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Kermit Pridemore is Co-owner of Smoky Hill Auto Service in Aurora, Colorado, bringing years of family business experience into his own venture. Kermit’s approach to business is heavily influenced by his father’s lessons on identifying important priorities, championing impeccable customer service and trust-building in the automotive industry. With a keen interest in multi-store operations and staff training, he aims to expand his business while maintaining high service standards. He is also a coach, involved in peer groups and provides SWOT analyses nationwide. Kermit is dedicated to improving the reputation of auto services by focusing on genuine customer care.
In this episode…
The automotive service industry thrives on trust and relationships between businesses and their customers. How can auto service shops build and maintain this trust while providing exceptional service?
According to Kermit Pridemore of Smoky Hill Auto Service, building trust with customers is paramount. He emphasizes the importance of being honest, taking care of people, and offering advice without pressuring them to make immediate repairs. Kermit believes in creating a relational experience for the customer rather than a transactional one, focusing on community trust and delivering the highest level of service in the industry.
On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge chats with Kermit about his family’s history in the auto service industry, the story of how he met his wife, and his approach to running Smoky Hill Auto Service. They discuss the importance of soft skills in customer service, learning from successful businesses outside the automotive industry, and Kermit’s plans for future expansion.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [01:29] How Kermit Pridemore’s family business legacy shapes his approach to auto service
- [02:25] Kermit’s daring story about how he met his wife
- [03:36] The importance of creating lasting relationships with customers for multi-generational business success
- [04:16] Why Kermit believes community trust is the cornerstone of a successful auto service business
- [11:19] How personalizing service based on customer needs leads to business growth
- [21:12] “One more,” Kermit’s favorite motivational tactic
- [28:06] Expansion plans and the road ahead for Smoky Hill Auto Service
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Kermit Pridemore on LinkedIn
- Smoky Hill Auto Service
- Chris Barry on LinkedIn
- Independent Tire Dealer Group
- Mike Edge on LinkedIn
- Tread Partners
Quotable Moments:
- “You start at the bottom; you work every single position in this company if you want to get to the top.”
- “It’s all about people. Why can’t we look at what Walmart does, or what Chick-fil-A does?”
- “I’d say it is even more valuable, now that service is so much harder to find anywhere.”
- “I left an outfit that had changed after it was sold because it turned into almost transactional versus relational.”
- “The terminology my father uses quite often is, ‘Hey guys, let’s go do this. We can’t screw it up any more than the people we’ve worked for.'”
Action Steps:
- Identify what is the most important task at the moment: Prioritizing tasks helps maintain focus and prevents being overwhelmed.
- Establish trustworthiness in your business operations: Trust is the backbone of customer retention.
- Embrace and maintain high standards across all business locations: Consistency ensures customer satisfaction and sets the stage for expansion.
- Personalize services based on customer needs and expectations: Adapting services based on customer profiles can lead to business growth.
- Adopt the ‘one more’ philosophy in daily tasks: The idea of doing ‘just one more’ can result in significant incremental growth over time.
Transcript
Announcer:
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now let’s get started with the show.
Mike:
Hello, folks, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host. Today’s guest is Kermit Pridemore, co-owner of Smoky Hill Auto Service in Aurora, Colorado. Before we get started I want to let you know that this podcast is brought to you by Tread Partners, the leading digital marketing agency in the tire and auto repair space for multi-location shops that have five to hundreds of locations. If you need an industry-knowledgeable marketing partner that specializes in the nuances of multi-location marketing and knows how to make good shops better and bad shops winners contact Tread Partners today. Start winning today and learn more about Tread Partners at treadpartners.com. All right, folks, as you know, I like to mention past guests. I recently had an awesome podcast with Chris Berry, Vice President of Sales with ITDG, Independent Tire Dealer Group. He is an awesome guy with a great backstory. If you haven’t already, please go to Gaintractionpodcast.com and listen to it. He is definitely a real winner in this industry. All right, let’s gain some traction here. Kermit Pridemore, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast.
Kermit:
Thank you for having me, Mike. I really appreciate the invite, sir. Happy to be here.
