Attention Jobbers: What shops really need from you

Murray Voth, aftermarket business pro and owner of RPM Training, joins host Andrew Ross to switch things up and discuss tips for jobbers: how to analyze their business, strengthen shop relationships, improve pricing transparency, and how to build up the business structures to maximize their results.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Welcome to the podcast, everyone. I'm your host, Andrew Ross. Now, in this episode, we're going to change things up a little bit. Uh, I've got Murray Voth on board from RPM training. Uh, welcome onto the podcast again, Murray. Nice to see you, Andrew. Yeah, we're we're gonna we're gonna just change things up a little bit in honor of my uh Jobber Nation shirt here. We're gonna talk about what jobbers can do to uh really effectively serve uh their uh service provider customers uh and what service provider customers are looking for from them. Uh but also maybe what they can talk to their their service providers about that they might be able to see because they have a broader view of something sometimes to help them help themselves, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Uh exactly.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Does that sound fair, Murray?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Yeah, sure. Uh so so uh you know, I I think uh we could we can all agree that there's some kind of baseline things that that jobbers really uh can do to just build that relationship beyond uh, hey, I got parts for you uh for from their service providers. Uh is that a good place to start?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah, it's a good place to start. In fact, as you're phrasing your question, uh it comes to mind uh a conversation I had at AIA in March about, and I was speaking to uh sort of the jobber audience, wholesale distributor audience, about the fact that I don't know what it is, the numbers are are not exact for this podcast, but let's just say around 75% of all aftermarket shops are nine employees or less. Close to 60% are four employees or less, right? And so I was reminding the jobbers that their whole business is built on a lot of small people selling the stuff for them, right? And to to to give some thought to that. I will uh you know, a bit of stress there in some ways, but uh give some thought to that. But the thought that has now come to me from that conversation, Andrew, is I think, and and by the way, I do I want to I want to preface all of this by saying I have great friends, contacts, and associates in many jobber companies that I work with, right? RPM training is is parts company agnostic per se. We work with many uh people raising the industry, raising each of their clients up. And I've got lots of friends and we have these we have these conversations, right? So this is not coming outside of a complete there's context to what I'm gonna say here. Right, right, yes. Um but what I was gonna say is is I think all of us in business, but I'm gonna point to the jobbers, forget who their ultimate customer is, but from a different perspective than what they do. So, for example, historically, when I had my shop, I would get approached by my suppliers to put posters of shock absorbers up on my wall of my waiting room, or to put displays of brake pads up, right? Or to put this up or to put that up. And it was like the jobbers and the manufacturers of the parts were trying to bypass me and sell product to the driving public, right? And there's a couple of people driving around in 2026 that might be aware of a brand name, but most people are clueless. So why would you market through me directly to them? Right. What we need to think about is what is the person who's gonna receive my part going to experience? Is the part going to be delivered in a timely fashion so that that person's car is finished in a timely fashion? Right? Um, is that quality of that part going to be such so that the owner of the car doesn't have to come back in 30 days to have it replaced under warranty? Right. So the idea is what is the end user's experience with your product? So not just the shop owner, because at the end of the day, quote unquote, the shop owner is not the end user, the owner of the car is the end user that's receiving it, right? Am I making sense so far? Oh, no, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah, as opposed to, again, uh you know, with the exception of probably tires, uh, most consumers aren't really uh that aware. I mean, there are exceptions, obviously, in the performance enthusiasts and certain people who really like to dig into that stuff, aren't really aware of many of the brands uh from the aftermarket that go into servicing their vehicles. But the shops and the technicians uh who are putting those uh products into use, they sure are or they should be. Uh and and this goes to the core of what you're saying, which is where is that conversation being directed? Is it is it focused on these are the parts that will help you help deliver this service level to your customers. Yes, keep them on the road. What can I do to help you? Uh you know, we have uh just uh just for example, you could have amazing products in your portfolio at a job or level, but if the service levels, as we call them on distribution side, to be able to deliver those products on time or promptly are aren't there, well that doesn't really deliver for the shop then, does it?

