The Institute’s Leading Edge Podcast

The Leading Edge is a show dedicated to providing Automotive Service and Repair Shop Owners a one-on-one with The Institute’s experienced consultants. Ask us questions regarding any aspect of your business and we’ll answer it during the show!

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105 - Progress To Inspiration with Bob Conant
September 11th, 2024 - 00:49:28

Show Summary:
In this podcast, Bob will shares the story behind his success, including the lessons he's learned from both his triumphs and the mistakes he’s made along the way. He'll be joined by Jimmy Lea from The Institute, offering you an exclusive chance to hear firsthand how to overcome challenges and adopt actionable strategies for your own shop.
Since 1983, Bob Kaiser's Repair has been delivering reliable and trustworthy auto repairs to Hilton, Rochester, Hamlin, and the entire Monroe area. Over the years, Bob has achieved tremendous success by increasing sales, boosting Effective Labor Rate (ELR), and significantly improving both Gross and Net Profits.
The podcast focuses on Bob's experiences as a shop owner, particularly his success stories and the mistakes he's made throughout his journey. Bob shares insights into the practical lessons he's learned, offering valuable advice to other shop owners on what worked for him and, just as importantly, what didn't.
This isn’t just advice—it’s lived experience. Learn from someone who’s been through it all and come out stronger on the other side.

Host(s):
Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

Guest(s):
Bob Conant, Owner of Bob Kaiser's Repair

Episode Highlights:
[00:01:34] - Bob shares how he got started at the shop, initially mowing lawns and eventually becoming a technician.
[00:03:00] - Transitioned into service advisor and general manager roles to avoid the physical toll of turning wrenches long-term.
[00:04:44] - Talks about years of waiting for the previous owner to let go and the challenges of delayed succession.
[00:06:00] - Joined a coaching group to grow the business, but couldn’t implement changes due to owner resistance.
[00:08:48] - Finally purchased the business in 2020/2021 after over two decades of dedication.
[00:17:26] - Credits joining a coaching group as crucial for handling the transition and business responsibilities.
[00:21:07] - Emphasizes empowering staff and setting clear goals as key to rapid growth in the first two years of ownership.
[00:26:33] - Talks about creating a fun, supportive shop culture that improves both employee and customer satisfaction.
[00:34:46] - Shares future vision of expanding to five shops in five years and eventually retiring.
[00:44:09] - Advises new shop owners to seek support, stay accountable, and not go it alone - “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUJJSoI_HCU
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Jimmy Lea: Welcome. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, or good night, depending on when and where you're joining us from today. This is the Institute and these are the leading edge podcasts. As we have discussions talking to you about your awesomeness, your success, your prowess in making your shop the best that you can possibly be super excited to be here today.
Jimmy Lea: My name is Jimmy Lee. I am with the Institute. We are talking to you about your awesomeness, your success, your challenges, your past, your future, your present. Where are you today? As we talk about these things today, the guest is Mr. Bob Conant. Bob, glad to have you with us. We're going to talk about you. So it should be easy for us to talk about Bob.
Jimmy Lea: You can come up on camera now. Hey, how are you?
Bob Conant: Good.
Jimmy Lea: Good.
Jimmy Lea: Good, good, good. How are the bills?
Bob Conant: Those are good.
Bob Conant: 1 and 0
Bob Conant: undefeated.
Jimmy Lea: They're doing great as of today.
Bob Conant: As of today. Yes.
Jimmy Lea: As of today. And how do you think they're going to do going into this weekend with Miami?
Bob Conant: Tomorrow's going to be a tough game with Miami.
Bob Conant: So we'll, we'll, we'll see. I'm okay either way, but if they win, they get to talk a little more trash. So hopefully they'll win.
Jimmy Lea: Nice. Yeah. It's amazing how much of a religion football can be.
Bob Conant: It can be.
Bob Conant: Yeah.
Bob Conant: Yeah. We have people every, every Sunday or every game that come over and watch it with us. So it's, it's a, it's a blast.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, it sure is. Sure is. And Bob, you, you I I'd love to jump into your story to talk about who you are and about your history and about your past, where you came from very specifically with Bob's shop, Bob Kaiser's shop. You were a technician in the shop for quite a few years.
Bob Conant: Yeah, I worked for Bob on and off for years and I came back back in 2000 as a tech and then started to do a little bit more of office work.
Bob Conant: And mainly it was because I saw how. The industry beats up a technician's body. So for me, I said, Hey, let's let's, let's learn a little bit more of the office side and maybe I can expand my career in the industry.
Jimmy Lea: Well, let's back up a second. That's 24 years ago. You say you came back to Bob Kaiser's.
Jimmy Lea: Does that mean you worked in the 1900s at Bob's place?
Bob Conant: I felt like, you know, so I, I worked through and through high school and I actually started off cutting his grass at his house. And then worked into cleaning up and, and I've done pretty much every position here between tow truck driver you know, cleanup kit, the whole nine.
Bob Conant: So, and then I kind of transitioned through high school work here and then left, went to a couple of shops in between coming back. And I came back for good back in right about 2000. So.
Jimmy Lea: Okay. So you've been a technician for a lot of years. You come back in 2000, 24 years ago, you start getting into more of the office work.
Jimmy Lea: Is this like service advisor, general manager or service advisor solely?
Bob Conant: No, I started off as a tech and service advisor. I did part time tech, part time service advisor. And and then eventually went to full time service advisor and probably the last 10 years was a labeled a general manager. So, yeah.
