
He would travel around the country and he basically had a. I think it was a two or three day class.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:21]:
Yep.
Parker Branch [00:07:22]:
Same material every time. I've probably been five times taken.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:27]:
I still have his book on my desk.
Parker Branch [00:07:29]:
The financial roadmap.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:31]:
That's right, yeah.
Parker Branch [00:07:32]:
And so that was my first introduction.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:35]:
And the labor intensive guide.
Parker Branch [00:07:37]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:37]:
When you put the different jobs and you mark. Yep.
Parker Branch [00:07:39]:
I can quote the story. I got good news for you, Jimmy. You're gonna be an uncle. And he goes on to talk about the brother in law wanting to raise, and with the poor productivity, how expensive that was. And what a great, what a great intro.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:53]:
So I had the same intro. That's funny.
Parker Branch [00:07:55]:
That was my first coaching experience. And just another year or two after that, we were really excelling. We ended up buying AMco down the street from us. We were in a two bay shop, and we bought an eight bay Amco bought the business and the real estate, and we're continuing to grow, do real well. And there's a guy in my neighborhood by the name of Brian Bates, owns Eagle Automotive, and he approached me in 2016 and asked if I would like to come for a visit to RLO at the time, now owned by the institute. But he gave me the golden ticket to come out to RLO, and so I joined the group in 2017.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:39]:
Okay.
Parker Branch [00:08:40]:
And still. Still in a GPG group with the institute now.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:45]:
Yep. So, yeah, yeah, we had pretty. Pretty similar as far as coaching. I didn't start as early as I probably should have, but I guess that's always hindsight. It'd be better if you could have started early.
Parker Branch [00:08:59]:
There was. I went to Ratchet and wrench, not this year, but the year before in Arlington, and there was a guy that they did a little feature on there, and he had hit a million dollars in sales out of a two bay shop. And I was thinking about it, it was almost ten years prior to that that we were doing 850,000 a year out of a two bay shop, charging $80 an hour and probably getting 20% parts margin, because we had no idea what we were doing. And I thought, man, had we been coached back then, we would have been right there with them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:36]:
Yeah, I mean, you just try. You think going bigger is better, and it's like, instead of focusing on the margins, which we're. We're all trying to do, we're all trying to follow the prompts and the actionizers and all that stuff. So, moving from rolo into the institute, how has that transition been for you?
Parker Branch [00:09:53]:
It's been really good. I know there we have a little bit of attrition, and some people had concerns and so forth of the change. I have a little different perspective because I've had an opportunity to sit down with Cecil and really talk about how things were presented to him and how things transpired for him. When he bought, you know, Dan Gilly out of Arlo, there were some people that were upset about some arrangements that Arlo had had with, I think, us auto force and that. But anyway, when the dust settled, the reality was we were better off. We had more content, more staff that were invested in this process. And, gosh, I'm pretty happy with, you know, after some changes and stuff, everybody gets a little nervous over the change.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:45]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:10:46]:
But the reality is we're still moving in the right direction and we're helping more people. I love it. I love still being in a group as well as I'm doing one on one coaching with.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:58]:
Yeah, you kind of need both, right. Like, so we moved pretty quickly from the, from the coaching to the, to the group process. Right. And it's like, I really like the one on one attention. Right. But you're still getting that, right?
Parker Branch [00:11:10]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:11]:
They kind of like, throw you into the wolves a little bit. Like into the end of the shark tank. Like, I don't know if I'm ready to be like, with these other shops because I have, like, you know, it don't feel like I'm there yet. I don't feel like I'm worthy. Right.
Parker Branch [00:11:21]:
Like, well, you know, and the same thing. I know you had a little bit of reservation of, you know, some of the group and, and how things are going. And no doubt that as you experience more meetings with those people, you'll show up to your 2nd, third, and fourth meeting. These start to become your old buddies, friends, and you can appreciate the work that they're doing to try to improve. You get to hear their stories or trials and tribulations, share, get a composite partner and go back and forth there and it makes you both better.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:59]:
Yeah, yeah. And that's, I mean, it's all the acronyms and the different language that, like, it's a lot. It's just like, a lot. It's a lot. And you're trying to, like, figure out.
