Show Summary:

Jimmy Lea hosts a conversation with AutoBoost’s Adam Kushner and Joe Pfender, joined by Eric Henley of H Tek Tire & Auto Care in East Tennessee, exploring how auto repair shops can remain visible, relevant, and profitable no matter the economic climate. The discussion ranges from the early days of phone book ads to today’s data-driven digital strategies, with insights on Google Ads, Local Service Ads, and brand-based website content. Eric shares how targeted marketing and rebranding have fueled major growth in tire sales, how his team uses DVIs to build trust, and how tools like online scheduling and call tracking boost efficiency. The group also dives into reducing no-shows, leveraging video to tell a shop’s story, and shifting the public perception of the auto repair industry through exceptional customer experiences.

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

Guest(s):

Eric Henley, Owner of H-TEK Tire & Auto Care

Adam Kushner, Owner of AutoBoost Business Actualization

Joe Pfender, Director of Growth & Client Success at AutoBoost Business Actualization

Episode Highlights:

[00:03:14] - Eric’s journey from a two-person shop to a seven-bay operation in rural East Tennessee.

[00:04:51] - How search engine “real estate” has replaced static, phone-book style marketing.

[00:08:53] - Rebranding with a tire focus delivers a 75% increase in tire sales.

[00:10:47] - Tracking ROI with a goal of at least 300–400% return on ad spend.

[00:12:21] - Using “Google Whisper” to signal advisors when calls are from paid ads.

[00:13:53] - Tailoring the sales process to match customer expectations for higher close rates.

[00:17:17] - Building brand-driven, locally relevant website content.

[00:21:07] - Three must-have videos: testimonials, owner story, and shop culture.

[00:23:21] - Online scheduling with reminders and warm follow-ups to cut down no-shows.

[00:36:24] - Leveraging Local Service Ads and Google Guaranteed to dominate top search placement.

👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O99j8Iyklbg

Don’t miss exclusive insights, expert takeaways, and real talk you won’t hear anywhere else. Hit Subscribe, drop a comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear this!

Links & Resources: 

________________________________________

Episode Transcript Disclaimer

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: So thank you for joining us. Those of you who are here live and those who are joining and the recording, thank you very much. We have lots of questions to ask and lots of people to talk to about our subject today, which is everything to do with your shop and being found and being relevant in any economy no matter what's happening, whether economy is up or down or sideways or backwards.

Jimmy Lea: Whatever that might be, you have to be found. So where are people going? What are they doing? Where are they finding you? Where are they finding your shop? So in order to do this, we've invited Auto Boosto. We've got Adam and Joe joining us from Auto Boosto to talk about what they do as a marketing company with shops and their websites.

Jimmy Lea: Thank you for joining us, Joe. 

Joe Pfender: Absolutely. Thanks for having us. 

Jimmy Lea: Yes, and thank you, Adam. Glad that you are here. Honored to be here. Nice, nice. Now you guys are in the same conference room you're sitting across from each other. 

Adam Kushner: Uh, we're in the office. We moved apart a little bit to avoid any echo, but just so that we had, uh, wanted to make sure everybody could see Joe's beautiful face.

Jimmy Lea: That's it. You know, it's all about the Joe Show. It really is. Uh, we were at Tools together and we did some video with Joe and, and he was just so much pent up energy. It's hard to get that boy to stand still. 

Joe Pfender: I did my best Jimmy 

Jimmy Lea: video. It's so good. It's epic. It, it belongs on every bit of YouTube and the internet.

Jimmy Lea: Yo, you did a great job. Thanks, Jimmy. Yes. You, you did. It was, it was the most energy of any video we recorded at Tools, so well done, sir. I appreciate that. Nice, nice. So waving at each other across from the conference table. Hello. Hello. Good to see you everyone. Guys. Hey, and, and joining us for our shop owner today is Eric Hensley with, uh, Eric is with High Tech H Tech.

Jimmy Lea: Are you changing to H Tech or is it High Tech? 

Eric Henley: It's, it's H Tek Tire and Autocare. Yep. 

Jimmy Lea: H Tech Tire Auto Care, Eric Hensley up in the, uh, 

Eric Henley: east Tennessee. 

Jimmy Lea: East Tennessee. I was gonna say you were up in Maine. I, but I knew 

Eric Henley: Sunny East Tennessee, right up in the corner near Bristol. 

Jimmy Lea: Nice. East Tennessee. Nice. And what's the weather like there in Tennessee right now?

Eric Henley: Uh, we're almost 80. It's, we've got a cool spell, so it's pretty nice. 

Jimmy Lea: Hey, 

Eric Henley: that's feeling good. 

Jimmy Lea: I'll tell you, I, I moved to Northern Utah, and, uh, the high yesterday was 94. It felt so good to be at that nice, cool level under a hundred. Wow. We, we live in st. We lived in St. George, Utah, and it was 104 hundred eight on a regular basis.

Jimmy Lea: So to go to 94, you can tell. Hmm, that's a 10, 10 degrees swing. Yeah, it was feeling pretty good. Feeling pretty good. 

Speaker 5: Nice. 

Jimmy Lea: So, Eric, thank you for joining. So glad that you're here with us. We can have this conversation talking about you and your shop and your business. You were recently on with us last December, talking about your shop as well.

Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm. But for those who are joining for the first time, give us a little breakdown of, of who you are, what your shop is, what it looks like. They're in east Tennessee. 

