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Profitable vs. Valuable: The Hard Truth About Selling Your Shop [RR 1072]
Profitable vs. Valuable: The Hard Truth About Selling Your Shop [RR 1072]
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About this episode
Navigating the complexities of selling an automotive shop is the focus of this insightful discussion with Becca Zanders, a Certified Exit Planning Advisor. Key topics include understanding personal and financial readiness, the importance of building a business that is attractive to buyers, and the common pitfalls that lead to forced sales. Zanders emphasizes the need for strategic planning, focusing on value rather than just profit, and the significance of having the right team in place. This episode offers valuable insights for shop owners contemplating their future.
Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS
Watch Full Video Episode
Becca Zanders, Certified Exit Planning Advisor, explains why most auto repair shop owners are unprepared for an exit—and how to change that. Only 20–30% of businesses that go to market actually sell, and nearly half of those sales are forced by the “Five Ds”: Death, Divorce, Disability, Disagreement, or Distress.
Becca introduces the Value Acceleration Methodology, which reframes exit planning into three stages: Discover the business’s true value and the owner’s readiness, Prepare the leader, finances, and organization to accelerate value, and Decide whether to grow or sell. A key distinction is the difference between a profitable lifestyle business and a business built for value.
The conversation stresses the importance of closing the “wealth gap,” as most owners underestimate retirement needs and have the majority of their net worth trapped in their business. Personal readiness is equally critical, with many sellers regretting the sale because they failed to define their purpose beyond ownership.
Advice to shop owners: build the right advisory team and start advancing your business today, long before a sale is forced.
Becca Zanders, https://www.d6elements.com/
Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS Learn more about NAPA Auto Care and the benefits of being part of the NAPA family by visiting https://www.napaonline.com/en/auto-care NAPA TRACS will move your shop into the SMS fast lane with onsite training and six days a week of support and local representation. Find NAPA TRACS on the Web at http://napatracs.com/ Connect with the Podcast: - Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RemarkableResultsRadioPodcast/ - Join Our Virtual Toastmasters Club: https://remarkableresults.biz/toastmasters - Join Our Private Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1734687266778976 - Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/carmcapriotto - Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmcapriotto/ - Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remarkableresultsradiopodcast/ - Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RResultsBiz - Visit the Website: https://remarkableresults.biz/ - Join our Insider List:
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Concept
automotive aftermarket
"...that was a really formative time for the automotive aftermarket to bring in the automotive professionals..."
The automotive aftermarket is where you find parts and services for cars after they've been sold. It includes things like replacement parts, upgrades, and accessories that you can buy to improve or fix your vehicle.
The automotive aftermarket refers to the secondary market of the automotive industry, which focuses on the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of parts, accessories, and services for vehicles after their initial sale. This sector includes everything from replacement parts to performance upgrades and modifications.
Concept
Vehicle Service Experts
"...they just changed the name of CCPN to VSE Vehicle Service Experts, and I did an episode at Apex on that."
Vehicle Service Experts is a group that helps connect people who work on cars with the companies that make car parts and tools. They recently changed their name from AutoCare Professionals Network to better reflect their mission.
Vehicle Service Experts (VSE) is a name change for the AutoCare Professionals Network (CCPN), which focuses on connecting automotive professionals with end users, manufacturers, and distributors in the automotive service industry. This network aims to enhance collaboration and improve service quality in the automotive aftermarket.
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This is the Automotive Repair Podcast Network.
Hey everybody, Karm Capriotto,
Remarkable Results Radio, good to have you here.
I've got Becca Zanders here.
We're gonna talk about,
do you know when you're ready to sell?
Boy, I bet you've been thinking about that
at two o'clock in the morning when you wake up.
Anyway, don't forget,
we have released our own podcast listening app.
We would love for you to get on board with it.
It's the ultimate playlist, you're gonna love it.
Automotive Repair Podcast Network.com.
There's the QR codes if you're looking at us on YouTube,
you can freeze the screen and scan and get it.
But otherwise, we've loved to have brought you
this incredible listening app.
There's a video of mine out there that I did
on exactly how all the cool features in that thing work.
Well, anyway, 10 years in, thanks for being here.
We're gonna see Becca Zanders here in a moment
after a word from our great, great partners,
Napa AutoCare and Napa Tracks.
