103 - Succession, Success, Now What?! Featuring Tracy Holt, Owner of Performance Place in South Jordan, UT

103 - Succession, Success, Now What?! Featuring Tracy Holt, Owner of Performance Place in South Jordan, UT

August 28th, 2024 - 00:58:18

 

Show Summary:

Join us for the discussion on two key elements of a successful automotive shop: fostering a supportive, family-like work culture and preparing your business for long-term success across generations. In this webinar, you'll gain actionable tips on creating a positive work environment that keeps your team engaged, while ensuring your shop’s legacy continues for years to come.

About Performance Place: Performance Place has been a staple in South Jordan since 1974, starting as a small 3-bay shop and growing into a 14-bay, 10,000 sq. ft. facility. Now run by Kent Holt’s sons, Tracy and Byran Holt, the business continues to thrive while maintaining its strong family values.

Key Topics Covered:

1. The History of Performance Place:

• The evolution of Performance Place and lessons learned along the way.
• How Tracy Holt took over the shop from his father while staying true to core values.
• Adapting to growth while honoring the past.

2. Creating a Family Atmosphere:

• How to promote open communication and mutual respect within your team.
• Building strong bonds that keep your team motivated and engaged.
• Supporting ongoing learning and personal growth.

3. Building a Legacy: Lessons from Multi-Generational Shops:

• Preparing the next generation for leadership roles.
• High-commitment to employees leads to high retention and long-term success.
• The role of continuous evolution in creating a lasting legacy.

At The Institute, we help shop owners build thriving businesses with a culture that supports both their team and long-term goals. Regardless of where you are in your automotive journey, whether you're just starting your first shop or you're a MSO, we have something for your shop! Please reach out!

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

Tracy Holt, Performance Place

 

Episode Highlights:

[00:01:22] - Tracy shares that the shop is celebrating 50 years in business since his father opened it in 1974.

[00:02:54] - The original shop began on half an acre and expanded over time as the city grew around it.

[00:05:21] - Tracy now operates 14 bays and is planning to expand further to support more staff.

[00:07:39] - Tracy recounts growing up in the shop, working his way from sweeping floors to running the business.

[00:09:24] - The transition from father to son was slow, emotional, and full of learning opportunities.

[00:10:41] - Tracy wants to make the next succession plan easier for his son, should he choose to stay in the business.

[00:20:00] - A pivotal moment in planning came after Tracy’s son’s accident, which emphasized the need for long-term security.

[00:26:21] - Tracy joined The Institute, embraced coaching, and saw measurable improvements by implementing pricing strategies.

[00:36:22] - The shop improved from a 5–6% net profit to 21% by refining the parts matrix and labor structure.

[00:55:48] - With the business thriving, Tracy is considering a second location or major expansion for the future.

 

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry? Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

 

👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sO8rbBedlI

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• Want access to our online classes? Click Here

 

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Jimmy Lea: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or good night, depending on when and where you're joining us from today. It is a good day, no matter where you're joining us from. Today is a good day. We are talking today about succession plans, succession planning, the success of the plan, and then, and then what?

Jimmy Lea: So now that you've done that, what's next? What do you do? My name is Jimmy Lee. I will be your host today. You've got questions. We've got the answers. Type them into the Q and a and we'll ask Tracy. Who is our guest Tracy, your questions, Tracy joins us from a performance place in South Jordan, Utah. Tracy.

Jimmy Lea: Good to have you on this morning. Good morning. 

Tracy Holt: Good morning. It's great to be here. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And, you know, for us, it's morning, but for Andrew, it's afternoon. Andrew's joining us and, uh, it's probably already after lunch for Andrew. So good afternoon, Andrew Tracy. Uh, thanks for being here, man. I really appreciate it.

Jimmy Lea: I've seen your shop. It's amazing. It's definitely grown over the years. Um, and, and I'd love to start by going back in the way back machine to when pops started the shop when dad started the shop, but 1970 or so? 

Tracy Holt: '74. 

Jimmy Lea: '74. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. So this, this year marks 50 years in business for us. 

Jimmy Lea: Well, yes. And that's easy math for me.

Jimmy Lea: I was born in 74. So yeah, 50 years. That's a long time, dude. Okay. When, when, when dad started the shop back in the day, what was it that you guys were working on? What was pops working on? 

Tracy Holt: Well, you know, back in South Jordan, the early days in 74. I mean, there was a lot of farm equipment. Um, he had opened a small You know, it was actually a, a six bay shop to begin with, um, right on Redwood Road, the main drag through South Jordan.

Tracy Holt: Um, but he started out pretty much working on anything from cars to trucks to tractors to Whatever I think he could, uh, you know, to help get the business going. So, 

Jimmy Lea: yeah. And, and, and he built the building, right? You have, uh, like three and a half acres there or five acres or 10 acres, or I mean, you've got a lot of land.

Tracy Holt: Yeah. We've got like, uh, almost three acres now, but when he started, um, he was on a half an acre, um, the building took up most of that, um, It's funny, my, my grandma owned the land and basically helped my dad get started way back then. Um, helped her, helped him build the shop. And then through the years as pieces of property.

Tracy Holt: Around us became a, you know, available it, uh, you know, we purchased them over the years piece by piece, you know, and now we're right in downtown South Jordan, and, you know, the, everything is literally just grown up around us. I mean, when we started out, there was a little two lane road up and down in front of the shop and now it's, you know, it's a major metropolitan area now.

Jimmy Lea: Well, yeah, aren't you like a six lane road out there in front of you? 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. Yeah. We, in the beginning, we had actually parking in front of the shop between that and Redwood Road. And now they've expanded Redwood Road where it's six lanes. And I mean, our building's 10 feet off the road. It's, you know, they'd never let us do that today, but you know, we were kind of there before everything else started.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, I was trying to remember, it felt like the sidewalk was right up against the building. 

