Hosted by Jeff Walter, Founder and CEO of LatitudeLearning
When people think about automotive repair, they often picture a very different industry than the one that exists today.
The image many consumers still carry is one of technicians working primarily with mechanical systems, diagnosing problems through experience, replacing worn parts, and turning wrenches under the hood of a vehicle. While those skills remain important, modern vehicles have become increasingly sophisticated. Electronics, sensors, software, communication networks, and advanced driver assistance systems have transformed what it means to work in automotive service. Today’s technicians are often just as likely to be troubleshooting computers and analyzing data as they are performing traditional repairs.
Dan Aldrich has witnessed that evolution firsthand.
As Director of Technical Training and Development at Christian Brothers Automotive, he spends his time helping technicians develop the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing industry. Yet as his conversation with Jeff Walter on the Training Impact Podcast unfolds, it becomes clear that technology is only part of the story.
The discussion begins with automotive training but gradually moves into something much deeper. It becomes a conversation about culture, mentorship, leadership, and the responsibility organizations have to invest in people. Along the way, Aldrich shares stories from his own career that help explain why Christian Brothers Automotive has become so intentional about developing not only technical expertise, but also the human side of performance.
For Aldrich, automotive repair was never simply a career choice.
It was the environment in which he grew up.
Raised in Hyde Park, New York, he spent much of his childhood in his father’s automotive repair shop. His father had come from a farming background before opening the business, bringing with him a strong work ethic and a belief that everyone in the family should contribute. As the oldest son, Aldrich became part of the operation at an early age.
After school each day, he would head to the shop rather than home. Homework was completed in the office before he joined the rest of the team. Initially, his responsibilities were simple. He cleaned floors, organized parts, and handled whatever tasks needed attention. Over time, those responsibilities expanded. Before long, he was helping with repairs and learning the business from the inside.
By the time he entered vocational automotive training during high school, he had already accumulated years of hands-on experience. While many classmates were learning the basics for the first time, Aldrich was building upon a foundation that had been established long before he entered the classroom.
That experience opened doors. Technical school followed. Factory training with BMW followed. A successful career as a master technician followed. Looking back, everything seemed to point toward a future centered on automotive repair.
Yet the experiences that ultimately shaped his career had less to do with vehicles and more to do with people.
As younger technicians entered the profession, Aldrich found himself spending more time mentoring, coaching, and helping others solve problems. The more he invested in those relationships, the more he discovered that developing people was becoming the most rewarding part of his work.
That realization eventually led him into training and education roles, including teaching at the same technical school he had attended years earlier. Over time, his focus shifted from repairing vehicles to helping others build successful careers in the industry.
It was a transition that would ultimately lead him to Christian Brothers Automotive.
When Christian Brothers Automotive approached Aldrich in 2021, he was not actively looking for a new opportunity.
At the time, he was living in North Carolina with his wife and three daughters and had already established himself as a respected leader in automotive training and development. Relocating across the country was not something he was planning to do.
Then he visited the company’s headquarters in Texas.
As he describes it during the podcast, the experience left a strong impression almost immediately. Christian Brothers Automotive felt different from many organizations he had encountered throughout his career. The people were welcoming. Conversations felt genuine. The values the company talked about seemed to be reflected in the way people interacted with one another.
At first, he was cautious.
Most experienced professionals have worked in organizations that promote impressive values and mission statements. It is one thing to talk about culture. It is another thing entirely to live it consistently.
Aldrich admits that when he joined Christian Brothers Automotive, he spent months waiting for the reality behind the culture claims to reveal itself. He expected to eventually discover the gap between the company’s stated values and its day-to-day behavior.
That moment never arrived.
Years later, he still speaks about the organization with the same conviction he felt during those early conversations. What he encountered during the interview process turned out to be an accurate reflection of how the company actually operates.
That authenticity became one of the defining themes of the discussion with Jeff Walter.
Throughout the conversation, both men repeatedly return to the idea that culture is not something separate from business performance. Instead, culture influences how decisions are made, how people are supported, and ultimately how organizations grow.
One of the most interesting examples of this philosophy appears in the way Christian Brothers Automotive supports its franchise network.
Many organizations refer to their headquarters as a corporate office or home office. Christian Brothers Automotive intentionally uses different language.
The organization calls it a support center.
While that distinction may seem minor, it reflects a broader mindset. The purpose of the support center is not to control franchise locations. Its purpose is to help them succeed.
That philosophy is especially visible within the company’s technical support operation.
When technicians encounter difficult diagnostic challenges, they have access to experienced specialists who can help them work through the problem. These support professionals are master technicians themselves, many of whom previously worked in Christian Brothers Automotive locations before moving into support roles.
What impressed Walter during the conversation was not simply the expertise available to technicians. It was the responsiveness.
Support requests are handled quickly, often within minutes. More importantly, the interaction is focused on helping technicians solve problems rather than evaluating or judging their performance. The goal is to ensure that people receive the support they need to serve customers effectively.
Over time, the system evolved into something even more valuable.
Rather than limiting knowledge to one-on-one interactions, support discussions become learning opportunities for the broader network. Technicians can review previous cases, learn from challenges encountered by others, and contribute their own insights when they have relevant experience.
The result is a growing knowledge-sharing community that extends far beyond traditional technical support.
As Walter observed during the interview, the system functions almost like a large-scale mentoring network. Experienced professionals help solve immediate problems while simultaneously creating learning opportunities for everyone else in the organization.
As the conversation shifted toward workforce development, Aldrich highlighted a challenge that extends well beyond automotive repair.
Most organizations devote significant resources to teaching people how to perform their jobs. Technical training is often thorough, structured, and measurable.
Far fewer organizations devote the same attention to developing communication skills, leadership capabilities, emotional intelligence, or mentorship skills.
In the automotive industry, that gap can be particularly significant.
Many technicians spend years becoming experts in their craft. They learn diagnostic procedures, advanced technologies, repair methodologies, and specialized systems. Yet very few receive formal training in how to lead teams, mentor others, communicate effectively, or prepare for future leadership roles.
Over time, that creates a problem.
Highly skilled technicians often become the natural candidates for leadership positions, but technical expertise alone does not automatically prepare someone to manage people.
Christian Brothers Automotive recognized that challenge and chose to address it directly.
Leadership development and personal growth became part of the learning experience rather than separate initiatives. Technicians are encouraged to develop not only as technical experts, but also as mentors, communicators, and leaders.
For many participants, it is the first time anyone has invested in those aspects of their development.
One of the most memorable moments in the podcast occurs when Aldrich describes what happens during some of these development programs.
Experienced technicians arrive expecting a traditional technical training event. They anticipate discussions about diagnostics, systems, tools, and repair procedures.
Instead, they find themselves participating in conversations about leadership, communication, relationships, mentoring, and personal growth.
The reaction is often unexpected.
Many participants initially approach the material with skepticism. After all, they have spent years developing technical expertise. Soft skills and leadership discussions are not what they anticipated when they signed up for training.
Yet as the sessions progress, perspectives begin to change.
Participants start connecting the material to their own experiences. They reflect on mentors who influenced their careers. They consider the impact they have on younger technicians. They begin thinking differently about their role within the organization.
According to Aldrich, some of the most powerful moments occur when technicians realize that nobody has ever invested in them in this way before.
The conversations become personal.
The lessons become meaningful.
The experience becomes transformative.
He describes situations where some of the toughest and most experienced professionals in the room become emotional as they process ideas that extend far beyond technical performance.
Those moments stay with people long after the training ends.
Like many learning leaders, Aldrich expected these programs to improve engagement and strengthen culture.
What surprised him was the measurable impact on performance.
After examining data from participants who completed these development experiences, he found improvements that extended beyond individual learners. Productivity increased. Collaboration improved. Team performance strengthened.
The numbers reinforced something both Aldrich and Walter discuss throughout the interview.
People rarely perform at their best when they feel isolated, unsupported, or disconnected from those around them. When employees trust one another, share knowledge freely, and feel invested in by their organization, the benefits often extend far beyond morale.
The improvements show up in performance, retention, teamwork, and customer experience.
While Christian Brothers Automotive continues to invest heavily in technical excellence, the company has also discovered that some of its most valuable opportunities for growth come from helping people become better mentors, better communicators, and better leaders.
Near the end of the conversation, Aldrich shares a philosophy that captures much of what makes Christian Brothers Automotive unique.
The company understands that not every employee will spend an entire career there. People move. Careers change. New opportunities emerge.
The goal is not simply to retain every person forever.
Instead, the goal is to ensure that people leave better than they arrived.
Whether someone spends five years or twenty years with the organization, Christian Brothers Automotive wants that experience to contribute positively to their growth as a professional and as a person.
That perspective influences how technicians are trained, how apprentices are mentored, how franchise owners are supported, and how leaders approach their responsibilities.
By the end of the conversation, it becomes clear that the story is not really about automotive repair at all.
It is about creating an environment where people can grow, contribute, and help others succeed.
