Owner: Martin Woods III
Location: Burton, Michigan
Staff Size: 7
Shop Size: 5,500 square feet
Number of Bays: 10
Average Monthly Car Count: 150
Average Repair Order: $785
Annual Revenue: 1.4 million
Building on Tradition
With a father as an auto repair shop franchise owner, Martin Woods was immersed in the automotive industry from a very young age.
Later in his life, after a long 13 years in retail loss prevention, Woods felt called back to his automotive roots. As a result, he left his job and opened an auto repair shop in the same building as his father’s.
“It was split right down the middle,” Woods says. “The front five bays were his business, and the back five bays were empty. I took over those and started my shop. After three years my father said that he wanted to retire. As a result, I purchased the building from my grandfather, knocked down the wall dividing the two sides, and opened all the bays. Presently, we're a 10-bay full-service facility.”
Eye-Catching Excellence
When visiting Martin’s Tire & Service, one of the first things that you notice is the eye-catching color scheme. A decision driven by his experience in retail.
“We paired black and safety orange to make sure that the shop popped,” Woods says. “When people come in for the first time, they're like, ‘I've lived in this area this whole time and I never knew you were here.’ Because our building sits sideways from the road, it’s sometimes hard to see. We have small road frontage which means our sign is also small, so I wanted to do anything I could to grab customers’ eyes as they drove by. The orange pops not only in the logo but also inside the bays, when the doors are open, you can see the orange stripe around the inside.”
Beyond Aesthetics
When choosing the color scheme, Woods also kept in mind the importance of a clean look.
“The color scheme keeps the uniforms looking nice and clean so that customers don’t see our techs in a filthy uniform,” Woods said. “Quality and making sure that everybody's vehicle is in a neat and clean environment— from our lobbies to our bays is important to us.”
Going the Extra Mile
In addition to its cleanliness and desirable colors, the value Martin’s Tire & Service offers its customers is highly important.
“Our partnership with TechNet Professional allows us to offer our customers a lot of perks,” Woods said. “These include a three-year 36,000-mile nationwide warranty, free roadside assistance for a year, free towing reimbursement, and tire replacement coverage nationwide.”
Other added benefits to Wood’s shop are that they offer loaner vehicles—free with repairs— ADAS calibrations, and constant training for the employees.
Woods is always sending his staff to several training events and makes sure his front-of-house staff and technicians are enrolled in continuous training programs. When asked why he and his team invest so much into the shop, Woods says: “Because we want to make sure our customer experience is unparalleled.”
