The “Kohl’s Cash” of Auto Repair: Turning Customer Rewards Into Repeat Business [THA 495]

0:01This is the Automotive Repair Podcast Network. Hey everybody, Carm Capriato, Remarkable Results Radio, and another Town Hall Academy. I got a great episode for you. Do you celebrate milestones in your business? Think about that. You know, oh God, Dad started the business back in '70. Okay. That means it's 56 years old. Have you told the world? Have, did you celebrate the 50th?

0:31We're gonna talk about how important that is, not only for the business, for the team, for the family, and for the community. Hey, look, I wrote a blog a little bit ago on rebooting your business, and as you look at every aspect of your business, I want you to ask yourself, and, and kind of summarizing that blog, should we continue doing this?

0:55Something that you're doing that you want to stop and think about maybe rebooting? Should we stop doing something? What's working? Maybe we've been doing something for years and it just doesn't have a profound effect on the business. What is no longer producing results for you? And what are we tolerating that maybe needs attention? You know, we have become complacent and ignored things that you believe need attention to.

1:21The goal is not change for the sake of change. The goal should be improvement with purpose. Your business is no different. Maybe this is a perfect time to reboot. So go to my website, search for reboot, the word reboot, and get inspired by all the thoughts that I wrote about this word called reboot. RemarkableResults.biz. And we thank so much our great partners here on the podcast.

1:53Hey, for over 30 years, NapaTracs has made selecting the right shop management system easy by offering the best, most comprehensive SMS in the industry. We'll prove to you that Tracs is the single best shop management system in the business. Find NapaTracs on the web at napatracs.com. Ready to optimize with today's class? Boy, listen to an episode we did with David Boyes. Great program.

2:21Roll out a training plan for your automotive shop in just 5 minutes daily. Boost knowledge retention and improve team performance. Start seeing results today. Join your peers at todaysclass.com. You're probably tired of chasing new customers who never return. We understand. Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one-and-done cycle, turning first visits into lasting, reliable On the web at pitcrewloyalty.com. Shop owners, stop juggling multiple marketing tools.

2:52Kukui's integrated platform— they deliver 4 times better website conversions, automated follow-up, and real-time ROI tracking. Get industry-leading customer support with Kukui. That's kukui.com. Hey, welcome everyone. Let me introduce Well, not only my team, but let me remind you all about that great listening app that we have, arpn.app. Everything in one place, you know, save favorites, share your favorite episodes with friends through text or email.

3:29It's for your smartphone, the ultimate professional automotive repair list from the Automotive Repair Podcast Network. Okay. Jeff Rudnick, Tom Ciortino is here now, Tommy. Not only is a good friend, lives in the area, just celebrated 40 years, and I was honored to be there. We wouldn't have done it without you. In celebration, I ate good food. I hung with great people. Let me see.

3:57I don't think there were any beers or there was no bourbon there. Oh yeah, it was early in the day. You sure didn't want to do that for your peoples, but Total Automotive in Buffalo celebrating 40 years and a lot of great things going on with Tom. As he looks to the future. And Jeff Rutnick is here. Hello. Hello, Jeff. Pit Crew Loyalty at pitcrewloyalty.com.

4:19And Tom and Jeff work together on a lot of the things. Oh, if you got the YouTube channel up, there's a QR code that goes— you can book a what, an appointment with you with that QR code? A 60-minute meeting and talk about anything you want or learn about Pit Crew. We can learn about each other's businesses. Cool. Cool. All right. So the 40th anniversary open house, Tom, did you start thinking about what are we going to do for the team, the community, say a year early?

4:48When did this pop for you? Well, we knew going into '26 that it was a milestone for the business. So actually you were there when we started talking to the team about it at our year-end meeting of last year where I invited you to attend. And that was the first rollout to the team. And I left it up to the team to bond together and work as a team and create an event that we could be proud of for our customers and for the team and for the business.

5:15They were excited. One of the things that I noticed at the event itself was the family that started, that showed up. Well, and that was a big part of it. We tried to be inclusive, not only to our customers, the community, and also to the families of our employees because, you know, we take them away from them every day and we wanted them to share in the event and the festivities of the day.

5:40This is a monumental thing to do on any anniversary, but your team was behind it and they did a lot of really cool things. They, they built a slideshow on the legacy of the business, which I really loved, but they seemed to be genuinely engaged and happy. Did, did you make sure they had a part of it? It was an interesting process to go through because from their point of view, they're looking at the now.