For Aldrich, that mission represents a natural continuation of the lessons he learned years ago in his father’s repair shop. For Christian Brothers Automotive, it has become a defining part of the culture that continues to guide the organization as it grows.
Learn more about Christian Brothers Automotive: https://www.cbac.com/
For more from the Training Impact Podcast, follow us on Social Media:
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Jeff Walter (00:00)
Hi, I’m Jeff Walter and welcome back to the Training Impact Podcast, where we explore scaling performance through training infrastructure. Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Dan Aldridge. Dan is the director of technical training and development at Christian Brothers Automotive. He leads the learning initiatives across one of the nation’s fastest-growing automotive service franchises and is helping franchisees and technicians develop skills, knowledge, and the culture. And we’ll be talking about that in detail.
Needed to deliver exceptional customer experiences while maintaining operational excellence at scale. Dan, welcome to the podcast.
Dan Aldrich (00:35)
Thanks, Jeff. happy to be here. Thanks for taking a few minutes to chat with me today.
Jeff Walter (00:40)
Yeah. and and I greatly appreciate your time as w as well. you know, so first yeah, as my listeners know, first thing I like to do is kinda understand, hey, how’d you get to be director of technical training and and for folks out there, what is Christian Brothers Automotive? wa it’s a franchise, what do you guys do and and then how did you end up as director of tr technical training?
Dan Aldrich (01:00)
Sure. Yeah, so Christian Brothers Automotive has been around since 1982. And it’s not, it’s contrary to what some people might think. The the founder’s n name is not Christian. It is a Christian-based organization started among a group of men attending church together. And we have three coming up at 340 locations nationwide right now, and we are currently growing at a rate of about 20 to 25 locations per year.
All of our locations are franchise owned and operated, and our owners are in the location, boots on the ground, participating, running the business. now Christian Brothers has been expanding a lot lately, but our priority really isn’t
just massive brick and mortars everywhere and numbers alone. It’s about growing intentionally and carefully and growing in a healthy way. So Christian Brothers, we we span everywhere from Arizona all the way down to Florida and all the way north to Pennsylvania and across the Midwest as well. So we we’re expanding our footprint everywhere, but we are Houston based here in Texas.
And I lead our technical training team of there’s a few of us part of a larger auto tech training team. We’re all certified master level ASC technicians. We’re all former technicians ourselves. and your other question was how did I get here? So it’s so I I I was born into the industry more or less. I’m from upstate New York, Hyde Park, New York, Mid Hudson Valley.
Jeff Walter (02:28)
Yeah, yeah.
Dan Aldrich (02:38)
And my father, who he grew up on a as a dairy farmer for my grandfather’s farm, he got into auto repair by just fixing the equipment, fixing the tractors. And he just he didn’t want to be a farmer. He wanted he really liked the mechanical side of it, started his own shop, and but he still had that farmer mentality of, you know, that work ethic of if it’s the family business and there’s a
quote, roof over your head and food on the table, you were going to contribute to the family business. I was the oldest son. So that that still applied even though we weren’t in farming, it was in auto repair. So my dad shopped Aldratron Motive in Hyde Park, New York. he since sold it a few years ago and retired. But he had he arranged for the school bus to start dropping me off at the shop when I was in second grade. And he really took that
Jeff Walter (03:30)
He’s awesome.
Dan Aldrich (03:31)
Yeah.
He says anytime I ever tried to complain, he’s like, I was five years old. I was out there running the combine. I’m like, okay. very much uphill both ways in the snow kind of stories from the farm. So yeah. So I was I was just around this environment my whole life. I went when I got to the shop in the afternoon after school, I’d do my homework in the office, and I’d have to go out and work in the shop.
started I was just cleaning floors and, you know, picking up parts and cleaning up and doing stuff like that. And then it slowly evolved. And then during the summers I spent my summers at the shop with my dad. And you know, before you know it, by the time I was, you know, twelve, thirteen, I was doing major repairs, head gasket jobs, tiny belts, engine swaps. And so it was very
I was not most people getting in this industry are car nuts that just love fast cars. It was just all I knew how to do. ⁓ so that was kind of what got me into automotive. So when I got to high school, they had the you know high school vocational classes where you could go to trade school and
Jeff Walter (04:27)
Wow. Wow.
Dan Aldrich (04:40)
Being outside of the classroom and high school classes for half the day sounded great to me. So I I opted into that for junior and senior year to do vocational training and did automotive. And I really had an unfair advantage of that point. because I’d already Yes, and my classmates were God bless them, that they didn’t know anything, you know. So
Jeff Walter (04:56)
Yeah, you were you were swapping engines at twelve. I’m gonna think I’m gonna say
I was just thinking of you in high school going to you know auto shop and you’ve been like changing head gaskets and swapping engines, you know, for four years or five years. And you know, and and all the other kids there are like, you know, they’re enthusiasts and they’re you know, they’re they’re they’re they’re happy that they know how to, you know, change change the oil.
Right. And and they’re and they wanna learn and they wanna learn. You’re like that that that I I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it probably wasn’t that challenging for you.
Dan Aldrich (05:22)
Yeah.
That’s right.
No, it wasn’t that challenging. And they were getting into
it because the the original Fast and the Furious movie came out around then. So they were getting into it because they wanted to put these like lights under their car, these chrome mufflers and all this stuff on their car. So they were like, they wanted to learn about cars. I was just like, this is just what I do, right? We actually did, funny enough, like one we spent one or two weeks and our whole class did a field trip to my dad’s shop.
Jeff Walter (05:40)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (06:00)
which was awkward as a teenager because we had we did training there we did kind of like this co-op thing and it it was fun so I went to a lot of I got sent to a lot of automotive student competitions that they they had a a a bunch of those back then they still have them for for s vocational students and like I said I I wasn’t gifted at it I just had an unfair experience advantage and I wound up getting a lot of scholarship money.
Jeff Walter (06:03)
That’s
Dan Aldrich (06:25)
⁓ winning a lot of those and moved down to North Carolina to go to automotive school. it’s it was called NASCAR Technical Institute at the time. Now it’s called Universal Technical Institute. I was a brand new school that just opened. from there I I I got into BMW’s factory training program where you have to hit a certain criteria of attendance and GPA. they take like
Jeff Walter (06:25)
Mm-hmm.
Dan Aldrich (06:49)
Top five percent are eligible. because it’s all funded by BMW. So it’s essentially they’re sponsoring you to join their program. You sign a contract with them and everything. So I did that, went up to Jersey to where towards where their headquarters is for BMW, went through all their technician factory training program, worked in BMW dealers as a master tech for about seven, eight years. and
Jeff Walter (06:53)
Uh-huh.
Hm.
Dan Aldrich (07:15)
Went back to the aftermarkets, was doing went back to independent shops. And when I did that, that’s when things really started to change. And you know, being in a dealership, I was one of 35 techs that were similar skill level. And then when I went back to the aftermarket independent shops, now I was regarded as the specialist. And they started pairing a lot of these apprentice technicians with me that I began mentoring.
Jeff Walter (07:31)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (07:42)
and investing in and that’s really where I I found my fulfillment. It wasn’t ever in the cars. That’s just what I knew. But I found my passion to be really in the teaching and developing people. so that kind of was the beginning of the path to get me here. Started teaching classes, went to work at I went and taught at the school that I attended, you know, 16, 17 years earlier. I was approached by a a large corporation
a big automotive repair chain, not Christian before Christian Brothers. And they they said we want you to start a training program for our company, for our technicians. And you know, I was like, okay, sounds great. I did that. and I did that for about six years or so. And then I got the call from Christian Brothers back in twenty twenty one. and they once again it didn’t apply for that this job either. They reached out to me.
Jeff Walter (08:11)
Uh-huh.
Dan Aldrich (08:33)
and just through industry networking and stuff and getting to know different people. And they flew me out to here to Texas and yeah, long story short, went back to my wife and three daughters who were in middle school and elementary school at the time and say, Hey kids, how do we feel about Texas? Because we were living in Charlotte, North Carolina at the time. And yeah, we moved out here 2021 and it’s been the best move of my career. I absolutely love this company, I love what they stand for.
Jeff Walter (08:50)
Okay.
Dan Aldrich (08:59)
And I love their commitment to investing in the next generation of automotive professionals.
Jeff Walter (09:06)
That that’s so cool. And you’re and you’re in Houston, right? In Texas, in Houston? Or the Houston are Houston metro area? And I can’t yeah. I I I used to live over in a galleria area. Way back way way back in the eighties. so I loved I I I was a New Yorker and I came down there and I’m like, my gosh, I found my people. I I I love Texas. It’s it’s amazing. I’m I’m up in Michigan now. But that’s so so what was it about Christian Brothers that you know, I mean
Dan Aldrich (09:09)
Yes, yeah, or Houston Cady area. Yes, yep.
yeah.
yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Walter (09:32)
It I just listening to that and you know, you had this opportunity at this other place to create a program from scratch and it’s like your baby. and you know, we could talk about that ’cause that’s gotta be really challenging and fulfilling at the same time. And but wha what about what was the draw? Like what what about them just y y you you know saying like I I’ve moved my family
Dan Aldrich (09:39)
Yes.
