Scaling Your Marketing As You Scale Your Shop [E169] - The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast
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Scaling Your Marketing As You Scale Your Shop [E169] - The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast
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Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Auto Repair Marketing Podcast.
I'm your host, Brian Walker, and today I'm with David Gibson and Ryan Grace from Pleasant
Automotive, and we're going to be talking about scaling your marketing as you grow
your shop.
But first, I want to take a second to thank our sponsors.
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All right.
Well, hey, David and Ryan.
How are y'all?
Good afternoon.
Doing well.
Hey, Brian.
Yeah.
Thanks for being with us.
Just a fun fact for our listeners.
I worked together for a year, so he was one of the techs at my shop, one of the best techs
that I've worked with, and that's not lip service, so this guy is an outstanding tech.
And I'm sure that just by default, the relationship that you and David have tells
me that he is one of those techs as well.
And now y'all are in the place of really becoming owners and doing an outstanding
job at that.
What has that been like?
It's been very exciting.
As you know, David and I just finished our first year in business.
It's very hard to believe it's gone so fast.
We are like a lot of technicians that turn shop owners.
We've seen how it's done at a nice shop.
We know what we want our facility to have as well.
And so we've really enjoyed the process.
It's been very exciting.
We're so glad to be here and continue to grow our business.
And y'all are in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
You are a general repair, but you kind of have a specialty of Tesla, right?
We went after the Tesla market because the local, we'll call them dealerships or service
centers are absolutely awful.
You can't communicate with a person only through an app.
And say your car breaks, you're going to be stuck on the side of the road for at
least 30 days because they can't look at it in time.
They're pushing appointments way back.
Yeah, didn't you tell me, Ryan, that they have like 50 bays and one technician or something
like that?
Tesla just opened a new facility at High Point and one of our vendors heard about us there.
Somehow we're talking a topic of conversation at High Point.
The word on the street was they had 40, 50 bays and one or two technicians.
It's crazy.
And that's been a pretty good market for y'all so far, hasn't it?
It has been.
People like the personal touch, be able to call and speak to either myself or
them, come in, see what's wrong with their car as opposed to just getting messages on
an app.
Today, we're going to be talking about scaling your marketing as you scale your business.
The two of y'all have done an amazing job of doing that.
We've had the pleasure of working with a lot of shop owners, you know, basically
from the time that they start their business.
I would say that y'all have done the best job of, you know, making sure that like your
marketing is progressing at a fairly rapid pace to grow a strong business.
And like you said, you just made your first year and y'all have had some great growth,
great success in the business.
It started out with just the two of y'all and y'all have hired an additional technician
now, right?
That's awesome.
So I remember when you first started out, you started basically with just, was it website
only or website and SEO?
We had just the website initially that was being built and then the SEO was going to
follow.
We were working somewhere else while we built Pleasant Automotive.
So there was some things going on in the background.
We started the website before we had an address.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now remember a call with our marketer, Brian, saying, Hey, we're opening.
You see, that's in two weeks, right?
I said, Yep.
No pressure.
Yeah.
Y'all had quite the interesting time finding the right place, but you stuck it out and
ended up finding a really great facility.
That's awesome.
So when you first started with the website and your marketing, what was the like the
thought process and everything that y'all were doing?
What were your priorities and your goals from the early stages of your business and
marketing?
Well, we knew that we needed to get a website, even a very limited one to get on Google's
radar, because we didn't want to try to build that on day one of opening the shop.
We needed the customers to pay for our marketing and having Google find us before
opening day and having a live website was to make them that work out for us.
That's the predicament that I think a lot of shop owners find themselves in.
I know it was that way with myself.
When I first opened my shop, I was doing it on a very limited budget.
I had to bootstrap that business.
And I see some of the conversations that happen in the Facebook groups and people are,
they'll ask, What's your number one piece of advice?
I'm thinking about building this shop.
And people are the responses that they get are like, Oh, you need to have 100
grand in a bank account or whatever.
And I'm thinking back to when I opened my shop.
And I'm like, I had $6,000 and I knew I needed a website.
And that's actually what got me into this business was, you know, I built my own
websites in Microsoft Word when I first started out.
But so it was very wise of y'all to know that you need that before you open
rather than waiting until you open to start that process.
So you talk about the financial side.
Were there any kind of preparations or anything special that you did in the
beginning to make sure from a financial standpoint that this was going to be a success?
A lot of prayer, a lot of hoping.
We've heard the podcast to some people that love to talk about the money that
you absolutely must have if you want to survive two weeks.
We took that all advice and just throw it right out the window.
And there's a certain amount of faith.
