00:00:00 – 00:01:02
I was just going to ask you Mike how do you think the aftermarket automotive industry is changing I think that’s uh that’s something that everybody’s asking I I don’t know I don’t have the answer for that I mean uh um obviously we’re going away from from gas engines but I don’t know if that really affects me that much it’s like do you still want ppf welcome to the ride and style podcast your turbocharged pit stop for automotive restyling buckle up with Jesse and Josh

00:00:34 – 00:01:38
welcome to another episode of the ride and style podcast this is episode 22 we have a awesome guest today Mike JY of Auto Image Mike thank you so much for being here today hello everybody H we got how are you guys doing oh I’m doing fantastic Jesse there’s not many people I like from Michigan but I like me some Mike gerardi and Craig Marsh they are they are my guys and Mike did I mispronounce it how do you spell your how do you pronounce your last name no you you you got her you dialed her right in and

00:01:06 – 00:02:09
that’s not many people do so gerardi is right on right on okay that sounds it sounds Italian maybe what is that it is Italian okay Italiano Pizza sounds like sounds like great chocolate Gerard like like Mike needs to bring gerardi chocolate to the next meeting is what I’m thinking yeah well maybe we should look at doing something like that I got an in all right yeah gosh so how do you guys know each other let’s start there Josh you know I love that question Mike why don’t you tell

00:01:38 – 00:02:42
I’ll tell you tell your first recollection when we met and then I’ll tell mine where uh restylers United um so um Josh and I are both members of resty restylers United um we network with other restylers around the country and uh Craig and I were invited to uh uh to join one of your meetings that’s it’s been a few years ago now um was it the one in SEMA when the one we when we met at SEMA was that the your first one yeah it was out in Vegas and uh yeah that’s that’s where I

00:02:09 – 00:03:12
met Jos for the very first time and was it a full meeting did we have a full meeting like did we do best ideas and everything yeah yeah if I remember correctly go backways now I’m getting old my memory isn’t what it used to be but yeah I think we only did one meeting at SEMA so yeah yeah I think it was a full meeting um that was the one you guys were still doing I don’t know if we’re supposed to share this but we’re yes yes exactly right yeah Le them and that that’s exactly right so they were still there

00:02:40 – 00:03:47
leading it but yes at that time we weren’t sharing financials you were in fact that was one of the weird things we thought was that they sent us your financials even though we were just me member candidates oh that’s right okay so here’s a Funny Story Jesse yeah yeah all right so in this world of cars dealers and stuff like that there’s something called 20 groups right and so all it is is just and I’m sure there it’s other markets too but 20 you know 15 to 20 different noncompeting shops or businesses or car

00:03:14 – 00:04:09
dealers or whatever will get together they’ll share best ideas they’ll have a they’ll talk about problems issues whatever like that so anyway we hired this 20 group moderator and what they said they could bring to the table is they would moderate the meetings they would bring everything they would you know they would just run the meetings and then we’d also put our financials into a into their database and then they would spit out reports to us so that because that’s what we were

00:03:42 – 00:04:42
trying to do we were trying to all find out hey where are we who’s good who’s not good where can we help each other you know and the only way to do that is all of us pull down our pants and here’s our financials so but we didn’t do that if you know unless you were actually voted in as a member well this group shared myself and another Well Josh Elliots I think right yeah they sent our financials to Mike and Craig they were just guest Mike and Craig without even asking and of course they didn’t ask for

00:04:12 – 00:05:10
it because they never shared their financials so I remember the awkward conversation of me calling Mike not even really KN him hey um would you be able to uh throw that away and kind of keep whatever you saw under your hat and to this day I have to buy him beer everywhere we go and and Mike’s like are you trying to sell your company to me that’s a little forward you just send all your accounting to us like I didn’t say I was wanting to buy yeah crazy so Mike why didn’t we close on that deal why didn’t you buy me

00:04:41 – 00:05:38
out you just looked at the financials and you’re like yeah there’s no way I’m buying this guy I’m happy to get the beer a that’s awesome exactly but I still have those numbers so I want keep it keep it coming keep it coming so yeah that’s what so then Mike uh uh so we we stopped sharing finan because what we realized is we all doing about the same you know we realized what we we know what a good restyler should be making blah blah blah anyway it was a lot of work and time and it was a

00:05:09 – 00:06:16
headache and then we fired those guys because they were horrible and it was costing way too much money but then Mike and Craig came into the group anyway and uh you man that was like what 200 like 10 200 was it I want to say yeah it could have been 11 08 09 10 yeah somewhere right in there I it was probably 10 I think it was probably 10 I think it was after the big crash okay yeah wow yeah yeah so Mike uh why don’t you start by telling us how did you get into the automotive industry to begin with what

