Ratchet+Wrench Radio

How do your customers feel about your shop? What is their emotional connection to your business and its role in their lives? And ultimately—what does that mean for your bottom line? Desert Car Care's Frank Leutz explains how shop owners can maximize their emotional impact by aligning the physical and digital customer shop experience in a post-COVID culture. 

For Levon Arnold, owner of Long Arm Mechanics in Garden City, Idaho, community outreach is more than a goal. It's been built into his shop's day to day procedures through its own 501C3 program.  Tune in to learn how Arnold went about launching the program, some of the challenges faced along the way, and how the program has been incorporated into the shop's every day workflow. 

A tired, outdated operation can have a bigger impact on your shop's bottom line than you may realize.  Shop Fix Academy founder Aaron Stokes breaks down the remodel process and how shop owners can gauge if it's time for a few simple upgrades or a full refresh, as well as a few inexpensive tricks for simple maintenance that can make an impact. 

Howie Berman, executive director for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, joins Ratchet+Wrench Radio to discuss the increasing importance of catering to a multilingual customer base. 

You don't have to be a YouTube influencer to make the most of your video content.  From automated captions and thumbnail images to comment management and video descriptions that tell a story, Frank Leutz, owner of Desert Car Care in Chandler, Ariz., shares a few key tips for making the most of your video content that can help new users discover your shop. 

Bolt On Director of Education John Burkhauser discusses driving and appointment trends of the second COVID summer and what shop owners can expect (and how to prepare) for an influx of used vehicles.

What exactly is geofencing? How does it work and why is it such a powerful marketing tool? Megan Williams, co-founder of 3P Marketing Solutions, a digital marketing company, breaks down the details of this powerful marketing tool and explains how shop owners can add the resource to their marketing efforts. 

Working interviews can help you find your best new hire, but there are some caveats to keep in mind in order to make the most of the process. Greg Bunch, owner of Aspen Auto Clinic, founder of the Transformers Institute, and winner of this year's Best Workplaces, shares a few key tips his team has learned through the years when it comes to holding working interviews. 

Plenty of shop owners in a hurry to expand their operations, but advantages of running a small operation are often overlooked.  This week, as the owner of his own small shop, Aaron Stokes highlights the hidden perks of running a small shop and how "thinking small" can help boost efficiency for shops of all sizes. 

In this episode of Ratchet+Wrench Radio, Greg Skolnik, industry coach and owner of Motor Works auto repair in Rockville, Md., speaks to the importance of setting up a retirement account for employees. Skolnik dives into the competitive advantage it offers the company and why he sees it as an essential business practice moving forward.