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Right, yes, yes, yes, exactly. Just as an example, yeah. Yeah. And so jobbers and and again to give uh credit to the challenges that we all face, but jobbers include, I want to acknowledge that they are been dealing with parts proliferation at a scale that's unprecedented, right? Um supply chain challenges caused by myriad of things that are going on in the world, manufacturing challenges, tariffs. I I understand that the the the our our suppliers and our our parts friends and jobbers here are having a valid, very challenging life. But what I want to do in this session is help them lift their head out of that that that that quagmire of challenges and look outward and go, right? There are 25 million cars on the road in Canada, and there's X number of these cars that are going to the aftermarket, and all of these cars are going to need X number of oil and filters and brakes and pads and rotors and sensors and stuff like that. And at the end of the day, how many of how am I going to get more of mine into a shop rather than my my competitor? Right. At the end of the day, it's that whole piece. Well, reputation, I think, is really important to the good shops. So people didn't buy that set of shocks and struts because of the brand of shock and strut that it was. They bought it because Mario's automotive and Mario service advisor Kim said we recommend these shocks for these reasons, right? And then the shocks perform as per the way Kim described them. After the client pays their bill, that vehicle rides the way it was designed to ride after the shock observer. So the brand reputation is not as important as the shop's reputation, right? And so thinking about how do I protect my client's reputation, right? On their outward facing. Now that does bring the challenge of a lot of unorganized shops, pretty branded shops, disorganized shops, shops that are just about price, right? I understand the job is probably rolling their eyes at me, going, yeah, Marie, you get to work, you get to work with all the good shops. Um, but I think if you if you focus on the good shops, it will dribble down and filter down to to that piece. So piece number one is protect the reputation, which then involves um, you know, making sure that we're sourcing quality. Like, and I know that's challenging, but there's a lot of complaints now from my clients about the quality of parts, and they're not blaming any particular company. It's just like an issue, yeah, a global issue. And the theory floating about, and I don't know if anybody can confirm this, you probably would be better, is that we're now seeing the parts manufactured in COVID are now in the supply chain. So all that disastrous stuff four or five years ago is now being filtered into the system because there seems to be a blip in the warranty amount that we're seeing uh in parts. Now, the numbers, you know, the jobbers would say the numbers don't lie, and they would give us other numbers, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:20

There has certainly been an unprecedented disruption in the supply chains globally over the last few years, and that is absolutely bound to have an impact in some areas, in some ways, some suppliers or some parts of some suppliers' lines, because it's not always monolithic. Uh, it's just bound to have an impact there. Um and and and and sometimes it's surprising and unexpected ways, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

So yeah. So then let's let's flip the tables for the shop owners listening and go um be organized and stop causing your suppliers to be hoist hostages. A hoist hostage. I was taught that by one of my jobber friends.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Tell me, tell me, I can guess, but but so let's talk about what's a hoist hostage.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Uh uh uh a traditional old school disorganized shop runs this way, right? I'm the man, I'm the service advisor, you're my client. So Andrew phones, I answer the phone. Hey Andrew, how can I help you? My brakes are squeaking. Oh, no problem, bring it down. We got a spot on the on the hoist, we'll inspect it, let you know what you need. You bring it down, I pop you in there, and sure enough, you need front pads and rotors. And they're like, Andrew, uh, could we get that done for you today? Well, and I said, I can get it done, you know, I can get it done by noon for you. And then you say, sure, if you get it done by noon, I'll I'll get you to do that because I'm terrified that I'm not going to make the sale. So then now I'm on the horn calling my jobber, going, I need these pads and rotors now. Because the hoist is tied up, right? That car is hostage, but I've now transferred the hostage feature of that situation over to the jobber. Now I'm holding them hostage because that I can't get that job done. And so then I begin to call around whoever can get it to me the fastest. And that that's a practice that I abhor, but there are shops still doing that today where they call five places and then whoever gets them there first gets the brake job, and then the rest go in the return bin, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yeah, yeah. It's not fair to anybody in the in in the kind of supply chain and the local supply networks on that. Right. But it's absolutely still happens. And uh, you know, and you end up putting uh the availability, um not that there's anything wrong with availability, but like the the most available and quickest delivery uh regardless of product quality uh necessarily or service levels, or even frankly, proper fit. I mean, it goes on the car and it's maybe not quite right, it goes on, and maybe if it comes back tomorrow, well, so what, you know? Right? So sale completed, right? So yeah, uh yeah. So I mean, I think we can all agree that that's not necessarily the best way to run a shop, but it does happen. So I know we said we were gonna talk about what jobbers to get to the shops, but but you know, obviously it's a two-way street here, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:08