Hey, when customers choose a Napa AutoCare Center,
they get more than a repair,
they get trust, savings, and peace of mind.
Once your shop to stand out,
connect with your local Napa representative
and get the conversation started
to become a Napa AutoCare Center.
Hey, let's face it,
your shop management system is the most critical tool
in your shop and Napa Tracks will move your shop
into the SMS Fastlane with on-site training,
six days a week support, and local representation.
Find Napa Tracks on the web at NAPATRACS.com.
Hey, welcome back everyone.
Hello, Becca Zanders, how are you?
Wonderful, thank you so much for having me on today, Karm.
Hey, I'm glad you're here.
What a great legacy you have.
You and your husband owned a shop.
Tony, for 22 years?
Yep, 22 awesome years.
Cool, and I know Tony had some pretty damn nice things
to be proud of the Napa ASE tech of the year.
Yes.
Wow, and he was on the Napa board
in the first director of AutoCare Professionals Network.
Yes, that was a really formative time
for the automotive aftermarket
to bring in the automotive professionals
and kind of circle up the users,
the end users with the manufacturers and the distributors.
Well, look, I know they just changed the name of CCPN
to VSE Vehicle Service Experts,
and I did an episode at Apex on that.
So keep your ear to the ground, everyone.
But Becca right now, she's got a,
if you will, a professional designation, CEPA,
which I think is so cool.
This is one of the reasons she's here,
Certified Exit Planning Advisor.
Wow, so you know a lot about that stuff.
I do, and I'm always learning.
Yeah, I bet you are.
Well, look, a couple of the topics
that we are going to hammer out
is your personal readiness
and or your financial readiness
and or is your business attractive enough
for someone to be looking to buy it?
And let's not even get into how much I want
and what it's worth.
I mean, yeah, we can go there for sure.
But look, you had sent me this interesting stat.
You said that only 20 to 30% of businesses in the US
that go to market sell.
That's a scary number.
It is a scary number.
And also with that number is the statistic
that 50% of people that go to market,
50% of businesses are not there
in their own time of their own choosing.
They're forced to be there for some reason.
What do you mean, hanging in there?
What I mean is 50%,
almost 50% of businesses go to market in a forced sale.
Ah, because they really weren't planning on it,
but I got to unload this thing.
Right, yeah, most people were not planning
on selling their business.
And the five most common things
that force a business owner into a sale, an unplanned sale,
and I've seen them all is death,
the death of an owner or a partner, a divorce.
A divorce is a big one.
I actually know a shop owner that they got divorced
and they couldn't afford to buy each other out,
so they're still working together,
running their shop together.
Death, divorce, disability, a disabled owner,
some sort of unexpected injury or illness.
A disagreement with a partner often forces a sale.
It can be a long, messy, legal battle.
And then the fifth most common reason
to be forced into a sale is some kind of distress.
And of course, the best example of that
that we have recently is COVID.
Well, the five Ds.
The five Ds.
Don't let that happen to you.
That's right.
Here's what I'm getting a feeling about this episode.
You're gonna listen to this episode
and you're gonna have thoughts about it.
And sometimes your mind's gonna wander
because you're trying to deal with it
in your own situation.
Oh, cool thing about our new listening app
is you can literally, oh, you love this.
You can immediately share it with a friend
through text or email, which is kind of cool
because so many, they call it the silver tsunami
of so many people that are aging out in our industry
and they probably want to either succeed or sell
but the five Ds divorce, disability, death, distress
and disagreement.
And I'm sure that someone who's listening right now,
one of those apply.
And it would be really interesting if they weren't there
and life was semi-normal.
How do we get this done?
It would be nice to know from you
what's the preparation we talked about in the beginning?
What's the personal readiness to try to prepare for this?
And one of the things that I'm gonna say
right off the top of my head
is good financial statements, Becca.
Yes, definitely good financial statements.
But before we even talk about the business,
it's right where people go.
I wanna switch the whole thought process
of exit planning upside down
because if you are a boomer,
if you are really over the age of 40,
you probably have learned exit planning
in a very backwards way.
I say that because when I became
a certified exit planning advisor,
I learned what's called the value acceleration methodology
and that methodology takes us through three gates.
Exit planning, think of it as being on a journey
and you're gonna go through three gates.
The first gate is discovery.
What is my business worth?