Jimmy Lea: And at what point, when you came back in 2000, and we're just going to start at that, at what point did you look at this business and say, Hey, you know what? I think I really like this and I think I want to buy this shop.
Bob Conant: I think that's crazy talk for anybody, but I would say that it's probably 10 years into that it was he was talking about retiring and, or at least thinking about it.
Bob Conant: And so I looked at that point to say, Hey, you know what, this would be a great opportunity. You know, I was in my forties. A little bit more energy than in my fifties and said, Hey, you know, this, this would be a great opportunity. So, we started talking at that point and, you know, you kind of realized that he really wasn't ready to let go and retire.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, dang.
Bob Conant: So, so from there, I had actually had a, a friend of mine who worked for Bob for 20 something years left and went to the dealer. I bought it back and as a, to be a partner with me, we were planning on purchasing it together. So that went great for, for years. We were all kind of pushing for the same thing.
Bob Conant: And then you kind of saw that Bob was just really not ready to let it go. So, so then it kind of started to change with my partner and then he had medical issues that he had to finally retire from the industry. Which again is why I tried to get into the office because it beats up your body. Yeah.
Bob Conant: So, so he, he left and then there was several years it was several years after that that it, the talk finally came real. But there was, it went a long ways before, you know, you kept having that, that carrot dangling in front of you and Hey, yeah, this is going to happen. This is going to happen. But for an owner, it was really hard for him to let go.
Bob Conant: I mean, this was his life. He literally lived in front of the shop. So his commute was really quick and he worked 25 hours a day, so it didn't really matter, you know, so this was his life. It wasn't just a, a business, it was his life.
Jimmy Lea: So
Jimmy Lea: literally he lived. Like
Jimmy Lea: next door to the shop.
Bob Conant: So yeah, this is actually, we're, we're actually an old bus garage that's set back off the road.
Bob Conant: So there's two houses in the front and one of the houses, he owned both of them, but the one house he lived in for 30, 33 years, somewhere around there.
Jimmy Lea: Okay.
Bob Conant: So, yeah, it was, it was tough for him to, to finally let go. And then, and then when he finally was ready to say, Hey, I'm, I'm, I'm really looking to retire, I wasn't in a mindset and, and to go back, we had so we had finally joined a coaching group years ago and he was, he went to a couple of meetings.
Bob Conant: And then realized it's not for him, right? He was, he was a true technician, but he was not a good people person. So he he didn't want to join the groups. He didn't want to be involved in our groups, but knew that the business needed it. So I was put in the position to represent in the groups. And we were in a group for probably about six years.
Bob Conant: And finally I was kind of like, all right, you know. Every time I go to a meeting, we'd learn a lot, come back with a whole bunch of notes and I'd come back all gung ho, ready to change stuff and get stuff on track and he wasn't willing to change it. No, we can't do this. We can't do that. Customers will never let us do this.
Bob Conant: So, there was a lot, a lot of that going on and, and, you know, we can't do that in our area. So. Finally, after coming back and getting beat up at these meetings a lot without being able to change anything, I said, you know what, if, if nothing changes by the end of the year, I'm going to leave the group because I'm not benefiting anyone there.
Bob Conant: So I, which kind of, which really did stink. I mean, I, I love. the group. I love the guys that were in there. It was a lot of fun, a lot of great information.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah.
Bob Conant: So finally I said, all right, nope. At the end of the year I was out and, and that was it. So we went a couple of years after that. It was probably about four years after that before he really seriously started talking about selling and retiring.
Jimmy Lea: Oh
Jimmy Lea: my gosh.
Bob Conant: Yeah. So then after that, He was, he was finally said he was ready to sell. I said, yeah, I don't think so. So I went through a couple of years of, you know, screw you. I can't, I'm not, I'm not buying, I'm not, I'm not chasing this carrot again. So, and then finally it looked like he was really serious.
Bob Conant: So I sat down with my wife and said, all right, what should we do? So, you know, I said, I can go somewhere else. There's always McDonald's, so you can always get a job somewhere.
Jimmy Lea: Right? Taco time. McDonalds
Bob Conant: I said, all right, now, you know what? I loved what I do. I love the customer base. I love. The staff here said, all right, let's, let's bite the bullet.
Bob Conant: And, and if he's serious, let's, let's do it. So he was serious and, and everything went through and then I purchased the business and well, actually I started leasing it in May or February of 21. And then finally closed on the, on the purchase of it around August of 21.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, wow. That's that's, I'm going to say that's fairly quick.
Bob Conant: It felt like it took forever.
Jimmy Lea: It did take forever. But from the final, okay, February to August, that's the short time period, but it took you 21 years to get to that point. Which, here's the good news, you don't hold the record. I'm sure, I'm sure. But that's also the unfortunate news, that you don't hold the record.
Jimmy Lea: What advice would you give, because I think there's a lot of service advisors, managers that are in that same position that you were in where that carrot kept being dangled, but you just didn't. And it wasn't that you weren't willing. It's that you weren't willing at the same time. Ooh. How do you give somebody hope that it's going to happen eventually?
Bob Conant: So that's a great question. Cause you know, honestly, I looked at it as I should have just bailed out years ago and open my own shop. And, and I'm glad I didn't, but it's, you, you gotta look deep because if I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that are, that are Well, there's a lot of owners out there that are looking to say, Hey, you know what?
Bob Conant: I need to get out. Right. And the problem with it is, is nobody really puts a lot of the, the majority of people don't put things in place to make it happen. And, and for that, you string a lot of people on, like you say, for me, I would have much rather do it in my 40, you know, around 40 than 50. But.
