00:00
This is the Automotive Repair podcast network.
00:06
Hey everybody, welcome.
00:08
Carm Capriotto, remarkable results radio in another town hall academy.
00:12
Good to have you here.
00:13
We're recording this at the beginning of the year and I do believe it's going to
00:16
come out, I think sometime in January, that would be great.
00:19
This is going to be an incredible episode.
00:21
I'll tell you all about it in a second.
00:22
We are going to TST down in New York city area, the TST seminar.org.
00:28
Saturday, March 28th in Tarleton, New York.
00:32
Andrew Fisher is going to be there.
00:33
Ken Zanders, Adam Roberts in the keynote from this woman that I know.
00:38
Her name is Tracy Capriotto.
00:39
That would be really kind of cool.
00:42
And don't forget about our great app that we have out.
00:47
Automotive Repair podcast network.com forward slash app.
00:51
It's the ultimate playlist.
00:53
Apple or Google Play.
00:55
Hey, look, thank you so much to our great, great partners that are with us all the time.
01:01
Hey, for over 30 years, Napa Tracks has made selecting the right shop management
01:05
system easy by offering the best, most comprehensive SMS in the industry.
01:11
We'll prove to you that Tracks is the single best shop management system in the business.
01:15
Find Napa Tracks on the web at NAPATRACS.com.
01:22
Ready to optimize with today's class?
01:25
Boy, listen to an episode we did with David Boy's great program.
01:29
Roll out a training plan for your automotive shop.
01:32
In just five minutes daily, you boost knowledge, retention and improved team
01:36
performance. Start seeing results today.
01:39
Join your peers at today's class.com.
01:42
Shop owners stop juggling multiple marketing tools.
01:45
Kukui's integrated platform, they deliver four times better website
01:49
conversions, automated follow up and real time ROI tracking.
01:54
Get industry leading customer support with Kukui.
02:00
You're probably tired of chasing new customers who never return.
02:06
Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one and done cycle, turning first visits
02:10
into lasting reliable revenue on the web at pitcrewloyalty.com.
02:15
Hey, welcome back, everyone.
02:17
If you're an automotive shop owner, you've probably heard this before.
02:23
You need better SEO.
02:25
You need to fix your Google.
02:27
Oh my God, that's a noun now.
02:29
Your website isn't doing its job.
02:31
Oh, and yet very few people explain what that actually means to anyone.
02:36
Meanwhile, your customers are searching, they're comparing
02:39
and they're deciding who to call before they ever talk to you.
02:43
Google has become your new front door, long before a customer
02:47
meets your team or sees your shop.
02:50
They've already formed an opinion based on your Google presence
02:55
Now, the problem is most shop owners don't know what really matters
02:59
to ignore who to trust SEO feels like it's a black box.
03:04
And marketing promises don't always match the results.
03:07
But here's the promise when your Google presence and your website
03:11
are dialed in the right customers find you and the phone starts to ring
03:16
with better calls and your business stops chasing work.
03:20
Today, I'm joined by a successful shop owner and a marketing website
03:24
specialist to break this down.
03:27
No jargon, no hype, just real world clarity.
03:35
Dinov, how are you, Megan?
03:39
Good to hear Irvine's auto repair and Grand Rapids hybrid and EV.
03:48
Listen, I've known you guys for a long time.
03:50
I think I interviewed you with Irvine's auto repair.
03:53
Then I interviewed you guys and you were Grand Rapids hybrids.
03:56
And now you've added EV and I love this evolution that's going on in your company.
04:02
It's pretty awesome.
04:03
In 20 years ago, I think you guys jumped on hybrids.
04:06
I mean, just anyway.
04:08
I know your mom and dad, they are crazy people, a lot of fun, but really good
04:13
and smart business people because you surround yourself with great partners
04:22
What a great segue.
04:25
CEO and the founder of advanced local marketing that grows businesses.
04:30
Shop dog marketing.
04:32
Okay, let's jump into this thing.
04:34
Here's my first question and let's just have a blast in this open discussion.
04:38
And it could go to Dan or Megan.
04:40
Why is a website still the primary place?
04:43
A business can truly tell its story.
04:46
Remember that question?
04:48
Now, if you ever go and you should go to Irvines.com.
04:52
And when you go to that website, you fall in love with the family, with the people.