And am I ready as a leader?
Am I financially ready?
And is my business attractive and ready?
That first gate of discovery
is where you really dig deep into those areas
and you discover about yourself as a leader,
your organization and the value of your business.
The second gate is prepare.
Am I preparing myself as a leader?
My finances and my organization for sale,
which by the way is called value acceleration methodology.
When you get ready for sale,
you also get very ready for growth.
It's catalytic.
And the third gate is decide.
Should I grow or should I sell?
And boomers learned this,
that they started that third gate in the journey.
I wanna sell right now,
so I'm gonna go backwards
and I'm gonna prepare
and then I'm gonna figure out
am I really ready for this?
I got it.
E-Myth says that every decision,
every move you make is to prepare to sell your business,
not backwards.
Oh, I'm gonna sell my business,
now I gotta fix things.
Right, yeah, start with the end in mind.
Stephen Covey said it.
Wow, yeah, the two great books to read.
The E-Myth and of course Stephen Covey's book.
I read it twice.
Anyway, I love this, the value.
Acceleration methodology.
Acceleration methodology, wow.
Yeah, and it really is karma change of mindset
because you can build a profitable business
that's not valuable.
Think about that.
You can build a very profitable business
that's not valuable,
but when you build a business for value,
it will always lead to profit.
That was probably one of the most profound things
you could say in this entire episode.
Hobbyists decided to start a business years ago
and they're still hobbying today, okay?
And they wonder with the gray beard coming in
and the gray hair and the herding back
how they're going to one day,
am I gonna just, maybe McDonald's wants my corner
or maybe I don't even own it and I lease it.
So what do I really have to sell?
Oh, I got all this equipment.
No one wants to buy used equipment.
Some people do, some people don't.
And I guess the whole professionalism,
this is one of the umbrellas that I talk about all the time,
the professionalism of our industry.
If you start running your business as a profession,
you don't have anything to sell.
Even if you're profitable, even a tiny degree,
don't kid yourself, you're probably not,
but even a tiny degree,
you still have nothing to sell.
It is very true.
And the difference is building a lifestyle business
which is what a lot of us did, Tony and I did this.
We came from nothing, we both came from families
that had a large amount of our childhood
was spent in poverty.
We built this business and we built it
to support the lifestyle we wanted.
I'm sorry, I gotta stop you.
That is probably one of the most profound statements
I've heard so far.
And say on the last bunch of episodes
we've ever done on succession,
you have a lifestyle business.
So, oh, when people go to buy a business and they say,
oh, by the way, my lifestyle happens to be all inside
my profit and loss statement.
All the grandkids sell phones, the boat at the lake
and all this stuff.
And I, and buyers sometimes look at the seller
and say, listen, I'll try to normalize your P&L
by trying to take some of this stuff out of there
so that I have a real, honest to God,
much better, smarter EBITDA or net income.
But it doesn't always work.
Go to Hunt Show, Business by the Numbers on our network.
Hunt talks about it all the time.
He says, stop it, stop it, don't do that.
If you ever have plans one day to sell.
And I love, Becca, you've kind of just given me
the best mental definition of don't run your business
to support your lifestyle.
It's powerful, hopefully some of our listeners
are getting kicked upside the head right now.
Yes, I hope so.
And I hope that it brings a change in perspective to people.
I just read a white paper about a business
that both owners were making a million dollars
of profit and their business had zero value.
And it was a distributorship,
but that distributorship had built their entire process,
all of their relationships,
all the people they had contracts with
were people that they golfed with every week.
They were never able to build a transferable model
that went beyond their lifestyle.
They were just enjoying their lifestyle,
but at the end they didn't have anything to sell.
Hopefully they put a lot of money away.
Yes, hopefully so.
And this is something that is really difficult,
especially for owners and founders
that have started from nothing.
We get this lifestyle drift where we're on a budget
that's called spend less than you make.
When I work on financial readiness,
well, I don't wanna skip ahead, but we'll get to that.
What does that look like to be really financially ready?
You know, there's this barometer,
I think that's going through people's heads
about selling my business for a million dollars.
And in today's world,
and this is the rock your socks off thing,
and I'm trying to remember who recently said this
on our podcast and the network,
and it could have been Hunt,
basically says, oh, okay, if you could actually net
a million dollars and you put it in the bank
and you earn 4% on it, just pick a number.
