Meet Jeff Buckley | Owner and Master Technician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeff Buckley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, what do you attribute your success to?
When the question of what is the most important factor behind your success / the success of your brand comes up. There are actually many attributes to a successful brand. First , no matter what your business is you must provide outstanding service. My Father’s Shop is an automotive repair shop. We were actually providing contactless service before the current world event. Contactless service is simply providing a more convenient drop off and pickup for our customers. They can use the Dropbox to leave the vehicle before we open and pickup after we are closed. We also give customers a ride home and pickup or even deliver the vehicle back after hours. We provide almost a concierge service. After servicing the customers vehicles, if the vehicle needs a state inspection and current tags , we take care of that. Our shop always goes one step further to provide the best service. Little things like vacuuming out the drivers floorboard, ensuring no handprints or grease marks can make a difference.
Making sure all fluids are full , checking the air pressure in tires , looking for other damage and checking the vehicle for Road-trips are just standard operating procedure’. Make sure your Google listing is accurate and up to date. Add current pictures and ask customers to leave a review on Google.
Second you must invest in your business. We made the decision a long time ago to invest in current tools and equipment. We strive to keep up with the latest technology.
Your business should be the expert in your area. We keep up with the latest training and keep ASE certifications current. Investing in your business also means clean and updated. An automotive shop deals with oil and grease., this doesn’t mean we work / live in oil and grease .
Third , it’s our name behind our brand .
We take pride in standing behind our work.
Never put out work you are not proud of. We repair vehicles and treat each vehicle like our family, daughters , sons , and grandchildren would be safe in that vehicle.
We partner with a network that allows us to offer a nationwide warranty. We are still an independent repair shop but able to worry free warranty.
To be successful with your brand you must be involved in your industry and community. Be active on social media to show your brand. Folks like doing business with folks they know. We show our shop . We show what we do. We show why a repair is necessary, what’s involved and why it costs more than in the past. Our community supports us. Get involved when you can . Our industry provides support to us. Associations insured we were declared an essential business. This kept us in business when many businesses closed.
Ask yourself- Can I do that? I use the phrase, Lead , follow or get out of the way.
If you see an issue that you can help with- Lead
If you see a program that works – no need to reinvent the wheel. Follow —
Don’t let your ego get in the way -jealousy-
Support others , encourage-don’t cause problems cause it wasn’t your idea- get out of the way.
Hopefully some of these ideas can help you bring success to your brand.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My Father’s Shop is a true Mom and Pop business. We are an Award winning Automotive Repair Shop. ASA Alpha Award
ASE Blue Seal Shop
Carfax Top Shop
Nextdoor Neighbor Favorite
Best of Ellis County Auto Repair
Best of Ellis County Brake Repair
Best of Southwest Auto Repair
MIdlothian Chamber Achievement Award
Besides working on cars I also do Car care tip videos. Tool reviews and videos for the industry. I Host exhibitors videos at AAPEX and have started doing these at automotive industry events. I have been featured in many trade magazines.
I use my platform to gain help and attention for High School Automotive programs.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In our Howdy MIdlothian platform on Facebook, we actually encourage shop small , shop local. Depending on weather it’s always great to enjoy outdoors patios. We have been blessed by our daughter to have opportunities to travel. We always seem to have the best times at local small businesses.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My wife ,Candace is the organizer and encouragement behind our success. She is the one that talks with, listens and prays for our customers. I couldn’t do anything without her. Our adult children Jonathan,Kathryne,Kimberly and Mitchell have all offered encouragement. Kimberly and Kathryne helped educate me on the technical issues of social media marketing. I was chosen to be in a commercial and advertising campaign with Mike Rowe several years ago. I believe this added credibility to my platform. There are several international companies that had faith in me and expanded my reach.
Ateq TPMS Global , Gates, Redline Detection , AAPEX, Red Kap are among the companies that have helped my platform to reach helping schools. Several podcasts including Carm Capriotto Remarkable Results, Frank Leutz Wrench Nation , Joe Pepitone Every car has a story ,Ray Fisher , Tony Molla ,Kathryne Buckley with ASA podcast and the latest Wrenchway.
At AAPEX Monica Buchholz, Liz Goad and Mark Bullard been instrumental in allowing me to do videos at this international event.
Jessica Primanzon formally with Carfax was the first to encourage my Guerrilla Marketing.
I other words we all have a village behind us. No one is a island by themselves.

Website: myfathersshop.com

Instagram: @myfathersshop

Linkedin: Jeff Buckley

Twitter: @myfathersshop

Facebook: Jeff Buckley , My Father’s Shop, Howdy MIdlothian

Youtube: Jeff Buckley My Father’s Shop

Image Credits
Photos by Candace Buckley