00:05:43 – 00:06:54
was the driving force behind that decision how’d you get into all this stuff um well it goes back ways um so Craig and I Craig and I have been friends for I don’t know going on 40 years now and uh Craig was working with another guy so selling uh stainless rocker panels um working with a car dealers and that kind of stuff uh this was 1962 right yeah yeah this was uh 19 yeah 90 well he started in late 80s 8889 I think something like that okay and uh he branched off I joined him and started

00:06:18 – 00:07:48
working with him in 1993 okay um and we became partners that year and um have just kept growing I mean we started out um just working out of our own cars out of our own houses calling on dealers we did everything from sales installation statements you name it front to back and uh just grew it from there um I think we bought our first shop in 2000 um moved into this shop in 2005 um bought our other shop in Mishawaka in 2016 I want to say and uh yeah now we’ve got uh 20 28 dis full-time plus drivers

00:07:04 – 00:08:09
and a whole bag of headaches to go with them but so how did Craig get into that you said he was just he was with somebody else or I mean he fresh out of school or what um he was it was his wife’s grandpa um worked in the car business he was a top salesperson in the local Ford Store and he’s the one that got hooked in with uh um selling some of this stuff to the dealers it was uh it was it worked out great yeah so he was working for his like I say it was his wife’s Grandpa at the time okay um yeah

00:07:36 – 00:08:29
and Kenny’s passed on yeah since then but uh so what so what did he do come you after on a Friday night drinking beer you guys were probably like 20 years old and said dude we should work together yeah well like I said we were buddies we worked together prior to that we worked uh we went to the same High School although he’s a little bit older than I am so we didn’t really know each other in high school but we worked together at a at a Shell station we were wrenching and um yeah Craig was a night

00:08:02 – 00:09:07
manager and and this guy that we worked for owned several different stations so uh yeah I worked at all three different stores for him um in various capacities from you know manager to oil changer to swapping tires pumping gas I started when I was 16 they’re pumping gas and so back when they still had full service gas wear fancy little white uniform and everything and heels and the whole deal nice wow I can only imagine that’s awesome but I got to see pictur yeah I got them still yeah they’re right with

00:08:36 – 00:09:44
your financials fair enough uh I keep I keep them close don’t worry uh so uh but yeah so we are buddies long you know long before we got into business together and uh yeah we’re uh 32 years this year wow so 32 years man that’s that’s tougher that’s almost that’s I mean listen marriage is tough Partnerships can be real tough to too it can be yeah what’s the secret like if you’re going if you have somebody with a partner what advice would you give them or your sons I know your sons you know

00:09:09 – 00:10:02
are uh are at that age where they might be get needing some business advice what advice would you give to someone who wants to be a partner with somebody I would tell him not to and I have Partnerships are extraordinarily difficult and it’s very rare to find one that works so for a lot of people that are going to get into you know and I’m not talking like uh you know if you’re a big uh private Equity Group and you have Partners that’s a little bit different but if you’re going to have a a small

00:09:36 – 00:10:36
business where you’re work ins side by side with somebody all day every day I would not recommend it um I think Craig and I are the exception not the rule and it’s very very difficult I can’t give you an answer because everybody asked me the same thing you know it’s like well how do you guys make it work and it’s like I don’t know it’s uh it’s a tough thing I mean we love each other and we give each other a lot of space and and that’s and you TR fully yeah super super important yeah

00:10:06 – 00:11:02
that that’s imperative from the get-go um we uh we definitely trust each other it you know and the thing is it gives us a lot of leeway too because and a lot of small businesses like Josh for yourself if you go on vacation hopefully you have good people there in place yeah Craig and I have never had that if I’m gone for a week he can make any decision that I can make or vice versa so there’s any problem that comes up anything that has to to be dealt with um you know he has the same interest in mind that I do and

00:10:34 – 00:11:38
we often times think very much alike so um it works out great that way but um yeah Partnerships are tough I I I don’t recommend it and I’ve seen I’ve seen many many of them fail yeah so Mike looking back now since you’ve had this long journey not just with your partner but the business in general what would you tell your younger cell just starting out in the industry I I wish I knew then what I know now I mean everybody says that but boy if I could explain to myself back then what I was missing in the 90s

00:11:08 – 00:12:09
right which is what what would you tell them yeah oh the the profits in the 90s were great residuals on Leasing and everything we a least heavy market so save as much money as you can now right yeah save it invest you know I mean you know buy property buy you know I mean it just you know it’s kind of cliche everybody says the same thing but yeah it’s it’s uh if I knew then would I know now yeah um but at the same point it’s been great I mean it’s been it’s been a fun business it’s been uh it’s been good