Tracy Holt: It is, the sidewalk is literally three feet from the building, you know, but. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's so close. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah, you know, and people are like, how did it be so, you know, end up so close? And I said, well, the road used to be, you know, you know, 30 or 40 feet out from where it is now.

Tracy Holt: And it was just two lanes. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, so when Pops started it was all ag and uh, didn't he have like four or six bays or something like that? 

Tracy Holt: Yeah, he had the first initial part of the shop which we're still operating out of, um, six bays. Um, you know, there was enough driveway around it for circle around, not much parking at all.

Tracy Holt: You know, and I'm thankful, you know, as of today that, you know, as stuff popped up around us for sale, he was able to purchase that. You know, um, there's a lot of demand for the land where we're at. So, you know, going forward, you know, we're in a, we're in a great spot. I mean, we've got loyal customers and, you know, there's literally the, the community has grown around us.

Tracy Holt: We, we actually, in the city of South Jordan, we're one of the two oldest still operating businesses that have been going on for this long. 

Jimmy Lea: Wow. Yeah, that is, that's super cool. That's some longevity there. Pops really set up a legacy for you guys. And he also built on the building a couple of times to where now, aren't you like 14 or 20 different bays that you've got available?

Tracy Holt: Yeah, so we've got 14 workable bays right now. Um, there was an addition and an addition and then, uh, just an addition on an addition. Um, yeah, we've got 14 workable bays right now. Um, and actually, we're in, right now, in the design stages of either adding on a new waiting room and possibly, Some more workable bays out of the shop.

Tracy Holt: Um, one of our big Issues right now is our waiting room is still the same waiting room that we started back in the original shop and so now We've got to come up with a plan to get some more service advisors in there to help support More technicians because luckily we have the shop size to support more technicians, but we need to develop More workspace for the front office to support them.

Jimmy Lea: Right. For sure. For sure. And, and I want to paint a picture here for everybody that's listening and watching this. The service advisors are in a hallway. This hallway has been converted into their office, which used to be the parts. Closet, right? 

Tracy Holt: It was. Yeah, it is. As far as having a shop layout for service advisors.

Tracy Holt: Um, it's, it's not ideal, you know, but you think when he started, my dad was fixing the cars, you know, greeting the people at the front counter, you know, back then they didn't even know what a service advisor was. Um, in the beginning, I think there was one or two chairs in a little corner for somebody that was waiting and you know, now the industry's grown, you know, grown into this where you have a support staff in the front office that supports the rear and back and forth.

Tracy Holt: Yeah. And we've just had to adapt and we finally just got to the point where we've outgrown physically what we can do in the front office. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, I love it. I love your shop. I love the opportunity. I love the expansion Possibilities that are there for you guys. It's super awesome. Super awesome So question for you as you're going through life, you know here here you you step in and you you start shoot, man You must have been like two year old pushing a broom.

Jimmy Lea: You must have learned to walk in the shop Like you grew up in the shop you bleed 1030 

Tracy Holt: I do. I, I literally, it's the only job I have ever had. Um, I remember being a young kid, empty in the garbage, pushing the shop, you know, pushing brooms. And, you know, all I wanted was my dad to give me the opportunity to pull a tire off or use some kind of a tool as a little kid.

Tracy Holt: You know, and I worked there all. My teenage years up through, you know, where I was a full time technician out in the shop for years and years and then obviously transitioned into the front office, you know, as, as things went on and we grew, but yeah, it's, you know, it's funny. I, we've been in business, um, 50 years and, you know, I was three years old when the shop was opened.

Tracy Holt: So I guess I've been employed more or less. I probably should just retire. You would think by now, I mean, I've put my 50 years in. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. After 50 years, you should get a gold watch or something or a plaque on the wall. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: So that progress that you've made through the shop. That's what I want to talk about here for a second, because there's a lot of shops that I go to all over here in North America where it's family.

Jimmy Lea: It's all family. And, uh, the son is out in the shop, they work up through, uh, in the shop, they, they, they've have the scars, they've done the work. Then they come up into the front office, they learn the business of it. At what point with your pops, did you take that active role that he became? semi retired.

Jimmy Lea: Can I say that? What did that look like for you and your pops? 

Tracy Holt: Well, it, it was a long time coming. I mean, and, and it was a slow transition and a lot of discussions. Um, you know, he'd been doing this full time for many years and he was getting burned out on it. 

Tracy Holt: Um, 

Tracy Holt: so I've been, Honestly, up in the office for the last 20 years.

Tracy Holt: Um, and when I say in the office, I was a number of years still fixing cars, assigning the work and kind of running everything day to day. Um, You know, obviously with dad's support and then my brother was there too. And my sister, um, but it, it was, it was an interesting process to end up where we are today, and I look at that.

Tracy Holt: You know, cause I've got kids that are in the shop. I've had all my daughters have worked for me during college. Um, my youngest son is 19. He's out a GS in the shop right now. And, you know, and if he chooses to pursue this long term, um, hopefully I can make it a little easier on him than maybe I had it in that transition going forward.

Tracy Holt: You know, I had to learn a lot and I know that my dad stuck me in places where I needed to learn. Um, but, you know, there was a lot of uncertainty, you know, of how this was all going to play out in the end, and it's taken us a long time to get us to get to this point. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, for sure. And there's a lot of Rockefeller family dynamic there where he's putting you where you need to learn.

Jimmy Lea: Like everybody in the Rockefeller starts in the mailroom and then they work their way up into the business. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Sounds like pops did the same for you. And the beauty of what you just said that I'm hearing is you experienced it. So hopefully when you do this transition with your son or your succession plan, because you went through it, you're going to make that work better for.