You have to look across the chasm and say, we're going to do this anyway,
despite what your wife may say or other people.
That's exciting.
But we knew that we had to have a foundation that was going to be the
road for further success.
So things like the website, a prime domain name.
I've heard someone say, you know, playsanautomotive.com.
We found out that was available.
That was perfect.
Let's have it.
Let's get started on it.
And we just wanted to make sure that we were getting ahead of any future
problems.
So we bought the domain name out for 10 years.
We plan to be in business for 10 years.
So all the little things that could be a pitfall, we've just tried to
avoid.
We've not done it before.
So we've been extremely careful to avoid those unforeseen pitfalls.
You know, I've heard that the definition of an entrepreneur is
someone who's willing to jump off a cliff and build an airplane on
the way down.
Oh, I took that to heart.
Yeah.
I mean, and look, I think it's great advice to have all that
money in the bank.
But I think that if every entrepreneur waited until they were
in that financial position before starting that business,
we would have very few businesses.
No businesses.
Yeah.
It's kind of like waiting to have a child until you're ready.
You're not going to be ready.
There have been a lot of people that say, you know, now we're
doing very well, thankfully.
And they say, you know, we should have done this five, 10
years ago.
And you want to say yes.
But I know that I did not know 10 years ago for sure.
Maybe five years ago.
I didn't know all the bits and pieces that would make us a
good team.
We'll ring it together what we have and compliment it to make
a successful team.
So it's been a lot of faith and hope involved there.
But we knew what we wanted to do.
And Dave and I worked together very well.
And it's been a lot of fun.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
I know we talked about it for years before you did it.
And it's easy, you know, for me or for somebody else to be
like, do it, do it, do it, you know, when, when all the
risk is on you.
But the day that you, you said, it's time, we're
doing it.
I legitimately got excited for you because I knew that
that y'all would be great at it.
And as the business grew, you know, you started adding
more services, just one thing at a time.
You know, I normally found out from my team, you know,
that, oh, Pleasant Automotive added, you know,
Google ads for example.
I'm curious along the way as you were doing that,
what was the impetus for you to say, okay, it's time
for us to add this additional service.
We're humble enough to realize we don't know what we
don't know.
We leaned on other people in the industry, you know,
your company and so forth to guide us through that
type of thing.
We knew what we needed, but we didn't know how to
execute those plans.
So, you know, if you don't know, find somebody that
doesn't ask them.
That was really, I feel the key to the success
that we have had.
And then outside of like the services that, you know,
we do for you or even other companies that might be
doing direct mail or something like that for you,
do y'all do any kind of community involvement or
anything like that?
You know, the starting off, we were talking with
the Score Group, the Service Corps of Retired
Executives for their advice, you know, as young
entrepreneurs, what should we do to get the word out?
We tried everything, every avenue that we could,
churches, schools and things like that.
But we knew we were going to have to get an
advertising company that was on board and getting
the word out there for us professionally in a
way that we couldn't do on our own.
Don't forget the Adopt a Highway program.
Yes, we adopted a highway.
We're on Facebook here locally in the town of
Wake Forest.
It's a town.
It's growing by leaps and bounds.
But it's still a town.
It's still a community.
So we're trying to be, you know, a neighbor.
We're not here to make boat payments.
We're here to make a relationship.
And I want to work on my customers' kids' cars
down the road.
So with that, the Adopt a Highway program,
has that been fruitful at all?
Well, I haven't had anybody come in and say we
showed up because of your Adopt a Highway
program, but it's about a mile and a half
of Burlington Mill Road, which is a major
road in here.
One of the signs is directly in front of the
middle school.
And when you're waiting to take your kid to
school in that long, long line that develops
every morning, you're staring at that sign
and it's got our name on it.
Maybe people realize or, you know,
recognize it.
Maybe it sticks in their head.
I've talked about this many times on the
podcast, but when we had our shop,
Kim, she was always wanting
to do things like that.
And I had it drilled in my head so much
from the coaches that, you know,
if you can't place an ROI on it,
you don't do it.
Always shied away from that kind of stuff.
And when we ended up moving back to Louisiana
and in our businesses here,
she was able to convince me to start doing
that kind of stuff.
I'm so much a believer in it now.
Like you're never going to be able to
append a return on investment
to doing that kind of stuff.
But, you know, call it karma,
call it the law of reciprocity,
goodwill, whatever you want.
I just think that when you do things
like that in your local community,
it just comes back to you.
So, I love that.
When you very first got started,
you actually chose to go with another
marketing company at first.
What were they doing for you?
They were website and SEO.
You know, Google, Bad Words and so forth.
And that was one where
it just didn't work out in the beginning, right?
It did not.
