The Gearbox Podcast

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
Welcome to the Gearbox podcast. I'm your host, Jimmy Purdy. On this podcast, we're not just exploring the latest trends and technologies in the automotive industry. We're also getting real about the journey. Yes, the bumpy road of mistakes and lessons learned hard along the way. This is the Gearbox podcast. Sorry you're a late night party animal. Anyway.

Greg Rainville [00:00:36]:
Yeah, we're good.

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:37]:
You're good with being out late?

Greg Rainville [00:00:39]:
Yeah. Go see our buddy.

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:42]:
Oh, man. Can we talk about that? Is that our. Can we.

Greg Rainville [00:00:45]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, the rap video we were in.

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:50]:
I've never experienced something like that in my life. Ogden, Utah. Was that south? Ogden, Utah?

Greg Rainville [00:00:56]:
I don't know if it was south or north. I know it was in Ogden. His name is. The bar owner's name is Jorge. Okay, and funny story. I was in Ogden a month before doing training with Mobile one, and for some reason, we were in Ogden. And when I got there, I was like, I think I have to come back here in another month for the Mars the institute trade show. My buddy's like, you get to come back to Ogden again.

Greg Rainville [00:01:25]:
I was like, yeah. I go, this place is great. But, yeah, me and a couple of guys from mobile one, we're trying to find a place to go get some food and drinks, and Ogden is pretty strict. You can't go into a bar and just get a drink. Like, you have to order food. So we're like, all right, this is fine. And then everything kind of shuts down early at, like, ten 3011. And this was probably, like, a Wednesday night.

Greg Rainville [00:01:49]:
And then I just started googling on my phone, like, bar near me, or, like, I don't know, I probably put a dive bar or something like that. And then all of a sudden, this place just popped up. It was kind of, like, on the outskirts of the city, up that hill. And I was like, this place seems kind of interesting, just looking at the pictures and reading the reviews. And then we walk in, we get patted down, and we had a good time, and I told my buddy, I go. When I come back here, um, next month, I go, I go, I think I'm gonna start bringing some people over here. Cause I was like, this is kind of a fun, interesting place in Ogden. And there you go.

Greg Rainville [00:02:26]:
A month later, Jimmy, you're in there with a couple other shop owners, and we're in a rap video.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:32]:
Was that. Was that the first time you went? They were. They had that going on?

Greg Rainville [00:02:36]:
No, the first time. Well, that owner who always gets on the microphone and sings like he did that the first night I was there, and I was like, this is, this is pretty interesting, but we were playing darts, and the night, the night got pretty wild for Ogden. Um, but then we flew in Wednesday night for the institute, and I took my, I was actually with my boss and with, um, James, who I work with. And I was like, we were still kind of, we were just kind of awake. I was like, did you guys want to go check out this place? Uh, Jorge's bar, whatever it's called? And they were like, they're like, yeah, let's go. And we, they went in there. I brought them in, and they were like, what is this place? And I. I don't know.

Greg Rainville [00:03:14]:
We went there three nights in a row, and luckily you were there on the, on the, on the third night. I mean, anything goes, you know?

Jimmy Purdy [00:03:22]:
That had been the big blowout, I guess, for three nights in a row. That's crazy. The full on rap video, man, is like, social media content will make and what, you know, it was all about marketing, right? The Mars event, right? So I was like, I learned more that night about marketing than I think I did it. I'm like, that is how you socially, you know, do a little social marketing for yourself. You know, the social media is like, that was crazy. Everyone's got phones out. It was like, oh, man.

Greg Rainville [00:03:55]:
You see it, like, they were, like, hitting it from, like, so many different angles and stuff with, like, six different phones. I had my phone going, I think you had your phone going? And I think we were trading videos, like, the following week. I was like, oh, that's, that's a pretty good angle. They're like, dancing on chairs, like, oh.

Jimmy Purdy [00:04:10]:
Man, you gotta self promote, you know? I think that's right. At night, you gotta be better self promoter, no matter how. I don't know how cringe it is. Is cringe still a work? Yeah, I guess you had to be there to truly, truly, truly appreciate the scene.

Greg Rainville [00:04:30]:
Yeah, I wish I remember what the name of the bar was. I just remember the owner's name and just how, like, I guess, eccentric he was. And he remembered us every night and he took good care of us. I don't know, like, I'll go back.

Jimmy Purdy [00:04:44]:
Yeah.

Greg Rainville [00:04:45]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:04:46]:
It wasn't a bad time. It was a definite a culture shock to give you. That was definitely something like that goes down in Ogden, Utah, so.

Greg Rainville [00:04:55]:
Yep. And I'll say that was the wildest night. The other nights were kind of just shooting darts, listening to music, like, and I think that was a Friday night, so it kind of makes sense that that was probably more wild night.

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:07]:
I can't remember the name of the local artists that were there, but I. Yeah, it was all.

Greg Rainville [00:05:15]:
I'm sure they have some really cool names.

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:17]:
They probably did. I can't remember what the name of the. But, uh. Shows. It shows. Say that you got to get out and about, though. That's the nice thing about traveling, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:05:26]:
Yep.

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:27]:
Especially, I mean, with your job, too, right? I'm sure you see a lot of that stuff. A lot of the. The soft underbelly of the United States of America.

Greg Rainville [00:05:35]:
Yeah. My. My friends are always like, oh, and even my wife, she's like, it's so cool you get to go travel. And I'm like, I go to, like, the most randomest cities. You know, I'll be in Wichita, or I'm going to Kansas City for vision, but, you know, I land there, and then, you know, you drive 45 minutes an hour south from the airport to Oakland park, which is just, like, just a big. Have you been to vision? It's just like. It's literally just a business park all around you. You have to, like, uber to go to, like, any restaurant or anything.

Jimmy Purdy [00:06:13]:
That's how most of them are, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:06:15]:
Yeah, yeah. It's not. Yeah. And the other thing, too. It's like, even if we go somewhere nice, you're kind of still just stuck in a hotel for, like, two or three days, you know? Like, you're not really seeing some sunlight.

Jimmy Purdy [00:06:28]:
Yeah, yeah. We were talking before we jumped on same things. Like, I was in Boston last week, you know, and that sounds cool, but, yeah, we actually drove an hour south to Providence and then another 30 minutes into Seekonk, and that's where we spent a lot of the time, you know, and had to drive back to. And stayed in Providence in the hotel most time. But, yeah, we're inside of a hotel for three days, basically, and you go out at night, you know, and it's like, oh, yeah, this is cool. But, I mean, if you had to, like, pick a point on. In the map, would Providence, Rhode island, be one of the top ten? I don't know.

Greg Rainville [00:06:59]:
Yeah, it seems like you had a good, good time in Boston, though. A couple days.

Jimmy Purdy [00:07:04]:
I mean, that's the thing. Like, I think you have, like, your highlights of, like, places you want to go or, like. Right, your bucket list. But I think anywhere you go, if you want to have a good time, you'll have a good time. I mean, it just goes to show the bar you found. I mean, if you found that in all, man, it's like, you can find a good place anywhere, I guess.

Greg Rainville [00:07:23]:
Yeah, I think I'm kind of known for that, too. Like, amongst some of the people in the industry. Like, like, great. They call me double g. They're like, he can. He can go find a good time somewhere. You know, there are, like, pockets of people. It's funny, even on our side, on the vendor side, where, you know, the people that that can.

Greg Rainville [00:07:43]:
That can. That can, you know, have a good time and even show up the next day and do a good job and not even look like they were out kind of partying. I think it was. Yeah, yeah. That's the thing. I think my mom used to say, if you're gonna. If you're gonna soar with the. No, if you're gonna hoot with the owls, you gotta soar with the Eagles.

Greg Rainville [00:07:59]:
And I try to kinda try to go by that, but, like, there there are some some other people in the industry, um, especially, like, the 360 payment crowd. Like, they. They're known for throwing a party at at apex Sema, but but whenever I'm at a trade show with them, for some reason, I always end up kind of with them, and then there's always a good time to follow.

Jimmy Purdy [00:08:18]:
So that's the crowd to follow. Yeah, that's why I got to meet up with what I'm in apex this year for sure.

Greg Rainville [00:08:24]:
Yeah, yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:08:27]:
Especially in Vegas, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:08:28]:
Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, it's good, though, because, yeah, like I said, I have seen tons of the country, which is good. Like like, I grew up here in New England, and I lived in California for a little bit when I was little. But, like, this job and, like, going to all these trade shows and and even just doing, like, market blitzes that we do with, like, our partners, advanced auto parts, Mobil one brings me to the most strangest areas of the country. And I've kind of. I've kind of seen it all over the last three to four years, which is, which is fun.