Mike:
You and I have been talking for a while. Look, I love your backstory. Your dad was the one that introduced us, I think you knew that. And we’ll let you tell a little bit about the past of your company and everything here in a minute. Man, I just want to set the tone. Because Kermit, you impressed me tremendously when I asked you if you had a great story that you could share. Sometimes I ask people for humorous stories or whatever and you said, “Yeah, I definitely got one. I got maybe the best of all time.” And you went for broke on something. This is the story about how you met your wife. I think it tells a lot about your character. And that I think every man will appreciate the guts you had. So if you don’t mind, would you share that story with us right out of the gate?
Kermit:
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I guess jumping back to 2007, 2008, right around that area, I was writing service at my family’s former establishment, Pride Auto Care in Parker, Colorado, and a very beautiful young lady came in to get an oil change. I don’t want to say it’s love at first sight but I was definitely tongue-tied. I was mumbling, fumbling, couldn’t talk to her very well, to the point where I definitely wasn’t going to be smooth. As I pulled her car around I just left my business card in there and just said, “You’re beautiful call me,” right? We probably all tried that too with maybe a waitress here or there, whatever. It was a long shot. Also, bordering the lines of maybe an HR discussion in the company. It just so happens that beautiful young lady did call me. Now she’s my wife, now. She works with me every day at our shop that we just bought. Yeah, it worked out. I mean, I definitely-
Mike:
I mean, you didn’t do anything to oppress her because you were tongue-tied the whole time, right? I mean, you were just stumbling on yourself. And then you thought man, I got to go for broke here. What’s she going to do? Not call me, okay? I’ll be just as well off as I am right now, right?
Kermit:
Yeah.
Mike:
And like you said, it’s probably an HR issue nobody wants to really tangle with today. But you are working at the family business, you might’ve had a little bit … A longer leash if you needed it. Hey, it worked out that’s the beauty of it. And how many kids you got now?
Kermit:
It did, it did. Two kids, two kids. Yeah, six and nine, yep.
Mike:
So anyway, I congratulate you to that, I think it’s a great story. I love the fact that you shared that with me. So let’s back up. Talk about your dad and his company. And I think your uncles were involved as well. They had several stores. You grew up around it, right?
Kermit:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I’ve been in and out of the business my whole life, even back to when I was 10 working part-time just cleaning showrooms and bathrooms. My dad has three brothers, they were all either technicians or service guys that worked their way up to corporate settings. Basically, I think the terminology my father uses quite often is, “Hey guys, let’s go do this. We can’t screw it up anymore than the people we’ve worked for.” Which just turned out to be a very true statement. And they did very, very well.
Back in 2005 they picked up two stores from a bigger outfit, added onto that to get to six locations. And they ended up selling in January of ’23. Just health issues, getting older. We got to the point where it was almost too big to just hand it off or have a family member buy it. I mean, we were doing very well. Very, very lucrative and very successful. Just what was in the cards. I’m super happy for them because now they can travel and do all those cool things. But yeah, it was a whirlwind getting there for sure.
I mean, they were maintaining for years with the two locations. And at a certain point decided growth was the name of the game and started buying them and getting more locations, adding people, getting processes and procedures lined out. Multi-store marketing which my cousin, the co-owner of my current business, handles. I mean, very lucky to be part of the family that I was to prepare me for the new seasons that I’m going into now.
Mike:
That’s awesome. And so now you’re co-owner in Smoky Hill. What’s your alls big focus? One of the things that I felt like I took away from it, but maybe share with the audience, is that ultimately you want your community to trust you.
Kermit:
Exactly, exactly. Right now we’re planting those seeds, right, trying to build up that trust bank with people, right? Get some of that trust capital, I like to call it. Luckily the gentleman that we bought the business from, he was here for 32 years. Every week there’s a handful of people that have been coming here for 32 years. And it’s my job to give them that spiel, the introduction on that I come from a family-owned and operated business. Which there’s nothing better that they want to hear, right, that I left an outfit that had changed after it was sold because it turned into almost transactional versus relational.
And we left to do this because we wanted to get back to that relational, right? Taking care of people, advising them to fix their cars. You don’t have to do it all right this second. So that’s been a blessing, especially with how busy we are. Marketing hasn’t even really kicked in and I mean, we are blowing the doors down so it’s been good. But that’s only because we’re taking care of people, we’re honest with them. To your point, I want to be the place that the community believes in and knows that they can trust. No matter where they go or what they’ve done I just don’t ever want that to come into question. In addition, I want them to receive the highest level of service that’s available in the industry anywhere, and I believe that we offer that.