We tried to go with a more budget-friendly option.
Did not see the results.
It was ultimately money wasted.
It was quite a bit of money wasted, to be honest with you.
You know, for example, we would jump on
our monthly meetings with the marketing company
and it was like our representative
of that company was just looking at our numbers
the same time we were looking at them.
During that call was the first time
she paid any attention to it.
And that was a little disheartening,
the only answers that we needed.
And for our listeners, actually,
I brought this up with Ryan and David
before the podcast to ask if it was
something that we could talk about.
And just being honest, it's a little bit
self-serving because, you know,
it's one of our big competitors out there
that they're big about saying
that they do the exact same thing that we do,
just for about half the price.
We often find ourselves in a situation
where we're talking to a prospective client
and that prospective client
and also talking to this other company
and they're very good at sales.
You know, whereas we're very low pressure,
we do our best to really show people
this is what we do, this is how we're different
and all that, but they're, you know,
on the sales side, they're very good
and they're very good at convincing people
that they're going to get the exact same thing
just for half the price.
And that's why, you know, I wanted to ask you
about it because
while we're here, I'd love to be able to point people
when we're in that situation to this podcast
and say, you know, go listen to that.
You get what you pay for.
You honestly do.
I've got a friend that's been in business for a long time
and he's helped us navigate some things
and I was asked about a marketing company
and he said, find the most expensive one you can find
and stick with them.
So far, it's been great.
What we found was, you know, again, we were
all the business is ruled by our budget
and we were able to find this marketing company.
And all appearances was very nice.
The package looked really good,
but when the rubber met the road,
the service wasn't there.
So it's kind of like when we, as a professional,
when you buy a tool, you want to buy a professional
grade tool. You want to count on this tool.
We bought an off-brand tool
and the price was good.
It did not serve us very well at all
and your marketing is not something that
that she can afford to play around with.
It's got to be on point.
The work didn't get done.
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Okay, as you've scaled
I've watched you
pretty hard as y'all have scaled
and I think that the way that I would describe
your scaling
it's been fairly aggressive
and I love that
and I think that it has
that mentality of being fairly aggressive
that your business is growing
has paid off well.
I'm curious how you balanced
the urge
to go super fast
with the pace of scaling.
Because even though you've been fairly aggressive
you've been very smart about it.
Have you balanced that urge to go fast
while at the same time
being financially smart
and it just being a sustainable way of growth?
You know, for every ad dollar we spend
we do see a return on
and we'll take things away that we see
aren't working for us
like the direct mailers we were sending out
they brought customers in the shop
and we did gain some good customers from it
but most of the time we were doing
cheap oil changers for them
and they would wait till the next one came
and then they would bring their daughter's car in
for the cheap oil change
and then their wife's car for the cheap oil change
so we realized that wasn't working for us
so we took the money that we were spending
on the direct mailing marketing campaign
service ads, the LSAs that we started
I think it was a wise move
it's all about budgeting and
balance and keeping track
of what's working and what's not working
we don't have a huge
pile of money to work with so we certainly
need to pay attention to what we're doing with it
you know, Katie from your team
has been great in leading us through that process
and making suggestions that what can be
changed and she's really on top of it
we appreciate it.
You know, as you look back on
the various types of marketing that you've done
is there any one thing that
you can like it stands out
and you can say that has been the best performing
marketing that we've done
I'd probably say it's the Google local search ads
Katie and the team
brought us up to speed on those
it was a while ago, I want to say it was back in the spring
and our budget wasn't ready
to support it but she said hey you know
just in case, here's what it's going to take
to be able to use those ads and there's a process
involved so even though we weren't ready
she said hey here's what you want to do just to be ready for it
so we went ahead and took those steps
got certified and verified through
Google so we knew what options were on
the table because you had made us aware of them
and we were able to say let's look and try the
LSA versus the direct mail
and see how that goes for us so
even though we weren't ready to jump on board
you guys said hey you might want to
and that gave us the time to spend
getting prepared for Google's verification
and to be ready to say okay let's try this
new avenue.
Did you find that they performed like from the beginning
or were they a little hit or miss in the
beginning and they just kind of got better
as they went?
