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He and Sunil Patel started Tekmetric in 2016, and today, it’s become the preferred auto tech software in the auto repair industry.

Prasanth’s success prompted Authority Magazine to contact him for an interview on the formula for scaling success.

Below are just a few excerpts of Prasanth’s interview with Ken Babcock (CEO of Tango), along with bonus content for any entrepreneur seeking to scale their business.

Scaling with People

Let’s look at each component.

The Right People.

First, you have to have the team that serves your company the best.

At Tekmetric, we learned this the hard way. We had a phenomenal idea — but our first team wasn’t comprised of exactly all the people we needed.

And that meant we failed in the first round. It was disappointing, but we learned a valuable lesson, and the next round, we hired people based on the talents we knew we needed. It was the right move, and it set us in the right direction toward success. In fact, many of the team members from this second group are still with us today.

Tekmetric’s People Today: The Best Support in the Industry

Today, Tekmetric has a growing team of people working in various departments, such as customer support, sales, product development, and human resources.

Walk into our Houston headquarters, and you’ll see people from all backgrounds catching up on their week, discussing the next product update, or talking about the future of our company over a cup of coffee.

A large portion of our team works remotely. We have employees across the United States, including: </p><ul>

• Cleveland, OH
• Washington, DC
• Denver, CO
• San Diego, CA

But no matter where our team members are, one of the big things they have in common is that they’re passionate about providing Tekmetric’s customers with the best experience and support possible.

Our support team in particular is easy to get in touch with.

Customers don’t have to spend hours listening to annoying “waiting” music on the phone or anxiously sitting in front of their computers for a response to a support ticket.

The Tekmetric support team acts to get questions answered quickly and any issues resolved fast.

After all, auto tech software needs to move at the pace of the auto repair industry—fast—and support is an important part of that process.

Sound like you would fit in? Join us!

Scaling with Direction

You also have to know the direction you’re going.

Having the idea is great; getting it right as you grow is vital. You may not have the details fully fleshed out, but you must know what you want to do and the tools you need to get there.

I’ve always said, if you have a goal in mind, and you don’t know how to get there, then you’re doing something right.

If you do know how to get there, you’re not thinking big enough. Think long and hard about what you want your business to look like.

Once you figure out those initial steps and orient yourself in the right direction, you can think ahead to challenges like growing and scaling.

Tekmetric’s Direction Today: Driving the Auto Repair Industry Into the Future

The Tekmetric team keeps a close eye on what’s happening in the auto repair industry so that we can stay one step ahead when it comes to driving the auto repair industry into the future.

For example, Tekmetric listened to its customers’ desires for a true two-way texting feature, which enables shops and their customers to communicate more seamlessly than ever before.

Tekmetric also frequently adds to its list of integrations with industry-leading tools so that shop owners can set up workflows that work best for them.

And Tekmetric listens to what shop owners, technicians, and service advisors are saying, taking their feedback and suggestions into account.

We know that we cannot do this on our own, and respect the contributions of people throughout the industry.

Businesses are buckling down and tightening their checkbooks in an effort to control expenses to avoid or reduce the effects of a potential recession.

But in the auto repair industry, there are unique opportunities that come with uncertainty in the market – and that’s more business opportunities.

As people across the country reduce their spending, they are more likely to repair vehicles than to replace them, offering auto repair shops the opportunity to actually increase business. With the right strategies, you may find that it’s entirely possible for your shop to not only survive an economic recession – but thrive and grow.

Tekmetric, a Houston-based leading auto repair technology company, was named the winner of a silver Stevie® Award in the Achievement in Growth category in The 20^th Annual American Business Awards®.

Tekmetric was nominated in the Achievement in Growth category for the company’s tremendous growth and expansion in the last year.

The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.’s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. 

Co-founded in 2016, Tekmetric offers an all-in-one SaaS business management system for auto repair shops. As the auto repair industry’s leading cloud-based solution, Tekmetric has grown from just a few customers to more than 3,000 shops across the U.S.

In the last year alone, Tekmetric’s revenue has increased by more than 115%, a reflection of its role as a trusted industry solution for increasing shop efficiency.

