Hi, my name is Marissa and I am our Marketing Director here at Victory Auto Service. In honor of Victory’s 25th Anniversary, I got a chance to sit down with Victory’s General Manager, Jason, who also happens to be my dad, to ask him some questions. If you want to know more about our history and our family business, check out his answers below!
Don’t like reading? You can watch the recorded interview!
How did you get started with Victory?
I was approached by Jeff, my older brother, in 1999 asking me to come on board. Jeff started Victory just a few years earlier in 1997. He was looking for some help service writing. I think he also thought I needed a better place to work. Older brothers are always looking out for their younger brothers.
Have you always had an interest in cars?
A little bit. I have always liked cars, but definitely not to the extent that I am now. My two older brothers are really the ones that got me more involved with cars and my interest in learning all the aspects of how they work.
How has your job changed at Victory over the years?
Since starting in 1999, I have had many different roles. My job has evolved from starting off helping service write on the front counter to being a location manager to now helping run the company. As the General Manager, I am involved in the transitions of growing, adding locations and overseeing quite a bit of staff. As our company has grown, my job has become more challenging, which I welcome. Working through challenges is often so rewarding. I have had fun growing in my career as we have worked as a team to grow this company.
What are you most passionate about with your job?
What am I passionate about? That’s easy for me to answer. For me it’s the whole customer experience. I want to make sure that every customer gets treated as if I was taking care of them personally when they come in. I focus on making sure our team treats people right and cares about providing each and every person with a great experience. I believe an important part of having a great experience at an auto repair shop is having your vehicle fixed right the first time. I want people to leave happy so that they actually want to come back. My goal has always been to build lifelong relationships with my customers, sometimes even multi-generational relationships. I love when someone brings their vehicle in because their parents always brought their vehicles to us. The customer’s experience is a passion that never goes away for me.
What is your biggest achievement or success with Victory over the past 25 years?
My biggest achievement with Victory has been helping to grow our service advisors, managers and team to be better people, professionally and personally. And really encouraging our team to take ownership of themselves and being exceptional at what they do.
{Personally, I think my dad has done a great job with this! As his daughter, I have loved seeing the way he cares for people and encourages them.}
What have you learned the most in your career?
Always be willing to learn something new, being teachable is the best way to grow. It gets me excited knowing there is still so much more that I can learn. I don’t think anyone ever “arrives” in their skill set or knowledge. I believe there is always room for improvement. I certainly know there is for me.
What do you like the most about working with family?
I’ve been working alongside my older brother since I first started with Victory, which has been pretty cool. We get along well and I’ve been able to learn a lot from him. My brother, Jeff, is a master technician and has always been great with customers. He has been a great mentor to me over the years. Over time it’s been really cool to see the next generation get involved in the business. Watching Jeff’s children and my children evolve into this business and do really well has been awesome. Family businesses are a pretty common thing in the independent repair shop business. With our company growing to over 9 locations we have had the opportunity to have a lot of family join our team. I like that we can all work together and still get along. Family gatherings can be odd sometimes, because you often can’t help but talk about business. For the most part I’d say working with family is great!
Who in the company makes you laugh the most?
That is an easy one, it is hands down Scott. Scott is a technician who started with Victory about a year before I did. We have worked together for such a long time that every time we are together we are cracking jokes. He’s always got something to say about any topic. I can’t help but pick on the oldest guy in the company, not old in age but old in tenure. Sharing a long career together we’ve really gotten to know each other well, which adds to the banter and the fun that we have.
What is one of your favorite memories with Victory?
We had a customer who used to come in with his wife and spoil our team all the time. I remember one instance a few years back when it was a hot summer day. They brought in sliced watermelon on ice that they served to our entire team. They knew our guys worked in the shop outside without air conditioning. There were many instances like that throughout the years. Not only that, but he would also call me every year to ask me how many people we had working in our shop. He would then come in with personalized Christmas cards with $10 for every person. Even though he has passed, his consistent kindness will stay with me as one of my favorite memories from my career.
What has been one of your favorite things about being a part of Victory over the past 25 years?
There have been many things over the years but I think my favorite has been watching the company grow. When I came into this, working with my brother Jeff, we were not expecting Victory to turn into this. We didn’t have a plan to grow into multiple locations until we were growing beyond our capacity as one location. I remember having a white board calendar of all our appointments and looking at it realizing we are completely booked out for two weeks. We knew we needed to do something. Eventually, Jeff found our Fridley location, that was our first big step into growing. We are now at 9 store locations plus a gas station! Being a part of the growth has been pretty amazing!
Thanks for reading, I hope you have a great day!
- Marissa M.