Monte Rutherford, who worked as a mechanic for a local Chrysler dealership, and who is the grandfather to current owner, Tom Rutherford, got his big break that year. The dealership intended to start a body shop and asked Monte, now deceased, to run it. He took charge of the modest shop with a mere $5,000 in pocket.
Later Monte's son, Don, assumed the reins of the business. From that point, Don's two sons, Tom and Terry (the latter of whom died in a boating accident) soon joined the business in their teens and later began running the business. Tom has served in some capacity at the shop for 44 years.
Rutherford's current general manager Jim Sayre has been there 33 years. Sayre, who arrived at the shop with no experience, was indoctrinated into the business by Tom's brother, Terry.
Sayre started by sweeping floors. At the time he was a firefighter, which enabled him extra time to learn the shop business, working around his shift schedule.
"I put a lot of time into the shop in the beginning, and eventually enrolled in several management classes," Sayre says. Now he volleys from the Pickerington shop to the original shop location in Canal Winchester, both of which are steady and profitable locations. The Pickerington shop, the bigger of the two, was built in 1988. Pickerington's shop also houses its own car wash.Six decades after the business opened, Sayre says the success of this business would not be possible without high-caliber employees – all 38 of them (25 at Pickerington; 13 at Canal Winchester). That number has grown from the original four at Canal Winchester. Today, Pickerington, according to Sayre, is fully staffed. The Canal Winchester location is looking to add one or two more.
"We never stop stressing to our employees that they mean something to us," Sayre says.
Shop employees have the option of working four 10-hour days. Employees can pick their day off. With gas prices hovering at $4 per gallon, Sayre said this enables employees to save on gas and it benefits the shop, which can be open longer – from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Beyond hourly benefits, employees are treated to frequent luncheons based on sales. And training is always an option. Rutherford operates with an important goal of creating the type of atmosphere so that employees want to come to work.
"We want employees to know they're part of the family," Sayre says. "We're only as good as they are."
Apparently, the recipe for success is sizzling – turnover is a word unfamiliar to Sayre. Some employees, aside from Rutherford and Sayre, have already racked up 15 years of service.
Sayre says hands-on training also remains near Rutherford's top goals for employees. "We go to anything we can get our hands on training-wise to stay on top of industry knowledge," he says, citing training via I-CAR or the paint company they use. Most of the employees have I-CAR Gold status; some have achieved I-CAR platinum. The shop is not currently ASE-certified.
Competition is yet another word that has yet to really affect Rutherford Auto Body. In fact, Sayre says they're grateful that their location on the outskirts of Columbus is favorable to business.
"We're fortunate in that there aren't a lot of shops in our immediate area," he says. "We pull in customers from a typical 15-mile radius. And direct repair programs extend that radius even further." The shop's Pickerington location maintains 15 DRP relationships.
When the Pickerington location opened shop, the site went "heavy into DRPs," according to Sayre. "They're now driving the business." The Canal Winchester shop has gone a different route preferring not to focus as heavily on the DRP side.
Not worrying about the competition has helped the shop to save money advertising, although they'll still do proverbial promotional work via the community's schools and little league.
Less worry about competition means more focus on the customer. "There's nothing better than to hear, 'My car looks better than before it was wrecked,' " Sayre says. "What we hear as often is how happy customers are with how clean their cars are post-repair. It's amazing that you can fix a car and the first thing they comment on was how clean the car was on the inside."
Although cleaning the cars wasn't always part of the shop's work, Sayre found it makes a big difference to the customers. So now, shop employees go to great lengths, even to the point of removing burger wrappers and empty water bottles, simply for bumper repair jobs.
"The fact that customers notice such details made us see how important that other stuff is," Sayre says.
Specific to the actual repairs, the shop subscribes to a program called AutoWatch, which allows customers to view the status of their cars online. "The benefit to us is that it keeps my employees from being preoccupied with lengthy phone calls," Sayre says.
The program sparks a genuine interest in the younger generation — as does e-mail — however, Sayre says the older clientele still prefer the old-fashioned, trusty phone call first.
Rutherford and Sayre wouldn't mind a facility expansion down the road, "but only if economic conditions were brighter," Sayre says.
As for the Web site at www.rutherfordautobody.com, stop back soon. It's under construction, but the shop plans to have it live soon.