Jeff Walter (09:57)
From New Jersey to Michigan, twenty six years ago. And I and you know, it’s not you don’t do those things lightly, I guess. It’s not you’re not just getting another job, right? You’re not you know, you’re you’re displacing your whole family. so there what was it about that opportunity that just drew you to them?
Dan Aldrich (10:15)
Yeah, it’s a great question. so the the two things. The first was I knew just from being in the industry, especially once I got to that kind of corporate level training, national training level where I was on the road all the time teaching classes all over the country for the last company, I knew about Christian Brothers and I knew about their reputation. I knew that what the the things that I knew about Christian Brothers were A, that they only did things the right way.
Jeff Walter (10:31)
Uh-huh.
Dan Aldrich (10:41)
when I when it comes to the technical approach. Christian Brothers, they invest in a lot of equipment for their technicians that other shops don’t do. Like when you take your vehicle to what kind of vehicle do you drive? Is it a domestic or okay so either one. So let’s say you have your Jeep and you take your car, your vehicle to the Jeep dealership.
Jeff Walter (10:43)
Okay.
I’ve got a Jeep and an infinity.
Dan Aldrich (11:07)
They have a specific diagnostic software that’s just for that group is called Stellanus, Dodge Jeep, RAM, Alpha Romeo, and all them. They have a specific tooling just for your vehicle, right? And that’s the draw to a lot of dealerships. It’s like, they have the stuff from the manufacturer. Well, Christian Brothers invests in all those tools that the dealership has for diagnostics, programming.
Jeff Walter (11:21)
But yeah.
Dan Aldrich (11:33)
all the newer technology diagnostics for all of the top manufacturers and it’s installed in every single one of our locations. So Christian Brothers views themselves as a dealer competitor, not necessarily competing with the tire stores or the you know the gas station garage on the corner. So that attracted me from a just equipping their people with the right tooling aspect. But then when I came here for the interview
Jeff Walter (11:52)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (12:00)
I mean, as soon as I walked in the door, it was just it was just you you j I can’t explain it other than I just felt it. it was like a piece. it’s just the whole environment. you know, it is a Christian based organization. And I you I’ve never been in Chick-fil-A headquarters, but I gotta imagine a probably s a similar experience. it’s you you walk in and it’s just everybody smiles, friendly, authentic, genuine. And
You know, and I I grew up in church also. So it was kind of like a perfect pairing for me between growing up in church and growing up in the shop. You know, it was aligned with my personal values. and not only that, it’s just you can’t one thing I tell that our I instruct our mentors is you can never fake authenticity. You could attempt.
Jeff Walter (12:45)
Right.
Right.
Dan Aldrich (12:46)
And
that’s that’s one thing that conveyed to me right away is these people are the real deal. you know, you see go in places, you see things on the walls like integrity and you know, and joy and all these things, but then you you work at places like that where they have that on the walls, but they don’t really live it out. You know, it’s it’s kind of like a theoretical model, but it’s not demonstrating practice. And this, I mean, it is
Jeff Walter (13:04)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (13:10)
The first six months I was here, I was kind of waiting, bracing myself for kind of that vernier to to to evaporate or wear off. It’s been almost it’ll be five years as of next month and I it still hasn’t happened. It’s the authenticity they live out their values every single day.
Jeff Walter (13:17)
Right, for reality to punch through.
Well that I well there’s a couple of things there I I that I want to pack f first off, I think that’s really interesting on the equipment side, especially for an a you know, a a non OEM, you know, an after aftermark I don’t even want to say aftermarket, but you know, independent, right? In the independent. I I because that dealer only has to invest in that equipment once.
Dan Aldrich (13:47)
Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah, that’s welcome. Yeah.
Jeff Walter (13:56)
Right, it’s like or you know, the the brand they’re representing, right? If you’re a general repair shop, it’s like you’ve got the Jeep one, you’ve got the Infinity one, you’ve got the Honda one, you know, dot dot dot dot dot. And I g I guess one question that com pops immediately to my mind on that is like it’s kind of one of those things you hear everybody hoping for and wanting, but the retort is, well that I mean, and this equipment’s not cheap.
And the retort being we can’t afford it. We can’t afford to do that. so how is it that they’re able to afford that? Because it would seem to me, just as an outsider, that equipping that shop, a Christian brother shop with the specialty d diagnostic tools and and and tooling for all the major brands would be a much larger capital investment than
a similar sized dealership, you know, one brand dealership location. It would just seem like the capital investment would be you know, much higher and almost so how how d how are they able to do that? Is does that make sense?
Dan Aldrich (14:58)
That is a really,
really, really good question. and just for context, you know, yes, the the OEMs, they they only have to invest in the software and the diagnostic tooling for that brand. And other aftermarket shops that are not Christian Brothers, what they generally do is they they purchase aftermarket generic scan tools that could do.
Like Snap on. Yeah, everybody’s heard of Snap on tools, right? So Snap on has a generic scan tool. It could it could re connect to any car, but it could go to about this depth. At a certain point, you’re gonna exceed that where it just can’t do it, it’s like, okay, well, we’re in dealership level territory where we have to send it off to the dealership. ⁓ where and that’s yes. Sure.
Jeff Walter (15:22)
Right.
Right.
Yeah. That’s exactly what I experienced as a consumer. I I I’ve got
a local guy here that I that he’s awesome. He’s he’s he’s like a master tech for decades. and I brought my I’m and I bring my Jeep to him. I got it’s an older Jeep and you know, and and it was exact and and I I had that exact same thing that exact thing happen. He goes, I’ve diagnosed it, this is what’s wrong. I can’t do anything about it. You have to bring it to a dealer.
Dan Aldrich (16:08)
And it’s only getting worse and it’s becoming more prominent as technology evolves, as more and more of these OEMs are going toward computer and electronics. I mean, I think even the average consumer, not a non-technical person in nature, they know that their their cars are basically just computers on wheels these days, right? I mean, you’re hard pressed to buy a brand new Honda Civic, even a base model off a new car lot that has less than 30 different computers on it these days. So how does it make
Jeff Walter (16:08)
Like
Right.
Dan Aldrich (16:38)
Sense financially, well, it only works if you have the ability to obtain an ROI from it, right? So, how do you obtain an ROI or something like that? Where, well, you have to keep those dollars in-house. And now you’re not sending those vehicles to the dealership. Because when you’re sending a vehicle to the dealership, you’re not only, you’re not only sending that job away, but you’re potentially sending that customer away full-time. You know, when they go over there, you know, what are they going to tell the customer? well, we’re the experts. You really need to bring a car here.
Jeff Walter (16:45)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (17:08)
for everything and blah blah blah. You know the the deal. But yeah, yeah.
Jeff Walter (17:11)
Right, yeah, yeah. No, I I got the pitch. I mean I actually
I got the pitch and I just trust Brian so much more that it’s a trust thing. Like he’s authentic. I know him. What if he says I need, you know, timing chamber, yeah. Whatever he says the vehicle needs, I know it needs that. Right. I Yeah, the typical dealer, yeah. I mean I don’t
Dan Aldrich (17:19)
Right. Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, I know. And
and that’s people don’t like taking their cars to the dealerships because they feel like they’re being sold something, right?
And same exact scenario that you have, like they want to deal with local businesses and they want to have that kind of mom and pop shop feel as we call it, you know, that family environment. People know you by name when you go there and they know your kids, they work in all your family vehicles. So our goal there is to, from the technology standpoint, is to provide that opportunity. So we have the backing to be able to say, yes, we could do all of it here, right? Even keys. Even if you have like need a replacement key, they used to be you have to deal with a locksmith.
Or dealership, we we do that stuff too. So, how you’re able to do that is you have to have adequate training and support for your technicians, and that is kind of a dual-prong approach. Training is obviously on the proactive side, and then support being on the reactive side. So, our Auto Tech department here at our our home office, our support center, there’s around 10 of us, and there are five or six.
Jeff Walter (18:30)
Okay.
Dan Aldrich (18:39)
that are dedicated, they’re full-time they’re full-time support specialists, all master techs. Most of them were shop foreman.
And different CBA shops or lead technicians that kind of you know their body kind of the my back’s kind of hurting, it’s hard to do all this heavy lifting stuff, but they had the knowledge to share and they were already guiding people. So those guys, they do this, they’re downstairs doing this right now. They’re supporting technicians across our entire brand, walking them through these procedures, assisting them. They are experts in all of this software and tooling. And on the proactive side, we are.
Jeff Walter (18:49)
Okay.
Huh.
Dan Aldrich (19:16)
educating them the best we can on the front ends, getting them in in person and online training and providing all the resources that they need. So that enables us also to hire technicians from either either way, OEM or aftermarket.
So we could we could have a Ford technician that leaves the dealership and comes straight to us, even if they’ve never worked with any other tools other than the Ford tool, at least we have something they’re familiar with. So then we could teach them, okay, you understand this about the Ford tool. we know this tool too. Now we’re going to show you how it’s not the differences, but the similarities between this and the General Motors one and the Stellanus and the Honda and the Nissan and Toyota.
