Thank you Andy, 2019 is only going to get better and better, the improvements both in my business and staff are definitely an outcome of your passion and skill in mentoring from your excellent training courses, but mostly your ability to teach, there is an art to it that you excel in, thank you!

Tim Hookway

TJH Autos

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On Tuesday and Wednesday I attended 2 training days in Northampton with the garage inspector.

It wasn't cheap to take 2 days off work, travel 150 miles each way including M20 and M25, oh and a hotel for the night. But it isn't really a cost, it's an investment. The training was without question, the best training event I have been to over the last 10 years, it wasn't about how to fix cars, it was how to run our business, to ensure a fair profit, how to look after our customers and how to ensure we have a business in years to come. This is the sort of training that I have been asking our suppliers to provide for years, before this it just didn't seem to exist.

Customer excellence in the motor industry and financial understanding for the garage business. Both topics we may think we understand, or topics we may struggle with... Whichever camp you are in, I guarantee you will learn plenty. Something that really struck me was how different, yet also how similar we all are. We are all in this trade for a similar reason, our route into it may be different, but were all in the business of fixing cars. What stage we are at in this journey is always different, I met the lovely Rebecca Pullan and her husband on Tuesday, a few months ago we discussed some business related things on this group and she kindly sent me some documents to help us grow our business, we had never met or spoken before.

Then by chance, they were at the training event on Tuesday and I got to say thank you in person, got to have lunch and discuss all things cars and customers etc. Then on Wednesday I got to meet a really nice couple at the beginning of their business journey who I could help out by forwarding them some documents with links to online service schedules etc. It's all give and take, help each other out and learn from each other. Something were all guilty of NOT doing at times. I also had a chance to chat with the training manager for Halfords, personally I despise the company, I have no time for any company that I feel de-values our trade, I'm very vocal about this, however I found that this guy was just like you and I. He had independent experience, he had worked in a family business and was genuinely just another one of us trying to make a living.

The reason I attended the training was 2 fold, firstly I have been looking for this type of training for a very long time, secondly it was organised and taught by Andy Savva. I have followed his articles in a couple of trade magazines and for me they really struck a chord, this is how I want my business to be, it's a far more professional outlook, structure that the garage trade lacks and a completely different attitude. The risk was that I may be very disappointed... Quite the opposite, the training literature that we took home is gold, he has a very to the point way of doing things, you might not like what he has to say, but he will say it, because he knows he is right and he also wants you to succeed! It's a bit like Hells Kitchen for garages!

This is one successful, genuine and generous businessman who will treat you like an old friend and I look forward to seeing him next year for more training! If you made it this far through my post I am bloody impressed, it's probably bored a few of you and its almost a novel! I just wanted to share something that really struck me this week, to succeed in this business we need to do so many different things:
• Invest in ourselves and keep training
• Communicate with each other
• Not fit customer parts
• Help each other
• Be methodical and structured in our business as much as in our car repair
• Network with others
• Our business is so much more than fixing cars!

Luke Robinson

Marchwood Motor Engineers Ltd.