Parker Branch [00:12:10]:
What are we even from the fire?
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:12]:
What are you talking about? Right. And it's like, and so, yeah, the actionizer, right? Fantastic tool. No idea what the hell that meant. A composite partner. A whatty what? You know?
Parker Branch [00:12:24]:
Exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:25]:
But you realize, like, oh, okay, so you just want me to document what my numbers are. You want me to share it with the other eight shoppers, owners so we can all make sure that we're holding each other accountable. And if not, we can say, well, where's the hole? Where's the leak? Right. How do we fix that? How do we address that? Because typically we would do that. And, I mean, I don't know if we would really watch our numbers before coaching, like, I knew that if there was no money in the bank account, we had to fix something.
Parker Branch [00:12:49]:
That was the barometer for pretty much everything.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:52]:
Fix it on the back end. Right? And now we can, like, quarterly go through now, even monthly right? Now the goals, let's monthly fix these holes, right. And be able to identify what the problem is instead. It's like, well, it is what it is. Last month wasn't good, so whatever. Next month will be better. It's like, no, I don't think you can do it that way. You have to, like, you got to.
Parker Branch [00:13:09]:
Stay up with it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:09]:
You got to stay up with it. And it forces you to, like, and we were talking downstairs about, like, employees and, like, losing good employees or having to fire employees, and it really forces you to do that and, like, cut ties if it's not working out, instead of saying, well, you know, they're people, we're people. Let's just be emotional and we'll keep them on board. Maybe they'll get better next month. Oh, okay. Maybe it'll be next month. Maybe it'll be, you know, it's like. But you can't.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:33]:
If you got, like, this team of other people that are like, what's going on, man? Hey, did you cut Johnny yet? Like, yeah.
Parker Branch [00:13:39]:
You gotta get rid of. Okay. So you can make room for. Great.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:43]:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Parker Branch [00:13:44]:
And one of the sayings that obviously it's, you know, a little biblical, but this, too shall pass. Somebody brought that up in one of our meetings, and the context of it was, when things are rough and you're struggling and you're really trying hard to get through a tough time, this, too shall pass. However, when things are going really well and you're on top of the world, you've got to pay attention to how you're structuring and running your business because this, too shall pass. You know, there's going to be, when things are up, they're going to go down eventually. When things are down, they're going to come back up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:23]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:14:24]:
You know, those losses occasionally will happen with a key employer. You know, that stuff happens and you just got to keep your head up. And I, I feel like, you know, the time at the institute, the time in the industry, growth, maturity. You know, we just lost, I was telling you earlier, we just lost the key technician, and it was very upsetting, very emotional. But that said, I was looking for help when I found him, and I have faith that we'll find somebody.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:55]:
Yeah. And it makes it sound dry. Right. And cold and to the extent of, like, everyone's replaceable. Right. When it's really. It's not. I mean.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:06]:
Right. Like, you spend more time. Yeah. You spend more time at work than anywhere else. And I think your family. Yeah. And I think it's a stigma that a lot of technicians or employees in general, you know, have this feeling of like, oh, I don't need to do what I'm told because I'm, you know, I'll just be replaced tomorrow if I die, like, you have no idea, like, what most. Most owners go through when they look at their team.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:31]:
Right. And like, to lose somebody, even, like, it's almost like a death of a family member when they walk out of your shop. Right. And it's like, I didn't even tell you because, you know, you're not. There's no need for you guys to communicate, communicate anymore. So it's like, yeah, it's much more than just a divorce.
Parker Branch [00:15:45]:
Yeah. I felt good about this. Key employee offered to stay for the better part of a month to give us some time to try to help recruit somebody to replace him. And by the second day after, you know, his giving notice, I actually walked out in the shop, and I talked to him a little bit, and I said, you know, I really want to thank you for agreeing to stay, to help us try to find somebody, and even more so for spending nine years of your life helping us achieve the goals and dreams that we've had, you know, for being part of our family, for. And he's a great friend of mine, too.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:26]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:16:27]:
And that won't change.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:29]:
Yeah. Was that, like, a mutual decision for him to move on or, you know.
