The priority in which these three key segments are attended to can vastly affect the outcome, Bender said.  Early on in his career, Bender said he placed most of attention on taking care of employees first, customers second, and the business last. 

"We started losing our customer base," he said, adding that he became acutely aware that without customers, his shop wouldn't exist.

Today, the shop's main emphasis has been shifted to customers, he said; that focus is what keeps the shop's six bays full and its four technicians constantly with work.  By being honest with customers and not overloading them with unnecessary maintenance work, the trust factor builds, he said.

Unlike some repair shops, Bender said he won't recommend services that the customer can do without.  Rather, he said he focuses on repair items that are necessary to keep the vehicle running properly.

"That's the reason why we're busy, because people trust us," he said.  "We're not trying to squeeze as much profit as we can out of every vehicle.  We'd rather do the stuff that's absolutely needed.

"I don't run the shop like your typical businessman," said Bender, who cut his teeth in the industry as a Datsun technician in a dealership.  "We don't do a lot of up-sells on maintenance items," he said.  "A lot of what we still do is repair work, following the guidelines of factory service intervals.

"I'm sure we could do better if profit was the main factor," Bender said, adding that this would place the business before the wellbeing of the customer.  "There would be a cost to that.  A lot of customers in the long run wouldn't like that."

That isn't to say that Independent Motors doesn't take care of their customers' vehicles, Bender said, emphasizing that they closely follow AllData's "normal service" recommendations, keeping a vehicle history log in their Genesis shop management system.

"We've had the system since '96," Bender said.  "I'm convinced it's one of the best management systems for the industry."  The Windows-based multi-user system merges with Quick Books, he said, and helps him keep track of each repair order and the specific vehicle service intervals in a "job kit."

The parts chosen for the repairs in each job kit mainly depend on the application, Bender said.

When the shop first opened in 1983, Bender said its specialization was in Datsun and eventually Nissan vehicles.  That niche allowed him to have a very unorthodox method of stocking parts, which included at least one of every OEM Datsun SKU for carb kits and belts, he said.  At one point, he said, he stocked more than $100,000 in parts, which was justified by immediate service.

"If you were able to sell job on the spot and a customer didn't have to wait on the part, it paid for itself," he said.  Today, with the proliferation of parts and the expansion of domestic and import makes his techs work on, he said, inventory has been reduced to $60,000.

Parts Manager Ed Layton manages the shops inventory stocking original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts mainly for the import makes they specialize in, which mainly includes tune up parts, such as timing belts, hoses, belts, seals, and oil, fuel, and air filters.  "Ed has done a great job of trimming down inventory and getting rid of obsolescence," he added.

A preference that has transcended the decades is the propensity to use OEM parts sourced from the dealer or original equipment (OE) brand parts bought from aftermarket suppliers.

"If it's electronic, we stick with OE or OEM," Bender said, pointing to a Nippon/Denso alternator as an example, which is OE on many Japanese makes.  For several of the OE brands, he said he relies on WorldPac, NAPA, Imported Auto Parts, and Broadway Auto Parts.  When it comes to OEM, he said he frequently buys form Boulder Toyota, Tynan's Nissan in Aurora, and Fisher Honda.

Not everyone in the shop believes in strictly using OE or OEM quality parts, Bender said, adding that Service Manager Garold Racine came from a Goodyear store that used everything aftermarket.

"Garold is more price conscious from the customer's point of view," Bender said.  "I'm more quality conscious because our reputation's on the line."  He said he's learned to trust Racine's decisions on aftermarket parts, especially with domestic makes, an area that he said he's well versed in.

"He's often proven me wrong on a few things," Bender said.  "There are several aftermarket parts that are more than adequate and still offer a savings to the customer."

Because of his unique location at the base of the Boulder flatiron formations, Bender said he doesn't get the drive-by traffic that many other shops do.  What he saves in cheaper rent, he said he spends on advertising to attract customers.  That's necessary because Boulder is a fairly transient town, he pointed out.

For the last two years, Bender said he has taken a full-page ad on the back page of the Yellow Book.  "It seems to work better than the Dex book for the money," he said.

The shop attracts many Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura, Subaru, and Nissan/Infiniti vehicle owners, Bender said, adding that the majority of vehicles his techs work on are Toyotas.

Aside from keeping a steady flow of work to his technicians, Bender said his employee retention is high because he treats them as if they are family, offering them benefits such as a Simple IRA, paid vacation, and health and dental insurance.

Each pay structure is unique to the technician's needs, Bender said.

Paul Taylor, a journeyman technician with more than 30 years of experience, is now paid a salary because he has been designated the shop's lube man, Bender said, a position that isn't as demanding as a line repair tech.  "We never had a lube man until a year ago.  We always had commissioned techs do that.

"This setup is better suited to the customer and the commissioned technicians," he said.  The hourly tech is not rushing and will closely inspect everything on the vehicle, he said. 

 
To accommodate the increasing number of domestic vehicles the shop works on, Bender said he hired commissioned Technician Rich Fling, who has a fair amount of experience on domestic fleets.  The shop's Master Technician, Tony Madrigal, who has been with Bender since 1984, can tackle all jobs on the makes they specialize in.

Randy Schubert is the shop's Honda specialist, who was a master technician for 10 years at Honda dealerships, Bender said.  To accommodate Schubert when he was hired, he said, he agreed to pay him a salary because he was tired of working on commission.

The combination of hourly, salaried, and commissioned techs has changed the attitude in the shop, Bender said, and guys are not fighting over work anymore.  "I should have done this years ago," he added.

Business has been so good that Bender said he has added a used alignment rack and is in the process of buying a John Bean alignment machine from Snap-on.  The expansion includes the addition of three bays, he said.