Eric Henley: Yeah, so we're in, uh, right in the corner of the state, very rural area. Uh, been in business now 19 years. Uh, started just me and myself, um, me and my father.

Eric Henley: And, um, now we're at Seven Bays and a full staff. Uh, and, uh, we've grown tremendously through the years. So, uh. Not sure where else you want. 

Jimmy Lea: No, man, I'll tell you, that's, that's fan fascinating. 19 years in business. So I, marketing wise, you have seen a lot of changes that have come through the years. Mm-hmm.

Jimmy Lea: Because I think back 19 years ago when I started my business, it was like, okay, you have to have a full page ad in the newspaper. It's $1,500 a month. Mm-hmm. Yep. Holy crap. Yep. And, and my town had three new, uh, three phone books. 

Eric Henley: I remember the first time they pitched me, SEO was through, uh, Dex and they were pitching me $2,500 a month.

Eric Henley: Yeah. And I couldn't afford $500 a month when we started, so they were like, no, the business will come. And we're like, eh, not sure. So, uh, major difference in what we, the way we market now compared to what we did back then. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. Made, made huge differences. Uh, mine was a, a little eighth inch. I had a one inch, uh, ad in the phone book.

Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm. And I was still a hundred bucks a month. I had to pay for that one inch. And I had three phone books, so it was 300 bucks a anyways. Uh, yeah. You've seen a marketing change a lot where going from phone books to websites, websites just became a picture of that. Mm-hmm. Phone book. Mm-hmm. Yep. Very static.

Jimmy Lea: No dynamics to it whatsoever. But there was so much that we could do with that. Uh, Joe, Adam, what did you guys do to take it from a, a static phone book website to something more dynamic? 

Adam Kushner: Well, and I just made a comment in the chat, you know, back, I remember those days as well. Um. Uh, you know, 20 years ago when, uh, when we were looking at Yellow page ads and negotiating on space, and that was the search engine result page, right?

Adam Kushner: That's where someone opened up and you had to capture their attention by having the most real estate on the page and having, you know, a website that performs well and shows up organically is extremely important because that's one piece of that real estate. Um, and then, yeah, pay to play Google ads. Um, you know, now with Google local service ads, you're paying twice to be on the same page.

Adam Kushner: Potentially if they 

Jimmy Lea: click on it, right? 

Adam Kushner: Yeah, yeah. Or if they call you with local service ads. Um, and then it's everything else. You know, the Yellow Pages didn't really have local listing directories, and that was one other way to get on the search engine result page. Um, and we call that the real estate of the, the serp, the real estate of the search engine result page, where, you know, you can be into a thread on Reddit where people are having a conversation about the best place to take their car, and that's ranking on Google and maybe your website's not even ranking, but they click through to that Reddit conversation and they see everybody talking about how you're the best, hopefully.

Adam Kushner: And, uh, that's one more place that you get to show up. So, uh, definitely some evolution since the days of the phone book. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, for sure, for sure. Eric. And when it comes to you and your marketing and Google, and Google ads and local ads search and, and everything that's Google's doing, how much of that have you researched to learn on your own versus, Hey, you know what, I'm gonna hire a guy to help out.

Eric Henley: So we have the group process, which has been an education for that, both with you and the institute. And then, uh, Joe has been quite the teacher, uh, between he and, uh, the, uh, representative from Auto Vitals. Uh, they both together have collaborated and really taught me a lot of things about what is effective online, what to do, and we know how to fix cars.

Eric Henley: They know how to turn the knobs on the internet and make things work better for you. And they're very interactive with you. 

Jimmy Lea: And you said auto vitals? Yes. Did you mean auto boosts? I'm sorry. You've been working with both? Well, yes. With both. Yes. So, oh, that's phenomenal. So what, what did, what are some of those things that you have learned that you can do as a shop owner versus he?

Jimmy Lea: These are the things I'm gonna hire auto boost and auto vitals to do for me. 

Eric Henley: Yeah, so the content was one thing. Our content was old and tired, and it was 2016, I guess, uh, version. So we had to update that. And then from there, that basically gives them the machine, uh, of the words to make it work and make it work locally.

Eric Henley: Uh, versus falling two pages down, uh, you become the top band guy, or at least in the top on the first page. Uh, so, and we rely, most of our advertisement advertisement now is with Google and Google AdWords. So these guys, uh, they're making a shine and, uh, I think it, it's reflected in the reviews as well. Oh, that's so 

Jimmy Lea: good.

Eric Henley: Yep. That's 

Jimmy Lea: so good. Yeah. The most important thing for any Google ad, any ROI on those ad spend is making that phone ring. 

Eric Henley: Mm-hmm. Yep. And then they offer you all kinds of tools to see what's, what's calling, who's calling the type of customer, and then they can make adjustments on the fly to, to change up, you know, say you're not hitting, say it's tires.

Eric Henley: We, we rebranded this year with tires. We're up 75% in tire sales and they're doing sponsored ads for us. So, uh. It's a, it's amazing the result just in tires this year, just from the rebrand and then what they're doing to advertise for us. Um, 

Jimmy Lea: well that's phenomenal. So, so do, do you have a, a dashboard or do you have a, how do you track your return on investment with what you're spending on Google Ads versus, uh, what Auto Boosts is making the phone ring?

Eric Henley: So we meet about once a month, uh, Joe, uh, and he's got the Google Analytics. Um. Dashboard and there are tons of metrics, things, I don't know. And so each time 

Jimmy Lea: there's metrics on top of metrics in your Google analytics. I, we know this. 