04:58
It reeks of no like and trust.
05:02
You can't get away every time you scroll up.
05:05
There's a new, absolutely fabulous, high quality, wonderful picture of the people
05:12
that you're going to do business with.
05:14
I don't know, Megan, Dan, who come up with that?
05:17
Well, we put the pieces on there, but they came up with that.
05:22
I think being the photo guy at their place was probably the hardest job in the
05:25
world because they're all laughing and joking the whole time.
05:29
We do have a good time together.
05:31
It's important to us that people know who we are.
05:34
So we don't use an answering service when someone calls and we have to put someone
05:41
They hear, I don't remember.
05:42
It's my voice or my mom's.
05:44
We want them to always get one of us, whether it's voicemail or they're
05:48
calling to make an appointment.
05:50
So we wanted the same thing on our website.
05:51
So one of my big things with Shop Dog is on everything on like our Google
05:58
business page, on our website, on Facebook posts, I don't want strangers.
06:03
I want all my people.
06:05
I am very stern about that.
06:07
I think it's worked out really well for us.
06:09
I have to tell you, when you look at the website and the pictures that come up,
06:15
not only show a fun level of camaraderie in the business, it shows.
06:22
Number one, when I saw it, I saw professionalism.
06:25
I saw this beautiful customer greeting area.
06:29
It's just fantastic.
06:31
You guys invested a lot of money in that.
06:33
And even if people don't wait around and look at how professional it looks,
06:37
you've got those impressions that the website brings you.
06:40
And so you're inviting people from the outside into your place on purpose.
06:45
And they're just looking at the web.
06:47
Dan, are we still using automotive repair near me as a search?
06:52
It's been a kind of like an interesting thing.
06:54
I've thought about this because it's kind of like when I was growing up,
06:58
nobody my age as a teenager wanted to wear those big old fat ties from the 60s.
07:04
You know, they were like this wide.
07:06
And we wanted the little skinny ties.
07:09
Now I look around and I see men wearing again those big fat ties.
07:14
And so stuff that was popular, unpopular, popular.
07:18
That's kind of the way the search engines work.
07:21
And but websites have always been constant.
07:23
They provide a data source for both search engines and consumers.
07:28
They're the best source for people to know about your business.
07:31
And they play a central role to this thing called the internet.
07:36
We want to always make sure that that's the one place that we put a lot of focus
07:41
I love what Dan just said, Megan, about how trends just come and go.
07:47
And I have to tell you, Dan, I was praying that the high-waisted pants would come back.
07:55
And I kept saying to myself, it's got to happen.
07:57
It's got to happen.
07:58
Now, it took a few more years than I expected.
08:02
And of course, you remember the small glasses.
08:04
Mine are back to the size that I wore in the, I think, 70s and early 80s.
08:09
It is amazing how those trends happen.
08:12
But when I think about our business, Dan, it has moved so into high technology
08:18
that you can't do what you did even just five years ago on your website.
08:24
And we saw this evolution of where everybody came to the website.
08:28
They wanted to read about you.
08:30
They wanted to read about break repair.
08:32
And then cell phones came out and we had this thing called Google Maps
08:36
and consumers didn't want to come to your website anymore.
08:40
And we're kind of in that place still, but that's changing too with AI.
08:45
So what I think really is happening is the website's been content.
08:49
It's been either the source for Google to be able to bring you up
08:53
in a Google Maps listing or it's been a source for people to go to you
08:57
to learn more about you.
08:59
There's definitely been some changes.
09:01
There's going to be more changes.
09:02
But I think the website's always going to be the one solid cornerpiece to your business.
09:08
Megan, are people calling you off of your website?
09:10
Do you have a call us button?
09:12
I do. Yep. Happens often.
09:14
When that phone rings, can you tell is it a separate phone number?
09:19
Are you learning where that incoming opportunity is coming from?
09:23
Yeah. So we have phone numbers that track where phone calls are coming from.
09:26
We have a phone number that is for Google.
09:28
We have one on our website.
09:30
I think when we did some mailers, those had another phone number that tracked.
09:36
So, yeah, we always know where people are coming from, but we also ask,
09:40
like, how did you find us?
09:41
Typically, it's Google.
09:42
Even if they were on our website, they'll tell us that they found us on Google.
09:46
But yeah, we can see where people come from.
