Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
Hey, what's going on, everybody? Braxton Critcher back again for automotive repair news today. Appreciate you listening and watching this video on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. If you haven't already subscribed, do that now, because content drops all the time on what's happening across the automotive repair industry, just like today's video with Chris Messer from endeavor business media. What's up, Chris?

Chris Messer [00:00:30]:
Hey, how you doing, Braxton? Thanks for having me.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:32]:
Good, man. What's up in your world?

Chris Messer [00:00:34]:
Oh, you know, another day here, actually, this week in Minneapolis at the Ase instructor conference. I'm headed over there shortly. It's nice to have an event in our hometown. Get to see a number of people in the industry this week.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:47]:
You're just jumping across the US all the time.

Chris Messer [00:00:51]:
It seems so. Man. There's, like I tell management, there's. There's a couple events every single week. We. We can only be in one place at a time, though.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:59]:
Yeah, yeah. Speaking of events, ratchet and wrench, the management conference is coming up in September. Tell me about what that conference is, is all about.

Chris Messer [00:01:12]:
Yeah, no, I appreciate it. So we are 60 days out, just under 60 days out from the 2024 Ratchet Wrench Management conference. We are. We couldn't be more excited about this year's lineup. So real quick background, Ratchet Wrench management conference been around since 2016. It's kind of a unique format of an event because most of the presenters are actually peer to peer presenters. They're not the same vendors and suppliers that are running the market. And at every single event out there, they tend to be more of, like, real raw and in the trenches of owners and operators of shops that are presenting on how they built their businesses or challenges that they might have in their businesses to other owners and operators of shops.

Chris Messer [00:02:00]:
So it's a unique format, a lot of peer to peer education. September 12 through 14th in Orlando, Florida, which is a whole new location for us. Been a couple different areas of the country. It rotates around. And this year we'll be at the Renaissance seaworld in Orlando.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:20]:
Ah, seaworld.

Chris Messer [00:02:22]:
Yes. Yes.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:24]:
So what else is new? What else is new with the conference this year that returners might want to expect?

Chris Messer [00:02:33]:
Yeah. So we've got, obviously, a whole new lineup of speakers. We've got a little bit different format for our vendors and partners out there when historically they would be present or presenting their wares throughout the entire conference, doing a little bit more of a spin on that. And we'll have a vendor showcase that takes place on Friday night the 13th. So with that, we've got a lot of cool things in store, a lot of entertaining, sticky, experiential type things that are going to take place. So I can't pull back the curtain on everything. You got to be in the room if you want the whole experience. But one thing I can talk about is we partnered with Velo Group and we've got a really cool opportunity to run RC cars.

Chris Messer [00:03:23]:
It's called the Velo victory lap at the Ratchet Wrench Management conference Thunderdome. And that'll be going on Thursday, I'm sorry, Friday night, 13th from what is it, like five to 08:00 p.m. eastern time. And that's going to be an opportunity to run RC cars around on the trade show floor, challenge your friends, your colleagues, youre competitor, if you will. And they're going to be giving away a lot of great prizes running. I think it's six different heats of racing as part of that. So, of course, we've got numbers of industry leading vendors that are going to be there. They're going to have lots of prizes, lots of opportunities, lots of products that can help you grow your business as a service repair center in the US here.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:11]:
You going to be racing the RC car, Chris?

Chris Messer [00:04:14]:
I'm right. You know, I've been known to let my hair down and put it in a helmet once or twice and get on the track. So we, again, the event is all about the experience, right? We want people to have fun, but we want people to come back with real, tangible information that they can grow their business with. So it's a nice mix of both of those. In addition, we've actually got on Saturday night. Normally we do our big party on like the second day. Here's what we found out, though. We take everybody out, we go party.

Chris Messer [00:04:48]:
We have a good old time. People are slow moving that last day. You know, they miss a class or two. So we switched things up. This year, we're gonna close the event with the biggest party we've ever thrown. And we're doing a little tribute this year. Braxton, as we know, famous Jimmy Buffett passed away somewhat recently, and we're going to do a little tribute and pay a little homage to him. So we've got a margaritaville themed party, lots of fun games, lots of dancing, maybe a little limbo contest, maybe some special appearances.