“Tekmetric strives to deliver premier service and value to auto repair shop owners who partner with us, and this unmatched level of care wouldn’t be possible without the outstanding team we have built,” said Prasanth Chilukuri, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Tekmetric.

“To experience an expansion that more than tripled to more than 95 talented professionals from across the U.S. and Europe has been an incredible journey. We are honored to have been recognized in the Stevie for our continued growth and leadership in the auto repair industry.”

More than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year’s Stevie Award winners.

Nicknamed the Stevies®® for the Greek word meaning “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Monday, June 13. Tickets are now on sale.

“We are so pleased that we will be able to stage our first ABA awards banquet since 2019 and to celebrate, in person, the achievements of such a diverse group of organizations and individuals,” said Maggie Miller, president of the Stevie Awards.

“If you are interested in picking up a new hobby like boating, you’ll do everything you can to learn more and more and more. Why can’t you do that with your auto repair shop?

Is it because it’s boring?

Is it because it’s not the same?

It doesn’t excite you as much as your hobby would?

If you take a second and stop to think, you’ll realize you can have any hobby in the world if you focus on your repair shop and get it to where it needs to be.

There is no waiting for the right person to walk through the door. There is no waiting for the right technician."

"It has to happen right now, today."

Tekmetric Co-CEO and Co-Founder Sunil Patel recently joined Kelsey Outram on the LIFT Your Shop Podcast to talk tech, mentorship, and transforming your auto repair business.

From medical school to law enforcement, Sunil tried his hand at a variety of fields over the years, but eventually all roads led him to founding Tekmetric with Prasanth Chilukuri in 2016.

Tekmetric quickly became the preferred shop management system in the auto repair industry.

And if you ask Sunil why, he’ll say it’s all about mindset.

If you’re a shop owner who has been feeling stuck, here are six steps you can take to shift gears.

1. Define Your Goals

“When you really set your mind to something, it subconsciously changes how you behave as a human, as a person. And you hone in on what you’re trying to accomplish and you accomplish that task.”

Here are some examples of goals you might hear people talk about in the auto repair industry:

• “I want to make one million dollars in revenue this year."
• “I would like to add another bay to the shop by the end of the year."
• “I want to open another location in 2023.”

What do these goals all have in common? They are specific, achievable, and easy to track.

In the same way that it’s difficult to plan a vacation without having a travel destination in mind, it’s difficult to achieve a goal if you never set one in the first place.

Knowing where you want to go is the first step toward figuring out a roadmap to get there.

2. Accept That Change is Part of the Process

“Forget about the technology and software and all that for a moment, and ask yourself this: Are you happy with where you are today running your shop? And if the answer is no, then dig deeper.”

Whether your shop is looking to switch parts suppliers or invest in a new shop management system, change can be intimidating.

Many shops experience growing pains, but keeping an open mind is essential to driving your business forward.

Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Tekmetric Sunil Patel joined Editor Chris Jones on Ratchet+Wrench Radio to talk about how shop management software suites are changing the landscape of the auto repair industry, especially when it comes to building relationships and communicating effectively.

Sunil also touched on the history of some of Tekmetric’s relationships and how Tekmetric makes sure the voices of shop owners are heard.

Listen here, or catch some of the highlights below.

‍Note: some of the following answers have been condensed for clarity and brevity.

Relationship-Building 101: Laying Down a Solid Foundation

Jones: The last time we saw each other was at WorldPac STX in Orlando. And that’s where you guys announced a partnership with Advance Auto Parts. I know a lot of our readers have seen it, but can you share a little bit about the details with our audience, just from your own words and perspective?

‍Patel: So we’ve had a great relationship with Advance Auto Parts for a very long time. And we wanted to leverage the relationship to try to get more shops to use Tekmetric, and it just happened to be the right place, right time.‍

‍Jones: That’s kind of cool to see how the relationship evolved over the years.

‍Patel: It’s a big company. It’s not like turning a speedboat, it’s like turning a steamship. Sometimes it just takes time to let some of these relationships play out. It affects so many people. We have to be absolutely sure of how this is going to play out, and how it’s going to work.

