145 - The Power of Mentorship, DVIs & Accountability with Brandon Hack
September 11, 2025 - 00:25:29

 

Show Summary:

Brandon Hack of Lake Sumter Auto Repair joins Jimmy Lea to share how mentorship, accountability, and strong processes fueled explosive growth in his shop. What started with pumping gas at his dad’s two-bay Texaco eventually led Brandon through sales, a Snap-on franchise, and into managing a thriving repair operation that has tripled its performance. He credits coaching from The Institute, Bobby Lambert’s mentorship, and holding the team to higher standards for the success. Brandon and Jimmy dive into 300% DVI best practices, educating non–car customers, and the difference between selling vehicle wants versus vehicle needs. They also cover the critical role of tracking gross profit per hour, building processes that make customer care easy, and the power of peer groups to accelerate solutions and growth.

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

Brandon Hack, Manger of Lake Sumter Auto Repair

 

Show Highlights:

[00:00:49 ] - Brandon’s origin story: growing up pumping gas at a two-bay Texaco and eventually finding his way back to the industry through sales and a Snap-on franchise.

[00:01:57 ] - Mentorship matters: how owner Bobby Lambert and full enrollment in The Institute created a “no option to fail” culture that helped triple shop performance.

[00:05:38 ] - Raising the bar on ROs: after early mistakes, Brandon sets a new internal standard—clearer work orders, continuous iteration, and aiming for company-best paperwork.

[00:06:21 ] - Customer experience first: treat every visit like the highlight of the customer’s day to overcome the “grudge purchase” reality of auto repair.

[00:08:04 ] - Lean team, big output: one service advisor and two techs running five lifts, while the sister shop operates a multi-bay “mecca” with transmission expertise.

[00:14:45 ] - Tools + talent sell the job: invest in proper diagnostic equipment and skilled techs so transparent test results do the convincing.

[00:16:09 ] - 300% DVI in action: inspect 100% of vehicles, estimate 100% of findings, and present 100%—with photos required for every recommendation.

[00:17:16 ] - Make DVIs idiot-proof: circle the exact part, color-code issues, and sanity-check clarity by sending inspections to a non-car person (e.g., your spouse).

[00:20:18 ] - Don’t go it alone: join 20-groups/masterminds and coaching to gain accountability, faster solutions, and peer-reviewed financials.

[00:23:46 ] - Live by the numbers: track GP and dollars-per-hour on every invoice so month-end is a confirmation, not a surprise; then drive net profit with cost control.

 

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

 

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Episode Transcript Disclaimer

This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com.

 

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: Hey, Jimmy Lea here with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. You are listening to the Leading Edge podcast, and joining me today is Brandon Hack of Lake Sumter Auto Repair out of Fruitland Park, Florida. Brandon, thank you so much for being here, brother. How you doing? I'm doing great, man.

Jimmy Lea: It's my pleasure. I'm glad. Well, I'm glad you're here 'cause we're gonna talk about automotive repair, automotive shops and get into the nitty gritty of the challenges of a modern shop today. Before we get into the nitty gritty, Brandon, I'd love to find out a little bit more about you and about your shop and how you got into the automotive industry.

Jimmy Lea: What bet did you lose, or what passion did you have that you want went after the automotive repair full bore.

Brandon Hack: It kind of fell into my lap. I grew up in a shop that my dad owned. Started off in a small two bay TCO gas station, full service. So at 4, 5, 6 years old, I was actually pumping gas and doing what, you know, 40, 50-year-old people know nothing about it anymore because it's been gone for so long.

Brandon Hack: So that's how I grew up in it. From there, I. Thought I'd stay in it forever. My dad sold the shop, went and managed the shop for another gentleman. I worked there as well, and then he got all the way out of it and went into doing other stuff. I got into sales and just sold tow trucks, and then I got into a snap-on tool franchise, so I had a snap-on tool franchise that opened the doors that I had.

Brandon Hack: In this area with meeting a lot of fine folks, which got me involved with Bobby Lambert, who is the actual owner of Lake Sumter Transmission and Lake Sumter Auto Repair. He and I became decent friends. He has absolutely been the most incredible business mentor. It shouldn't have happened, and it did.

Brandon Hack: And he is, he's just blessed me. Number one not to pump anybody, but because the guy understands the value of the institute. Everybody is enrolled into it. Everybody has the coaching, everybody has everything that the institute offers, and that's what puts us into. Where we can't fail, there's no option to fail because we are surrounded by good owners, great employees, and then the institute to have the coaching and everything that just, here we are.

Brandon Hack: And it's been an absolute, I can't call it a rollercoaster 'cause it has just been an absolute, we sat on a bomb. We opened this place up and it just exploded. And here we are doing, oh man, triple what the shop was.

Jimmy Lea: Oh I wanna get into all that, but I gotta push the pause button first before we go down there.

Jimmy Lea: You talk about you being at a Two Bay Texaco. My uncle owned a couple of Chevrons with the two Bay. One was up in Mount Carmel Junction up in Utah, and then he bought two more down in Vegas, had the Chevrons with the two, two little bays, and he would. I mean, he would sell batteries and wiper blades. He's like, which absolutely hi.

Jimmy Lea: His favorite question was, which tire gets the nail? The most nails in it. 'cause he had the tow trucks and he would tow the cars in off the interstate or whatever. And which tire gets the most. So I asked you, Brandon, which tire gets the most nails? It seemed like to us it was always left rear.

Jimmy Lea: Left rear. Yeah. His was right rear. Right rear passenger, rear because it was always over on that side and it would kick up and his advice was never drive on the shoulder unless you absolutely have to 'cause you're gonna get a nail. I was like, that was great advice. I appreciate that uncle. He also is the guy that taught us as kids as his nephews.

Jimmy Lea: I mean, you wanna talk about child labor? Oh, absolutely. I'm sure you were there too, right? Here we are. He, and he's like, I'm gonna hire you to clean the restrooms, but first I'm gonna show you exactly how I want it done. So when you come to do it, you know you can do it. Do we go in this bathroom? It was the nastiest bathroom.

Jimmy Lea: Nasty. Oh, it was disgusting. He showed us how to clean it and he showed us how to clean it. Right. He showed us once. Absolutely. And then it was on us. And Brandon, I'm guessing you had the same training.

Brandon Hack: I, I did. I really did. I, my, my dad was, my dad is the whole that's why we're here.

Jimmy Lea: Oh man.

Jimmy Lea: That's so cool. That's so cool. Congratulations. That's wonderful. So talk to me about you getting with Bobby and you start the shop. I love a success story that says, man, we tripled this business. If you got a timeline from going from zero to hero it wasn't zero, and I apologize for that.

Jimmy Lea: It was not zero, but you took it from what it was and tripled it. What does that look like for you, Brandon, as the manager?

Brandon Hack: It definitely, there's definitely a lot that comes with it as far as like, it's not me. It is the team and it is absolutely the team that we have. It all started from there because we, I thought I knew exactly how this works. I thought I knew everything. I thought it was easy and it is not easy. Um, I came in here and we had our manager at the other shop.

Brandon Hack: He was right away, let me go a month and make some mistakes, and came down instantly and started pointing those mistakes out. It was instant when that happ