It is a two-way street, right? So imagine a world where I say you the phone rings and you say, remember you you have your situation. I say, Andrew, um, at this point, I'd be happy if you brought your car down. The best I could do is one of us will do a test drive with you to confirm uh the noise or the symptoms that you have. At that point, we'll be able to decide when we'll actually be able to do a full inspection. Um, once you're here, you know, I will have a better idea of that. So you bring it in, we do the test drive. Say, listen, Andrew, um, it's 10 now. Uh, I have a technician available uh by 11:30 to do a full evaluation. And then depending on what we find there, on parts and technician availability, we'll determine whether we can get that job done today or we'll have to push it into tomorrow. Would that be okay with you? So I I communicate my commitment level along the way because I have to be realistic that maybe I have a technician that has a job that goes sideways on them, right? Right. Uh or whatever, or something does free up sooner and I can inspect your car sooner, right? And those are the shops that are actually more profitable uh because right, they're more organized, they're selling their time better, and then the jobbers are much right, and then the jobbers um are much happier to deal with them. And here's the thing for the shop owners listening is guess who gets better service? The more organized you are, the more service you're gonna get from from the job, right? Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Yeah, and and I think from from uh you know the part of this conversation, I know I I I pull from your expertise uh more than is fair, but you know, one of the things that's certainly happening with a lot of shops is they're just going straight into the scheduling mode because they're just busy. Good shops are busy, they're just busy, and they're you know, uh their you know, customer comes in and says, I have uh I have an issue, and they're like, Okay, we'll take a look at the inspection. How does a week Tuesday sound? Right. You know, and that's not pushing them off to be mean. But if the car is drivable and and and all these things, you know, how does a week Tuesday sound sound? It yeah, it's made got a noise, it's making noise, like like is it drivable? Is it something like what's the deal? Um, is you know, and oh yeah, it's fine, but I'd like to get it looked at, and okay, well, you know, week Tuesday, we have an opening, we'll do an inspection, and based on that inspection, exactly, we will then see what it needs if you want to do it, and then we will schedule out. But you're a lot of shops are now a week, two weeks out, yeah. Or more in something depending on location, town, all that. Um which again, uh from a jobber standpoint, uh they should be aware of what their shops are doing, like like the how their shops are going about it. Obviously, shops are all different, uh, and not expecting that necessarily um shops aren't organized, just to be able to serve them at a level. It's like like don't bring me the brakes now for necessarily for a job I have two weeks from now. Yeah, it it it might not be necessary, you know?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Uh yeah, but but two or three days ahead, depending on the size of your own.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Sure, yeah, everything staged would be wonderful, you know. Um here I am weighing in on this stuff too. But but I just think it's really important to be connected with how your your shops, especially your your most loyal shops, are currently what their flow of business is and how they're organizing their business to be able to serve them on on that level, uh, and not yourself be adding panic into the situation by like, I don't know, showing up with stuff that's not due for weeks or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah. Um, I I will I I I don't want to fall into the trap of talking about shop scheduling because we're talking about jobbers here. So um on that note, I want to talk about uh scheduling from a different standpoint, and then we want to talk about pricing a little bit too, because that's always what this stuff comes down to, right? So our scheduling goes, I don't know how many jobbers currently still have what we used to call the road salesperson calling on shops, right? Calling on a shop monthly, weekly, you know, sometimes doing the warranty write-ups or the return write-ups, dealing with cores and stuff. Um, I hear that it's still a thing with some companies, and some shops are experiencing it. And I'm hearing that some companies are doing less of it or stopped, and there's some companies, the newer players in the game aren't actually even offering that service. It's all order online, you do your own stuff with them, right? So it's it's kind of a changing landscape from my perspective. And I, you know, I probably need to hear hear back from the audience about that piece. But one of the things that really helped me back in my day and continues to really help shops today, is for the regular jobbers that call in a shop is to have scheduled appointments, right? And so, you know, I still remember um Jerry from one company was Wednesdays at two, because that was a good timing for him and for me. I don't, you know, I didn't have to dictate fully, like just negotiated that. And then Darren from the other company, because that my first call, my second call, um, would come on Thursdays at two, right? And I had a time, it was booked, it was on my my own personal calendar, like my management calendar. The company all knew, my staff all knew that Murray was going to be meeting with the job or rep at that point to discuss issues or products and stuff like that. And um, and so that was that's an important thing too. So, you know, that professionalism, offering that a kind of appointment with your with your route and see if that can work as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Yeah, it never hurts never hurts to emphasize the ledge with that like before we get to the price. Scheduling sales calls is super important and super respectful for as a if you're a job or salesperson, you cannot emphasize this more too much. That you know, being respectful of your uh shop customers' uh time is critical to your success in uh retaining and building that customer's business. Treat them like a professional, uh professional business owner. Don't just show up, hey, how you doing? You know, uh even if they're your best buddy, like respect their business because uh they need to know your and if you're organized, I gotta sneak in suspicion. That kind of starts to be contagious, right? You bring some organization into that relationship.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

