Remarkable Results Radio Podcast Dec 30, 2025

Profitable vs. Valuable: The Hard Truth About Selling Your Shop [RR 1072]

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Concept

automotive aftermarket

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.

Concept

Vehicle Service Experts

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.

LIVE

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.

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.

automotive aftermarket vehicle service experts

Original notes

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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