Parker Branch [00:16:34]:
He had an opportunity to go into a government job that just had a little different look, not as difficult, not as demanding, and so something that made sense for him. It did. And I didn't get angry or fault him for it. I certainly said, gosh, I would love to have an opportunity to build you something that you want, a different path to leadership, ownership, whatever it might be. I feel like I try to keep that open to my employees all the time. Like, hey, if you start feeling like you're outgrowing your job, the last thing I want is for you to leave. So come, let's talk. Let's.
Parker Branch [00:17:11]:
Let's figure out something. So I was disappointed that he didn't come to me, you know, beforehand. He basically came when his decision was made.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:20]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:17:21]:
But all you can do is be supportive. And I know that if he gets over there where he's headed and is unhappy with it, he'll be back.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:31]:
There's always that possibility, you know, I'm.
Parker Branch [00:17:33]:
Not banking on it. I doubt it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:35]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:17:35]:
But at the same time, I certainly wasn't gonna do anything to damage our relationship.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:40]:
Right. And that was like, yeah, we were talking. We had lost a key employee, and. And that's what I did. I just. I sent him an offer letter of something that was enticing in a different position. Right. And just said, hey, hold on to this.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:50]:
You know?
Parker Branch [00:17:51]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:51]:
I'm not this job isn't available for about six months. Right. I don't know. I just thought that was maybe a good. I guess I call it a tactic, but it was like, you know, in six months, I'm going to be looking for a service manager.
Parker Branch [00:18:02]:
So it's sincere.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:04]:
Yeah. And it's like, here, just hold on to this. And if something doesn't work out, where you go, this is what's on the table for you, right?
Parker Branch [00:18:09]:
100%. Yeah. The. I talked to you a little bit about, we had a foreman position that we're trying to develop. That position.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:15]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:18:15]:
For quality control and overall production and so forth. And honestly, this guy that left, he. He'd be a great fit for that. So. So we'll just see what happens.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:27]:
Yeah. And that's what's kind of those conversations you have, and the communication is lines of communication. Try to keep open then also, like, not forcing something on them that they don't want. Right. And we have a technician and was kind of like, hey, we want to have you be opening and closing. Like, you've been here the longest. Like, we want to start graduating you up to scale. We thought it was a good opportunity.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:50]:
Like, we thought. It's like, hey, maybe eventually we'll get you into the manager position. That's like, get you on a career path. Right?
Parker Branch [00:18:55]:
Yeah. You recognize he's a great employee, and you want him to stay with you, so you want to make sure things get stale.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:01]:
But then at the. But then we realized he's not what he wanted. He just wanted to build his craft and be a technician. And it's like, oh, yeah. It's like, I thought we were doing the right thing, you know?
Parker Branch [00:19:13]:
You know, the last round of meetings with the institute, there was some discussion for us about quarterly performance evaluations and the importance of not waiting and just having a review once a year. And so we, at the time, we had 14 employees, and we went through and has a lot of lunches at Olive Garden because we like to get away, sit down, and just visit. And we learned so much from just sitting down and talking to each and outside of the shop, away from the shop.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:52]:
I've heard that a lot. I haven't done that.
Parker Branch [00:19:53]:
Hey, let's just talk about how things are going, how your relationships are with the other employees, with the ownership customers, all of it. And we really got feedback that we wouldn't have otherwise. So we learned some stuff that helped us to be better and take care of those employees. Pretty amazing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:13]:
That's interesting.
Parker Branch [00:20:13]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:14]:
Yeah. I've heard. I've heard a lot about that. Getting away from the shop.
Parker Branch [00:20:18]:
Yeah, we're just about ready to start our second round for the year of Olive Garden.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:25]:
Like, a member pass or something.
Parker Branch [00:20:26]:
I'll tell you, they know me by name. They don't even ask. They just show up at the table with chicken parmesan and iced tea.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:35]:
Just have them. Can I just keep the free breadsticks and salad rolling all year?
