Ep 156: Patrick Egan’s Secrets to Leading and Marketing in Auto Repair

0:00The guy who's not just do what I say, but do what I do and leads by example rather than because I told you to. Those are the ones that end up inspiring their team. Hey, you know, if you're not telling your story, somebody else probably is. And the only reason that matters is because I've tried all the stuff that doesn't work. So, hey, you're listening to the Limitless Leadership Podcast, the podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train, and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought-provoking interviews from industry leaders.

0:42Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results? Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Limitless Leadership Podcast. Before we get started, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, do all the things you need to on social media to help this podcast impact people and build leaders.

1:11And speaking of leaders, I got another fantastic automotive repair industry leader with us today. It's a friend of mine. He is the founder of Spark Interactive., and my friend is Mr. Patrick Egan. Patrick, thanks for being here, man. Hey, thanks, Josh. It's great to be in here, um, virtually, right? Yeah. Coast to coast. We're, we're doing it virtually. For those listening, you're probably listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, whatever your favorite streaming platform is.

1:37If you're, if you wanna watch this episode, you can certainly do that as well. Go on, go to YouTube at The Bearded Leader and you can watch this entire episode. Um, so Patrick, let's get right into it, man. Go ahead and share with the audience. Who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Atlantic Automotive is an alliance of leading auto repair shops.

1:53They partner with, invest in, and grow exceptional auto repair shops throughout the US. For shop owners looking to take things to the next level, Atlantic Automotive can help you scale with access to technology, people, growth capital, and operational support. For shop owners looking to transition into something new, Atlantic Automotive provides a trusted home for your business and a responsible steward for your legacy.

2:13Atlantic Automotive is not a franchise, a chain, or private equity group. It is a coalition of like-minded auto repair shops united by a shared vision and shared resources. Atlantic Automotive is a faith-based, family-owned company building the number one automotive partnership organization. If you're interested in partnering, go to atlanticautomotivegroup.com and fill out the Start a Conversation form. Sure. Yeah, I'm the founder of Spark Interactive.

2:39But I've been, you know, I've been a marketing geek, I think is what I like to call it, for 30 years or so. I've run marketing for a lot of really small companies, a lot of really huge ones, ran marketing for one of the largest software companies in the world for a while and jumped out of that because, you know, wanted to really work with, so my own ideas, started my own companies.

3:06So, you Yeah, I've done it all. And, and the only reason that matters is cuz I've, I've tried all this stuff that doesn't work. So, okay. So, so, and you've been in the industry for a minute, so, um, share with the audience, uh, little, little background, your industry background. I know you have a lot of, uh, um, industry colleagues and, and, and friends.

3:26Uh, share with the, share with the audience, uh, some, some background there and then what led you into Spark Interactive. Mm-hmm. Yeah, sure. So, um, yeah, I ran marketing, uh, for a while with, uh, Auto Vitals and, uh, you know, back in the day, be, you know, before there was a DDI. And, um, uh, from there went on to, uh, AutoServe One.

3:49Hey, hang on, hang on. I, I, I can't, I, I can't let you just glaze over this. I think you might know where I'm going with this because you said a 3-letter acronym that I think we're all familiar with. And if you're not, cuz some, cuz some listeners are not, are not from the industry, but DVI. So we know that to be a digital vehicle inspection, right?

4:05Where did that— where did DVI come from, Patrick? So yeah, there was no such thing. There were other things called, you know, electronic inspections and things like that. But yeah, AutoVitals came up with it first. I mean, the real, the real deal. And Uwe Kleinschmidt, who is the— who was the founder and CEO at the time, You know, I remember a day back in the day when we were sitting around thinking about what to do next, and it eventually was called the electronic inspection sheet.

4:36Uwe and Uta, who was the developer back then, you know, cranked the thing out overnight one night, and there it arrived on a tablet. And we renamed it to the DVI, digital vehicle inspection, and that was the first time those words had been spoken. So yeah, since I was running marketing back then, I guess I'm the guy who coined it. And, you know, back in the day, Jimmy Lee was our evangelist, and Jimmy and I ran around the country with a bag full, literally bags full of iPads.