Bob Conant: Honestly, I don't, you really have to look deep at it because again, I didn't think this was ever going to happen. And in reality, to wait that long is kind of crazy if this is what you want to do. So, yeah, I would say they would really have to reevaluate it. Cause I know, I know a handful of guys now that are in the same boat locally that are being held on that, Hey, the owner is going to sell.
Bob Conant: The owner is going to sell. The owner is going to sell. And honestly, it's, it's a lot harder for knowing now, I see it's a lot harder for owners to say, Hey, you know, if, if an owner is involved on a daily basis, it's going to be hard for them to make that decision to say, you know what, I think it's time for me to retire.
Bob Conant: Interesting. So if it is an absentee owner, it's a little bit easier. So if you were to go to these, unless there's two or three guys that are in your town, what advice are you going to give them? Cause each, each situation is unique. And I, I understand that. So this is a very broad brush. What advice would you give them?
Bob Conant: Honestly, I, I'd say don't believe the hype. I mean, you know, actions speak louder than words. So if it's not happening and that's what you want to do, then you've got to make that decision to make the move or you make the decision to hang in and, and, and wait until it does happen. If it does happen.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. If you really like that location, if you really like that customer base and you really want to stay there, then you can stay there. I, I think, and, and help me out here on this, Bob, would it, and I don't know if you did this or maybe collectively the both of you did this where you finally drew a line in the sand.
Jimmy Lea: Well, let's call it that a line in the sand and said, okay. This has to happen by the end of the year.
Bob Conant: Yes. And, and basically it was, it was, it was both of us. I mean, for me it was okay. Is this really going to happen? And I dragged my feet on it a little bit because I was like, I don't, I don't really think he's really serious.
Bob Conant: So I had to wait. I had to see it in his eyes that he was serious. Okay. I want to go.
Jimmy Lea: Okay.
Bob Conant: And the funny part with that is. Even after it happened, he didn't really want to go. So, was he still coming in every day? Oh, he was, he was still, yeah, he was still coming in every day and the habit was, it's hard to break.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, I mean, that was his life. You're back next door. You're, you're the backyard. You, the shop is. Part of his daily routine.
Bob Conant: It was his life. So, so finally when he was, when he was serious I said, okay, let's move forward. And, and honestly, for me, for this business, you know, and I look at it as it was, it was a good choice for me because He built a really good business.
Bob Conant: I mean, he invested his blood, sweat and tears in it. He worked 25 hours a day, you know, eight days a week. And he had a really good reputation and he did things right. So, and I worked for a couple of shops in between. And you know, you find guys trying to cheat the system and you know, to try to get ahead or make an extra buck and, and it's not worth the, you know, Bob is, was always a very honest guy.
Bob Conant: So I, I was, had the opportunity to learn from a very honest person. a very smart technician. So for me, it was, it was a great situation for the learning aspect of, of what he put into this business and where it was when I was looking to purchase it. It was a, it was a solid company and, and not even number wise, but trust wise, loyalty wise with customers, you know, our retention rates really high.
Bob Conant: So we had a very good customer base that was, was loyal. I mean, when he first moved out here, he was in the city, moved out here in 80 and 86 for his first year, he had 75 percent of his customers that traveled 20 to 25 minutes to come out to Hilton for his repairs from Rochester. Yep. So, I mean, that's, that's type of loyalty that he built with his, his.
Bob Conant: Client. So, they, that made him survive the first year. And then from there you know, the community learned of him and it grew from there.
Jimmy Lea: And they embraced him finally.
Bob Conant: Finally.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. No, I, with the small towns, you're living in a small town. Hilton's a small town there. You got to break through that good old boy mentality and become part of the community.
Jimmy Lea: And that's sometimes very difficult in a small town.
Bob Conant: No, it wasn't. And it built a great reputation. And, and like I said, I love the area. I love the customers. So for me, it made sense to make the jump and, and purchase the business.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's beautiful. And that's one of the things I love about the automotive industry too, is that the honesty is.
Jimmy Lea: The integrity is there and I'm using a very broad brush because yes, there are some that aren't, but for the majority, I think the industry is hardworking, super hardworking. They'll put in the time, effort and energy to get the results. And you have done that. So I'm seeing a 21 year time period. Six of those years you were in a group mastermind idea.
Jimmy Lea: Then you dropped out. Then you came back three years ago. You, you finally. Took that big plunge and bought the business. What, what did that look like? I mean, gosh dang, that had to be one of the scariest moments.
Bob Conant: It was, and for, for many owners that are, are or were technicians it's a, it's a scary thing.
Bob Conant: And for me, you know, I was a tech service advisor and then label as a general manager. And I say that because I really didn't have, I had some of the authority, but not full of the authority. So it was, it was a scary move because I didn't know the backend, right? I knew how to run the shop, deal with the employees, handle the customers, things like that.
Bob Conant: But I didn't know all the fun that goes on on the backside between bills and taxes and all that stuff. So, yeah, it, it was, it was very scary, which is why when I purchased the business, I already knew that I was going to join back up into a group and, and to have that structure, you know, the discipline and the accountability with it, so, and the resources, I mean, you know, without, without the group and in any group, do you have a lot of, of.
Bob Conant: Board members that you're, you can bounce stuff off and you have a lot of resources to be able to, to, to. figure out problems because we all go through the same thing. The, the industry's, you know, an auto repair shop is an auto repair shop. We all have similar to the same problems. Yes. So to have that counseling, if you will you know, it, it makes a big difference, which is why I knew that I needed, I needed to join a group.
