Jim, That Ad Is a Bag of AutoZone Parts · Technician Find Community

Jim, That Ad Is a Bag of AutoZone Parts

A shop owner — let's call him Jim — came to me a couple of years back with a job ad his business coach wrote.

He wanted me to "plug it into my system."

This happens more than you'd think.

I looked at the ad. It was fine. A little better than the average Indeed post. But it wasn't a scroll-stopper. It wasn't going to grab a working tech's attention and make him curious enough to click and learn more.

So I asked Jim a question.

"Jim, what do you tell a customer who comes into your shop and asks if you can install the parts they bought at AutoZone?"

He didn't hesitate.

"We don't do that."

"Jim, you just walked into my office and dropped a bag of parts on my desk that you want me to install on the hiring vehicle we're building for you."

He got it immediately.

Here's what I didn't mention to Jim in that moment:

That week alone, we were running approximately 600 automotive technician ads across 30 shops all over the United States. I'd be willing to bet the business coach who gave Jim that ad hadn't run 600 ads in his entire career.

And here's the thing most shop owners don't think about —

The reason I wouldn't run his ad is the exact same reason he won't install customer supplied AutoZone parts:

I can't be sure of the quality. Just like he can't be sure of the condition of those parts.
If we don't get results, it's still on us. Just like if a customer's part fails, the shop still takes the heat.
It compromises the entire system we've built. Just like installing random parts compromises the integrity of the repair.

I told Jim he was welcome to run the ad on his own and compare it to our results.

If it pulled a good tech, he could look like a hero.

If it failed, we'd still be running a proven system with years of solid results as a backup.

Here's the pattern I see:

Shop owners know instantly why they don't install customer-supplied parts. They don't even have to think about it.

But they'll hand their most critical business problem — finding the right technician — to someone who's never run a recruiting campaign in their market.

And here's the kicker — Jim's business coach was a shop owner himself. He's not some outsider who doesn't understand the industry. He knows shops. He knows techs. He knows the work.

But knowing the work and knowing how to recruit at scale are two completely different disciplines.

A business coach — even one who owns a shop — can help you with a lot of things. Pricing. Processes. Profitability. Those are real skills and real value.

But writing a technician job ad that pulls working A-techs away from shops they're already comfortable in? That's not coaching. That's not even shop ownership. That's a specialized skill set built on tens of thousands of reps.

Your ad isn't a flyer you tape to a bulletin board.

It's the first impression a tech has of your shop. It's the thing that either makes a working tech stop scrolling and think, "Tell me more" — or keeps him going.

And every day your ad isn't working, your bay stays empty.

An empty bay costs roughly $175K per year in lost revenue (see my podcast with Hunt Demarest for the math on this).

That's not a rounding error. That's a business-altering number.

If your ads aren't pulling qualified techs — or you're relying on someone who hasn't done this at scale — I take 4 Hiring Clarity Calls per week. Not a sales pitch. A diagnostic. We'll look at your market, your ads, and your pipeline and I'll tell you exactly what I'd change. Apply here: [HIRING CLARITY CALL]

P.S. — Jim's coach was a shop owner. A good one. But would Jim let another shop owner rebuild a transmission in his shop, on his lift, with his name on the invoice? Then why is that shop owner writing the ad that's supposed to find the guy who can?

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