5:06We would go— it was a project we did with NAPA back then, and to roll this thing out and get people interested in digital vehicle inspections, we gave iPads away. You know, if you try this out and you're successful with it, here's an iPad. Turns out what happened is a lot of the shop owners took them home and gave them to their kids.

5:25But yeah, that's how— That's how DVI came out. And we literally, uh, an evangelist approach to, to drive, run around and, you know, preach it from the top of the mountain and tell everyone what DVI was all about. And now everyone, you know, everybody's got a DVI and just kind of throw that word out there. Like, it should have been copyrighted, I guess, or trademarked.

5:45That's right, man. You'd be retired living on a beach. I don't know what you'd be doing, but you'd— but yeah, but anyway, but hey, the good thing is you're doing something that you love and what you do is pretty awesome. I can't wait for you to get to that part, but go ahead and keep— continue your story. After AutoVital? Oh, yeah, sure.

5:59Then worked for AutoServe One, another digital vehicle inspection product back in the day. And then ended up at Kukui and ran marketing at Kukui for 3 or 4 years. And, you know, over that time, stepped foot in many, many shops. People probably remember the Kukui van, and we cruised around the country. I drove that thing back and forth across the country 3 or 4 times., and went through a lot of shops.

6:28To this day, I've stepped foot in close to 5,000 shops. And, after having visited so many shops and seeing so many great shops out there and realizing that there are a lot of great shops, but there's a lot that aren't. And the thing that I saw that, that really kind of, stood out to me is people aren't telling their story, you know, shh.

6:52Shops, businesses in general, service businesses tend to not preach about what makes them different. I mean, they do when they're at the front counter. If you walk in the door and you talk to the shop owner, as you have on many a podcast, and these are great stories, right? But their customers don't hear them. So after hearing so many great stories again and again and again, and there's a repeatable story, I can almost tell every great shop story.

7:17I mean, you focus on your team, You provide a great place for them to work, you provide a great service to them, and they in turn treat your customers really well, and that turns into profit. You know, the guys who focus on the dollar first doesn't seem to work out that way. And so I started Spark on that premise. So my goal has been for the past 6 years now is helping business owners tell their story about what makes them different or unique or uncopyable, I like to say.

7:53So, you know, what sets you apart from the Jiffy Lube or, you know, the Greasy Hand Auto Tech down the road? You know, when I walk into your shop, am I, you know, walking across the 1970s shag carpet and stepping over cords and things like that? Or am I walking into a beautiful place that's inviting and doesn't smell like tires and doesn't smell like oil?

8:13And you've got a loaner car program or a shuttle car program and your customers love you and it's and the back of the shop is clean and well-lit, and your team loves you and they do anything for you. And, um, and that just makes that, that whole machine work. So, um, that's kind of what I founded Spark on the premise of doing, is help people do that.

8:32And we've expanded since then. Spark's a little bit different, different animal now. We also do direct mail and, and, uh, um, uh, AI-enhanced marketing. So there's a lot of that. We get into that stuff later, but Well, Patrick, it's, it's really powerful what you just shared in terms of being able to tell a story. Um, I think we've all heard the, the know, like, and trust factor before, and that's a real thing.

8:55People, people buy from people who they know, like, and trust. And you can't know, like, and trust somebody if you don't know their story, if you don't know something about them. And that's why I will say it till I'm blue in the face: connection creates engagement, and engagement increases performance. And that can apply here as well. Um, having been in 5,000+ shops, I know you've seen it all.

9:16You've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, the in-betweens. Um, what, what, what comes to mind when you think about the most important factors of telling a story? What are things that you're helping shop owners do as they tell a story? What are important factors to you to make sure that the right story is being told? All right, folks, as you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best.

9:37It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop success. It's about putting the right team in place. It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro, making pro moves. And when I think about the pros, I think about Shop Marketing Pros. The know, like, and trust factor, that's a real thing. And Shop Marketing Pros understands that.

9:58That's why I wanna recommend Shop Marketing Pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know, like, and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know, like, and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level. So when I talk about making pro moves, this is the kind of move I'm talking about.