00:11:38 – 00:12:40
to me and I have no complaints I I um I’m happy to be here and still going strong you know 30 years in I’m 55 years old and I’m I I don’t know what else I would do with myself every day yeah yeah I tell you that’s Jesse that’s a a kudos to these guys because there’s a lot of restylers out there that the ’90s were amazing um now everything cost a lot less and we sold things for a lot less I mean Mike we had Henry palky on here and he was telling me about how we had he

00:12:10 – 00:13:15
was doing simc cons basically he was doing vinyl on top of roofer he would do uh do for what 50 bucks Jesse or ridiculous like nothing so I mean like he’s not doing 15 million in Sal right you know that be impossible but you know he but you know this in the 70s that’s how it was and then in the 80s it was good good and the ’90s were probably I mean there’s always good years but the ’90s with you were putting in what a lot of pop top pop-up suers or top sliders um back then we were still doing a lot

00:12:42 – 00:13:54
of mobile stuff um okay yeah we were doing like you know Fender trim rocker panel spoilers were huge we did a million spoilers you know Mustangs 1994 1995 96 Mustangs dude I’m in oldmobile country the Alero the in the grand dam we used to do a tons and tons of yeah 20 years ago I think it was 20 years ago last week that the oldsville uh had their last little arrow come off the line yeah and that was probably a Lancing because they a lot of they had a big assembly plant Lancing and uh two biggest oldmobile dealers in the world

00:13:18 – 00:14:18
were in Lancing wow so we did a ton of them we did we just line them up as many as I could do in a day tell us how um your business is a little bit different than like other restylers like whether in our group or stuff like that when it comes to how you guys do with the sales rep mobile stuff I think that’s awesome so yeah a lot of the a lot of restylers will focus on just new cars or um some of the bigger jobs um our sales reps when I go out and call in a store I’m going into new cars use cars and I’ll

00:13:48 – 00:14:43
walk to use car lot we do everything from wheel covers we do some Recon type stuff so Bedliners um interior repairs you know Headliners um but we go car to car I mean it takes it takes a fair amount of time to to call on all the stores and we do a fair amount of business in use cars it’s good and bad there’s a lot of business in used cars that a lot of restylers walk past some days I can see why because it’s a lot of work I mean you got to sell every job they’re not calling you to you know to

00:14:16 – 00:15:15
put wheel covers on typically I mean they they do but not in volume you got to it takes a little bit of work to make the used car side of things go um but we offer mobile service it’s really having our installers on the road doing all that kind of stuff opens us up for conos and stars and and we do a lot of lot of mobile service even for the new car side of things um but it’s been uh it helps us out I mean we’re not in a huge market so you know between kamazo and and Grand Rapids our our little town of planwell

00:14:46 – 00:15:42
here I mean we’ve got three dealers and they’re not big so what’s your what’s the percentage of time that you’re spending in a used car versus regular you know dealerships like what what how do you balance that you’re doing both so yeah yeah yeah I mean and it it varies day to day week to week just like any anything else but you’re at least as much or more in the used car side of things so it’s uh and you’re not working on necessarily programs or stock unit well they are stock units but it’s it’s

00:15:13 – 00:16:10
car by car it’s Case by case so I go to the used car manager with a list of cars that that need my help and then you know we go down through that but it’s uh that’s every week wow so that’s a l the old milk route Jesse milk route yeah that’s it yeah yeah yeah yeah so I was joking with Joey the other day I said yeah just out saw in hubcaps he says yeah you’re you’re you’re not lying there are you no he’s not no he’s not Mike’s one of the few guys that you know

00:15:41 – 00:16:36
who knows he could either be in a uh a meeting buying a new shop or a new uh new building or he’s walking the lot selling hubc walking the lot s yeah yeah still doing every day how do you deal with that relationship and that dealing with those some of those guys must be tough to deal with or you’re getting push back or they welcome you they’re like yeah give us ideas what’s that what’s that like oh if you’re not there in a week it’s like where you been yeah I I’m after 30 years I get to know most

00:16:09 – 00:17:09
of the guys that I’m working with and uh most of them are pretty good and they welcome me in and they want to know you know what they’re what their Recon Department missed so um yeah there if I’m not there every week they want to know where I’m at like so it’s uh I there’s a lot of really really good people in this business so how many dealers do you still personally call on oh gosh um I mean because you have like you have Kirby and you got Craig still calling on a few dealers right and yeah

00:16:39 – 00:17:42
Craig is out and Kirby’s full-time Sean is out Sean is he oh well he’s at the other shop right yeah he primarily calls on Northern Indiana although Craig’s down there now some too so um yeah the some of the shops overlap we have our other shop is about uh an hour and a half from us so anything in between here and mwaka can kind of go either way depending on who’s busy and who’s not um so and then all of our mobile installs are based out of playing well so even the guys down in Indiana will start here