6:04They know what Total Automotive is right now, but they have no idea where we came from over 40 years. So it was an opportunity for us to share where we came from, take them through the journey. We had a lot of fun with the pictures and showing them things of what we did. And genuinely, the closer we got to the event, the more engaged they got.

6:28You know, Jeff, I love what he just said about where we came from. And every once in a while, Jeff, when I get a chance to share with people some of my lineage, what I've done in the industry, what I've done, you know, for fun, my private life, oh, we had no idea. We just thought you were a boring, you know, Italian rock on the wall.

6:51And I think it's really interesting to be able to tell those stories, which Tom did through not only pictures, but he had a chance to tell a little bit of the history to all of his people and the families that I saw that were there. And even the community, the clients that showed up, Tom. Wow. And you know what? We're always dealing with the clients in a sales position, in a telling them what's wrong with their car.

7:16This gave us an opportunity to bond with them on a personal level. They actually pulled back the curtain, came into the shop, saw what the staff— got to talk to the staff one-on-one, got to talk to me one-on-one. And a lot of them didn't know the history of the business either, so we were able to show them the history going forward. So, you know, it was a great all-around event to bond with the clients that did show up.

7:39And it was hard to narrow the list down. I mean, we have about 2,000 clients in our database. We had to cut the list. We tried to keep it to 100 and we had 75 people show up. So I mean, it was a great event. I'm going to say something that I was impressed with and it had to do with the slideshow and the last slide, Tom.

8:02Okay. It was the last slide and I'm looking at that last slide and I'm thinking, oh my God, because I know what AI can do for graphics and pictures. And what Tom did, and doesn't matter what AI platform it was, he put the picture of his building in and he says, what's it going to look like in another 40th? And this very wild spaceshippy high-tech building was drawn and he puts it on his slide, us in another 40 years.

8:32I go, you won't be around. None of us will be around probably for us to see that, but I thought that was so clever to show people we're here, we're not going anywhere, we've got sights on the future. You know, and that came spur of the moment in a meeting, me and Chris, probably 2 or 3 days before the event. We were finishing up the slideshow and we said, we need to finish it with something.

8:58And we were playing around and literally we put some stuff in AI and that came up. We said, that's it. It, it was no more discussion. We put it in. It was just so cool. So again, the reason that you tune into this podcast is we look to elevate our profession, and it starts with you by taking an idea like Tom has that we're sharing here today and implement it.

9:20Listen to learn just one thing and implement it. So, uh, you're gonna get a lot of really cool things. So you did some fundraiser stuff. Was Jeff involved in any way at Pit Crew Loyalty and fundraising stuff? Well, as soon as we started spitballing ideas and putting ideas, Jeff came into the conversation. We had 2 asks of Jeff. And the one thing that I love about Jeff and his product pit crew is the sky's the limit.

9:45We can do anything we want. And we throw ideas to Jeff and he puts his team on it. And a couple of meetings later, we had a, not only a customer referral program put in place. We called it the Give 40, Get 40 program. And then we also had a way of our basket raffle that we were running for a local charity to be able to use the rewards dollars that people had built up to donate to charity.

10:14So 2 ideas, he made them both happen. It was awesome. You know, the whole idea behind this thing, just, it's about marketing efficiency. Then thanks for sharing that, Tom. Like, a loyalty rewards program is just supposed to be this wonderful megaphone sandbox playground that you can do pretty much anything from and have it be very comprehensible to your customer base and be able to reach them quickly so the strategies can connect very quickly.

10:47It's not about reminding people or discounting for things. It's about how am I deepening true human connection? And that's when you were talking about fundraising. In this particular case, we did not leverage the rewards program to donate rewards to a particular cause. We did a fundraiser last year, maybe for Kevin's House. Kevin's Guest House, right? Kevin's Guest House. And more than anything, it's a conversation starter.

11:22So when shops are hearing all around the country at every single consulting company telling them it's important to be involved in the community, and it is, but where do you start? So the loyalty program has this way of starting in a very simple manner. Where you can, we believe in this charity. If you think this is important too, you can donate a portion of your rewards.