Eric Henley: And, and he and he, uh, each time I learn a little bit more about what that means and how that affects, uh, our searches.

Eric Henley: Uh, and he can tell me what words are being searched. You know, it's amazing the, the amount of data. That they provide. Oh, 

Joe Pfender: I mean. 

Eric Henley: I 

Joe Pfender: mean, we're getting into the weeds, talking about, um, I mean down to the campaign or the keyword level, how we're allocating Eric's budget, and from that perspective, how it's being spent.

Joe Pfender: And then the next layer that he was referring to beyond just Google Analytics, Eric can log into our call tracking platform. Look at the calls generated from Google Ads. There's advanced features for scoring leads, so it's true visibility into the results, and then the connection between marketing and sales.

Joe Pfender: Um, so you know, a lot of features and a lot of tools to give clients that visibility to justify the investment and understand what they're actually getting for the investment in Google Ads. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. I love it. What, what kind of a return do you auto boosts do you promote for shop owners? What should they expect to get from their Google ads?

Joe Pfender: Sure. Um, so we do have a, what we call a revenue attribution tool that, um, is in a beta right now. Um, we had about, uh, 50 ish clients, uh, towards the end of 2024 on our revenue attribution tool. And the average roas or return on ad spend was about 700%. So that means that the average client was making $7 in revenue per dollar spent in Google ads.

Joe Pfender: Um, I've seen higher than that. Though we see a benchmark or what we should be aiming for at a minimum is about three to hundred, 300 to 400% ROAS on Google Ads. So we're looking at a minimum three to $4 in revenue per dollar spent. 

Adam Kushner: Well, and then working backwards from there. Right. Because, um, you know, as Joe kind of touched on briefly, it's that connection between marketing and sales and working with, working with the shop owner and, and with the team.

Adam Kushner: You know, that's picking the phone up and that's fielding those leads. Um. And then giving them visibility into, um, you know, the phone call where they can use it for sales training. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, they can, uh, help us with feedback to optimize. Um, so being engaged like that with your marketing is extremely important.

Adam Kushner: And even if it's not Google Ads, you know, anywhere that those leads are coming from, um. To make sure that, that you're working with your marketing company. Uh, 'cause it's not just, you know, checking the box of I'm, I'm doing Google ads, or I have a website. Um, it goes way beyond that, you know, to sales actions that are being, being taken within the business.

Eric Henley: Oh yeah, sure. And then one other thing I was gonna mention, you mentioned the calls. So they help us set up the Google Whisper. So now we know if it's a Google generated call and we know, uh, the sales process might be a little bit different. So you get a little heads up before you answer. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, isn't that great?

Jimmy Lea: That, that's awesome, because now a service advisor can be with the understanding that this phone call is costing the company 10 bucks, 12 bucks, 15 bucks, 20 bucks, whatever it is. Maybe it's a buck 50. Depends on the keyword that's being spent on, but it, uh, this is a very valuable phone call. Yep. You better close, you better make an appointment.

Jimmy Lea: You better close a deal. 

Eric Henley: Yeah. And then we created a, a Google Doc, uh, to track those calls as well. So they, they, they, they, they'll, the advisor will type in. What the call was, what it was about, whether it was converted or not. Uh, and so he and I can interact, uh, the next month and say, okay, these are the calls we're getting.

Eric Henley: What, what is, is this working well? Could we change something up to where we get this call versus that call? 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, interesting. Yep. So what have you found that is, uh, working the best with your advisors right now? What are they able to close quickly and easily? 

Eric Henley: So it it with the, with the DEI, the transparency with that and the value, um, they pre-sell before, uh, the customer ever gets there.

Eric Henley: Uh, and then the intake process, we changed it up some. So we asked for the expectation, uh, what is your expectation? You wanna drive it to the wheels fall off, or do you just wanna fix what's broken? Now you, you, you still, you still do the 300% rule. You still do a great DVI. It's just the manner in which you come at the customer, uh, post DVI, and it, it's, it's just a way of framing, uh, the way you present the estimate in a way that's non-offensive.

Eric Henley: And then you, for those that come to you, this as a podcast I listened to the other day. Another way to do that, if you say you've got a customer who comes in who thinks they know what's wrong already. You can use that to your advantage and say, you know, you were dead on. We have performed tests and procedures and confirmed that what you said is right and we're not gonna waste your money by replacing a component that doesn't need.

Eric Henley: So it's just those little new it instead of, Hey, this is Joe with Joe's Garage. It's a warm grating, it's interaction, uh, it's setting the expectation. And then get then providing 'em with a great customer experience and then if you screw up, own it and, and make it right. So, 

Jimmy Lea: yeah. 

Eric Henley: Oh, that's powerful. 

Jimmy Lea: And did you hear that, Joe?

Jimmy Lea: You now own Joe's Garage? I guess so. I, I know a guy that can help you with your website, Joe, so. 

Joe Pfender: Yeah, I know a guy too, 

Jimmy Lea: Adam. Uh, we need to hook up Joe with a Joe's garage. Sounds good. We'll 

Adam Kushner: get 'em some t-shirts too. 

Jimmy Lea: T-shirt. Oh yeah. I love it. I love it. So you, uh, I I love that you're educating the customer.

Jimmy Lea: Uh, I've always said that an educated customer, an educated client, makes better decisions. So those DDIs, even though it's a, it's an inspection sheet, it's goes so much into marketing as well. Mm-hmm. Marketing your business, but marketing the, the effectiveness of your business, the effectiveness of your inspections.