00:17:10 – 00:18:09
every day so um but yeah personally I probably call on I don’t know 40 or 50 stores wow I would say yeah it’s a busy it’s a busy 40 or 50 a week wow that’s solid yeah he’s not having to stick with us to do a stupid podcast the guy needs to go out there and sell he could already see to know yeah yeah well I was out this morning I stopped back for this so didn’t want to miss it now wait a minute you probably picked up some headphones this morning didn’t you I did you you go to Walmart

00:17:40 – 00:18:44
or Meyer Meyer yeah I had to I had to it was yeah USB you know yeah I love it no no no no these are no these are the small plugin deal these These are nice these are real fancy yeah they’re jbc’s they’re top of the line real highend oh you’re going in the podcast career a bet nice candy yeah Jesse and I were talking earlier about how I get going on something like this and how do I develop something like this on my own I’m really I’m consider yeah yeah oh really SI of hear from me we’re not

00:18:12 – 00:19:22
ready to send set you out to pasture Yet Josh you still have to get that SEMA stuff going on and then maybe you’ll be too busy we’ll see yeah Mike’s Mike Will vote for me yeah I’ll vote for you heck yeah yeah see how he said that yeah maybe yeah you know yeah I don’t know it’s uh it’s almost beer time duh another round please yeah yeah for me my guy so uh how do you uh how do you balance work life I know you got what uh three sons right yeah yeah y three sons and you know I mean listen they’re a

00:18:50 – 00:19:51
little some of them are a little older and but they’re still in the house and or two of them are and well I’ve got uh my oldest just graduated from college uh a week ago U my middle son should graduate next year um and then my third one is he’s working for me he’s working here at chop and uh awesome he’s still at home so we’ll see we’ll see how that does but uh um yeah it’s it’s been tough over the years I mean there were times where you know how it is I mean you work

00:19:21 – 00:20:10
till you work right I mean if you work for yourself it’s I don’t I don’t punch a clock so you know it was kind of funny years ago when when my wife and I first got married she’d get mad cuz I was you know if I was late or whatever and you know how the car business is like at 3:00 things are smooth but at 4:00 it’s a train back right yes so you know she’s like Oh I thought you were going to be home and so we had to have a kind of a conversation a couple years into our marriage and I

00:19:45 – 00:20:48
was like look if you if you want that guy that’s going to walk in the door at 5:30 every day you got the wrong guy so like and I think some of it just sort of you know she learned how to how to work with it and and I’m not say there are days that I could be home early but some days you just it’s hard to plan um but always been very involved with the boys that’s always been uh super important to me um so coaching Little League you know helping out with soccer and you know Boy Scout

00:20:16 – 00:21:19
leader for years whatever whatever they needed so um well they’re great kids so you guys did a good job obviously your wife did most of the heavy lifting but uh yeah for sure for sure she gets she gets all the credit no I I give it to her she she worked hard with the boys Mike what’s one of the toughest challenges that you faced in the industry how how did you overcome it um as far as just overall throughout the years you know big picture you’ve already talked about having to be a a

00:20:48 – 00:21:37
part having the partnership and getting through that you talked about the difficulties of the schedule but and then and then also uh as things have changed the economy right the 90s were a little bit easier and then you know so we’ve gone through all these different Decades of challenge when you think about that when you look back what are some of the big challenges that you face so I really think I mean there’s been a lot of changes in the industry the things that we did initially like you

00:21:12 – 00:22:12
know we were talking about the the things we did back in the 90s you know with stainless steel trim and and spoilers and that kind of thing those are simcom when was the last time you did a simcom Josh I mean it’s been a long time those are gone and a lot of the stainless stuff is you know every now and again you’ll get somebody that has to have stainless but it’s few and far between and spoilers are you know gone yeah they you know couple of months maybe I mean you know so we’ve had to

00:21:42 – 00:22:38
adapt and change and and grow with the business and now you know ppf is coming on and spraying Bedliners and some of the different you know truck stuff that’s that’s you know been more popular recently um so you have to move you have to be a you know be able to uh adapt to a you a new climate I guess but um I think for me and that’s been fun I mean that’s always good it’s always you know kind of cool to go and explore and find a new thing and you know learn new stuff and get into new projects and but uh but

00:22:11 – 00:23:15
for me the toughest thing that’s always been is is people you know is employees employees are hard trying to make everybody happy and trying to maintain you know qualified technicians in all different areas and everything uh I mean our shop now has multiple departments with you know lift wheel tire and leather and sunroof and 12vt and film and bra and bedliner it’s uh it’s hard to keep all those all those people happy and you know as you get bigger you got retirement plans and health insurance

00:22:43 – 00:23:45
and all that to make it you know put together for everybody and then uh uh just trying to get everybody to be to work on time and work hard all day that that is the hard part I mean it’s just the people itself I think uh you know car dealers are what they are I mean I can I can work with that and car are just metal and glass and wires that you know people are the toughest so are you finding uh are you guys do you guys hire younger people are you having difficulty with that uh I I hear common theme it’s hard to find good