Jeff Walter (19:43)
Right.
Right, right.
Dan Aldrich (20:00)
And try to and and really and provide hands-on training with those. you know, obviously it’s multifaceted. We use blended learning between online and in person, to like train them up and provide all the resources. But without the training and support, yeah, your average, you know, gym’s autorepair or whatever down on the corner.
It’s it’s if you don’t have that training and support, it’s it’s near impossible you’re to get your ROI on that kind of investment.
Jeff Walter (20:28)
Yeah, well I I mean, man, the more you talk, the more th light bulbs go off my head. but the the the support, you know, ’cause you hear a lot about training and and and we were we we work a lot I I I was just at the International Franchise Expo giving a a speech there and I was at the International Franchise Association’s annual convention talking there. And so if you know, shifting gears a little from the automotive to ju to pure franchise,
You know, there’s l yeah, I I believe that the training is the replication engine. It’s what they takes that raw franchisee and turns them into a brand franchisee, right? And takes those, you know, the h the new hires, the the people that they hire and turn them into brand ambassadors, right? Or or brand staff. but it’s interesting on the support, especially you know,
There’s the first time on a on a franchise, and I guess it’s it I I’m just putting my franchise hat on, that you have that kind of phona friend support. Like you got these these these master technicians that are being leveraged across and you know, you said you had like five or six, but they’re being leveraged across three hundred and fifty locations. So that’s a tremendous amount of leverage for their knowledge and
Dan Aldrich (21:25)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (21:40)
And I’m just sitting there thinking, like, if I wanted to be a Christian Brothers franchisee and I was lucky enough to be approved, and I’m in whatever you know, I’m in whatever look, you I’m here in Celine, Michigan, and and you know, I I’ve got certain talent, local talent, but I I don’t have any, you know, you know Lexus special list that we don’t sell a lot of Lexuses here, right? And and all of a sudden somebody comes in with their Lexus.
Right. And I I you know, and we j you know, and we’re doing the b yeah. And I think it’s real you know, the other cool thing I’m sorry, I’m all over the map here because you’re just blowing me away on so many different fronts. So that phonophrin thing, being able to call somebody at headquarters and get the kind of leveraged support on that expertise is that’s incredible. That that makes sense.
Dan Aldrich (22:25)
And it’s not only
it’s not only the there so it’s the we have a whole system. It’s like a ticketing system. It’s called the technical assistance center. It’s proprietary CBA. It’s where they could we have an app for it. We try to
To make it as easy for the technicians as possible. They could pull up the app, they would do it on a computer, submit a ticket, it’s tied into our point of sale system. So it imports all the vehicle information and the vehicle history, what the car came in for. You have everything. And so when they make that support ticket, we have this kind of centralized pooling of knowledge among some of the best technicians in the in the country. And so we’re able to support them and they have an average.
Jeff Walter (22:41)
Yeah, yeah, okay.
beautiful.
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (23:05)
response time right now it’s under 11 minutes, which at a dealership for context, if if when I was at a manufacturer and I put in a support ticket to corporate for technical assistance, it was 24 to 48 hours is the average response time. We’re we’re we’re getting back to the window in the bay, you know? ⁓ yeah.
Jeff Walter (23:09)
my gosh.
Yeah, I was gonna say a a day. Eleven minutes. That’s
like why what I mean, you you don’t have time as the tech to sh stop and go to a different like normally you’d hit you’d hit that brick wall. I don’t know what to do. I sit submit a support ticket, and that’s like, okay, put this vehicle to the side for the next day. Let me go work on this other one. And and you’re like, okay, well, I’m gonna go, you know, take a
quick break for a second, or I’m gonna go try and research this more. So when I actually engage in ten minutes, I I I I I’m I’ve I’ve upped my game, right? Because now I’m gonna talk to the the experts. That is so wow.
And then to integrate it with the system, yeah, you know, phone friend is is is a misnomer because it’s all electronic and so you’re able to get that context instantly and you don’t have to explain what it is you’re doing. ⁓ that’s incredible.
Dan Aldrich (24:03)
Yes.
Right. And they also, if they don’t hear back
from them within 20 minutes, they call them on the phone. Hey, are you good? You know, it are we where like did you have to jump on another car or are you still stuck? They want to they see it through to the end to make sure 100% that that technician got the support that they needed and get them an answer.
Jeff Walter (24:26)
Right.
Yeah, yeah, it’s it it’s it’s interesting. I I I haven’t seen it in this particular use case, but with as I’ve talked to other franchises on the program and and and not in the automotive space, that it it’s really interesting that the difference to scaling performance can make if you have that type of feedback loop and you’re not being punitive, but you’re you’re recognizing something and going
Hey, I noticed this. How can I help? Right. So, like here you’ve got a proactive ticket going in, and in real time or near real time, you’re coming back and saying, How can I help? Giving them a bit of advice saying, you know, here’s three things you should look at. But then also doing the follow up to say, Did you are you good? Did that clear up? Did did you did it address the problem? I want to make wanna make sure that I didn’t just throw information your way.
But we actually resolved the issue, right? And it’s
Dan Aldrich (25:33)
Yeah.
And the best part
is is when you integrate that with the training side. So we work under kind of one umbrella, two departments within one umbrella with between training and support. Is that now we have this whole database of everything’s documented step by step by step, even if the phone calls, they’re still documenting all the steps the technician took. So we have this 12-year-old database of like things that fix.
Jeff Walter (25:53)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (26:02)
cars, common problems. And we can also take those analytics and that data and then use that to polish and drive our training. And what so we’re not just throwing out darts on the board of like, hey, what what should we teach? What should we write classes on? But it is a very intentional approach to what kind of training we need to bring to the field and even regionally where we need to deliver that training.
Jeff Walter (26:04)
Mm-hmm.
⁓ mm-hmm.
Dan Aldrich (26:29)
So it’s it’s kind of this well-oiled machine where you have this this kind of this feedback loop of hey they they just work synonymously with each other. and it’s it’s it’s really really good. we’re we’re getting direct and we try to also we understand especially for blue-collar workers like technicians, I mean they’re experts in their field.
Technicians, they the they traditionally it the the stereotypes about automotive technicians or we don’t even say mechanics anymore. They don’t mind if you call them mechanics, but you know, when you think of a mechanic or auto technician, you think of, you know, somebody who couldn’t make it to college or somebody who, you know, they maybe they dropped out. These guys are basically IT specialists. And we do have guys that have done that kind of training. Most of the training that we’re doing
Jeff Walter (26:51)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (27:19)
is computer networking and heavy electrical diagnostics. It’s stuff that you don’t get hands dirty doing. And so when you have this this feedback loop and then you pair it with the proactive side
you know, you have this giant machine now where you have all this information and all this knowledge pooling and we actually and and every one of our technicians has this available to them. So even if the technician sees, hey, I ran into that problem last week that this guy put a ticket in, I could chime in, hey, and they they could comment on it, say, hey, I had this one of these last week, that exact same problem, and here’s what it took to fix it. ⁓
Jeff Walter (27:47)
Yeah.
so
it’s an so the ticketing system is an is an open system. So it’s so so I have a problem. Let’s say I have a problem, you’re you’re the expert that picks it up back at headquarters. We’re dialoguing back and forth through the system, and then and then somebody at a different franchise chimes in and goes, hey, hey, I had this problem. I understand Dan, I understand what you’re saying, and you’re ninety f
Dan Aldrich (28:03)
It’s open, yes. So we have our yeah.
Jeff Walter (28:26)
9% of the way there, you also have to turn this thing over here and push this thing over there and torque this down to this. And when you do those three things with what you’re suggesting, it all hums perfectly. Right? Like s like I can and then all and then you’re going, okay. You know, I I didn’t know that. Right. And you’re learning as the expert, and then I as the tech with the problem is learning, but then also
Dan Aldrich (28:38)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Always.
Jeff Walter (28:50)
And what what I love about that is from a pedagogy standpoint, I’m a big believer in learn to teach. I don’t think you ever really learn anything until you teach it. and and and if and you’re taking a a support ticketing system and turning it into an opportunity to mentor and teach and and for people to give back their expertise to a fellow franchisee, you know, on the other side of the country.
Dan Aldrich (29:00)
That’s right. I agree.
Jeff Walter (29:16)
Right. Or even or down the block too. Yeah, like like I anyway, I think that’s that’s really cool.
Dan Aldrich (29:22)
what we do is we we we try to overcome that a few different ways. And one of the ways we we get these subject matter experts, these sport specialists, we get them into our in-person training classes to we bring them in as like to do demos of different concepts just so that
The classes, the technicians attending from all over the country, they’re they’re putting a face now with the names of the the guys that are supporting them. And they go, we take them to lunch, we go to dinner with them, they spend time with them getting to know our technicians. Our fall training conference we have every year for technicians and and service managers, they’re they’re mingling with them and they’re they’re developing relationships with with these technicians. So it’s not just some guy on the other end of a computer who you
Jeff Walter (30:07)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (30:08)
They don’t know they don’t have any frame reference.