10:15This is the kind of standard-setting partnership that's gonna elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. This episode is brought to you by Limitless Leadership, because great teams don't happen by accident, they're led on purpose. If you're tired of wearing all the hats, putting out fires, and wondering why your team won't step up, Limitless Leadership is for you.

10:39They help leaders transition from player to coach who develop people and multiply impact through in-person or online leadership training like the Limitless Leadership Blueprint or their Roots to Results coaching method. Their services are designed to help you tap into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results and help you create safety and trust in order to provide clarity and direction. So if you're ready to stop managing chaos and start leading with purpose, head to limitlessleadership.co to book a complimentary discovery call today.

11:10Well, authenticity. Authenticity. Why is it hard word to say? And there's two reasons for this. There's actually a side thing. It's not what we set out to do, but telling the authenticity part of it. Not only grabs the interest of your audience, you know, there's a whole psychology thing that goes on behind storytelling. When, when you're telling a story, people, um, you know, you lean in and listen and your brain turns on in different ways.

11:36And so that's what I end up dragging out of people. I've seen a lot of, you know, people are really into video these days, and you should, and people are, are, are doing a lot of great videos, but the storytelling aspect of it is just different. When we go out, it's not a canned or scripted thing at all. I mean, I'll go to shops and people are like, what are you going to ask me?

11:59Like, I don't know, we'll see when we get there. And I do have obviously certain things I ask people, but I don't want somebody to be thinking about the script they're going to say. We do it in that documentary style. I like to to hear what makes them real. And that's what it's really all about. Instead of the video that's talking about, hey, come on down to Joe's Auto, buy 3 tires, get 1 free.

12:30It's more about what your culture is like, what your values are. And that tends to really, if that's what you're about, And shop owners, independent shop owners tend to be that way, or any service business really, or any small business. You know, you're all about— you built it on your core values, built it on a culture, and that's what's made you successful over the years.

12:59And all the other stuff is noise. So if you hear that, you see smiling faces, and it's not just the owner and it's not just you know, what he's done, it's the team behind him as well too. So, you know, I like to make sure that we're showcasing people in their natural environment. You know, techs are in the back of the shop.

13:20They're not sitting on a stool in a darkly lit room and, you know, talking on a really good mic. It's, you know, there's noise going on. It's a working shop. So people see what's real. So it's authenticity. Authenticity. God, that word is hard to say. It is a hard word to say, but I'll say this. I love that that's the first word that came to mind.

13:37You know, when I, when I talk about how connection creates engagement and engagement increases performance, I believe that we connect through authenticity, humility, and vulnerability. And I think that when you can hit those three things, to me, like that, that really tells a, a good story. It, it helps connect with the audience or connect with the person that you're communicating with, and it prompts you to feel something.

13:58And this is important to me because one of my favorite quotes that I've shared a number of times on this, on this podcast comes from Maya Angelou. Where she says, I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. And ultimately, when you can connect through authenticity, humility, and vulnerability, people feel something.

14:17They're gonna forget the things that you said, the actual verbiage that you used, but they're gonna feel like you're gonna move them in a, in a, you're gonna move their emotions. And, and that's, that's, that's important because as you're telling a story, there is real and raw emotions that are being expressed and delivered, that's gonna prompt someone to feel something about this shop owner.

14:41So what else? I'm gonna keep on putting you on the spot, but like, what else? Authenticity is one of them. What else comes to mind when you're helping a shop owner tell their story? Well, like I said, it's not about just them. It's about their team and their and their customers as well, too. So we always try to pull that in and not focus just on the one person or the owner or the owners.

15:10I mean, a lot of that authentic— their story is great, but what makes the business is also the other pieces of it. It's that three-legged stool. You've got your culture and why you started the place in the first place. But what is your team about? How do you focus on your team? And how do you give back to your community? So we do go in and I like to help them bring that team out, bring the guys in the back of the shop and the service advisors and show all those smiling faces and really bring the customers in too.