00:23:14 – 00:24:18
people so you you would probably have some people that have been with you a long time but what do you do about the replacement when they retire that’s a challenge that is uh that is a big Challenge and so when I said getting them here on time that’s the problem with the younger generation they don’t understand that you know work starts at 8 so I mean I don’t know yeah 830 n yeah like uh dude where you at you know um so and then you know honestly we’ve had we’ve had like you

00:23:46 – 00:24:53
know some of our soers convertible top guys some of our really good techs have retired yeah I mean they’re just they’re they’re getting old so it has been hard um obviously trying to find a seasoned guy from some somewhere is is ideal but it’s not easy yeah what about um when you guys one thing I I would think you you guys do a great job with marketing and sales and things like that and I think Craig and you that’s your Forte um is really being out there and I love the fact that you guys show everyone in your

00:24:19 – 00:25:22
business that hey I’m doing I’m grinding and doing the everyday things I’m not just sitting up in my tajma hall you know office and waiting for the checks to come in um you guys are grinding every day but tell uh tell everyone how you when you got into spray and liners the promotion you ran I thought that was just awesome um the yeti the yeti cup deal yeah so we did uh we bought uh I don’t know whatever it was couple hundred Yeti cups and had our our uh our logo engraved on all of them of course and

00:24:51 – 00:25:48
then uh for every spray and bedliner you got a Yeti cup so it was um it was pretty good and it’s a you know I mean everybody know Yeti it’s a quality name it’s not like we’re giving away you know a Dixie and and so it was uh um it was something everybody wanted and we got a lot of lot of business that way and of course once they get one well you got to have a four pack for the for the patio or the boat right yeah you’re not just going to want one you’re G want to have a matching set so yeah uh yeah we we uh

00:25:19 – 00:26:11
we’re still doing that down in Indiana oh are you good yeah we did well as fre and’s up here so we we bought another put up another Booth bought another system for down there yeah what I love about that is he’s just he’s able to you know get into a market where he’s not known or you know I mean they’re probably spraying elsewhere and then all of a sudden it’s not one thing to just say oh hey we’re friends send me your sprayin no you have to earn the business and he they did and but once they’ve

00:25:45 – 00:26:40
send you five or six then it’s like they just keep sending them after that and the yetis are gone yeah yeah the yetis are gone and and uh yeah they love the service everybody loves the service you know we pick up and we deliver we you know it’s uh we take care of you we don’t forget about you and and that’s uh you know that’s where it’s at right there so yeah so what do you what do you what are salesman at the dealership lever are pretty pretty lazy so I mean you got to just take care of them and

00:26:13 – 00:27:11
make it easy for them and then they keep calling they can only they can only remember one number yeah that’s and all that’s all they need that’s all they need is my number what are you seeing as the hot products and like are you guys focused on anything in particular right now is it spraying bed liner paint protection film you know leather or or is it is it a do you have a a mix of everything all the time and and it’s even or do you have certain things that are really hot um it ends in flow some of it’s

00:26:42 – 00:27:35
seasonal you know I mean obviously in the fall you see more heated seat remote start business you know for whatever reason Springtime people are thinking sunroofs more I I don’t know why that is they own the car year round same as everything else but but you know you’ll see an uptick that way but uh I think think industrywide I think ppf has been a a good area for growth for us it’s been not only a new thing but it’s new for a lot of people so um we’re not having to compete against 10 other guys

00:27:08 – 00:28:10
that are already established it’s all new for for the whole market so um everything’s kind of wide open it’s more of a educational type thing at that point you got to try and train the consumer that it’s a good idea to you know spend the extra money for ppf you know so um but I see film has been a has been a good you know it’s the future I think for a lot of uh a lot of resellers yeah what about uh let’s talk a little bit about your awesome Ford program you got uh tell us tell us how

00:27:39 – 00:28:41
that started and because I mean you talk about it nonchalantly now I mean but most recers would be like their eyes would be like what are you talking about but uh tell tell tell us how to started and then what you’re doing so so we do a lot of packages um there’s a lot of uh lot of value I think in putting a name on something um and in Michigan uh most people are pretty proud to live here and they’re pretty excited about about the big lakes and and the outdoors and everything so we did uh the Great Lakes

00:28:10 – 00:29:07
Edition um came with a badge that was an outline of the of the our state with the lakes and all that kind of stuff and uh um we had a bunch of those trucks in F-150s we started out doing those in Chevys uh Silverados um but across the board all different makes and models and what was in the package just leather just leather and a had an exterior badge had a embroidered logo on the on the seat back said Great Lakes Edition little Chrome badge that went on the fender or wherever you know that kind of