09:48
Dan, how does a relationship between a shop owner and you work?
09:53
Who's the are you saying, oh, my God, any ideas of later?
09:56
I have an idea for you or there's trends happening.
09:59
Megan, are you an individual who just sits there and just the ideas pour out
10:03
and then you just bombard Dan with stuff and ideas and content?
10:07
Actually, I guess what I'm asking is, Dan, describe a really good relationship
10:12
between the webmaster.
10:15
I think my role in all of this is what I give is how the search engines work.
10:20
It really resonates with me and it just is really clear.
10:24
Like, I get them and I'm able to, I have this sense it's like an undercurrent.
10:30
Like, I just have a gut feeling like this is what it takes to be able to perform
10:36
And, you know, as good as our websites are, we still depend on search engines
10:40
because that's usually where people start first.
10:43
And so my role is to help the auto shop owner realize like we can do things
10:49
with your website to give you more visibility and search.
10:54
The role of the owner of the shop is to help me understand this is who we are.
10:59
This is our personality.
11:01
This is the character of our business.
11:03
These are the things that are important to us.
11:05
And then we can bring those two worlds together.
11:08
I can't do that for shops.
11:10
Otherwise, it would be very generic because, you know, we're essentially just
11:14
telling Google, hey, they do break repair and they're really good.
11:16
You know what I find so interesting is I know so many people in the industry.
11:22
I'm on everyone's website.
11:23
Whoever comes on our show and even the ones that have been on our show before
11:27
I go and see, hey, what are they doing?
11:29
And to see the uniquenesses that happen.
11:31
I mean, the challenge is, is, oh my God, I've just created a wonderful website
11:36
for Irvine's and how do I make Charlie's service different and unique?
11:41
That stress of creativity, Dan, has got to weigh on you.
11:45
But the reality is that we're all different.
11:48
Like we like different things.
11:49
Not everybody likes vanilla ice cream.
11:51
And so, you know, there's character in that too.
11:54
And not everybody has the same kind of personalities.
11:57
And that's really what we have to build into that homepage is that character
12:02
and that style or that level of sophistication or that like we're just
12:06
an easygoing shop and whatever those things are, that's the piece.
12:11
And it's the only place in the digital world that you can really
12:15
illustrate that in a place that most people will see.
12:17
I'm loving this conversation.
12:19
And we were only how many minutes in a dozen minutes in and there's so much to learn.
12:24
So if you're listening to this, I'm sure it's going to get even heavier
12:28
as we go down the line, but if and just take away this word character right now,
12:34
ask yourself as a shop owner who's listening, does my website have character?
12:39
Can it ooze who we are?
12:41
Can it engage an individual to look back at us and say, this could be my forever home?
12:48
I could be a loyal client of this company because they look professional.
12:53
They exude. I'm sorry.
12:56
I use this word professional, Dan, more and more and more.
12:59
Everything I'm doing and saying in the industry because I'm trying to move
13:02
people away from being marginal hobbyists that they don't know what they're doing.
13:06
And to say, if I'm earning my career in this industry,
13:10
I've got to be more professional, period, in everything.
13:15
You know why that's so important, at least from my perspective,
13:18
the reason that's so important is because it's a factor of trust.
13:21
And that's really the weakness in the industry is trust.
13:25
There's lots of reasons for that.
13:27
It's not a place here to debate what those are, but it's real.
13:30
It exists and we're learning a lot more about how to tell the story of like
13:34
how you can trust us through a digital experience.
13:38
I think shops have first they have to come to this reality like
13:42
what we do is sophisticated.
13:45
OK, I don't know what your education level is.
13:48
It doesn't matter what you're doing is highly sophisticated.
13:52
It takes tools, it takes experience, it takes ongoing training.
13:57
Your people should have titles that represent that level of sophistication.
14:01
They should feel really, really good about telling people, this is what I do.
14:07
This is how I serve the community in a weird way.
14:10
That's also like a marketing piece.
14:12
That's how you build your brand.
14:13
You kind of like build your brand all the way through.
14:17
This is an experience to see on our website, but it's also the experience
14:20
when you're in the shop with us, people feel really good about what they're doing
14:25
because they recognize we are professionals and that just oozes trust.
14:31
And that's one thing about love about the turbines.
14:34
You cannot avoid that sense whenever you interact with them.