Jimmy Lea: I, I'm grateful for those dvs. There were three cars we were looking at buying, and with the DVI, we paid 160 bucks per inspection. Mm-hmm. Thank you for the shop for doing this and avoided some serious headaches. 

Eric Henley: Mm-hmm. Yep. Pre-buy inspection. Yep. Better than post buyer. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah. We found some nefarious, uh, things that a used car dealership was doing with a Honda to bring that O2 sensor out of, uh, out of the flow.

Eric Henley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I know what that is. I've seen that done before. Yeah. It's a little sketchy 

Jimmy Lea: now in their defense. I don't think it was the used car dealership that was doing it. I think the previous owner had done it because the patina was way too. It was old. It wasn't something, it wasn't new. Like they, they had just done it.

Jimmy Lea: So I, I think they bought it that way, but we weren't gonna buy that headache or that problem, that that's not where we wanted to go. So I appreciate you doing the dvs, the 300% rule. Yep. Look at everything, estimate everything, show everything to the clients, and, and it's their decision. 

Eric Henley: Well, one other thing I wanted to talk about, 'cause we talked about content and about upgrading that, so.

Eric Henley: With the institute's training on, uh, brand and how important context statements are in the way they affect your brand. So just to be sure you've got your mission, your vision, your values, operating principles down, and then wrap your content around that. Make sure it, it talks about those things and live it out.

Eric Henley: You know, you, you have to live those. They, they can't be just something on the wall. It has to be what you believe in. I think that really, that gives you great content and that gives them something to really make you shine on, on the web versus, uh, you know, somebody how their own site built or maybe their some parts vendor site built it for them.

Eric Henley: Uh, your website looks way different than anybody else's, and, and it speaks locally to your, to who you're trying to attract too. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Adam, when you're setting up a website for a shop, how many, how many pages do you set up a shop with, or how much customization does a shop allowed in developing their website?

Adam Kushner: Well, there's definitely no one size fits all. Um, but Eric kind of, you know, he hit the point with making sure that your website represents your brand. Um, you know, we like to say represent your brand, resonates with your local market and, and that it tells your story that it's a differentiator. Um, because if someone does click through on that search engine result, and you know, they're not just calling a phone number that's showing up in Google Maps and, and they're looking at your website, that's affecting their decision to buy and to do business with you.

Adam Kushner: So making sure that it's not cookie cutter content. Uh, making sure that you're not using stock images with people in them that are not your employees or your customers. Um. Making sure that, you know, do the best that you can with the curb appeal that you have with your business to, to take, take pictures and, and to present, you know, what the customer is gonna see and experience once they arrive.

Adam Kushner: Um, so, you know, video is extremely important in, you know, the most authentic way that you can tell a story. Uh, so we always just encourage shop owners to, to invest in video. Um, and it doesn't have to be in your shop, you know, it can be the owner telling their story and why they do what they do and why they're passionate about it.

Adam Kushner: And I mean, that's where I want to take my shop, right? I don't want to take it to, you know, we've got 30 shops within five miles of us, and you know, which one is the, the true, authentic, the, from the owner down to the guy taking the trash out. They all care about the customer. Oh yeah, 

Jimmy Lea: that's important. 

Adam Kushner: So, so getting that, you know, into your digital presence is extremely important.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. There is so much information you can show on video. There's so much you can put in that B roll that doesn't have to be said. You can observe it, you can see it, you can see it happening Professionally, done video is definitely the way to go. I, and I always say that there's three videos you definitely want on your website, uh, Joe or Adam.

Jimmy Lea: What videos do you highly recommend shop owners have on their website? 

Adam Kushner: I'm gonna let you guess what Jimmy was gonna say, Joe. 

Joe Pfender: Well, I think customer testimonials is one for sure. Um, you know, another example, and I mean, Adam alluded to this before, having the auto shop owner talk about why he started the shop, especially when we're talking about, you know, helping people and delivering the best service and keeping people safe.

Joe Pfender: Um, you know, those are two things that come to my mind immediately. Um, and then a third one, Adam, what would you say? 

Adam Kushner: Well, just like a, a, a culture video, you know, other than the owner, but it would be, you know, the employees talking about why they work there. Um, and, uh, you know, that overarching about us, you know, where it's, um, you know, having the owner, you know, talk about, um, why he's passionate about what you do.

Adam Kushner: You know, pictures of happy, smiling customers and service advisors. And, uh, and painting the picture you know of, of your culture and, and what it's like at your shop. Um, you know, especially today, right? You can have customers that never even step foot on the property or they drop their car off after hours.

Adam Kushner: You know, they pick it up before you open and they never even interact with anybody that works at your company. Literally, right. Like never even on the phone, just through text messages. Um, so you can't even hear their voice, um, for them to, you know, have that, um, you know, communication that, that communicates who they are as a company.

Adam Kushner: So you can do it with video, um, even with audio ads. Oh, for sure. 

Jimmy Lea: Eric, have you ever had a client that fits what Adam's talking about, which is a mirror image of me? Where you're texting the client all the time, but uh, you really don't ever get to see them. Have you ever had those clients? 

Eric Henley: Yeah. Yeah.

Eric Henley: Especially during, uh, COVID we had a lot of people that didn't wanna come in and so that, that became a kind of a normal thing. Uh, and we still have that now. Now we really stress a at least conversation after the DBI sent, uh, 'cause we really want that. Uh. Endearment. We want that personal touch. Uh, we want stand out in the way we speak to them different than any other shop.