00:28:39 – 00:29:44
complemented the exterior of the vehicle so it all tied together um but uh one of our Four dealers in particular the owner of the dealer always had a great lakes Edition truck that he drove uh XLT F-150 with great lakes in it and just loved it thought it was a greatest thing and uh so with his help we went and he says you know he was he was a thinker you know and he said well he could go to Ford and uh and he could get an extra allocation of trucks of F-150s for his region you know for his ad fund group um and then

00:29:11 – 00:30:13
uh he could justify this extra allocation if we added leather to it all so that’s how it kind of all started he did a lot of the leg work he pushed hard on the whole thing and um so we wound up with another 750 trucks then that needed to have leather for 78 dealers in in the lower peninsula Michigan so wow um I mean SE how and that was within what time frame um it’s about four months you got to do them all four five months so we we couldn’t handle it all so there’s another restyler on the other side of

00:29:41 – 00:30:59
Michigan in Saga area that does about 45% 40 45% of those um I think uh I think year now he’s the one needs to be buying you beer not me gee hey I’ve been down that road don’t think I’m not covering on my Bas drink a lot of beer Bud all right fair enough so yeah he’s uh no Chris has been a good uh a good partner on the whole program over at aidi but um yeah this is our fifth year now I think there was some time off for for uh Co in the middle there um and since then there’s been a lot of people

00:30:21 – 00:31:14
on the on the for dealers that had connections with the state of Michigan for those of you not from Michigan we have the Pure Michigan uh ad campaign is the largest ad campaign in the world so if you look at all of our license plates say Pure Michigan when you come into the state it all says Pure Michigan and there’s commercials about Pure Michigan come to Michigan for your hunting fishing camping you know it makes uh Jesse doesn’t get the commercials I do because I’m only one state to the South

00:30:46 – 00:31:48
so I’m getting all cup P Michigan yeah it’s the guy from home Al or what Home Improvement right or whatever yeah Tim Allen yeah I think he still does a lot of commercials yeah yeah that’s right that’s right right yeah yeah yeah come to the buck guy just doesn’t have the same ring no it doesn’t and listen we don’t have all of our fish are dead there’s nowhere to swim we have no mountains so I’m going camping in Michigan in a couple weeks right see see that’s what happen so so now we’re doing

00:31:19 – 00:32:23
Pure Michigan and now we’re in the middle uh middle of uh I think it’s our fifth or sixth campaign so another 750 trucks I think this year and Auto Image we’re going to do about 430 or 440 trucks up like that so when you have that many trucks to do and I mean it’s not like your normal amount of leather that you’re doing uh didn’t you do like an assembly line or something it’s at one point we did yeah we did the first year we had uh because we couldn’t keep up with our

00:31:50 – 00:32:59
day-to-day stuff and and all this on top of it so we worked a Saturday and it was all hands- on Deck um we cleared out the whole shop and we had trucks coming in the backside in cloth and they were going out the front side and leather um it’s awesome and we uh how many trucks did you knock out on a Saturday uh what 50 52 I want to say or right just right around 50 50 50 trucks in one day oh wow 50 trucks yeah so yeah we did a couple yeah so we had uh I think Craig and I were pulling seats and then we had our

00:32:25 – 00:33:14
leather guys putting all the leather on it and then we’d put them back together and I think uh one of my kids and uh actually Rico is one of our leather techs now that’s where he started at Pure Michigan he was just 16 I think at the time and he was vacuuming trucks out and and uh you know wiping down all the seats and everything getting him ready to go back to the dealerships and so uh he was doing all the checkouts and cleanups at the end of the line and now he’s one of our main leather techs so

00:32:49 – 00:33:52
he’s putting all the leather in this year good yeah yeah I’ll put on the I’ll put on the badge on the outside that’s about all I can do yes well we needed somebody for that too Josh so you come on dog you need window banners and addendums and wow well yeah that’s awesome that Ford you know it just goes to show that even the even some layers the OE recognizes hey there’s value in this and you know people buy those trucks they know them they’re proud of them and yeah it’s awesome that’s great yeah it’s a

00:33:24 – 00:34:22
great way they can do a regional program like that like you said Ford doesn’t have Ford’s a Ford’s a big tank you know big uh luxury liner I mean that’s that’s uh yeah they can’t turn like that yeah no that we’re a speedboat you know we can go wherever turn on a dime and change it up and put something different in this one you know it’s uh so that’s awesome go ahead Jesse I was just gonna ask you Mike um how do you think the aftermarket automotive industry is changing you you touched on

00:33:53 – 00:34:48
it a little bit but I’d like to hear more about that what should we look at be looking for do you have if you had a crystal ball what do you think would happen and what do you think is happening where where’s this whole industry going well that’s a good question I think that’s uh that’s something that everybody’s asking I I don’t know I don’t have the answer for that I mean uh um obviously we’re going away from from gas engines but I don’t know that that really affects me that much it’s like do