That's $40,000 a year.
You think you can live on that?
So the point of it is, is that a million dollar number
is not the number today if you have an opportunity
to build and grow a great business.
Even if you get Social Security,
you have maybe some 401K, some other stuff,
the million bucks can get you untouched,
you know, there for however long you're gonna live,
or to be able to give it and pay it forward to family.
A million dollars doesn't get it today.
So you gotta, to your point,
you gotta stop this lifestyle thing,
and you gotta start being a professional
and run a great business.
You gotta manage.
That's absolutely right.
And it's mind-blowing to me to look at the statistics.
90% of business owners have 90% of their worth
trapped in their business.
It's a lot.
And if you wait until the end to sell your business
and you end up paying capital gains
and take a ton, a big chunk of that
is gonna go to Uncle Sam,
it's gonna be hard to fill what I call your wealth gap.
What do you have now versus what do you need to retire?
And the better move is to have a really amazing CPA,
a really amazing financial advisor
that you are zeroing in, what is my wealth gap?
What do I need to retire and start unwinding the wealth
out of your business and other multiple streams of income?
I'm in a silent pause
because of another great powerful statement you made.
I'm loving where this is going
because there's so many powerful takeaways here.
You said wealth gap.
I don't think the people in our industry
ever stopped to think about that.
Everybody's working their butt off for the million dollar
payout, but to your point about capital gains,
you could lose half of that.
You can and there are so many strategies.
It's like we take time to strategize building our business
and what's our three year strategic plan
and how many cars do we need in here per day?
How many cars per tech?
How many hours per tech?
We do all the strategizing for our business
but we aren't strategizing for what is our net worth goal?
What is our wealth gap?
What is the number I'm shooting for
and how am I getting there
and how am I building my personal wealth and legacy
for after this business isn't here anymore?
Hey, think about your customer's journey.
How do they find you, trust you and continue to come back?
With the Napa AutoCare program,
you can deliver that positive experience
every step of the way.
It starts with visibility.
Customers can find your shop
through the Napa online locator at no cost to you.
And thanks to fully integrated national marketing campaigns,
Napa AutoCare shops are showcased
as part of America's largest network of parts and care.
Whether they're driving by
to see your co-branded Napa AutoCare sign
or they hear about you through national advertising,
the Napa name, trusted by over 95% of the motoring public,
builds instant confidence.
Inside your shop, that trust grows
using digital vehicle inspection
and Napa service assistant,
you can clearly show customers what's wrong
with their vehicle through pictures and videos.
Smart Sign creates an engaging waiting experience
while exclusive consumer offers help save them on services.
And when your shop becomes gold certified,
customers know they'll receive
a consistent top level experience every time.
Customers also gain peace of mind
knowing your technicians are ASC certified,
trained by Napa Autotech and backed
by the Napa AutoCare nationwide peace of mind warranty.
For an unexpected repair expense,
the Napa credit card helps them get back on the road.
And when the repair is complete,
their satisfaction is captured through the Napa CSI survey,
turning great service into long-term loyalty.
Hey, you wanna create this customer journey
only one way, connect with your local Napa representative
and get started.
Hey, when customers choose a Napa AutoCare center,
they get more than a repair,
they get trust, savings, and peace of mind.
Once your shop to stand out,
connect with your local Napa representative
and get the conversation started
to become a Napa AutoCare center.
Hey, let's face it, your shop management system
is the single most important tool in your shop, period.
Napa Tracks has made selecting the right shop management
system easy by offering the industry's best,
most comprehensive SMS.
Now it all starts when a local representative meets
with you to learn about your business
and how you need to run it.
After all, it's your shop, so it's your choice.
And having local representation is a huge plus.
Customizing tracks to your business,
whether you're a one-person shop or a large multi-bay
or multi-location company,
a representative consults with you
to help optimize your shop's workflow,
efficiency, and profitability.
Tracks always has the flexibility to do business
how you need to do it,
which means it can also grow as your business grows.
And unlike the other guys,
we'll be there for you after installation
with the best training and support in the business.
Yes, a learning management system tailored
to each role in your company.
Simply put, tracks was designed and built
for shop owners just like you.
Visit us on the web at Napa Tracks,
that's N-A-P-A-T-R-A-C-S dot com.