15:46I've sat down with— when I go out to visit a shop, I'll interview every single customer I can talk to. A lot of them don't want to, but when I can get someone to tell their story, and it's always, again, not scripted, we'll pull people in and say, hey, I know you've been coming here for a while. Can you tell me what it's been all about?

16:11How long have you been coming here? And is there anything that's memorable that you can think of? And you hear some amazing stories. So the kind of stories that the shop owner doesn't even know or remember that happened. I was at one shop where this woman who had just brought her car in and she hadn't planned on coming in for an interview, but she brought her car in and I grabbed her on the way out and she said, oh, yeah, I've been coming here.

16:35He may not even know, but I've been actually coming here for 25 years. She had been driving through town on the way to LA, I guess, and her car broke down. And the, the shop owner called up, I think was right after closing hours on a Friday or something like that, and the shop owner went and picked her up on the side of the road somewhere, had a tow truck haul her car and dropped her off at a hotel.

16:56She stayed at the hotel— I know, dropped her off at the train so she could get into LA. Um, uh, she came back, uh, picked up her car. Um, the shop owner picked her up at the train station, brought her back over. Um, you know, treated her like family. He'd never met her before, she's from out of town. And then she picked her car and left and went to LA.

17:17And then she moved back to that town years later. And, um, and part of the reason that she went back to that town is just remembered how she was treated there, uh, by the shop owner, and has been in that town for, you know, 20 years or something like that. It was kind of amazing stories. And you hear stuff, these really heartfelt stories that come out when they're not incentivized and it's not, again, like, you know, tell us, give us a testimonial.

17:49It's all about telling your story. And the same thing with the team. I've run into circumstances where a shop owner really didn't understand how his team really felt about him. And You know, I've seen circumstances where the, you know, team members are in there like, oh, this is great. You know, I just got out, you know, I just gotten out of tech school, gave me my first break, gave me my first set of starter tools, set me through all my training.

18:19You know, I've been here now for 15 years. I'm a master tech. And, you know, I was thinking of going into the Army back then and, you know, I didn't know what I was going to do. And, you know, now I've got a, you know, house and a family and, you know, it's been, you know, it's been his, his extended family. And let's face it, when you're working, you know, you're with the people that you work with a lot more hours than you are with your actual family, unless like you and me, you're working out of your house.

18:41But, you know, um, but, uh, um, it's those really heartfelt stories that, uh, that really drives this whole idea. It's a culture of storytelling. And although we produce a series of videos that they use for marketing purposes and put them on their websites and things like that, there's a lot that comes out of that. And I've seen where after this experience of everyone coming together and telling their stories and they share them with each other and encourage them afterwards to share the customer testimonials with the team and continue to do that because they never hear that either.

19:17You know, the guys in the back of the shop hear these great stories that the customers are telling and it's like, oh wow, they never heard that. And they'll even mention some of the techs and some of the service advisors by name. And it's It's, um, it's a lot of fun. I mean, let's put it that way. I've been to several hundred shops doing this process, and every single one of them, I come away and I feel like I have a, you know, a new friend.

19:41That's awesome. It's encouraging. I love hearing you talk about how fun— how much fun it is. And I like how you're walking away with new friends. You're having that connection. Um, you're talking about the importance of storytelling, and when I think about storytelling, the person that I think about is Donald Miller. So Donald Miller has the StoryBrand company. I'm curious, are there any people or companies out there that you have kind of leaned on or, you know, gotten mentored or coached by influencers out there that have sparked your curiosity on Spark Interactive?

20:19Yeah, you know, StoryBrand is one that I followed and I, you know, I went down that certification route as well too, but you know, that's a, It's a marketing trend and there's books and all that stuff. And it's, it's, uh, I don't know if there's any one person that's really, really driven. Well, there is one guy, you know, I gotta, I gotta give a hand to him.

20:40Uh, uh, Jimmy Lee. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, you know, he and I spent a lot of time inside the van cruising across the country and you get to know each other all really well when you're spending days on end cooped inside of a 20-foot Sprinter van. But, um, uh, you know, I've, I've heard his story and he's heard my story, and in, in depth, and we've been through a lot of hard times together.