00:34:21 – 00:35:23
you still want ppf I mean it doesn’t matter what’s power in the car right if you want film or if you want leather or you want heated seats I mean the great thing about this country is that people will not live without their without their Comforts right so if you want heated seats if your wife wants heated seats man her car is getting heated seats I guarantee you you know it’s just the way it is so and and here in Michigan it gets cold in the winter so we do a lot of heat at seats and uh so where it’s

00:34:51 – 00:35:49
changing or where it’s going to I don’t know you know it’s uh it’s hard to say I think film is is a pretty solid you know pretty solid deal for the future because you can put it on anything you know that’s the one nice thing is you know traditionally in restyle we look for like some of our DEC contented stuff you know your LS trim levels or or uh you know XLT trucks and you get up to a platinum truck and what’s left for me there’s you know I mean it’s loaded right yeah but it doesn’t have

00:35:22 – 00:36:24
film you know so so I mean you don’t have to be you know you can go to the BMW Lots or you can go to Tex or Mercedes or wherever and I mean now you have something to sell everybody and any trim level um what about uh dealers how have they changed over the years and where do you think they’re going us our relationship with them um it depends dealer group to dealer group you know I mean the thing that’s a little bit scary we’re see actually we have this going right now is you see some of the smaller stores are getting

00:35:53 – 00:36:48
bought up and so some of the bigger groups they have a lot more leverage and so when you have big groups in your area that may control instead of having two or three stores well now they’ve got 15 or 20 stores right and so um we have one now that just bought an accessory shop so we have a big dealer group that’s forcing all of their dealers for anything that you guys want you have to go to the accessory shop that I just bought so that cuts us right out now they don’t do everything so we’re still

00:36:21 – 00:37:21
we still got a foot in the door and we’re still working on that but but that is a little bit of a you know kind of a tricky thing where um you know some of the some of the dealer droops get big enough where they can do their own accessories and um I’m not saying it’s going to work I mean I’ve seen a lot of groups try it and fail so you know it may not succeed but you know if they’re trying it it’s sort of creates a headache for us so your advice to them would probably be go partner up with

00:36:50 – 00:37:51
somebody so that way cuz you’re like don’t partner with anybody oh except for you Mr dealer yeah I would partner with somebody yeah yeah that’s that’s right you need a business partner yeah work side by side you need to share your office with with a buddy of yours can’t you do that I’ve done it for 32 years it’s great it’s piece of cake Easy Peasy so yeah yeah that’s funny but uh but yeah you guys probably are though like you in many cases you are their partner I mean they do look at you that

00:37:25 – 00:38:23
way instead of just like a an accessory shop that we send you know one of their you’re their customer they look at you guys as partners absolutely AB absolutely 100% there’s uh we um we work hard to you know create a price point where there’s you know a wholesale at a retail price so that there’s uh there’s profit for the dealership so it’s not just a pass through pass through thing for them we should be a profit center for the dealer um and so for them to upsell accessories or leather or

00:37:54 – 00:38:48
whatever should be good for them should be healthy for everybody and absolutely we should be a partner and uh um anybody that’s any other restylers that are listening should really partner with your dealers or not just your customer um hopefully they’re your friends and hopefully they’re your partners and and uh what’s good for you is good for them vice versa you know so yeah how do you think you get to that level where it’s not just like a customer relationship it is more of a partner is what do you what

00:38:21 – 00:39:15
else do you guys do for dealer like like do you do training sales training do you do I mean how do you get to that part partnership level do you do them favors you know when they need help with stuff or what yes to all I mean you know it’s Case by case um I think being in the stores on a regular basis you have to call on them you have to provide support um and I think that’s really key if you’re going to if you’re going to go introduce yourself to everybody and then wait for the phone to ring you’re never

00:38:49 – 00:39:42
going to build that Rapport you’re never going to build a relationship with them um unless you see them and talk to them and and get to know them you know it’s it’s up to uh it’s up to you figure out what they you know learn about them you know learn what they like and what they don’t like I mean we’re all in the same business we all have a lot of similar interests you know if you really get down to it and uh um you know everybody’s got somebody else at home and kids to feed and we’re you know

00:39:15 – 00:40:12
we’re all in the same boat it’s just uh but I think it’s I think getting out there and seeing them um you know if you if you want to go buy your guy a beer after work it doesn’t hurt but I I don’t even know that that’s 100% necessary I mean I think a lot of it is just you know quality support from a business perspective and and getting to know them and and being in their store you know if you you want to make a a general manager happy support their sales staff you know you’ll be the general manager’s best