Parker Branch [00:20:39]:
Just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:39]:
I'll just keep it going. Like, I never leave.
Parker Branch [00:20:41]:
I'm thankful for Tina at the Olive Garden in Highlands ranch, Colorado.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:47]:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and listening to what they want, that's like. And then, obviously, for all of us, like, even for me, to, like, explain what I expect, that's a big one for me, that I had to learn recently, too, is like, oh, I haven't really set expectations. Like, I haven't really. Like, I'm asking what they want to do with their life, what they want every day, but I haven't really, liked, explain what I expect, what I want, and it's like, then it's like, I don't even know what that is, to be honest.
Parker Branch [00:21:12]:
No question. We have to. I'm def. I was definitely pretty codependent, afraid to kind of set rules and boundaries and so forth, especially with key employees, afraid that, you know, hey, this is what I need, and this is what my expectation is. Scared that that's gonna run somebody off. And over time, I I've learned that you have to be honest and fair with those people and let them know what the expectations are, and you get a better response.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:40]:
Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, you should. Right. Like, that's should be a mutual respect thing, but you're absolutely right. Like, there's, like, a fear behind, like, making sure, walking on eggshells if I hold somebody accountable.
Parker Branch [00:21:52]:
Or are they gonna pack up and leave?
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:54]:
Well, especially after kind of a traumatic experience and having someone leave, and you're like, what did I do wrong? What did I do? How do I. Like. And now you're. Now you're double second guessing everything, and. Yeah, it's. It's interesting what your mind does to you and make you second guess everything like that.
Parker Branch [00:22:10]:
Yeah. You get put in a hard spot. You're shorthanded or down a key person, and you. You have a little bit of a behavior adjustment.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:19]:
Well, you need to. Your own standards start lowering.
Parker Branch [00:22:21]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:21]:
And then everything starts going haywire, and you're wondering what's going on. I was like, oh. Cause I'm letting people get away with stuff that I that shouldn't be. And not really getting away with stuff, but you're just not.
Parker Branch [00:22:30]:
You're not being honest about what you need and what you expect. So that's. That's critical to have that transparency. Transparency and, you know, integrity with your people.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:40]:
Yeah. And I think they. They expect it, but don't want it. Well, we never do. Like. Right. Like, we don't want anybody speeding past us on the freeway at 100 miles an hour, but we don't. We don't want to be pulled over for going 100 miles an hour.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:52]:
So it's just.
Parker Branch [00:22:52]:
It's just how we want to go 100 miles.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:54]:
We should be allowed to. Right, right. Like, we don't want to get pulled over for it. Like, I'm allowed to do it. But don't you. Don't you dare.
Parker Branch [00:22:59]:
I can't believe that guy just did that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:02]:
It's like a universal thing like, that the human brain makes us do. Like, we can get away with stuff.
Parker Branch [00:23:06]:
Okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:07]:
If I do that, and I see that, too, in the staff and the crews, like, they see someone else do something, like, oh, I can't believe they're, you know, they left that out or that's there. That shouldn't. That doesn't go there. Right. They're not gonna say nothing because. Not like their position. I have to say something. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:22]:
Because of everybody. Right. And, yeah, that's. I think that's a critical kind of leadership role, too. That's really hard to do.
Parker Branch [00:23:29]:
It definitely comes with age and time and maturity.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:33]:
Yeah. I just rather go pick it up myself and I'll just, you know, like, I'll just. I'll just go take care of it. That's so much easier than, like, pulling aside, having the conversation, but I'm realizing that's not the right way to do it, you know?
Parker Branch [00:23:44]:
So with that key employee that you guys had lost in December, what happened from there? Were you able to replace that person or that position?
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:52]:
We act. Yeah, we actually hired on two more. Two more technicians came on.
Parker Branch [00:23:58]:
What was your method for finding your tax?
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:01]:
Same as always. Yeah, indeed. Okay, we pull the post, repost it. Pull the post, repost it. Actually, Craigslist was pretty good. Facebook's been, like, huge for me, and I've been promoting, like, social media, like, crazy because it's like, it's so. It's free.