14:39
Be in their shop, be around their people.
14:42
I'm sure that's consistent.
14:44
That's part of their culture 100 percent.
14:47
Hey, let's face it.
14:48
Your shop management system is the single most important tool in your shop, period.
14:52
Napa Tracks has made selecting the right shop management system easy
14:56
by offering the industry's best, most comprehensive SMS.
15:00
Now, it all starts when a local representative meets with you
15:03
to learn about your business and how you need to run it.
15:06
After all, it's your shop, so it's your choice.
15:09
And having local representation is a huge plus.
15:12
Customizing tracks to your business, whether you're a one person shop
15:15
or a large multi-bay or multi-location company,
15:19
a representative consults with you to help optimize your shop's workflow,
15:23
efficiency and profitability.
15:25
Tracks always has the flexibility to do business how you need to do it,
15:30
which means it can also grow as your business grows.
15:33
And unlike the other guys will be there for you
15:35
after installation with the best training and support in the business.
15:39
Yes, a learning management system tailored to each role in your company.
15:45
Simply put, tracks was designed and built for shop owners just like you.
15:50
Visit us on the web at Napa Tracks.
15:52
That's N-A-P-A-T-R-A-C-S dot com.
15:58
Strengthen your shop's entire team with today's class.
16:01
Everyone from technicians to service
16:03
advisors can access impactful training on their phones in just five minutes a day.
16:08
Opt for solo sessions or ignite friendly competition,
16:11
challenging team members to climb the leaderboard for the highest score.
16:14
Our effective daily training ensures measurable progress,
16:18
helping you develop your team.
16:21
Train smarter, not harder with today's class and transform your shop and your people.
16:26
Start seeing results today at today's class.com.
16:33
Shop owners, we know you are overwhelmed with a flood of missed calls,
16:37
empty bays and disconnected marketing tools.
16:40
Kukui has spent over a decade building one integrated platform for auto repair shops,
16:45
one login, one dashboard and mobile first websites that convert four times industry average.
16:52
Smart, innovative CRM with automated follow up, 24 seven online booking and real time ROI tracking.
16:59
With 900 plus years of combined team experience,
17:03
we feel the growth of 2,200 plus shops and have influenced three billion dollars in revenue.
17:08
Stop working harder, start working smarter,
17:11
get industry leading customer support and book a demo with Kukui, that's kukui.com.
17:17
You know, most shop owners feel trapped spending on ads while half their first
17:21
time customers never come back, it's frustrating, it's exhausting and it's not your fault.
17:28
The industry average is 54% and one and done, we understand how discouraging that can be.
17:33
Well, pit crew loyalty changes the story.
17:36
Our clients cut that rate by up to 38% raising lifetime value by more than 50%.
17:42
Loyalty members visit nearly three times more often creating predictable revenue without extra
17:48
ad spend. Pit crew loyalty where customers stay and shops thrive. On the web at pitcrewloyalty.com.
17:56
Megan, percentage of new business that comes in from the website versus word of mouth.
18:03
I don't know, of course you're going to ask hard questions.
18:06
Wait a minute, you are so good on your feet, I have to tell you.
18:09
50%, I honestly don't know, I would ask Dan.
18:12
How about guests, what's your feel for that?
18:15
When we get new customers, they come from Google and the way Dan and I talk about Google,
18:20
they're all combined because I just take whatever Dan does and put it in a basket.
18:26
One of the things about me is I'm good at like a lot of things, okay?
18:29
But SEO and websites and tracking what the heck Google is doing today, that's Dan.
18:37
And I think part of running a successful shop is knowing when to put the right people in place
18:43
to help. And my parents did a great job with that when they met Dan.
18:46
And I'm very thankful he's a fantastic partner to work with.
18:49
But that's where our customers come from, Google and the website and online.
18:54
Makes a lot of sense, Dan, and Google and the website.
18:59
So let's walk through this for anyone who is not really getting the vibe of how Google and
19:05
the website and everything works together, auto repair near me, it comes up.
19:09
And if you're investing in Google and you're paying attention to it,
19:11
and maybe you're doing some Google ads, you're trying to get up top.
19:14
Are they just clicking on call how much?
19:17
Or are they actually then visiting the website, Dan?