21:04And, you know, we don't work together, uh, directly anymore, but, um, yeah, um, he's been an inspiration to me throughout my career in this industry for sure. And, um, you know, prior to that, there's been, you know, other people that, uh out of our industry. No one here would know some of these people, but it's been pretty interesting. I actually live not too far away from Jack Canfield.

21:30I don't know if anybody here remembers him. Before there was a Dean Grassiosi and a Tony Robbins, there was Jack Canfield. Chicken Soup for the Soul. That's the guy. Yeah. And I want to go back to Jimmy Lee for a second because we all know Jimmy Lee. We love Jimmy Lee. So shout out to you, Mr. Jimmy Lee. You are a changemaker in this industry.

21:50So keep doing what you're doing. I like that you shouted him out, Patrick. Yeah, it's funny because in all the travels we've been through, everyone always says, oh yeah, I see Jimmy on Facebook all the time. Like, who do you think was holding the camera? I'm always the guy on the other side, right? Yeah. You're helping him tell that story. Exactly. Well, let me ask you this, because this is a leadership podcast.

22:12And so one of the questions I ask every guest on the show is what does leadership mean to you? Which I'm going to ask you to answer here in a bit, but I am curious also just if you could tell a story, uh, or two about, um, leadership in action. You know, you're going to, you've been to thousands of shops, you've worked with thousands of shop owners and team members.

22:34Um, and I, I've gotta assume that you've witnessed some strong and even some not so strong, uh, stories that depict leadership in action, if you would. Share one of those stories and then answer the question, what does leadership mean to you? Sure. Um, there's a lot, um, there's a lot of stories out there. Um, a leadership story, I mean, well, the, the leadership story I hear again and again and again, and like I said, there are a lot and they kind of blend together, is is leading from the front.

23:14Okay. You know, I mean, you've seen some of these. Yeah, I've seen some of these, uh, you know, inspirational pictures they have on the front where, you know, they got the guy pulling from the front instead of standing on the, on the chair behind. Um, but it's, but it's true. The guy who's, who's not just do what I say but do what I do and, and, and leads by example rather than because I told you to.

23:40Those are the ones that end up inspiring their team. And, um, gee, I don't know, it's hard to pick out one in particular. Um, I'll have to come back to it. So, yeah, but, but yeah, but, but that's, that's really, that's really the, the story that I've heard in so many shops and, and so many businesses is, is leading by example rather than by command.

24:10I think that's the most— the one thing that I've taken away again and again. And getting out of— but there's two parts of that. It's leading by example, but also taking advantage of that team. And you know what? I think I do have a great example. I don't know if we all know Brian Gossel. B.G. Automotive in Colorado, shining example of this.

24:37Here's a guy who's been in the business for quite a while. And when I first met him and went out and interviewed him and his team and as many customers as we could, he's right there working with his team. He's not turning wrenches. Um, but he's there hearing every word. So it's not so much even— I mean, it is certainly by leading by example through his culture and his values, but listening and taking advantage of the expertise.

25:15So that's the, that's the two parts, um, is if you built a great team and you've built a great team of rock stars, use them. They've got a lot to say and they've got a lot of experience that extends your knowledge base, right? So, um, you've got smart people, use, use their knowledge and, um, and listen to them. And that's— Brian is one guy who's done that as for as long as I've known.

25:42I've known him for a good 10 years at this point. And, um, yeah, so I mean, his shop and his company and his culture there are all about that. I've always enjoyed being able to visit shops and I mean very quickly pinpointing exactly what this shop's culture is all about. Good, bad, or indifferent. I mean, there's, there's been a lot of great shops that I walk into and the culture is just, it's so, I mean, it just, it's just, it's different.

26:11It's different in, in, in all the, in all the best ways. Um, team members are leading each other and serving each other first before they serve their guests. Um, they are truly embodying what the guest experience could and should look like. Then it bleeds into the guest experience because they're serving each other first. And something you kind of nailed on, or you, you hit on earlier that I think you nailed, Patrick, is that, that when, when you start from, from a, from a guest experience, it's very evident the shops who put the transaction before anything else.