And you know, it’s it’s it’s it makes them it more approachable for them to be able to ask for help and and trust that they’re gonna have good answers. And a lot of a lot of a lot of our techs, you’ll see their engagement, they’re on there every single day looking at tickets and rarely even make a ticket, but they’re watching all the other tickets come in and they’re reading through them as an educational tool so they could be up to speed on what the latest issues are, so they’re prepared what if they get that problem.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (30:40)
I so so not just looking through as this is interesting or how can I help, but also seeing you know, edge case repair or things I don’t know and then and then going, that’s interesting. ⁓ and and kind of as a micro learning, if you would, right? Like like let’s let’s look at some tickets and you know, I I wanna I wanna brush up on
Dan Aldrich (30:51)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Basically.
Jeff Walter (31:05)
You know, my tra my my transmission skills. Let me go look at a bunch of transmission related tickets and just you know, kinda like a daily briefing type thing. That’s wow, that’s really I I never thought of opening up a ticketing system to the franchisees. Huh.
Dan Aldrich (31:09)
That’s right.
That’s right. Exactly.
Yeah, it’s it’s something that’s very unique and it’s
you know, there’s it’s not we don’t charge
like a fee or anything per ticket or per phone call or anything. It’s just part of you know, we the our support centers here used to be called the Christian Brothers Home Office and we renamed it to support center because we exist solely to support our franchisees. And everything we do is to support our franchises. We don’t want to micromanage them. We want them to run their business and be a resource for them to help them be successful. Most of our owners people don’t realize this, but most of our franchise
Jeff Walter (31:44)
It’s so cool.
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (31:55)
HIZEs do not come from automotive. They come from outside industries and don’t know anything about the automotive industry. They come from tech or sales or or whatever, and they’re they were successful in a prior industry. And to be honest with you, it’s kind of nice working with them that way because they come in and they don’t bring in all these habits that they learned from somewhere else. They are learning
Jeff Walter (32:19)
Hmm.
Interesting.
Dan Aldrich (32:21)
from the beginning, the Christian brothers way of doing things. And so they’re coming in, and not to mention, you know, when you the traditional way that somebody would become a shop owner, it was back in the day, in you know, my dad’s age, there was a technician would eventually cr start his own shop. So he went from being a mechanic or tech to being a shop owner.
Jeff Walter (32:40)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (32:44)
But the problem is you can’t successfully run your business and be a true business owner and be the lead technician technician and be the salesperson and be the marketing. So we really we we want them to run their run their business as an owner and not try to jump in there to
Jeff Walter (32:52)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (33:01)
try to fix the cars and not try to do all the sales. We want them to be there and be available to love and love on and support their team members and help them develop. And it’s it’s been a great recipe for the brand for sure.
Jeff Walter (33:14)
That well and yeah, the other thing that it also goes well, I I I think that goes to something else that you said earlier, which is and I’ve seen this in other, you know, blue-collar jobs. I was just talking to somebody that does factory floor training. and it’s the same thing. The you know, there’s a perception of what a factory worker does, and you picture this like early twentieth century chain-driven assembly line, da-da-da-da-da.
And it’s like, no, the the the people working the the line today, they’re technicians, right? We’ve automated all that other stuff out of the line, and now the only peop the people left are technicians s solving problems. Right. And and and they’re and and it’s a highly technical job. Yeah, we don’t the pr public perception is still of
Dan Aldrich (33:55)
That’s right.
Jeff Walter (34:03)
Yeah, the chain driven assembly line with somebody with a mallet pounding pistons into an engine. Right. It’s like, no, this person is like working with million dollar pieces of equipment and and troubleshooting them and fixing them and and and and they’re they’re truly a a a technician. They’re not actually the ones doing the assembly work, right? ⁓ and and and to a certain degree, yeah, think about what you’re saying with your the prior generation.
Dan Aldrich (34:21)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (34:26)
There w there’s always technical skill there, but the range of technical skill and the applic applicability from brand A to brand B to brand C, yeah, I would imagine that there was a lot more overlap. You know, like if I could work on a Chevy engine, I can work on a Honda engine with very little gap in knowledge or skill, right? Like th there there was such a huge overlap. But now that they’re all kind of almost proprietary.
Dan Aldrich (34:39)
Yes, a hundred percent.
Jeff Walter (34:55)
Computer-driven mechanical systems, it’s there’s a lot of proprietary net technology, and and I mean that in the broadest sense, not just IT technology, but also how how they build their engines, how they do their transmissions, what their brakes are, how they recapture energy from like all that is very not necess is not necessarily one size fits all for the entire industry, right?
And so the ability to actually have that technical knowledge and run the shop and be the salesperson. I I could see I could see that. But you but I wanted to talk about something else or related to all that that goes way back to when you first introduced Christian Brothers and why you were so the thing that really drew you to it when when when the opportunity came, and you talked about authenticity and and and
And it’s interesting because leads to culture. And I I believe culture is upstream of all this other stuff, downstream. And the downstream effect is is what we just talked about on the ticketing system. Because the downs because you have to have a certain culture, right? And a certain authenticity and a certain which would include openness to learning and humbleness as part of the culture.
Dan Aldrich (35:58)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (36:06)
To feel comfortable allowing your trouble tickets to be public, you know, or to be available to the community, right? And for somebody like I I could see the in a different type of culture where you didn’t have the authenticity, and I would imagine that that that that learning, openness to learning new things and and with with openness to learning new things to me is comes humbleness, because you’re it’s the humility that you don’t know everything, right?
Dan Aldrich (36:11)
Right? Mm-hmm.
Sure.
Jeff Walter (36:35)
And so like and I could see if you took that same s t same downstream process and go, here’s a best practice, right? And you transplant it into a different organization, it would be like rejected you know the the the you know like a bad b like a bad part, you know, it’d be an allergic reaction, right? Because it because it’s antithetical to that particular culture, right? If if it was more of a punitive type culture.
Dan Aldrich (36:52)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (36:59)
Or they didn’t have that openness and they didn’t, you know. And so I want to dive more into that that authenticity or that culture and how how as a franchise, it’s one thing in a in an in an organization, in a corporation, where you where everybody works for the corporation, somebody’s at the top, they’re setting the tone, and you have higher fire capability and and and and promotional cape capability.
And so you can really enforce a culture. But in a distributed network with franchisees where they’re contractual partners, how like how have you seen that culture? What is that culture? And how do you govern that culture in a distributed network so that you could have all those great downstream effects?
Dan Aldrich (37:38)
Okay.
Yes, that’s a good great question. And I mean, that’s kind of like the the the biggest it’s not kind of, it definitely is the biggest differentiator between Christian Brothers and everywhere else. And you come and sit in on one of our tech training classes and talk to the techs before we even get in front of them and ask them what what is it what’s different about Christian Brothers? The first thing they will tell you, unsolicited, is
it’s it feels like a family. I’m treated well. I’m loved here. I feel valued. I don’t feel like just a number. For context, automotive technicians, the way they get paid traditionally is by the job. So it’s very production based, right? A break job, if it if it pays one hour to do a break job.
Jeff Walter (38:24)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (38:30)
regardless of how long it takes you, you’re getting paid one hour. So if you do it in 30 minutes, you do it in three hours, you’re getting paid one hour. So it’s very production based when you get into the auto technician space. And with that, that creates in the industry, in the automotive industry
Jeff Walter (38:41)
Mm-hmm.
Dan Aldrich (38:47)
a lot of a lot of unfavorable factors acros this is across the dealerships independent shops everything what it what that harbors is it creates a very very me mindset of I I need to protect I don’t want to share there’s only X amount of work so I need to make sure that I’m getting as much as possible and it’s very cutthroat and there’s you know
Jeff Walter (39:02)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (39:12)
They’re people
There’s favoritism sometimes. There’s politics involved. Well, that’s not a good ticket. This is a bad ticket. This is a good job versus a bad job. This is a job that I can make more money on than this. And it’s a lot of infighting. There’s just a lot of negativity. Not to mention that technicians are generally made to feel historically, at least from my experience and the texts that I’m really close friends with, they’re made to really their only value or they’re made to feel that their only value is tied to a number of how much, how many hours can you?
Jeff Walter (39:24)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (39:42)
produce per week without having a car come back or breaking anything right so it’s that’s basically one of the first things that a technician gets asked in an interview traditionally is like how many hours can you turn per week and you know so that’s basically a self-worth gets tied to that and so a tech yeah
Jeff Walter (39:44)
Right.
Right.
Yeah. And if I if I could just i inject
in for for the listeners that are not in the when you say hours per week, you’re talking about the standardized hours for a particular job. So they’ll say this particular break job has a standardized one hour. It should take an hour, and therefore you’re only the you’re only gonna get paid for the standardized hour. If you can do it in half the time, you could do two of those jobs in an actual hour.
Dan Aldrich (40:13)
Sure.
Exactly.