11:48But that leads to that charity engaging with Tom, talking to Tom more. And, you know, Tom, you can talk more eloquently about this, what happened, because it's not that you need to run fundraisers with rewards all the time. It's a, maybe 3 times, 4 times a year, but it is the beginning of a more deeper, meaningful relationship with each and every one of the charities where you're showing up for their events, they're telling their supporters about you, and you have opportunities to do actual work with the charities if you choose.

12:26So it's that starting point that shop owners sit back and go, this all sounds great, But how do I get from A to Z? A good loyalty program has that embedded in it. Tom, did you use any of the features in Pit Crew, like cross-pollinators to promote the anniversary? We didn't use the cross-pollinators this time. We have used it in the past with local businesses and, and actually, so a lot of things happen with the whole planning of the event.

12:58First of all, we were always engaged with the local chamber up until COVID hit, and we dropped off the radar with the local chamber because they weren't having meetings for whatever reason. We just dropped away. It gave us an opportunity to engage with the local chamber again when we reached out for them to come and do the ribbon cutting. And since then, I'm going to the local chamber meetings every week.

13:23I was there just this morning. And now I have local businesses that are approaching me to do the cross-pollination with PIC Group. So I'm basically formulating a list now of businesses that are going to stand in line to get involved with that section. So it opened up a networking event for me, an opportunity. Jeff, explain cross-pollination, please. So if you think about BNI groups, which most every shop owner is going to be familiar with, what you know, Business Networking International is.

13:57So BNI, it's kind of a concept like that, but from a consumer psychology standpoint and a human connection standpoint, what we're really saying is locally owned or even larger businesses, it's in their best interest to seek partnerships and relationships with others simply because they think it's another good business. Say, hey, I already consume your product. Maybe it's a restaurant. Maybe it's another non-competitive repair facility, whatever it is, and say, I have a group of loyal customers that I reach via my rewards program.

14:34I wanna make you one of my spotlight businesses of the month. I just wanna tell them that you're a great business because I believe you are and invite them to come try you out. And all of that, that's housed within the consumer loyalty program that's accessible from their phone or from Tom's website, and they can see all these wonderful partners at the right time of year, perhaps for that seasonal business, or just it's a restaurant that Tom likes or that, you know, his customers like.

15:04And people— it was surprising to me— when customers log into that loyalty account page, they're very interested in 2 things. Who can I support in the community and donate money to? And what are the other local businesses that Tom thinks or his team thinks are worth going to? And what that does again is bring real human connection. So when Tom did this 40th anniversary, the reason we didn't do a specific fundraiser just through the rewards for it is we wanted real connection.

15:39Or let's say deeper connection. Tom had already raised money for them, and now he was doing a basket raffle, correct, Tom, to, to raise more money and involving the people at the front counter to sell those raffle tickets. What we're really saying is there's better ways to market your business. There's more effective, less expensive ways that mean something to people. Let me tell you something about the basket raffle.

16:05I was amazed at the response from the customer base. Just a couple of quick stories. I had one customer, he's a construction guy, he's kind of a gruff guy. He comes into the counter and he says, what's with all the baskets? And one of my service advisors said, oh, we're doing a raffle for Kevin's Guest House. He pulled a $100 bill out of his pocket and he said, here.

16:27And she started to give him the tickets and he said, no, I don't want the tickets. He goes, here, take $100. Had nothing to do with winning something. He supported a charity. We had customers coming in and out not to get their cars fixed, just stopping in to buy tickets because we were promoting it through Facebook. And the end result is we really didn't know how it was going to work out, but we raised $1,475 over a 6-week period just selling tickets for Basket Ravelle.

16:59What were they, $10 at a crack? They were a dollar apiece. Wow. That's a lot of engagement. And remember what gave the entrance to this whole thing was you started with a fundraiser with the loyalty program last year. And I believe that raised about $1,000. Yep. And I can take it one step farther. So we gave them the token, you know, fake check on the day of the event, but we actually went down last week and presented them with the full check.

17:28And took a picture with them, engaged with them. Now we've kind of adopted them as our go-to charity, and they've adopted us as one of their business partners. Now, next Thursday, I'm going to one of their events that they're honoring their business partners. It's by invitation. They invited my entire team to go to it, and also they've asked me to write a short article to put in their newsletter.

