The NOLN Podcast

Martin Moore, founder of Your CEO Mentor and author of the upcoming "No Bullsh!t Leadership" book, joins Digital Multimedia Editor Noah Brown to discuss strategies on how to get the most out of your team by improving your leadership skills and habits. For the latest news and trends in the quick oil and lube industries, follow NOLN on Facebook and Twitter, and check out NOLN.net.

This week, join NOLN editor Matt Hudson and Mike Agugliaro, entrepreneur and co-founder of CEO Warrior, to talk about the mindset of leadership and how changing your frame of view can really help expose new opportunities. Agugliaro also speaks about being nimble and making smart decisions, as well as what piece of advice he was told that totally changed his view of his own company.

Most shop owners know that some customers are still a bit unsure about transitioning away from the good, old conventional engine oils. And it's the job of the shop staff to help educate those customers about the benefits and qualities that modern oils provide. In this episode, two engine oil experts take a deep dive into the world of modern engine oils, especially full synthetics. Michael Thomas and Sean Nguyen with Shell-Pennzoil speak with editor Matt Hudson about the high-tech engineering that goes into modern oils and what performance benefits we see as a result. Plus, they'll talk about the automotive industry forces that have changed over the years to influence what OEMs and drivers need from an engine oil.

We're joined by John "JB" Burkhauser, director of education at BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY, to dispel some myths and lay down some truths about integrating your shop management system with your team's tech and tools. 

With businesses opening back up and shops seeing strong performance through the first half of 2021, many operators are looking to make investments in their shops. Often, that might involve borrowing finances, and for this week's podcast, NOLN is bringing in an expert on that subject. Josh Jones is the chief revenue officer at the small business lending firm Kapitus, and he joins editor Matt Hudson to talk about how operators can find the right loan and prepare to work with lenders.

In this follow-up episode from last week's, AOCA's Joanna Johnson returns to talk about the FTC report that identifies anti-competitive behavior in the repair and maintenance industry. While the first episode focused on tactics previously used by OEMs and dealers to discourage independent shops, this episode digs into the new frontier of connected vehicle technology. Telematics will change the way service centers work with vehicles, and this is the arena in which vehicle technology, Right to Repair, and independent aftermarket issues collide.

The Federal Trade Commission recently sent a report to Congress detailing some of the tactics that dealership service centers and OEMs use to divert maintenance work to their shops. We are NOLN are digging into the report for some reporting, but in the meantime, we've brought in an expert to talk about the main points.  Joanna Johnson, policy advisor for the Automotive Oil Change Association (AOCA), has been working for years on issues that this report covers. In this episode, she talks about some of the tactics that OEMs use to direct service and how this report shines a light on issues that need to be addressed. This is part one of a two-parter, so stay tuned next week for the follow-up!

Regular readers of NOLN likely saw a lot of coverage about the new gasoline engine oil standards from the American Petroleum Institute.  Interestingly, diesel engine oils are evolving in very similar ways, with technology and viscosities geared toward greater efficiency and lower emissions. A lot of technology and development goes into those standards, and Greg Matheson from Lubrizol is an expert who broke it all down in this interview. He's a commercial lubricants product manager at Lubrizol and gave excellent insight into the meaning behind the new FA-4 service category, how it differs from previous specs, and what it means for diesel engines. For more information, check out this NOLN article on the diesel service category changes, as well as this information from Lubrizol and API.

Megan Williams is back on The NOLN Podcast to talk about marketing target audiences. It's important to get the best idea of who your marketing is intended to reach, and in this episode, Williams talks about some  easy, free tools that can help operators find out about those audiences.

Brett Steele, director of auto services for Podium, talks with associate editor Megan Gosch about how the landscape for online reviews are changing and how both customers and operators can keep up. They will also go over insights from Podium's recent State of the Online Review report.