Owner Frank Sullivan says the service floor is so clean, “you could walk in in a wedding dress and not get a smudge on it.”

Frank Sullivan couldn't be more satisfied. After working as a technician and then as a manager and director at dealerships for more than 20 years, he struck out on his own in 1994 and has never looked back.

“It's much happier,” he said of owning Foothills Import Automotive Specialist in Anderson, S.C. “Anytime you can own your own business, it's more of a challenge. You're doing something for yourself, but you also have a responsibility for other people's livelihoods. It's enjoyable to help someone else be successful.”

Foothills performs about 70 repairs per week, mostly on Asian and European luxury cars and light trucks. They average about $60,000 in gross sales per month. What started as an eight-bay facility with three employees eight years ago has since grown to a 6,000-square-foot, 11-bay facility with six employees. As in many independent shops, two of those employees are family members.

“My son, Dwayne, works with me as my lead technician,” Sullivan said. “My wife, Brenda, works for Michelin Tire Co. full time, but she does our bookkeeping and accounting as well.”

Frank Sullivan, owner.

As for Sullivan himself, he said, “I have always felt that my job is to provide the knowledge, equipment and support for each employee to excel. I do whatever it takes to make our business function. Go get a part, write an ad, whatever it takes to help my team do their job better, that's my job.”

Sullivan began in the automotive service profession more than 30 years ago. He enjoyed working on cars, and after discharge from the Army in 1969, he started as a technician at a Lincoln-Mercury/ Toyota dealership. He quickly moved up the ranks and served as manager and director for several different dealerships.

“I can't tell you how many manufacturer's schools I have been to,” he said. “The years I worked with the dealerships, I was continuously going to training schools. At one point, I was a director for seven different dealerships (five different manufacturers), so there was a lot of training involved.”

Kevin Henry, technician.

That training continues today. All of Foothills' technicians are National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certified in several areas. Additionally, Sullivan said he is working on his Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation from the Automotive Management Institute “little by little.”

“It's either that or retirement. I don't know which is going to get here first,” he joked.

Training is also one of the biggest benefits of being an Automotive Service Association (ASA) member, though for Sullivan, there is an intangible benefit that he most appreciates.

“I get benefits from ASA's programs, but that's not why I'm part of ASA,” he said. “The biggest thing I value about ASA is that it makes us all be better, more professional businesses, and that's something we really need in our industry. Many times I have customers that need a recommendation for a shop in another area, and I can go get the ASA membership directory and give them a name and feel confident that they're going to end up at a good shop.”

Foothills' courtesy can is an integral part of the service it provides.

Sullivan, the current president of the Anderson, S.C., chapter of ASA, said, “There is no other organization that affords us the opportunities that ASA can provide for us.”

It's no surprise, then, that membership was one of Sullivan's top priorities when he opened Foothills.

“I knew about ASA back when I worked at the dealership. We were an associate member then,” he said. “One of the first things I did after starting my business was join ASA.”

In 1986, while still managing a dealership, Sullivan won Ford Motor Co.'s Service Manager of the Year Award for the Charlotte, N.C., District. The award is based on customer satisfaction from the quality surveys Ford sends out and shop sales. Customer satisfaction continues to be his guiding philosophy today.

“We make the customer the focus of everything we do,” he said. “Having a warm, clean and inviting facility for our customers to come to is part of that, and of course friendly greetings when they come in are the normal things you should do. We also do customer pickup, whatever it takes to get their car to and from here easily, and if there's ever a change in our repair procedure, we call them for authorization. “Our goal has always been for each customer to feel they have been treated with the ultimate in customer satisfaction, which gives them the desire to return. I want them to be able to say, 'I've never been treated this well anywhere,' when they leave.”

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