Jimmy Purdy [00:09:00]:
Yeah, that is fun. Well, speaking of traveling the country, what is it that you do when you travel around? Yeah, let's get to that, huh?

Greg Rainville [00:09:07]:
Yeah. Yeah. So so with my role, I work really close with, like, our partnerships. So, going back to how. If you want to hear how, like, mechanic advisor kind of started, it's actually kind of an interesting, interesting.

Jimmy Purdy [00:09:22]:
That's what we're here for, Greg.

Greg Rainville [00:09:23]:
That's what. That's what we're here for right now. Okay. Yeah. So so my my friends, Parker, who's our CEO founder, he actually, I met him in 2006, I was out of college as a telecom sales rep. So I was selling telephones, like, literally phones to, like, businesses. I was going to. I was going to door to door in Boston like a vacuum salesman, pretty much.

Greg Rainville [00:09:50]:
Pretty much. And he and Parker, the founder of Mechanic advisor, now steer, he sold phone service. So, like, phone lines. So I don't know if you remember before, like, voiceover ip, it was like, they called him Paul pots. Plain old telephone lines or. And then they had, like, t one s where, like, if you, if you wanted some sort of Internet connection, it was like 500, $600 a month for, like, a t one to get brought into your building. So it was all like, hard wires and hard phones and stuff like that. So I sold the hardware, he sold the phone service.

Greg Rainville [00:10:22]:
I actually really liked my job. I didn't think I was going to do sales getting out of college, but, like, literally, I liked going kind of door to door and just talking to people about their business and just talking to small, medium sized businesses owner. So, like, I enjoyed that. He hated his job, and he was just trying to find anything he could do outside of what he was doing selling telephone service. So he just started buying, like, websites. So he bought, like, weatherman.com. tripadvisor was really popular, or, like, was a local company in Boston. So he bought mechanic advisor, and then he also bought some, like, gambling websites and stuff like that.

Greg Rainville [00:11:03]:
But him and one of our silent partners, Bob, who was actually my roommate at the time, they just started kind of coming together with all, like, these different ideas and see what would stick. But one of the things that they thought was going to stick was mechanic advisor. So they were explaining it to me. They're like, listen, they're like, tripadvisor's kind of taken off. So we got a great domain name and mechanic advisor. Everyone's using Yelp right now for, like, food and restaurant. And he was like, I had a really good experience with the repair shop here in Massachusetts, and I had a really bad experience. He goes, there's no place to really talk about that.

Greg Rainville [00:11:42]:
He goes, I could probably go to Yelp. He goes, but it'd be nice if we could actually build a website where people can talk about good experience, bad experiences. And then he talked to someone. He talked, like, a local business who was, like, in the yellow pages. So, like, the big thicken thick yellow pages. Like, how much are you paying to be in the yellow pages? And he was like, I'm paying, like, 400 $500 a month just to be in the yellow pages. So light bulb went off. He was like, we should create a digital directory, and then we'll charge shops just for, like, exposure, and the directory will build traffic to it.

Greg Rainville [00:12:15]:
So I looked at him. I was like, all right, good luck, guys. And I kind of was like, I'm happy with my job. I was like, I can't believe these guys are doing that. Fast forward five years later. Um, he built up, and I. And he's, he's a really smart person. Like, he's really got that entrepreneurial spirit.

Greg Rainville [00:12:31]:
Um, he went and just learned SEO and, like, how to, like, rank on Google. And all of a sudden, I saw him and he was like, yeah. He goes, he goes, my. He goes, mechanic advisor. He goes, how I built it. He goes, we have, like, a million visitors a month coming to the website to, like, look. Look at the directory. I didn't believe him.

Greg Rainville [00:12:49]:
And then all of a sudden, I. I went over to his house one day, and he pulled up this page, and I could see a map of the United States just pinging as people were hitting the website. And I was like, oh, my God, this is really happening. Then he was like, yeah, we have this inbox of all these leads of repair shops that want to advertise on mechanic advisor. At that time, I was a pharmaceutical sales rep, so I moved from telecom to pharmaceutical sales. I did not, like, working at, like, a big company. I worked at Eli Lilly, which is like a big Fortune 500 company, big pharmaceutical company. I knew I kind of wanted to get out and get back to kind of small, medium sized business sales and really kind of fill my impact with my sale instead of just kind of being a number.

Greg Rainville [00:13:37]:
Yeah, yeah. So I was looking and I told him. I was like, listen, I was like, let me, let me test out. These are, these leads. I didn't really know what I was selling. I just knew I was kind of just selling, like, top position on mechanicadvisor.com. and I started calling some of them, and I got credit cards, like, and I didn't know what to do with them. I remember I AOL instant messaged Parker, and I was like, I was like, I was like, hey, man.

Greg Rainville [00:14:05]:
I was like, I got this credit card. I was like, I don't know what to do with it. And he was like, it looks like we need to set up PayPal. So he set up the PayPal account, and then I quit my job. Literally, like, six months later. I put an ad on Craigslist, got my first sales rep, and that's literally how mechanic advisor was born. Fast forward five, six years later. Parker, I think, was kind of tired of keeping up with Google, with the mechanic advisor director, and wanted to go more the software route.

Greg Rainville [00:14:35]:
So he started looking at, like, okay, how can we turn these repair shop customers that we have paying for advertising into software customers? So he first came out with telematics. So he literally found some guy, and like, this is so, like, such, like a Parker thing. He found some guy that literally had a device that they, they put in their cars while they were, like, racing cars on a racetrack that, like, I guess it had some OBd two function where it detected check engine lights, but it also would, like, tell you speeds and stuff like this, so it would record the vehicle while it raced. He bought the device and then branded it mechanic advisor and was like, we're going to be a telematics company. He's like, he's like, we're going to go out and sell these devices to our repair shops and, yeah, the shops.

Jimmy Purdy [00:15:27]:
Going to know when they track their customers.

Greg Rainville [00:15:30]:
Yes. Yeah, so great idea. So literally, I was like, okay, let's go out and start talking to shops about it. So the shops were, like, super excited about, this is like 2015, 2016, when telematics was a huge buzzword in the industry. So we went in and started talking about telematics, and the shops were like, this is fantastic. This is something that we definitely need. It's a great customer retention tool. All of a sudden, we're like, okay, so let's start thinking about customer retention.

Greg Rainville [00:15:59]:
And then with that, we had to build a communication platform to let basically the customer in the shop know, hey, your check engine light came on back and forth and, like, you need to come in, schedule appointments. So we started kind of building the mechanic advisor software from there, and then the devices failed. We had one shop that we connected, like, 100 devices. I think we even flew out to California to connect the devices. And because they were just, like, bluetooth enabled and they didn't actually go through, like, any self cell phone towers, we literally saw, like, a shop that was connected to 100 devices, like, within a week go down to, like, 40, and then, like, two weeks out, like, we were probably connected to, like, ten devices. But luckily, a lot of the shops that we talked to or were working with, like, the group of shops, they were like, you have something. Here they go. We really like your texting platform.

Greg Rainville [00:16:55]:
So from there, we pivoted to where we then started building the mechanic advisor CRM, where this is like, 2016, 2017, um, where I think we were probably one of the first out of maybe like two or three, like, software programs that could, that could text customers, uh, for repair shops. So. So we started building on all the integrations with automated.

Jimmy Purdy [00:17:16]:
Automated texting, I guess, right?

Greg Rainville [00:17:18]:
Yeah, yeah, automated texting and just, just two way texting. Um, but it was pretty, like, revolutionary at the time. Like, like, I think, well, at least for repair shop owners, a lot of them were like, my customers don't. I don't want to be texted. I remember they said, so my customers don't want to be texted. So it was kind of an uphill battle, selling texting to customers to text communication.

Jimmy Purdy [00:17:41]:
It still is in 2024. You know, that's ever going to go away.

Greg Rainville [00:17:46]:
But, yeah, no, it was tough, but we just kind of grew from there, which was good. And then once the pandemic hit in 2021 or 2020. I'm sorry, all the shops wanted to text their customers, so basically they wanted to be able to let them know, hey, we're open, or these are our new procedures. So we saw our customer base of CRM customers that were using our texting platform go from literally like 200 to almost a thousand over a year. So then I, and again, I'm in the background having this sales team sell a bunch of different products as we pivoted, like two, three times. So we're like, okay, this is going to be the product. But then we partnered with advanced auto parts and then most recently partnered with Mobile one. So basically, getting back to your original question, five minutes ago, me traveling across the country, really, my job's been rolling out these programs or these partnerships.