17:55So we now have the connection in the community with this charity that they're going to stand behind us. So, you know, and it all started with a pit crew reach out to them and say, hey, we'd like to do something for you. So if you take this to its logical conclusion, number one, it is all about doing good deeds, right? And the more you give, the more that, that comes back to you.

18:17So if we look at, because this is a business, every thing that a business does, we need to be able to make sure that it's sustainable and it can grow and that you're not giving too much. But if you look at Kevin's Guest House as one of 6 or 8 or 10 or 12 little tribes, Tom can replicate this very easily and start the conversation via the Total Automotive Loyalty Rewards Program.

18:45You do a fundraiser, you don't ask for it. There's no ask. It's just, we believe in what you're doing. And you start a whole new tribe of people and fans that get to know the heart and soul of Total Automotive. And it feels so much better than, you know, I'm not saying anything wrong about doing direct mail because I do it too.

19:04I provide that. But it feels better when you're doing good deeds and then also getting something back in return. I think it's being creative. You know, 40 years, I've done my share of mailers and ads and stuff that doesn't work. And it's refreshing to be creative and do something different. That's what I like about it more than anything, is it's, it's different because I can be creative and I'm the least creative person in the world.

19:30I don't want to— marketing is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I hate it. Tom keeps saying that, yet my phone rings with these wonderful ideas. But yeah, this has been like I said, it's refreshing to be able to do something creative for a change and not have to, you know, dread Yeah, is it going to work? Hey, let's face it, your shop management system is the single most important tool in your shop, period.

19:54NapaTrax has made selecting the right shop management system easy by offering the industry's best, most comprehensive SMS. Now, it all starts when a local representative meets with you to learn about your business and how you need to run it. After all, it's your shop, so it's your choice, and having local representation is a huge plus. Customizing Trax to your business, whether you're a one-person shop or a large multi-bay or multi-location company, our representative consults with you to help optimize your shop's workflow efficiency and profitability.

20:26Traxx always has the flexibility to do business how you need to do it, which means it can also grow as your business grows. And unlike the other guys, we'll be there for you after installation with the best training and support in the business. Yes, a learning management system tailored to each role in your company. Simply put, Trax was designed and built for shop owners just like you.

20:51Visit us on the web at napatrax.com. That's napatrax.com. Strengthen your shop's entire team with today's class. Everyone from technicians to service advisors can access impactful training on their phones in just 5 minutes a day. Opt for solo sessions or ignite friendly competition, challenging team members to climb the leaderboard for the highest score. Our effective daily training ensures measurable progress, helping you develop your team.

21:20Train smarter, not harder, with Today's Class and transform your shop and your people. Start seeing results today at todaysclass.com. You know, most shop owners feel trapped spending on ads while half their first-time customers never come back. It's frustrating. It's exhausting. And it's not your fault. The industry average is 54%. One and done. We understand how discouraging that can be. Well, Pit Crew Loyalty changes the story.

21:48Our clients cut that rate by up to 38%, raising lifetime value by more than 50%. Loyalty members visit nearly 3 times more often, creating predictable revenue without extra ad spend. Pit Crew Loyalty, where customers stay and shops thrive. On the web at pitcrewloyalty.com. Shop owners, we know you are overwhelmed with a flood of missed calls, empty bays, and disconnected marketing tools. Kukui has spent over a decade building one integrated platform for auto repair shops.

22:20One login, one dashboard, and mobile-first websites that convert 4 times industry average. Smart, innovative CRM with automated follow-up, 24/7 online booking, and real-time ROI tracking. With 900+ years of combined team experience, we fuel the growth of 2,200+ shops and have influenced $3 billion in revenue. Stop working harder, start working smarter. Get industry-leading customer support and book a demo with Kukui. That's kukui.com.

22:54So the bottom line of this discussion that I've heard Is that the reach out to the community, Tom, was gonna happen no matter 40th celebration or not, but you kind of amped it up a bit. We kind of dipped our toe in the water last year with it and it worked. And so we took it to the next level in, in this and we're gonna take it up again.

23:14I mean, we're already planning some different stuff that I've got the, in the pot for next time. Tom, is it important that we as small professional businesses in America here celebrate these milestones? Oh, absolutely. I mean, we did it at 25, so we didn't do it at 30, 35, but we thought 40. How many businesses make it to 40? Number one. Okay.

