SEPTEMBER 2023 AFTERMARKET 21 eye opener. There followed lots of catching up. I was travelling up and down the country meeting everyone, attending course after course, cramming it all in. Many sleepless nights but we’re now in a good place because of it. Do you specialise in DPFs? Yes, because we have a wealth of knowledge, but we offer other services; OEM servicing, MOTs, general repairs, and maintenance along with diagnostic fault finding and tuning with Avon. Where is the business now? Our business has never been so successful. I’m happy with every member of my team. I couldn’t have turned the business around without them. The challenge now is to keep everyone involved and updated with where the business is going and the part they can play. I’ve learned not to stand still, never to take my eye off the prize; not to become complacent and accept second best. I set goals, even if they’re low to start with knowing I can change them and push myself that bit further. Your highlights so far? Firstly, it was proving to myself that the motor trade was not ruined as Dad used to say! I wouldn’t have attained this success without meeting great people who’ve helped to guide me and show me how to do it. They’ve given me self-belief and the confidence to achieve my goals even when I thought it wasn’t possible. If anyone told me seven years ago I’d have three units with nine staff, and I would be giving a presentation at the NEC I would’ve said you’re confusing me with someone else! Tell us about your team It was just me and Dad when Laura our service manager started. We’d just had a new garage management system installed – Garage Hive. She understood it immediately and managed the booking process perfectly. After attending a John Batten course, she came back with the ethos of book less but have more work. Booking less per technician allows us to find the faults in the vehicle and it gives us the time to get the jobs repaired. Laura keeps an eye on everything. She sets the budgets, makes sure the right person is getting the right jobs and manages our customers flawlessly, and more. On my Dad, Ewan, what can I say? Without him I wouldn’t have a garage so it’s all his fault. You can teach an old dog new tricks. James, our Master Tech, has been with us for 18 months. His attitude is brilliant and his work ethic is fantastic. Then there is Liam, who has just finished his apprenticeship. He’s a great worker, knows he has lots to learn but has the skills to succeed. He was in the final of Apprentice of the Year a few years ago. Amanda is our front of house. She uses her skills in customer care from the hospitality industry and ensures our customers are very well looked after. Lastly, there is our new tech, Tony, who only recently finished his first week with us and is fitting in well. He appreciates the commitment we make to regular team training. What sort of leader are you? Tough one to answer. I’m very self-aware. I like to think I’m laid back on the surface making sure everyone has the belief and confidence in me to make the right decisions. Underneath I’m juggling a thousand things. Who has inspired you in your career? I’ve met many great people on my travels. But there is one person that changed me from being a person that would stress about jobs and shout at the slightest problem. And that is Gareth from Avon Tuning. The way he managed a big problem when I was visiting him really stuck with me. He was so cool, calm and collected. How are you growing in a tough economy? Using another of the Garage Hive tools, we can see our workshop is successfully sustaining a good average spend. We check over every car that comes into our workshop. If it comes in for new brakes, for example, we don’t just do the brakes and send it out. We give the car a full health check with a report and photos. If the customer doesn’t want further work there’s no hard sell, but we’re letting them know about upcoming problems. They can make the decision to get it done while the car is with us or even budget for the work over the coming months. We know that times are tough so a heads-up on future workshop costs are good for customers and their feedback shows it is appreciated. We’ve had vehicles in with costly faults and again we health check the full car which could lead to the customer deciding it’s not worth repairing. If it needs a £2,500 DPF fitted now but another £2,000 worth of repairs to put it through the MOT, is it worth fixing? The customer decides. What are you enjoying most about your business? I don’t see it as a chore anymore. It’s enjoyable getting up in the morning knowing what needs to be done and knowing I have good people I can do it with. You can contact Barry at: barry_lawson@me.com To find out more about JLM Lubricants products visit www.jlmlubricants.com www.aftermarketonline.net
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