In a Saturday afternoon session entitled “A Journey of Growth: Master the Art of ‘Scaling Up’” ATI executive coach Mike Bennett outlined methods auto repair shop owners could apply that would allow them to effectively grow their businesses.
Bennett said growth is mostly reactive and focused on short-term opportunities. Scaling a structured process creates sustainable growth. It's proctive. “It’s about making whatever we do perpetuate,” Bennett said. “Scaling ensures you’re not just growing bigger but smarter; sustainable”
He noted the differences between scaling and growth, citing that scaling involves investing in the right processes without losing efficiency and quality while growth compromises customer service and burns the staff out. “It almost feels like the larger we get the more chaotic it gets. Growing is typically standard to the industry, but scaling leads to larger-scale growth.”
Growth, according to Bennett, is dependent on the founding entrepreneur’s skills and ability. They’re still working daily in the business whereas scale is based on systems procedures and people to replicate the entrepreneur’s efforts, allowing them to work on their business.
Business Success is About Profit Over Revenue
Bennett shared that 80% of businesses fail in the first five years of operation, but in a franchise model, less than 20% fail because of systems and processes. “As independents, if we can adopt that structure, that gives us a model,” Bennett said. “The work of business is not the same as the business of work. Scaling operations have the mindset of running like a business.” He offered three barriers to scale that can often stifle shop owners:
- Leadership: The ability to hire and develop leadership throughout the organization who have the capabilities to predict, coach, and delegate.
- Scalable Infrastructure: The need for systems, structures, processes, and procedures (both physical and organizational) to handle the complexities of communications and decisions that come with growth. “One of the things we have to realize is as we scale and the depth of our organization increases, we get more people involved, we have to have that infrastructure to support these pieces,” Bennett said.
- Marketing: Failing to scale up and effectively manage the marketing function to attract new customers, talent, advisors, and other key relationships.
Bennett noted that shop owners are often reactive, handling near-term problems in what he called “firefighter mode.” Shop owners are putting out fires—delays in parts, miscommunication with customers—and it puts shop owners on their heels. He said shop owners need to identify what led to some of the problems and then after diagnosing the problems, solve the cause of the fires, and that removes the reactionary nature of ownership. A scaling business affords key leaders the chance to identify opportunities and find solutions that keep them off the hampster wheel of fighting such problems. To do this, he offered four key decisions shop owners need to make to scale up:
- People: People are not employees, they are the driving force behind success. Give them the tools to make the decisions.
- Strategy: A solid strategy is the North Star guiding your business through uncharted territory.
- Execution: Turn well-laid plans into tangible results.
- Cash: Understanding the relationship between cash and growth.
This begins withn culture, whichn he illustrated using the success story New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team. He said their success was due to building the right team culture by maximizing individual players’ characteristics.
“They have identified the core characteristics individuals should have to be successful in their organization, so how do you translate this into your shop? Do you hire with characteristics in mind? Bennett asked. “Most highly effective businesses have found that having the right people with the right characteristics is more important than any skills they bring to the table.”
Bennett said every organization should score existing team members and prospective new hires for using this scorecard rating them 1-5, with 5 highest):
Attributes of A-Players
- Drive
- Resiliency
- Adaptability
- Integrity
- Emotional Effectiveness
- Team-Ability
- Curiosity
- Emotional Strenght
“The neat thing about characteristics is these can be developed,” Bennett said. “In leading people, you have to establish a handful of rules and you’ll have to repeat yourself a lot,” he said.
He shared the Silver Lake Auto and Tire Centers vision and mission statements:
- Vision: We inspire loyalty through the relentless pursuit of creating exceptional experiences for team members to thrive and guests to feel valued.”
- Mission.“We exist to serve you better”
He said when the mission and vision are clearly defined, team members should be able to read these and make real-time decisions in the shop based on whether their actions are aligned with the mission.
Strategy as a Differentiator
Is your strategy a differentiator? Bennett shared that while Chipotle sells burritos, its focus is selling its culture. He shared how Chick-fil-A sells customer service. “Strategy isn’t always about having the greatest product, but your experience, service, and how you deliver it is,” Bennett said. “Strategy is about being able to differentiate.”
Strategy, he outlined, lies in overcoming the objecting that comes when a customer is willing to pay your prices but can get it elsewhere. You have to know what’s important to your customers. That’s what differentiates your shop.
Pulling from Michael Gerber’s bestselling book, “The E-Myth Revisited,” Bennett said businesses fail because the owner works in the business instead of on it—they rely on people and not processes. He juxtaposed that statement saying businesses can become too process-oriented which isn’t good either. “They have to take great personalities and great characteristics and marry them into systems to create success,” Bennett said.
“It’s about driving execution, implementing these habits—a handful of priorities, gathering data regularly, and setting a rhythm of regular meetings to review the data.”
He added that shop owners need to pour into their teams—share the vision of scaling up the business and how to do it. Help them to grasp and embrace the processes. He recommended shop owners follow Dan Martel’s teach-not-tell model, which means being hands-on and demonstrating how the work is to be done, and how the processes are to be carried out. “It’s about systematizing everything we do,” Bennett says. “(We have to) show them.”
