Zeigler Rising Technicians Award | EP157

There's a lot of competition to earn this award. So I want Mike and Evan to both know that this is a pretty big deal for you.

Yeah.

Welcome everyone to the driving vision podcast brought to you by the Ziggler Auto Group. I'm your host, Sam Dark. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Like it if you do, and leave a comment. Hey, Welcome to the special edition of the Driving Vision Future of Zach today podcast.

It's exciting because Mike Van Rhine, Head of Training Development, VP Training Development across the Auto Group. This is a day of recognition, Mike. Right?

Mike It We love recognizing top performers across the Ziegler Auto Group, and this is just one more way that we do that, Sam.

Bob Keel, VP of Fixed Operations, in charge of the Service Operations across the Ziegler Auto Group. This is cool because we turn from variable back to fixed. Fixed in the world of automotive means everything having to do a servicing a vehicle. And Bob, we get to recognize two technicians that are up and coming today.

Yes, this is a great thing that we started doing. Matt Snyder had the idea back in 2019. And of course, we recognize our President's Circle of Technicians throughout the group. And then we have two rising stars every year And we'll let Matt get into the nomination process. But this is pretty exciting.

And I'm proud of both of you guys for sure. Michael and

Bob Keel, before we all jump off, you're going to make a special announcement that has to do with the date around our upcoming President's Club recognition program where you actually get to go to the Autobahn and drive with a race car driver. But more on that in a moment. So, Matt Snyder, how do you qualify for this Rising Technician Award?

Well, you have to be recommended by your service manager. So I send out an email to all the service managers in the organization with certain parameters that they need to look at for recommending a Rising Technician. This is someone that they feel has the capacity to be an awesome technician down the road, maybe be part of that president's circle. So this is to recognize up and coming technicians who really have shown that their skill set's gonna be one that we're gonna be looking for in the future for sure.

And it's interesting because technicians across all of automotive are one of the most sought after positions that are out there. So our two winners this year who will be recognized at our upcoming event are Michael Cizek from Mercedes Benz Hoffman Estates, and we have Evan Cross from our store in Lowell, Michigan. Have Mercedes Benz represented, and we have Ford represented. So, Michael, first to you, what does it mean to you to be recognized within the Ziglar Auto Group in this way?

Oh, man. It's such an honor. You know, I come to work every day, ready to work, ready to get dirty. And, it really means a lot showing their recognition. Really shows that all my training and everything that I've done to this point really means something to me.

And Evan, congratulations to you. What does it mean to you to win the recognition?

It's a great honor to win the award. So it feels really good to be recognized like this. Means a whole lot from from the team here, from you guys. Couldn't do it without all the help from from the team here. Couldn't do it without everyone giving me their support and truly, truly means a lot.

Thank you.

So, it's great to have both of you on. It's great to be able to recognize you both. There are a lot of career paths you could take in life, right? People could become, you could become a lawyer. You could become a doctor.

You could become a fireman, an attorney. You could do whatever. You could teach school. Evan, what made you decide first to you, then to Michael? What made you decide, Hey, I want to become a technician at an auto store?

Four of all.

Just kind of had to choose a path. Found the thing I like most, like wrenching on cars always. Got good at it. Then then Matt one day came to me, offered me a job here with Ziggler.

That's awesome. What do you like most, Evan, about working on vehicles? What appeals to you most about that particular skill set?

More of the the problem solving. More of you get you get one thing, and you kind of just go across, figure out all the problems, figure out how to fix it, and then what can also fail because of that?

It is a problem solving. And you know what's interesting in our world today with all the vehicles that are being sold, all the vehicles that are on the road, vehicles are getting older by age. There's more need for technicians today than there ever have been, which Bob will come to you on that in just a moment. But Michael, what brought you into automotive? What brought you to Mercedes Benz?

So ever since high school, I've been into kind of working on cars, friends, hedges in our driveways. I didn't really realize that it was gonna be more my group path until the shop forego of this dealership, Keith Romero, came out to me. Kinda helped me look at the shop, kinda take a tour. And then from then on, that's when I was really interested in doing it. And I started grad schooling to kinda accelerate that process, learn as much as I can all year.

So how long have you been turning wrenches, as they say? How long have you been doing the technician role?

Just being my first actual career with automotive. I've been here twenty two, two years, three years.

So Sam, one of the parameters to qualify for this award is you can't have been a technician for more than two years. So you can't be a technician at a dealership down the road for two years and then coming over us to start fresh. So if you look at the scope of this thing with how many you think about how many LoopTech ExpressTex we have across 41 stores. There's a lot of them. Yeah.

And to think then that service managers all have an opportunity to recognize someone that they feel is going has the potential to be an awesome technician down the road. And then these two are the ones that are selected. I just want Michael and Evan to know that this is a big deal. This is like the equivalent of Allstate and beyond. Basically, when this award's going out, it's no different than your high school football coach recommending you for all conference, and then you're evaluated on that from all the other coaches.