It does. You can lead you can lead the way.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

It's professional, it's organized, can be super friendly still, and you can still talk about your sports and your friends and all of this other stuff, but but uh uh you know that's that's just a it's just the best way, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, and then that this led to a thought about an experience I had, and I always use this example, one of my best experiences with a a salesperson from the parts company. Um they listened to, you know, we would have conversations and we would talk about product lines and different things like that. And so I brought up the topic of how OE originally equipment batteries in most vehicles seemed to last much longer than any aftermarket brand I had sold. Right. So on average, you know, whatever, without using any brands, these particular, if I bought a new car, that battery would last five to seven years. Any other replacement battery would be three to four. And this guy said to me, Well, I know exactly why. He said, It's because they make a better battery for those cars because those cars sit on the lot, they sit in the shipping yards and they sit in the dealership lots, and so they're not being run, they're not being charged, and so they need a better battery that will hold up to those circumstances of not being used in charge. And I said, Oh man, it'd be nice if if we could access those. He says, We actually have that product line made exactly the same way. And I'm like, and he said, you know, they're like, whatever, 45 or 50 bucks a year costs more. Well, I forget the dollar amount. I don't care. I says, to me, a customer's gonna pay a hundred dollars more if the thing lasts two and a half more years. And this, right? I'm way prouder to sell that, right? And so the the the your team members, the jobbers being aware of your product lines that have a good reputation, that that solve problems for shop owners and technicians and stuff like that, that you know, that's where sales uh are made as well, right? On that information.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

What a great point. And it sort of segues into you, you you sort of introduced it, you know, to talk a little bit about pricing and and uh uh you know, many jobbers and and many shops too. They go, you know, pricing just it becomes like the the the foundational kind of base for the relationship, which is really too bad because yes, pricing obviously matters, um, you know, and and anybody who says it doesn't matter at all is fooling themselves, but it it doesn't, it's not the only thing. Um so uh tell me about from a shop perspective, what are they looking at on a pricing and a margin standpoint? Because that goes in there too, and and uh where where are they landing and looking for from a jobber standpoint these days?