Jimmy Lea: Whoever's going to take over when you're ready to transition as well. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah, I think the big thing is, is I, I just want whatever the next step is or the next generation is, you know, whether it's family or somebody else, you know, more of a clear cut plan of how. It needs to be laid out and, and, you know, and we had, dad would talk oftentimes, you know, when he was having a really bad day, he would be prepared to turn it all over to me and walk away.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: I'd be like 10 

Jimmy Lea: bucks and here's the keys. I'm done. 

Tracy Holt: Exactly. And then the next day, nothing would change, you know? And so, you know, and as. As things went on and on, I mean, the hard part for dad was that he, this is his baby, you know, this is all he's done. He's had so much, you know, blood, sweat and tears into it.

Tracy Holt: It was hard for him to realize that he didn't need to be here on a daily basis. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. You know, you've got that same dynamic that it has been all you've done. It is your baby. Yeah. I think you've got a different perspective in that it's not, it's not everything. But it's a lot. 

Tracy Holt: It is. 

Jimmy Lea: And you've got family working there now.

Jimmy Lea: I met your sister. Your sister's there working with you. How does, how do you work with your sister and not kill her? How does she work with you and not kill you? Well, How is it that you're still on this side of the bars? 

Tracy Holt: Let's put it this way. When we go on family vacations, we go our separate ways. Um, yeah, my sister, she runs all the accounting side, the bookkeeping side, the back office.

Tracy Holt: Um, she's awesome. And I mean, she can honestly step in and service, right? She can help people at the counter. She can order parts. I mean, she can literally do anything. Um, but her main focus at this point is keeping track of the numbers and making sure everything's taken care of. Um, my brother is also a service writer and he's been there a long time also.

Tracy Holt: Um, you know, and it's been. 

Jimmy Lea: Who's your brother? 

Tracy Holt: Byron. 

Jimmy Lea: Byron! Yes, yes, I met Byron. Okay. 

Tracy Holt: Yes, 

Tracy Holt: he was there. You know, and so it's, it's been a hard transition because there's times when you have to interact as family. And then there's times where you have to interact as employees and. You know, and it's really hard to separate that.

Tracy Holt: And I think that's probably, it hasn't been easy and we've had our battles, but somehow we've fought through and found some kind of a balance, whether it's a healthy balance, I don't know, but you know, we've all tried to put the best interest of the shop ahead of our own because, you know, the shop not only supports us.

Tracy Holt: You know, we've got all my employees, their families, you know, there's so much more to it that, you know, you have to put the, the, the welfare of the shop, kind of a head of, you know, personal feelings and things like that. And that is so hard to do. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, it is. It is. Uh, I, my, I tip my hat to you, brother, that that's, that's an awesome dynamic that you're able to work in that.

Jimmy Lea: Uh, I had an opportunity way back in the way back days to work with my dad in construction. And I just thought, you know what, I really need to keep this father son relationship, not the boss employee relationship. So I, uh, I chose to step away and I know it kind of broke my dad's heart that I did that.

Jimmy Lea: But I, it's, it's one of the things you have to really weigh out and the fact that you're able to do it with your daughters and with your son. Bro, congratulations. That's it. 

Tracy Holt: And I  think every personality type is going to play into that. I've got a daughter that worked for me all through college. And then she refers to it as her adult job and you know, that she got after college, you know, they work for me when they need flexible schedule and, and things like that.

Tracy Holt: And, and she, it's funny, you know, I, and she is just. My wife refers her to the female version of me. 

Tracy Holt: I mean, she's a go getter and on top of things. I mean, yeah, you know in the beginning i'm like man She could run this place easily and One day she we were talking about you know What she was going to do now that she'd graduated and leaving me and she says dad for our relationship It's best if I go work somewhere else because we're too much alike So, you know Um, yeah, and I, I'm, I'm, I've never forced my kids into the business.

Tracy Holt: They've all had an opportunity there, but at the end of the day, it's their decision to stay or go and I'm not going to hold it. You know, it doesn't matter to me. I just want them to be happy. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's super cool, man. Yeah, that is, that you have that relationship with them and yet they have that understanding, that dynamic, that's super cool.

Jimmy Lea: So that's, that's where the um, business is today, um, what about the future? Where does it, where, what, are you going to gobble up some more land? Are you going to move? I don't think you can move, dude. I don't know where you'd go. 

Tracy Holt: No, I think with our customer base, where we're at is where we need to be. Um, and, and honestly, if I was to look at starting over again, with the cost of property and where our customer base is, it would be really hard to go start somewhere else.

Tracy Holt: Um, you know, and I, I actually enjoy, you know, I've found a new joy in the business in the last few years. Um, you know, for a lot, a lot of times it was kind of a job that I was just, you know, it was paying the bills and this and that. And, and honestly, I was kind of burned out. Yeah. Um, you know, and after getting my dad to step away.

Tracy Holt: You know, here a few years ago, and 

Jimmy Lea: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. A few years ago? 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: wait, wait, wait. How many years ago? 

Tracy Holt: So, I purchased the, the bill the, the shop. I don't know what it's been. It's going on three, three or four years now. Outright from dad. 

Jimmy Lea: He really held on for a very, very long time. 

Tracy Holt: He did. Um, he, he, it was, it was hard for him to step away.

Tracy Holt: Yeah. Um, you know, but the shop was also expanding and kind of turned into this thing that he realized he couldn't control and. You know, I was doing my best to kind of control the growth and what we needed, but he still kind of had the mentality of, I don't know, he had struggled so long in the shop that, you know, when it come time to talk about expansion and spending some money on equipment and this and that, you know, he, he didn't see the longterm picture of it. 

Jimmy Lea: Right. Right. 