They were a mixed bag right out of the gate
but the LSA ads those people are calling
looking for work they're ready to get it done
they're buyers so we tried to
treat all of those as a ready to go
customer but I would say there's
you have to kind of find your way navigate
so it starts to find you in the right direction
you don't get calls for the wrong
services and that's a process
but I think David
and I are both very happy with the process so far
I love asking
about LSA in particular
because we get such
mixed results or mixed feelings
I would say from our clients about them
we have clients that absolutely love it
and they're killing it with LSA
and then we have clients that are like
it's just a bunch of price shoppers
I'm personally convinced that
the ones who have
success with it
they're much better
on the phone like they have
much better phone skills than
the ones who don't
but as much as I'm convinced of that
I know some of the ones that have not had great
problems with it that my perception
is that they run a really
a really strong business a great shop
now in your case I've visited
your shop and I've been standing next to you
while you were on the phone and know
just how good y'all are
about you know just
I heard you the tone
of voice that you have with the client
how no pun, how pleasant
you are on the phone
and then also like asking
for the appointment and such as that
is that something that
has just kind of come natural to you
or did you have any kind of training
or anything for those phone skills
Ryan is just the most
naturally friendly guy in the world
as soon as you meet him you know
you want to hang out with him
or with anybody
it's not really an act with him
he just gets on the phone and talks to people
tries to make him feel comfortable
they end up coming in
he doesn't sell him anything
his biggest line is hey let's not jump to conclusions
maybe it's just a loose bolt
or maybe it's something simple
let's get it in here and figure out what's going on
before you lose some sleep
and he constantly impresses me with his people skills
much better than mine
I love it when you're on the phone too David
we're in the industry where everybody brings their problems
straight to us to our front door
and so when they call they've got a concern
they're worried my car is broken
my kids on the side of the road what are we going to do
so we're in the business of helping
and part of that is being helpful
if you can take some stress off of somebody's mind
by saying don't worry about it right now
let's find out what it is and we love to share good news
on a Friday afternoon if we've got a car
it's a big job they don't know what's going on
if we make a discovery that's good news
and I can give that to them at 4.59
and they can enjoy the weekend a little bit better
we're going to try to get that news across to them
yeah that's great
alright so for shops that
you know they might be real early on
in their business and I know y'all I mean you're only
a year right and just a little over a year
so y'all are still early yourself
but you know those shops that are
anywhere from brand new
to where you're at now
and they're looking to grow
you know from a strictly a marketing standpoint
what's the advice that you would have for them
get that website online
get that website even if it's just an initial landing page
it helps Google
figure out who you are
those organic searches are crucial
and then find the most expensive
marketing company you can find and stick with them
it's honest to God's truth
a question that's
sort of related but not really
related to this I'm just curious
how much have y'all been hearing from
people that they are finding you
in places like chat gpt
for example
we're on reddit a little bit some people are
talking about us there's chatter out there
and I've done some you know outward
looking in searches to try to find out we're mentioned
on the web I know it's coming
AI is in the news right now and actually
David mentioned one of our partners
has been using grok for was it over a year now David
and he uses it for technical information
and we as technicians have spent countless
hours pouring over articles
looking for information
and AI will get it and it's
surprisingly accurate so it's coming
yeah it's crazy you gotta check it though
yeah it's funny that
your first response was that you're on reddit
because we know
that one of the top
things that AI is
using when they are
recommending businesses
or just answers to anything in general
they're using reddit
and Quora and it's because
the content it's user generated
content that's upvoted
so they can look at
the content that's most highly voted
and make a decision that okay this is good
accurate information
and I love it
alright so what's next for pleasant automotive
the customers really enjoy the very
small shop the intimate
speak easy feel that we have
here your car doesn't disappear
behind the back of the building you don't
see who's working on your car they feel
like it's their little secret that they want to share
with their friends so
maybe a couple more locations
in the not immediate area but in some of the
surrounding towns that
mirrors what we're doing here
ultimately that's what I'd like to see not
necessarily a 10 to 20 bay shop
but maybe
3 or 4 3 bay shops
and it just helps with relationships
they see the same people when they come in
and they're comfortable with us
I've never in my life heard someone
describe their shop as a speak easy
and I think that that is
the best way
to describe what it is that
you've built there because you're not
like right out there on that main road for
people to see not at all
you got to have a code to get in the gate to get to
our facility it's invitation only
you're like the best kept secret
and but we're showing up
everywhere
we're trying with the marketing to not make it a secret
at all so I love telling people
hey we're in a gated community here's how to
get here and they do a double take until
they show up
people come to the shop you know it's an unassuming building