Bob Conant: For me, it was also because I really wasn't sure that I could do it. You know, it's a, it's a big, it's a big load to take on. And it's a lot of responsibilities to have employees that have families that, you know, you're responsible for now, you know, cause my job is, is to keep them with a job and, and keep them stable and, and whatnot.
Bob Conant: So yeah, it was a bit, it was a big leap. It was definitely a little scary.
Jimmy Lea: It's a humbling experience to finally realize, Oh my gosh, now I have nine mortgages. Now I have nine families to feed and nine families to clothe and nine families or whatever that number is for you. Right. I mean, that's, that's a humbling experience.
Jimmy Lea: So what what did it look like that first year for you? And I understand it's a completely different skill set going from a technician service advisor manager. Owner owner is a different skill set. You went into that group environment from where Bob had built the business. Now you take over, you're in the group.
Jimmy Lea: What is that first year look like?
Bob Conant: Yeah, it was it was interesting. So for me, I had, I was fortunate enough. So Bob's wife took care of the back end, the bills and whatnot. So I was fortunate enough to have her through my first year to help train me. Right. So, and, and, you know, she was stuck in her ways and she was using QuickBooks desktop.
Bob Conant: So I said, I'm going to use QuickBooks online. So. February 17th, when I started leasing the business, I changed to QuickBooks Online. So she had to learn with me to help me learn. So I, I had some guidance with that. The first year on the backend with handling the books and everything else. The, the employee portion, I mean, we have, you know, everyone has different management styles and whatnot.
Bob Conant: I like to have fun. I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a sarcastic person as some of the group members that are on here watching know,
Jimmy Lea: That's your second language.
Bob Conant: Yes, it is.
Jimmy Lea: And you're fluent.
Bob Conant: But you know, I, I like to have fun and, and, and for me, it was great because my employees were, were bought in for me personally, the business, they wanted to work hard for me.
Bob Conant: They knew that. I put everything I had into purchasing the business. So I didn't have a lot of resources on the backend to where things went sideways. So I had, it was, it was awesome to see that my staff worked their butts off to make sure that we were hitting our numbers, hitting our goals. And everything staying on track the way it should.
Bob Conant: So without them, that, that first, I mean, it could, it could have been really bad. And, but no, I, I had a great staff to start with. They were all. on board with, with me taking over. So that worked out. That was, that worked out the best.
Jimmy Lea: It could have been a mutiny and thank heavens it wasn't. So here's a comment that comes in from Craig, Craig Zale down in Texas.
Jimmy Lea: We can't do it that way here. Our clients won't let us do that. Those are probably some of those things 20 years behind. You know, it's not as progressive. So my question for you is, and this is some old school mindset. What are some of the things that you did in implementing that when you bought the business, you had the staff, you had their buy in, what are some of those things that you did?
Jimmy Lea: to really grow sales, grow profits, to grow the business that first year?
Bob Conant: Well, the first year, really, honestly, not a lot. It was, it was, I was in, in my head, I was in survival mode, right? I was in don't fail mode. Yes. Yeah. Which is where my staff really picked up. And our sales, I think our first, I think 21, our sales were 15 percent up from the previous year.
Bob Conant: And then the second year we were up 29 percent in sales. So, and honestly, the biggest thing for that was just getting out of my way letting my staff, you know, giving them the expectations, the goals and letting them do what they're paid to do.
Jimmy Lea: How hard is that to do that, to step back and go, okay, I need you to do that.
Jimmy Lea: It's going to take you a couple hours. I could do it in 35 minutes, but. I need you to do that.
Bob Conant: All right, Jimmy. So you, I mean, you don't really know me, so I'm not, I'm not a micromanager. Right. So I don't like to be up people's business when they're, when they're doing it. But if you ask my wife I'm not a good teacher with that stuff.
Bob Conant: I'll just do it because it's easier. Right. So it was extremely hard. And, and I, you ask any, anyone in the group that's being told to, you just need to let go yeah, it's, it's scary. I, it's, you know, there's, I guess the good part about it is there's days now that I come in and I'm like, all right, what am I doing here?
Bob Conant: What, what, what, what do I do? Because you don't have that, that normal, I'm working on it. The hardest thing to do is to sit back and look at numbers or look at, you know, anything else and go, all right, how are we doing? How's the staff doing? So, and that was more of the second year of, of giving my staff more responsibility and kind of letting them, you know, do what they're supposed to do.
Bob Conant: And, you know, here's our goal, where we want to be, let's push it there. So I think that was really my, my biggest increase. It was definitely our biggest increase ever here in, in the 41 years we've been open. So, and yeah, it was, it was hard. It's, it's not, it's not the easiest thing. Anyone that says it's easy and I envy you because it's, it's really not.
Bob Conant: It's, it's no fun at times because you, you feel a little bit lost. You, you kind of lose your purpose, but you have to realize that your purpose. Is on a, on a more overlooking, you know, area to say, Hey, you know, I need to keep all this stable and whatnot. It's not that, Hey, I've got to write up a customer, sell this job, fix a car, anything else.
Bob Conant: So it's harder looking from, you know, 30, 000 feet up than, than it is down on ground level.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. And Tommy gives you a heck yeah, he's sarcastic. And yet. He's a great shop owner and his staff respects him.
Bob Conant: Yep. They were just here in September. So they got to tear me apart, which was which was great.