Jeff Walter (40:31)
And get paid for two standardized hours. Where if or on the flip side, if it takes you two actual hours, you only got paid for one standardized hour. So what so I just want to interject there for for folks outside the industry, when you say hours, it’s not that the person is just working sixty, eighty hours. They’re able to in thirty five, forty hours of effort, get sixty hours of standardized hours. Yeah. So sorry.
Dan Aldrich (40:51)
Correct.
Exactly. And that’s that’s a good point.
So like when I like for context when
Towards the end of when I left the the the dealerships, I was working roughly forty-five hours a week. And average I was getting paid in the mid eighties per week hours. So almost doubling, you know, and you get they incentivize it with production bonuses and things like that, because they want that, right? it’s called bay efficiency for the technician bays, the stalls they work in. So because of this, this creates these issues of this kind of infighting, negativity, this kind of
Jeff Walter (41:13)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (41:31)
self-worth that’s only tied to ours. So if they have a bad week, then they feel that they they and it becomes part of their identity. So you have this negative cloud over the industry. And since all of us on our team have we’ve all lived it experienced it throughout our whole lives, we are very, very in tune with that, this nuance that doesn’t get talked about a lot. So what and anytime we go to technical training, it’s always about
Jeff Walter (41:51)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (41:58)
How to make you more productive? Nuts, bolts, wine diagrams. It’s all very technical in nature. What we what technicians never receive is any sort of personal development or soft skills training.
Jeff Walter (42:02)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (42:12)
any leadership training. So it t and it’s you know, I’m not saying it’s intentional by design. It’s just the nature of how it is. So a technician when they get to be, you know, 40s, 50s and they’re like, man, you know, it’s a very physical job. So they’re like, my back hurts. I I I just need to do something else. They feel like they’re they’re trapped. Like I don’t know how to do anything else because they’ve never they can’t even step into a manager role because they don’t know nothing about how to balance a PL sheet. They don’t know know nothing about leadership, how to
Jeff Walter (42:12)
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Right.
Dan Aldrich (42:41)
Communicate with people. So that’s one of the things that we’ve really capitalized on and that nobody else is doing in the industry for technicians. Every single one of our technical training classes, we integrate soft skills, culture, positive shop culture, and leadership training for our technicians. And that has been a game changer.
Jeff Walter (42:57)
And and and
yeah, and how how does within a Christian brothers franchise, we talked about the standardized hours, so how do the technicians in in in your franchise how do they get paid?
Dan Aldrich (43:10)
so that’s across the it’s it’s all over the map. Because we have we give the the franchise owners autonomy. that’s their employees. We they all have performance coaches that give them a couple different models, but you’ll see everything. Some of them are are of that flat rate system, flag hours, and probably the majority of the industries like that. But you’ll have some that are on a like a salary.
Jeff Walter (43:18)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (43:33)
Press plus production. It it ranges all over the map. Some of it’s like sh total shop hours they’re getting paid off of. It’s all over the map. But by and far the large majority is is flag hours. It’s how many hours you’re you’re you’re turning still. So
Jeff Walter (43:41)
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
So so because it’s a franchise that to them. That’s their employees, but you can suggest different models. But then at the same time you’re d you’re baked into your training program is soft skill development, leadership development, which I think is absolutely brilliant. And and and I I w when I was talking at the International Franchise Expo,
Dan Aldrich (43:51)
Right. Correct. That’s right.
Yes.
Jeff Walter (44:11)
The the line that came up is a a franchise system can only grow at the speed of its managers. And these managers don’t just magically appear out of nowhere. You you gotta the best way to get new managers to grow is to grow managers. And and and it’s interesting because
Dan Aldrich (44:20)
Yeah.
Right.
Jeff Walter (44:31)
I I I I think that’s when when we first started talking, that’s what just really shocked me the most or I I found mo most inspiring, it’s a better way of putting it, is the amount of effort you guys put into s developing the human human being, you know.
Dan Aldrich (44:40)
It’s
It’s unbelievable, Jeff. I mean, the stories
that I could tell you. I mean, these guys, they they that we have to get tissue boxes out. And these are guys that are like, you know, big burly beards, tatted up arms, and you know, they look like you know, you wouldn’t be want to be in an unlit parking lot with them, some of these guys. You know, that’s that’s very tough, gruff guys. come into the class.
back like this, like what what are you gonna tell me? You know? I’m an expert. And by the end, I mean we’re like I said, we’re getting tissue boxes out because it’s things that we take for granted.
Jeff Walter (45:12)
Right, right.
Dan Aldrich (45:20)
And maybe you and I and other people are listening, things things like you know, John Maxwell’s 21 Laws of Leadership, things like that that are like face poor leadership principles and how to communicate well with others and and emotional intelligence, empathy, all that sort of thing. It’s the first time they’re hearing this. And they’re you know mid, late in their career, and it’s just it just flips a switch. And we we get it’s incredible.
Jeff Walter (45:28)
Yeah.
Yeah, well
Yeah, I I well I was gonna say it’s and it goes back to the the culture thing. That that’s all setting a culture. And that’s and as in a franchise system, you know, the hardest thing is trying to you know, those franchisees and their staff are your brand. They are your company to the customer. I I remember a year ago I was at the IFA conference and I was in in a very genuine exchange of ideas.
Dan Aldrich (45:51)
That’s right.
Jeff Walter (46:13)
talking to an emerging franchise or and we were talking about training. And they did the typical thing the franchise a franchise or does. New franchisee comes to headquarters for a couple of weeks, learns everything about the business, goes over to you know, goes to a a a a locate a company owned location for a couple of weeks, you know, sees it all in action. They send somebody out, you know, then they do the build out and then they send, you know, somebody from headquarters to train everybody up, the initial staff and go and
And then, you know, good luck, right? And then here’s the training manuals and teach your people. You’re you’re now I trained the trainer. And I and and we were debating the utility of training frontline staff. And you know, and and you know, because you was like, well, you know, this wasn’t a highly technical thing, right? so it’s not like, hey, I gotta really teach them how to fix vehicles or you know, do do the technical stuff.
You know, it it’s you know, it’s you know, kind of more quick service, you know, much simpler level of stuff. I said y I said yes, but the frontline staff is your brand to the customer. So how do you want them to greet the customer? What type of empathetic listening skills do you want them to have? D if I have an I rate customer, do you want them to get I rate back at you? Like they are the brand.
Dan Aldrich (47:13)
That’s right.
Jeff Walter (47:26)
And you’re relying on these franchisees who have the who have their best interest at heart, but you’re relying on these first-time business owners who are under all the stresses of being a first-time business owner. You’re relying on them to convey your message to the frontline staff. And and and and you’re basically delegating the culture of your entire brand to to the franchisee, and you’re having no say in it.
Dan Aldrich (47:50)
That’s right.
Jeff Walter (47:51)
And what I love about what you’re doing is is not only anyway, it it it’s it’s conveying that that those that cultural value, boom, right to the front line. Right? And
Dan Aldrich (48:03)
And it’s
it’s all it’s so our franchisee selection process, we have a whole team just dedicated to that. It is we are highly, highly selective of our franchise owners. I I’m I’m I’m gonna mess up the statistic if I repeat it, but it’s a very minute percentage of those who apply for a Christian brothers shop franchise actually get awarded one.
It is they come in for interviews. We bring their entire family in. it is very, very thorough and it’s all about culture. They have to be a culture fit. it’s you know
Yes, there’s a lot of franchises out there. If if you come up with the the the the funding, you get your SBA loan and all those things it you’re in, right? It’s not that way with Christian Brothers. It is all about the culture and it has to be a good culture fit because like you said, it’s from the top down.
Jeff Walter (48:47)
Yep.
Dan Aldrich (48:57)
It they have to be a good culture fit and we spend a lot of time training our new franchisees as well as when it comes to these things and teaching them about the support. And I mean Jeff, I’d go on for hours telling you about the amount of things, resources we provide, chaplain care that we have for all of our shops, all kinds of resources that we provide to protect our culture. And that’s that’s the most valuable thing that we have. That’s the most valuable commodity we have is is our culture as a brand.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (49:26)
Yeah.
And well and and to just I I was interviewing Alicia Viscontio. She’s runs Franserv and they represent eight you know, they’re a franchise consulting, right? So they’re trying to find you know, potential franchisees, they represent eight hundred brands. And she said the exact same thing you just said, which is
The most important thing and that makes them successful. And it’s interesting because her background, she was a life coach and then she got into franchising and now she’s running the biggest franchise consulting organization in the country. But it was exactly what you just said. When she brings on a brand, it’s like, what is the culture? ‘Cause anybody can write it, yo.
If you have the check and the SBA loan, that’s just the ante into the game. It’s like, okay, you can be a franchisee for ac for but are you a good fit? Be and and she gets they get into what type of life? You know, l w do you want to work weekends? Not work weekends. Do you like working with like gets into all the and and gets into all cultural things in because and she’s always looking and she trains her c consultants. It’s it’s about getting the right fit.
Dan Aldrich (50:30)
Sure.
