Croel’s  Year-end Review: Lessons, Leadership, and the New Blueprint for a Stronger 2026  

As the industry closes the chapter on 2025, shop owners everywhere are sitting with the same reflective question:  What was my bottom line this year?  For many, the answer reveals an unexpected mix of resilience, strain, opportunity, and revelation. This year reminded owners that the numbers never tell the whole story — but they do tell a very honest one. Margins tightened for some, expanded for others, and shifted dramatically depending on how well each business adapted to changing customer behaviors, labor shortages, digital competition, and the evolving expectations of the modern consumer. If 2024 was the year of recovery from external pressures, 2025 was the year of recalibration — one that rewarded discipline, punished complacency, and illuminated what it truly means to lead a scalable, profitable shop.  

The shops that succeeded in 2024 weren’t the biggest - just the most disciplined about their numbers.

For the owners who experienced a stronger bottom line, their success wasn’t rooted in luck, chance, or the occasional good month. It emerged from consistency, clarity, and a deeper commitment to understanding their numbers than ever before. They focused on profitability rather than raw revenue and adjusted quickly when KPIs indicated trouble ahead. The shops that excelled this year were the ones that treated their financials with the same urgency and attention they give to a customer’s repair order. They knew where their money came from, where it was going, and how to make informed decisions about staffing, parts, marketing, and workflow. For others, 2025 was a wake-up call, a reminder that you cannot change what you do not measure and that a new year requires not just reflection but recalibration.  

One of the biggest themes this year was the effort required to keep the pipeline of customers full. Car count did not behave predictably, and many owners who assumed a busy season meant lasting stability found themselves staring at quieter weeks they didn’t see coming. The shops that maintained momentum were the ones that treated pipeline development as a daily discipline rather than an occasional task.  

A full pipeline isn’t luck. It’s a daily practice.  

They created consistent outreach strategies, followed up on deferred work, invested in outbound communication, and refined their digital presence. Their approach made it clear that keeping a pipeline full is not something that happens naturally; it is a deliberate and ongoing process. The difference between a struggling shop and a thriving one often came down to the willingness to stay proactive even during times of high volume.  

Understanding the customer base became more than a marketing slogan in 2025, instead it became the foundation for long-term stability. Customers today expect faster communication, clearer expectations, and greater transparency. They want to understand what is happening with their vehicle and why certain repairs or services are needed. The shops that excelled in customer retention were the ones that made a genuine effort to listen, learn, and adjust based on patterns they observed.  

Today’s customer isn’t loyal to brands. They’re loyal to consistency.

Through surveys, service analysis, and conversations at drop-off and pick-up, successful owners gained a deeper picture of what their customers valued most. They learned that loyalty was no longer rooted in convenience or habit. Customers stayed loyal to shops that were reliable, communicative, and consistent.  

Educating the customer became one of the most powerful trust-building tools available to shops this year. The shift was clear: customers who understood their repairs felt confident approving them, and customers who were informed how to navigate insurance companies felt empowered. Many shops took education to new levels by creating short videos, posting explanations online, rewriting outdated service descriptions, and training advisors to communicate more clearly.  

Education turned out to be the most profitable customer service tool of the year.

The return on this effort was significant. Customers who felt educated were more loyal, more likely to return, and more inclined to refer friends and family.  

Of course, none of this customer work can exist today without a strong internet marketing strategy. This year emphasized the importance of visibility, credibility, engagement, and responsiveness across online channels. Shops that thrived were not just active online; they were intentional.  

Your digital presence has become your new front door.

They ensured their listings were accurate, updated their websites, responded to reviews, shared educational content, and made online scheduling easy. They understood that customers often formed an opinion long before making contact.  

Yet even with the strongest strategy, 2025 reminded owners that car count can fluctuate for reasons outside of their control. When car counts dipped, many shops experienced panic, but those who responded with clarity, communication, and initiative recovered faster.  

Car count is not just a number - it’s a reflection of visibility, trust, and process. 

They leaned on community partnerships, followed up on estimates written that were not approved, diversified their service offerings, and created more predictable customer experiences. While dips are inevitable, the response to those dips determines the long-term trajectory of the business.  

This year also emphasized the importance of marketing smarter, not harder. Owners began to see that effective marketing is not necessarily expensive; it is strategic.  

The shops that marketed smarter didn’t spend more; they spent with intention.  

They evaluated which channels delivered results and which ones wasted money. The idea that a shop can simply “hope” for new customers faded with each passing month. Data replaced guesswork, consistency replaced bursts of activity, and intentionality replaced wishful thinking.  

Hiring remained one of the toughest challenges of the year. The tight technician market forced shops to rethink what it means to create a workplace worth joining. It became clear that compensation alone was no longer enough to attract or retain strong talent.  

Technicians don’t want a job. They want a future and a shop that invests in them.

The shops that weathered staffing challenges were those that built cultures rooted in respect, development, and communication. They offered clearer career paths and stronger training opportunities and created work environments technicians felt proud to be part of.  

Diversifying the business surfaced as another essential theme of 2025. Many owners expanded into ADAS calibration, EV readiness, glass work, fleet services, and more. Doing so reduced pressure from fluctuations in traditional revenue streams and allowed shops to offer more complete services to their customers.  

Diversification wasn’t optional in 2025. It was survival.  

Owners found that diversification strengthened relationships, stabilized revenue, and opened opportunities previously overlooked.  

A powerful yet often underestimated highlight of the year was the support available through industry associations. Many owners who once felt isolated discovered that joining an association offered resources, networking, training, and a sense of community.  

Owners who reached out discovered they were never alone. There were associations ready to help.  

These groups provided reliable guidance, legislative updates, and a wealth of operational strategies.

Scalable training emerged as one of the most important operational upgrades of the year. Shops realized that inconsistent or informal training led to uneven performance and high stress.  

Scalable training didn’t just improve performance; it reduced overwhelm.  

Structured development programs helped shops create competent teams and better leaders.  

The rise of new MSOs continued to reshape the industry. Many owners chose to bet on themselves and pursue growth with more confidence and clarity.  

Betting on yourself paid off for the MSO owners who led with vision instead of fear. 

The transition from single-location operator to multi-location leader wasn’t always easy, but it became one of the most rewarding evolutions of the year.  

For those who made the leap, the realization quickly followed that running multiple shops requires new systems, stronger delegation, and deeper leadership.  

Becoming an MSO is not the finish line; it’s the start of a new level of leadership.

It required them to step out of daily operations and build teams capable of executing with consistency. The process pushed owners to build better processes, culture, and communication systems to ultimately become their best operational selves.  

As 2026 approaches, the lessons of 2025 form a clear roadmap. This was a year of refinement, reinvention, and rediscovery. Owners gained sharper insight into what it takes to stay profitable and relevant in an increasingly competitive marketplace.  

Growth is not accidental. It’s the result of clarity, consistency, and courage.

The path forward is clear: understand your numbers, nurture customer relationships, develop your people, expand with intention, and continue evolving as the market evolves.  

The opportunities ahead belong to the shop owners willing to learn from 2025 and carry those lessons boldly into the year to come.