2007 Jobber of the Year: Pulling Together

“Partnering with your customers” has become such a commonly-voiced concept it has almost lost its meaning; true partnership comes not from signed supply agreements, but from intimate involvement in each other’s business, along with mutual respect. That’s what Adrian Gordon, the team at Gorwood Automotive, and leading automotive service providers in Woodstock, Ontario have built.

“Adrian comes across as genuinely concerned about our business,” says Craig Shoemaker, owner of D.C. Automotive, a Gorwood client. “He wants to be sure we are profitable so that he remains profitable. He is in it for the long term. He is concerned about how we are doing, versus just selling us parts.”

It wasn’t always that way, of course. Carquest associate Gorwood Automotive, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this past May, enjoyed a conventional market approach for most of its history: decent service, good coverage courtesy of its warehouse associations, and a knowledgeable staff to be sure, with a little walk-in do-it-yourself consumer business to sweeten the balance sheet.

It was, to hear Adrian Gordon describe it, a business indistinguishable from virtually every other strongly traditional jobber business vying for the aftermarket dollar. Started in 1977 by mother, Mollie, and father, Frank, formerly Canadian sales manager for Wagner Brake, it had trundled happily along for most of its existence.

It is in Gordon’s character to focus on the details. He is also a man who is irrepressibly modest and self-deprecating; he may bring a critical eye to those details, but he does it with a wry smile and a desire to make day-to-day life a bit less of a grind. The more relaxed a business day, the better; the more relaxed on the golf course, even better. About 10 years ago, however, the future wasn’t looking so rosy.

“It was about the mid-1990s–that may qualify me as a slow learner. Our return on investment should have been north of 5%, but it wasn’t.” It wasn’t exactly a crisis, but slow erosion combined with increasing costs of doing business, that inspired his search for a better way.

Gordon is an avid reader and researcher. He looks not just to automotive aftermarket information sources, but also to resources such as the National Association of Wholesalers (NAW). The NAW, based in the U.S., regularly produces publications and articles dealing with issues that wholesalers in many industries might find useful.

Gordon regularly injects references to NAW material in conversation.

“There is enough information out there,” he says; it is simply a matter of finding it, and figuring out how to work it into your own business.

But far and away the single greatest influence in his mindset, one might even say the architect of the business approach that Gorwood champions, is noted industry consultant and trainer Bob Greenwood.

“We did three Bob Greenwood courses [with our clients] over five years. We regarded it as an investment.”

It was a learning curve not only for Gordon, but also for his clients. (He does not refer to them as “customers.”) Making the transition to maintenance-focused businesses from breakdown repairs is not without its pain. It often means fewer parts sales short term, but more labour dollars meaning increased profitability for clients.

It is, he says, about focus.

“And who we were going to focus our efforts on and, as goofy as it sounds, making sure those people were successful, so we could be successful.”

Among the most visible of the changes was the elimination of DIY.

“There is no wall of tools in the showroom. There are no Yellow Pages ads. What I have learned is to identify whom we are selling to. Identify the value you’re bringing to them and focus solely on them.”

It is also important to note that the transition over the past decade has occurred while the local market has struggled. There are whole areas in the Woodstock region that have seen no small degree of carnage, losing independent repair facilities to a combination of poor balance sheets and the retirement of principals who closed their shops, at least in part, due to their failure to see a promising future.

It was not–and is not–an easy market.

In this environment, and to be consistent with the focus of the business, it has been necessary for Gordon to have some pretty hard discussions with clients. With the reduction in shops, it has become occasionally necessary to drop a client when serving them might no longer make economic sense; it is rare, but it has happened.

“It is really hard to deal with that. There is huge mutual respect, but you have to analyze the cost involved.” In one case, it took three years to come to a final decision that serving a small shop some distance away–with a dwindling number of shops en route–was too much of a drain on the business.

“We determined six years ago that delivery costs were $130 an hour. That means focus is key.” And it means that it is key to dedicate resources to those customers who are providing a return, and a future for themselves and Gorwood Automotive. And none of it would be possible if everyone at Gorwood weren’t working from the same playbook.

“You have to ensure that everyone in the business is on the same page,” says Gordon. He talks about how a philosophy at the top can fail if the front line staff isn’t included, and aren’t compensated in a way consistent with the philosophy.

“Our two key lieutenants are included in a way unheard-of 10 to 30 years ago,” says Gordon of Kevin Zavitz and Ray Coles. “They actually see the gross profit. They see reports daily. They understand that if you make a $500 sale, you don’t have to make the same gross profit percentage as a $2 sale. They understand it and they are rewarded for it.

“Rather than the having their ‘buy in,’ they are integral. They fully embrace what we are doing.”

Gordon realizes that every market is different, even within regions; that any market can change; and that you have to keep changing.

For example, when the Canadian Automotive Repair and Service (CARS) Council introduced its Interactive Distance Learning program, Gorwood invested the funds to put in a training room and organize a group of shops to take part. Since then, technology has allowed the same group to focus on DVD training, but they have also organized live technical training, sometimes purchased from other jobbers, all with funds raised within the group. The only mandate is that the information must be top notch.

