John's Auto Center

And There's no better way to learn from those who have been there and done that. Today on Business Solutions, Dan Long with the Sandbox Group leads John Biss with John's Auto Care Center from Challenge to Opportunity and Solutions. So we've been introducing you as Price Associates for several months. Now the Sandbox Group, so you have your own company now working with a group of folks, teac It's hard to keep an entrepreneur down. T Enjoyed the Price Group. Wonderful people. Ron's one of my closest friends. Just started my own business Sandbox Group dot com and lessons from the Sandbox. Lots of t Basically it's all about teamwork and how to play together better. Absolutely. Exactly so. So let'start off. John, thank you so much for being here with us today. You and Dan had a chance to sit down and have a conversation about some of the biggest challenges that you face. Would you share those with us? Challenges in the auto repair business, my business is I've got people holding off on repairs. I mean I've got people holding off on simple repairs I mean it's amazing how many cars are coming in and now need motors, engines, because they haven't been changing their oil. I mean it's terrible that somebody would neglect such a simple t So it almost comes to the fact that they're tripping over dollars trying to save pennies, that old adage. They t And people know that somet I mean all of us at Repair Shops have been doing a great job advertising it for years and years, but either they're just too busy or they're just It isn't any different from heating or air conditioning equipment, dental cleaning. Every six months you get your teeth cleaned, right? Your cavity level goes down. The big expenses. So it's the same t I mean oil changes, right? You just got to get these things done, these maintenance things to keep you from, It's a cheap investment. Insurance. Yeah. And I tell people t When it comes to when they wait too long to fix a major repair. But if we do the regular stuff, we can keep those costs even lower. That's a paradigm s Would you say that one more time? You can fix a car for less than the sales tax of a new car. Alright, t Next time you go into a repair shop. One thing that we're finding with business owners, The economy has slowed down. But what's happened is? They've had to up their level of customer service. I mean they have a program, a loaner car service. Maybe you could explain that. And I've been trying to add value to my business ever since I opened it. We come up with a program for a free loaner car program. We've got free shuttle service, free pickup delivery service now. I mean the hardest part to me for a customer getting the car fixed is just getting it to their repair shop because they can't part with it. They're at work, they're busy. What if I come to your shop, come to your place of work, picked up your car, got all done for you, and delivered it back? The opportunity I hear and that is in what you said before is you're just going to spoil your customer Well, your shop is in Meridian. Yes. How do we find you again? We're right off Meridian Road. The best description on between the Meridian Bowling Lines at Kentucky Fried C Okay. Across the street from Starbucks. There you go. John Biss-Johns, Auto Care Center. Thank you so much for being with us today. Dan Long. The Sandbox Group. Great lessons learned for every small business out there. We appreciate you sharing that with us today. And when we return, look ahead to the coming week on the news front and our three challenges from t