Mike:
And it’s refreshing to hear you say it. I know it can sound cliche after a while, everybody’s always worried about it, but the proof is when you start seeing your business grow because somebody’s brother told somebody’s brother who’s told somebody’s cousin. It’s just a chain reaction, I think, especially in this industry. And I think everybody knows that that’s listening. A lot of it comes down to trust because we’re all not back there in the bay and can say, “Well, I guess I need that,” right? I mean, at the end of the day we got to trust the mechanic or the technician or the service advisor. We’ve got to put our trust in somebody’s hands. And if you’re conveying that and then backing up what you do, man, that word of mouth in this industry is almost … It’s contagious either way, really, right?
Kermit:
Yep, yep. To piggyback on that, I’d say it’s even more valuable now than it used to be because service is so much harder to find anywhere. Go to anywhere to buy anything it’s like people just … The attempt, the effort, the care, the empathy it’s not there like it used to be. And I don’t know if that’s COVID or just all this stuff going on but man, it’s tough. It’s tough to go spend your money and not get good service, right?
Mike:
That’s so interesting. I’ll share a quick story. I was at a conference one time in Kentucky and the guest speaker had been the general manager, or plant manager that is of the Corvette plant. He gave this great talk on what’s happening in the hiring process today and the caliber of personnel coming in today. He said, “We’ve lost the soft skills. I mean, a lot of youth today don’t know how to have soft skills.” And he goes “I’m just talking about presenting yourself well, look them in the eye, shaking my hand, speaking to me, and answering my questions, and showing up on time.” He said, “I hate to say this folks,” but he goes, “if you can do those things you’re already halfway hired.” I mean, he said, “And that used to be a foregone conclusion,” right? I mean, it’s along those service things that you’re talking about. And if you can just find somebody that you … That will relate with you, deal with you, et cetera. But I thought that was very telling.
He goes, “Those younger in the audience, if you have children, they’re going to have a huge opportunity or a leg up if you just teach them the soft skills.” In regards to doing what they want to do, get hired, et cetera. He said, “It used to we’d look at a resume. You had to present yourself well, you had to show up on time. We didn’t think it was a surprise when you did these things but today it’s different.” If you guys are conveying that service side where your people are doing that, and then you’re training them up to be able to do that … I mean, I think you’re right, I think the public … It’s not just this industry. We’re starving for it, aren’t we? I need somebody that cares. That was the other thing he talked about. Can you find somebody that just has the I care attitude?
Kermit:
Right. That’s all people want. They just want to be heard and they want you to just act like or actually care. I mean, a least put on the facade, right? There’s too many places you go where it’s just, like you said, no soft skills, no introduction, no conversation it’s just very bland. Relationships is business, right?
Mike:
That’s it.
Kermit:
Business is people. And that’s a big thing. I’m huge on different businesses outside of the automotive industry … And I think that was one thing that was different with Pride is it was never, “Hey, here’s the industry standard.” No, this is a business we just fix cars. But it’s all about people. Why can’t we look at what Walmart does or what Chick-fil-A does or those things? You’ve got to follow that standard sometimes, but also create your own and not just do the status quo what we’ve always been doing. And I think that’s [inaudible 00:11:51].
Mike:
I love the attitude of creating your own. There are definitely where along the way we can pick up things from … You’ve mentioned Chick-fil-A. Isn’t it amazing that you go to one and you know that you’re going to get the service that you’ve seen the … Each time that you’ve gone? But you’re always a little amazed because it’s really one of the only places in the food industry offering that service, if the only one, I mean, in the fast food space. And I don’t know if it’s pride, I don’t know if it’s just that human ego but you … I ask myself all the time, “Why don’t more corporate leaders of other chains just take one nugget from Chick-fil-A and try to incorporate” … What is the one line they use all the time? My pleasure.
Kermit:
It’s always their pleasure, always, every time. You know you’re going to get it.