Greg Rainville [00:18:50]:
So a lot of it requires me going to different states to train advanced reps. And right now I'm actually training distributors for mobile one on how to talk about, like, this technology. So, like, two weeks ago, I was, like, in St. Louis, and it's almost kind of like speed dating sometimes with, with some of these distributors or cams, it's like they just, you show up, you hop in their car, and then they just start bringing you into shops, and then you're talking to all different types of shop owners across the country. So, like, I've, I've been to, I don't know, almost every state I've driven out, I've typically on a day, I'll go visit, like, 1012 shops, but, like, six or seven of them, like, they're on paper and pen. It's very challenging.

Jimmy Purdy [00:19:39]:
Yeah, you were telling me about that. It's just. And, yeah, I mean, your job, you, you get probably the best view or one of the best views someone in your position, Elise, of, like, what's really what the state of the union is, right. Is when it comes to auto repair shops, right. Because we all sit in kind of a little bubble in our little pocket, right? Like, you find like minded shop owners, technicians. Find like minded technicians, right? Like it. You always just kind of end up finding someone that's like minded like you, and you find your little comfort zone, your little bubble, and that's it, right? And until you try to challenge yourself to be a better technician, all of a sudden you, now you're around, you know, master certified technicians, because now you're master tech and you're like, hey, I want to see what these. So, and then with shop owners, like, you start elevating your shop and you start hanging out with better shop owners and, and you're like, oh, everybody does it like this because you just kind of put your blinders on.

Jimmy Purdy [00:20:28]:
And I kind of, I kind of hope that everyone has their priorities at a certain level, or they, you know, they're paying attention to the things they should. But you really forget that there's a lot of shops that are starting out today, like, right now, and they don't know what they don't know, and they want to do good. And then you got the other ones that starting out right now, and they don't care as long as there's cash in this for, in their front pocket, they're doing their job. Right. And, and every color in between, right? And I remember you telling me about the different shops you see going around the country, and it's, oh, man, I would love to be a fly on the wall or, like, hanging out, you know, in that car with you guys as you're cruising around because it's just.

Greg Rainville [00:21:05]:
The amount of stuff that you see, it's wild. Like I said, like, it's almost disheartening sometimes because, you know, you're starting out your day and you're like, this is gonna be a fantastic day. Like, I get to sell technology to these shops that aren't really using technology. But then you just go in, and I can tell right away when I'm walking in, I'm like, this is probably not gonna be a good call. I might have told you. It's like all of a sudden you walk into the waiting room and there's just, like, parts all over the place and, like, like, dust on the parts and, like, there's really no place to, like, sit down that's comfortable. The guy's smoking a cigarette behind the counter and you just start asking marketing questions, like, basic marketing questions. So, like, tell me a little bit about your business.

Greg Rainville [00:21:47]:
Like, if I came into your shop today and what do you do besides ripping cigarettes and just talking to your buddy back there? But it's like, I'm like, what happens to after I leave? Because that's basically what we do, is we focus on customer attention. So we're asking for the Google review, we're sending out the service reminders. If a customer hasn't been in five months, we're checking in through text and email, we're sending out campaigns, and the guy's just like, what are you talking about? I'm like, there has to be some sort of process in place or something you do to get your customers to come back. I just do good work. All my customers come back while he has a cigarette in his mouth. And I'm just like, all right. And I'm like, I started asking about, like, car count. I'm like, how many cars are you doing? He's like, who cares? Like, that's what he says.

Greg Rainville [00:22:43]:
Who cares?

Jimmy Purdy [00:22:45]:
And you gotta get a worry a little bit. Is like, are you, like, just being standoffish because I'm walking in as a salesman? Right, right. Like, are you just being a dick right now or, like, really don't quite understand what I'm saying? Or do you really just don't think it's important? I don't know. And if you really don't think it's important, then good for you. Like, bless your heart, right? Like, if you. If you can be successful and want everything in your life out of your business, and you don't have to worry about any of this marketing stuff, and you just wait for the phone to ring and you take on what comes on that day and that pays your bills, dude, more freaking power to you. You know what I mean? Like, I wish life was that simple. Yeah, right? Like, and I'm so.

Jimmy Purdy [00:23:25]:
I'm not trying to knock it, but, like, as you learn this stuff, it's like, you realize you have to do this stuff to stay on the leading edge and then to be successful and to be competitive, right? And it's like, not doing it. Some, someone else is, and you're losing that traffic and you're losing those cars, and it's like, I mean, you get the game. You understand it, but it's. It just blows me away to think in this day and age that those shops are still successful, right? Like, I mean, they're. If they're, if they're coming to work every day.

Greg Rainville [00:23:55]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:23:56]:
They're successful in their mind, so more power to them.

Greg Rainville [00:24:00]:
I talked to one guy the other day, like, I went out around here, probably about 20 minutes west of Boston, kind of a nice area, little remote, and, yeah, basically, that was kind of the conversation I had. Like, he didn't really know his numbers or understand his customers. He just knew that his bays were pretty busy. And, you know, he sees some of the same faces all the time, so he thinks he's doing great business. Paper and pen and again, like, not really an appealing waiting area or really anything going on that I was, like, really impressed by. But he's got a house down on Cape Cod. You know, like, he's. He's happy.

Greg Rainville [00:24:39]:
Like. Like, who am I to, like, change his business by. By changing up his business model, by being, hey, you should start looking at doing digital inspection. Like, you know, like. Like, you know, maybe put a popcorn machine in here or, you know, like, something a little bit more welcoming than just these empty oil bottles on the ground.

Jimmy Purdy [00:25:01]:
Increase revenue, like, 20 or 30% just by following up with your clients that you already have in here.

Greg Rainville [00:25:06]:
Right?

Jimmy Purdy [00:25:06]:
Like, right. But then I don't want to bother my clients. They're good people. They come in just when they need something. It's like, well, that works for you. It works for you. You know, you never know everyone's situation. So I hate.

Jimmy Purdy [00:25:15]:
I hate the blatant statements of, like, you need to do a, b, and c, right? Starting and seeing the change and where I was. Until you start doing more retention, you start doing more marketing, and you start seeing how quickly it evolves. It's like, I just want to let everyone should at least know. Yeah, everyone should at least know it's there and not be standoffish. And I was that guy. I was that guy years ago when salespeople would come in, and I thought I had it all figured out, right? Like. And it wasn't that I had it figured out, but I told myself I did because I was so damn busy with everything else I was doing that I would, like, try to, like, tell myself that I had it figured out. So I don't need any help.

Jimmy Purdy [00:25:56]:
Like, I just need to focus on these cars that come and focus on the people here. And that was it. Blinders are on. Cash is going in the account, and I'll look at the end of the month and see if there's enough to pay for everything. And that was like, that was my role, right? Like, I was like, everything written down on notepad, paper. I was there, like, I was that guy. I totally get it. Sales guy.

Jimmy Purdy [00:26:12]:
Sales guys would come in and like, do I have time for this? Right, and I got time for you. And now I've realized, like, I have to make time for every single one.

Greg Rainville [00:26:21]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:26:21]:
Because you never know what it is they're in, quote, selling, selling. And that could be the next thing that you need to make that next step. Right. So it's like, it's tough, right, because it's, it's frustrating. It's, it's. Call it annoying. Is that offensive to you?

Greg Rainville [00:26:36]:
No, no, it's.

Jimmy Purdy [00:26:38]:
People call you annoying.

Greg Rainville [00:26:40]:
No, no. And I do try to take the approach of just like, like, and even with some of these, these distributors are the, what I call sometimes blind dates that I go on with these people. Like, they're picking me up at, like, the airport, and then all of a sudden I'm in a shop ten minutes later, and I just, I literally just met them.

Jimmy Purdy [00:26:59]:
Yeah.

Greg Rainville [00:26:59]:
Yeah. So, so I try to be like, okay, this is their, their client, their customer. Like, like, I have to be very mindful of that and, and kind of watch, like, don't be salesy, obviously, but, like, just have a valuable conversation. And again, I just try to open it up with just marketing. Just like, all my knowledge I have from marketing over the last, like, five or six years and just talk about, like, basics and just, and that's usually where I can gauge where they're at. And then usually I can start connecting the dots in the industry. So, like, I'm like, oh, you're probably part of this coaching group. And they're like, yes.

Greg Rainville [00:27:30]:
And I'm like, you're definitely on this shop management system. They're like, yes. And then all of a sudden, you know, the person I'm with, the rep, the cam, or whoever they are, they're like, oh, my God. They're like, how did he do that? I'm like, I'm like, I've been doing this for a while, but I start connecting the dots just because of my industry knowledge. And then it just, we're in there for an hour talking, talking about. So on the flip side, the conversations do go very well. If I visit ten shops, I'm probably having about four or five good conversations. But five other conversations are just horrible.

