Danny 'The Count' Koker To Join Technicians At First Three ‘Garage Gurus’ Grand Openings

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Danny ‘The Count’ Koker To Join Technicians At First Three ‘Garage Gurus’ Grand Openings

TV star will greet repair professionals, other VIPs at new Federal-Mogul Motorparts training centers in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City markets.

Counterman Staff
By Counterman Staff
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SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Danny “The Count” Koker, a self-taught technician and star of the hit reality TV series “Counting Cars,” will join hundreds of vehicle repair professionals and other VIPs during the grand openings of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ first three “Garage Gurus” regional training centers, in the Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City markets.

According to Federal-Mogul, Garage Gurus is a first-of-its-kind, nationwide technical education network offering onsite, online and on-demand training to professional technicians, shop owners, service writers and other front-line industry professionals. The network will expand to 15 training center locations by the end of the year. Federal-Mogul Motorparts is a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp.

Koker, whose Las Vegas-based vehicle restoration and customization business is featured in a popular weekly series on the History Channel, will attend the Garage Gurus grand openings on April 14 in Skokie, Ill.; on April 16 in Van Nuys, Calif.; and on April 21 in the Bronx, N.Y. Open to any vehicle service professional, these celebrations will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will feature food trucks, live entertainment, facility tours and opportunities to meet several of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ more than 100 ASE-certified “Gurus.”

“As a self-taught mechanic, I can appreciate how challenging it must be for professional technicians to develop the specialized skills needed to diagnose and repair each new automotive technology,” Koker said. “Garage Gurus delivers that training and related support when, where and how technicians need it. This is a huge benefit to the thousands of professionals we all count on to keep our cars in safe and reliable condition.”

Each Garage Gurus training center includes multiple vehicle repair/training bays and classrooms, and serves as the operating base for one or more “Gurus-On-The-Go” product technology vans. The Garage Gurus curriculum comprises more than 100 diagnostic and repair courses, including onsite workshops, field clinics and distance learning modules and webinars offered at FMgaragegurus.com. All training, product demonstrations and related assistance are available in English and Spanish languages.

“Garage Gurus is our investment in the future of the thousands of local shops and talented, hardworking professionals who maintain and repair today’s passenger vehicles,” said Dan Ninivaggi, CEO, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. “They have difficult but extremely important and rewarding jobs, and we are committed to providing the information and support they need to continue to be successful.”

Garage Gurus is a central element of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ “Tech First” initiative aimed at strengthening the automotive service industry’s connection to the front-line professionals who service thousands of vehicles each day. Federal-Mogul stated that, in addition to offering technical training and other assistance, the new network is designed to underscore the importance of using premium-branded replacement parts engineered and manufactured to provide the quality, safety and performance consumers demand.

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Customer Service: How It’s Done

Customer service should be your number one priority, and it all starts with the greeting.

Eric Garbe
By Eric Garbe
Eric Garbe is a graduate of Columbus State Community College with a degree in Automotive Maintenance Technology. He has extensive independent and dealership field experience as a technician and shop owner and is an ASE Certified Master Technician and former Adjunct Automotive Professor. He has been professionally writing automotive technical articles and documents for many years and in his free time enjoys restoring old cars and creating custom interiors and upholstery.
Published:

This is always an important topic to discuss, because I consider excellent customer service one of the most important tools you can have to earn trust, respect and repeat business from the customers that come through your door. Whether that customer is do-it-yourselfer from across town or the professional repair shop across the street, your business depends on a solid relationship.It’s a subject that I am passionate about, and it’s one that many people are losing touch with. Whether you are communicating to someone in person, on the phone or using some type of social media, good customer service and bad can both exist. You can’t afford the latter, so this is the first in a series of topics which can and should be shared from the front of the shop to the back. No matter which role you hold, you represent the shop and yourself. Customer service should be your number one priority.First on the list is the greeting. From the second a customer walks in the door, they need to know you appreciate them coming in and how important they are to your business. First impressions are everything and here’s the correct way to do it each and every time: look them directly in the eye, smile and say hello!Of course, you can say “Good morning” or “Welcome to Joe’s Autocare,” but it should be a formal greeting and the most important thing is that you have smiled, looked them in the eye and recognized that they have walked through the door.You should always retain a formal greeting until you are on a first-name basis with a customer. Only once you have established that level of relationship is it OK to use the less formal greeting of “Hi,” followed by the person’s name.This greeting does more than just indicate respect and appreciation for someone walking through the door. Most likely there are customers both new and old who are in earshot of your conversation. For newer customers, this continues to build rapport and reinforce their positive view of your shop; they see that you demonstrate respect and treat everyone in the same manner. For repeat customers, even ones that have been coming for years, the greeting is important because the way you treat them is the reason they continue to come.And when a long-time customer comes in and you greet them with “Hi [First Name],” this indicates your appreciation for them and that you’re glad to see them as a person, more than just a customer. New customers that witness this will see that your repeat customers are comfortable enough to be on a first-name basis, another indication of the trust they have in you.

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