19:19
We know that most people that are coming to you are starting with their cell phone and
19:25
they're going to do some kind of search. It'll be either the browser on their phone,
19:29
or they'll use an app like a Google app or an Apple Maps app.
19:33
And they're going to be looking for local businesses.
19:36
Those search engines have profiled your business in a way that helps people make decisions about
19:42
whether they're going to call you. It has pictures, it has your reviews,
19:46
it has other information in there that's helpful to them.
19:49
And they're shopping, they're researching, that's their research.
19:52
And it's all there and they can compare, people love to compare so they can compare your shop
19:57
with other shops. And they usually go with high performers, lots of reviews, been in business
20:03
for a while, really nice pictures, those are all influencers.
20:08
But if somebody doesn't know your brand and they're kind of shopping,
20:11
they are going to go to your website. From Google Maps, as an example,
20:15
Google will track that, it'll show you how many people leave Google's search engine to come to
20:20
your website. And when that happens, that's a good indication, those people don't know your brand
20:26
and they're on the edge of calling you, they just need a little bit more of a sense of like,
20:31
this is the right place to call. I just saw a study about this, I'm just going to put it out
20:36
there because I think this is just validates like how important all of these pieces are together.
20:41
And that is the set. Somebody took 100 cell phones and they put in a shop's address
20:48
into it and they put all the phones in their car and they drove to the shop.
20:54
Now, nobody's going to do this except somebody that just doesn't have any time and is just curious
20:58
about what happens. And the very next day, that shop ranked number one for auto repair near me.
21:06
And so the feedback is that Google is watching how many people go from search engine to your
21:12
website because that's a high level of engagement and likely to become a customer.
21:18
It's really, really important to know like they're coming to you on a mobile phone,
21:22
they're going to do different search platforms and if they come to your website
21:26
and you see those numbers month by month by month consistently improving then you know,
21:31
hey, we're on to something here. We're getting more and more leads every single month
21:36
and Google is ranking us better because they are coming from searching into our website.
21:42
Is that crazy? No, it's scary. It's not crazy. It's scary. It's scary first. It's crazy second.
21:49
My wife and I can have a casual conversation at dinner and then all of a sudden you're scrolling
21:56
and something comes up that we discussed. I don't know how that works,
22:02
but it goes back to the big brother theory. You know, that's too much for right now.
22:08
It is. Oh, all right. This idea of privacy has been gone for a long time, I think. Oh,
22:14
jeez, I know. Dan, you had sent me a talking point. Studies indicate that 70% of all callers
22:19
to local businesses have already decided on doing business with whom they call. Do our service
22:26
advisors, our owners, this person wants us and so let's do everything that we can not to let
22:33
something get in the way, right, Megan? Absolutely. Yeah, that's why we have ongoing training in our
22:40
shop for service advisors, for our customer service scale. I still have training because we
22:46
want to make sure that everything that Irvine says and does matches. So from Google, the website,
22:52
when they call, they are getting the same people, the same experience that we are putting out there
22:58
so that customers feel comfortable when they get to us and they know what to expect. So a calm
23:04
environment when they see the pictures of our website, they get someone competent on the phone,
23:09
a smiling face and a cup of coffee, and then when they get to the service advisor,
23:13
someone else who knows what they're talking about and gets all the pictures with their
23:18
work order and when they pick up their car, it's clean, it's a calm experience. So from start to
23:23
finish, we are showing people that we are just consistent and we are the people that can take
23:29
care of them best. It's all about having a good process in place that's consistent. It's like
23:36
any other kind of like thing that you want to do. When those are solid, then you have better
23:41
performance. But the other thing about that calm is think about when I talk to most shops,
23:47
most of them tell me that their conversion rate for new customers is, they'll say 45, 50%, some
23:54
will say 60%, but 70% represents a thousand people than the shops telling you they only converted
24:01
500 of them. That means people that were ready to do business with you, half of them got chased away.