Chris Messer [00:05:25]:
Once again, you have to be in the room to get the full flavor and see what we've got in store this year.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:32]:
What I mean, I'm sure that the answer is yes to this question, but expand on it a little bit. What kind of things will we expect about EV and that whole side of automotive at this year's event?

Chris Messer [00:05:49]:
Yeah, so first off, I mean, right out of the gate is a really, really inspirational speaker. His name is Mike Jones. He's from an organization called Discover Leadership and he's really focused on mindset and helping shop operators get the right mindset to win. Followed by that is an exclusive presentation that we have. Part of our sister company here in endeavor business Intelligence is one of their subsidiaries is IMR Automotive Research, and we produce, in partnership with Techforce foundation, this perception of the trades research and report that we do. So we've actually got some special guests from tech Force foundation, from IMR Automotive Research, and from UTI, the Universal Technical Institute, talking about what, what the change in some of the stigma that's been around technicians and more. More so like younger youth going back into the trades, how blue collar work is not to be looked down on anymore, how going to a four year school is not the only path for a child these days. In fact, there's so much opportunity out there.

Chris Messer [00:07:04]:
A technician, a painter, an H vac can make such a great living in the industries that we serve and there's such a demand for that. Beyond that, I mean, I can go through the whole schedule here, but it's breakout session after breakout session again. It's all focused on leadership, management, real tangible elements that you can bring back to your shop to run a better business. So that'll go through Thursday, Thursday afternoon. After the breakout sessions, we do have a little networking, happy hour, a little bit of fun time, and then also some of our vendors and some of our partners are throwing some offsite events that can be really cool and have a good time while you're there. Then we get back Friday, it's classes all day, you know, business to branding, talking about how to incorporate DVI, working on your sales strategy. We do have a session live and uncut with Lucas Underwood. That's on Friday at 115.

Chris Messer [00:08:01]:
And that's really just a free flowing, like work tank or workshop of things where it's going to be an audience interactive session where people can ask Lucas questions. And as we know, Lucas is pretty unfiltered and we'll give them some response. Again, kind of a free flowing conversation. From there. We've got other sessions on managing the business, managing people, and really, I guess one of the things I'm most looking forward to is our closing keynote speaker. So we talk a lot about and as you've read Ratchet and wrench, you've read numerous times about KPI's key performance indicators, whether that's technician efficiency, touch time, car count, average repair order. These are the numbers that drive your business. Bill Snow from radair complete car care is going to talk about what he believes, and what I support is the number one most important KPI, and that's keeping people inspired.

Chris Messer [00:09:02]:
Your business can't run without the people that are running your business. And getting those people to all row the boat in the same direction at the same speed and really after the same goal is incredibly important. If you haven't met Bill, he's a multi multi shop owner up in McLeveland and Akron area of Ohio. I think they got, I could be wrong, nine shops, I think, and they run a really, really great business with a lot of really great teammates. Is a really inspirational folk that I think you can take a lot away from.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:36]:
Wow. I mean, slam packed. Got a lot going on. That's good. There is so, you know, I think a lot of times when you think about a conference and people sign up and they go, you get. It's like drinking through a fire hose. I mean, it's just a lot at once. It's so much information.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:56]:
It's good information, but it's so much at once. What kind of takeaways have you learned over the years about how to retain some of that? I know, like, some people take notes or maybe other techniques, but what kind of things would you suggest to somebody if this is like their first time or they've been before, but they lost a lot of that information about how to go through something like this and go back to their shop inspired and really make a difference.

Chris Messer [00:10:29]:
This is how I set myself up. When I go to an educational conference for my own purposes, where I get to sit as a student, as a pupil in the audience, which is rare, I'll admit, but, you know, one, two, three of them a year. At the end of the day, I try to take back three things that I can apply to the business, and that could be a short term goal, that could be a midterm rock goal, or that could be a long term strategic plan. I'll take pages and pages of notes, but I will identify three distinct things that get on my roadmap. I've never once been to an event where I can't take three things back and apply to the business. Right. If you go back and you take pages of notes and you've got the syllabus and you've got the presentations and you think you're just going to take it all back and incorporate it that next week or that next month, you're going to end up hitting a wall and getting frustrated quickly. So you have to prioritize.

