It’s only day two and I slept too late to hit the gym this morning. Ack! So, off to breakfast I went. But, can we pause for a second to talk about the incredible amount of organization that has gone into making VISION happen? I mean everywhere you step it is obvious that no single piece of information or attendee experience has been missed. Kudos to the entire team at VISION and MWACA for a job well, well done!
I have heard time and time again about what a great trainer Aaron Stokes from Shop Fix Academy is. Today, I had the honor of taking his class “Creating Employee Loyalty” with a packed full room of VISION attendees. It was abundantly clear to me from the beginning that he has a tribe of followers. And, it is well deserved. Aaron is a ‘tell the truth’ straightforward presenter. I enjoyed his no-nonsense style. Aaron dropped several truth bombs to help attendees look at creating employee loyalty in a different way. If you missed his training, I’m sorry!
Aaron Stokes teaches about creating employee loyalty – VisionKC Day 2
One of the biggest things I love about this industry is the camaraderie and the genuine people who care about one another. We have had such a wonderful reception from people we haven’t seen in years. That was evident also at today’s management luncheon. The room was full of friendly shop owners and technicians all eager to learn and go home better. Carm Capriotto with Remarkable Results Podcast moderated a panel of professionals in the Power Summit. Popular topics discussed were retention, recruitment and honoring our industry.
Power Summit Luncheon – VisionKC Day 2
The afternoon session that I attended was “Don’t ‘Trust Me’ Empower Customers to Value Your Service” taught by Carolyn Coquillette and sponsored by ShopWare. I love that she pretty much gave permission for shops to sell with integrity. When you know you are offering the best service, you can easily sell with integrity because that has value! I had to step out of this class a bit early to get ready for the Expo which was a great night!
Would you know that our next door neighbor in the Expo was Carolyn Coquillette? Haha! So funny. We got to chat a little bit and I look forward to maybe chatting some more tomorrow. Carolyn has a fun personality it’s obvious. Her reputation preceded her as I’d heard about her years earlier from the Car Care Council Women’s Board Winter Meeting. I had heard about her shop – Luscious Garage. It’s a pretty amazing concept!
The Expo was from 5:00-9:00pm and, man, I forgot how tiring those can be! Tomorrow it’s even longer but it’s really fun to get to spend time with people I had just met because they took my class. Oh, of course, or they took Brian’s class 🙂 He taught a Facebook Advertising class today that I heard was outstanding! The funniest thing happened when one person said “y’all are completely different”. I agreed because, well, we hear that all the time. But, they say opposites attract right? We do make a pretty darn good team! Just before the expo got started Brian sat in on a Facebook Live session that Cecil Bullard was doing for his company, The Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. You can listen in to that session here. The expo went well, it was a good start for the full day of Expo tomorrow. It’s truly a warm feeling to be back in this industry and we look forward to making many more memories and friendships here!
Brian takes part in a livestream panel discussion with Cecil Bullard of the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, Jennifer Filzen of Rockstar Marketing, and Jimmy Lea of Kukui.
About The Author
Kim Walker
In addition to being co-owner of Shop Marketing Pros, Kim is a Master Certified Solution Provider with Constant Contact and a StoryBrand Certified Guide. Kim is a past shop owner and has served as President of ASA North Carolina.