Parker Branch [00:24:18]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:18]:
And it's so massive, the impact. You don't see the results right away, but people are paying attention.
Parker Branch [00:24:23]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:23]:
Especially employees.
Parker Branch [00:24:24]:
We're putting quite a bit of content out on Facebook. Shop marketing pros is managing it for us, but we're at that point where we just, you know, we communicate with them. Hey, this is our needs right now, whether it's car count or a technician or whatever. And we try to put some emphasis there. So quite a bit on our social media, Facebook and Instagram and so forth, a little bit over on LinkedIn. And, yeah, we're actually trying a couple other platforms right now. A little early to say, but we'll see how it goes.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:58]:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously, talking about marketing, that's big. I'll finish that, I guess the story with. I mean, we had a little. We had a bit of a dip. It was kind of a slow start to the year anyway. But honestly, everybody in the shop stepped up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:13]:
Right. And not that they weren't doing a bad job before, but it really doesn't show that we lost a key employee. Now, looking back in February, looking into March. Right. Like, yeah, I don't know if maybe there was a culture thing going on, or maybe he was. We were sending all the big jobs to him.
Parker Branch [00:25:30]:
Maslow's theory. Or they say, you know, if there's. If there's time to be killed, they'll kill it. And if there's work to be done, the crew will absorb that work.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:39]:
Maybe. I don't know. I mean, it's. It's. It's interesting. And the first epiphany I had is like, I don't want that. Because, for one, I don't want the culture of, like, this one lead tech. Right? This lead tech that's gonna take all the good work.
Parker Branch [00:25:52]:
Runs the company.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:53]:
Runs. Run, yeah. For one, the financial. So you're banking on him. But for two, all the other employees.
Parker Branch [00:25:59]:
It doesn't feel good for them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:00]:
No, it doesn't.
Parker Branch [00:26:01]:
It doesn't promote good culture, and it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:03]:
Depends on who they are. They could step up and be that person to manage. Right. And to teach. But typically, they aren't, like, get a rockstar technician. He just wants to eat boys hungry. Like, he just wants to work. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:14]:
And as a service advisor, you're going to feed him if he's hungry, because that also helps you. And then as the owner, you're seeing this thing going on. You're like, fantastic, right. And you don't realize until he's gone. That's like, maybe I was. Maybe. Maybe this was for the best after all, like, culture wise, you know? So it's interesting, and it's. I mean, it's pretty still new, and we're still working through it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:35]:
But, yeah, I mean, it happened, and so we got to move forward, and so how do we change our procedures and try to make that not happen again? But also pay attention. Like, pay a little bit more attention, even though we're making money, and that's like, oh, we're okay, cool. We're hitting our numbers. We're getting our sales goals. Like, now we can work on percentages. Like, no, pay attention to the culture of the shop, because maybe there was something going on that we didn't really know. Right. And that's how you lose some other, you know, technicians that are the ones that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:03]:
That are the backbone, really, like, and obviously, once you lose the key, we still hit our sales goal for February, so there was some backbone on the shop that we were ignoring.
Parker Branch [00:27:12]:
We're gonna be okay. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:14]:
Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:27:15]:
Relative to our speaker today, Kevin the hypnotist.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:20]:
And I'm excited about the magic show tomorrow or tonight. Right.
Parker Branch [00:27:24]:
What did you. How were you feeling after that key employee left? Did you have that anxiety, man?
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:31]:
I have. I have anxiety. I have a. I have a social anxiety issue. Like, I don't know if it's not. It's not diagnosed, so I don't know if it's, like, a real thing. But I think doing this podcast has helped me a lot. I think getting out in front of people because I'd come to these events, and I'd kind of just walk around my head down and, like, hope someone's gonna, like, bump into me and start a conversation.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:50]:
It's tough. It was tough for me, and I think a lot of people maybe deal with that. And so. And so when you're a technician, you got your head down, you're in your own world, right? And you're like, I'm fixing cars like nobody else's business. I'm open my own shop. And you don't realize you're now the front. Like, you're the face, right?