23:38And you know what? I'd love to be around for 50, but I can't guarantee that. So we took the opportunity to do it now. But it's not that I have to be a part of it either. The business is going to be there at 50, but I may not be a part of it. So, you know, at this point I thought it was important to celebrate, you know, for me and for the team, this milestone.

24:01So Jeff, do you see a lot of this going on around the country with your clients? I see a ton of it. Yeah, definitely. The anniversaries are a big one and what you're looking for, again, it's like what's comprehensible to the customer base, whether it's a 40th anniversary, or some other celebration. Maybe it's something in the community that they're celebrating, but something where you can create that event feeling to where it can be bigger than simply a marketing strategy, you know?

24:37And in this case, giving always feels good and rewards you in ways that you never thought, you know, and so you don't have to have a big, you know, milestone to do some cool things. You can have— we have people do customer appreciation days, car shows, but what's important is that when you have these events that you have multiple things going on.

25:02So you have fun things for the kids, you have fun things that involves a charity, you have fun things that involve the local business community. It's about having a handful of things so that you create the sum of the parts being bigger than the whole. And the food truck was good too. Yeah. And, and you know what, and that was another part of it is it all related to charity.

25:25So, you know, the basket raffle was the one half of it. The other half was we involved a community-based food truck and they don't ask for money, they ask for donations and They told me about how much they needed as a donation and they provided the food and basically it was a donation to them. So we ordered 100 meals because we didn't know, have any idea who was going to show up.

25:53We got rid of 75 at the event. So we had 25 left over. The representative from Kevin Guest House was there. We gave the house the rest of the food. So they got gourmet sandwiches, donated to them, and they took them back and they cooked them that night. So I guess I should go into what Kevin Guest House really is, because people don't know what it is.

26:15It was started years ago. A family came into town and they had no place to stay while their child was seeking medical attention, and they saw a need that families coming into our medical campus here in Buffalo sometimes don't have to rent a hotel, have to have a place to stay. So this is a place that they can go free of charge or give a donation and stay for the entire time that their family member is seeking treatment.

26:43It's a wonderful place. I took a tour of it a couple of times now, and while we were there, uh, Panera Breads drops off food every single day to them. They have volunteers that come in every day, cook food, prepare food, just take care of and be there for, talk to the families when they need somebody to talk to. They've got gardens in the back.

27:05People will just go down and, you know, weed out a garden or take care of a garden. So it's just a community of people that are in need that need a place to stay, and they act like a family there. So it's really cool. They've got 3 houses. I think they have another one coming online, 4 houses pretty soon where people can stay.

27:26So how did you guys connect or hook up? Jeff's from Buffalo. Tommy's from Buffalo. I'm from Buffalo, so this is an interesting— this is the Buff crew here. It was the Buffalo business dating app, to be honest. You use it, Carmen. We all hooked up. Yeah, none of us swiped left, I guess, or however that worked. Maybe that wasn't the necessary connection for you, Tom, to say, God, I, I think this Pit Crew loyalty stuff is pretty cool.

27:59But how are you using it? And tell me about these rewards. The clients just all giddy about having these rewards happen for them. So one of the most unique things that I think I found out, and Jeff actually just sent me a report last night that blew my mind, but the response in recovering customers, so customers that had left the business for 12 months or longer have come back because of rewards dollars being offered to them.

28:28So it helped us to reengage. And actually, from last year's numbers to this year's numbers, we've doubled the amount of recovered customers. That in itself was an awesome way to engage with customers that kind of fell off the map for whatever reason. You know, we're also seeing a higher return on investment as far as our average ticket. You know, all of our metrics are up because of and can be tied back to rewards dollars.

28:57Those people that come back and are engaged, you know, we say that we got to have customer come back 3 times and then they're our loyal customer. Well, I think, Jeff, what was the number last night? I think it was 3.9, 3.8, something like that times on people that are involved in the rewards are almost coming back on an average 4 times now.

29:18So those are loyal customers to me now. So, you know, it's been a great avenue to reengage our customer base. So Jeff, I need you to chime in, but Tom, for one of the first times it started to hit me. My wife has TJ Maxx points. I have some kind of rewards at Lowe's and at Harbor Freight and at the, you know, what's the farmer place out here, Tom?

29:47It's Bray Miller's. I was going to say Bray Miller's in Hamburg. No, no. The big farm supply shop here in Springville. Oh, Tractor Supply. Tractor Supply. What hit me is that we have these, we get emails about what's going on, and you could use your points. Tom, it's the exact thing that you're doing. Oh, I pick on my wife constantly about Kohl's Cash.