Eric Henley: Uh, so, uh, we still, we still, uh, promote that, but there are existing customers who trust us that would rather just approved, go ahead, do it, you know, and let me know when it's done. Yeah, those are the 

Jimmy Lea: key tossers. They toss you the keys and say, tell me when they can pick it up. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta love that.

Jimmy Lea: Those are good. Those are really cool. Well, what about, um, online scheduling, Eric, how important has that become to your shop? 

Eric Henley: Yeah, so we, we have another, uh, integration we use for that now and uh, it definitely frees up time for the service advisor, uh, 'cause it'll pop into the calendar. We've got the parameters, set the rules, and, uh, so it knows when it's open, uh, or, or, or if there's a waiting appointment available.

Eric Henley: And they don't, I mean, it saves them on the call so they can build estimates and sell work, manage workflow in the shop and not be on the phone as much. So yeah, we definitely use that, uh, uh, a lot more than, than, uh, and it's, it's unified now too. So a lot of the new softwares will not only take your website book appointment button, but they'll take your, uh, Google My Business button and they all you not to the same funnel and it lands in your calendar and it gathers more data to even some AI components that will, uh, are intuitive.

Eric Henley: They'll learn. The direction that customer's going with their, uh, description and asks more for clarity. So there's less of, um, mistakes on, uh, intake. Uh, so it improves that as well. 

Jimmy Lea: That's good. What, uh, having the, uh, online scheduling, I know it's like super valuable. It, it's something that I always utilize for sure.

Jimmy Lea: Uh, and because I, I drop it off early or the night before and, and let you have the car all day and I'll pick it up in two or three days whenever you're done. Mm-hmm. And we can rearrange that. Um, what, what about the, uh, uh, what are you doing to assure that those who will online schedule with you actually show up?

Eric Henley: Uh, so there is a reminder, uh, text that goes out, uh, 24 hours before. Uh, to remind them and we get them. I see 'em in the replies. Uh, the guys get it in a conversation center, but I, I see 'em in the, in a, in the business email, and I'll look through to see how many reply. There's a lot of 'em just, yes, or maybe they've got some other statement they put in there, but, uh, that's, that's how they confirms it.

Eric Henley: And then, uh, then that, that's pretty much it. The reminder, if they miss the appointment. Uh, there's a way, uh, one of the integrations, uh, if they began a, they call it a lead, if they began a lead and then didn't complete it. So it already gathers their name, it gathers their phone number, and from there we have a nice warm text that's already created.

Eric Henley: It's past it in, they create a profile, I guess, enough to contact that customer and then send a nice, warm text out that, Hey, noticed you started to book an appointment, must have run into a problem or something. How can we help you with that and go ahead and get you scheduled in. Uh, and you'd be surprised how many of those convert.

Eric Henley: Uh, maybe it's an older person or wasn't used to, used to going down that and for some reason they didn't call. 

Speaker 5: Yeah. 

Eric Henley: So, uh. So, yeah, that's, it's definitely helped with that. And then, uh, the reminders that go out, uh, 30, 60, 90 day reminders to keep you busy for all declined work. Oh, really? Uh, yeah. If you've got, I mean, that's, if, if you did a great DBI and say they did their breaks and there was fluids and whatever else declined, uh, you create an automated.

Eric Henley: Text blast and, and you remind them every 30, 60, 90 days, and you'd be surprised how many times on the calendar you say, Mrs. Jones returning for recommended work from last service. 

Jimmy Lea: I love it. I would, I would be surprised as well. 

Eric Henley: Yep. 

Adam Kushner: Well, and as a, a marketing company, I mean that's, that's why a relationship with a business owner like Eric can be successful because he's doing all of the other things that need to happen after the click, you know, after that initial ARRA interaction that we can trust that his sales team is taking every action that they can to make sure that that lead converts into revenue in the shop.

Jimmy Lea: You know that, that's an interesting point you bring up there, Adam. What? What do you see that Eric does that other shops don't? That is that difference that makes him just that much more successful in his conversions. 

Adam Kushner: Well, everything that he just spoke about Yeah. Is, you know, it's a differentiator if his competition is not doing that and, um, you know, someone's scheduling an appointment and then not showing up because it wasn't convenient or, you know, something else came up, you know, following up with them to make sure that you get 'em back in to the shop, um, and recapture that, you know, the, you know, unsold service work.

Adam Kushner: Where, you know, keeping the customer from going back to Google and searching for the next automotive repair shop when Anita arises, but keeping your brand name in front of them. So even if they do go back and search for an automotive repair shop, that they already, they recognize you and they remember you and they remember the positive experience that they had.

Adam Kushner: So they choose you again. 

Speaker 5: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Adam Kushner: And that's something that's happening, you know, not just with automotive repair, that consumers are just not, um. Not necessarily defaulting back to the same business that they used previously. 

Jimmy Lea: No, they're not. They, it is like, they forget about that oil sticker that's up there in the corner.

Jimmy Lea: They don't remember to come back. Um, you know, um, Kyle has a really good question that he's put into, uh, the chat here. I have an issue with this too. Some clients see that as impersonal. The texts going back to confirm an appointment. Where, uh, would there be a better way for us to reach out for that appointment Confirmation.