24:08
That's the world that I live in. And I don't understand necessarily what those elements are
24:15
except process and systems that the shops using that devaluate any kind of trust that's been
24:24
built up to the phone call. I like their shop and they've got great reviews and they're close to me
24:30
and I want to go to them. So that's the essence of that phone call and then for some reason it
24:36
breaks down and I think that's a big part of it is because the processes internally are chasing
24:42
people away. Hey Dan, I want to throw something at you. That's a real wild thought. I'm going to go
24:48
left here for a quick moment. I wrote a blog yesterday in my email, my weekly email, to change
24:56
from the word processes to protocol. So think about this. What's our protocol on not losing
25:01
customers, not what our process is because I think process is laboring. It's got all these steps to
25:07
it and the protocol would be almost hovering over all of these different processes but we have
25:13
protocols engaging. We have protocols on bringing clients in and we have protocols when the client
25:20
calls. Yeah, we have a process and it hit me so hard and I looked up the definition of protocol,
25:26
how it's considered in the government and how it so closely integrates with the word process and
25:33
again I've been in this big language shift and my mind is how do we get people to rethink the
25:38
critically important things that have to happen in our industry. Moving on, if we could do a survey
25:44
at our counters, if 70% are ready and we don't convert 70% then we need to do a survey as to
25:53
why we didn't and was it the how much problem that we had in convincing an individual that maybe
26:01
we just can't give you that price on the phone. We really need to see the vehicle because if they
26:05
have that confidence and you choose to let it go then you need to fix it internally. I know that
26:13
goes back to a further education. It may not necessarily be what Dan can do for you but if
26:19
Dan's delivering 70 and your website, your professionalism, your image in the industry,
26:25
how you rank, you can't let what your website and social media and Google's doing for you,
26:32
you cannot waste that money. Right, well and it's not cheap let's be honest and I mean marketing
26:38
is not cheap period but we have to spend somewhere and I think that's what's been great for us with
26:43
Dan in our relationship is he really knows us, he knows our processes, he knows our protocol
26:50
and he knows how we treat people and how we want to be portrayed and so that comes out very clearly
26:56
in all of the marketing that his team does for us. They jumped on board with us and ran with it
27:03
which is fantastic. I love that word protocol because it's easier to wrap your mind around
27:10
like how do I really build this functioning thing and where do I fix things along the way?
27:15
You know things that happened to like I had a shop owner he called me and he basically said
27:20
we're not getting phone calls so he and I listened to phone calls they are getting.
27:24
Little gal with the Prius she's like I don't know what's wrong with my car he says we'll bring
27:29
it by we'll look at it and she's like great I can bring it by right now and then he added
27:34
by the way we have a diagnostic fee and it was like 200 bucks you could just hear her degrade
27:41
she's like oh okay all right sounds good I'll bring it by and the phone call was over
27:48
and I said to the shop owner I says what happened there and he says that's part of their compensation
27:55
so I said well you're getting a really good phone call that was a week that person was going to
28:00
drive their car over in the next five minutes but you lost them with that and so you have to
28:06
decide how important is our protocol and business about how we compensate and how we take care of
28:13
our shop people with the balancing of like how do we get customers in and that was all trust
28:19
isn't that true the whole undercurrent of that was trust he was earning her trust enough she's
28:25
like I'm bringing my car by right now and then he lost it in a moment he put water on the candles
28:31
he just put it out and the owner blamed it on the fact that part of their compensation program
28:37
was to sell this he essentially said part of the compensation of our people is based on whether
28:44
they get diagnostics done so that's an internal thing I don't care if they do that okay yeah
28:50
it shouldn't be part of an introductory meeting with a client you have a chance once they come in
28:55
to say hey by the way we're going to send this into bay four to our technology specialist
28:59
it's going to be a couple hundred bucks yeah get them there or the other thing is like hey we popped
29:05
the hood we're going to have to put some tools on this to really know what's going on and there's
29:09
a little bit to that right so it's just helping them along the way you're standing side by side
29:15
that's trust factor versus oh and by the way bring your wallet because it's 200 bucks before
29:21
we even get started Dan I got to stop you for a moment tools on this this is another great takeaway
29:29
to have an individual be explained not over the phone I think that's the wrong time but once they
29:36
come in and you recognize that you know the wheels like this you know it's 90 degrees in the car
29:43
there's so many things wrong this is we're going to have to get not only eyes on this but tools on
29:48
this I think it's a fabulous phrase I tell that story all the time and the reason I love that story
29:55
is because it illustrates she was ready to go somewhere she was just looking for some validation
30:01
that said they've got my back they're going to help me find out what's going on with my little
30:06
friends and she was looking for who's got my back not my wallet yes exactly but I think we can learn
30:13
a lot from that Megan is AI factoring in what you and Dan are doing together and are you paying
30:20
attention to it well I mean I asked you at GPT all the time about the best shops around it knows me