Greg Rainville [00:28:06]:
I'm just sitting in there kind of waiting to, waiting to leave. It also depends on the area I'm in. New England's tough just because this is a very old school area that we're in. Paper and pen. I mean, my parents go to a paper and pen shop. And, like, my. I remember my mom was like, hey, you should. You should go to Joe's garage.

Greg Rainville [00:28:24]:
Me and. Me and your dad's been going to him for, like, you know, 1015 years. And I'm like, tell me about, like, the experience. And, like, she starts explaining it to me, and I'm like, I don't think he's a good fit for steer, unfortunately. I'm like, first of all, I can't talk to his system. He. I was like, he doesn't have one. It's just.

Greg Rainville [00:28:42]:
It's a big filing cabinet out back.

Jimmy Purdy [00:28:46]:
Yeah, those don't integrate.

Greg Rainville [00:28:48]:
Right. Yeah, yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:28:50]:
I mean, and there was really. Yeah. When I was out there, there's nice shops and. Yeah, there's the old school ones, and one of the ones we were there visiting. Yeah, he's. He's a bit old school, but he's. He's getting with. With the program.

Greg Rainville [00:29:01]:
Oh, he is? Okay, good.

Jimmy Purdy [00:29:03]:
Mainly because his. His 30 year old son is now, like, taking the reins and, like, dad, get the hell out of the way. Yeah, let me do my thing. And he's like, no, no, no. I'm not changing my labor rate. I'm not doing these things. It's like, it's. That's, like, the easiest things to do to get that profit.

Jimmy Purdy [00:29:18]:
You know, that. That cash flow. You need to get these systems to then elevate, you know, and get a better customer experience. Right. So. Right, yeah. I mean, you can say it until you're blue in the face, but like you said, especially as I noticed in the last week, the east coast and East Coast Boston's like, it's a little more. A little more old school, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:29:39]:
Yeah, it's old school in, like, there's.

Jimmy Purdy [00:29:41]:
Nothing wrong with that. But, no, it's.

Greg Rainville [00:29:43]:
It's. It's. I mean, I appreciate it because, again, like, I've grew up kind of going to the gas station and shop, too, like. Like, for. For an oil change and for work at, like, the shell station around the corner, where, again, they just gave me a paper receipt. But again, this was, like, probably 1520 years ago. I mean, that's what I thought the repair shop experience was. This industry definitely getting on the software side of things.

Greg Rainville [00:30:06]:
Like, open up my eyes to things. But it's like, to your point, you know, you see the same people at the trade shows. You see the same software companies, the same vendors, the people, like. Like, we are in, like, this little bubble of, like, people say, like, the 5% or maybe like, the 10% of the industry that. That get it, but there is, like, this 90% that's still just, you know, they're kind of stuck in their ways, which, again, to your point, is fine, but it's just. It's just shocking to me. And, like, some of these guys, they don't want to change. Like.

Greg Rainville [00:30:36]:
Like, I think. I think they want to, like, get buried, like, at their shop. Like, they love it, I guess, or something. Like, they're just.

Jimmy Purdy [00:30:46]:
And on that, too, is. I think, for me, I think I forget how big that 90% is. You know, we see each other at the trade shows. We go to these things and events, and some of us can't make it, so it's not, like, 100% attendance in, like, that group that we're talking about. Right. But it's. It's not the biggest group of people. Like, it's enough where we can all pretty well recognize one another when we're there, and it really makes it seem smaller than it is.

Jimmy Purdy [00:31:12]:
And when we talk about the other 90%, I don't think. I don't think we quite. I mean, you probably understand it, but I just don't understand how big that 90% is. Like, how many freaking independent repair shops there are out there.

Greg Rainville [00:31:24]:
Have you, um. Have you been down to, like, tampa? I'm sure. I'm sure you've been to, like, tampa, Orlando.

Jimmy Purdy [00:31:29]:
Not. I've actually never been in Florida.

Greg Rainville [00:31:31]:
Never been to Florida?

Jimmy Purdy [00:31:32]:
No.

Greg Rainville [00:31:32]:
You're lucky.

Jimmy Purdy [00:31:37]:
So I've avoided it. But I'll be. I'll be there in February this year, next year, so.

Greg Rainville [00:31:42]:
Yeah, no, no, it's awesome. But I. That was. That was a place that. That shocked me. I think there's a repair shop almost on, like, every corner. Like, especially in the Tampa area. Like.

Greg Rainville [00:31:53]:
Like. And they have, like, those bay. Actually, you probably have them in California. Like, the bays outside. Like, for me up in New England, I've never seen anything like that, where there's, like, there's garage bays, and then there's bays actually outside, and, like, they used to maybe be a gas station, and there. There's bays under where, like, cars would park to go get gas.

Jimmy Purdy [00:32:11]:
Sure.

Greg Rainville [00:32:11]:
That was kind of my. Like, that was new and, like, really different for me because I've never seen anything like that. Um, but they are on every single corner, literally, in the Tampa Orlando area. It's. It's. It's wild to see.

Jimmy Purdy [00:32:26]:
It is.

Greg Rainville [00:32:26]:
Yep.

Jimmy Purdy [00:32:27]:
It's a. There's a lot of cars down there, I guess. I don't know you would think with the weather, they wouldn't have that many, uh, issues or. But, I mean, it's the easiest thing to do, right? To be a shop owner.

Greg Rainville [00:32:38]:
Yep.

Jimmy Purdy [00:32:39]:
No, no, no. Let me reward that. Sees this thing in the world to start being a shop owner, right? Other than. Other than picking up a pen and a knife at Home Depot. And now you're a drywall mud taper. Right? Like, it's probably the second easiest, right? But as a shop, I mean, you got to pay rent and you need a box of tools. Harbor freights around the corner and the bank, you know, like. And there you are.

Jimmy Purdy [00:32:59]:
You move right in, you got a tool, you got a bay put up. You don't even need a rack, right? Like, you can get a car and do a brake job, pay rent on the shop, and it's like you do ten break jobs, your rent's paid. It's like, oh, I'm a shop owner. And it's like that. And that is the same exact thing as being. Not the same exact thing, but in the customer's eyes. Right, or the client's eyes. That's the same exact thing as the guy that owns three shops.

Jimmy Purdy [00:33:21]:
Right. That. That does 250 cars per shop a month in. Right? Like, they're both shop owners. It's both a shop. Right. That's, like, the hardest thing to try to communicate. Why is your labor rate so much more than that, guys? Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:33:37]:
When he's working by himself in one bay is. No, not that he has no idea what he's doing, but he's working cash only. But he hasn't quite understood that next year he's going to have some serious liabilities that he's got to pay for. Right. He doesn't understand all this new technology that he's going to want to pay for, to have to have. So he's just not there yet. And so his labor rates $85 an hour, and the other shops $180 an hour. Right? But it's like if someone's shopping around for a break job, they're looking for price.

Jimmy Purdy [00:34:07]:
They're gonna go for the $80 an hour, and then. And they just, well, it's a brake job. It's the same, right? Like, you guys are both mechanics, so you're both gonna do the brakes the same way. Oh, man, I don't even know where to start with that. Right? It's like the worst thing in the world to try to, like, take that conversation and not take it personally to begin with. Like, so you got to take your emotions out of it. And then, like, try to get them to understand. Like, in your.

Jimmy Purdy [00:34:30]:
And in your situation selling software, you're trying to take your six, five, six years of marketing experience, and within an hour, explain to the shop owner why what you're doing is important. It's gonna help their business. How the hell do you do that in a three minute elevator pitch? Like, and it's like. And then at the end of day, do I even want this person that's just shopping for the lowest price anyway? Is this even worth my time to try to get them to understand it? I mean, client advocacy, sure, I need to take the time to do that, but, man, is that going to be an ROI for me? Or is it just, like, blowing hot air at this guy? And he's like, okay, well, you're still the most expensive, so I'm going down the street, right?

Greg Rainville [00:35:07]:
And that's the other thing, too. And like, I tell you, when I visit, like, ten shops a day and five of them are disqualified, basically the first thing they say is, I'm the cheapest in town. Everyone comes to me like. Like that, that I hear almost every single day. And it's not just one shop. I hear every day when I. When I do these. These.

Jimmy Purdy [00:35:27]:
These visits, they're like, they're proud of it.

Greg Rainville [00:35:29]:
They're proud that they have the lowest price in the area. And, like, like, they almost, like, pump their chest up. Like. Like, I have the lowest price. And that's why everyone comes to me, especially now that I'm working more with, like, on the quick lube side of stuff. Like, it's so common to hear that my oil change is the cheapest. I'm just like. And again, like, it's like I'm trying to tell on the person with me.

Greg Rainville [00:35:51]:
I'm like, we should probably go to the next shop. This doesn't want to talk to me about my. My $300 to $500 a month software.