Tracy Holt: You know, and finally it come down to some long conversations of, you know, dad, if you were to pass away and when you're gone and you don't have this drawn out of what you want to happen to the shop, it may destroy the shop because, you know, everybody's going to have their idea of what maybe dad thought or what dad wanted, you know, but once he's gone, who's going to be there to say one thing or another.

Tracy Holt: And so I said, you know, whether you. Do what you do with it, but make it happen now, you know, don't wait till, you know, it's forced and you have no say because you're not here. 

Jimmy Lea: Right? Don't wait until it's in probate. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: And, and, and then nobody has a voice. Now the, the, the, the court is telling you what's going to happen.

Jimmy Lea: That's not cool. So yeah, kudos to you for talking to your dad like that. And that was a 

Tracy Holt: hard conversation to be like, you know, we've got to make a decision. Good or bad, you know, and, and get the ball rolling now. And, and I mean, when these talks went on, honestly, for years and years and, you know, He's obviously getting older and, you know, I hope he's around for a long time, but you know, you, you start to see, man, we, we've got to get this taken care of because I mean, not only for the livelihood of my family, my brother's family and our family, my employees, you know, I've got, um, I think you maybe met, he's my parts manager at the shop, my son Brady that had been in a severe car accident.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, yeah, big dude, tall, long hair. 

Tracy Holt: Yes, yes. 

Jimmy Lea: He's a 

Jimmy Lea: funny kid. 

Tracy Holt: He is, 

Tracy Holt: yeah. You know, his accident was about eight years ago and that kind of spurred this whole conversation of like, you know, I've got to be able to provide an opportunity for him. He's an adult, but he's had some, has some disabilities. And I had, you know, I have this awesome opportunity that I can give him a career.

Tracy Holt: Yeah. Something to go to. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. A purpose. 

Tracy Holt: He is a purpose. Yeah. So, you know, and, and I just thought to myself, if something happens to the shop, you know, not only all my employees and my family and that. But, you know, that kind of spurred the new me on, yeah, let's make this thing as accessible as we can and the longevity.

Tracy Holt: And so I've really worked hard, you know, the last five years getting it to a point. 

Jimmy Lea: Well, and wait a second. So let's back up here because I'm, I'm hearing the conversation started eight years ago. Son was in the accident five years. So was, was this conversation with pops? Is this a five year conversation that's saying, Hey dad...

Tracy Holt: it's been going on for 10 years.

Tracy Holt: I mean, a long time, but really after his accident, um, you know, he was, he was in a hospital. He was in the hospital for more or less of a year. You know, our family went through a lot after that and it kind of makes you reevaluate, you know, what maybe your long term goals are or where you need to be looking, you know, and not to say that that's the whole reason, but that was a big part of me making a change of like, okay, I've got a, I've got a, you know, I've either got to make this work.

Tracy Holt: And work, whether I'm here or not, or it needs to go away and we got to figure out something else. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Or we got to find the next thing. What's the next thing? Yeah, exactly. Oh, brother. I, uh, congratulations. And, uh, what a blessing that your, your boy Brady is still around and still with us and that you've got an opportunity for him there at the shop.

Jimmy Lea: That's, that's super cool. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. And there's, there's been a lot of great things that have come from it. You know, it's, it's one of those. Life changing events that you, you wish you never have to go through, but then there's been so much good that's come from it. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I know of a few on this webinar right now that are observing that are in that same situation where POPs is still holding on to the business, but needs to make the plan.

Jimmy Lea: And put that, that next succession into play. Is there any advice that you would give somebody today that's in that situation? How do they exclamation point this conversation to say, Hey pops, we really need to make this plan. 

Tracy Holt: You know, I, it was hard because there was a lot of discussions between me and dad.

Tracy Holt: And he, there was times where he would say, well, you just. Write up whatever you think and I'll agree to it. And I, I never. proposed anything like that to him. I said, no, dad, this needs to be something that comes from you. Um, and so it, it, it seemed like that drug on forever and ever because, you know, there's obviously a lot more family involved and, you know, and I, I just, I felt for what he was trying to do, but I had to give him the space to do it, but kind of, I had to get to the point where it was like, we need to do.

Tracy Holt: We had to have a hard discussion of like, you know, it got to the point where I'm like, Hey, we're going to make this happen and we're going to do it this year. We've got to the end of the year to make this happen. And honestly, it took better part of a year with a deadline and signed the papers in January 1st, I took over the company.

Tracy Holt: You know, um, but I don't think if we would have had that deadline of like him agreeing to it and it kind of forced him to make some decisions. Um, I don't know. It's, it's a hard thing. Cause I'm every situation is going to be different. Um, you know, at this point I'd invested so much time and effort and that into the company, there was days when I just wanted to walk away and be like, this is stupid.

Tracy Holt: I can go do something else. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah.

Tracy Holt: But you know, it's also my baby, you know, the growth we've experienced and everything I've been through the lean times and the good times and all the cycles 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, yeah, yeah. In fact, uh, to, to that point, uh, I remember when you hooked up with the Institute and the conversations that you and I had initially, you're like, Hey, look, I, I'm not looking at car count.

Jimmy Lea: I'm not looking at marketing. I've got a good car count. I've got good this and good that I really am looking to fine tune what we're doing. So when, when I, I don't remember, uh, I think it was a seven or an 8 percent net that you had operated over the last three years, but you knew that there was a little bit more, there's just something else that you wanted to do.

Jimmy Lea: And the fine tuning is what you were looking for.

Tracy Holt: You know, in, in the beginning, um, I've, I've. Over the years, we've used a couple different coaching companies. Um, they've all been good. We've got something from every one of them. 

Jimmy Lea: Right. 

Tracy Holt: Um, part of the problem was, is dad would insert me into these coaching companies, but he still had control of everything. So I'd come back and be like, hey, we should do this. Or we should do this. And he, well, you know, I don't know. I don't know. 