Bob Conant: And luckily there wasn't, there wasn't a lot of bleeding. So, but it's, it's, it's it's, it's good information, but yes, no, they, they met my staff and, and I've got a good staff and. And that's the reason why I'm able to sit here with you today.
Jimmy Lea: Nice. So what, what did you do in those first couple of years?
Jimmy Lea: You grew by 15%, you grew by 29%. What were some of those steps you took to improve that gross profit and that net profit?
Bob Conant: It honestly, it's, it's, it's the group process. It was a couple of things for me, right? So it was, It was the no, I'm not going to fail. Yes, I can do this. You know, after my first year of, of being a little nervous and going, all right, really, can I, can I, you know, do this?
Bob Conant: It was like, you know what, for anyone who thinks I can't. You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it. And then it was just, it was the group process. Watch your numbers. These are what we do. Give it to your employees. These are the levels we gotta hit. This is where we need to be. This is the customer service that we need to provide.
Bob Conant: You know, and, and it was just a lot of, of monitoring that and, and giving them the tools to be able to do their job.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah, cause I mean, you think of the time wise, you were buying the shop in the middle of COVID.
Bob Conant: Yeah, at the end of, end of COVID was basically, well, yeah, I mean, we were still, we were still there.
Bob Conant: So yeah, it was, it was scary. And the funny part is, is in 2020, when, when COVID came out at Mars, we had probably our best first two months and we're starting off great in, in March, then I think it shut down on like on the 17th or something like that. And we really didn't miss a beat too much through, we were fortunate that we didn't really, we were off a little bit.
Bob Conant: In 20 and yeah, so that's when I was looking to purchase. So yeah, that was even a little scary, I guess, thinking back on it now, you know, yeah, cause it was all unknown. But in reality for me, I looked at it as, well, you know what, we didn't get killed through COVID. We stayed there. And you know, we're, we were one of these businesses that, you know, was essential and, and, and so I'm like, we're not going anywhere.
Bob Conant: So I said, yeah, let's jump on the train and do it.
Jimmy Lea: Nice. Nice. So what have you done within your shop? In your culture within your people that keeps that high level customer satisfaction for your clients that keep coming back to you year after year after year.
Bob Conant: It's pizza parties, right? That's what I see online.
Jimmy Lea: Pizza parties.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, is that all it takes?
Bob Conant: That's all it takes. I don't see it. I think it's just me being me. I like to have fun. I want my staff to have fun. I don't want to have to go to work going, man, I got to work with Jimmy again, right? He's going to be in his mood on Monday. The Seahawks lost and you know, and so, I like, I like everyone to have a good time.
Bob Conant: So for me, it's, it's getting my staff to enjoy it. And I'll give you an example. I've got a, I've got a guy that we took from we were able to grab from another shop because his wife reached out to me. there. He was coming about work, did a good jo over 15 years, almost 16 so she reached out to me, we interviewed him, brought him here.
Bob Conant: She says, you know, he is been here oh, two and a half years, almost three years. Yeah, about two and a half years. And you know, we, we do dinners together as a staff. We go out golfing together, that kind of stuff. And she says, you know, he couldn't be happier. I mean, the, the home life has improved because his work life has improved.
Bob Conant: So, yeah, for me, for me, it's, it's. I take what we do serious, and customer service needs to be at the highest it can be, but you have to have fun, you know, and to me, that's the biggest thing for me. I appreciate my staff, they know that I care about them, you know, we've done food, I've cooked garbage plates, and you know, all kinds of burgers and breakfasts, and if you've never had a breakfast baconator, they're pretty good, so.
Jimmy Lea: No, no, no. You, you got me a garbage plate. What?
Bob Conant: Oh, that's right. I forgot. It's more of a Rasha thing. It's a garbage plate. It's, it's either, it's either burger, cheeseburgers or, or, or hot dogs on max salad and home fries or, or max salad and beans or any kind of combination. Yeah. I forgot. It's more of a Rasha thing.
Jimmy Lea: You call that a garbage plate?
Bob Conant: It's called a garbage plate. You, you got it. You got to Google it. Check it out. It's. It's really good. You should try one this Sunday for the game.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Well, yeah. Anybody that's watching this is garbage plate. Is that due to me? Does anybody else know this? And is this outside of New York?
Jimmy Lea: Is it just really, is it just a Rochester thing?
Bob Conant: I think it actually originated in Rochester, I believe. But yes, there was a place called Nick Tahoe's that was here that really was big on garbage plates and and now everyone copies it. And I've seen people that have moved further down south and started selling garbage plates because it's yeah, you're right.
Bob Conant: I, you know, it just came up because that's. That's me. That's our life. But yeah, garbage plates are more of a Rochester, New York type thing than, than I think anywhere else.
Jimmy Lea: Okay. Well, it has not made it to Long Island. Andrew pipes in. He says, Nope, it's not down here in the Island yet. Yeah, we all need to make a trip now, Andrew.
Jimmy Lea: You got to go get us a garbage plate. Craig says he's never heard of it. All he knows is dirty water, hot dogs.
Bob Conant: We don't, we don't, we don't put her, I don't put my hot dogs in water.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, Craig, no, we got to talk buddy. That's that's not a good idea, especially if you're drinking it afterwards. Oh my gosh.
Jimmy Lea: All right. So what. I mean, Bob, I just have this imagination that everybody's loving working at your shop. They love coming into work every day. You've got technicians now that were miserable for 16 years and in the last two and a half have just really brightened up and really are enjoying coming to work with you at your shop.
Jimmy Lea: What do you think are some of those skills? Beliefs, cultures, thought process that, that are essential for a business owner today to be successful.
