Partnership
It’s important as a shop owner to have a partner or manager that you can trust and support to run your business for you. Owner Mark Roberts only has good things to say about his business partner John Long, and vice versa. Their partnership ensures that the business runs smoothly.
While Long handles the day-to-day operations of the business, Roberts focuses on big picture expansion and finding new shop locations. Roberts knows he can trust Long to make the right decisions and take care of the two shop locations.
Long works to advance the technology of the company and has increased the shop’s car count with his innovation.
“There's no way that we could service the amount of cars that we serve today without the technology that John has started,” Roberts says.
Since Long has the day to day covered, Roberts can focus on the future. They opened their second location a little over a year ago, and they are looking to add a third soon.
Lobby design
It is important to Roberts that the welcome area at both Schertz Auto locations is clean with a luxurious feel. His effort on the lobby design earned them an architectural award for the first location.
Roberts knows that interior design isn’t his strong suit, as he has tried to pick the layout himself before and ended up disliking it quickly after it was done. Now, Roberts hires a designer to do all of the lobby layout for him, from the colors to the flooring and fixtures. He spent $10,000 extra on the welcome area, but never regretted his investment.
Shop floor
Another area of the shop that has a carefully laid out design is the workfloor. Besides being air conditioned, Roberts works to ensure that their technicians have a comfortable and easy flowing work environment.
Each bay is close together to inspire teamwork and communication amongst the technicians. The tools are near their work station, and it is easy to walk through each station.
“We want everything to flow for our technicians,” Roberts says.
The bays themselves are wider than you may normally see, but where some see a waste of space, Roberts sees more room for each technician to do their job effectively. Every aspect of the workfloor has the technicians in mind.
Convenience
Long says their mission statement is to provide “noteworthy service without compromise,” and convenience for the customer is a big part of that.
Schertz Auto offers digital inspections and digital ways to pay. Each technician has their own tablet, so they can take pictures and videos to send to the customer. The digital inspections can show the customer exactly what the technician is working on.
They also offer a free shuttle service to anyone that can’t wait for their car. They partner with Lyft, where they have even paid a $90 commute for a customer to get home. And if Lyft isn’t available, sometimes Roberts or Long themselves step up and drive the customer to wherever they need to be.
