One of the most prolific head coaches of my childhood was Bill Walsh. As a kid watching football with my dad, the 49ers were typically the “4 o’clock game” for us. I remember the camera cuts to Walsh standing confidently on the sideline, chewing the flavor out of his gum as he fixated on the game in front of him. If you’ve seen Pete Carroll’s demeanor on the sideline, Walsh’s was similar. By the time I completed elementary school and transitioned into junior high, Walsh had gone from zero Super Bowl titles to four, with one back-to-back.
Walsh was a leader and innovator known for seeking out the best coaches for his staff. It was said that “Bill Walsh just wanted the best people. It didn't matter if they were polka-dot or purple." From the leadership of Walsh, 27 coaches can be traced back to him (22 are second- and third-generation coaches). Of those 27, 11 led their teams to Super Bowl appearances with seven taking home the Lombardi Trophy, most recent being Andy Reid (a second-generation coach through Mike Holmgren, who won one Super Bowl in three appearances).
The ‘so what’ of the story is that great leaders understand the need to develop the right people in their sphere and then when the opportunity presents itself, allowing those leaders to blossom.
In the same way, auto repair shop owners need to have the mentality of professional football coaches in the way they pore over their people and look for ways to grow them, create opportunities for them and inevitably place them in "head coach” roles in new shops as they expand. In turn, those leaders will develop leaders under them who will inevitably move on to the next shop and continue the success handed down from the top. Instead of a coaching tree, you’re building a leadership tree of highly competent people who can stay on brand, execute the vision and replicate themselves to create even more success for your shop.
In our feature story, “How to Grow with Intention, " you'll see this principle at work." In it, we spoke to a pair of shop owners, Adam Liu of M-Spec Performance in New York City and Joe Mazur or Mazur’s Total Auto, outside of Detroit. Both spoke of the value of developing leaders in each position within the shop to allow them to be able to 1) work on high-level business development and 2) to lead the way in expansion efforts by modeling their leadership and training new leaders under them. In doing so, they’re able to create more opportunities for upward mobility for everyone involved.
Circling back to professional football, did you know that NFL jerseys sales brought in over $2 billion in revenue in 2021? Merchandise is one of the league's largest sources of revenue. For shop owners, merchandise sales doesn’t have the same flair, but selling branded apparel and swag can be a strong marketing strategy.
In “Is Shop Merch Worth the Effort?” , you’ll meet Susan McGath of Girlington Garage in Burlington, Vermont. She talks about her shop’s decision to invest in shop merchandise and how customers have taken to it. They have an array of apparel and other items.
Finally, we asked a few shop owners about EV charging stations and their take on them. These shop owners have installed them and have been using them within their businesses and they talk about why they did it and how they’re making them work. They aren't waiting for the future. They see the future as now, as we all should.
