Advanced Transmission: nonbook learning

Marvin Wilson proudly states that, “education was and is the driving force to our success,” a fact born out by his Advanced Transmission shop holding a variety of classes for local technicians for several years now.

His accomplishments are all the more remarkable when you consider Wilson struggled through school and didn’t really learn to read until after his daughter was born. Overcoming such obstacles has given him a passion that is hard to beat.

Specializing in custom built, high performance, personal and commercial use transmission repair, the Spanish Fort, Ala., facility also hosts classes for Snap-On, Automotive Wiring & Repair, the Educational Seminar Institute and Vetronix/Bosch, as well as seminars for the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association (ATRA), the Automatic Transmission Service Group (ATSG), AC Delco, CARQUEST, Online specialty tool training and Communiqué. All employees are required to achieve certification through ATRA and ASE within the first six months of employment.

But Wilson’s involvement with ATRA doesn’t end there. For more than 15 years, his wife, Laura, served as secretary and president of ATRA’s Gulf States Chapter, as well as six years on their International Board of Directors in California. For his part, Wilson served for 10 years on the technical advisory board of the Alabama-based Alto Products Corporation, an international transmission parts manufacturer, and assisted in their training classes in Mexico City.

The Road Less Traveled
He’s come a long way. At age 14, Wilson began helping his father, the late Woodrow “Woody” Wilson, at their transmission shop in Eight-Mile, Ala. At 17, he went full time, devoting himself totally to the discipline of rebuilding transmissions. But with the start of his own family, Wilson pushed himself to master the written word, and in 1994 he and Laura opened their own shop across the bay from Mobile and Eight-Mile.

Eventually buying land to build the current facility, since 2010 they also have done general automotive and air condition repair. Nationwide warranties are offered on most of their transmission work.

A hands-on boss, Wilson is the lead technician of a team of four. Constantly looking to streamline the operation, the shop runs on a

non-verbal communication process, using a procedure based on a customer chart flow system that “insures minimal communication error, increasing productivity with few distractions, allowing production to flow smoothly,” writes Wilson.

To keep things running smoothly, each employee briefly moderates weekly shop meetings with the topic or concern of their choice. The Wilsons oversee longer monthly meetings, but to keep things light they throw in lunch and fun activities like a 15 minute massage for all employees, or a ceremony with each employee receiving a humorous award or a gift certificate for “customer service in abundance.”

The latter is a concept Wilson adheres to, as he makes this appraisal of the industry: “Because auto repairs cannot be felt or normally seen, we (must) try to find something on the car that the customer can see, feel or smell, helping to build extra value.” Thus technicians are required to wash the vehicle, replace any interior or exterior lights they find not working, repair any loose panels, put in air freshener, and greet customers when they pickup their vehicles (making sure the A/C is on in the summer--this is the Gulf Coast after all)--all at no extra charge.

“Our ‘customer service in abundance’ is probably the one thing that sets us apart (in) the customers’ perspective,” says Wilson. Loaner vehicles, shuttle service, and a waiting area equipped with Wi-Fi service also augment the usual amenities.

“When a customer walks in the front door, you can tell from the expression on their face, ‘Hey this is not your average automotive shop,’” Wilson recalls. “Most of the time they verbalize it.”

Getting Their Word Out
Their advertising is comprised primarily of poster boards and local radio. The first is smaller than billboards but positioned closer to drivers on slower roads; the timing and placement of the boards are based on the local events calendar. The shop rents two boards a month, which are changed monthly. To help figure out radio ad placement, the shop employs a simple tactic: technicians write down what station the clients’ vehicles are tuned to, as well as all the presets.

Community activities include fundraisers for the local Ronald McDonald House through annual poker runs, while Wilson’s focus on education helped see the creation of the Ladies Car Care Clinic, which helps local Girl Scouts earn their Car Sense badges. Open to any women who want to learn more about automobiles, hands-on training includes properly checking and servicing vital fluids, better fuel efficiency, and tire changing techniques. Offered twice a year in April and October, these are held in conjunction with the National Car Care months and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

For his own employees, Wilson offers what he had to learn the hard way: training, guidance, and support for increased pay incentives, a bonus program in place for production achievements.

“We are committed to providing…our employees the opportunity of working as a team in a modern facility and to aid them in producing the highest quality work possible,” says Wilson. “My wife Laura and I are daily working owners. We do not expect anything from our employees that we do not do ourselves, including certification, training, drug testing, cleaning, cutting grass, etc. We feel that we have the cream of the crop (in) employees and as a team we want them and their families to know how much we appreciate them by having Company Family Outings.”

This usually encompasses activities like canoeing, bowling, go-cart racing, alligator air boat tour rides, Christmas parties and lots of eating out. Because there are certain things you just can’t learn from a book.