Ratchet+Wrench Radio

Digital inspections can streamline the courtesy inspection process and lead to improved efficiency and ARO—but how do you make a seamless transition into using the software? Dan Garlock, owner of Silver Lake Auto and Tire, is here to lay out everything you need to consider, from choosing the right software to making it part of the repair process to achieving a return on investment.

On this month’s edition of the Lead Podcast, Aaron Stokes discusses how shop owners can motivate the rest of their employees if they're feeling fatigued or uninspired. As Stokes says, believing in your vision and passing it on to your employees is a great way to get the rest of them on board, even when you or your shop is in a rut.  

This month’s episode of the How I Did It Series features Frank Leutz, the owner of Desert Car Care Chandler, in Chandler, Ariz. Beyond building a $1.6 million operation, Frank is the host of  Wrench Nation , is an industry consultant and coach, and runs a successful YouTube channel. He’s always committed to trying new marketing and operational methods to evolve his business, which is currently tra...

Jon Thompson, owner of 14 locations in Illinois as a part of Butitta Brothers Automotive, joins the show to discuss how a shop owner can obtain a business loan before acquiring another business. He goes over how shops can find the right bank to partner with and the right documents that need to be prepared. Thompson also details how smaller or newer shops can work around a collateral shortfall.

In this month's edition of the Lead podcast for Ratchet+Wrench Radio, host Aaron Stokes discusses how shop owners can cut out distractions and eliminate time wasters in the shop. He details how shop owners can plan out their priorities in advance, and how they can manage distractions like text messages or emails. 

In July’s edition of Ratchet+Wrench Radio’s Grow Podcast, host Rissy Sutherland revisits one of the major issues facing the industry today: the technician shortage. Jay Goninen, CEO of technician recruiting service Find a Wrench, and Kyle Holt, president of SRSandco Automotive Partners share their thoughts, including how shops can always be recruiting, help young people understand what the industr...

Jeff Odom oversees 24 full-time employees at his shop, Evergreen Autoworks in Mill Creek, Wash., and over the years has learned how to onboard his employees swiftly and efficiently. He’s learned how to get his entire team involved in both the hiring, and initial training process, to best set up his new employees to be successful. Odom goes over the most important aspects for any shop owner to thin...

Jeff Matt owns the six-location Victory Auto Service & Glass operation in Minnesota. He details how he grew his network and offers advice for any shop owner looking to expand.

No two shops are the same, and various factors can determine a shop's efficiency numbers. However, there are universal tips that can improve one of the most crucial KPIs that determines profitability. To help, Andy Fiffick, owner of 10 Rad Air Complete Car Care locations in the Cleveland area, lays out how he builds his shops from the ground-up for maximum efficiency and how he coaches his team to...

Is there truly a technician shortage? According to Grow host Rissy Sutherland, there are just as many if not more men or women entering tech schools. The issue is there aren’t enough people staying in the industry after tech school. In June’s Grow podcast, Sutherland speaks with two members of NASTF’s Road to Great Technicians board, Jill Saunders and Donny Seyfer, whose objective is to recruit ne...

In this month’s edition of the Lead podcast with Ratchet+Wrench Radio, Aaron Stokes discusses how shops can get through slow days and slow periods. Stokes discusses the misunderstandings most shop owners have about slow periods, how to best prepare for them and how to keeping your cool and keep your staff in check when you experience a downturn.

This week, Ratchet+Wrench is launching the “How I Did It” series, where we look at some of the most successful shop owners throughout the industry, and the obstacles they overcame to take their business to the next level. Our first guest is Brian Sump, a former professional athlete who had no business experience prior to owning Denver-based Avalon Motorsports in 2007. Since that time, Sump has tur...

In this week's Innovate podcast, Chris Cloutier, shop technology expert and owner of Golden Rule Auto Care, joins the show to discuss the timeline of a shop's technology.  Cloutier created his own site to go over this topic, and he walks through the timeline's three stages, including where your shop is now, and where it can be. The further along on the timeline you are, Cloutier says, the more eff...