30:26
well enough to tell me that Irvine's is fantastic watch it a buy the premium version yes well I
30:32
already have it it already knows me but you know I asked Dan like what do I need to do on here and
30:37
that's he doesn't even explain it all to me which I think is lovely that's probably not a great idea
30:42
for everybody we've been working with Dan for a long time so when we started off it was just SEO
30:47
and then Google and then our website so like we have evolved this relationship over five or so years
30:54
so we have a lot of trust and I'm like Dan just do it figure it out so as far as AI goes we have
31:00
not had people say like I looked it up on chat GPT and I think this is what's wrong with my car
31:06
there are people finding us using AI so Dan has given me some hints about like where we need to
31:13
make sure that we're you know responding to reviews and making blog posts and other things so that the
31:22
AI computer things that use all the water in the world are pulling information from so we have been
31:29
working on that but as far as like dealing with them with customers and diagnosing their own cars
31:35
thankfully we haven't really dealt with that yet most of our customers are just like take my car and
31:41
and deal with it please kind of like me and Dan you know that's a very very smart I love so many
31:50
things you said but I let Dan do his thing and my clients let me do my thing and with that confidence
31:59
that you have in your partners and your clients that are going to become loyal if you will clients or
32:05
slash not necessarily partners but you're looking to build that they want to trust in you and you've
32:10
got the trust in Dan I mean that's how business should be done period no one's an expert in anything
32:15
that's why we have people helping us well and I got myself in the shop into some really hot water
32:21
a few years ago like I'm surprised I didn't get fired well mom and dad were sitting in the corner
32:26
wondering who was going to fire you and they couldn't make the decision I do work with my parents
32:31
that we have a really great relationship but I changed the name on Google to Irvine's auto repair
32:39
and Grand Rapids I did something with our name on Google and they shut down our entire account
32:45
like they just shut it off and I called Dan freaking out and it took about a month I think but
32:53
when all of your customers come from the internet and you all of a sudden don't have a Google page
32:59
you could see the dip I mean if Dan pulled it up it was October
33:04
no maybe 2021 or 2022 like you could see a dip in our business and it came directly from the
33:11
fact that I had Google turned off and thankfully Dan has people and he has contacts and it came
33:17
back and nothing was deleted my mom has been building our Google presence since very early 2000s
33:24
it has been great to have a partner that it has other contacts that can say hey um
33:29
she just tried to change the name and it wasn't a good idea Dan's now like don't change the name
33:35
don't do anything so I don't touch the Google anymore which is fair I am grounded from the
33:41
Google and I did not get fired but he is the expert on things and he has ideas and plans and
33:47
yes it's fantastic yeah we all have those kind of crazy experiences that's for sure but AI is
33:53
going to play a bigger bigger role in how people shop and research because it's so easy and AI is
34:01
a great place it'll do all the work for you and it just pulls mammoth amount of data and then
34:06
it personalizes it around you because it becomes more and more aware of like who you are and what
34:11
you like it'll know like you're driving a Ford truck and it'll have recommendations based on that
34:17
and the crazy thing is when I see like in a model like Chad GBT it will recommend one or two shops
34:26
mind you no reviews it'll just say these two shops are recognized as the best two shops that
34:33
service Ford pickups or whatever it is you're looking at and I believe that's really where
34:39
it's going like it's going to become more and more like that it's going to have high influence over
34:44
people then they call then we're talking about a different story so the strategies between AI and
34:52
Google search are going to be different Dan and AI is going to look at a different level of content
34:59
or web presence or reviews or stars versus Google's almost it's almost like Google has
35:06
been around so long it's like this you know got these bookends here and but but Google does change
35:12
their stuff occasionally right just to make it interesting they probably change two or three
35:16
times every single day that's definitely happening but this idea of the retro like the old ties and
35:22
the new ties and it's all coming back you know content used to be really important on your website
35:27
because people went to your website and read it but today they don't do that and they're still not
35:33
doing that they're not going to do that in the future but they will use AI and AI will race to
35:38
your website and read it and it's looking for information to bring back to that highly personalized
35:44
highly influential situation where they're going to influence people related to auto repair so
35:51
content is more important than ever on your website and as we learn more about how AI is
35:58
functioning we're changing content strategy to help our clients rank better in AI because we
36:05
understand better what AI is looking for to help their customer which is that user doing prompts
36:13
so what was out the door is now back and it's a biggest play in you know our modern day-to-day
36:19
and like right now really solid content that establishes trust and transparency that's on
36:26
your website not because people will come to your website and read it but because AI will grab it
36:32
and put it on a silver platter and serve it up to somebody that you don't know and that's all they
36:38
need for them to call and they're going to call you that's this new place we're going.