Bob Conant: Yeah, that's honestly, I, you know, I joke around that if I didn't have a sense of humor, I probably hurt people. And honestly, you, I mean, you have to have a sense of humor.
Bob Conant: You have to let people grow. You have to let people make mistakes, right? I worked for, I mean, the previous owner was, he, he was very good at what he did and, You know, you needed to be you needed to be 110 percent correct, 150 percent of the time, which is humanly impossible. So you have to let people make mistakes and learn from their mistakes and, you know, not, not kill them.
Bob Conant: If they do if they're repeated mistakes, then, you know, there's time for a conversation. But for me, yeah, I think it's, if, as for an owner, I don't know, again, you have to have a sense of humor. There's a lot of stuff that would. You know that on your daily basis that would make you very angry. And, and don't get me wrong, I, I have mine almost, you know, every day too.
Bob Conant: But you have to, you have to be able to let some of it go off folders and, you know, it's kinda like when my kids played hockey. It, it's the 24 hour rule, right? So. You know, you got to give it some time. And, and I, I, I had one of those, I had a young kid that literally drove a, a full size pickup truck off the front of my drive on lift and took out my alignment machine.
Bob Conant: And I had, I had to walk away and It wasn't 24 hours. It was a couple hours before I came back and tried to find out what went on and whatnot. So yeah, you know, the downfall is I think is as owners of any business, especially automotive, there is crap that goes on every day that you have to deal with.
Bob Conant: So for me, I've always looked at it as, you know, that it's going to happen. And that's what I try to tell my advisors, right? You know, something's going to happen today. What time, you know, and I would always play a game. All right. What time is going to happen? What's going to fall apart? Wrong parts, something broke, you know, whatever it is, you know, let's, let's pick an hour and see, because the way I've always looked at it is, I mean, I can get upset at a lot of things, but in reality, you know, it's going to happen.
Bob Conant: And it's my job to be able to try to set the ship straight when things go crazy. So, it doesn't help if I lose my head. So, you know, I, I take it with a grain of salt and there's probably times I should get more upset at things, but, you know, in, in reality, it's, it's, to me, it's, it's a part of the business that we're going to have problems.
Bob Conant: And my job is just to figure them out and move past it and make sure that the customer is taken care of and whatnot. So.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. I love that idea. I love that aspect of your business where, you know, something's going to go wrong. So now you're taking bets on it. And my, my money's on 2 35 PM, just so you're aware.
Jimmy Lea: All right. I love them. 235. So you, you know, it's going to happen. You know, that's going to, and when it does, Hey guys, it's, it's okay. Who was the closest? Okay. Johnny, you won today.
Bob Conant: You know, what's going to happen.
Jimmy Lea: It's going to happen. Perfection is not a thing. You're not going to be perfect, but we are going to build this plane as we're falling out of the sky and it's going to be getting us there.
Jimmy Lea: We're going to, we're going to make it. It's going to be okay.
Bob Conant: No, because it stresses everybody out. You get an advisor, you know, Mrs. Jones needs her car, her car by four o'clock and you know, you're finding out at 3 30 that the pads and rotors are wrong and you're like, all right, well now you just got to panic.
Bob Conant: No, you don't have to panic. Let's just figure it out. Yeah. What's, what's, what's our options to try to make it happen if you can, if not, you know, you put her in a loaner vehicle or, you know, a lot of people, if you ask them really, when they say I need it back by four o'clock, you find out that, well, no, they really didn't.
Bob Conant: It just. That was your only time for a ride, right? So then you're like, okay, well, we'll pick them up. So yeah, it's about, it's about solving the problem, not because you tweak out on it and you're just, you're, you're amping everybody else up and, and it just makes for a bad situation, right? So,
Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's beautiful, man.
Jimmy Lea: That's beautiful. Well, if there's any questions from our audience that is listening, go ahead and type them into the Q and a Bob, I I'd love to look forward down the road, three years, five years, eight years, 10 years. 15 years. What does the future look like for Bob Conant?
Bob Conant: Yeah, well, ideally for me, I would love to say that, Hey once this shop's all up on its own and running and moving you know, my goal would be five shops in five years, retire in 10.
Bob Conant: Right. So, however that looks, that's, that's the that's a penciled in, you know, Projection. So, one step at a time, you know, I'm, I'm close with, with the one, if I can keep this one on track without, you know, having to hold hands at all, then then that would be the, that would be the next step.
Jimmy Lea: Yes.
Jimmy Lea: Yes. When you find that you've gone from, and we talked about this for a brief moment, when you find that you've gone from being the fireman to being the head cheerleader, to being the observer from the outside, now you know that you're ready for the expansion. You're ready for the five from five.
Bob Conant: Yeah.
Bob Conant: Yeah. And that's yeah. And that's the goal, but it's, it's, and it's, it's a, it's a, it's a long, long process. I mean, it's, I guess it doesn't have to be, but it's, it's a long, it's a long process and it's a lot of, it's a lot of, of letting go, which is, you know, is what we're told you need to let go, let staff do it and whatnot, but it is also one of the hardest things to do.
Bob Conant: So, and, and honestly, I miss it. You know, you go from working on cars was, was fun. Until it wasn't right. But in, you know, they frustrate you, but it was easy. The cars don't talk back. Right. My favorite part were customers. You get to know them, you get to talk to them. You get to help them. So that was my fun part.
Bob Conant: You know, the owner portion of it really isn't that much fun. So, I mean, it is, but yeah, it's not as fun. I, I miss, I miss doing a lot of the other stuff.