Jimmy Lea: Uh, because they get so many appointment requests and no follow through. So I'm guessing that Kyle, you probably have a, a pretty high no show rate. Is that what you're saying there? Uh, and to his question, Joe, what, what advice would you give to Kyle? How can he improve his process? 

Joe Pfender: Sure. Um, I mean, we could always be following up with those customers, right?

Joe Pfender: I mean, I think that we'll see some existing customers that may be going to, um, you know, an appointment scheduler to book, uh, simple services, right? Like oil change, something that's gonna be routine, right? We may see more of those customers calling to actually have a conversation, ask questions, and discuss with the shop.

Joe Pfender: Um. I think that, I mean, at some level, yeah. Kyle says a 20% no show, no show rate. So, um, 

Adam Kushner: is that high or low, or is that 

Joe Pfender: okay? Well, it's just Joe, it's the, 

Adam Kushner: it's the reality of working with consumers, right? Like, I'm the guy that if my dentist doesn't call me the day before, they know I'm not gonna show up. And I, I love, know, and trust 'em.

Adam Kushner: Right, but, but I need that reminder and that kind of personal touch. 'cause I'm, I'm a busy guy. I, I don't see all the, I can barely respond to friends and family with a text message. So cutting through that chatter is extremely important. You know, there's services out there where it's straight to voicemail where, you know, you don't have to get the customer on the phone, but.

Adam Kushner: That's another way to potentially have that touchpoint. You know, something that I used to do in training service advisors is the day before, you know, making those phone calls, especially during slow times, right? Because that's when you can't afford to not have a no-show or to have a no-show. A no-show could be a technician going home early, so, you know.

Adam Kushner: Having a service advisor do that one more thing, you know, or having a customer service person within your company, um, it can be an extremely important thing. And, and just making sure the customer shows up because as a business owner, right, Eric, you spent so much money to generate that phone call and to get that even scheduled appointment 

Speaker 5: mm-hmm.

Adam Kushner: That, you know, the person not showing up is wasted marketing dollars. It's, 

Eric Henley: yep. Yeah. Again, like what? You said's lost productivity too. You end up sending a, uh, technician home early, uh, because of that. So one of the things that you can, you can do, and we mentioned, um, I mentioned personalizing the, the text message, but the reminders, depending on what software you're using, you can actually, uh, some of these offer the ability to, uh, personalize the 30 day, 60 day reminder.

Eric Henley: So it's not just. Automated canned looking text. It's, it's, Hey, notice that you're coming in today. You know, whatever you can, you can, you can warm it up and make it fit the culture that you, you want presented the, and, and with that, I think your conversion of appointments will go up. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Eric Henley: Especially the reminder part of it.

Eric Henley: But even, even the appointments, uh, just the little extra things that you do just to stand out. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. I love it. Yeah. And, and depending on that software, it can input their name and their vehicle 

Speaker 5: mm-hmm. 

Jimmy Lea: Into it. But something that I've also done and and done with quite a few different shops is to go into chat GPT and say, this is who my shop is.

Jimmy Lea: This is what we do, da, da, da, da. Give it a good history. So chat understands who you are and what your culture is. Also include your website. Mm-hmm. So as a reference, here's my website and here's what we do to make sure that we stand out as different. Yep. Chat, give me eight or nine different text messages that are personable, warm, relatable relationship building.

Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm. So that they want to come back to us. With those eight, you're gonna look at 'em and go, all right, love, love, hate, hate, love, love, hate, hate, love. You take those ones that you love, put 'em into the rotation. So now when you're communicating with the customer, they see that communication, it's not the same can message that it was previously.

Jimmy Lea: It's, it's a new message. 

Eric Henley: Yeah. We, uh, we did an exercise a couple months ago, I think in HPG, uh, and this went, this goes to already having your contact statement, so. You can take and paste all that into chat and then ask it for a, uh, unique selling points other than the ones that are like normal, like through your 36,000 mile like a SE certified.

Eric Henley: What, what kind of statements can we put out there that fit our culture, that fit the message we want out there and stay away from the generic ones that everybody else uses and, and you can tell it all kinds of stuff and it, it will. It's amazing what you can do to make yourself different than the next shop down the street just.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, it, it really is. It really is. And, and Eric, you mentioned HPG, for those who don't understand the high performance group with the institute. The High Performance Group is, is a group of shop owners that are looking to do one of two things. Either they're looking to expand their kingdom and grow it, or they're going to optimize a single location into a multimillion dollar.

Jimmy Lea: Per month, uh, per year location. 

Speaker 5: Mm-hmm. 

Jimmy Lea: So that HPG works very closely with, uh, Mr. Michael Hertzberg Smith. In developing your strategy, what do you want to do? Do you want to optimize the one, do you want to grow the kingdom? What's your exit strategy? Are you selling to a key employee or a child? Or are you looking to build the kingdom and then sell it to private equity?

Jimmy Lea: But you still want to have your toe in the. In the, in the water, so you still have your finger on the pulse of what's happening in the industry. These are all things that Michael can do with shop owners and develop the right strategy so that down the road when you do decide to sell, you're able to get top dollar for your shop because it is ready, it is optimized, it is packaged properly for the best sell.

Jimmy Lea: For those shop owners that wanna sell, they needed to start three years ago. So if you wanna sell in three years, you better start today to get your shop in line and get it ready to go. 

Eric Henley: Yep. Uh, one other thing I wanted to mention about these guys, and, uh, Joe and I talked about this at our last meeting, so it's the Google guaranteed thing.