Jeff Walter (50:30)
And
then everything goes much better. They’re much more successful. They require much less intervention from the brand. the they do better financially as franchisees. The brand does better as a franchise or like everything just mushrooms from there because of the cultural fit. It’s just I like I can’t emphasize enough. It’s really it’s and it’s so cool that you guys do that and that you do that at the front line. And and anyway, sorry, I just it’s cool.
Dan Aldrich (50:47)
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it’s
and you’re right. I mean, it’s that’s it’s everything. Protecting the culture is everything. And you know, it’s like then you get into it it cascades, like you were saying, into not only it but you’re creating this family environment within your shop, you know. ⁓ a lot of our shops are our our franchisee spouses are are regularly there, you know. That we have we have a great retention rate for employees in our stores. And so even some that leave.
Jeff Walter (51:12)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (51:23)
Our CEO, Donnie Carr. One of the first things I heard him say once I joined was, and it really just hit me, was
We are not naive enough to think that everybody will work at Christian Brothers until they retire. But our hope is that you leave better than you came. And that and the people that have been in this building a long time told me from that very first the first few months, he s they told me this place will make you better if you allow it to. And it’s a hundred percent truth. and not only that, but it gives us the opportunity to now once we build these solid
Foundation.
of teams we’re not just putting warm bodies in in the shops and in bays and stuff we’re growing them from within too we have a new technician apprentice program where we are selecting mentors and we’re putting them through training we’re offering them support monthly mentor meetings and coaching them on how to coach their apprentice technicians and growing the next crop of technicians from within so there’s a there’s a lot of you know effects of this of how
Jeff Walter (52:18)
Mm-hmm.
Dan Aldrich (52:28)
how that cascades in a lot of beautiful ways, but yeah.
Jeff Walter (52:32)
Well and and and I I c I’m sorry. What I find absolutely miraculous, and I do mean miraculous, and I all and I and I I and almost divine when I say miraculous is it never ceases to amaze me. And it I I’ll go back to the first question I asked you about the equipment. How can you afford that? And the thing I find miraculous is
Dan Aldrich (52:36)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (52:56)
And that is if you get the right culture and you and you and the type of thing that your CEO just said, you know, I w the way I I I say to myself is like, look, you know, we come together and we walk down life’s path for a few steps, you know, and and then, you know, life takes us in different directions. And, you know, and let’s make that the best of that time while we’re doing it. But what blows me away is when you do that with that culture where you
A culture that seeks to treat others as human beings, right? that invests in developing their whole self, not just their technical productive self, right? You’re because that’s building capacity, not just doing. When when you do that, when you invest in having the right tools, as my dad used to say, you know, always you know
Dan Aldrich (53:29)
Right.
Jeff Walter (53:51)
Get the right tool for the job and the job goes easier. But when you do all that, almost you you end up with very low turnover, which the cost of turnover is not replacing the person. It’s all the know how that walks out the door. And all the this is how we and all the know how of how we do things here. And now that new person has to learn all that again. But when you do all that, the economic
impact is incredible. And it’s it’s like it it blows me away every time. Blows every time I see it, it blows me away. And that’s how you can afford the equipment. And that’s how you can afford investing the extra dollar in character development, the soft skill development, which I think of as character development. because you get like a 10x return, a five X return
Dan Aldrich (54:17)
It’s unreal.
Right.
Right.
Jeff Walter (54:39)
that it just it just blows it it it constantly and that and that’s where I go to the miraculous thing. It’s like let get this straight. If I set up an organization and I and and in a franchise situation where I don’t even I can’t even control these people, right? Because they’re partners. They’re if I set up a situation where I’ve got a a culture that is investing in people and a culture that treats people like humans.
Dan Aldrich (54:46)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (55:06)
And a culture that gives them the tools they need to be effective. And I at end I give them the technical skills and know-how and processes and procedures and say, look, if you do A, B, and C, things will go well. But if I do that all within a context of this type of culture, my economics, my profitability, my revenue, my customer retention all go through the roof. And I make a
Dan Aldrich (55:29)
Right.
Jeff Walter (55:31)
boatload of money. Right? Which is not the goal, it’s but it’s the result. Right? Like
Dan Aldrich (55:33)
Yeah.
Right. It’s
it’s about what you’re focused on.
And I think that’s where a lot of people get it wrong and even other places I’ve worked before, that’s that’s where they take the misstep is that that is what is your focus? Because the the the the money’s gonna come, right? It’s but if you’re focused only on the dollars, then you know that’s where your heart is, right? Is where your your your if your heart is there and your thoughts are there, that’s where you’re gonna be. But our our motto is love your neighbor as yourself. That is like our branding is the nice difference and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jeff Walter (55:39)
Exactly.
Dan Aldrich (56:09)
So if you love your neighbors, yours neighbors yourself and you’re truly living that out in everything that you’re doing, you know, it was remarkable when we first started, when I I came here, we first started integrating this this soft skills training. like it’s if we have a three-day class, so we take a whole half a day of just investing soft skills, this leadership culture training into our technicians.
I knew that there was the the financial impact was going to be there, but I didn’t want that to be focused. One day curiosity got the best of me. I just decided to pull some numbers. I took I tried to be as objective as I could. Took a six-month run after the class to six months before. But I’m like, well, you know, we have busy seasons, slow seasons, summer versus winter. Let me just take, you know, the same month runs, you know, year over year. What I saw was
Jeff Walter (56:45)
Right.
Right, right.
Dan Aldrich (57:00)
in those individuals who went through this training, a twenty point something increase in individual production hours and more importantly, a fifteen point seven percent increase in the whole shops hours from this one person coming to the training. So that proves your point. these
Jeff Walter (57:15)
Wow.
Dan Aldrich (57:20)
This kind of it they come back with a different attitude. we hear these stories from from owners. They reach out and they’re like, I I don’t know what you did with this guy, but he’s not the same person that I sent to you. I was like, it wasn’t us. it wasn’t us. We’re just that was already in them, it just needed to be activated, right? ⁓ that it’s this there’s a good quality character person. they just have never heard these things before and things just start clicking one after another, and they go back and they start with
Jeff Walter (57:31)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (57:48)
wow, now if I find my fulfillment and investing in the other people around me and caring about them and getting to know them as people, you know, and and sharing my knowledge instead of hoarding my knowledge and protecting it like it’s the precious thing that makes me helps me turn hours, like you said, kind of don’t come in first full circle, is you don’t learn anything until you’re teaching and kind of showing them that, like, hey, this is gonna help you grow and more just on a
technic more than just on a technical level. When you start reteaching this, this is going to make you better personally as well. It’s gonna transcend into every aspect of your life. When you start unclinching your fist and
Jeff Walter (58:26)
Right.
Dan Aldrich (58:32)
sharing the information you know, investing in and caring and and loving on other people, you are going to grow as a person. that’s going to, you know, be even outside the shop. And that’s what we’ve seen. And I’m just so grateful to be a part of it. It’s it’s so much fun.
Jeff Walter (58:46)
Yeah.
It it it it and it’s when we when we first start talking ATMC, it’s it’s the thing that really kind of and the reason I want to have you on the show is it does make all the difference and unfortunately there it’s not the typical thing you see. It’s the exception. And when I see somebody with the exception, I I I wanna I wanna talk to them because a ti every time I see it
it it it trickles down into the economics. You know, I I had a a a a another friend I was talking to and she calls it aligning profitability. And she goes, you start with the energy of the person and then you align the vision, then you figure out the business model and that’s all that that’s where you start and then and then you execute and then that just leads to profits. Like the the money f but it’s but it’s it’s the tail of the dog.
It’s you gotta start up front with the vision and the the energy and the culture and then how do I apply that in a certain way? What kind of and that’s you know, the one thing I w we were talking about the hours, the the the you know, it seemed to me like if I can do something in half of the standardized hours and it takes you double the standardized hours
I and we li we work in the same shop. I have no incentive to help you be more productive. Because whenever that job comes in, you’re not gonna wanna do it. And I’ll do it all day because I make double. Right? You make half and I make double. So you’re like I d so I don’t want you to take my like and it’s it it that goes back to that whole culture thing, right? Like what you well no, what you want me to do is you want me to share that with you so that we can churn more
abundance be between us. And you want y and you wanna put me not on only culturally, but then align my economics and your economics so that so that we a as as members of the shop
Dan Aldrich (1:00:26)
Right.
Right.
Jeff Walter (1:00:38)
Do better when the shop does better. Like just anyway, it’s just back to that. It’s really cool. Hey, and and and the cool thing is this stuff is getting recognized and what you’re doing is being recognized. And so I I you know, you I think you had won a you guys have won a couple of awards r recently, specifically with related to this. So why don’t you take if you could tell folks about that and and then why you won.
Dan Aldrich (1:00:40)
Right.
We did.
