Struggling independent shop now thriving after becoming a franchisee

Jan. 1, 2020
When business at Action Auto and Body in Roanoke, Va., wasn't meeting expectations, the Belcher family's response was "Uh oh, better get Maaco."

When business at Action Auto Paint and Body in Roanoke, Va. wasn't meeting their expectations, the Belcher family's response was "Uh oh, better get Maaco." That's what they did, and it has helped their shop on the road to profitability.

"We were looking for a way to increase our business and knew that the help Maaco provides in production, sales and overall support would be the boost we needed," says Robert Belcher Jr., who owns the now-rebranded Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting along with his parents, Brenda and Robert Belcher, Sr.

The conversion was completed in early June.

"We went from being almost ready to close the business to profitability. As soon as we hung the sign and opened the doors, our daily estimate quadrupled, and the amount of cars we have on the lot to work on has quadrupled," Belcher, Jr. says.

Brenda, a retired teacher, oversees the entire operation as president. Belcher, Sr. had been the chief financial officer at a college in Florida prior to his retirement, and he now serves as the accountant and bookkeeper. Belcher, Jr. is the sales manager and chief of operations.

At a glance

"Our bread and butter is drivable hits," Belcher, Jr. says, describing a significant amount of fender-benders and car-deer collisions that occur within the blue collar, middle-income Roanoke neighborhood that encompasses the market.

Residents reeling from strained finances may decide, "'Let's paint this car and keep it another five years,' and people who are ready to turn in a leased vehicle will call us for touchups. Much of the work we do doesn't require a frame machine," Belcher, Jr. says.

With a background in sales and not having direct hands-on experience as a body man, Belcher, Jr. had been the manager of a local Earl Scheib outlet – getting a first-hand view of the company "as it was going downhill." Scheib's nationwide operations ceased in July 2010.

IMAGES / MAACO COLLISION REPAIR & AUTO PAINTING

Meanwhile, activity at Action Auto Body of Virginia over on Williamson Street was stalled following the death of owner Jeff Murphy. Terms were reached with Mrs. Murphy over a three-month period of negotiations, and the Belchers were soon in business as Action Auto Paint and Body.

"We basically opened up with the intention of running the business similar to Earl Scheib," Belcher, Jr. says. "We tried to reinvent the wheel (using methods that included cherry-picking positive elements of the Scheib business model); we were trying to do economy body painting."

Taking into account the overhead and other expenses, the targeted customer base depended upon selling jobs costing $1,000 to $2,000, compared to the current average repair order of $750. The Belchers decided, "there's not enough of that market in Roanoke to make it work," Belcher, Jr. says.

"We found that as a small independent body shop it was difficult to operate and keep our prices low without the help of a franchise. We didn't look at anyone other than Maaco (as a franchise opportunity). It just made sense."

Back to the Belchers in Roanoke, Belcher, Jr. cites the contributions of a corporate training team that included Paul Wisner, Brian Warlock, Chris Bochanski, Dave Gross, John Wing and Justin Nail.

"Maaco provided expert operational managers who got us up and running" along with sales, production and crew development. "They require a certain amount of money upfront to convert you," Belcher, Jr. notes, "and we pay a weekly royalty fee that's a percentage of our sales."

Another key benefit for the Belchers was the return of veteran production manager John Klahn, who had previously worked for the late Jeff Murphy when the business was still known as Action Auto Body of Virginia.

"We lucked out with John," Belcher, Jr. says. Leveraging Klahn's collision repair skills and reputation within the Roanoke region, "he brought me three body men, a painter and a sander."

When job openings occur, "we have found that our best employees come from the people who work for us" through word-of-mouth referrals. Belcher, Jr. then applies interviewing techniques gleaned from his previous tenure as a corporate sales manager.

He goes on to emphasize that "the guys in the back all know how to be nice and courteous. I make sure all of my employees know how to treat a customer, even the ones that aren't supposed to come in contact with a customer. We're family owned and operated, and we want to make sure that everyone we do business with comes away happy."

Weekly training sessions are conducted, including classes presented by local suppliers. "We strive to have our employees crossed-trained in as many different aspects of the business as possible," Belcher, Jr. says.

"All of our employees are paid incentives based on production. We believe that for the shop to achieve its highest level of success, our employees must be motivated by our success. Our philosophy regarding customer relations is 'whatever it takes to make the customer happy.' At the end of the day, it's the customers who pay our bills and their satisfaction with our work is the determining factor in our future success."

Robert Belcher Jr

"We manage our employees closely to make sure our production goals are met on a daily basis. We schedule our days to make sure that we can produce the number of cars that we need to."

With an average cycle time of six days, it remains an ongoing effort to speed the process along while maintaining the shop's quality standards.

"The biggest challenge in running a profitable business is maintaining the daily production at the momentum required to stay profitable," Belcher, Jr. says. "It is easy to have a profitable day every once in a while – it is challenging to have a profitable day every day."

The majority of supplies are ordered through Maaco; other parts are procured through a network of locally-based vendors.

Obtaining word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied customers is a prime pursuit, which is augmented by the corporation's nationwide marketing initiatives.

"Maaco handles our television advertising, as well as our local newspaper and Valpack ads when we run them. We try and keep our customers as happy as possible so that we can get as many referrals as we can," he says.

Maintaining an online presence is accomplished via an in-house Facebook page and the corporation's use of Google Adwords.

"In addition to media advertising, we try to focus our efforts on Google's local search results. We monitor the page on a weekly basis to make sure we have positive reviews and that our ranking is still in the top three for our chosen keywords," Belcher, Jr. says.

"We mainly rely on local search engine results and optimization to increase our lead traffic. Google has been our biggest success, followed by Yelp. We try to convey that we are a friendly, customer-oriented shop with the best prices in town."

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