26:42Um, whereas there's also evidence when someone is serving that guest, loving that guest through the process, taking care of them, right? They, they're treating it as a relationship. When they do that, the transaction is a natural byproduct of, of exceptional standard setting service. And those two types of shops are significantly different from each other. And you can tell it from, I mean, like when I walk in, I can see this almost within 5 minutes where there's just something different about this shop compared to this shop because one shop is treating the guest experience as a relationship-focused, um, experience and the other is all about the transaction., and it just feels different too.

27:19Like you, I mean, you walk out just feeling, feeling different based on either, on either one. Um, well, let's, let's do this. Mm-hmm. Share with the audience more about Spark Interactive. Um, I wanna make sure that I'm, I'm highlighting and honoring every guest I have on this, this show, man. This is your platform. So, sure, sure. Sell your products, sell your services.

27:41Why, why do we need to know more about Spark Interactive and how can you help? Well, so just what you said. When you walk into a shop and again, it's any service business really, but we're in this industry and you see it immediately. You walk in the door and you know as soon as you walk through the door, the great shops, you can feel it in everyone there that, you know, someone greets you at the door.

28:05They, you know, there's a smile there. It's inviting. You know, some of them smell great. You know, you, there's a lot of shops that I go to that if they're not women-owned, they're sure certainly women-influenced because, you know, let's face it, majority of the people who make the decisions over vehicle purchases and service are women. And so many places ignore that fact.

28:34I don't know why. It's kind of weird. So yeah, but the thing is, is you don't, you don't see that, you know, until you walk in the shop. And everybody's got a great website, you know. I mean, you know, I'm going to go to that shop there. They got that beautiful shot of that BMW going down the road on that twisty turny road with Euro plates on it, which is weird.

28:55And it's a twisty turny road and I'm in Texas. Anyways, but so I know I've got a great Everyone's got a great presence on the internet, but it's until you walk in the door that you don't know. And that's, again, this all goes back to that ability to tell people and showcase that story before you walk in. And also, since a lot of these shops, you know, the shop owner is busy now.

29:22You got to be where you are now because you've stepped out of turning a wrench or being the guy at the front counter. So you're probably not that guy at the front counter anymore. And as great of a story as they may have, even if they tell it to their team, they're not going to tell it as well as they do. No one tells the story better than the person that's experienced it.

29:48Mark Twain said something about the worst ever told story is one told by someone who's— it wasn't his story. I mean, paraphrasing, I don't remember the quote, but that's certainly true. You're telling a story and it's not yours, it comes out terrible. I just try to tell his, right? So that's what it's all about and that's really what we focus on. And a lot of people, it's a tough value to see, to spend money on something where you don't get an immediate return on value.

30:20We also do a lot of direct mail and we do direct mail a little bit more personal. We try to do everything personalized. Our direct mail is also, you know, the whole product that we deliver is personalized to the shop. We do it in a different way than, let's say, an Upswell or a Mudluck where, you know, here's a template, choose one, put your logo on it, change the words, change the colors, and away we go.

30:45You know, all of our stuff is custom done for each individual location in each shop. And we work with them to understand their story. What is it that makes you different? And we emphasize that on their postcards as well too. But That's why it's our one-two punch, because you can look at a direct mail piece or a social media type of thing, and I have a direct digital correlation to how much I spent to what it's worth.

31:13Producing a video where somebody has to watch it and you can't attach a dollar value to it is difficult for some people to grasp. But I try to encourage people to understand that if If people are looking for a shop to go to and they went to one that has the story of them telling about what makes them different, they're a lot more likely to choose them.

31:38And there's one thing that we do that's even beyond the story. You know, like I said, we take the customers' stories as well too. Those customer testimonials, that stuff is like your 5-star reviews on steroids. Yeah. You know, I mean, today people are really thinking that everything is, is AI and fake. And so everyone loves those 5-star Google reviews, but boy, you've got 10,000 5-star reviews and I don't see any 1-star reviews.

32:08I'm not buying it. Right. Yeah. I mean, even though they might be great, but you know, your best 5-star review tends to go like, been here for 10 years. It's great. You should come to 2 thumbs up, 5 stars. You know, there's not a lot of, not a lot to it, right. That you can say in a sentence. But if you hit their website or their social media feeds and you see actual customers in the shop going like, you know, telling these stories about, oh yeah, I've been coming here for years.