Chris Messer [00:11:24]:
And let's be honest, you take a day, well, in this case, two days, three days away from your shop. When you get back, you have other business to attend to. Right? You've missed a few days, you're busy, and you're going to have to attend to that business. But you have to prioritize, taking these things that you've learned and applying it back to the business. So what I do, once again, I'll take pages and notes. I'll identify the three. You know, sometimes, I'll be honest with you, Braxton, sometimes I take the easiest things, right? Knock the things off the list that I can apply right away or delegate those things to my people and help to educate and empower them. But I usually block off time that following week so that I can actually download myself or with my team about what I've learned or what I'm trying to incorporate and bring back to the business.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:12]:
Cool. What else is newsworthy that you'd like to share outside of the event, too, that's happening at Ratchet and wrench or endeavor business media? What else is coming up that we need to know about?

Chris Messer [00:12:26]:
Well, hey, man, I appreciate that question. As you know, I'm super excited. Chris Jones has been put in the captain's chairs, our group editorial director across all the vehicle repair groups. So Chris has been an amazing, he is an amazing person, been an amazing asset to the company and just an all around fantastic guy. I think you and him are going to interview here at some point in the near future. But he's been running ratchet and wrench, been at the helm of the editorial mission for Ratchet and wrench for the last couple years. And now he's going to sit in a seat where he hopes to influence all of our different markets. So that's not only Ratchet and wrench and motor age, which he has a hand in now or has had a hand in, but also modern tire dealer, professional tool and equipment news, professional distributor, fender bender, ABRN, national Oil and Lube news, our motor age training, continuing education division, auto Jobcentral, and a number of other products that we represent as well.

Chris Messer [00:13:25]:
So I'm really, really excited about that. Let's see, in addition to that here, press isn't out quite yet, but I got a new fellow who just started with me today and he's a great guy. His name's Eric Screedon. He's our new edit. What is it? Technical and multimedia content director. And Eric is going to do a lot of different things with the company really focused on the vehicle repair side. He's been in the industry for over 20 years. Was a working technician.

Chris Messer [00:13:55]:
He worked in the Garage gurus program with federal mogul, has worked for Bosch OTC. So again, that press will come out here in the next few days. Just joined us what, about 5 hours ago here. He's drinking from a fire hose today. But we're really excited for that. And beyond that, we're just gearing up. You know, right now it's been a little low in the season. You know, mid July, the events kind of slow down a little bit, which kind of a nice reprieve, honestly.

Chris Messer [00:14:24]:
I tell people in Minnesota we get about 90 nice days a year. So I try to try to spend as many of them as I can up here. But travel season and all the great industry events and all the gatherings are going to start really ramping up here in the next two months.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:37]:
Well, that's good, man. You know, one of the key missions to automotive repair news today is to keep people informed about not what is, not just what's happening across the industry and other repair shops or other things in automotive, but also to help understand the importance of going to training to stay up to date on the latest and greatest in EV and things like that. Because if you don't stay up to date, and this has always been true, but especially in today's world, if you don't stay up to date on what's happening across the industry, you're going to get behind. Your repair shop is going to suffer. Your people are going to suffer. And that means you are too. So grateful to hear that you guys are doing what you can to keep taking that next charge, that next step, and to help keeping the industry informed and so happy to partner with you guys and appreciate all that you do.

Chris Messer [00:15:33]:
Yeah, vice versa. Appreciate everything you and the team are doing as well after a collective goal. And that's to elevate the industry as a whole. So, you know, you keep doing what you're doing, we'll keep doing what we're doing, and we keep finding these ways to work together and let us know what else we can do for you, my friend.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:51]:
That's right. That's right. Appreciate it, Chris.

Chris Messer [00:15:53]:
Yeah, of course.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:55]:
And if you know of news that needs to be shared across the industry, like events like this or other things that are important to other repair shop owners. Let us know in the comments below of this video. If you're listening on a podcast platform, you can reach out to me directly@braxtonautomotiverepairnews.com. and if you'd like to sign up for the event Ratchet and wrench management conference in Orlando, a link to that registration is in the podcast description. So appreciate you doing that. Thanks for listening, and thanks for watching this video on automotive repair news today. Hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair news today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment.

Braxton Critcher [00:16:42]:
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