Firstly, we'd like to thank all Mechanic.com.au Community Members for the time and effort they have put into submitting their Wheels and Workshops in this competition. We have had hundreds of fantastic entries and it is clear that there are so many passionate people in our great industry.
We'd also like to thank our Premier Community Partners Bendix, Century Batteries, Disc Brakes Australia, Exedy Australia, Gates Australia, Monroe, Narva, NGK Spark Plugs, Penrite, Ryco Filters, SuperPro and Trico for putting up the fantastic prize for this great competition, it wouldn't have been possible without them!
Selecting a winner proved to be very difficult, but after careful deliberation, there was one entry that stood out.
Congratulations Tony and thank you again to everybody who took the time to take part in this competition.
You can view Tony's entry for Xifa Bayati below:
What is the NAME of your Business/Workshop?
Xifa Bayati
In what YEAR did you acquire/open your Business/Workshop?
Founded in Jul-2018
What type of work do you carry out at your Business/Workshop?
I'm Tony Diep, company director and founder of Xifa Bayati, an auto repair workshop located off Barry Road, Campbellfield, approx. 25kms north of Melbourne.
My family typically refers to me by my birthname, Xi. In high school, this became Xifa & when combined with “Ey” makes for a somewhat satisfying war cry that not only rolls off the tongue, but is best yelled when across the school oval.
For this reason, customers who entrust their pride and joy with Xifa Bayati are treated as true friends. Their vehicle(s) are serviced as though they are my own and given that I am a car nut, I LOVE fixing cars! So, getting paid for the work I do is an absolute bonus!
Xifa Bayati is an automotive workshop that specialises in the general servicing, preventative maintenance & mechanical repairs. The team at Xifa Bayati understand our customers' vehicle needs. 'Gain one's trust - gain a customer; Lose one's trust - lose a customer' is the motto which is recited daily by both myself and my head mechanic, Hassan Bayati.
Although the company is a year old, customers have been utilising Hassan as a source of truth for over 35+ years for anything and everything related to the battery, alternator/starter motor, timing and drive belts, cooling systems, fuel/ignition/braking systems as well as engine and drivetrain.
Our specialist area & point of difference compared to other mechanical workshops is our focus on customer experience. Our ‘red-carpet service’ is our target operating model. More specifically, we want to help customers overcome the fear and anxiety typically associated with leaving a car at mechanical service centre. Focusing on developing customer intimacy through trust and open communication is the key to turning potential customers into actual returning customers.
What do you find to be the most enjoyable or rewarding thing about owning/operating a Business/Workshop?
I get a massive degree of job satisfaction when assisting others to make a more informed decision on their car. One of my stonger non technical skill is the way I can communicate and educate car owners of the health of their vehicles. If my profile was a book, the title of that book would be: “Professional Customer-Focussed Technical Specialist Simplifying Jargon & Maximising Customer Experience”. Also being the decision maker and the one in charge of leading the ship, I appreciate the responsiveness I can be in rolling out a new process to the team to stream line the way we service our customers.
I’m an energetic and enthusiastic executive with extensive experience working in different sales environments, aiming to support financial objectives and customer satisfaction. Having streamlined the after-sales process, reduction of keying errors and minimising the necessary turnaround that will ultimately impact the customer by integrating Repco Navigator with my accounting software, which allows users to add all parts relevant to that service onto the Tax Invoice with one simple click.
In addition to that, I’ve subscribed with Vehicle Visuals, a service provider that gives access to super informative videos in 2 mins or less. Hypothetically, this allows me to create an invoice for brake pads, as well as attach a video within the invoice for their viewing pleasure. This in turn builds trust and rapport with the customer given I’m actually educating them as part of the complimentary red-carpet service by adding value for the customer’s benefit.
Previously I was also a highly respected digital expert for sales operations, optimising business operational effectiveness by increasing systems proficiencies and simplification of fulfilment processes.
An example of this is I needed a system that was always available, didn’t require my hands as they were greasy, didn’t require a notebook as they were always misplaced along with a pen. I customised our Google Assistant within the workshop and on all my Google Home devices, to track my sales and expenses hands free. So while I’m working I don’t have to continuously write items down, I can do them by voice-control and they are listed instantly.
What have you found to be the most challenging or difficult thing about owning/operating a Business/Workshop?