Parker Branch [00:28:07]:
So many more things.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:08]:
So many more things. And you got to talk people, and you got to come to these events, and you got to do stuff like that makes you super uncomfortable. Right. And so anxiety is a real thing. Like, oh, yeah. I mean, I'm up three in the morning, and he. He struck a chord with everything he.
Parker Branch [00:28:20]:
Said, right, that I made this morning. Hey, you know, what do you do at 303:00 in the morning when you're not. You weren't planning on meditating to get it centered for the day or whatever you woke up because the computer's running up in that head of yours. And worrying about, you know, payroll and mortgages and my problem. Enough business and what technician. Where are you going to find one?
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:43]:
Yeah, my problem is, like, it's always, like, just a little too early to actually get up, because sometimes I'll pop up at, like, five. I'm starting my day at 05:00. I can handle that. But, like, 330 is like, no, damn it. I cannot start my day at 330. I'm sorry. Cause I'll try to, like, I'll just force that issue. Right? I'm just like, yeah, you want to be able.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:01]:
Five. We're up. Let's go. We're going to the gym.
Parker Branch [00:29:04]:
Then, like, if it's 05:00 I'm making coffee and headed out back to feed the horses.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:08]:
Might as well. You're already up. I feel like going to the gym. Exercising helps a lot. I've done this after I exercise. I don't have that problem at all. And it's really weird what the triggers are, too.
Parker Branch [00:29:18]:
Like, all right, that's it. I'm going back to the gym starting this week.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:22]:
I definitely helps, you know, and cutting back, obviously, on drinking helps a lot, too. Trying to do, like, three drinks a, you know, a month, that helps a lot. Maybe one a week. Sure. I mean, whether that's me just getting old, I don't know. You'd have to. You'd have to tell me if that's.
Parker Branch [00:29:36]:
A thing, I'm cut her back because it's a thief.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:41]:
So. Yeah, but, and it's interesting, like I said, what the triggers are. Like, what creates it? And I don't know. Cause I just wake up, and there's nothing really running through my mind other than everything. Right. Like, there's not, like, a specific thing. So I've looked into mindfulness a lot, you know, and I've done the. What's the app? There's an app for it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:59]:
There's, like, a calm app, and there's.
Parker Branch [00:30:00]:
A. I've subscribed to a couple of those before.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:03]:
You know what I'm talking about. And so you pick up a few tactics, and that's kind of what I just sit there and do your thing, and. And then all of a sudden, you're back asleep, and it's like, okay, cool, I can handle that. You know, I did a lot of drugs, you know, back in my early days, some not lsd, but a lot of, you know, mind altering substances. And it's like, you work through some stuff, you know, like, I did too much, and I don't want to be here anymore. So that gives you a little bit of power to kind of help cope with it as well.
Parker Branch [00:30:30]:
Sure.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:31]:
I don't know if. I don't know if that's like a promotion to do, don't do drugs. That wasn't what I was, but that's not what I was getting at.
Parker Branch [00:30:37]:
What Nancy said, just say no.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:39]:
Just say no. Don't do drugs. That wasn't a promo for that. Yeah, but, no, it's a. I like that because I say that a lot with anxiety and, like, having people come in and they're anxious, and then you're anxious, and everybody's, you know, feeding off each other. It's a lot of anxiety for people coming. They don't come into a shop a lot. They're in a bad way.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:58]:
Right. And then we're in a bad way. Cause we have our own problems, and now we have another somebody else's problem that we have to fix.
Parker Branch [00:31:05]:
Anything new, especially. I mean, I was a little nervous. Come over here and sit down and be on a podcast, but I feel like I'm already getting to know you a little better and create a connection.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:15]:
So, yeah, it's. It's huge. It's big. And, yeah, I think it really comes down to the communication part of it. It really, truly does. And then being, like, self aware of, like, of that and not trying to, I don't know, force yourself through it. And I think the new generation now. What's the new generations?
Parker Branch [00:31:33]:
Are we beyond x now or.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:35]:
I think so. I don't know. Whatever. Whatever. Be before them or after the millennials.
