By the Fifth Gear Automotive Repair Team | North Texas Auto Repair | Industry Recognition
Not every auto repair shop gets invited to share its playbook on a national stage. In early 2025, Fifth Gear Automotive Repair did exactly that, earning a featured spot on ATI’s Live at 9, a weekly industry broadcast hosted by business coach Eric Twiggs, after being named the Automotive Training Institute’s 2024 Shop of the Year.
President Ricky Jordan and Director of Business Development John Miller joined the broadcast to break down the exact strategies behind Fifth Gear’s consistent growth: how they keep their bays full, how they track where every customer comes from, and how a proactive marketing mindset has set them apart from the competition across North Texas.
The result? A model that generated over $3 million in new customer revenue in a single year – from just one segment of their marketing strategy.
ATI’s 2024 Shop of the Year: What It Means
The Automotive Training Institute is one of the most respected coaching and performance organizations in the auto repair industry. Their Shop of the Year recognition isn’t handed out lightly. It reflects a shop’s ability to consistently deliver high performance across car count, revenue, team culture, and operational excellence.
For Fifth Gear Automotive Repair, a family-owned multi-location operation serving communities across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, this recognition validates years of investment in people, process, and proactive marketing.
The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything
According to Ricky Jordan, the turning point came when Fifth Gear stopped treating marketing as a part-time task and committed to making it a full-time focus.
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Marketing wasn’t a part-time job anymore. The big pivotal moment for us was investing in the marketing position – making it a full-time position where one person’s only job was to focus on marketing. That was a big deal.
— Ricky Jordan, President, Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
That decision meant redirecting an entire marketing budget – previously split across third-party vendors – into a dedicated in-house role. It was a mindset shift as much as a financial one. And it paid off.
John Miller, who has led business development at Fifth Gear for over eight years, built out what he calls a “three-legged stool”: inside business development (retention and follow-up), digital (Google, SEO, content), and outside (direct outreach and shop referrals). All three legs matter. None get ignored.
The “Big Three”: How Fifth Gear Drives Consistent New Customers
1. Customer Referrals
Do right by your customers and they’ll tell their neighbors. This has always been true in automotive repair, and Fifth Gear has built a culture around earning that trust consistently.
2. Online / Google
Digital presence is a non-negotiable. Fifth Gear invests in SEO, Google, AI platforms, and content to make sure customers searching for auto repair across North Texas find them first.
3. Shop Referrals – The Outside Sales Model
This is where Fifth Gear truly separates itself. John Miller built and scaled an outside business development team – five people whose full-time job is to visit other shops, lube centers, tire stores, and corporate accounts across the DFW area.
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My outside people spend 80% of their time visiting other shops – to the tune of 1,400 a month. We’re also at community events, Chamber of Commerce meetings, and calling on corporate and fleet accounts. Those outside people have their own three focuses they’re working on.
— John Miller, Director of Business Development, Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
The idea is simple: lube shops, tire centers, and box stores regularly encounter vehicles they can’t or won’t service. Instead of sending that customer to a dealership, they send them to Fifth Gear. John’s team builds those relationships one visit at a time, often arriving with donuts and a conversation, leaving behind referral cards and a trusted name.
That outside sales model alone generated over $3 million in new customer revenue in 2024 – representing nearly a quarter of Fifth Gear’s total revenue.
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I call my outside team the offensive line of Fifth Gear. If we do our job and protect the quarterback, the service advisors can throw touchdowns and the techs can get hours. Nobody sees the offensive line, but the job doesn’t get done without them.
— John Miller, Director of Business Development, Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
Measurement: The Foundation Everything Else Is Built On
Both Ricky and John were clear on one point above all others: none of this works without data. Fifth Gear has built a culture of measurement from the service counter up. Every customer source is tracked. Every marketing channel is accountable.
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What gets measured gets managed. If you’re going to get serious about driving car count, start by measuring it – because that is the foundation on which all other programs are built. Marketing has an unlimited budget at Fifth Gear, as long as you can show ROI.
— Ricky Jordan, President, Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
That discipline – tracking customer sources at the point-of-sale level, not just relying on vendor reports – gives Fifth Gear the confidence to invest heavily in what works and stop spending on what doesn’t.