30:10This is Kohl's Cash for the automotive industry is what it comes down to. It's the same idea. People like to be a part of a club. And so one of the biggest challenges, you know, I've been doing this, we're gonna have our 25th next year. I guess we better plan something for that. Our industry has been very late to the game with rewards, but the automotive industry is also very— is more complex in some ways.

30:35But the opportunity is easier for the shop owner because we have— the shop owner has the customers. Name, address, phone number. We have all that stuff and we extract that data and we can instantly enroll every one of the shop's consumers into the appropriate level, either all at the same level or based on the type of customer they are. And if I remember correctly, I have it recorded because the 3 of us sat at a table at Total Automotive maybe a year ago and When we launched, Tom, you said that month that we launched and announced it, you had the record, the best month that you ever had.

31:15Yes, actually, we launched in May and then June, July, August were my 3 top months of that year. There's so many layers to a rewards program. So customers, yes, they like the rewards, but they also like to engage in other ways that make it less transactional and more relational. So the shop owners that are using the fundraising, the cross-pollinator, and the rewards, and selling, let's say, an oil change package, is all tracked within your program.

31:46Now you've got a whole plan, and each one of those things is a defense against other people's advertising. Because when a customer gets a piece of mail from another person for a cheap oil change, Well, I've already got dollars at Total Automotive, or I've already bought a package, or I'm already earning a complimentary oil change after so many. The reason every other industry has embraced rewards more quickly is a rewards program checks all those boxes.

32:18It's a defense against other people's advertising. It generates massive return in terms of customers' repeat business. And it makes your marketing easier because you have a place to have all of it emanate from, be housed in. And, you know, if you're from your monthly deals, your local business cross-pollinators, your fundraisers, and your regular rewards, all of those things become set it and forget it.

32:47And you know what, I'm gonna go and say, when you were talking right there, I heard Aaron in my ear saying, USP, USP. All right, what's your unique selling proposition? That's all of those things are USPs that nobody else in Buffalo— and correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think anybody in Buffalo is using this program. No, not right now. Yeah, so this is my unique program in automotive in Buffalo.

33:14It's my USP for Buffalo. So the other thing too is We talk about the program was like a snowball. You just literally, it gets going, it gets going, and the more it's in and the more you use it, the better the program becomes. But one of the key things, and Jeff, you told me this when we first started it and a couple other shops that use it, is you have to get the buy-in of the front counter.

33:41The front counter has to sell and work this program. They have to tell the client, hey, you've got $28 in your rewards. Do you want to use that today? Would you like to put that to your next service that you need? We have customers that say, no, I don't want to use it right now. I'm saving up for a set of tires.

33:59Okay, fine. You know, they're going to keep those dollars and save them up. And I know they're coming back for me tires because they're saving towards it. So, you know, there's so many different ways customers use it, but you got to get the buy-in of the front counter to talk about it. And that was— We've been removing friction from the program for years.

34:18And the biggest friction point was we relied so heavily on the advisors. And advisors, they're just overworked mentally with all the things they're supposed to remember. It's not a question of do they believe in it? It's a question of can they possibly remember everything that they're supposed to do to be an A+ advisor? So we've had some success and we invested in technologies and now we have the balances embedded in Shopware for Tom because he uses Shopware, same as TechMetric, where the advisors don't have to think.

34:53It's a big glowing green money symbol with the amount of money that they have. So the redemption rate has gone way up. And what we see with redemption rate So at Tom's shop, for instance, consumers that redeem— so let's say 2 customers come in, they both have a balance, they're both loyal customers. The one that redeems is spending close to 40% more, which goes back to those extra visits.

35:21It's crazy that that's as simple as it is, but when they're involved in a program or a club that has all these benefits, they stop going other places. And if you dive into the minutia of the data at a shop, you can say that customer's loyal and they are, they really are, but you're bleeding a half a visit or one visit a year plus a handful of services to a quick lube.

35:47To go from good to great, as Tom, you're seeing with those high-performing customers, you're gaining that extra visit. I talked to my staff about it and I'm trying to make every customer's visit, basically pushing the easy button. How easy is it to come to Total Automotive? You know, and it's— the rewards is one way, making appointments is another way. I mean, all these different little things that we can do to make it easier for the customer and make it more seamless for that transaction, they're going to become more loyal because they don't want to jump through hoops to make an appointment.

