MYOB: The Not-So-Secret Ingredient for Aftermarket Success

Success in the jobber business is built on volume. Since jobbers focus on overall sales volume for the day, the week, the month, the quarter and the year, this must be true, right?

Jobbers talk about their sales volume from their best service shop customers and what they have accomplished in sustained volume from them. They talk about the margins they are trying to achieve, and what lines they feel they win on and what lines they feel they lose. Jobbers seek out new programs each year that they can take to the field and sell to their customers. Their logic centres around the idea that if you bring new venues and sell new ideas to the marketplace, the parts volume will keep on coming, and one will enjoy a financially successful jobber business.

If this was the real answer to business success, then the two following questions beg to be asked: Why are there not many more jobber businesses that are very financially successful and growing market share, and why are there so many one-generation, only a very few two-generation, and not many three-generation jobber businesses?

There is a topic that is not discussed openly and frequently throughout our industry, that explains a lot about why a jobber business is truly financially successful and also ends up being so respected among industry peers. It’s actually a characteristic that I have noticed about the most successful jobbers and their families that I have had the privilege to work with.

Many one-generation jobber businesses were financially successful because of the owner’s efforts. When that owner passes the business onto the next generation, it starts a downward spiral and eventually is wiped out in as little as a five- to seven-year period. Very few second-generation jobber businesses continue the legacy of the original owner to a third generation.

The main error made during the first generation of ownership of the jobber business is that the owner gave everything possible to his family, creating a very comfortable lifestyle for them that he never had when he was a kid. To the original parent/owners, this was what success was all about. This is how they measured their life. “My children will enjoy what I wasn’t able to.”

It is exceptionally unfortunate, but what the first generation often fails to pass on is the very root of its business success. Only a small minority of jobber business owners have succeeded in passing on this secret answer to the family members that are supposed to take over the business. The original secret of their business success was the passion for the business itself, the passion for their jobber store staff, the passion for their customers, the passion for our industry.

These original owners were more concerned with the question of how they could help you with your problem, whereas instead the majority of jobbers today think, “This is what you can do for me if I do this for you.”

To the customers of these passionate jobbers, the jobber became well known as a person who really cared. He became known as a person you could really trust. He became known for his word. His word was his bond.

This passion is seldom seen today, as many jobbers are so caught up in the tangle of chasing sales.

There are companies today, however, that do exist with this passion, and it is truly a joy not only to do business with them, but to be around them. They are successful in every way that you measure them. The message of having a passion for what you do has been successfully passed on to the next generation.

These companies thrive to help people who want to help themselves. They go out of their way to do what they can to make sure these particular customers can succeed in their business.

These jobbers have a tendency to only ask one question: How can I help you with your problem?

Many of you reading this article might think that this is all very nice, but far from realistic. You may believe that you can’t take this approach with every shop owner today, and you are absolutely right. These successful jobber companies know that, too. They are selective as to whom they want to do real business with, but when they find their chosen shop customer they turn him into a client, which means they take their responsibility very seriously. It is business, and it is personal. They live by the question, “How can I help you with your problem?” They then proceed to go all out for that business owner, breaking all the rules if necessary, but they make sure they resolve that shop owner’s problem. It may take a week, a month, a year, even two to three years to resolve a specific problem, but they stick with them and get the problem resolved.

They truly believe in long-term relationships with their chosen customer base, but here is the really interesting part: they keep all these little success stories very quiet. The only one who knows he got help from his jobber is the customer.

The relationship is in place. The loyalty is in place.

These are the jobbers who end up becoming icons within our industry, and other jobbers wonder how they do it. Well, the answer is the passion they have for our industry and its people. They don’t use gimmicks. They use open, honest, up-front communication. They show their sincerity and concern to their chosen customers and let time be their judge.

Business today is tough, but if one could just step back and look at what the jobber business is really all about, you might be able to visualize it differently.

When business relationships are soundly in place, the customer will think of you first and only you, their jobber, for the answers to their problems. It may be a problem as small as supplying a line of parts, a delivery problem, or a billing problem. It may also be a major problem such as obtaining the correct business management training, preparing a detailed proposal to properly finance the business, finding a new shop facility that allows the business to grow, solving shop environmental problems, obtaining proper on-going technical training, answers to retaining key staff personnel, or how to go about obtaining and installing the right equipment in the shop.

The jobber is not expected to address all these serious problems personally, but he should know where to look for the right answers.

That is exactly how the best jobbers go about it. They source the right solutions and then oversee their implementation to help their customers with their problems, and they will never let their customers down.

I was discussing this very issue with a jobber client the other day who lives with this passion for his clients and this industry. He told me it is too bad the vast majority of jobbers don’t understand this. He never enters his client’s shop with the mindset to sell parts. He enters the shop to see how he can help the shop owner with his business. He told me that his sales were up 30% this December over last December.

This truly is the passion for this business. It is this passion that makes their jobber business successful.

Consider that the only thing a jobber has today is to sell parts and equipment, so what makes you different from any other jobber out there? It is not the price of parts, as many jobbers think; it is the people you deal with and how you deal with them. It is your passion.

Robert (Bob) Greenwood is President and CEO of E. K. Williams & Co. (Ontario) Ltd. and Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre Ltd. Bob has 28 years of industry-specific business management experience. He has developed shop business management courses for independent service providers recognized as being the most comprehensive courses of their kind available in Canada. Bob is the first Canadian Business Management Consultant and Trainer to be recognized for his industry contributions when he received the prestigious Northwood University Automotive Aftermarket Management Education Award in November 2003. E. K. Williams & Co. (Ontario) Ltd. offices specialize in the independent sector of the automotive aftermarket industry preparing analytical operating statements for management purposes, personal and corporate t
ax returns and business management consultation. Visit them at www.ekw.ca and sign up for their free monthly management e-newsletter. Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre Ltd. is a leading edge company devoted to developing comprehensive shop management skills through the E-Learning environment. Visit AAEC at www.aaec.ca . Bob can be reached at (613) 836-5130, 1-800-267-5497, FAX (613) 836-4637 and by E-Mail: greenwood@ekw.ca or greenwood@aaec.ca.