Ratchet+Wrench Radio

Lead: Inspiring Employees When You Feel Uninspired

On this month’s edition of the Lead Podcast, Aaron Stokes discusses how shop owners can motivate the rest of their employees if they're feeling fatigued or uninspired. As Stokes says, believing in your vision and passing it on to your employees is a great way to get the rest of them on board, even when you or your shop is in a rut.  

How I Did It: Frank Leutz

This month’s episode of the How I Did It Series features Frank Leutz, the owner of Desert Car Care Chandler, in Chandler, Ariz. Beyond building a $1.6 million operation, Frank is the host of Wrench Nation, is an industry consultant and coach, and runs a successful YouTube channel. He’s always committed to trying new marketing and operational methods to evolve his business, which is currently tracking year-over-year growth of 15 percent. Leutz details his career journey, how he grew Desert Car Care Chandler and how other shop owners can implement creative marketing tactics to improve their own operations.

Innovate: Setting Yourself Up for a Business Loan

Jon Thompson, owner of 14 locations in Illinois as a part of Butitta Brothers Automotive, joins the show to discuss how a shop owner can obtain a business loan before acquiring another business. He goes over how shops can find the right bank to partner with and the right documents that need to be prepared. Thompson also details how smaller or newer shops can work around a collateral shortfall.

Lead: Eliminating Time Wasters in the Shop

In this month's edition of the Lead podcast for Ratchet+Wrench Radio, host Aaron Stokes discusses how shop owners can cut out distractions and eliminate time wasters in the shop. He details how shop owners can plan out their priorities in advance, and how they can manage distractions like text messages or emails. 

Grow: Building a Pipeline of Employees

In July’s edition of Ratchet+Wrench Radio’s Grow Podcast, host Rissy Sutherland revisits one of the major issues facing the industry today: the technician shortage. Jay Goninen, CEO of technician recruiting service Find a Wrench, and Kyle Holt, president of SRSandco Automotive Partners share their thoughts, including how shops can always be recruiting, help young people understand what the industry is all about, and build a pipeline for entry level technicians.

Innovate: Developing a Successful Onboarding Process

Jeff Odom oversees 24 full-time employees at his shop, Evergreen Autoworks in Mill Creek, Wash., and over the years has learned how to onboard his employees swiftly and efficiently. He’s learned how to get his entire team involved in both the hiring, and initial training process, to best set up his new employees to be successful. Odom goes over the most important aspects for any shop owner to think about when implementing an onboarding program.

How I Did It: Jeff Matt

Jeff Matt owns the six-location Victory Auto Service & Glass operation in Minnesota. He details how he grew his network and offers advice for any shop owner looking to expand.

Innovate: A Top-Down Approach to Improving Efficiency

No two shops are the same, and various factors can determine a shop's efficiency numbers. However, there are universal tips that can improve one of the most crucial KPIs that determines profitability. To help, Andy Fiffick, owner of 10 Rad Air Complete Car Care locations in the Cleveland area, lays out how he builds his shops from the ground-up for maximum efficiency and how he coaches his team to maximize the KPI.

Grow: Fighting the Technician Shortage

Is there truly a technician shortage? According to Grow host Rissy Sutherland, there are just as many if not more men or women entering tech schools. The issue is there aren’t enough people staying in the industry after tech school. In June’s Grow podcast, Sutherland speaks with two members of NASTF’s Road to Great Technicians board, Jill Saunders and Donny Seyfer, whose objective is to recruit new technicians, train them, and communicate their findings to the industry.   Saunders and Seyfer detail the work they’re doing with NASTF, and how shop owners around the country can get involved.

Lead: Surviving the Slow Days

In this month’s edition of the Lead podcast with Ratchet+Wrench Radio, Aaron Stokes discusses how shops can get through slow days and slow periods. Stokes discusses the misunderstandings most shop owners have about slow periods, how to best prepare for them and how to keeping your cool and keep your staff in check when you experience a downturn.