00:39:43 – 00:40:39
friend you know if you’re making it easy for for them I know I think it’s great advice Jesse just because sometimes people think uh yeah I think I think they’re I think they think they I got to buy them something or I got to take them out to dinner I got to do this or I got to do that just take care of them help them especially like he said the general manager so if the if you’re taking care of the general manager responsible for the whole dealership so if you’re helping the sales managers and you’re

00:40:12 – 00:41:06
helping the sales staff and you’re doing all these things it makes his life easier so that’s more he’s more indebted to you about that than anything else yeah that’s right and he you know he’s happy to see you when you come in you know Mike what are you what are you most looking forward to to right now like what are you guys doing that’s kind of exciting or or or what direction you see the business your business going in the near future um well right now today we got we KN deep in Pier Michigan that’s

00:40:40 – 00:41:31
consuming a lot of our energies right now I mean I’ve got a lot of trucks to move and and uh we’re early on I just launched the beginning of this month so the hard thing is is uh there’s 78 dealers across the state and they all want to get you know anywhere from two to 10 trucks done today it I got I got three trucks for you I got five trucks for you you know that’s that’s yeah it is it’s a really good problem but it’s uh it puts a lot of stress on everybody a little bit you

00:41:06 – 00:42:05
know especially especially right in the beginning you know but um but other than that you know the things we talked about I mean you know trying to grow our film department and and uh you know it’s uh and it’s always something every day is a new challenge just a couple more quick questions one more here it’s um what’s a good piece of advice that you would give to somebody just starting out in this business let’s say somebody came along and said I want to become a restyler what would you tell

00:41:36 – 00:42:46
them go to Ohio please lots of opportun here’s the financial yeah uh I um yeah that’s a good question I don’t know I I just like we talked about it’s like uh you know uh do what you say you’re going to do be straight with the guys take care of your customers I mean that and that goes for any business I think but uh um you know if you make a promise fulfill your promise if you tell them you’re going to call them back call them back you know if you’re whatever it is and I think take care of your people

00:42:16 – 00:43:21
and uh and you’ll be successful I think that’s that’s really important yeah that’s awesome Josh you have any more questions well no I mean I think I just love the way they just do things because they’re uh multiple shops and the way they have their they have mobile technicians so they have more people on the road I think one thing they’ve really done is just their name is out there and they’ve made sure that their name has a good reputation so that if they have a price increase or if there’s

00:42:48 – 00:43:43
an issue they have a leeway I like to say you got like that little I don’t know like when you’re racing your car that’s where a bunch of people love cars you got that red line you’ve got a lot of leeway to make issues mistakes and not lose a customer for good because of what you’ve done whereas some shops they’re running red all the time if they make one more mistake and it’s over so that’s a testament to you guys as your leadership and just the way you do business so that’s why I love hanging

00:43:16 – 00:44:04
out with you guys and learning from you guys well we certainly appreciate that and that is uh that is very important and I tell everybody it’s like you really don’t know who you’re dealing with until there’s a problem because because everybody is going to have issues everybody’s going to have problems how you handle them at the end of the day is what makes all the difference because um you leave it you leave a guy hanging out to dry and and he’s not calling you back yeah Mike how

00:43:41 – 00:44:54
does how does somebody get a hold of you if they want to learn more what’s the website and and uh where do people go to find out autoimage ami.com pretty simple autoimage Michigan so autoimage mi.com is the website um like us on Facebook Auto Image playwell um yeah it’s uh it’s uh or the local bar you’ll be there or the local bar yeah that’s very possible you know I I’ll be buying I have my credit card on file yeah yeah absolutely I I try to use good judgment there Josh I don’t know I know last

00:44:19 – 00:45:23
month was a little tough but you know get thousand what in the world is he spending up there geez oh that’s awesome well thanks for joining us uh we always appreciate you know having a restyler perspective sometimes we get manufacturers and other people on here but yeah there B it’s time to get somebody who really is on the front line This is the guys y yeah yeah thanks guys I really appreciate the time today and uh you know Jesse was nice seeing you Josh as always uh love to see you so uh look forward to our

00:44:51 – 00:45:53
next meeting uh in person and uh we’ll have one together how’s that sound all right deal you’re by all right yeah all right it’s my turn and there you have it another high octane episode of the ride and style podcast reved up and ready to go your hosts Jesse Stoddard and Josh pson shifted your Automotive game into overdrive if you’re hungry for more insights Trends and gamechanging interviews from the automotive restyling Universe don’t forget to hit subscribe and leave a glowing review we’d also

00:45:27 – 00:46:25
love for you to share this podcast with your Gearheads installers and autol lovers Network because remember knowledge is power but shared knowledge turbo charges the whole industry for more expert resources to supercharge your business cruise on over to autostyle marketing.com your One-Stop shop for Everything Automotive marketing until next time keep those Wheels spinning and your passion ignited thank you for riding in style with us see you on the next lap