Prior to July 18, I was a van rental sole trader who owned 19 vans and listed them on Car Next Door all over Melbourne. Logistically it became a nightmare, however to service them all (eg van broken down, need to Uber to the van, tow the van back to mechanic, Uber back home, receive call from mechanic, Uber back to van, drive van to home zone, etc.)
I finally had enough of that and so I purchased a mechanical workshop from Hassan’s previous employer and started my own company - thus Xifa Pty Ltd was founded. I have been working with Hassan to help him maintain this well- oiled machine (pun intended) by literally helping him keep machines well oiled.
Life was good as not only was I learning so much every day similar to an eager student learning off his teacher, but I was also the boss paying Hassan a wage. There is a mutual level of respect on multiple fronts and I feel so lucky to have Hassan on my team.
Then I found out Hassan had to go overseas for 6 weeks over the Nov/Dec 2018 period. I wasn’t sure what to do as I didn’t know if I’d have customers coming in and also if they did, who would service and fix customers’ vehicles?
I overcame this problem by advising Hassan to forward all calls directly to my mobile. That way, we could make the customers understand that Hassan wasn’t currently at the workshop, however their queries would be answered and they could still book their vehicles in for future appointments. Secondly, Hassan referred me to Gevon who is a mobile mechanic with a LVT certification who I signed up immediately.
The positive impact to business with Gevon now in the team is twofold. Not only did having him on the team during Hassan’s absence help so there was a qualified mechanic on site, but it also opened me up to the option of Xifa Pty Ltd checking light vehicles to ensure compliance to Victorian Roadworthiness guidelines. This in turn has helped out Gevon as well – so it was a win-win-win situation for everyone.
The other issue we were having was so many customers would walk-in without an appointment, and ask “Is this Hassan’s shop?”. In which I’d say “Yes” about 8 times per day. So I asked myself how do I prevent this from happening in the future. I spoke to Hassan and told him I like the phoenetic sound of his last name ‘Bayati’, and was planning to name the business ‘Xifa Bayati’. He chuckled and said “Yeah sure no worries”... and so the trading name “Xifa Bayati” was born. In this, a valued working partnership has been born.
If you could change one thing about our industry, what would it be?
Typically the words trust and mechanic do not usually belong in the same sentence – as per the majority of the publics’ opinion. When customers take their vehicles to a repair shop they are often anxious, afraid and untrusting before they even hand over their keys. Customers are worried about getting ripped-off, to hearing that the engine’s gone, and/or to not having the use of their vehicle for several days or even weeks. I would guess that many mechanics do not know how to communicate effectively with customers to quash these fears.
Developing customer intimacy and trust through open and candid communication are the key elements for overcoming their fear and anxiety. Our mission is to remove the fear and anxiety customers feel every time they walk through the door and to earn their trust along the way. Gain their trust and you gain a customer, and most likely a returning customer.
As there’s nothing to hide, I am keen on establishing transparency within the company in order to gain trust, by communicating consistently with customers. The service advisers walk the customer through the process of their auto repair, they are shown any parts that were replaced on their car so that they can see what was done and why.
I would really like to have other mechanical workshops be not only as focused on achieving perfect customer experience with each and customer, but also cultivate an industry whereby customers see mechanic s as a trusted trade.
If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone considering opening or purchasing a Business/Workshop today, what would it be?
You can fail in any industry, including the auto repair one. Given youtube and finding out instructions on how to do an oil change is only a single click away, to be successful in this day and age, you need to be memorable; stand out. The only way to do this is to give it everything. Learning to soar like an eagle rather than have ‘smokos’ behind the shed with the ducks has helped me to take a leap of faith. When all the risk is calculated, and you’ve deduced that you’ll probably succeed, but should you fail you’ll lose everything...what should you do? Just listen to the other ducks and say to yourself, you wouldn’t have made it anyway, or do you give it a real hard crack and stretch them wings? I did it last year when I bought the business without having any mechanical qualifications, and I did it again in 2019 with buying a new factory site down the road to build it into our current workshop. If you love what you do, like I do fixing cars, you’ll be here for the longest hours on minimal sleep, but be assured that you’ll never have to work another day for the rest of your life if you really love what you do. Winning the award for Young Entrepreneur was really nice to be acknowledged for the hard work I put in. If you have self belief that you can do something different and better than all the other mechanics in the area/region, my advice is to have a crack at opening your own workshop;