36:24They don't want to jump through hoops to get their rewards dollars. So all those little things that we're doing are helping. Redemption equals loyalty, guys. Absolutely. It's a component. Obviously the shop has to do all the blocking and tackling, but the data doesn't lie that when you do the redemption, the behavior changes. And it's not because they care so much about that money.

36:49It's because they're a part of this club that has all these other benefits and they're seeing it in action and they believe it. Once you pull the lever, you're committing to continue to be a player, right? And you get even more loyalty. The customers that donated to Kevin's guest house, whether through my system or that were a part of the raffle, that the mental decision to defect from Total Automotive is more difficult for someone that has a, a personal connection to the business that they're working with.

37:21So that all of these things happen. Trust goes up, the consumer says yes more easily, and it's not that you're selling things that they don't need, it's that they just believe you. They believe you're a good person, they believe you're a good business. We also see the frequency of returning customers for declined work goes up dramatically for consumers when they see the rewards program and they do a redemption.

37:47They turn around and get that declined work more quickly. Tommy, I want to stop you for a minute because I started to think about Kohl's Cash and I started to think about a cool little marketing concept that would be— this is, if you've ever spent Kohl's Cash, you can come and spend Total Cash in our rewards program here. It's no different. You know what?

38:08Those are the unique kind of marketing ideas we can do now. I alluded to it earlier. Referral is a big part of the program. We're trying to get our customers to refer other customers. So we hopped on with this wild idea for Jeff and created a give 40, get 40 program managed through Pit Crew. And every car that comes into my shop now gets a mirror hanger hung on the mirror, and it basically has a rip-off on the bottom with a QR code.

38:39They scan it, it takes it right to the website. They can refer a friend. And when that person comes in as a customer and redeems that $40 towards a repair, the customer that referred them gets automatically $40 in their bank the next day. And we don't have to do anything. Rewards points. I mean, how expensive is it for a business to get customers?

39:04Very expensive. So I'm giving $80 away. To get customers is what it comes down to. So my return is $80 on that, my investment. We're ahead. And also we're getting a qualified customer, not somebody that's coming in for the cheapest price. We're getting a quality avatar customer. And the good news that the advisors don't have to do anything because it's happened from his loyalty program.

39:30We recognize the phone number that the current customer sent the referral to. When that phone number shows up in the database, as long as it's a new cut— you can't even send a referral to someone who's a current customer. It says, thank you very much, but they're already one of our current customers. And when the new customer comes in, it logs it, it thanks the existing customer, and it loads the dollars onto the current customer's rewards account.

40:00I mean, we're dabbling with a couple of ideas now, and Jeff, I'm sure you have people that are doing it. Customer calls up on the phone and asks for a price and says, oh, you're too expensive, or you, you know, I, I can get it cheaper. We send them a gift card instantly out of the system, said, hey, and we know you just called, would $20 help you, or would $30 help you towards that repair?

40:23And try to reclaim that person back Even if they hung the phone up. And we're doing it on deferred work. We're creating a program now where our advisors will be calling for deferred work and offering extra PICC Crew Reward dollars to bring them back in for a repair. So we're trying to reclaim that stuff. So it's all about being creative. Well, we created that as an advisor tool because, you know, the advisors, when they're on the phone with a prospect, they know, is it a vehicle I want?

40:53Does it appear to be a human being that I want? And is it a job that we want? And then they're like, man, I just can't close that deal. Well, you can just click one button. You always have the caller ID and you just type in the phone number. You can use canned messages or you can just say, hey, thanks for calling about your Volvo.

41:11We would love to work with you. And it sends them a nice graphic gift card to come try you out. And that's been working really well. But the deferred work piece has been working incredibly well at other shops. And it's time-based, so we can set it, okay, you know, you have 7 days to use this or else it goes away. So, you know, it puts a limit on it.

41:33It's not unlimited when they come back. We try to get them in right away. Creativity, baby. You guys are working hard together, huh? Yeah. Well, this guy says he's not a good marketer, but his brain got turned on and he's driving me nuts. He probably wakes up at 3 in the morning, writes down on a yellow pad, calls you the next day, and then You gotta go to work, Jeff.