How do you know if you're ready to exit?
All these things that you said, ducks in order somehow.
And I don't think you could get there
without support and help.
I mean, I think it goes back to coaching,
it goes back to your point, great CPA, to a wealth planner.
I don't know that but 20% of our people in our industry
even thought of this or have them on their team.
Yeah, most people that I work with
do not have the right team.
And the real question for the business owner
is, are you playing optimist football?
Are you just out there to have fun?
Or are you ready for the Super Bowl?
Cause it's a totally different team
and a totally different coach
that takes you to the Super Bowl.
And it's a totally different commitment from the owner
on, are you ready to focus on this?
The special sauce is really in Pat Luciani's book.
The ideal team player.
We use that in building our team and hiring our techs
and hiring our service advisors.
Are you using that to build your exit team?
And are you using that for yourself?
Are you really hungry to do this the right way?
Are you really humble and willing to let advisors
come in and coach you for what an exit looks like?
And way before you're ready to exit, do this.
You know what's interesting?
The younger generation is doing this
from when they start their business.
They have this down.
This is how they're learning.
So the best time to do this is when you start.
The next best time is today.
But are you hungry?
Are you humble?
And are you smart?
Are you putting the tools in your tool belt?
And it's something that we can all start learning about
and empowering ourselves with today.
You asked Karma, how do you know when you're ready?
I like to say it's like the three legs of a stool.
There's three areas of readiness.
Are you as a leader personally ready?
We've talked about already, are your finances ready?
And funny thing about finances,
when I work with clients, almost all of them tell me
what they think they need to retire.
Take a guess, Karma.
What do you think that number per month is?
How much do you need per month to live?
Oh, per month to live?
They're gonna say a 10,000.
Exactly, everybody says $10,000.
Was that right?
That is exactly right, like bullseye.
And it's so funny, I just had a client
and I've been working with them for a while.
I know what they do, I know how they live.
I get really involved in their lives.
And they said $10,000.
And I said, okay, show me your bank statements
for the last 12 months.
Let's look at this.
I didn't hear from them for weeks.
And I'd call them,
hey, let's look at your bank statements.
When are we getting together?
So they finally called back.
They said, we're so embarrassed.
It's 25 grand a month
that we need to maintain our lifestyle.
You wanna know that before you sell, right?
Yeah, so 75% of people regret selling.
And this financial piece is a piece,
but it is not the piece.
I love this.
You just said they regret selling
because they have not planned their future.
Right, well, they regret selling
and it usually never has anything to do with money.
That's a shocker.
The money is important.
It is not the thing that will make you happy.
What makes me happy then?
What's the drive?
The drive as we were made for purpose.
Why do you get up and do what you do every day?
The best shop owners that come on your show car
and I've heard them,
the best shop owners that are changing the industry,
they've dialed in their why.
Well, it does have to do with the transaction,
but it's not transaction motivated.
They are motivated to change their world
and their sphere of influence,
the lives of the people that work with them,
the lives of the customers that come through the door.
And you take that life of significance
and you have to define what does that look like next?
Why are you here?
What are you gonna do next?
Business owners are the philanthropic glue
of our communities.
Almost anybody that has been successful in business
is sponsoring the things they're passionate about,
whether it's sports teams, education, things,
nonprofits, religious organizations,
and you take away the tool that they've always used
to influence the people around them
that mean the world to them
and the community that's important to them.
If they have not defined what that looks like next,
it can feel like a tremendous loss of life purpose.
You said the word change before
and I like to use the word advance versus the word change
because there's a lot of people that look at the word change
as you can't force me to change and I'll never change,
but if you look at it as a positive,
I'm going to advance my business, advance myself,
I'm going to get ahead instead of change.
And I think a lot of the hobbyists are unwilling to change
because they're stuck in my thinking
and my whole language shift in the industry.
I think advancing my family, advancing myself,
advancing my people, advancing my business
is a much stronger, I don't know,
maybe it's a sexier word to think about
because I think it has a little deeper meaning
than the word change, but that's just my opinion
and I could be wrong.
I love it, I'm adopting it.
Oh, thank you so much.
