girl23

Russ Yost is first and foremost an auto mechanic, but he also has a growing business. Since its start in 1982, Yost Automotive has evolved from a two-stall unheated metal building into a modern 18 stall-building in a prime midtown location, and $1.2 million in revenue. All that development has been a challenge for a man with automotive technical skills and a love of people, but no business background. Through many mistakes, Yost said he has expanded his business because "I care for people and I put them first before I put in profit." The challenges Yost faces aren't unique, but they are plentiful. He has the typical small-business problems of government regulations, complicated tax codes and paperwork flow. Add to that the problems of finding qualified technicians, staying current with rapid technological changes and purchasing expensive, but necessary equipment. For Yost, a key to learning the business side of running a company was finding a good banker. He also goes to classes, learns from other business people and is involved with a Christian business men's organization. He credits his religious faith with helping him through difficult times. Another problem auto repair businesses face involves communication and trust. In an industry with a tainted reputation, Yost said he works hard to ensure that he and customers don't talk at one another, but rather understand each other. Additionally, Yost said no shop fixes every problem right the first time. In those cases, he said his business is committed to continuing to work on a problem until the customer is satisfied. He said he would rather refund a customer's money than have someone feel defrauded. Yost said he has worked to earn customers' trust and so the company's growth has been built on word-of-mouth recommendations. "If I don't do it by word-of-mouth," said Yost, "I have a problem, and I'd better go find out what it is." One customer who has confidence in Yost is Joe Stout. Stout is personnel director for Love Box Co. and also was the owner of the former Stout-Crawford AMC-Jeep automotive dealership. "There are a lot of shops in town that are honest." said Stout. "But Russ' genuine sincerity in wanting to help you with your problem stands out." Yost said that while some of his mechanics have expertise in a specialty area, they all have an extensive knowledge base as the days of the "shade-tree mechanic" are over. "The pool of good technicians is shrinking tremendously," said Yost. "Because the skill and quality has to be so much more than it was in the past. These people we have are not grease monkeys." John Rawcliffe, service manager at Quality Chevrolet, agreed. "The training that's involved in it," said Rawcliffe, "and the schooling is just phenomenal ..." He added, "I think people would be surprised at the sophistication that we are faced with in this industry anymore." Yost doesn't consider auto dealerships such as Quality Chevrolet to be his competitors. Auto dealerships account for only a small percentage of the overall auto repair business, he said. His main competition comes from specialty businesses such as muffler shops, tire centers and parts retailers who do repairs. Often those businesses concentrate on the easier, more lucrative repairs, leaving the more complicated, less profitable ones for full-service shops. Rawcliffe also said his dealership often gets repairs other places can't or don't want to fix. For his part, Yost said he isn't concerned about competitors. He believes there is enough business for everybody. Yost said he can't control what other companies do, but he can compete against his own past performance. He does this in areas of customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability. "The competition that I have is not outside there," said Yost. "The competition is what we build inside."