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Well, I want to introduce this topic with two uh overarching themes that I think about. One is if price was the most important thing in the global economy, we wouldn't have an economy.

unknown 19:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Because it would always be the bottom, it would always be the lowest price. So there's always a differential, there's always a reason why somebody can charge a little more for something than somebody else, right? There's there's a value proposition why that works, right? And and so so we have to understand that there's always going to be a price difference, right? We're never if if you want to go be the cheapest, then good luck with that, right? Is what I say. The second thing I've been giving a lot of thought to, and I keep forgetting every time I bring this up when I'm in a conversation like this, is to go to and research the terminology, the business terminology. But I understand two ways of doing business. One is uh from my cost down. So, in other words, I'm gonna make money by reducing my costs, right? So I'm gonna sell this, and if I buy a cheaper part, I can make more money because I paid less for it at whatever that top line is that I'm gonna charge for. Or I'm going to find a cheaper accountant, or I'm gonna find cheaper building to rent, right? And so there's a whole idea of, but at a certain point, how low can you go? You won't have an accountant, you won't have a building, and you won't have parts delivered, right? Right. So at a certain point, there's a as opposed to a cost that you've analyzed that you know is your fixed cost, and you've done the best you can with it, and then we go above that, we go the margin above it, and we charge higher to make the money, and then we figure out how do we get people to pay the higher price for something for that value. So, for example, we talk about a shop attaining between a 45 and 50 percent parts margin. Um, it's not because my clients who hit 50 get a better buying power. I've actually had people ask me, Well, what do your clients buy their parts? I don't, I've never seen anybody with a 50% margin. I say, they buy the exact same part as you do, they just charge more for it. You're allowed to do that? I'm like, well, yeah, the word is suggested list, right? Um, and so I just want the audience to understand that it we go higher, right, to make our margins. But here's the thing for the jobbers, all right. I believe it was simpler in my day, right? There was a uh and a shout out to uh you all know Zed, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yes, yeah, Zara.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Uh uh, he's done some articles and some thinking about going back to the old days where we had a manufacturer's list, and then we had these sheets where there was discounted down, and we knew where we stood, right? Job or less, we knew where we stood, and we could work our way down, and we knew what the pricing structure from our main call, our second call, and then the differentiation in our purchases was the product line, our awareness of its value, its quality, stuff like that, and then delivery service on the phone, that kind of stuff like that, right? So it was a it was a simpler time.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Yeah, so just a quick shout out, shout out to we're talking about Zero Wishloff from um APD auto parts distributors out of uh out of Red Deer and uh environs.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

So yeah, yeah, yeah. And and again, I was I've been avoiding brands and companies, but because he has a passion for that, and he has a title for that that pricing structure, which I have forgotten. You might remember it, Andrew. Um, but he's he is advocating for the industry to to go back to um that kind of better pricing structure. Now he's you know, I don't know if he uses the word transparency because there's another definition of parts transparency that is out there that I think is confusing things, anyways. So what's happening now is, and again, the parts companies you know alert that they had to do some margin adjustments and go from cost up and stuff like that. So there was some business rationale for the way they changed things, right? That that way. But having said all of that, you now have companies coming to market with with programs. So loyalty programs, uh, they come with rebate programs, they come with trips, they come with all these incentives to buy from them. And I believe that a lot of that is muddying the waters.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Right. And um so let me let me reiterate what I would like. If I was currently a shop owner now, listening to my clients, if I was a shop owner owner now, I would like to be able to choose a line of spark plugs that I know are good for that application. Okay, so and both of my my jobbers um sell those, all right? Exact same product line, exact same product, a good application for that vehicle. All right. Now I look at my price, my cost from that company, and I get that I get pay this much for this one and this much for that one. And now I have a choice to decide. Is price most important to me, or what other decisions do I make there? Well, first of all, are they responsive to my online order or responsive to the phone call that might lead me that way? Or is the person is delivery better? Is their warranty program better? And then I make my decision and I buy that. Now, if I get offered a loyalty program on top of that, like an annual discount off of it, that's fine. That would be something I negotiate in the background. But what some of the jobbers are doing is the pricing structure is always fluctuating. One day that same part will be different price than two days later because of algorithms, because of computers. They act, you know, probably a lot of automation. There's probably not a lot of humans thinking about this pricing structure. And shop owners are getting really, really mad because it's a moving target.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Right, right. Yeah, they don't really know what to do.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