41:56That's the business of loyalty rewards, are infinite possibilities. Slow days, uh, I despise messaging that goes out, we're slow, or we have some open slots. What I'd rather do is be like, uh, well, Mondays can be slow, or Tuesdays, and let's do double rewards Wednesdays, or whatever it is, and the system can handle that. Or it's a partnership where the customer can donate to a charity.

42:23You know, maybe it's a charity for Tuesdays, who knows? But all of these things are housed in the system. Jeff, you having fun? I love this piece. That's, you know, this first time I ever put this here on my title, Community Champion. It's the thing that gets me up every morning and makes me excited about what I do. It's fun, it stokes the soul, you know, and it puts a smile on people's face.

42:47The people that work at the shops, they get to experience what it's like to have customers come in and thank them. Like at Ralph's Import Auto, I had— he called me up, we did a fundraiser for nurses. He had a mom and a daughter come in and buy the whole shop lunch because we did a fundraiser for all the nurses in Tacoma.

43:08It's happening all over the country. And for sad things, you know, there was a tragedy just last week. In Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I don't even want to go into what happened, but we raised money for— it was a family, some people drowned from a storm, and we could impact that community instantly. The shop owner had a place where he could say, I want to do something, what should I do?

43:33Well, he could literally spool up a fundraiser in 30 seconds, and we raised well over $1,000. Right there. The wildfires, we raised thousands for the wildfires out west week. People need a place to participate. This was a very powerful episode. There's a ton of stuff in here that I think not only would help the business individually, but again, elevate that whole community.

44:01What's the word I'm looking for? Prominence. The whole community prominence, Tom, I think you're using it in a really good way. And then again, I gotta, let me see, I gotta grow my community presence. I'm a community champion, as Jeff says, and I want to grow my business. Clients like to connect with something, with a cause, and that's what I'm seeing more than ever.

44:24You know, and a lot of it goes, Carm, my focus now as a business owner have changed over the last 3 years where I was on that treadmill running, trying to create business all day long. Now my focus has changed where it's a bigger purpose, deal with the community, make sure that I'm helping students. We sit on the board together. So all these different focuses at this stage, we always talk about different stages in life.

44:52I'm in a different stage now, and this is part of what I'm doing now in this stage. Interesting. Geez, Jeff, that's interesting. I'm in a different stage of my life, so doing this stuff. You don't have to be as old as Tom to do that, do you? Maybe not that old. Holy blooper. You know, it's about being in service to others. You know, the 3 of us sitting here, everyone listening, life isn't always perfect.

45:17And probably one of the biggest takeaways from one of my low points is when you're in service to others, life gets better. You know, you can dwell on your problems and you can try to solve them. Believe me, I've done that at a period in my life. But when you finally say, I am simply gonna show up and be of service to others, that's when the good stuff happens.

45:40You know, thanks for bringing that up cuz these last 11 and a half or so years have been so rewarding with that in mind that we're getting information, we're distilling interviews from people, we're showing off shops, we're interviewing PhDs and coaches and you name it to share that information so somebody could pull one glimmer of a great sparkle off of a tree, off the snow, off the stars, and say, hey, I gotta do something about this.

46:09I've just been motivated and inspired. So Jeff, thanks for all you do. Thank you for being a great partner of ours. As you can see, Jeff's logo is up top, Pit Crew Loyalty. And Tom, of course, between 5 miles of our house is our favorite ice cream shop, and we've been caused or known to go there and partake. Wait, they serve bourbon at this ice cream place?

46:32No, they don't, but they do have a bourbon praline ice cream, I think. And Tom, uh, forget dessert for the ice cream shop. Let's just go there and have dinner. I'm in for it. Thank you. Listen, Jeff Rudnick, appreciate you being here from Pit Crew Loyalty at pitcrewloyalty.com. Tom Siertino, Total Automotive Buffalo, celebrating 40th year. I was there. Thank you for the invite.

46:59Appreciate the great story. It was perfect. Thanks guys. Nice work, Tom. Thank you both. Thanks. Thanks for being on board to listen and learn from the premier automotive repair business podcast, Remarkable Results Radio. Get your episodic education on the ARPN listening app at automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com. Also, enjoy the podcast on our Carm Capriato YouTube channel. Carm is all for advancing the professional automotive service industry.

47:27Until next time.