When you said 10,000 a month
and then they actually stopped to do the math
and realized they needed 25, is it that people,
let's make an assumption that when they stop to realize that,
do they shudder in place and realize
we need to make some very important, heavy changes
inside the business so that if we can and on that date,
we are attractive to a buyer,
the money that's going to come in
will sustain that lifestyle somehow,
or I've got to start putting more money away as,
oh, I can't because there's not any profit in the business,
the profit's not where it should be.
I can't hire really good people.
It still ends up getting
to the almighty profitability of the business.
And I guess as I have been talking for 10 years
about finding yourselves an accountability partner
and networking group a coach,
and so many of the friends that I have,
I know Karm, you were so right all those years ago
and I'm not, I have no ego to say that I was right,
but when I see some really wonderful people,
their hearts are in the right place,
but they just weren't knowledgeable enough.
They didn't have the guidance,
they never went back to school for a business class.
They learned it in the backyard on how to fix vehicles,
but they never learned how to run a business
and how to make money.
And so I think a lot of this,
the way we've ignored future success
for the last, say, 20, 25 years
is now the timeline so much shorter.
I'm getting too old.
And it's like the people that are in their 60s,
well, I got another 15 years to work
and I have to worry about a thing
and continue to run the hobbyist style business.
If this one episode can change someone's lives,
which is what I've, the reason that I started
10 some years ago, I just want people to listen
to learn just one thing
and reproduce such great content every week.
Come on, shame on you if you're not doing something about it.
I'm ranting and I'm sorry, back I get off my soapy.
No, you're absolutely right.
And that's the third leg of the stool.
Is your business attractive to a buyer
and is it ready for transition?
Oh my God, would I buy my business?
Right.
There it is.
And would you pay a million, two million, 10 million?
Exactly.
Oh my God.
There's confession right there.
Yeah.
And when we analyze businesses,
a couple of things we do when you've touched on it
is what are your real numbers?
Your tax numbers are not your real numbers.
Your EBITDA is your real number.
And you should be tracking that every single year
or even every month.
Just get in a habit.
What are my real numbers?
What's my real profit here?
That is a benchmark that you wanna be tracking.
Every owner should be tracking.
The other thing we look at
is the four intangible capitals
that make up 80% of your business.
So this is where we coach businesses to grow
in the value methodology, value acceleration methodology.
But if you have a coach,
like you'll hear this as I'm talking.
And if you don't have a coach,
get a coach that will coach you through this.
But the four intangible capitals
that make up 80% of your business value
and an appraisal are your human capital.
That's your team.
Are you building a team?
Is your business totally owner dependent?
Or can you take a vacation and it still runs
and it's still profitable?
And about that, I work with business owners
that are wanting to sell
and they think they're doing great,
like I'm totally owner independent.
But they've almost gone too far
and become owner disconnected.
So owner independent and owner disconnected
are two different things.
You want to be leading your business,
but it doesn't have to have you there for me
to five to do it.
Got it, right in the middle, okay.
Yeah, build your human capital.
Secondly, build your customer capital.
One of the things that can really bite you
and an appraisal is if you have a big portion
of your business as fleet work,
like one fleet and we have seen this
where a fleet made up 60% of a shop's income
and that fleet was bought out and went away overnight
and that shop was in trouble and worth nothing
and it took years to rebuild it.
The automotive repair sector,
this isn't generally a huge deal,
but when you're going, wow, I wish I had some big fleets.
That's a good thing to look for,
but you want to make sure it doesn't make up 10%
or more of your business.
Also having customers that come back,
having loyalty, building loyalty,
really taking care of people
that is your customer capital
and that will show up and an appraisal.
How many customers do you have?
How many repeat customers do you have?
How many loyal customers
and how many are you earning new each and every week?
I got 2,000 customers in my database.
I'm sorry, they're selling a used car with no engine.
And this is the thing is it can look beautiful at the outside,
but when you go through due diligence,
they're going to say, show me your 12 month customer list
and is it 300 or is it 2,000?
Big difference.
So customer capital and that's so important.
That really encompasses your marketing,
your customer service, how you're taking care of people,
your unique selling points,
what sets you apart from your competition.
Customer capital is a big deal
and how you treat people is a big deal.
Your Google reviews are a big deal
in the value of your business.
So next would be your social capital
that also kind of crosses over with Google reviews,
but it's the culture of your company.
What is that culture and is it transferable?
You could be named Joe Zotto
and it could still be worth something.