I will pay you, I will pay you four dollars more per spark plug if you don't change the price on me without an announcement of the price change because of whatever factors out there that are there that we understand. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

And there have been many of them from from inflationary issues and and surcharges on shipping to tariffs, all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

But progressively, like I know stuff's gonna go up, but don't just don't don't let me pay one price for a spark plug one day, another one the next day, and three days later. Because now my own internal pricing structure, my customers brought one truck in for a tune-up, and the same fleet brings another truck into a tune-up, and their tune-up is a different price because I didn't look at the what I paid that day. This is driving shop owners crazy, right? And I don't know what this solution is.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

If if you can do something to smooth the peaks and valleys a little bit on that as a jobber, then then certainly do that. And you sort of alluded to the fact too about the incentive side of it. And I know from the past, uh, you know, certain incentives would be uh afforded to counter uh people for, you know, this month it's you know, so and so and so, even something whether it's a hat or a gift card or a Timmy's card or something, and so suddenly they're selling this brand or pushing this brand. And I guess as a as a job or owner, I would just want to ask them to make sure that when your uh inside and outside sales professionals are are doing their jobs, that they have the customer in mind uh as a long-term, not just, you know, maybe today I get a a spiff for something that may not in fact be serving it. It two things can be true. It can serve my my needs to to you know get a free hat or whatever, as well as serving the customer. But if it's not, then they should be serving the customer first, not you know, getting the new hat or whatever it is. You know, I mean these things do happen, they don't happen a lot. They happen with, you know, sometimes with younger staff members who don't have those long-term relationships, don't understand the benefit of that. But uh but it does happen, you should have an eye out to make sure that that uh everybody knows that the goal at at your job or business is to serve your serv service provider customers in order to win their loyalty over the long haul.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Yes. Yeah. And keep it as simple as possible with pricing and with the rest of it. Um and be tran I don't know the transparency is is when they talk about parts transparency, they're talking about anybody in the world can check a price on the internet now for whatever price, right? Whatever. I think that but I'm talking about a different kind of pricing transparency where the jobber and the shop owner have a relationship, the pricing structure, this is your profile, and if there's going to be changes in the profile, we will let you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Right, right. Okay, just kind of wrapping up here. Uh, what I'm hearing is is really, you know, successful jobbers, uh building that relationship, you know, be respectful, be organized, even if the shop isn't. Uh keep them apprised, uh, you know, don't keep them apprised. Have the conversations, like, like treat them, treat them like a client, treat them like a have like you have a relationship. Uh in ways that maybe seem they're not really one-sided, but shops are busy. And if the shop owner's working in the bays all the time, he's not always going to be able to have all those conversations. But uh trust me, they'll value it. Uh if if you're uh if you're upfront with things, if things are coming down the pike about price changes, let them know as soon as you do. You know, they'll they'll appreciate it. They don't want to get uh surprised. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah. Good stuff. Good summary, Andrew. Good summary. All right.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Well, I try. I try. Listen, uh uh, thanks very much, Murray. This has been great. Uh, thanks everyone for listening. Uh, think about this stuff. It really matters building the relationships, even in times when it's really difficult uh to know where things are going on a pricing standpoint and a part supply standpoint and all this kind of stuff. Uh, you know, slow down, uh, be considerate and and intentional about what you're doing out there and and uh you know it's the best path. All right, thanks very much for listening, everyone. Uh catch you next time on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

You're listening to the Great Canadian Aftermarket Podcast, brought to you by the publishers of Indie Garage and Jobber Nation. Connect with us online at indiegarage.ca and jobbernation.ca, a brand of chat integrated media.