32:33You know, I first came here, we had just gotten married, and then we had the kids and we had the minivan. And, you know, the shop owner would put, you know, a teddy bear in the car seats. And, you know, now my 18-year-old kid is driving that minivan. And that's why we're here today. And, Those kind of stories go like, oh, I guess I should go there because they've been there for generations now, right?

32:54And then the third part of that, which is the team. So for recruiting, I mean, we're not just trying to attract great customers, but you know, there's a technician shortage, right? It's probably not a shortage, it's just they're not working for you. And And there's a reason for that because, and a technician isn't going to move to someplace else if they don't see a value in it.

33:26And okay, I'm going to let you in on some top secret stuff here. I don't know if we've made a pause or something like that because this is a lot of heavy research that I've done here. All right. Hey, hey, now's the time. Everybody, if you're not listening now, now's the time to do it. All right. All right. Let's have it, Patrick.

33:38Yeah, so I found this out because when I interviewed people, I asked them, why do you— why would you choose another shop over the other one? Not rocket science, right? So because like I said, I've talked to, geez, I don't know, good couple thousand technicians at this point. And I asked them along with their interviews on when I go in there, I ask them why they like working here, why they love working here, how long they've been here and those type of things.

34:03And what, you know, I want to hear their story. But I also ask them, what makes you choose one shop over the other? You know, like, especially the new guys who haven't been there very long. Why'd you come here? What, you know, what was your process of getting to this shop from where you were? You've been in this, you know, you just told me you've been in the business for 20 years and you're here now and you were at that other shop for, you know, 7 years and you must like this better and what it's all about.

34:28And they tell me over and over again, they say 3 things and it's not even prompted. You're like, I want to hear this story. I want to know what they're all about. I want to know if their customers like them, how long they've been around, are they going to be around a while longer? Because they're looking for a place to land and they want to make a home.

34:46You know, I mean, people don't like using the wheels on their boxes, right? And when they find a place they want to stay, then they stay, but they don't know. And as you know, technicians in our business are a particular type of individual and, you know, don't want to go outside the box. And, you know, if I'm working, I'm working, you know.

35:15So what do they do? They stalk you on Facebook, they stalk you on social. If they know somebody there, they might ask them. But, you know, in interviews, you don't quite get to ask the right questions. But if you can see an actual employee, a person that works there, telling their candid story that's not scripted in their environment. They can see what it looks like.

35:39It's clean, it's well-lit. They look like they're, you know, in good clothing. You know, they're telling stories like, oh, this is great. We've been here for a while. You know, the shop owner, Joey, makes burgers for us every Friday. We have, you know, about couple times a year we get together and we go on a camping trip or something like that. That's something that BG Automotive does.

36:00Or, you know, they go out and they have a bowling team together. They might hang out afterwards. Or it's a type of thing like we work really hard in the shop, but boy, when we leave the shop, we're gone. You know, there's none of this like calling me after hours and that kind of thing. And, you know, all of those All of those things.

36:20So here's the key one. This was the number one response that I got. They want to know if they fit in. So of those interviews that I asked them, okay, what is it that makes— what is it you're looking for? And I said, I want to know if I want to fit in. Great example, a shop I worked with. Every guy in the back was tatted, arms, necks, some face tattoos.

36:48I think they had a side gig as a tattoo parlor or something like that. So when you see that and you see people that look like you, you know you're going to fit in. Yeah. I went to one shop who had all female techs. So when I interviewed all of them and you saw that, and guys who are uncomfortable with that, might not want to go there.

37:11Sure, some guys might want to go there, um, but, uh, they— I don't know if they'd even hire men. But, um, so that's that kind of thing. You want to know if you're going to fit in. And that's true of, of any human experience we have. Before you go there, you want to know if you're going to fit in. So I want to know if I'm going to go to a shop, if it's a shop for me.

