By Debbie Briggs
Contributing Writer

For Bill Gurney, owner of Gurney’s Automotive Repair, success can be attributed to one philosophy: Treat people how you want to be treated. It’s on the principles of honesty and integrity that he opened his first shop in 1985 with his wife, Charlotte, in Nashua, NH.

“We were pretty young at the time,” he remembers. “I was 25, and she was 23. We started renting a small garage behind a used car dealer that would feed us work, and it helped get us going. We moved to a two-bay facility in another location, and we were there for about 17 years. We went from two bays and kept taking more of the building to where we had five bays. In 2001, we built a brand-new, 10-bay facility.

“I grew up in a family where my parents owned a couple of A&W Rootbeers,” he explains. “I think a lot of times entrepreneurial tendencies are almost genetic. I have a couple of brothers, and they work for themselves as well. I really wanted to work for myself, but I didn’t want to do the same thing they did. I started working on cars as a kid, and then worked at a gas station for a while and it progressed.”

Gurney’s Nashua location employs 10 technicians, six of whom are ASE-certified Master Techs, while the remaining four are ASE certified as well. They also have a full-time shop ­foreman who dispatches the work and helps customers with problems and road tests their vehicles. In addition, Gurney’s has a full-time manager who oversees operations and fills in where needed, working closely with the shop foreman to ensure customer satisfaction. He says that ­retaining people, both employees and customers, is their specialty at Gurney’s Automotive Repair, so much so that a second location was ­recently opened in Milford, NH.

“I think you have to treat your employees right first before your customers, actually,” he says. “Most people think it’s the other way around. I think if you treat your employees really well, they, in turn, will treat your ­customers really well. You can’t interact with every ­customer at every level, so you have to have people who can emulate your values and your quality of communication.”

Family/Work Balance
Gurney believes that while employees should give 110 percent while at work, they should also have the flexibility to participate in family life. To that end, the shop isn’t open on Saturdays; a concept that leaves many ­customers asking, why not?

“I have people who want to get up and go have coffee with their wives or go to a ballgame with their kids,” he says. “To me that’s more important than fixing a car. So, during the week, we have loaner cars and a shuttle service, and we open at 7:30 a.m. We do everything that we can to make it convenient for the customer.

“One of the things I tell people when I interview them is when I get you, I want you to work really hard when you’re here during the day,” he continues. “You’re going to go home more tired than any other job. But this is not supposed to be the most important thing in your life. If it is, we need to talk.”

And talk he does — Gurney has a vested interest in his employees and his customers. So much so that he’s attended customers’ weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, and he wants his employees to put their families first.

“We work around our employees’ schedules so people can have families and watch their kids grow up,” ­explains Gurney. “I have a strong faith and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and I try to live according to biblical principles,” he continues. “The positive side of that is you get to be ­involved in people’s personal lives. When people have a problem, whether it be employees or customers, you have a chance to help in that situation.”

To drive home the importance he places on top-notch service, Gurney invests in television commercials with a humorous edge, direct mail on a regular basis, the company’s website, gurneysautomotive.com, in ­addition to social media such as Facebook and Twitter. But retaining customers is where it starts and the power of word-of-mouth referrals can’t be ­underestimated.

Raving Fans Rave About Your Shop
“We try to make sure every customer is a raving fan, so when they leave they’re not just satisfied, but they are raving about us,” he says. “We work on the premise of earning their trust and confidence each and every time they are in, and not taking them for granted. We provide them with a ­warranty of two years or 24,000 miles on everything we do. We have value programs like our oil change key tag, which after four oil changes entitles the customer to one free.”

And customers aren’t the only ones who receive some great perks; employees are also well taken care of in terms of a good pay plan and great benefits, such as a 401(k) plan, health insurance with half of the monthly premium paid and even a minimal charge for a local gym membership.

“I would rather make less money each year personally, and provide everyone who works for us with the tools they need to be financially successful,” he says, adding that turnover is rare at Gurney’s. “We have found when you treat your employees like family, they stay a long time. I had someone a few years ago go to the computer ­industry, and one left to go to Utah. But, we very rarely lose ­somebody to go to a competitor.”

Shop Appearance Sends An Important Message
Impeccable shop appearance also helps set Gurney’s apart from the rest. From landscaping to clean bays to an inviting waiting area, Gurney says they strive to present a favorable image to the customer to showcase their attention to detail.

“We spend a large amount of money on a yearly basis on our landscaping and maintenance of our building and grounds,” he says. “We want customers thinking, if we take that much pride in our facility, then we must be even more particular to detail with their vehicle.” Gurney adds that his technicians also keep their bays clean and professional, so at any time a customer can be brought out to the service area and be shown something with their car.

“We are set apart from the competition in so many ways from a facility standpoint,” he continues. “From the moment you walk in when you see a very clean and well-laid-out waiting area, to the coffee area where we have a Keurig one-cup coffee system, to the inside children’s play area, to the fenced-in outside children’s play area with a patio where adults can sit, to the WiFi so customers can use the ­Internet while they wait.”

Customers are also assured by the Gurney’s designation as an AAA-­Approved Auto Repair ­Facility, which also allows for the use of AAA’s customer satisfaction program. Gurney’s consistently ranks 99 percent out of 100. In addition, Gurney’s is a Michelin alliance dealer, which allows the shop to be very competitive in the tire market, and also a Bosch Authorized Service Center, which allows employees to attend ­factory Bosch training in various parts of the country.

At the end of the day, Gurney says it all comes back to treating others how he would want to be treated.

“I know this sounds simplistic,” he concludes, “but it’s true. It’s not rocket science; just do the right thing based on what’s right, not on what it’s going to do to the bottom line.”