Jimmy Lea: You miss wrenching.
Bob Conant: I do. Well, I'm just mentioning that I miss actually dealing with the customers, shuttling customers, you know, you get to know him, you get to talk to him, you build relationships which is really all it's about.
Bob Conant: And, you know, so for me, I missed that part, but, but so the hardest part when you transition from, you know, a technician or service writer or anywhere in between. there to a owner, it comes with a whole other level of responsibilities that you really don't look at. And, or maybe you didn't know you know, what your purpose and what your job is at that.
Bob Conant: It's a lot harder at the higher level. You know, Which it should be. So there's a lot more responsibility into it than a lot of people think. It's not just, Hey, you know, I can, I can, you know, put gas in my car on the company card or whatever it is. It's, it's you know, it comes with responsibilities and, and, and, you know, it's a lot of good.
Bob Conant: I mean, actually seeing your staff grow and be able to handle situations that they wouldn't in the past. You know. That they're training, they're listening, they're, they're learning. Yeah, that's that, it's like, it's like watching your, your little kid grow up, right? It's, it's, it's, it's a little bit of an accomplishment to go, okay, hey, they did it.
Bob Conant: It's only to do something stupid and then you're like, really, didn't we just talk about this?
Jimmy Lea: Hey, that happens to everybody. We all have dummy moments. And Tommy says thank you, by the way. Wow. Five shops in five years. He's going to hold you to that now. I know he will. He'll hold you to that commitment, which is good.
Jimmy Lea: It's as good that this. So are there shops in the crosshairs? Is there something that you are looking at that might possibly expand the kingdom?
Bob Conant: There are. And, and, you know, I think the good and the bad part is you're seeing. I mean, I've got a lot of, I don't have a lot of shops in my area. If you really look at where we're at, it's, you know, there's, I mean, there's shops within three miles and five miles and whatnot, but there are a lot of, there are a lot of older owners probably without plans and I know one of them that's looking to, that's looking to retire and his plan was his technician and his technician said, nope, you retire, I'm out too.
Bob Conant: So, there's, there's a, there's a handful of shops in the area with, with owners that don't have. You know, a contingency plan to move forward and move out. So I think there's a lot of availability, which isn't a good and a bad thing. I mean, you're still losing a lot of, a lot of knowledge with, with you know, cause the older guys are leaving the business and what's a hurt because the younger guys don't really want to invest.
Bob Conant: In themselves as much as what we had to so you're not, you're not seeing that, you know, nowadays you have to train and learn on company time where, you know, you go back years ago and not to date myself, but you know, you would, you would do that on your own time to better yourself to learn and whatnot.
Bob Conant: So, but there are a lot of shops in here that you can see that in talking to tool guys and, and, and, you know, parts delivery guys, there's a lot of people out there that are looking to get out because it's not getting any easier.
Bob Conant: This industry is, it's not a glamor industry, you know, you don't get a lot of pats on the back.
Bob Conant: I mean, you do, but not really. You know, if, if you, if you need a pat on the back, this is a tough industry to be in because people really don't appreciate you as much as, as. The effort that you put in.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. They, they don't understand what it takes to repair the vehicle, the computer science behind it all, the coding that's in there, the amount of diag it takes to find what's wrong.
Bob Conant: Yeah. Yeah. And to keep staff happy and motivated and give the customer service. Cause we've all been to those restaurants or convenience stores or anything else where you can tell that person really loves their job and they don't, but So that's, that's the hardest part. That's, it's to get your, get your staff to, you know, and, and the example I have is the old owner and I, and I've heard a lot of other business owners talk about it where, you know, there's something on the floor and the owner's like, Hey, I've, you know, I've walked past that for three days.
Bob Conant: Everyone else has walked past it. Nobody's picked it up. And I said, you know, have you ever asked yourself what do you have to do to make them want to pick it up? Right? Because that's the key. If you can make, because no one's going to have the same passion and drive as the owner does, but how do you make somebody buy in and want to do part of what the owner is in the owner's head of what they do?
Bob Conant: Right? So how do you make them want to do it? How do you make them want to pick that up? How do you make them want to make sure they go the extra mile for the customer? You know, those are, those are the kinds of things that I think we need to ask ourselves more because You can tell somebody 20 times to do something and every time it needs to get done you can say, Hey, Jimmy, can you go over here and take care of that for me?
Bob Conant: Right. But how do you make somebody want to go, Oh, you know what? It's Tuesday. I gotta go, I gotta go take care of that. You know? So yeah, I think that's the, that's the magic question and, and I don't have the magic answer, but I can tell you that it definitely starts with caring for your staff, treating correctly and you know, having a sense of humor, have a fun day.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, yeah. Having fun. It's definitely goes a long way. And I think where you are is building that company, that culture, that process, that procedure, that mindset where they do want to pick it up. One of my favorite pictures was, is, is being able to see Walt Disney at Disneyland picking up trash in the street.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, I think it was on Main Street.
Bob Conant: It was Steve Jobs that said everyone sweeps the floor. You know, it was something like that. So, you know, in reality, I mean, for me, I'm a lead by example. I'm not going to have you do anything that I won't. You know, my wife's always like, why are you still getting to work at quarter to seven?
Bob Conant: I said, well, because that's what I like to do. And that's, you know, I like to be here early. I like to be here before everyone. And Yeah, I don't know. It's, it's, you know, cause in part that I, I, I would miss it. I mean, yes, there's, there's times I need to work from home, but otherwise, yeah, I, I like the, I like the chaos that goes along on a daily basis.
