Owning an aftermarket auto repair shop is not easy. For any shop owner, building a successful and profitable shop is a journey in education.
Take Keith Huggins, the owner of Brown Motor Works NE, as an example. The shop has nine bays, moves 45+ cars a week through the cleanest shop floors in the industry, and serves a high-end client base that trusts their expensive BMW’s, Mercedes, and Porsche’s to the care of his team.
But the shop was not always a well-oiled machine and vastly different from today.
When he first got the opportunity to run his shop, he struggled to work on the business instead of in the business. To help the shop and himself, he joined Automotive Training Institute (ATI) in 2002, and it almost immediately changed his shop for the better because he no longer had to do it all on his own. He said, “Many shop owners get started because they are good mechanics. But to operate differently and run a successful business, you cannot do it yourself, and you cannot do it on an island.
“To operate a successful auto shop, you can’t do it all by yourself, and you can’t do it on an island.”
As powerful as that lesson is, there were two additional lessons from Huggins you should consider to help your shop.
Build for Your Busiest Day
There have been many lessons learned running Brown Motor Works for the past three-plus decades. When asked what he would do differently if he started his shop again today, Huggins said, “you need to build your business for your busiest day.” But, he continued, “it took me a long time to understand this lesson, and I would have built my building twice the size it is today.”
“You need to build your business for your busiest day. Build the building twice the size it is today.”
While it might seem counterintuitive, building your business for your busiest day is challenging because it is not cheap to buy an additional building or build a more expansive shop. For simple reasons, real estate is expensive, and equipment cost is incrementally higher.
Build a Training and Development Culture
Many shop owners are concerned about being in the aftermarket auto repair space because of the influx of electric vehicles. But not Huggins, “I am not concerned about being in the future auto space. To show you why not, four out of five of my technicians took online training about Electric Vehicles through Covid and the other one took training on the new BMW electric vehicles. We are well-positioned to capture this market in the area as more electric vehicles need service in our market.”
Whether Huggins knows it or not, the best lesson is what he said next, “we think of Brown Motor Works as a training center. If you work here, you will learn.”
“If more shop owners thought of their business as a training center for their employees, they would have more fulfilled, engaged, and productive team members.”
Closing
So, channel your inner Keith Huggins by building your shop for your busiest day and think of your business as a training center. If you do, you will be on your way to a more successful and profitable shop.