but they walk in and we're pleasant and welcoming
and hey thanks for coming in and they look around
and they're just kind of blown away
it's different it is like
you said before concierge auto service
doesn't look fancy but it's risk-calling
service all the way yeah guys
I really appreciate y'all being on
today this has been great you know Ryan
is anytime
that I think about you I start
thinking about the
W140
Mercedes
that you and I worked on with the
torque sensor on the side of the transmission
oh my gosh
you remember
I remember going down 64 in that car
and the wheels were about as round as a stop sign
so the dashboard
in this s-class is hitting both sides of
the doors as we're going down the road
David I talk about that is join us on a journey
of discovery
as we find out what's going on with this car
and some journeys of discovery are longer than others
and then every once in a while Ryan
will send me a picture of me sitting in a
blue Volkswagen Beetle
with a boa around my neck
and anyway I owe that to your
team I have promised that to your team many times
I've got to make good on that anyway
guys I really appreciate it this has been great
for our listeners you know thanks
for listening remember we are just
one of a handful of podcasts on the aftermarket radio
network you can find the others at
aftermarketradionetwork.com
thank you to our sponsors
hope you'll listen in again next week and until
then remember in everything that you do
be a pro
you've been listening to the auto repair
marketing podcast with Kim and Brian Walker
follow the podcast on your favorite
listening app find the emails
in the show notes and visit them at
shopmarketingpros.com
let Kim and Brian know what you want discussed
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About this episode
Scaling marketing efforts is crucial for auto repair shops, especially for new owners like David Gibson and Ryan Grace of Pleasant Automotive. They share their journey of establishing a successful business in Wake Forest, North Carolina, focusing on Tesla repairs. The discussion highlights their strategic marketing choices, including the importance of a solid website and effective Google ads. They emphasize community involvement and the value of learning from industry experts to navigate challenges. Their approach balances aggressive growth with financial prudence, showcasing how personal customer service sets them apart in a competitive market.
Original notes
Thanks to our Partners, Shop Boss and AppFueled
Ryan Grace and David Gibson, former techs turned shop owners, join host Brian Walker to share how they built Pleasant Automotive in Wake Forest, NC. They started with a website before they even had a location. With no deep pockets or big investors, they focused on smart, strategic marketing moves that helped them grow fast without wasting money.
Brian dives into their decision-making process, from ditching direct mail to doubling down on Google LSAs, and how strong phone skills turned casual calls into loyal customers. They talk openly about what worked, what flopped, and how they’ve created a brand that feels more like a high-end speakeasy than a typical auto shop.
This episode is packed with takeaways for shop owners who want to scale without the fluff. It’s about being intentional, building relationships, and letting marketing fuel real growth.
- Introduction and Sponsor Acknowledgment (00:00:01) Host introduces the podcast, guests, and thanks sponsors.
- Background and Shop Ownership Journey (00:01:03) Ryan and David share their transition from technicians to shop owners and their first year in business.
- Tesla Specialty and Local Market Opportunity (00:01:59) Discussion of their focus on Tesla repairs due to poor local dealership service.
- Early Marketing Strategy: Website and SEO (00:03:46) Started with a website and SEO before opening, aiming for Google visibility from day one.
- Financial Preparations and Entrepreneurial Mindset (00:06:06) Talk about financial risks, faith, and foundational steps like securing a domain name.
- Scaling Services and Adding Marketing Channels (00:07:52) Gradual addition of services and marketing channels, including Google Ads.
- Seeking Industry Guidance and Community Involvement (00:08:59) Leaning on industry experts, SCORE, and engaging in community programs like Adopt a Highway.
- Evaluating Community Marketing ROI (00:09:52) Discusses the intangible benefits of community involvement and local visibility.
- Initial Marketing Company Experience (00:11:21) Tried a budget marketing company for website/SEO; found it ineffective and disappointing.
- Value of Investing in Quality Marketing (00:13:03) Realization that higher-quality, more expensive marketing services yield better results.
- Balancing Aggressive Growth with Financial Prudence (00:16:24) How they scaled marketing aggressively but sustainably, reallocating budget from ineffective channels.
- Best Performing Marketing: Google Local Service Ads (00:17:31) Google Local Service Ads identified as the most effective marketing channel.
- Optimizing and Adapting LSA Campaigns (00:18:29) Describes the learning curve and adjustments needed to maximize LSA effectiveness.
- Importance of Phone Skills and Customer Service (00:20:02) Emphasizes the role of strong phone skills and customer care in converting leads.
- Advice for New Shop Owners on Marketing (00:21:47) Recommends launching a website early and investing in top-tier marketing services.
- AI, Online Presence, and Future Trends (00:22:04) Mentions being found on Reddit, the rise of AI, and its impact on business visibility.
- Future Plans for Pleasant Automotive (00:23:24) Plans to expand with more small, relationship-focused locations, maintaining a "speakeasy" feel.
- Closing Remarks and Anecdotes (00:24:52) Host and guests share personal stories, thank listeners, and wrap up the episode.
Lagniappe (Books, Links, Other Podcasts, etc)
Remarkable Results Radio Podcast
Carm Capriotto, AAP
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26:28