“I have learned acres from these guys,” he says of his clients. “And I have learned that the key group of them, well, I listen to them carefully,” says Gordon. “The key shop operators can see through smoke and mirrors. They can sit there and be polite, but they know.”

Gordon says he believes the concept of pulling together should be reflected at all levels in the industry–from supplier, to WD, to jobber, to service provider. By way of example, he says that the industry needs one voice to move issues like access to repair information and tools forward. “Service providers have to be at the table,”–the Automotive Industry Association of Canada’s Automotive Service Provider (ASP) council is a good step, but not enough–“and the ASP associations have to get together and forget about the turf wars. It is essential that as an industry we are together as one voice.”

“The biggest thing that stands out is his support of the industry,” says Steve Booy, whose Steve’s Automotive is a top-level multi-bay shop. “He has made a real commitment to the garages. Right now the DIY market is shrinking, but when he made the decision to stop selling to the consumer, there was a very large drive [in the industry] to go for the retail business.” Booy notes how important Gordon’s focus on training has been–he clearly understands the financial and time investment made–and says that Gordon continues to help by supporting the efforts of a local group of shop owners to talk about issues. “Adrian sits at the table w
ith us, and he looks after the bookkeeping, but he lets us run it.”

Booy talks about how they seldom end up on opposite sides of an issue; regular communication keeps any potential area of conflict to a minimum.

“If we have an issue, we have an open dialogue. For Adrian to do well, and for us to do well, we have to have an open dialogue.

“This is in the forefront. He helps a lot of people individually. And it’s all communication.”

What Booy doesn’t say, but which is apparent from a visit to his shop, is that when Steve’s Automotive was gutted by fire three years ago, Gordon provided some assistance, assurance of sorts, to help where he could. Booy may have ended up as a poster child for RBC’s “First” campaign, but one assumes the bank was insistent on getting paid back for any loans.

For Gordon, there is no such assurance of payback, other than the word of trusted clients and friends. Which, for Gordon, is more important.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” says Gerry Ransom, a fleet refinisher, with a slight smile. “It’s not just cold hard facts,” he says of his successful business relationship with Gorwood. “It’s give and take. You have to help each other however you can.”

Currently, Gordon is looking for new tools to bolster his business, and that of his clients. Top of his list is a more detailed, current vehicle population tool.

He has experience with a couple of suppliers who stepped up with vehicle population-based inventory tools, but those lists were not maintained (he says), and have lost their bite as effective tools.

For Gordon, the need to become always more efficient, always more effective, is at the top of the list. When it comes to competition, it is the new car dealer that comes to mind.

“Our clients often purchase from the dealer out of frustration. They don’t want to buy from the dealer because they don’t make as much margin,” says Gordon. They won’t compromise on quality either, he says, but availability is sometimes hard to determine; when a part for a 2002 Chevy Tracker isn’t listed online or in a catalogue, it can be easy to fall back on the dealer as a source.

Gordon understands when parts aren’t available in the aftermarket, but when they’re on a shelf somewhere but he can’t find a listing, that’s another matter.

And with car dealers having detailed vehicle population breakdowns to make themselves efficient while jobbers struggle to react after the fact, it makes a tough situation worse.

“Information technology is invaluable, but it has to live up to its potential.”

Not that he complains loudly. He generally looks at things from the positive aspect–even when talking about clients who didn’t always understand what he was trying to do in counselling them.

“When I talk to some of these clients, I can tell they’re not listening.” Then, he adds, he’ll say something that gets their attention.

“I challenged one client that his labour rates were too low. He said he was busy and satisfied with his profits. We debated a bit. He had a great shop, fully equipped. I asked him what he would expect to get a month if he were to rent it out.” Suddenly, the client saw it in a different light, raised his rates, and is today much more profitable. It’s not about telling clients what to do; it’s about helping them see a better way.

“He is very analytical,” says Booy. “It’s a huge deal, having that resource at your disposal. “

“You have to mean what you say,” says Gordon. “You need to keep it real and you need to know what you’re talking about.”

While many in the aftermarket speak of the lack of loyalty shown by customers–and return that in kind–Gordon takes a different view after being involved intimately with the business dealings of key clients.

“It is truly refreshing that they and we have mutual respect and understand the needs of each other’s business. We truly work together–and it’s a whole bunch more fun this way.”

Jobber of the Year Award

The Jobber of the Year Award, formally named the E.J. and A.E. Wadham Memorial Award in memory of the founders of Jobber News 75 years ago, recognizes those auto parts wholesalers who epitomize the values held by the aftermarket.

Throughout the years, each recipient has demonstrated the highest level of achievement in business, been a key participant in the industry, and showed commitment to the type of community involvement that has become an integral part of this industry’s role within the Canadian social fabric.

Recipients are chosen from industry nominees–a list of potential recipients is carried over from year to year–with a decision made by a confidential selection committee of industry individuals.