Jimmy Purdy [00:36:01]:
No, that's all his gross profit there, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:36:04]:
Right. No, it's. It's. It's crazy.

Jimmy Purdy [00:36:06]:
I would just tank his whole freaking operation. That $300 a month.

Greg Rainville [00:36:10]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:36:11]:
I don't understand. And it's the same. It's the same with the beating on the chest about. About. How about being busy, you know? And you mentioned that, too. Like, oh, I'm plenty busy. Like, what's your car count? It doesn't matter. I got plenty to do.

Jimmy Purdy [00:36:24]:
Well, what? I can give you plenty to do, too, but doesn't mean you're going to get paid for it, right? Like, what does that even mean. And that's the other one I get a lot, like, oh, I'm so busy. We're three weeks out. Well, it sounds like you're too cheap, right? You know, like, so you want to be three weeks out for the rest of your life. You just. I mean, I don't know, like, it's just another one. I don't quite understand being proud over. I mean, I get, like, if the community is infatuated with you, right? Like, if the community really, truly loves your shop and is that good to you and you're that good to the community, like, I get it.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:00]:
Like that. That feels good. But when it's for the wrong reason, and it usually is, because people don't typically like auto repair shops, right? People like dentists.

Greg Rainville [00:37:12]:
It's a. It's a grudge buy, they call it, right? Like. Like, you're not going to the repair shop being like, oh, my God, am I gonna have to spend $200 or $2,000? It's always kind of a mystery when you're going in there and like, yeah, yeah, it's like the dentist. Exactly what you said. It's. You're not pumped to walk through that door.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:31]:
I mean, sure, you like the guy, you probably know the kids you got. You get along for the most part, but you're not, like, stopping by to say hi, cuz he's your buddy, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:37:39]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:40]:
Unless, I mean, maybe there's like a freaking 1% and we have the clients too, that come into the shop just to say hi. Sure, that happens. An anomaly, but it happens. But the majority of people aren't, like, coming to your shop because they're like, oh, you're the greatest in the world. I just love coming here.

Greg Rainville [00:37:58]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:59]:
They don't want to be there. It's very painful, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:38:02]:
Yeah, actually, I. The. Some of these shops, like, their buddies come in and hang out, too. Like, I've. I've seen that a few times, too. Like, it seems to be the local hangout where you can smoke cigarettes and drink beer.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:13]:
Oh, perfect. Is that even an auto repair shop, though?

Greg Rainville [00:38:17]:
I don't think so. I think it's more like a social club. Social club with some. With some repair going on. On the side. Like, just pivot into that.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:24]:
Right? Like, just open, you know, just open the social club. And like you said, do the repairs on the side. Why. Why are you trying to masquerade it? You know? But I've been there, too. Like, I get that. I've worked in shops that were like that. And I thought it was cool, like, at the time, when I was 19 years old, 20 years old, you know, like, oh, right on. We're gonna go have some beers at lunch.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:45]:
That sounds like a great time, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:38:47]:
Right. And then I'm a CEO, business owner, right? And then all of a sudden, reality hits you.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:53]:
Well, then at the end of the week, when you're working there, it's like, where was my paycheck? Oh, I'll have it free on Monday. I'll have it free on Tuesday. Here it is on Wednesday. Don't catch it till Friday. And in my mind, I'm like, what the hell's going on? I did everything that you asked me to. Yeah, we went out for lunch and beers all last week. But, you know, you're the, you're the owner. You're the leader.

Jimmy Purdy [00:39:11]:
You're supposed to be able to make the money come after that. Right? And you forget, like, you don't. You can't have one and the other both, right? Like, you can have a good time, sure. But you got to focus on making money so that you can get paid, because that's what we all want. When all the fun and games is overdeveloped, you gotta have a paycheck. There's got to be money in the hand.

Greg Rainville [00:39:32]:
Something funny that I see, too, and I'm kind of guilty of it a little bit sometimes. It's like, the grass is greener. So, like, the people who are on the vendor side, the software side, because we kind of think we know that formula with software, we're like, oh, we could be repair shop owners. And, like, we have, like, we'll have, we'll have chats. Like, me and my buddy, actually, Tony from auto shop solutions, like, we've had the talk where, like, we're like, we should just open up shops. Like, like, we. And I'm. Then all of a sudden, I talk to some owners, and I'm just like, it's not that.

Greg Rainville [00:40:02]:
It's not like that. And, like, I don't know if it's like, the flip side for, like, sometimes shop owners to be like, I should get into software.

Jimmy Purdy [00:40:09]:
I don't know if I'd ever, ever do that. But I do get some wild ideas, you know? I mean, we all do, right?

Greg Rainville [00:40:14]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:40:15]:
You get frustrated enough, and you're like, there's got to be something easier than this, right? Yeah, it's, it's all just learning, you know, like, I think in, like, construction trades, and I've said this multiple times, too, it's like, I think it's easy as a technician to get into any other construction field, right? Like, it's all pretty relatable. H vac, electrical, plumbing, maybe not carpentry so much anymore. There's not a lot of wooden cars anymore. But you get my point, right? Like, it's pretty easy to transition over. Then you're only focusing on one thing. Instead of, like, the house we're building in our shop goes down the highway at 70 miles an hour. Like, we got to be a little, you know, a little bit stricter about what we're doing. And I think now, as we move into more this technological stuff, I think what you're saying is.

Jimmy Purdy [00:40:59]:
Might be true. Like, you're seeing a lot more of these programs and software. And as the owner, I have to. I can't just constantly call my it guy every time I have a problem. Like, you know, if my compressor and my compressor went down, right? So I had, um, change out the mag starter and end up being. The pressure switch went bad and fried the mag start and all that. So I had to fix that. Not a big deal.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:21]:
I mean, I took care of it. Like, I'm mechanically inclined. Like, I can. I can fix that. So it's the same thing with my computer systems. When my computer systems start acting up, I got to figure out how to fix this stuff. So I'm not calling in someone to help every time, because that costs money, you know? And then you got to wait, and it's like, oh, I can be there in three days. At 02:00 you're like, oh, my God, I can't.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:39]:
This compressor can't be down for three days. My computer system can't be down for three days. Right. So I think that rings true. Like, maybe with a lot of guys that are thinking right now, maybe I should do my own software program, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:41:52]:
Right, right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:53]:
Figuring it out. And with marketing, too. Like, if you hire a marketing company and you're not holding them accountable and you're not watching what they're doing, you're wasting money. And there's so many out there now, you better have a pretty good idea of, like, how all that stuff works, or you're going to be getting charged for something that's not getting you anything, that, you know, no attainables, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:42:11]:
Yeah, I think. I think everyone's kind of always looking for, like, I don't want to say, like, the easy exit, but it's like, okay, I have this wealth of knowledge now. Like. Like, what's something I can do with this, where especially probably with mechanics or technicians, where they're like, yeah, I'm going to open up my own repair shop because I know how to fix cars. You know, like, what it is like with me. Like, like, I now consider myself almost, well, a marketing expert because I've been doing this for six, seven years. Like, I'm going to quit now. Now we have steer with, like, 80 plus employees.

Greg Rainville [00:42:45]:
Parker did a great job of building this company to what it is today. But it's like, I'm going to go be a marketing consultant or a marketing coaching group. And, like, and, like, you know, you're always kind of looking for, like, that thing where you can go independent and be your own boss. So I could see why a lot of shop owners are, you know, technicians or mobile mechanics or whatever it is. You know, just. Just try to go off to your own thing and control your own destiny.

Jimmy Purdy [00:43:13]:
Yeah. But then you realize that you can't.

Greg Rainville [00:43:16]:
Running a business is tough.

Jimmy Purdy [00:43:19]:
There is no working for yourself. Right. Because to work for yourself, you got to have a paycheck, and that paycheck's got to come from somewhere. And whoever is giving you that paycheck is your boss.

Greg Rainville [00:43:32]:
Right? That's it. That's it, yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:43:35]:
Whoever's paying for that repair, whoever's paying for the service that you're providing, whether you're paying someone else to do that service and you're taking a percentage of that, doesn't matter. Wherever that dollar ultimately has come from, to go into your pocket that that person is the boss. Like, the end of the day. Right. And it's like, yeah, I mean, I get it. Trying to freelance and. Or as a technician, you're frustrated and you want to open your own shop. I get it.

Jimmy Purdy [00:44:00]:
Like, but go find another shop first. You know? Like, go find someone that respects you and, like, gives you what it is. Like, what it is that what it is that you're looking for. Like, write down on paper, like, what are you not getting where you're at that you're looking for to do on your own? Because if it's more free time, you're not going to get it. Open shop. No, I'm sick of working seven days a week. I want to open my own shop, and then I'll make my own hours. Like, okay, scratch that one off.