Yeah, that’s that’s something that unexpected, but so our our because I to me it’s all it all comes back to the approach. It’s just something that that is just it’s something new new for this industry is that people don’t don’t do that because it’s like you were talking about, it’s it’s
The view is always on production, production, production. And it’s not, it’s it’s always always about that and not the the the personal and professional development, the soft skills stuff. And it’s kind of putting that backwards. And you know, one of the expressions that I hate that we have in this industry that technicians say is toolboxes have wheels for a reason. And that if that doesn’t define the culture in the automotive industry, I don’t know what does, right? Is that it it’s
Just kind of this perpetuates this thing that everybody’s replaceable, and there’s no, it’s kind of like independent contractors. So, anyway, so the the awards were really cool. So, ASE. for those that don’t know what ASE is, that’s where we met at the ASE conference. That’s when you’re an automotive technician, the certification to become an automotive technician, they have it’s called ASE, Automotive Service Excellence. It’s this blue seal logo, and that’s how you become a
certified technician as they have different testing levels. Something that we’re very active in. Our team helps write the tests on those. and we highly supportive of and and coaching and developing them to pass those and achieve those. But ASE has a training managers council. So where where you and I met was at their annual meeting and it’s it’s a mix of everybody. So we’re there with
You know, the training managers for General Motors, for Honda, for Toyota, Subaru, and and everybody else in between. Pet Boys, you name any every other brand is there that run these technical training programs. and our training program, our technical training program, won national excellence and training. the grand award for twenty twenty five that was presented at CEMA Apex in Las Vegas last fall. and
Then we also won another one a few weeks ago at in Atlanta with the Auto Care Association, the ACE Award, Automotive Auto Care Excellence Award for training. And from the folks that
Some folks approached me of that. I didn’t really know, but they came and they said, Congratulations to you. You know, I was on the panel that voted for that. I’m thinking, I don’t know if you’re supposed to be talking to me right now. But I don’t know whether you’re allowed to be saying this. But in both instances, this is 100% true. they said, you know, it it really that that culture portion and the soft skill thing was.
Jeff Walter (1:03:29)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (1:03:42)
It wasn’t even comparable. That’s really I love what you guys are doing. and we we try to live this out, not just internally but externally. And that’s that’s why the we go and we can teach and we share our knowledge at these these industry conferences. Vision in Kansas City earlier this year, it’s a huge on motive training conference. I went and taught a class about how to build effective and engaging training classes.
for other automotive educators and peers from other businesses. We’re not trying to just like protect everything. Everything’s proprietary and like we want the industry to be better. We want to, for the the health of the industry, we want everybody to be doing these things. We want everybody infusing culture in their training and infusing these soft skills things because it makes the whole industry better. It’s not just about Christian brothers versus everybody. We want to
Jeff Walter (1:04:23)
Yeah.
Right.
Dan Aldrich (1:04:38)
Once again, love your neighbors yourself. And that’s yes, they are competitors, I guess you could say, but but it’s all the same community. And we want to be a light in this community and and share and and share this knowledge and and that we want more shops to be doing this, even outside of Christian Brothers. So it’s something that yeah, it was a credible honor to get those awards, but that really speaks to you know, your training programs are only as effective as the students that produce.
Right. So it’s really a testament to the quality of people that our franchisees are hiring, the technicians that they’re bringing in, and the leadership of our our owners and our team here at the Sports Center, and our leadership from the top down, from Donnie Carr, a CEO, through our senior leadership team, and the autonomy they give us and the encouragement they give us to do this. Nobody’s telling us you have to teach this, you have to teach this.
Jeff Walter (1:05:33)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (1:05:34)
They they’re like, hey, we you are you are aiming the same direction as us as far as the culture and how what you want for this industry, what you want for our technicians. And and they they they don’t micromanage us. They they say, hey, this is you are in this field, you are going to do whatever you feel aligns with the brand.
and is going to help our franchise owners. So that’s all we’re doing. We’re just trying to support our franchise owners, help grow our technicians, and make them happier to go to work every day, you know. ⁓ We want them to be excited when they get to work. They want we want them to walk in with joy and instill a peace on their environment and not be throwing tools and, you know, trying to make it a a fun place to work and and and really a source of growth just beyond just collecting a paycheck.
Jeff Walter (1:06:09)
No.
Yeah. Well I I yeah, Dan, you have been very generous with your time. I know we we’ve gone over. so I th there’s so many other things I want to talk about. And I’d love to have you on another time. ‘Cause it I I I just think what you’re doing is amazing. To hear that it’s being recognized by the industry as a as for its excellence, I think is is great news because I agree with you, this is where we need to go.
not just in the automotive space, but just in learning and development in general. You know, it’s it and and it it and it all is tied to the organizational culture. ⁓ and and it and you get that right and then good things follow. And i you know, so we’re gonna get into where what the future’s going. if you wanna talk about that, you know
Dan Aldrich (1:07:03)
That’s right.
Jeff Walter (1:07:16)
Briefly, what what are you guys looking to i in in the pr training program and you know, as you go forward into the future?
Dan Aldrich (1:07:22)
man, it’s it’s it’s never ending. Jeff, like I said, we could do this probably for eight hours. so we have a we’re we’re building a
Jeff Walter (1:07:28)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (1:07:32)
We broke ground and we are building a full-fledged technical training center down the street. A 13,000 square foot building dedicated to automotive technical training. It’s gonna have a full air conditioned climate control shop, three classrooms. It’s a beautiful facility. It’s I cannot wait for it. I mean it’s it’s so cool. It’s just garage bay doors attached to the classrooms where we could bring a car into the room.
Into the classroom. So picture a U-shaped classroom and there’s a car in the middle, right? And all the exhaust fans, all this stuff to support that. state-of-the-art everything, EV charging stations, EV tools, preparing for the future, advanced driver assist systems, like your collision warning and all that stuff, all that kind of technology and equipment, it’s gonna gear us up for the future. very innovative. We’re trying to be as innovative as we can in our approaches.
Jeff Walter (1:08:03)
Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (1:08:27)
and plan for the the future and to be able to run classes as often as possible. outfitting them with with virtual training environment equipment, right? So that we could scale it even more. And even like with the technology side.
you know, integrating tooling like you know the the the headsets with the VR the smart glasses to assist our technicians on the support side to so that our support specialists could potentially one day see what the technician’s seeing hands free and be in their ears like hey see that that that red wire right there on that connector go ahead and test that what what are we seeing there and walk them through repairs so
We’re trying to trying to stay in the forefront of this technology and the AI and the VR and all this stuff is XR is crazy, it’s coming from every direction. And trying to sort through all that and and make sure that we are we are integrating it in everything we do.
Jeff Walter (1:09:18)
Mm-hmm.
Dan Aldrich (1:09:24)
to deliver the best and experience for our our our our shops and our technicians to try to help the training be as effective as possible. But we’re really excited about that training center. So they’re gonna be able to do more hands-on work on the cars, like learning as they’re doing it, which that’s the type of learners they are. So so excited. I’d go on for hours about it, but yeah, that’s 10,000 foot view.
Jeff Walter (1:09:45)
Okay.
Yeah, well well well thanks for giving us the update there. and you know, a as that comes online or as you get closer, we’d love to talk more about that.
‘Cause I’m sure it’s packed with a bunch of really interesting, innovative ways of doing things, not just a a shell with a bay door. Right. I’m s I’m sure that classroom is more than a bunch of chairs around a a bay. So I I would love to talk about that in in the future and the other things that you’re doing. so Dan, if if if somebody if folks out there want to get a hold of you or Christian Brothers and and and you know, learn more about what you’re doing.
Dan Aldrich (1:10:03)
I do it.
Jeff Walter (1:10:21)
Yeah, how how would they how would they do that?
Dan Aldrich (1:10:24)
Yeah, sure. So you could find me on LinkedIn. it’s Daniel Aldrich or Dan Aldrich. my you go to cbac.com is our company’s website. you could email our our training department with any questions, autotech training at cbac dot com. or
Dan.aldrich at cbac.com to reach me. And yeah, I I love networking with with folks in the industry. Or if you if if any of your listeners are interested in a CBA franchise, for sure, cbac.com, Christian Brothers Automotive. it’s we have a whole page on there dedicated to
potential franchisees information and we have a f a team that could follow up with them and give them a call and kind of walk them through everything that’s involved with with being part of this brand and owning one of our s our franchise locations.
Jeff Walter (1:11:13)
Yeah, well and we’ll definitely put the the website link in the in in the show notes so folks can get out there. Dan, th thank you so much for s being so generous with your time and spending so much time with us. Yes. Yeah.
Dan Aldrich (1:11:23)
thanks for having me. This is this was fun. I love talking about training stuff. I love talking about
culture stuff. This is all my these are all my favorite conversations. So thank you for for giving me an opportunity to to to ramble about it.
Jeff Walter (1:11:31)
I
Well, you’re you’re more than welcome. You’re more and welcome back anytime. This was just a I had a blast and it’s it’s near and dear to my heart. So I I it’s nice to hear from practitioners that are putting those concepts into into practice and then and then seeing the results, right? ‘Cause it’s all theoretical until somebody like you actually does it. And it’s amazing to to see it. So and I learn something every day by doing that. So thank you.
And to everybody out there, thanks for listening. I I hope you enjoyed it. This is one of my favorite episodes. So but but thank you for your time and attention. Have a good day.
Dan Aldrich (1:12:08)
Thanks.