Jimmy Lea: Drug his feet. Drug his feet. Drug his feet. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. And, and so after, you know, the company became mine, I started to look at the financials, um, from an owner's point of view, and we had money to pay the bills every month.

Tracy Holt: You know, there was times obviously when we would stagger what bills go out to what vendors throughout the month so that it would clear the bank, but there was always cash flow coming in. And I'm like, we're working too hard. To have to operate like this, we're doing something that's not right. Um, so I did, I honestly was looking and I can't even remember how I come across the Institute, but I remember thinking, Oh, they're in Ogden, Utah.

Tracy Holt: This will be great training. It's in state, you know, versus, and so I went on and I signed up to the program where you could watch all their videos online, um, Cecil's videos on, you know, The numbers and I, I honestly think I've watched every one of them multiple times before I ever contacted the Institute about coaching.

Tracy Holt: Um, after watching the videos, I started to tweak a few things, you know, on the parts matrix and this and that. And I'm just like, man, I'm tweaking these things and my numbers are starting to move in the right direction. And I'm like, man, what if we could get to this 20 percent that they talk about? You know, and I'm looking at ourselves and figuring 20 percent and I'm like, holy crap, why can't we do that?

Tracy Holt: And so then, you know, obviously I contacted the Institute and said, you know, I need some coaching. Um, the biggest difference was when I contacted the Institute was, I think I was ready for the coaching. I'd already committed that. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to do what they tell me, whether I think it's right or wrong.

Tracy Holt: I'm going to give it six months and. If I follow what they say was what I thought in my mind, and the numbers start to grow, I'm gonna swallow what my pride is, or what I think I know, and just trust the process. So I signed up. I, I ended up with Aaron as my coach. Um, those first couple months, I think if he could reach through the computer and strangled me, he would have, um, because he would say these things and I would agree and I'd be like, Oh, I don't know.

Tracy Holt: I just don't know. And, and so it took a long. You know, when I say a long time over the first few months of tweaking this and tweaking that and kind of like getting Letting me get out of the way of the process And letting people do what i'm paying them to do. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah 

Tracy Holt: You know the numbers started to move in in the appropriate direction 

Jimmy Lea: Nice.

Tracy Holt: You know. 

Jimmy Lea: So Tracy, how long has it been? When did you sign up? 

Tracy Holt: Um, I think it was June, 

Jimmy Lea: June of last year, 

Tracy Holt: last year. 

Jimmy Lea: So just over a year. 

Tracy Holt: Yes. Just over a year. 

Jimmy Lea: And shout out to your coach Aaron for not killing you. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: And then, uh, So you were with Aaron for quite a while. Um, and then you got into the group environment.

Jimmy Lea: How long were you with Aaron in that one on one coaching environment versus going into the group environment? 

Tracy Holt: So my first group meeting was last November. Um, I got invited as a guest and we went to Denver. And so I ended up going to Denver, you know, and he'd got, we'd got to the point where he's like, I think you could really benefit from the group process.

Tracy Holt: I went to Denver and you sit for, you know, a couple days and evaluate somebody's shop and you go over each other's numbers and I'm like, Oh my gosh, these guys have got it figured out, you know, and The accountability that was being held as the group was honestly, I come back and, and my, I'm telling my sister, I'm like, oh, well, you're gonna have to do this and change this and this.

Tracy Holt: And she, she probably wanted to kill me. I think.

Jimmy Lea: Probably. 

Tracy Holt: yeah, cause I'm like, we're revamping the entire accounting procedure and going to do that this way and this way. And, and, but you know what, after. Words and we've got everything dialed into where we truly understand the numbers and what it takes to be profitable The business isn't that hard once you get it to that point there's still struggles and there's You know, things you're always working on, but, you know, in the beginning, it was like, we've got so many broken pieces in the business.

Tracy Holt: Where do you even start? I mean, so we fixed the, you know, some labor matrix, we fixed a parts matrix. We fixed, you know, and, and I would hyper focus on one aspect until I got it moving in the right direction. And then I would go over here, um, you know, and so. After entering the group process, you know, I've been to two meetings now.

Tracy Holt: Um, there, we were in New York a couple months ago 

Jimmy Lea: With Tom, you went to Tom's place. 

Tracy Holt: Tom's actually my composite. He's my partner. So he's awesome too. Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Your  accountability partner. 

Tracy Holt: Yep. Yeah. So you end up with a partner that you look at each other's numbers and goals that you've have written out and you kind of have a, you know, meeting a couple of times a month.

Tracy Holt: And, you know, their job is to hold you accountable and your job is to hold them accountable. 

Jimmy Lea: So, I'm going to say some words here and you can correct me. And, uh, the words are, uh, uh, Has Tom been able to hold you accountable and call you out on your crap? 

Tracy Holt: Oh, absolutely. 

Jimmy Lea: Have you been able to hold Tom accountable and call him out on his crap?

Tracy Holt: You know, Tom's been in it a little longer than I have. So I think it's been more of a one way street towards me, but I do feel like the last couple of meetings we've had where I, I could look at his business now that and say, yeah, where do we need to work on? What are you working on? Um, You know, the first couple of meetings, I'm like, man, it was like another coaching session with Aaron, but with Tom, I'd be like, how do you, how do you do this, you know, and he, and all he kept saying, he says, you know, it's funny a year ago, I was in your shoes, um, where I just felt overwhelmed on.

Tracy Holt: Everything. And he kept saying, Tom keeps saying, you will get there. You will get there. And you know what? Every meeting we have, I feel like I'm getting a little closer. 

Jimmy Lea: Nice. Nice. That's awesome. So you, you, you highly recommend the group. 

Tracy Holt: Absolutely. 

Jimmy Lea: You highly recommend that accountability partner. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. I didn't know what I was getting into because when I was researching the Institute, I'm like, man, this group process sounds awesome.

