It’s a crisp late January morning, and the staff at the Jiffy Lube location on Center Road in Brunswick, Ohio, is taking advantage of a quiet moment to tidy up the shop.
Tools are meticulously positioned on magnetic pans in the lower bays for easy access. Oil filters are wiped down and prepared for installation. Shelves are neatly organized.
The store, located about 25 miles south of downtown Cleveland, opened three and a half years ago. For the past seven months, it has operated under the watch of General Manager Mary Harrison. While Harrison is new to Jiffy Lube’s Brunswick location, she worked with several auto dealerships in roles ranging from lube technician and advisor to assistant manager and service manager.
That experience has helped Harrison coach younger employees and “level them up.” At Jiffy Lube’s Multicare stores, lube techs are not siloed into specific tasks. Beyond oil changes, experienced staff members can service brakes, spark plugs, belts, and replace valve cover gaskets. Harrison says she currently has one new hire in training, a recent high school graduate, who is being trained in roles across the shop.
“He has a limited amount of experience, so I might not have him do brakes,” she says, “but he’s learning.”
Communication is Critical
For technicians at Jiffy Lube, success is defined as more than being knowledgeable working underneath vehicles. It also requires an ability to interact with customers and build trust.
With no prior experience working on cars, but possessing an interest in learning a skill, Paige Zoltowski joined Jiffy Lube as a lube technician in April 2024. Zoltowski credits the company’s online Jiffy Lube University learning program for bringing her up to speed, but she added that she has found patience and an ability to translate industry lingo into simple terms to be vital traits thus far in her tenure.
“A lot of people don't necessarily know what's going on with their cars, so you have to walk them through it,” Zoltowski says. “It's difficult to take the technical language that's even brand new to me and then translate it into something that the customer will understand. That is something that I've had to work on. Just learning all this brand-new technical knowledge and then being able to translate it to something that people will understand has been huge.”
Having soft skills such as being able to interact with customers is as critical as knowing how to properly install an oil filter, says Harrison.
“Some customers can come in and may not have an exorbitant amount of money to spend and may not even have $30 to spend,” says Harrison. “It's important to show them the value of what they're getting. Oil changes have come a long way. Oil has become very expensive. So, wherever customers go, I want them to know if they come here and they spend $100 on oil, they're not just getting an oil change and leaving the shop. They can go down the street and do the same thing for a cheaper price. What we offer them here is honesty and transparency. I want to make sure customers know everything going on with their car.”
In some instances, that means pointing out a leak. In others, it could mean passing along information about manufacturers’ service recommendations.
“They’re able to educate customers without forcefully offering them something they may not be able to afford. That’s what makes customers come back,” Harrison says.
To illustrate her point, Harrison shares a recent example in which an associate showed a customer their vehicle’s cabin air filter.
“The customer said, ‘Oh, how much are they going to rob me for that?’” Harrison says. “I said, I’m not going to rob you. We showed you the air filter, but you don’t have to get it from us. I just want you to know what it looks like. Let me explain to you in a little bit more detail what that air filter does. Your car is not going to explode. It’s not a safety concern, but it definitely helps with your gas mileage. The cleaner the filter is—if I thought it was half-and-half, I’d say do it at the next service. I do that all the time. I’ll joke, ‘Don’t tell Jiffy Lube,’ but I want customers to know that honesty means something, and that’s important.”
That customer who at first was skeptical of the state of her vehicle’s air filter has since come back two times—once for brakes, and again for an oil change, Harrison said.
No Substitute for Experience
Beyond talking the talk, Zoltowski says when it comes to walking the walk—performing maintenance services—there is no substitute for getting reps.
“When I first started working here, I was terrified to even touch anything underneath the hood, and I was terrified when I started going underneath and doing lower bay with the oil pans and identifying which pan is the oil and which is the transmission. By continuously doing it over and over again, I was able to gain a lot of confidence.”
But as lube techs gain confidence from stacking up repetitions, Harrison stresses that paying attention to the small details remains critical, whether it is listening to customers’ special requests or completing mundane tasks, like tightening a drain plug to manufacturer specifications.
“A customer came in a little while ago and said, ‘I don't want my washer fluid replaced because I already put in some really good stuff. So, I relayed that to my top-side tech. (If the tech says), ‘Oh, I forgot. I just did it anyway,’ those are the things that's going to make my customer not want to come back, because if the techs are not paying attention to that, what else are they not paying attention to?”
Staying Current on Industry Trends
Beyond initial training during onboarding, lube techs must remain up to date on advancements in the vehicles they service. Parts such as plastic oil pans and drain plugs or proprietary cartridge filters, for example, carry a greater risk of being damaged and require more careful handling. Technicians at the Brunswick Jiffy Lube who aren’t sure how to proceed with such parts are encouraged to seek out their supervisor for guidance, Harrison says.
“I'm OK with asking for help, and I tell them to do the same thing,” Harrison says. “It doesn't make you weak. It educates you. I've learned this from experience, for making mistakes and not asking ahead of time. My mistakes, I’m hoping they won’t repeat those. Little things like that can damage a store’s reputation.”
As vehicles have evolved with new technologies and oil changes have become more complex, Harrison finds herself continually learning, too, she says, adding that professional education is a two-way street with her staff.
“There are a lot of things I don’t know sometimes,” Harrison says. “Having their experience, (the store’s lube technicians) will educate me as well. I think it works both ways.”
The learning never stops.
