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by Jay Sicht
Columbia, Mo.--When he decided in 1993 to open his own shop, Bob Buchheit said another shop owner told him that: “only a fool would start a business in these poor ecomomic times.”
“Based on that comment, April Fool’s Day is when I started,” Buchheit said.
Buchheit, owner of All-Star Automotive and president of the Central Missouri chapter of the Automotive Service Association (ASA), is no fool, though, in striving to continually improve the professional image of his business. Since opening his own repair shop in 1993, Buchheit said he has attended every Vision Hi-Tech Training & Expo event--hosted by ASA-Missouri/Kansas-- except for the first one, and is planning to take key members of his staff to this year’s event, March 3-5 at the Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kan.
After receiving an associate’s degree in automotive technology in 1979 from Linn Technical College (now Linn State Technical College) in Linn, Mo., for which he now serves on the advisory board, Buchheit said he had worked for several quality repair shops in Columbia after moving there in 1979, honing his technical and people skills. But it was the expanded training such as the Vision event classes that helped him increase the professionalism of his business, he said.
“I was a good tech and knew how to fix cars and talk to people, but I didn’t know how to run a business,” Buchheit said.
Buchheit said he learned business and management skills from Vision classes taught by trainers such as Bob O'Connor, Richard Flint, George Witt, and Bob Cooper. "I feel like Vision's had a greater impact than anything I've done as far as educating myself to become a better business manager," he said.
Through the Fast Trac program, which is sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, he said, he learned about accounting, legal issues (not enough to be a lawyer, but to know when to hire one), and marketing, he said.
After being introduced to trainer Gary Gunn at Vision, Buchheit said he joined Gunn’s “20 group” to share ideas with successful shop owners from around the country. It was that involvement that spurred him to undergo the recent changes he’s made to boost his shop’s image, he said.
“I hope that as an industry, we get away from the image of the greasy technician with a rag hanging out of his pocket,” Buchheit said.
In September 2004, Buchheit changed the name of his shop from Bob’s Auto Service to All-Star Automotive to “take the business to the next level.” Despite numerous mailers reminding customers, the change has resulted in confusion for some, he admitted, but he felt it was worth it for the image boost it has afforded in conjunction with an aggressive marketing campaign for the shop, which is also one of two independent shops in town on the AAA-Approved Auto Repair program.
“I think customers could have it in their head that with Bob’s Auto Service, it’s a couple of good ol’ boys sitting around a pot-belly stove or a one-man shop that might be limited in what it can do,” Buchheit said. “When I think of All-Star, I think of the best. We have the best employees, and we have the best customers in town.”
Last summer, Buchheit bought the former Service One automotive repair business, a 4,400-square-foot building that had been built only about three years earlier near the city’s busy downtown hub of Broadway Street and Providence Road. His former location, which had recently been remodeled, provided enough room but was a little difficult to find, he said. He said he still owns that 4,000-square-foot building but leases it to used-car dealer Jasa Auto, noting that he bought the current building and equipment on a lease/purchase agreement.
The changes have paid off, said Buchheit, who added that he has expanded from four or five employees in January 2004 to 12 employees now.
Although he used to take his entire staff to Vision training, Buchheit said economics now dictate that he take four or five people including himself. He will take a service adviser and two technicians, he said, and foot the entire bill for the weekend event. In return, each staff member is expected to gather a lot of notes to share with the rest of the staff after returning to the shop, he said.
Two classes that Buchheit said the All-Star staff plan to attend include management classes “Inventory Dynamics” by George Witt and “Management on Cruise Control” by Gary Gunn.
The latter class will focus on implementing standardized procedures so that there is a system everyone understands and uses. Illustrating the effectiveness of an operations manual, Buchheit said, Gunn had told his 20 group members in an earlier meeting how he had not run a credit card transaction in his own shop until about six months ago. But because a system had been designed, he was able to refer to the shop manual’s step-by-step instructions and smoothly handle the large transaction. It is a system Buchheit hopes to soon implement, he said.
“The focus is on documentation, to build a system,” Buchheit said. “From the time the customer hits the door until he walks out, there should be a system for that.”
At All-Star, there are three levels of technicians, who work in teams, Buchheit said. The lowest level is called a general service technician, he said, with the levels progressing through junior technician and technician. A senior-level technician signs off on each repair, he said.
“Everybody has some level of ASE certification,” Buchheit said, adding that he has ASE Master certification in addition to earning his Accredited Automotive Manager designation in March 1999. The shop staff includes two technicians, one junior technician, and three general service technicians, he said. There are two full-time service advisers and one part-time adviser. Usually, each full-time adviser works with one team. Each adviser goes over each repair to ensure he or she thoroughly understands the repairs that were made to the vehicle, he said.
The staff and its certifications are featured prominently in the business’s monthly four-color slick mailers, Buchheit said, which he has been doing since the fall of 2004.
“Everybody is so busy,” he said. “Columbia’s population is so transient. When I started, I relied on Yellow Pages and word-of-mouth; if you do the job right and fix it right, the customer will help you grow your business with referrals. I still want those referrals, but unless you stay a one-or two-man shop, you have to get to a certain size to be able to be profitable. The only way to get there is with a good location and the right advertising.”
Buchheit said the Central Missouri chapter of ASA-MO/KAN is continually pursuing efforts to increase the image of its member shops by promoting events such as check lanes during the National Car Care Council’s April Car Care Month in several Central Missouri markets.
“We want to get the ASA name out there so it has the same significance to the public as ASE and AAA,” Buchheit said.
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