Toy Auto keeps many out-of-warranty Toyota owners happy by providing bumper-to-bumper repair and service, including alignments, Watson said.

If vehicle owners cannot get their vehicles properly serviced by the independent aftermarket, their opinion of the brand may diminish, he said.  "Customers don't like having choices taken away from them."

Watson, who received national recognition from Toyota while working as a technician at Burt Toyota, has been earning the trust of his Toyota customers since opening his shop 13 years ago on South Broadway.  Today, he serves the same customers out of a 3,600-square-foot building at 4450 S. Broadway that he bought last May.

"In this business you really have to be 'people people,'" Watson said.  "If the customer didn't trust that you took care of them honestly, they won't be back."

Ninety percent of the shop's volume is on Toyota or Lexus vehicles, with the other 10 percent being Honda, a line Watson said he took on a few years ago at the request of his Toyota customers who were also Honda owners.

"Toyota owners really do want to maintain their vehicles," Watson said.  "They understand the value of preventive maintenance and repair.  Most of them are aware that it will cost them money to keep their car on the road."

Many of Watson's customers have had multiple Toyotas and have come to appreciate their reliability and are loyal to the brand, he said; some of his customers are even on their third or fourth Toyota.

Perhaps nobody understands the relationship between brand loyalty and the service experience more than Toyota, Watson said.

"Toyota leads the entire auto industry in being friendly with people outside their dealer circle," he said.  "My impression is that they believe that if a Toyota customer is pleased with their car, including the service experience, they'll buy another one."

Watson said his two technicians, Tom Peterson and Tim Hatch, access most of their OE repair information from the Toyota Information System (TIS) in addition to AllData and iATN.

"When you see the same cars day after day, you notice failure patterns, which makes diagnosis quicker and more accurate," he said.  It is difficult to be everything to everyone, he said, adding that he applauds general repair shops that try to do that.

Keeping up to speed on the proper tools and repair information access is critical to properly repairing today's vehicle, Watson said, adding that he carefully researched Honda before adding it to his offerings two years ago.

"I interviewed my staff, and the consensus was that there were a lot of engineering similarities between the brands," Watson said.  In doing so, he said he also discovered that his Vetronix/Bosch MasterTech scan tool works on both makes, with minor purchases such as OBDII cables and software updates.  Much like Toyota owners, Honda owners are loyal to their brand and tend to take care of their vehicles, he added.

"I was concerned with taking on too much, compromising our reputation for quality that took us so long to build," Watson said of the decision to take on Honda.  He said he realized the risk of losing his Toyota customers if they sent him a Honda customer who had to endure their learning curve.

"So much of the customer experience is built on trust," he said.  "Being all this to all people is tough."

To keep abreast on the latest vehicle technology, Watson said he is a strong proponent of industry training.  His commitment to training dates back to his days as a Toyota technician at Burt Toyota when he was a two-time finalist in the Toyota Master Skills Contest and later inducted into the Toyota Service Champions Society, he said. 

Today, Watson said his main source of training is through the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), adding that he held an ASE board position for six years.

"I believe ASE is the best measuring stick that shop owners have available to them," he said, adding that for technicians who complete the training, it shows commitment to the industry and professionalism.

"If I expect my staff to take the test, I show them that I'm willing to do the same thing," Watson said, adding that he's completed his ASE Master, L1 Master, and Certified Service Advisor courses. 

 
In addition to actively participating in ASE, Watson said he served as the chairman for the Advisory Council at Arapahoe Community College for four years.  Moreover, he said that his participation in R. L. O'Connor's Bottom Line Impact Group has taught him to manage his business by the numbers.

"I look at car counts daily and make sales projections from there," he said.  "Cars represent opportunity; without opportunity, we won't have any business."

A father of three, Watson said he still has time to juggle business obligations and make time for training.  A recent event that provided a good source for training was the Automotive Service Association of Colorado (ASA-CO) Expo held at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  He said he liked the "speed dating" format, in which attendees could see several presenters in a short period of time.