Mike:
You’re like “Oh, there it is.” But you like it. It’s refreshing. And I know competition, they get a little tired of hearing about Chick-fil-A. But you ask yourself, what makes them so successful? It’s all built around service. I do believe their food is good, but it’s not 100 times better, or 10 times better, or whatever you want to call it, the margin that they are doing in dollars better than all their competition it’s just their service is … Well, it’s fast too. It’s clean, you can go inside. But I mean, it translates to what you’re saying, the way you’re trying to run Smoky Hill.
Kermit:
No. You got to have all facets covered. I mean, it’s just like you said, they’re efficient, it’s clean, the people are great. When we get location number two, three, God willing, all that stuff, they’ve got to be the same. You’ve got to get that same level or that same service. You got to hear that it’s their pleasure every time.
Years and years ago me and my old boss, the COO of Pride, were huge proponents of Chick-fil-A, and we actually sought out some franchise owners to talk to them more in-depth about their hiring process and their things like that which is incredibly … I mean, they’ll start out with 30 applicants for one job and they’ll have five, six, seven interviews. Also, to become a franchise owner you got to start at the bottom and you got to work all the way through the top for probably over a decade or two before you even get the chance. You can’t just walk in and go, “Hey, here’s my money I want to buy one.” So stuff like that. Really earning your stripes, learning everything that you’re going to be teaching. And that’s again, how I’ve always done it with my family. It’s like you start at the bottom, you work every single position in this company if you want to get to the top. And that’s what I did. You can’t learn any better than that.
Mike:
You guys are already in the process of thinking about store number two and three now.
Kermit:
We are. We are, definitely.
Mike:
That’s awesome.
Kermit:
I mean, since this one’s done so well and … Me and my cousin Caitlyn are so used to multi-store operations. And even when we left Pride for a small amount of time … She’s been helping with different trainings and stuff like that, different marketing companies. I went to a different outfit. I do a lot of coaching, and peer groups, and training, and visiting shops, and SWOT analysis all across the country really that it’s just … It’s where our hearts at. I don’t want to sit here and have one location, I mean, I want to build an awesome culture. And I want to build an opportunity for not only my employees but my clients to experience that culture, right?
Mike:
Yeah.
Kermit:
The way that I believe that this industry is supposed to be ran, the way that my family taught me how it’s supposed to be ran, and how people are just supposed to be taken care of. I mean, we have such a negative rhetoric, unfortunately, in this industry about doing repairs that don’t need to be done or doing them when they don’t need to be done. I just don’t get it. The amount of repairs that the average vehicle on the road needs today, there’s plenty, there is plenty to do. You just need the qualified people that are honest, and a decent attitude for the human element.
Mike:
In other words, as a shop operator or service tech, et cetera, counter-sales guy, you don’t need to oversell the services, there’s plenty there. Do what’s needed now don’t … It’s like that old cliche, you can shear sheep all day, you can skin him only once.
Kermit:
Right.
Mike:
Take care of the sheep, take care of them. They got to be shared, I mean, that’s part of the health process, right?
Kermit:
100%.
Mike:
Skinning them you hurt them forever.
Kermit:
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And you want them to, obviously, come back. You’re planting seeds for decades, not weeks. We want generations of clientele coming in.
Mike:
Well, it’s interesting you say it like that. In my family, at one point, we had I think five car. Let me see. One, two, three, four. A couple of the older ones left. We had a five car little fleet at my house. I’m good business, you know what I’m saying?
Kermit:
Yeah.
Mike:
You take care of me on one car you’re going to pick up the other four.
Kermit:
That’s it too. That’s it. We got way too many cars. Everybody’s got too many cars-
Mike:
Oh, yeah.
Kermit:
Usually. It’s not that we don’t have enough. And so that’s exactly it. I’ve got two or three clients that came last week and they came in saying that too. They’re just, “We’ve been coming here 30 years, you take care of us. I got seven cars, I got five kids, and there’s always something wrong.” And it’s just like “Well, I’m not just after your car, sir, I want to develop a relationship with you. But that’s awesome, and thank you for giving me the opportunity.” They both left incredibly happy. And I think within two days they each had a car problem with one of the other cars.