Key Takeaways from ATI’s 2024 Shop of the Year
✓ Dedicate a full-time resource to marketing – it’s not a part-time task
✓ Build all three legs: inside, digital, and outside business development
✓ Track every customer source at the counter level – data drives decisions
✓ Consistency is the superpower of outside sales – show up, build trust, repeat
✓ Marketing has an unlimited budget when you can prove the ROI
An Unintended Benefit: Recruiting
One of the most surprising outcomes of the outside sales program has nothing to do with car count. Because Fifth Gear’s team visits over 1,400 shops per month, they’ve become a well-known brand in the North Texas automotive community – not just to customers, but to technicians and managers looking for a place to grow.
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Something north of 60% of our entire staff found us through this outside sales program. My managers – they all interviewed with us because they found us through it. They asked themselves: why would I not want to work for a company that invests in the marketplace like this?
— Ricky Jordan, President, Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
What started as a customer acquisition strategy became one of Fifth Gear’s most effective recruiting tools – without ever being designed as one.
Why North Texas Trusts Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
Fifth Gear Automotive Repair is a family-owned business that has served North Texas drivers since 2004. With expert technicians, advanced diagnostics, and the ability to work on virtually any make and model – including European brands, imports, domestics, hybrids, and EVs – Fifth Gear delivers dealer-quality service at independent prices.
But beyond the technical capability, this ATI recognition reflects something more fundamental: a team that invests in the community, in each other, and in getting better every day.
Watch the full episode on Facebook to hear Ricky Jordan and John Miller walk through the playbook in their own words:
▶ Watch the Live at 9 Episode — Fifth Gear Automotive Repair on ATI’s Live at 9
Fifth Gear Automotive Repair proudly serves drivers across:
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Dealer Quality Service at Independent Prices — Across North Texas
Visit fifthgear.biz or call your nearest Fifth Gear Automotive Repair location
About Fifth Gear Automotive Repair
Fifth Gear Automotive Repair is a family-owned multi-location auto repair chain serving North Texas since 2004. Named ATI’s 2024 Shop of the Year, Fifth Gear is led by President Ricky Jordan and Director of Business Development John Miller, and is committed to delivering dealer-quality service at independent prices across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Automotive Training Institute (ATI) Shop of the Year award?
The ATI Shop of the Year is a recognition given by the Automotive Training Institute — one of the leading coaching and performance organizations in the auto repair industry — to a shop that demonstrates exceptional performance across car count, revenue, team culture, and operational excellence. Fifth Gear Automotive Repair earned this recognition for 2024.
What is the “outside sales” model Fifth Gear uses?
Fifth Gear’s outside sales model involves a dedicated team that visits other automotive businesses — lube shops, tire centers, box stores, and independent shops — across the DFW area. The goal is to build referral relationships so that when those shops encounter vehicles beyond their capability, they send customers to Fifth Gear. This model generated over $3 million in new customer revenue in 2024.
How does Fifth Gear track where its customers come from?
Fifth Gear has built a culture of measurement from the ground up. Service advisors are trained to ask every customer how they found the shop, and that information is entered directly into their point-of-sale system. This allows leadership to track which marketing channels and referral sources are producing results — and make data-driven investment decisions accordingly.
Where can I watch the ATI Live at 9 episode featuring Fifth Gear?
You can watch the full episode on Facebook here: Fifth Gear Automotive Repair on ATI’s Live at 9. Ricky Jordan and John Miller walk through their full playbook on car count, referrals, and marketing measurement.
Does Fifth Gear work on European vehicles, hybrids, and EVs?
Yes. Fifth Gear Automotive Repair services virtually any make and model, including European brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Volvo, and Jaguar, as well as domestic vehicles, imports, hybrids, and electric vehicles. All locations across North Texas provide the same high-quality, dealer-alternative service.
Juan is a marketing enthusiast with over three years of experience in automotive marketing and serves as the Marketing Lead at Fifth Gear Automotive. A University of North Texas graduate with a Master’s in Marketing, he works closely with expert technicians to share trusted insights and practical advice, helping drivers better understand and care for their vehicles.