It might not be the best thing to name your shop
if you're going to be building it to sell,
but if you're Joe Zotto,
build a culture that lives beyond Joe
and how you're building your team,
the framework you're using is your mission statement
and your vision and your values,
just a statement on your website
or are you really a value-driven organization
because that is very, very different
when your values and your mission are in the driver's seat.
So that is your social capital
and then lastly is your structural capital
and you are really, really good karma
about driving this one forward,
but that is your benchmarks, that's your KPIs,
what are your key performance indicators,
your tracking, do you have job descriptions?
Are you tracking what is winning looking like
for all of those positions in your company?
What does that look like?
Do the people know what winning looks like?
Do they know every day when they went home
they won today or there's room for improvement
and where is that?
And so your structural capital
and that's all the things you don't see.
Are you S-Corporation?
Are you really doing your annual minutes
and are they in your corporate book?
Are you keeping up on the things
that they're gonna ask for in due diligence?
Your taxes, are they up to date?
Is your bookkeeping in order?
All of the stuff that you don't see,
it all comes into light in due diligence.
So get it right now.
And when you get it right
and you get benchmarks and KPIs and structure in place,
then you will have profit and you will grow
and you will realize that you have a new passion
for what you are doing and you get to that decide gate.
You discover what your business is worth.
You're looking at where am I as a leader?
Where's my finances? Where's my organization?
You've gone through that discovery gate.
You go through the prepare gate
and you fix the things that are broken in those three areas
and you realize that you're excited again
because you have new vision.
You know what you need to work on
and you're excited to fix it
because you can see that it's gonna bring value
and it's gonna bring profit
and it's gonna change your life.
And so when you get to the decide gate
and you're going, do I wanna sell now?
Most of the people that work with me,
it's kind of disappointing.
I got in this thinking,
wow, I'm gonna help people sell their business.
They don't wanna sell.
They wanna grow.
They get excited about what they're doing.
As a certified exit planning advisor,
you could be on the team for five to 10 years
because what you're doing is you're guiding
the necessary fixes, changes, needs
that an individual needs to have
so that they've got a slam dunk deal.
Yes, we are consulting on value.
Consulting on value, God, I love that.
That value will lead to a very profitable
and in most cases,
when you get the right exit planning advisor,
a very mission-driven organization
and mission-driven owner.
Becca Zanders, CEPA Certified Exit Planning Advisor.
How do we get a hold of you?
You can get a hold of me at www.d6elements.com.
You can also find me on LinkedIn under Becca Zanders.
D6elements.com, Business Consulting and Exit Planning.
I'm sure there's a lot of stuff on your website
that could motivate us to follow up on this episode,
but I'm sorry, there were only about 10
huge takeaways here.
You just nailed it.
Anything that you wanted to cover on this episode
that will help people change some people's lives?
The one other thing I would like to say
is that when you sell your business,
you don't sell your identity.
That's a big deal.
You are not your business.
Your business does become part of what you are,
but really think about who am I, what am I doing?
Am I spending time with the people I love the most?
Am I focusing as much on that as I am on my business?
Those things make you transition well.
Having work-life balance, we talk about it all the time.
You're not gonna sell your identity.
You are gonna sell your business.
So unwrap that.
Unwrap and unravel your identity
from what you do as best you can.
All right, I got it.
When you say I'm the business, you're thinking wrong.
Yeah, I just talked to a guy and he said his dad
had just sold his business and he got up the next day
at six in the morning like every other day,
put on a suit and tie, came down for breakfast,
ate breakfast and then what?
And then what?
I think this pause that I have just issued
into this episode is for people to think about this.
Have some self-reflection.
Very, very powerful episode.
Thank you so much.
I'm so happy we had you on.
Do me a favor, don't be bashful.
You got anything life-changing?
Come back on and tell us, will you?
Oh, thank you so much, Karm.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you, Becca Zanders.
D, six elements, certified exit planning advisor.
Good, good stuff, thanks for being here.
Thanks for being on board to listen and learn
from the Premier Automotive Repair Business Podcast,
Remarkable Results Radio.
Get your episodic education on the ARPN listening app
at automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com.
Also enjoy the podcast on our Karm Capriato YouTube channel.
Karm is all for advancing the professional
automotive service industry.
Until next time.
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