Mike:
Listen, when you’ve got kids something is going to go wrong. I can’t keep up with everybody. Unless I dial in and think I need to go check and make sure every car is caught up on oil changes or whatever. But invariably, when I think about it, I’m already past the point on one of them, you know what I mean? It’s like I got to go check. At the time I didn’t drive each one of them very often so it wasn’t like I was in tune to that vehicle. It was ironic but my daughter, who I didn’t expect, was the most deliberate about it. When she went off to college and things she’d say, “Dad, I’m 100 miles off of needing an oil change.” I would always laugh because the other ones were just like … They never told me. She was always cognitive of it and I went “Thank you for telling me.” I always want to be on the right curve with just let’s keep it running, right, as long as we can.
Kermit:
That’s all you can do. And that’s our goal too. That’s the other thing we’re huge on too is finding out what vehicles are primary vehicles. What are your expectations with this vehicle? Because I need to know if it’s your primary vehicle where you got to get to work, or if it’s your secondary or tertiary vehicle that does a lot of sitting. That’s going to totally change my advisement on what to do. So it’s very crucial that that initial relationship, conversation, whatever at the counter, that we really get to the bottom of the expectations because then that’s going to help your communication and staying in line with ultimately your customer’s goals which need to be your goals.
Mike:
That’s an awesome way of looking at it. I mean, I think of my dad he always had a beater truck. It didn’t need a lot of love, it just needed to run when he wanted to go haul something, make it … Take something to the dump, whatever but it just needed to … But it sat there a lot, right? You know what I mean? And so you knowing that would make a big difference.
Kermit:
Yeah, exactly. Then you don’t come off as you’re just trying to hammer the old truck. If you come in and tell me, “I just need the thing running.” Cool, I’m going to mention some things in passing but I’m not going to quote everything and try to shove it down your throat. So yeah, it’s very important. And I think people lose sight of that. They just see a car and an opportunity and they need to get it all. And it’s just like man. You got to play the long game.
Mike:
No. I love that. I mean, that may be the line that you’ll tell me here. If you were to leave this audience listening to something, and walking away from this podcast and thinking man, I learned something from Kermit Pridemore, what’s a golden nugget that you live by or that you could think of that you picked up maybe from a book or a conference or something like that? Or a process that you use?
Kermit:
I mean, man, I got so many, so many good ones so I could teach a lot I guess is what I’m saying. But one that stands out in my every day, and a lot of times my every minute … And this is going to blow my dad’s head up by doing this. He taught me at a very young age to do my best in any situation, not just in business. To identify not only what’s important but what is most important right now, right? What should you be utilizing your time right now that you have to make life, marriage, childhood, parenting, whatever better?
It helps so much when you take a step back and you go, well, I got all these things. Okay, well, it’s clear now, that I took a minute, that is what I need to do next, right? We all get lost in it, right? Run your week, run your business don’t let it run you. Because if you don’t do that, you don’t identify what’s important, that’s what’ll happen and you’ll just be caught up in oh, I have so much to do. That is something that literally I utilize, like I said, down to the minute sometimes.
Mike:
That’s awesome. Awesome.
Kermit:
And that’s what he showed me when I was very young. That and networking is just two things he instilled that were … That needed to be important. And he was right on both fronts.
Mike:
That’s awesome that you say it that way because I remember going through some trials in life. Obviously, it came through prayer and God and it was just like okay, all I can do right now is A to get me to B so I really can’t … All this other stuff that’s out there, all those other letters or lists of things I need to get to, I really … None of them matter until I get this one done so let’s just … I’m going to remove the headache. I’m going to remove the pain in my head and I’m just going to focus on what I can do at this moment to train … Change anything. When you get to that point, it really simplifies it. Whether you’re being successful or whether you’re going through a trial, I’ve noticed if you can just focus on the now … What can I do at this moment that makes a difference? Because a lot of things that we worry about, my gosh, most of them don’t even come true. I mean-
Kermit:
You’re right, yeah.
Mike:
So you might as well quit worrying about the things that are out there a little bit further and just focus on the now because that’s really all we got.
Kermit:
That’s funny you say that, that’s funny you say that. A quick mention of something. You can, you can jump to worst-case scenario in your head real quick but nine times out of 10 it never comes to pass. If you think back about all the worst-case scenarios ever, maybe a couple throughout your life have happened. It’s just not real life most of the time. As long as you think about that and believe that, man, the things you can get through are just monumental.