36:43
We were at Apex Dan Vance from Shop Dog Marketing and we did an episode together
36:48
and I want to tell everyone it's been released it's episode 1071 Remarkable Results the title
36:55
of it you're going to love this when customers ask artificial intelligence first what shop owners
37:00
need to know I had a blast listening to you in the studio and it's a great episode I think this
37:06
lived for a long time to have people understand where AI now fits and then Dan what's next after
37:13
that well I don't know but it's going to be fun I know that and we'll adapt we'll make changes
37:20
and we still have we have you know from the level of the shop owner you know the things that you're
37:25
doing are still as important as ever like you still have to fix those cars you have to use the
37:30
right parts remember that you're not in the auto repair business you're in the people business
37:35
you got to learn how to love on people and help them and they don't always have great days and
37:40
but you've got to be the one that's solid and as long as I think shops kind of can stay focused on
37:46
that they're going to be fine with whatever the changes are having the right people around you
37:52
to help you navigate the stuff that you can't I have learned so much I think we had a blast
37:57
kind of conceptualizing all of this stuff and Dan I know you've got this thing knocked down
38:02
I mean this is you you live it every day and you know having a client like Megan who's you know
38:08
willing to just walk down that aisle with you except she may make a mistake or three one
38:15
one big one one really really big one I was thinking about getting fired thing but if
38:20
as long as I didn't disown you I guess you could have gotten fired yeah it's fine I've got enough
38:24
friends in the industry now I think I could find something else it wouldn't be nearly as fun but
38:29
you know I think it'll be okay I hope something to do is there any final word that you would
38:38
love to bring up I think with all marketing if we look at it very broadly it's going to keep
38:44
changing it will always change we found something that works for us and we know the things that
38:49
don't for us physical mailers do not work not for new customers not for people who have been here and
38:55
then like 90 days nine months out those do not work for us our customers find us online
39:02
so knowing what works and the best way to get to them is online and having someone in our corner
39:10
that can help us do that the right way is absolutely key for us so I am so thankful that my parents
39:16
met Dan and started the relationship so that you know we could move into the future and
39:21
keep people coming to us in a world that is changing constantly that I can't keep up with
39:27
it's a full-time job to keep up with what's happening in marketing so great point Megan
39:32
so everyone we were waiting for Dan to give us his final words but it's been 10 years I've been
39:38
doing this and this may be only the second time that one of my guests lost power but we sat down
39:45
and said how could we get Dan back on to have his last words and we've got him on the phone Dan
39:50
your last word oh thank you I know how to make an exit how about that yeah for sure I hope people
39:58
are encouraged and excited about what they have heard today because it's a good balance between
40:04
the relationship you should have with your agency and kind of where the marketplace is going that
40:10
the internet still is important as ever regardless of what you hear people talking about and it's
40:16
going to influence that your business you have to stay consistent on that I love talking to people
40:22
I'd love to meet you please always feel free to reach out to me I'm easy to get a hold of just
40:27
look at our website but just from my standpoint is that hopefully this has been a great experience
40:33
for you and that you're encouraged rather than discouraged there's great days ahead even better
40:40
than we've had I really really do believe that that's a great wrap up Dan thank you so much Dan
40:45
Vance CEO founder of advanced local marketing that grows businesses at shop dog marketing
40:51
Megan Dinoff Irvine's auto repair and Grand Rapids hybrids and EV Irvines.com
40:59
fun parents you guys got a great business Dan thanks for being here and we'll see you next time
41:06
thanks for being on board to listen and learn from the premier automotive repair business podcast
41:11
remarkable results radio get your episodic education on the ARPN listening app at automotive
41:17
repair podcast network.com also enjoy the podcast on our Carm Capriato youtube channel
41:23
Carm is all for advancing the professional automotive service industry until next time