Tracy Holt: But, you know, in the beginning I wasn't ready for it. Um, you know, my numbers weren't where they should have been. If I would've got thrown in there from day one, I would have fizzled out because it's too much. 

Tracy Holt: Um, Aaron, we spend a lot of times working on the business to get it to the point to where, you know, you can enter the group process and kind of, you know, everybody's on different levels and, but you're all.

Tracy Holt: You know, kind of on the same level of wanting the same success. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, uh, the irony here is, uh, cause I'm re I'm remembering the conversations you and I had, you're like, Hey man, I got this. We, I just want to tweak a couple of things. You know, I just want to get in. I want to tweak a couple of things.

Jimmy Lea: I don't need to overhaul. It's not car count. I don't need to charge shop supplies. I'm already doing that kind of stuff. And here, now you get into the group environment and it just takes off to a whole nother level. So let's talk about the whole nother level. Judging by the numbers. Um, let's talk, can we talk net profit?

Jimmy Lea: Absolutely. Can you share that? Cause you were at a 7/ 8%. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. When we took over, I mean, obviously our first year of me kind of running the business, I think we were at 6%, 5 or 6%. Okay. And you know, it didn't take long to look at those numbers and be like, well, that's why, you know, there's no money in the bank.

Tracy Holt: I mean, the money that's coming in is just going out and there's. You know, and since being in the group process and, and joining with the Institute, um, I think last month I was at 21 percent net profit. So. 

Jimmy Lea: Congratulations. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. And, and there's still, there's still more to work on. I know that, but it, it, it's pretty awesome.

Tracy Holt: Um, you know, and, and the difference. From a business owner of back when dad was there of like, you know, we'll send this bill out today and this one out next week. My sister just sends them. I, it pays them. I don't, you know, it just goes there. 

Jimmy Lea: It's do pay it. It's do pay it. It just pay it now. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. I mean, right before this meeting, I was talking with, we're going to buy a new alignment machine.

Tracy Holt: And I just said, yeah, let's just get it. And I just remember the Hunter guy talking to him. He says, well, you want a leash you want to buy? And I'm like, I don't know. We'll probably just write you a check for it. And I remember after I walked away from that, I'm like, man, that feels good to say that because.

Tracy Holt: Five years ago, I would have been like, well, we need it. But how are we going to do this? How are we going to do that? 

Jimmy Lea: Yep. How are we going to finance it? 

Tracy Holt: Yeah.

Jimmy Lea: We, there, there were companies I used to work with way back in the day and she called it, what does she call it? Creative financing. Where I'm going to write this check, I'm going to float it to you.

Jimmy Lea: I know it's going to take a week to get to you in the mail. So hopefully in a week I have had this client pay me and that client pay me so that I can clear that check when it goes through the bank. Creative financing. 

Tracy Holt: And, and, you know, really getting the business where it's profitable. We're charging what we need to, um, you know, I've been able to increase the salaries of my front office.

Tracy Holt: I've been able to increase the salaries of my technicians. Um, do I think as an industry where we are at, where we're need to be to pay technicians? No, I think we're behind, but I, you know, I feel like we're on the right path. You know, if we charge appropriately, do a good job for the customer, you know, everybody can benefit from that.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that, that's, that's awesome. Congratulations. I'm, I'm sure that the air breathes different, the sky is bluer, the grass is greener when, when you're not in survival mode, everything changes. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. You know, and, and you get to a point of like the money side of the business. It's something I don't even worry about anymore.

Tracy Holt: I mean, I, you always worry about it. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: But, you know, when you have your sales tax come out, when your payroll comes out, it just goes out. You don't, you don't stress about did that job get done and, you know, into the bank to, it just, you know, it, we can focus on other things than just cash flow because it seemed like for years and years, that's what the focus was.

Jimmy Lea: Right. Cash flow. Right. Right. For sure. For sure. And if I remember right, you've got some advisors in the advisor program with the Institute and a manager in the manager program or? 

Tracy Holt: Just the advisors 

Tracy Holt: right now. I have. Um, one of my technicians, um, had to transition due to health reasons out of the shop.

Tracy Holt: He's worked for me for over 20 years. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, wow. 

Tracy Holt: And basically, due to back issues, the doctor said, You need to go find something else to do. That's tough. So, we transitioned him up into the office. Service writing and I stuck him in the advisor group. Um, it's been a big learning curve for him. Um, which has been great because we've been able to work with him, transition him on how we do things, but then he also meets with his, with his coach that gives him, I think, another perspective on how the business works from, you know, that position.

Jimmy Lea: I love it. 

Tracy Holt: You know, 

Tracy Holt: and some of those things are things that we've done for so long. We automatically think that everybody should know, but it's like, yeah, you learn those over a number of years, you know, where he's starting from day one and he's doing awesome. 

Jimmy Lea: And he's got 20 years of experience as a technician, turning a wrench in the bays.

Jimmy Lea: Now skillset, which takes time. But he'll get it, he'll get it, and he'll do it really well. And, you know, Tracy, we've got a, uh, service advisor intensive coming up October 8th through the 12th. You may want to send your advisor there to that five day intensive. Because it's more than just show up, divulge information.

Jimmy Lea: We want to know what their starting point is. Then during the training, we give them tests to see how well they're learning the information. And if they pass, they get a certification at the end. And then we follow up a month after and three months after to see how much of the information is sticking and how to see what their progress is, to see where they're going in that next level of.

Jimmy Lea: retention of the information. How much did they implement? 

Tracy Holt: I think it sounds like a great program. Um, you know, like anything else I've learned through the Institute. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: You know, you can talk about things, but you put things down on paper or in our group process, process, we call it an actionizer. Which are business goals, personal goals, short term, long term.