So, there's an evaluation process here where we look at their hours that they've turned. That's not the only thing we look at but work ethic, how many certifications they've gotten with their manufacturers in Michigan, how many state certifications, And so there's a lot of competition to earn this award somewhat. Michael and Evan both know that this is a pretty big deal for you.

Congrats to you both, which actually leads me to my next I was curious on the amount of time only, Michael, because you're at a Benz store. Like both Benz and Ford are super complicated vehicles. Benz is super high end. What's your favorite thing that you do in the course of a day in this new role that you've proved?

Certainly, I've always liked the interior work. You know, I love kind of taking intricate little parts, you know, apart and reassembling. That's always kind of been, like, something I enjoy doing. But, I mean, generally, I I really like the vehicles. You know?

I don't really have a specific job that I that I love more than the others, but it's it's definitely really fun to to work on these cars just as Yeah. Yeah.

That's cool. What's your favorite Mercedes Benz, Michael?

Oh, we had a SLS, Black Series that came in, did a service that we had. That was that was fun. I like the the Gullwing Dory. Nice.

So, Evan, what's your favorite Ford that you work on?

Oh, that I work on?

Or or favorite Ford. Yeah.

I don't know. The Ford GT is pretty cool, but that's the obvious choice.

You know what? In talking to to both Evan and Michael, Bob and Matt, when you think about this is a cool program to recognize young and up and coming technicians, and it's an important area. Technicians are one of the toughest areas to recruit in the automotive because it's not the first thing people think about. Obviously, Evan and Michael have shown proficiency. They love taking things apart.

They love working on vehicles, but not everybody has that desire. We've found a way to find those that have that desire and help them not only come on board the auto group, but learn on the job. Bob, why are technicians in such high demand in automotive today?

Well, technicians are in such high demand because they have been neglected for twenty years. I mean, we cut out all the high school programs, we cut out all that stuff, we pushed everybody towards the computer world. And I just wanna thank both of you for coming to work for us. I think you'll be your awesome team members and thanks for coming to us. You could have gone anywhere.

We're going to do our best to make a great career for you guys and a great career path. We're going to get you all the training you need and all the training you want. And when Sam had talked earlier about, there's a lot of different career paths you can take. One of the reasons this award is so important to me is in the late '80s, I was you guys. I was an apprentice here in Kalamazoo.

That's cool. Yeah. And I worked my way through the body shop, then into the service department, and I've been fortunate enough to work my way up into management because that was my end goal. But there is a huge open road of opportunity for you guys with our group, with this trade, and it truly is a skill set that not a lot of people have. And, you know, we're going to develop you guys as far as you want to go.

And I just want to say thank you choosing us. We're going have a culture that you're never going to want to leave and you're going to have one job your whole life and this is going be it.

I love that. So Mike Van Rhine is part of our culture training and development. He always talks about the importance of having a great mentor and as someone new in a role wanting to grow and develop and become great. One of the things Bob mentioned that you have as a resource are mentors around you that will help you to develop. First, Michael, then Evan, Michael, who's your mentor?

Like, do you look towards when you think about achieving automotive excellence? And by the way, Bob Keel can't be a mentor yet. He's in charge of all of them. Who there in your store or in your world around you, Michael?

Oh, personally, in my store, I've had two mentors up to this point, Jeff Austin, as well as Cal Server. And both of them have kinda showed me two paths working on vehicles, and I feel like that's honestly all I could ask for in terms of my training. I got to kinda see both sides of how people work, but in general, everyone in the stories was kind of a mentor to me, and I learned a lot from everybody around me. So kind of taking all those work environment around me and how how to see other people would do Yeah. What what kinda helps me be as efficient as I can and and stay on task.

That's awesome. All right, Evan, who's your mentor?

Oh, my mentor in this shop, probably probably the shop foreman, Dan Drowned, took me under his wing probably for, like, six six to eight months, showed me showed me everything he knew or almost, and then kind of bickered back and forth. But Very cool. Everything got done. We both learned along the way.

Wait. When you say bickered back and forth, one of the things we love to talk about is we compete at a high level to make each other better. Is that part of it or was it, something else?

No. Yeah. It was mainly part of that. It was mainly how to do the thing and how to get it done slightly faster.

You know, last week, we had a Walter Bond as a guest speaker and he talked about the importance of not not being a manager, not even being a leader, but but being a coach and a mentor to our teams and great great shout outs there both of you guys to your mentors and also want to give a shout out to you know, Kevin, Magnus from Lowell, right? Your service manager and then to Keith, Abel, Bob from the Mercedes store, all three of those guys, mentors for you as well. Great leadership starts with mentoring.

That's awesome. All right, last couple of questions and then we're going to go to Bob's announcement. So automotive is turning digital. It's turning, technology. AI is the buzzword today.

And you both Michael and Evan, the course of your career will work on vehicles possibly that are fully autonomous, not just partially autonomous. What are you doing today or what are you seeing that evolving as we go from kind of the old less tech to more tech? Does anything excite you, Michael, about that? Or, you know, do you see yourself as having kind of a leg up as an automotive technician, not having known anything but technology at Michael?