Mike:
Oh, and the things that you can accomplish. I mean, on a positive level, when you think about the positive versus the negative it’s just … It’s fascinating the mindset of getting somewhere. Well, I know you were expecting this question, but what’s a book that you like or you would recommend?
Kermit:
I mean, for me, one that really stands out, and I got a lot that stand out … When I’m driving or when I’m at home, just whatever I can get to help me learn something or relearn in a sense. I re-read books from time to time too. A really, really good one that I read, and I … It’s been probably about a year, right about when it came out, was … I don’t know if you know who Ed Mylett is. He’s a podcaster. A very motivational guy, very, very successful business guy, and he wrote a book it’s called The Power of One More. It’s just like it sounds. The entire book is just what if I did one more? What if I did one more? What if I did one more push-up, one more rep?
Mike:
Hold on. That’s been out a while, hadn’t it?
Kermit:
Yeah, about a year, maybe a year and a half. It’s his latest book. He’s wrote a few. And I’ve always been in that mindset anyway. Years ago I had somebody, a mentor of mine, show me … We had a great year at the store that I was running years ago, and it was just like … We did the quick math on if I would’ve done one more car every day. And it was to the tune of $220,000 at the end of that year. We did great, again, but I was just like, man. After that it was like one more. Well, one more, let’s just actually do two more. And then that book came out and it was like … I try to now do that stuff in my everyday life. Well, read a book with the kid, let’s read one more, right? Just all things that can benefit you in such a positive light, in addition to just the repetition of whatever you’re doing you’re getting better.
Mike:
I either listened to him or I read this, I cannot remember. I read books too. I know exactly what you’re talking about, I just looked it up while you were talking. Yes, it’s an incredible thought. One more blows your mind away when you do the math at the end of the year. Hey, can I get one more call in? Can I do this? Can I help this person? I saw this interview one time with Muhammad Ali … And I’m always fascinated with people that have just … Not achieved anything but excelled at the … What was the difference? How were they wired, right? They asked him, “How many pushups do you do a day? Or how many minutes do you jump rope” or something like that. And he told them, “I don’t know.” And they were like “How do you not know? You’re one of the greatest of all time,” et cetera, blah, blah, blah. And he said, “Because I don’t start counting until it hurts.”
Kermit:
There you go.
Mike:
Now you think about that. He never knew his number. I mean, he had a number he got to after it hurt but he never knew … He never had a number before he just did it until it started hurting then he’d start counting.
Kermit:
That’s awesome.
Mike:
Oh, man. You realize he’s already excelling because he didn’t start measuring it until he was at the … Maybe what we would call the quitting point or that pain point.
Kermit:
Right.
Mike:
How cool is that?
Kermit:
That’s awesome. I love little stuff like that too. Because there is, there’s always a difference, those people aren’t just that gifted. There’s a huge level of work that comes. You got to be highly, highly gifted but also highly, highly motivated. You know what I mean? And always working on your craft. And I like to think that that’s what I do, that’s what we do, and that’s what we came from, and why I’m at where I’m at so I’ll never give up on that.
Mike:
No, that’s good stuff. Well, Kermit, I can’t thank you enough for being back on the old podcast.
Kermit:
Yeah, man, I appreciate it.
Mike:
We tried this one time and I know it didn’t work out but I appreciate you coming back and us getting this on the schedule.
Kermit:
Yeah, me too, me too. I’m glad we made it back around. We’ll have to do another one once we get maybe number two, number three. A little update, something like that.
Mike:
Absolutely. We’d love to have you back and just get a taste of where you’re at. And you’re always inspirational so I do appreciate you being on here.
Kermit:
Appreciate that.
Mike:
We’ve connected since we’ve met through your dad. It’s been fun and I’d like to stay in touch.
Kermit:
Sounds good to me, brother.
Mike:
So to all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of our podcast, we are grateful for you. If you’d like to recommend a guest to me, please email me at Mike at TreadPartners.com. Until next time be safe, be grateful. Have a great day.
Announcer:
Thanks for listening to the Gain Traction Podcast. We’ll see you again next time. And be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.
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