Aiming for a Billion

Jan. 1, 2020
When Keith Stone moved from Salt Lake City to Bozeman, Mont., a smaller city with a slower pace, he was prepared for the change in lifestyle. After visiting on vacation, Stone says he "just fell in love with the area, nestled right in the Rocky Mount

Montana shop combines hometown values, high-tech results

When Keith Stone moved from Salt Lake City to Bozeman, Mont., a smaller city with a slower pace, he was prepared for the change in lifestyle. After visiting on vacation, Stone says he "just fell in love with the area, nestled right in the Rocky Mountains with a lovely valley and rivers — it's just like a Thomas Kinkade painting."

What he didn't expect was professional culture shock. In the auto repair industry for more than 30 years — he bought and repaired his first car, a '67 Camaro at age 14, and worked in collision repair ever since — Stone knew his way around a body shop. But, he found Bozeman "cliquish," and the new staff at the body shop he took over was reluctant to embrace his ideas.

"If you're not a native Montanan, it takes a while to get people's respect," he explains.

Stone came on board four years ago, when he was hired as the shop manager at Billion Auto Body, which is a part of the Billion Auto Group that includes JC Billion GMC Pontiac Buick Nissan and Billion Dodge Chrysler Jeep, all located in Bozeman.

"They were looking to make some changes in the shop," Stone explains. "When I got here — the reason I was hired — this shop was a combination shop. In other words, the body man would do the paint work and follow the job from start to finish."

The shop was doing things the old-fashioned way, with one technician managing a job from start to finish, but Stone wanted to do things differently.

"I think morale was one of the biggest challenges," he says. "Certain people don't like change, even if they could see the good in it. They get in their comfort zone and they don't want to step out. But, by bringing new ideas to the body shop, it has helped productivity and morale. The morale was really low when I got here, and that's always a challenge no matter what business you're in."

In that first year, he transformed Billion Auto Body to a split shop, with specialized preppers, body techs, painters and detailers focused on a single step in the collision repair process. Along the way he also lost 12 of the 15 existing employees. Stone not only had to retrain the few remaining staff members but also recruit new hires to a shop that was undergoing a major transition. "That was a real major task to turn the shop around," he admits. "I felt like the bad guy — you know, if it's not broke, don't fix it."

But eventually he turned things around. The three staff members who stayed at Billion were joined by three more body techs, two painters, two preppers and one detailer as well as new office staff.

"As things picked up and business started to flow to the doors, it was easy to bring new people in," he says. "In all fairness, we've accrued other employees from other local repair facilities just because they saw the whole picture. We pulled in people with foresight."

Stone also set to work updating the shop with the latest technology. "We didn't have a car liner before," he says. "We were measuring with old gauges." So he brought in a car liner and spearheaded a $500,000 renovation on the building that consisted of a new addition featuring new downdraft paint booths with center mix rooms and new compressors.

He also stepped up training so the body techs would know their way around the new equipment — and be prepared to handle any job that came through the doors. "I don't want to have someone get their car wrecked in Yellowstone and have to tow their car to Salt Lake City," Stone says. "I wanted everything you can find in bigger markets — technology, equipment, everything's here."

But winning over the local customer base required more than just new technology. It required an understanding of local Montana values that came over time as he got to know his neighbors — as well as his new collision repair shop.

Today the motto of Billion Auto Body is "hometown values with high-tech results." Stone says the motto was the result of listening to the needs of his clients and being an active member of the community. "Here we do business on a handshake and a word, and those values are something you just don't find anywhere," he says.

After a shaky start with steep turnover, he's also managed to turn around staff morale. Stone believes he's earned his staff's respect by working side by side with them on the shop floor — even if that means switching roles when necessary, wearing a tie to work one day and a flannel shirt and Levis the next.

"I won't ask anything of them that I wouldn't do myself," he says. "If you sit up here and try to run everything and just push the buttons, it doesn't work."

SNAPSHOP

SHOP NAME: Billion Auto Body

LOCATION: Bozeman, Mont.

YEARS IN BUSINESS: 23

NUMBER OF SHOPS: 1

NUMBER OF BAYS: 35

SQUARE FOOTAGE: 18,700

EMPLOYEES: 16

VOLUME: 163 vehicles per month

AVERAGE REPAIR COST: $2,170

ANNUAL GROSS SALES: $2.4 million

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION

A view from the top

W ith Keith Stone behind the wheel as shop manager, Billion Auto Body has gained recognition. In 2005 the shop was nominated for the CARQUEST Automotive Refinish Supply Excellence Award, an honor that recognizes the top independent automotive refinish supply business that, through the course of everyday service excellence, exemplifies the professionalism necessary to build public understanding and respect for people working in the auto service industry.

Just being nominated was a honor for Stone, who was surprised that his shop could even compete on a national level. So in 2006, Stone was even more surprised when Billion Auto Body was again nominated for the honor — and won.

"What made it really special for us was being in the top 10 from [2005]," says Stone. "It really didn't matter to me if we won or lost because we already had won just being [nominated]."

According to CARQUEST, one factor that placed Billion Auto Body in the top spot is the shop's mission statement: "Provide our customers with a shopping, buying, service and ownership experience that consistently satisfies each individual's needs and exceeds their expectations in a comfortable, supportive environment!"

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