Eric Henley: Uh, it is really starting to click now. So we, we are going, uh, they're gonna help us with that. Uh, it's a process to get through it, but, uh. Uh, what they can do with ads with that are really, you drill down to local level. Now they do cost more, but you can actually, uh, score them and then ask for one to be removed if it was the wrong call.

Eric Henley: So you don't pay for that. Click. Nice. 

Speaker 5: Uh, 

Eric Henley: but these guys are gonna, uh, that's gonna be the next thing for us, uh, to, to make us stand out just a little more as did, and you guys can expound on that if you want to. 

Joe Pfender: Yeah, I was just gonna jump in and, and talk a little bit about that. So, um, this is called Local Service Ads.

Joe Pfender: It's a newer Google Ads service. Um, it actually operates separately from what traditional Google Ads does with a different model. Traditional Google Ads is pay per click as opposed to local services. Uh, local service ads being paid per lead. Um. So there's a little bit less targeting granularity as what we have with traditional Google Ads.

Joe Pfender: But, um, you get the calls from within the Google Ads user interface, and then you can go in and you can accept them or you can reject them. Um. You know, absolute. Or obviously Google Ads charging you for qualified leads and then you can contest poor leads and attempt to have Google Pay you back. Um, and you know, an important point there is that with local service ads, Google Vets your business, they give you a Google guaranteed badge and the placement as at the very top of the search engine results page, even ahead of what the traditional Google ad placement would be.

Joe Pfender: So in a perfect world, you have the local service ad placement at the top of the page with a Google guaranteed badge. Underneath that, you have a regular Google ad. And then underneath that you have an organic placement within the organic map pack that's dominating the search engine results page and building credibility with the consumer as they scroll down the page.

Joe Pfender: If they don't choose the two ads at the top, they're probably gonna choose you in the organic map pack because it's clear who the best choice is for service as that consumer evaluates their options on the search engine results page. 

Jimmy Lea: And it's amazing when you do that, when you do those searches, Joe, because when you go to page two, that's where you find all the dead bodies.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, but nobody, nobody goes to page two. They really don't. Most don't even 

Joe Pfender: go past, they don't even go past the map pack. Right. They're gonna see the ads at the top. There's three placements within the map pack, and some people will look further than that, but most people, I don't think that's the case.

Eric Henley: Yeah, 

Joe Pfender: it really isn't. 

Eric Henley: Your new movers are gonna click at the top. If they're new to your area, that's where they're going. 

Adam Kushner: Well, if there's local search intent, right, um, then that's what's being served to them. You know, if, if someone's doing more of a informative search of, you know, this is what's wrong with my car, and Google's not showing a map pack, but, um.

Adam Kushner: You know, with that local search intent and having that prominence in the map pack with local service ads is, is definitely an important thing, um, especially when your competition is probably not leveraging that type of ad campaign inside of Google. 

Joe Pfender: This is a point that I also wanna jump in and make that, um, it's early on for local service ads.

Joe Pfender: So if you work through the process of, um, Google does a background check, business registration, there's a pretty intense vetting process, but it's, it's probable that you're gonna be one of the first in your market to leverage local service ads. So the takeaway there is it's never gonna be cheaper than it is right now from a cost per lead perspective, because.

Joe Pfender: You wanna beat your competition to the punch with leveraging new Google ad services. Early adopters are always rewarded. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And the fact that you can contest some of those results to say, Hey, well this was a guy calling me to sell insurance. This was a gal calling to sell me printer cartridges. Yeah.

Jimmy Lea: That's that's not, yeah, that's not for the shop. So that, that's very cool that Google has that. Yeah. And Google's a marketing company. That's what they're doing. 

Joe Pfender: Yeah. Uh, they make it easy for you to give them your dollars unless it's managed properly. Right. Um, so, um, 

Eric Henley: yeah. And didn't you mention, uh, it also, some of it has some AI built into it, so you may not even need to, uh, is it decline the call?

Eric Henley: It knows whether it was a quality call or not, so there are, there is some proofing involved, but some of it, they proof for you, so Right. Eventually that's it. 

Adam Kushner: As it gain more traction, you know, it's been out for a little while. A anything new. We wanna make sure that it's a fit for our client's business model, um, that we can support them in rolling it out seamlessly.

Adam Kushner: And, um. You know, over the months, as, as Google has refined it with what you're mentioning, Eric, where they're starting to just automatically reject the lead as they learn how people talk about an automotive repair shop. Um, you know, prior to automotive, there's other services businesses that Google rolled local service ads out to.

Adam Kushner: Um. And then they continue to expand it. And I always like to say it's whatever Google's new toy is, uh, you want to take advantage of because they're vetting it. They want feedback and they want to improve it, uh, to make sure that it's profitable to the, the customer, you know, the business owner that's advertising, um, and that they're gonna be able to scale it.

Adam Kushner: Um, so it's, you know. Definitely taking advantage of whatever's new, um, you know, that Google or any other marketing platform has that you can leverage to have the competitive advantage over your, over the shop down the street. 

Joe Pfender: Yep. Yep. Totally agree. You know, something that I noticed, um, to Eric's point, yes, Google's AI will kick in, um, after a certain time threshold and attempt to score the lead, but the clients that are doing it manually and also giving feedback to Google on what they see as a non-qualified lead.

Joe Pfender: Seem to be getting the best results. And I think what's happening is that Google is rewarding the accounts that are engaging with them the most and providing feedback they're giving you, or you're getting more results for providing more data to Google as they refine this, as not just something that, um, you know, is, is new in the last couple months, six months.