Jimmy Purdy [00:44:26]:
That one's not gonna happen for you. Right. But if you want to feel like you want to have more respect in the work that you do, then just go find another shop. Or, like, just take whatever it is and. And flow. Chart it out, you know? Like, what exactly is it that you're looking for here? Because it's not. It's not as hard as I think a lot of people say it is.

Greg Rainville [00:44:44]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:44:44]:
Like, sure, it's not for the faint of heart, but life isn't life freaking hard. Right? Like, there's no easy way. And I think as I learn more as a shop owner, I'm also getting older. Right?

Greg Rainville [00:44:57]:
Yeah, same with me, too. Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:45:00]:
My tolerance of bullshit is also getting less, and so it feels like it's very, very hard. But I also have to look at what if I was doing something else, I would be just as frustrated, and I would think it was just as hard because life is just getting hard, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:45:12]:
Yeah. But it's cool. It's cool to look back on your body of work, though, right? Like, and be. Be proud of, like, milestones. So, like. Like, the old Jim purdy that, like, wouldn't talk to the sales rep coming in, like, knew it all, and, you know. And now, you know, you've gone up that hill. You've done the battle, but I'm sure you've hit milestones that you can look back, you can look back on and be really proud of.

Greg Rainville [00:45:35]:
I know personally, I have. With what we've done here at steer by mechanic advisor, like, there's been so many things. Like, if you told me when we started the company, when it was literally just me, like, cold calling shops about these directories and mechanic advisor, that we'd have a advanced auto parts partnership or even a mobile one partnership, I'd tell you you were crazy. But it's just putting your head down, doing the work. And again, like. Like, super proud of looking back at what we've done, there's still so much more to do. Yeah. Which is, you know, crazy, but.

Greg Rainville [00:46:06]:
But you sometimes have to take a step back and be happy that, you know, you've built what you've built. I mean, now you have a podcast. Like, there's so much. And you have a. I think you're in a really cool studio right now. Unless you're. This is your office. Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:22]:
Multipurpose.

Greg Rainville [00:46:23]:
But. But I do think it's important just to kind of take it. Take a step back and, like. Like, just look at those small accomplishments to get. To get to where you are.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:31]:
Oh. And I realizing that is not linear, and you. And you did the motion, right. The ups and the downs.

Greg Rainville [00:46:37]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:37]:
And I think we want it to be linear. Right. Like, we want to do this, this, and this, and that gets us to here.

Greg Rainville [00:46:42]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:43]:
And then we say, oh, it's one step forward and two steps back and one step forward, and it's like, no, it's just. It's just nothing. It's just not linear, you know?

Greg Rainville [00:46:51]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:51]:
And I. You're just constantly trying to reach for the top and get to the pinnacle, and then you're, like, asking everybody, and you're like, what do I do? And I'm sure you get that with marketing, right? It's like, that's got to be. You got it. You got to be honest with me. Is that, like, the biggest question you get, like, so what do I do to get more cars?

Greg Rainville [00:47:09]:
Yeah. I mean. I mean, it's like sales, right? Silver bullet. Right? There's. There's no. No silver bullet. If we had the silver bullet, we'd be retired. I would have retired ten years ago when I was selling directory listings and mechanic advisor.

Greg Rainville [00:47:27]:
No, I mean, you always have to be changing up what you're doing, testing different marketing, seeing what works. I always talk to shops about not only a b testing, but a B c, d, e testing. You always have to be trying new stuff out of. It's like, even, like, simple postcards, right? So, like, customers, sometimes they like poo poo postcards. They're like, I don't want to do postcards. Like, if I get a postcard, I throw it in the trash. I'm like, well, that's you. I was like, you don't know what your customer base is.

Greg Rainville [00:47:56]:
Like. If they like postcards or respond to it. I was like, send out a hundred. They're like, fifty cents per. Spend $50 on some postcards and see if they come back. And if they work, great.

Jimmy Purdy [00:48:07]:
If not, like, what also would you do if you showed up to your own shop?

Greg Rainville [00:48:13]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:48:14]:
Would you buy what you're selling?

Greg Rainville [00:48:16]:
Right, right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:48:16]:
No. Right. You're not your ideal customer.

Greg Rainville [00:48:19]:
Yeah. Yeah. And that. That's something that happens sometimes where it's kind of frustrating, just like the whole entire. I don't want. I don't want to be texted. My customers don't want to be texted. No, that's not true at all.

Greg Rainville [00:48:31]:
You got to test out everything. And then. And that's the biggest thing with marketing. Again, like I said, like. Like, test out everything, test out postcards, test out texting, test out different messaging, different, like, sequences of messages. Like. Like, if. If you're checking in with.

Greg Rainville [00:48:47]:
Or you're sending, like, decline services to customers 30 days out and it's not working, well, maybe it's too soon. Try 60 days. Look at the data. I talked to a shop the other day. They go. They go. We do 21 days. And it was the first time I ever heard 21 days.

Greg Rainville [00:49:01]:
And I thought it was kind of random. I mean, three weeks, I guess that makes sense. But they'll. But they were very confident. They're like, this worked for us, and this is what our customers are used to for declined services, and that's what we do. We need steer to do 21 days. I was like, perfect. I was like, we could set it up out of the box.

Greg Rainville [00:49:18]:
Steer does 30, 60. I have a customer in Nebraska that likes to do 60 days out or even 90 days out. So again, it's one of those things where you have to be open minded with marketing. There's no silver bullet whatsoever.

Jimmy Purdy [00:49:34]:
I keep changing it.

Greg Rainville [00:49:36]:
Yep. And still ideas from people.

Jimmy Purdy [00:49:38]:
Yeah, a lot of ideas. Well, like, I've always said, too, and I like the idea of, like, when you get all those spam emails or you mentioned when you get those postcards and you throw them away, that is a valuable insight right there. Right? Like, so why don't you take that multi million dollar postcard campaign that some huge hedge fund put together and freaking copy it, right. And put your name on it and send it out to your customers? Because what, they spent a ton of money to get the colors, the font.

Greg Rainville [00:50:06]:
The location of the placement.

Jimmy Purdy [00:50:09]:
That's, like, mind blowing that people spend that kind of money. There was a shop and in Providence. I can't believe. Can't remember the name of it. You've probably been there.

Greg Rainville [00:50:19]:
Was the one that you were in that was, like, super bright. Yeah, the green protech auto.

Jimmy Purdy [00:50:24]:
Tech auto. Have you been there?

Greg Rainville [00:50:25]:
No, but they're on my radar, definitely. I feel like that's a shop I would want to walk into.

Jimmy Purdy [00:50:31]:
And I just. Guy in the freaking world, like, oh, my God. And the facility was just spotless, immaculate. I mean, Friday, right? We went in there Friday at 03:00 unannounced, and he just popped out, and he was like, hey, guys. Hey, we're from. We're from the institute, and we're part of the group process, and. Oh, man. You guys want me to show you around? And it was just like, it's Friday at 03:00 like.

Jimmy Purdy [00:50:55]:
And it's like. But everybody's doing what they need to be doing. Like, and he's just walking through the office. They're like, kind of walking around up. No one's got a damn question for him. Was like, he walks out. The texts are like, oh, hey, boss. And they're just back doing their thing.

Jimmy Purdy [00:51:07]:
It was like, dude, this is awesome. And he's just, like, totally level headed, just, like, cruising through the place, you know? Um, not that he didn't. Wouldn't help if he needed. I mean, you could tell he was kind of like. And is like, hey, man, you need, like, no, everyone's good. Everyone's doing their thing. Friday at 03:00. Oh, we're just wrapping up for the day and giving these guys a tour, and it's like, it was just like, you do do this often? He's like, no.

Jimmy Purdy [00:51:31]:
I was like, like, damn, that.

Greg Rainville [00:51:34]:
That's what makes my visits worth it. So. So if I can go into three or four shops like that, my day was a success. Like. Like, if I can talk to three or four owners that are like that, and I. And I do see that, which is great. And a lot of times, sometimes they're. They're actually our customers.

Greg Rainville [00:51:51]:
When I go out to visit them, like, they're super happy to see me. They want to give me a tour of the shop, and, like, they're super proud of what they built. But, like, that makes my day. When you walk in and the shop owner's like, come on in, and they start just showing you all, like, their. Their new hunter alignment equipment. Like, they're bringing you out back, all this stuff, and they're just, like, super proud of what they built. Like, like, again, that makes my experience visiting shops ten times better and so much happier being in this industry, doing what I'm doing. Yeah.

Greg Rainville [00:52:20]:
Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. That made your day, right?