Tracy Holt: And, you know, that's one thing that you, you know, you just don't talk about it. You know, there's always a follow up on whatever was being taught or whatever to make sure you're doing what you're doing. Um, it sucks sometimes because there's times where you just don't get it done. You know, like a kid in his homework.

Tracy Holt: It's like, well, it's due tomorrow and I haven't done anything. Um, but, you know, the accountability is what I think makes the difference all the processes work.

Jimmy Lea: Cool, cool. That that's some great feedback. I appreciate that. That's very cool. If any of you have questions comments concerns questions for tracy put them into the q and a and we'll definitely address those because um, you know, there's there's a lot of People in this industry.

Jimmy Lea: There's a lot of different dynamics Uh, and I know that there's some people right now that are in that succession plan Cycle where they need to set the date, have the hard conversations to take those next steps because, you know, pops, what is it you want? To have happen? 

Tracy Holt: you know, and I think that was a big turning point where, as I just focused on dad and I'm like, what do you want?

Tracy Holt: You know, 

Tracy Holt: I take away what you think I want, what mom wants, what everybody, you know, what do you want to see happen to your business? 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: You know, um, and part of that needs to be, you know, what, where do you want, where do you see it in 20 years from now? 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. I love that you have that perspective. I love that you have that relationship with your dad, that you can have those hard conversations because.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, take everything away pops. It was just the business in you. What's the next phase? What's the next step? What do you want to have happen? 

Tracy Holt: And, and that it was, it was a long time to get to that point, you know, once we got to that point and we'd set a date, I kind of knew at that Point I needed to just focus on that and not let it go.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah 

Tracy Holt: We've agreed to this Whatever the terms were we agreed that it was going to transition this year or whatever it was And kind of had to work backwards from that point and You know, the terms of our decision and, and our, you know, it changed 20 times during that. 

Jimmy Lea: Easily, right? Every conversation, it changes.

Tracy Holt: Yeah. You, you would come up with an idea. How about this? And it sounds so good. And I'd wake up at three in the morning and go. 

Jimmy Lea: That's a terrible idea. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. You know, and so you have to, you have to give it enough time to kind of digest all that, try and look at it from every point of view. And, you know, there's not a perfect scenario, but you have to pick the best one.

Jimmy Lea: Right, right. Well, we got a question coming in here from Gary. Gary's question is what. is the one thing and, and, or biggest, his word is biggest. What is the biggest thing you changed in your business to go from 5 percent to 21%? 

Tracy Holt: I think, you know, and every business is different. Um, we're blessed with, we are exceptionally busy.

Tracy Holt: So I wasn't looking for cars, um, to fix. Um, I, we're weeks out on the schedule right now. biggest, honestly, the biggest change that I implemented was fixing my parts matrix. Um, you know, and I, that took a couple months of tweaking this to that and watching the numbers and making sure they were moving in the right direction.

Tracy Holt: Um, the other thing was I implemented a labor matrix, um, where obviously, you know, your, your door rates, you know, our door rates, one 65, but the more. Hire the hours. It's going to creep the door. And that I mean, those two things were probably the biggest, the biggest changes we made that I saw the, you know, a significant jump, um, you know, people always say, well, if you're that busy, you've got to just keep raising your labor rate.

Tracy Holt: Honestly, we're at the for our area. We are. At the top of where we're at. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: Um, do I we need to raise it again? Absolutely I you know, and that's got to be a conversation you have quarterly do we need to bump up five dollars or whatever it may be Um, you know, we went a long time There was one point where we had I look back and we had changed our labor rate For a number of years and we were 125.

Tracy Holt: I jumped at $25 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, wow, 

Tracy Holt: I thought, and this was right after dad and I'm like, if my dad saw me do that, he would kill me. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Tracy Holt: You know what, I, I bumped my labor rate in one day 25 and. Never heard a word about it. Business went on and nothing changed. 

Jimmy Lea: Well, and if we roll back, because I remember having conversations with my shop here in St.

Jimmy Lea: George, Utah. There were a lot of conversations about getting over 100 per hour. And I have to go back a couple of years to do this conversation. There was a mental block. There was a mental block. They just couldn't do it. I'm sure you and your pops had the same conversations. We just, you know, we just can't charge more than a hundred bucks.

Jimmy Lea: But, um, yeah, 

Tracy Holt: and now we're, we're approaching the 200 an hour rate and we're going to be above that shortly. And we need to be as an industry. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I know shops in Florida that are over 300 an hour. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. You know, and, and, and a lot of depends on where you're at and what you're... 

Jimmy Lea: it depends on your business model.

Jimmy Lea: Depends on what you're working on. Depends on what your market can sustain. 

Tracy Holt: Yes. 

Jimmy Lea: Totally agree. A hundred percent on everything. 

Tracy Holt: You know, our, our, your expenses. But you know, the great thing is like working with the Institute, all that stuff's laid out to where, you know, what my expenses are, what, you know, and you can look and be like, Oh, we're off a few percent here and there.

Tracy Holt: And you can deep dive into those and see why it's off or what you need to. 

Jimmy Lea: Chasey, that's a really good point that you're making right here. And I, I want to, uh, uh, uh, put an exclamation on this. Um, let's just use a number at one 65 for some shops that is inappropriately high as a labor rate for some shops.

Jimmy Lea: It's inappropriately low as a labor rate. Absolutely. What's your business? What's your business? And that's where I, the, the coaching and training has come in and really helped you to take it up to that next level. Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: I'm, I mean, that number of 165 or 195, whatever it is, honestly, irrelevant. As long as your percentages.

Tracy Holt: Will support it. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: You know, um, if your percentages won't support it, it probably needs to go up, you know, or your expenses need to come down one or the other. But, you know, it's Cecil's talked about this and, you know, it's a financial balance in your business. 

Jimmy Lea: Totally is. Totally is. 