Parker Branch [00:31:41]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:41]:
And, like, their whole kind of, I want to hear a vibe, you know, I want to catch a vibe, and it's all about a vibe. And, like, I'm into it. I get it, you know, and we have to market to them. Like, that's, that's the new customers.
Parker Branch [00:31:53]:
We gotta. We gotta be able to speak their language.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:55]:
Yeah. And if you want to market to someone, you have to be that person. Like, you gotta really, truly understand it. And I get it. Like, not to the extent of, like, oh, I'm just gonna, you know, live off the land and not have a job. And not, they're all not like that.
Parker Branch [00:32:08]:
But understanding what's important to them and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:10]:
Drives them, and understanding the mental aspect. Understanding, like, hey, man, we got anxiety, and that's it.
Parker Branch [00:32:17]:
I want my kids to come in and help me with my marketing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:20]:
You should. Probably should.
Parker Branch [00:32:21]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:22]:
You know, and I want to circle back to that marketing, too, because we talked about employment, and I think that's a big one for the shops as well, is like, you got to realize, like, the marketing dollars that you're spending also is putting you in front of potential employees. And I brought up Facebook because that's been a big pull. As I started marketing morph on Facebook, I started getting more candidates. Yeah.
Parker Branch [00:32:46]:
People see what you're doing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:47]:
Yeah. And it wasn't necessarily through Facebook, but they would, you know, put a resume through. Indeed. Or Craigslist or whatever. And during the interview process was like, I watched you on Facebook. I really like what you're doing. I'm like, oh, you know, and it's like, you never would have known that. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:04]:
And it's like, oh, I see. And it's like, then you get two or three or four, and then, like, service advisor, man. We have, like, 15 or 20 resumes.
Parker Branch [00:33:12]:
You know, it's funny, as of late in the last six to nine months, there's been a bit of merger acquisition type stuff going on in our area, and just being present on Facebook and speaking, doing videos, trying to attract customers, technicians, employees of any sort. We've had quite a few service advisors and other employees from other companies that are maybe not happy with how things have changed or transitioned.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:44]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:33:44]:
Show up and sometimes I don't think about where'd those people come from.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:49]:
Right.
Parker Branch [00:33:51]:
But they're seeing us in that same capacity.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:53]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Instagram, TikTok. I mean, yeah. Social media is so huge, and it's so cheap. I mean, it's free.
Parker Branch [00:34:02]:
Yeah. It's a good resource.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:04]:
It's free. And, I mean, if we're here talking about marketing, that's like, what's better than free marketing?
Parker Branch [00:34:10]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:10]:
And when you can kill, like, two or three birds with 1 st, you know, you get people. And I don't even know. Facebook's like a legit thing for, like, auto shops to bring a new business. I don't know.
Parker Branch [00:34:19]:
Yeah, I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:20]:
I don't think it's a new acquisition.
Parker Branch [00:34:21]:
I think it's a great brand recognition.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:23]:
Exactly. Yeah. So being present, a good retention tool.
Parker Branch [00:34:27]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:27]:
If they continue, if they've been there once and then they start seeing you, they're like, oh, cool. Builds that trust. And then obviously they, you know, you got kids that are. Or not kids. We got people on their phone at lunch or, you know, in the bathroom, and they're scrolling through and they hate their job, and they're like, oh, what's this shot? What's this shop doing? That looks like a lot of fun. So make your shop look fun, you know?
Parker Branch [00:34:47]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:48]:
Or just have a fun shop. I guess that's a better way to put it.
Parker Branch [00:34:51]:
We try.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:54]:
Well, cool, man. It's been fun.
Parker Branch [00:34:58]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:59]:
Looking forward to tonight. We got a magic show.
Parker Branch [00:35:00]:
Yeah, I can't wait. Maybe he's gonna hit until ties me and I'll take a good nap.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:05]:
So if you missed this year, you got to come to Mars. 2025.
Parker Branch [00:35:08]:
Yeah. Don't miss it so much. Great content here, so get out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:12]:
I like it. Thanks, man.
Parker Branch [00:35:13]:
Thank you.