Joe Pfender: I'm not exactly sure what the timeline is there, but it's here to stay. 

Jimmy Lea: That's true. That's true. Well, that's good. Well, so, uh, as we circle now and look into land, this plane here, as we're talking about marketing and talking about websites, we're talking about SEO, we're talking about Google and Google ads, local ads.

Jimmy Lea: If you had a magic wand and could wave at Joe, then Adam, then Eric, what would you change in the automotive aftermarket, Joe? 

Joe Pfender: Magic wand. Magic wand. What would I change in the automotive aftermarket? You're putting me on the spot, Jimmy. Um hmm. I'm gonna punt this one to Adam.

Adam Kushner: Well, I, I don't know. You know, I, I've been doing this my entire life. Um, literally my entire life. I, you know. Probably made the first website for an automotive repair shop before anybody knew you needed a website. Um, you know, on Google Ads. You know, walking into a group of shop owners and saying, this is the most important thing that you can do, Google ads.

Adam Kushner: And, you know, they all look at me like I'm crazy because they have no idea what it is. Um, you know, if I was gonna change one thing about our industry from a marketing perspective, um, it would be, you know, look outside of the box. And, you know, don't just look at what your competitors are doing, or your friend that has a shop across the country is doing.

Adam Kushner: Look outside of the automotive space, you know, when you're interacting with businesses. It's, it's taking that active role. Um, I was telling a story in the office about, uh, calling my eye doctor to get an appointment, to get a new pair of glasses and have them redo my prescription with an eye exam. And they're, you know, well, it'll be two months.

Adam Kushner: And, you know, first of all, I had to call them Jimmy. And you know, I don't like to call someone to make an appointment. Yeah. I wanna be able to do it online and in a seamless way. Um, but I had to call them and then they told me two months. And I'm like, well, my glasses are scratching. I need new glasses.

Adam Kushner: Well, we can get you in a month and a half. And it's like, well you just lost a customer. 

Speaker 5: Yeah. You know, 

Adam Kushner: whether, I know, I still know, like, and trust them, but. If, if you're not gonna make an exception for me and help me, and that's friction in that relationship and it's identifying, you know, where that is in your marketing, where that is in your sales process and, and focusing on sales enablement and um, and then even, you know, when the customer gets to the shop and, um.

Adam Kushner: So, you know, looking outside of our space with all of your other interactions at what you can apply to your business, um, and then understanding it's not just all about marketing. You know, marketing can put your shop in front of the ideal customer, encourage them to choose you. Um, but it's, you know, it's a partnership between us and a shop owner.

Adam Kushner: And for it to work, it has to be a partnership to be successful. 

Jimmy Lea: I love that. I love that and I love that you're encouraging shop owners to think more dynamic or rather than static. Don't do the standard the same as everybody else. Let's make it bigger, bolder, better. Look at other industries. What are they doing?

Jimmy Lea: How can we implement their best practices in what we're doing? Uh, I love that. Thank you Adam. Really appreciate that. Eric, the magic wand is now to you. Mm-hmm. 

Eric Henley: So you all know, and many people in auto repair land know the perception the public has of us, of our industry. There's 266,000 of us, I think in the, in the US that run independent auto repair shops.

Eric Henley: And, and the, the outstanding thing that we're perceived as is dishonest. Untrustworthy. So we, that's part of our vision statement, is to transform that perception of our industry, to make a difference for the future and to act with integrity no matter what. Whether we make money on it or whether we, we screwed up, we hung the wrong part on it, we're gonna, our commitment is that, so.

Eric Henley: And then the other thing is the best customer experience that, that they can, like no other shop does. We talk on a level they understand, we get to know them as a person, as a family. We remember things about them. And uh, so when they come to us, it's not just throwing their keys at us. They hope we do 'em right.

Eric Henley: They, they know we're gonna do them right. We're gonna be honest. We are gonna treat them exceptionally well. And that's, that's what we're after. 

Jimmy Lea: I love it. I love it. Thank you Eric. Thank you for emphasizing, uh, the, the, that we want to build our image in the industry. We wanna build the image of the automotive aftermarket, and I'm all about that.

Jimmy Lea: In fact, that's what we are about here at the institute is better business. For you, which in result is a better life for you and your shop, your techs, your service advisors. Better business, better life, better industry that helps us to improve the industry overall. So as we lock arms together and we all make this trip together, we can do it.

Jimmy Lea: We can be that difference in the, in the entire world. And Erica, I'll join you in that battle to change the image of the aftermarket. To be the trusted partners for our clients so that they understand we are the right place for you to bring your vehicle to. We'll keep you safe on the road. 'cause keeping you safe on the road helps also to protect me and my family to keep us safe on the road as well.

Jimmy Lea: So I love that and I love that you're implementing that 300% rule on all cars every single time digital vehicle inspections. That's super awesome. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Thank you for your, uh, input and your knowledge, your sharing. And uh, gosh dang, this has been such a great conversation. I, I, I love when it comes to marketing and the things that you can do as a shop and shop owner, there's some things you can do yourself as a shop owner, but there's definitely some guidance that you would be very wise to hire.

Jimmy Lea: A coach for or to hire, uh, a professional with Auto Boosto and have them help you, whether it's Joe or Adam. Thank you very much. You guys been a great day. I look forward to talking to you again soon and we'll see you all soon. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks Jimmy, 

Speaker 5: everyone. See you guys. Thanks.