What do customers think of when they see your logo? In this week's episode of the Lead podcast, Aaron Stokes discusses his thoughts on branding and how you should represent yourself to your surrounding community. 

On this week’s Grow podcast, Rissy Sutherland brings in two guests to discuss a vital marketing tactic for any shop—developing a presence on social media, specifically Facebook. Tim Rodifer, owner of Milex/Mr. Transmission in Johnson City, Tenn. has built up a following of nearly 10,000 likes on Facebook. He now receives about 20-30 new customers per month, mostly done through internet advertising...

Over his 17 years as a shop owner, Greg Bunch, owner of five Aspen Auto Care locations throughout central Colorado, has mastered the art of measured business expansion. In this week's Innovate podcast, Bunch details everything a shop owner considering expansion should keep in mind. Bunch says that, from reports he’s seen, 58 percent of shop owners want to be out of the business by 2020. In the nex...

Jim Lang, industry guru and president of Lang Marketing, joins the show to discuss three major issues that will impact the independent repair industry in 2018 and beyond. 1:20: Lang discusses Tenneco purchasing Carl Icahn’s Federal Mogul in a $5.4 billion deal. What does this mean for Icahn’s empire, and where do independent shops fit in? 6:00: Several months ago, Lang put out a report dissecting...

Knowing who you want to target as a desired customer base is a vital aspect in making your shop as successful as possible. Kim Auernheimer, owner of CS Automotive in Brentwood, Tenn., learned this firsthand as she shifted her customer base from value-focused customers, to more affluent customers who were willing to pay more for quality service.  In this month’s Innovate podcast, Auernheimer goes o...

As Aaron Stokes says, cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. Properly managing the cash in your shop and building a reserve is key to giving your operations some room for error. When managing your cash flow, Stokes says that discipline and emotional management is key, especially if you’re a newer shop owner. He goes over the keys for a shop owner to manage his or her back office operations, a...

Jason Smith, owner of M&M Car Care Center, joins Rissy Sutherland to discuss his personal journey, and the struggles of being an owner of multiple independent shops. Part of this journey involved leaving his business for eight months to become a service advisor at a dealership, and deciding whether or not to sell his business after a significant downturn. He shares how mentorship and a newfound ap...

If your shop is dependent on word-of-mouth advertising, then you need to understand how to talk about your shop with customers and area businesses. Eric Twiggs, a coach with the Automotive Training Institute, discusses a few simple steps you can take to perfect your verbal business card and effectively market your shop to networking groups, which should result in a plethora of referrals.

Owner Bud Wildman shares how a simple meeting with ATI convinced him to heavily invest in improving the company culture at his shop, Precision Auto in Germantown, Maryland. For Wildman, this process involved changing or removing negative energy in his shop, while infusing it with new employees who have a consistent positive attitude. Once you’ve had the opportunity to create this positive culture,...

As a shop owner, your employees will consistently be influenced by your actions, whether you like it or not. In this week’s Lead Podcast, Aaron Stokes discusses the power of influence, and how being a disciplined leader can bring out the best in your employees. To get your employees to do what you need them to, Stokes says, it’s important to be the best version of yourself every day to draw respec...

As your shop grows, it’s vital to implement a structured training program for your entire staff. On this month’s Grow podcast, Rissy Sutherland discusses how to effectively set this program up with Chris Chesney, senior director of training at Carquest Technical Institute, and Brad Pellman, owner of Pellman’s automotive in Boulder, Colorado. Brad lays out what you can do at the shop level, as far...

We recorded this week’s Ratchet+Wrench Radio podcast from VISION in Kansas City, and guests include four different management training course instructors. Each presenter also discusses why they keep coming back to VISION, and what their favorite parts of the conference are. Amy Mattinat, owner of Vt.-based Auto Craftsmen, discusses effective in-house marketing strategies, and why a blog should be...