Yeah. I think in in regards to that, things are getting more complicated as well as simpler. They're kind of hand in hand now with with the technology that's out now. We have a lot more control units and a lot of other things taken care of.

Because Michael, there will be a day where you'll sit in your bay at Mercedes Benz Hoffman Estates, and you'll probably press a summon button. That's a Tesla term, but it could belong to Mercedes Benz and the car will drive itself into the bay, hoist itself up and say, I'm ready to be worked on. Right? That could happen. And you're preparing yourself today by understanding the technology and knowing how to work on it in a way that most technicians don't have to.

Are you seeing some of the technology? Are you learning some of that technology piece?

Yeah, I see it every day. Vehicles that I look at as well as nearby in other people's stalls, a lot more electric vehicles coming in, and it's definitely a different path you gotta take with those and diagnosing what's not your typical vehicle that you might see driving down the road.

Evan, what are you doing to prepare for AI technology?

Pretty much just whatever whatever the the manufacturer teaches us tells us how to how to program all of it. Then with all of that, makes it makes it slightly harder, but then other things easier to fix.

Well, it is an exciting world that you both are going into in the world of technology and being a technician. You're going to lead this organization, the Ziegler Auto Group, into the next stage of whatever comes. We can't predict it all. Bob, do you have any big predictions as it relates to AI before you give your announcement?

I really don't. AI is becoming more and more of a part of this business as we go on. Heck, when I got involved in this business, we're still working on carburetors. So, but AI is going to have an influence, no question, not only from the vehicle aspect, but from the way we actually wait on the customer and recruit that customer and keep them in. So it's going be interesting the way it goes for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So Mike Van Rhine, we're about to have an announcement from Bob Kiel about the date and the time of our big award celebration. Anything you want to share, Mike, before Bob shares his big announcement?

Mike: I just want to say a heartfelt congratulations to both Michael and Evan. You guys hold your head high and like Matt said, this is a big deal and we're super proud of both of you and we can't wait to fast forward and see where you're at in the next few years.

For creating this program, setting it up, monitoring it, and working one on one with both these gentlemen, Michael and Evan, and helping them progress throughout their career. Our recruiting arm is a hugely important arm here at the Ziegler Auto Group, and you play a key role into bringing new talent into the group and helping ensure our viability well down into the future. So Bob Keel, you have a big announcement. Autobahn, first of all, Evan and Michael get to go?

Absolutely, they do. Big announcement, first off, I want to say again, Evan and Michael, thank you for choosing us and doing a great job. We are proud of you and can't wait to see how you guys grow. We are fortunate that you've chosen us to come to work for us and we're gonna make sure your career is long and fruitful. So the big announcement is we will be taking the President's Circle winners, 20 technicians, 10 advisors, and two rising stars to the Autobahn.

June 20 Fifth at 10AM, we'll spend a day on the slalom course, on the go kart track. We'll have a big lunch, so it'll be a good time. We've done that a few times. We have a lot of fun when we're doing that. So mark that on your calendars.

I'll be sending an email today or tomorrow to the balance of the recipients that get to go with us and looking forward to a great day.

I don't know if it'll happen this time, but the Ziegler Auto Group, we have an affiliation with NASCAR and we have a driver, Carson Hossevar, who's Portage born and raised. In the past, we've been able to have that driver come and drive with us. I don't know, Bob, is there any word about whether Carson will be there?

Yeah, we're not there at that point yet. He may very well be if the schedule works. Now, the good thing is it's on a Wednesday and with the way the schedule works out, Wednesday is a lot more open than it ever used to be for the drivers. So more to come on that for sure.

All right. So Michael, Evan, who's the better driver when you think about go karting and we go out on the track? Not only are you rising talent within the Ziglar Auto Group in the technician world, but can you drive?

I mean, I think so. I hit a few deer though. Okay.

So Bob, Bob, your job, your one and only job is to make sure no deer come onto the track when Evan's on the track. Because the last thing we want is to have, like, recognize these gentlemen and then had them get in an accident that, Michael driving. Yes? No? Maybe so?

Yeah. Drive every day. So definitely another passion of mine. Like I like him.

I think they're both gonna be surprised with this driving. So we'll see.

Awesome. Matt Snyder. Alright. Hey, everybody. Again, congratulations to our winners.

We're gonna give Van Rhine, VP of Talent Development, last word today. Just grateful to have everybody here on board. At the Ziggo Auto Group, we compete to make each other better. This is an incredible example of doing just that. Bob Keel, thank you for being on Matt Snyder.

Congrats to Michael and Evan. Mike, you get the last word.

Well, thanks, Sam, for your leadership and organizing this. I appreciate everybody on the call today. Again, congratulations to Michael from Mercedes and Evan from Wolfhard. Have a great

special thanks to all who contributed to this week's podcast. Until next week, how are you driving vision today?