Tracy Holt: You know, and it's, it, it depends on honestly, and that's where you can say, you know, obviously what we pay here is going to be different than California or whatever.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, are different than Florida for sure. 

Tracy Holt: Absolutely. 

Jimmy Lea: Right. Oh yeah. It's totally different. Okay. So one last question here, um, this is coming in from Andrew and his question is, did you and your father have issues when you wanted to make changes to the business such as increasing the labor rate? 

Tracy Holt: Yes. Um, my dad for years, there's a handful of shops that, you know, you know, in your area.

Tracy Holt: And we talked about the labor rate and he said, well, I'm going to call so and so and so and so and see what they're going to charge. And I'm, and I just now looking back on it and I'm like, okay, maybe that gives you an idea of what's around you, but you have no idea what they're. Expenses are what they're, you know, so you have to look at it I mean, obviously you have to look at the market and what it'll support But you have to look at it from your business and what you need to support your business Um, you know, that was probably after my dad stepped away You know, that was probably one of the biggest things that You know, when we would have the labor rate discussion of what, you know, cause there was times where he'd say, we need to raise it.

Tracy Holt: I'd be like, Oh, I don't know. And then there's times I'm like, we need to raise it. Then, you know, and we would seem like we were never on the same page at the same time. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And, and the, the element that both of you were missing was evaluating the business as a whole to see what does the business need, not just your gut feel of, we need to raise it.

Tracy Holt: Yeah. I mean, you, you can go look at your expenses. You can look at, you know, all your costs. And you can work that number backwards and be like, okay, we're doing X amount of cars per day and, you know, so many hours and whatever you could work that back and say, well, I've obviously got to charge this number, whatever it is.

Tracy Holt: Um, 

Tracy Holt: but the problem is, is we don't look at it from that point. We just look at it as, you know, well, so and so down the street's charging this or that. You know, you've got to look at it from what, what you've got from your business and what it'll support. And and you know what and if all of a sudden it needs to be raised or maybe expenses need to be addressed or there's Things in there, you know, there's there's multiple sides to it But until you really understand the business from the number standpoint Which I kind of understood them but in the last couple years I mean, it's... 

Jimmy Lea: Now you really understand.

Tracy Holt: I 

Tracy Holt: really understand and and you know, i've made this comment You know, it's like, man, if I would have deep dove into this years ago, where would we be today? But you know what, years ago, I wasn't ready for that. 

Jimmy Lea: Right. But you are today. You took the steps. Andrew gives you a big time shout out saying it's very stressful to work with family.

Jimmy Lea: Agreed. 

Tracy Holt: And it is. I mean, I love my family to death. Like I say, we often will go on vacations our separate ways. And you know what, we're okay with that. 

Jimmy Lea: Sure, sure. You're, you're with each other all the time, all day, every day. So to go on vacation, you need a vacation from work. 

Tracy Holt: And the hard part is, is, is family knows when you get together, the discussion is work and that's been a hard transition for me and dad.

Tracy Holt: I'll call him. I call him a couple times a week. He lives down in St. George by you. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. Yeah. And he, you know, first thing is how's work going and I'll give him a little rundown, but we've had to find other things to talk about. 

Jimmy Lea: Good. 

Tracy Holt: You know, and that's been, you know, because we're 30 years, that's what.

Tracy Holt: our discussions were of. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, yeah. 

Tracy Holt: Of the business. 

Jimmy Lea: I'm glad you're able to make that transition brother. That, that's, that's very cool. If anybody is interested, we'd love to work with you. We at the Institute and Tracy, my shout out is to you, brother. Congratulations on all that you have accomplished. with your dad, with the shop, with your siblings, with your nieces and nephews and your, your children, your, your shop is awesome.

Jimmy Lea: It's amazing. And yeah, the, the future is bright. What are you going to do next? What's the future? Where are you going to go now? 

Tracy Holt: You know, it's funny is, is like, I, after being in the group process, you know, if you had asked me. A year or two ago, do I ever think about a second location? And I said, you would have to be absolutely nuts.

Tracy Holt: And now 

Tracy Holt: that's kind of turning in the back of my head, you know, who knows what, I don't know, maybe, maybe it's a second location somewhere, you know, maybe it's a, a major expansion of what we've got, um, it's, I don't know. I, the, the, the future's bright and I look forward to whatever it is. And that's kind of my new challenge in life.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Tracy Holt: Yeah. What's next? 

Jimmy Lea: What's next? Well, we know that you're definitely going to be getting a new building with a new waiting room soon ish because you got to get out of that hallway. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Uh, Andrew gives you a big shout out and says, congrats on everything. Uh, he hopes to meet you at the summit in February.

Tracy Holt: I'll be there. 

Jimmy Lea: Okay. Very cool. Well, let's, let's get there. Let's get there together. Let's lock arms as an industry and together we can elevate all ships together. We will do this because we can Tracy, any, uh, last words of wisdom. 

Tracy Holt: You know, if, if the one thing I can say is if you're watching this and you see the struggles, um, you know, don't be afraid to ask for help.

Tracy Holt: You know, that's, you know, once you over become that. You know, things, things become easier because there is, there's a whole industry out there that wants to help, whether it's coaching other shop owners, you know, don't be afraid to ask for help. 

Jimmy Lea: Love it. Love it. Yeah. Don't be afraid. Don't, don't be too prideful or so prideful that you're not willing to ask.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Be willing to ask. Well, you're awesome, brother. Thank you so much. Thank you. Everybody that was here today. My friends, it's good to see you. Hope all is well with you and your shop. Look forward to seeing you at the next conference trade show. See you at the summit. See you at the service advisor intensive in Ogden, but whenever it is, we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Jimmy Lea: Thank you, Tracy. 

Tracy Holt: Thank you.