Jimmy Purdy [00:52:23]:
Yeah. I mean, I spent. I spent three days prior to that, like, going to another shop and not nothing wrong to say about that shop, but that's all we did for three days, and I was still excited to see him being excited to show us someone who's never met before in his whole life. Right? Friday at 03:00 because we know how Fridays are to, like, the time to do that and talk about the process of, like, all the letters. Already saw the post ad with all the letters on the walls and the colors and, yeah, he said he spent a lot of time and a lot of money, like, with fashion designers finding the correct font, the correct color of the font, the correct size of the font to go with those colors. And it was like, it wasn't just like, oh, let's try this and see what happens. And, no, everything was like, he spent dollars in research to get all that stuff. Like, exactly.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:12]:
I'm like, I didn't even think about doing that. He's like, yeah. Like, people like Abercrombie and Fitch and, like, fashion designers for that industry. That's what we use to design the waiting room. Like, that blows me away. I never even thought of that. Like, I'm just like, let's throw a color on the wall and see what happens. Like, I don't like that font.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:28]:
Let's do it again. Or then it stays up there for two years, and you're like, I freaking hate that. But one of these days, I'm going to change it, because that's how we all are, right? Like, you do something and you're like, I got to change that next week. And then two years go by. But he had a scent pumped in through the vents.

Greg Rainville [00:53:45]:
Oh, wow.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:46]:
Custom made scent pumped in through the vent. So everywhere you went in the shop, it was like, what is that? It smells fantastic.

Greg Rainville [00:53:55]:
Yeah, this is. This is the exact opposite.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:59]:
It wasn't fruity foo foo stuff. It was just like, it was just like, you're hanging out with somebody that just, like. Like, you met someone at, like, I don't. A club or a bar, and it's like, oh, that guy smells great. You know? Like, I'm not too proud to say, you know, like, hell, that dude smell good. Like, it was like that. It was like, I just. You just instantly trust somebody.

Jimmy Purdy [00:54:17]:
It was like, it was. What's that sent? Oh, it's a. It's a custom sent. I'm like, damn, you got this all freaking.

Greg Rainville [00:54:25]:
I mean, that's. That's pretty good to hear for up here. Like, I'm pretty. He must be doing pretty well for up here if he's got that type of experience.

Jimmy Purdy [00:54:35]:
Yeah, I mean, it was all. It's all marketing and sales, right? Like, a lot of stuff that I think falls kind of flat with most auto shop is like, we don't want a waiting room, and as long as the. You got someone answering the phone, the important thing is making sure the shops clean and the shops in the cars are taken care of. But having that customer experience is like, it's so missed, you know? And the level. The clients that were coming in, and it was just like, such a quick interaction for the service advisors. They'd come in like, oh, drop it off. Okay, we'll see. We'll call you soon.

Jimmy Purdy [00:55:02]:
It was like watching that interaction. It was like, by the time they're already there or they're coming back for the second time, there is no question, like, this is my spot. This is my guy. I'm, like, there. You know, you don't have to spend all that time up front, you know, reselling every time they come in.

Greg Rainville [00:55:18]:
Right? Yeah, I'm sure he's. He's literally sending the. The quote, and they're just clicking to pay. Like, the customers are like, yep, I trust them. We're good. You know, like. Like, no explanation needed, you know, like.

Jimmy Purdy [00:55:31]:
And the shop was, like, out back, right? Like, it was, like, perpendicular. So, like, no. Any cut client walking in, they didn't even see the shop. Well, there was a big window that kind of faced on the backside of the office. But, I mean, what I guess what I'm getting at is, like, the importance of that area and, like, how that's so missed and, like, it. Because it's a retail exchange, right? Like, there. It's retail consumers, you know, like, we don't need to show car parts. How many times you walk into a shop and there's, like, car parts on the.

Greg Rainville [00:55:58]:
That's what I was saying. Yeah. With. With, like, dust all over, but, like, old.

Jimmy Purdy [00:56:01]:
Like, old broken car parts. And they're like, oh, I show this to my customers so they can see what it is I'm talking about. Right?

Greg Rainville [00:56:08]:
Yep.

Jimmy Purdy [00:56:09]:
I do it. Like, I. But this last time, I was like, is that even necessary?

Greg Rainville [00:56:14]:
Right?

Jimmy Purdy [00:56:14]:
It's like, do even. They wouldn't even give a shit, right? Send them pictures and videos and. Sure, that's all well and good, and there's plenty of opposition to say, oh, you just took a video of a broken car, and you send it to all your clients? Like, okay, whatever, man. Right? Like, sure. That's not what we're doing. But does that even help a lot of clients to, like, get them to understand what's going on? They're just looking this thing, and they're like, I don't know what that is. Like, close. I know that is.

Jimmy Purdy [00:56:39]:
Are you bringing the part? Here's your broken part. Here's what it's supposed to look like. I don't know. I don't even know what that is. You know? Like, because it feels so natural to me because I've seen it so many times, you know, especially with automatic transmissions. I can bring out. Show them a whole card of all burned up and broken parts. Oh, look at all this carnage.

Jimmy Purdy [00:56:57]:
And they're just like, is it supposed to look like that, or is it not so? I don't know. It just. It's like you said, ever evolving, and we're always trying to change and learn these new things and these new tactics and trying to elevate yourself and realize, like, maybe I don't know the right way to do it. Maybe I need to keep my eyes and ears open for what's changing in the industry and try to, I don't know, keep up. Like, if that's what you want to do.

Greg Rainville [00:57:28]:
Yeah. And that's what I try to do on the marketing side in the industry is just like, what are the current trends? Like, what's working? What's not working? I think sometimes people on my team, especially the people that work with customers, kind of get frustrated sometimes because I step in and get in people's dashboards and, like, because I'm friends with a bunch of our customers, and, like, they. They're like, greg, go in and just try some stuff out and, like, their CS rep or their customer success reps. Like, Greg's in there again doing weird stuff. Like, I'm like, he told me I could test this out. I'm like, so, like, I'm sending out some. Some cool campaign, some crazy campaigns, or, like, I know one of them that I'm doing right now is we pick up no show appointments. So.

Greg Rainville [00:58:13]:
So if someone books an appointment, we can see that the customer didn't show up. We have something set up where we can pick it up in the shop management system. But I'm like, I want to test out following up with a customer that didn't show up to an appointment through text. Luckily, one of my buddies who has three shops down in New York, he's tested out three different ways across my three shops. I'm like, okay, I get the mad scientist. I set up a message for a week out, and then I set one up for three weeks out, and then I set one up for five weeks out. And watching the data, the five weeks worked the best.

Jimmy Purdy [00:58:51]:
That's interesting.

Greg Rainville [00:58:52]:
Yeah, because I think. And I've talked to some people about it, I think why it works is because maybe someone's waiting for that next paycheck, right? So, like, it's almost like they. I don't know, like.

Jimmy Purdy [00:59:04]:
Like the shame had worn off by then.

Greg Rainville [00:59:08]:
Maybe that's what it is, too. But. But that. That one worked the best for him. And not to say that it'll work the best for everyone, but I guess for his customers in the greater New York City area, like. Like, that. That proved to be the best results with getting customers back in. And we tracked it for, like, three months, and I think we brought in, like.

Greg Rainville [00:59:28]:
Like, $6,000 in repairs, and it's just like a. Just a nice personal message to the customer. Hey. Hey. We know you missed the appointment. You still need any help with our service for your. And we plugged in that make and model to it to make it really feel, like, custom. And, yeah, it's working really well getting the customers back in, but again, it's just testing that stuff and trying different things.

Greg Rainville [00:59:51]:
But, yeah, my team, they get kind of frustrated with me because, again, I go in and just start messing around with their dashboards and try to test different things out.

Jimmy Purdy [01:00:01]:
Well, that's what it's supposed to be, right? I mean, right? That's a lot of time. It falls flat for me. Working with different marketing companies is right. I'm constantly going in. I'm like, hey, have we checked that? You know, do we, have we checked my website speed lately? Oh, no. Have we done this? Have we done that? Is there new email campaigns? Like, oh, what do you want to do? What do I want to do? I don't know. I'm not the freaking marketer. Like, right.

Jimmy Purdy [01:00:24]:
Am I asking too much here to like to have you do what your specialty is? Cause it's not. That's not mine.

Greg Rainville [01:00:31]:
Yeah. And that, that's the thing, too. Like, one of the things, me, Parker, and Bob, when we first started this out, when we started selling featured listings. So, like, if you bought a featured listing in mechanic advisor, like, we would just turn it on. So you would be that top listing. And me, Bob, and Parker assumed that the repair shop owner would go in there and spruce up the listing with, like, pictures and, like, put their hours in and what makes and models they work with and if they're ASC certified. Um, and all of a sudden, we started selling these shops, and I'm like, they are not logging in or doing anything with those listings. That was my first lesson in the automotive industry in regards to marketing.