Bob Conant: So,
Jimmy Lea: Well, so let's see, you went from the fireman to the cheerleader, the head cheerleader, and now you're the chaos coordinator.
Bob Conant: Yeah, that's a title. I'll get a shirt made with it because it's a, yeah, honestly, it really is. It's, it's controlled chaos though, right? It's somewhat controlled. Yeah, no, it's, I think, I think if you look at my LinkedIn, I was, I probably should change it because I haven't changed it in like 10 years or more, but I think it was firefighter, babysitter policeman, referee, counselor.
Bob Conant: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's that's the fun part, but you gotta take some of it with a grain of salt. And again, you gotta laugh with it. And cause again, if you don't laugh, you'll get mad and you know, somebody might get hurt.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And that's the last thing we need to do is Be behind bars because somebody got hurt.
Jimmy Lea: So laugh with it. I love that. What last and final question we can land this plane here. What advice would you give to shop owners that are starting their shops today? You bought your shop three years ago. So this is somewhat new, but also relevant and, and, and very close and near and dear to you.
Jimmy Lea: What, what advice would you give? Guys or gals that are starting a shop today?
Bob Conant: Jokingly. I would say don't do it, but honestly Get support join a group. Yeah, you know Because you don't know what you don't know and I tell you you can you see a lot of owners that are you know? You're only working through here.
Bob Conant: I'm only seeing this Right. So you don't know, and sometimes it's, it's, you know, misery loves company, right? So you, you, you see all the shops that go through the ups and downs and, and, you know, Hey, I'm having an employee problem. I'm having an employee problem. You know, you kind of, you kind of, okay, well, we're all dealing with the same thing.
Bob Conant: Right. So, but yeah, you don't know what you don't know. So a group to keep you accountable. To have your board of directors, to have, you know, people to lean on that honesty. And that's why I looked at it when, when I was taking over that I said, all right, well, I'm, I'm going to, I have to join a group because I know that I need that.
Bob Conant: I need the support. I need the knowledge too, because like I said, you know, initially I wasn't very confident that I had the skills to do it. And, you know, without that support and accountability. You know, I, I, I wouldn't it's so easy to get off track and go wrong directions and you still do when you're in a group, but you have more people to help bring you back in.
Bob Conant: I mean, for me, if, you know, I love the group I'm in and not just because some of them are on the call here, but, you know, it's just a great support system. And, and again, with, it makes you look at things and think of things in a different way, where if you're not doing that you don't know. And I can tell you, I met a guy, I was out, he recently, recently purchased a shop.
Bob Conant: And some of the stuff he was, we were talking about, he was doing it. I'm like, what are you crazy? I mean, you're. You know, no, I mean, so anyways, I, and I gave him a business card and said, Hey, look, if you need any help, you know, give me a call. I'm not that I know at all, but you know, I can help you, you know, with whatever I can help you with.
Bob Conant: And, and and I think that's where, you know, if you don't, if you're not in a, in a networking group locally with shops or, you know, in a larger group with the Institute or any of the other ones, you're, you're, you're missing out because again, you've got blinders on and you're only seeing what you see and what you think.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, yeah, that's true. So there's going to be a mad rush. Everybody wants to join Bob's group. That's group number two. Let me tell you that there's a lot of groups with the Institute. So those of you who are interested that are hearing this. Yes, absolutely. You are welcome. We invite you to come and join us in the group environment.
Jimmy Lea: Bob will be there. A lot of other shop owners will be there. So if you need a healthy dose of accountability and direction, or maybe you're like a Tracy Holt that you just really need to fine tune a couple of things here and there. Tracy 7 percent net profit up to, I think he's at a 28 percent net profit now.
Jimmy Lea: That's pretty dang awesome. Yeah, pretty dang awesome. So, the groups are awesome. Thank you. Yeah, that everybody's chatting and saying how awesome the groups are. So thank you to that, Bob. With that, we're going to land this plane. Thank you. Thank you for joining me this morning. I really appreciate you being here.
Jimmy Lea: We've got coming up here in the very near future, the five day service advisor intensive. October 8th through the 12th. Everybody needs to get your service advisors out to Ogden. This is life changing training for your service advisors. So definitely be out there for that. Coming up here in February is the summit put on by the Institute with three, four days where you can work on your business and not in your business.
Jimmy Lea: We're going to provide some awesome information, some awesome inspiration to help you take those next steps in your shop and in your business. So let's see Leadership Intensive is one of the last things to talk about. Leadership Intensive is in November. Where is that in November? Is that in Ogden?
Jimmy Lea: Stewart? He's typing quickly. Dallas, Texas! Craig, we're planning on you being there. Leadership Intensive, this is talking about the human centric side of why people think the way people think. Bob, I invite you to a Leadership Intensive. Have you been to one yet?
Bob Conant: I have not. No.
Jimmy Lea: No. There you go. Now you can come to Texas in November and enjoy that Thanksgiving short sleeve weather.
Bob Conant: Sure.
Bob Conant: Maybe not today. France is coming through. Don't you?
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Craig did go to the one in Denver a few months back and everyone needs to go. Craig is saying everyone needs to go. So there you go, Bob. You've got a recommendation there as well. That's right. All right. Well, thank you very much.
Jimmy Lea: Appreciate you. And to your success and your continued success, keep pushing forward and know that you're not going to fail. You guys are awesome. Thank you very much.
Bob Conant: Thanks Jimmy. Take care guys.