37:29If I want to go work there, yeah, I want to know if I'm going to fit in and if it's the right place for me. I mean, we've heard of We've heard of the rap sheet resume, right? Where, you know, the guy worked here and here and here and here and here. And it may not be that they're not good. It may be that they just didn't find the place that they want to be yet.

37:47I completely agree with that. And by the way, I appreciate you sharing everything that you just did. You literally just described the know, like, and trust factor for team members or for employees with employers, uh, which I think is important. I mean, you know, the number one reason that people Um, uh, actually leave bad leaders, not bad jobs, is because of recognition, um, or lack thereof.

38:10Uh, it's not compensation. Um, they wanna be recognized, they wanna feel valued, they wanna be fi— they wanna fit in. Like they wanna be a part of something bigger than themself. They wanna be a part of a culture that's healthy and positive. They wanna be a part of something that is moving towards the common goal, something that's, uh, moving the needle in the right direction and.

38:29And when you can be a part of something larger than yourself, that's powerful. I mean, that's a powerful place to be in, an important place to be in. Let me ask you this, Patrick. The second question I ask every guest on this podcast is, what is the best advice you've ever received from a coach or a mentor? How would you answer that question?

38:50Yeah, it's really good advice, and it's the kind of thing where, you know, when it's given to you, you're like, hmm. You know, taking it like— so get out of your own way and listen. And, you know, when I got this advice, it was probably in a circumstance where I wasn't listening, wasn't even listening to that. It wasn't a boss, but he was a person in a leadership spot.

39:23And It was, uh, it's a hard lesson to hear sometimes because if you— I mean, of course I'm right, right? I've been doing this for years. I know all about it, right? But, um, but it's true. It's, uh, you know, if you spend more time listening than talking, you're probably gonna do better. And I've taken that advice and, you know, turned a lot of things around.

39:52You know, the, the way that I used to try and lead things is a lot different than I, than I do now. Again, I really leverage the value of and the experience of my team. If I walk in a room and I'm the smartest guy there, boy, I'm in the wrong room. Preach, man. Preach. In fact, I know this is the first episode that has two Mark Twain quotes, because I'm going to quote Mark Twain and say, God gave us one mouth and two ears for a reason., right?

40:24Yeah. And, and so, amen. I, I, I know being able to, you know, when we think about communication and what's interesting is even as a leadership coach in this industry, the number one topic of conversation on the coaching calls is typically communication or lack thereof. We know that poor communication is actually costing business owners, shop owners, 18% of total salaries paid out on an annual basis and costing them 7.47 hours of lost time per week.

40:51So when I talk about the importance of communication, that's an understatement. Like, it is, it's massive. It, it, it's, it's incredibly important. The interesting thing though, just to get to where I'm trying to get to, is when you think about communication, like, if I were to say, Patrick, what, what comes to mind when you think about communication? You're likely thinking about the words coming out of your mouth and not the words coming into your ears.

41:11And I think you and I both agree that listening is arguably, if not the most important attribute when it comes to communication. And so I think that's phenomenal advice that we can all take and we can all listen to. Now we get to take action on that knowledge that was just dropped. So thank you for dropping that knowledge, Patrick. Thank you for dropping all kinds of knowledge on this podcast.

41:34Now I'll ask you, uh, where can our audience get in touch with you and Spark Interactive? Sure. Well, the easiest way is sparkinteractive.com. There's a Contact Us button there. It'll go to me, so you can hit me up there, or you can always send me an email, patrick@sparkinteractive.com. Yeah, I can give you my cell phone number, 805-403-3462. Give me a shout. It's always here.

42:00It's always on. Yeah, it's unfortunate sometimes. It's unfortunate but necessary, right? I mean, as— exactly. I think we all— we can all relate to that. Well, Patrick, man, um, thanks for being here. I appreciate you being here on the Limitless Leadership Podcast. Uh, any parting words of wisdom for our audience? Uh, hey, you know, if you're not telling your story, somebody else probably is.

42:26So you should get out there and tell your story the way you, you know it. Powerful. Love it. Uh, well, man, thanks for being here. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. Don't forget to smile today. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I'm Josh Parnell reminding you to keep leading well.