Greg Rainville [01:01:19]:
So. And I always tell shops, I go, what's nice is with us is you do get kind of a marketing specialist that checks in with you monthly, and, and we'll do your campaigns for you. It's cool that you can go into steer and build out a campaign. Like any CRM software, you can go in and easily build an email and send it out.

Jimmy Purdy [01:01:38]:
That's what we all want to do and have time to do, too.

Greg Rainville [01:01:41]:
But 90% to 95% of our customers just lean on us to do it. I think they go in and look at some of the dashboard, but they need handholding throughout the whole entire.

Jimmy Purdy [01:01:52]:
Oh, yeah.

Greg Rainville [01:01:53]:
Through the program and into the whole entire experience.

Jimmy Purdy [01:01:55]:
Yeah. You don't want anything to do with that. That's what.

Greg Rainville [01:01:58]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [01:01:58]:
Even if I had the downtime, I'm not like, writing an email campaign. What the hell, right, right. I've done it a few times, but you get a wild hair and I get an idea, oh, and do that. But you got to be consistent. Like, that's the thing. If you do it once, you got to keep freaking doing it over and over, just like social media, you know, like, it's the hardest thing in the world to be consistent on. And it's free, like, and it's still hard to get people to post on it. It's hard for me to stay consistent on it as, you know, challenging it as is.

Greg Rainville [01:02:25]:
Yeah, no, it's tough, but I don't know, it's fun. I'm learning something new every day, but, yeah, I am hoping that some things start to change, especially up here in New England. I'm hoping the younger sons come in, kick the dads out and start adopting the new technology. The other thing, too is like, you know, there's consolidation going on. So a lot of these groups and we're working with a lot of these groups that are going out and, you know, they have 1520 shops right now that they're hoping to have 30, 40 in, like, the next year or two. They get it, which is good. Like, I think they are changing the industry. They are going in and making nice waiting room areas.

Greg Rainville [01:03:10]:
They're implementing technology. Um, they're, they're taking customer success really serious, and they do have good procedures to the really level up. Um, I don't see it happen up here just yet, but I'm hoping they're coming our way.

Jimmy Purdy [01:03:25]:
Yeah, I've heard that, too. Some, I don't know. Yeah. Who knows how that's going to go, right. That was, what, two years ago that started these coming together and these investment groups, basically.

Greg Rainville [01:03:39]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [01:03:39]:
And I don't know. I don't know if it's gonna last.

Greg Rainville [01:03:42]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [01:03:42]:
I just, it's, it's a tough, tough industry to try to monetize. Right. And that's what they're doing. Like, and maybe they got it. Maybe they figured out the secret sauce to, like, make all those different things work, but I don't know, like, can.

Greg Rainville [01:03:57]:
They get over 2030? Like, a lot of them I'm seeing kind of get to, like 20 ish maybe, and like, that, that's kind of where they're plateauing.

Jimmy Purdy [01:04:07]:
Yeah.

Greg Rainville [01:04:08]:
And there's only, like, one or two, I think, that are like over a 100, 200 and I don't know, maybe.

Jimmy Purdy [01:04:14]:
It'S the plateau thing. Once you get, you know, you get. They say two shops is harder than having three, right?

Greg Rainville [01:04:19]:
Oh really?

Jimmy Purdy [01:04:20]:
I know, that's just what I've heard. I have no idea.

Greg Rainville [01:04:23]:
That kind of makes sense because you're probably. It's like having kids I guess, too. Like after, maybe after you have like a couple kids it's like super easy.

Jimmy Purdy [01:04:32]:
Or do you stop caring? Maybe it's just in your own mind.

Greg Rainville [01:04:36]:
The art of not giving a shit.

Jimmy Purdy [01:04:37]:
If I lose one of them, I still got two. So.

Greg Rainville [01:04:42]:
That'S it.

Jimmy Purdy [01:04:42]:
But if you have two and you lose one, then it's like shit, that's not good. I don't know. So maybe it is that tipping point of like getting to. Yeah, who knows? I've come to, I've seen five or six shops and that's kind of where most people kind of head off. Like seems to be it, right? It's same like kind of with employees too. Like you get, you get up to six employees and then getting to the next step is like all of a sudden you have twelve to 15, you know, and it's like those, those like steps in between where it's like you're either going to get up to that next one or you're not, you know? And then all of a sudden you go from like that, that 20 employee, all of a sudden you have 150 employees. You're like, what the hell?

Greg Rainville [01:05:20]:
Right, right.

Jimmy Purdy [01:05:22]:
Like how's that easier? I don't know. Well, you put the right people in place and then it makes it easier. But I don't know, it'll be interesting to see. I know a lot of people get nervous about it and then a lot of shop owners that I've talked to are trying to set their shops up to be bought. Like so through the area, like they got their numbers in order, everything's done and dialed. And it's like they walk into the shop like, here you go, sir. Here's everything you need. How much can you give me? And they're just like ready for that exit plan to take their, their million dollars and run or whatever it ends up being, right?

Greg Rainville [01:05:53]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [01:05:53]:
That's why you got to be ready though. I mean, because that could happen. And if you looking for a way out, I mean, if your shit's not clean and like looking ready to go, they're just going to go on in the next one because they're not looking to rebuild your shop. They want to buy a shop and add it to their portfolio and move on to the next one.

Greg Rainville [01:06:12]:
And I think a big piece that they probably look at is, is your customer data, right? So, so if they're going to come in and acquire your shop, like how clean is your customer database is, is there, you know, filing cabinet out back with all your customer information in it or do you have it like you know, in the cloud somewhere with, with your shop management system or your CRM, nice and clean with 4000, 5000 customers that you can announce this grand opening or whatever, is it because at the.

Jimmy Purdy [01:06:44]:
End of the day that's who the boss is, right?

Greg Rainville [01:06:46]:
Right. Yeah, that database, right.

Jimmy Purdy [01:06:49]:
Without that cash flow you ain't got a business manda, all the things in the world. But step number one, get cars into your damn shop. Like, yeah, you can have all the systems in the world but you know what, if you ain't got a car in your shop that you got someone fixing, you don't have an auto repair business, right?

Greg Rainville [01:07:07]:
No, I know that, that's, that's the key. It's wild.

Jimmy Purdy [01:07:12]:
Oh well cool, man.

Greg Rainville [01:07:14]:
That was awesome.

Jimmy Purdy [01:07:14]:
I'm keeping you up late, huh?

Greg Rainville [01:07:16]:
Yeah, that's all good.

Jimmy Purdy [01:07:18]:
I feel a little tired too. I'm still, I'm still on the boss time a little bit so I'm sure. Yeah. When it gets around like five, I'm like, oh my God, I'm feeling a little tired right now.

Greg Rainville [01:07:28]:
Yeah, yeah, today, today was a long one, but yeah, like when I messaged you earlier, I was like, yeah, I was going to tell you like during the weekday like, like 910 o'clock's typically my bed. Yeah, the weekend comes, I'm looking, I'm looking for Jorge's place.

Jimmy Purdy [01:07:44]:
You'll be part of another rap video. Oh my God, I couldn't hear for like three days after that. Right in front of the speaker the whole damn time.

Greg Rainville [01:07:53]:
Yeah, we, I'm telling you, we should have recruited him to come in and got the, the Mars the institute. Oh my God. Imagine if he came out with his sunglasses on and his microphone with his own paw as Raptor. Like, everyone be, be ready to go, ready to learn some marketing, him and Jimmy. Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:12]:
Just freaking know to toe, man.

Greg Rainville [01:08:15]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:15]:
No stopping those guys.

Greg Rainville [01:08:17]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:18]:
All right on, I'll give you Greg Rainville.

Greg Rainville [01:08:22]:
Yep.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:23]:
Is it Rainville?

Greg Rainville [01:08:24]:
Yep.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:24]:
Is that how you say it on the east coast? I say that right?

Greg Rainville [01:08:27]:
Rainville?

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:27]:
Yep, Rainville. Okay. Just like, it's just like it's spelled, I guess.

Greg Rainville [01:08:31]:
Yeah, just like, just like the village. Make it rain.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:34]:
Making it rain. With steer CRM by mechanic advisor.

Greg Rainville [01:08:39]:
That's right. Soon to be just steer. We're trying to transition away, but. Yeah, steer by mechanic advisor.

Jimmy Purdy [01:08:46]:
Right on. Well, thanks for coming on.

Greg Rainville [01:08:48]:
Yeah, that was awesome. I look forward to doing it again.