Using Shop Management Software to Get Everyone on the Same Page

Jones: So let’s talk about shop ownership a little bit. You were once a shop owner kind of in the Dark Ages before we had these robust shop management software suites. What was it like for you to operate on these limited tools?

‍Patel: You know, it was tough. Customers didn't always respond back, and we would always have to follow up with a phone call. There was always a disconnect.

We were probably ahead of our time 12 years ago trying to get some of this stuff out. Tekmetric used a combination of manual processes and text messaging. Text messaging was pretty popular back then, but MMS or multimedia messaging or picture messaging was not so popular.

So adding that in the mix with communications and whatnot into one platform has been very paramount to the success of our company because it closes the loop between the vehicle owner, the shop owner, the technician, and the service writer.

It keeps everybody on the same platform and communications thread. That way everybody has full visibility into what's going on with the repair of that vehicle to ensure a timely repair—ultimately making the customer happy.

Prasanth Chilukuri understands the challenges that shop owners face each day with gaps in their efficiency and margins, which is why he co-founded Tekmetric with Sunil Patel in 2016.

Vehicle Service Pros published some of Prasanth’s tips for strategically growing an auto repair business with a shop management system like Tekmetric.

You can access his full piece here, or check out some of the highlights below.

Balance Is Key to Making Better-Informed Business Decisions

Shop owners make countless daily decisions that affect their customers, their team, and their business.

Making good business decisions is essential to keeping everyone happy and keeping the lights on in the shop, but how do you know what the right decision is?

According to Prasanth, the key to any successful business is finding the right balance between soft skills like intuition or relationship-building and hard skills like data analysis.

Both types of skills are important, but knowing when to employ each one is the trick to making better-informed decisions and growing your business.

Intuition is useful when shop owners have to make split-second decisions and often goes hand in hand with interpersonal skills. The auto repair industry isn’t just about cars, after all; it’s about people, too.

By learning how to pick up on cues and anticipate the needs of customers, employees, and vendors, shop owners can foster long-lasting relationships that grow alongside their business.

Of course, there’s only one way to know whether your shop is truly turning a profit: look at the numbers and analyze the results. Data can support any hunches you have about the health of your business, for better or for worse, so you can plan accordingly.

But if your shop is still tied to manual methods, gathering key information about parts usage and labor costs is probably not easy or convenient.

Why Manual Methods Just Can’t Keep Up

A shop management system might not be able to make business decisions for you, but it can help shop owners make sense of their key metrics and data. According to Prasanth, looking at the cold, hard facts is essential to boost the efficiency and profitability of the shop.

The science of data might seem contrary to the art of intuition at first, but they’re more related than you might think. As Prasanth describes, data can add support to a shop owner’s intuition or observations and reveal key information that can’t necessarily be gathered from conversations with customers and employees.

Unfortunately, trying to sort through the shop’s data by hand can be exhausting and often means missing family dinners to crunch the numbers after hours. And manually calculating daily, weekly, or monthly metrics can quickly become a headache with much larger room for human error.

Without real-time reporting tools, inventory counts and gross profit can’t necessarily be trusted and will always provide an out-of-date view of your business at best.

Being tied to manual processes for data collection also means being tied to the shop and losing out on valuable face-to-face time with the customers supporting the business.

As a result, shop owners are often left making the difficult decision between nurturing their intuition and building relationships, or focusing on the data and shop profitability when both are essential to the long-term success of the business. With Tekmetric, you can do both.

Get the Full Picture With Tekmetric

Tekmetric is a shop management system that comes fully equipped with business reporting tools within a repair orders software suite.

Tekmetric tracks key performance indicators like employee efficiency, parts usage, and profitability ‘round the clock so shop owners can focus on the more high-level aspects of their business.

Real-time reports are always available with numbers that are already calculated and organized.

A bird’s eye view of the shop gives shop owners the power to tailor their business plan and strategy by:

• Adjusting parts and labor matrices to maximize margins
• Extending or removing a running promotion
• Deciding to add more people to the team
• Knowing when it’s the right time to expand the business with new bays or by opening a new location