AUTO-MATIC PROFIT!

Call her determined, driven or even an overachiever, but don’t ever, ever, call Barbara Moran-Ploger “daddy’s little girl.”

It’s one of those stigmas the working mother of two has fought to overcome her entire adult life, as outsiders misguidedly assume that her status as the founder’s daughter is what landed her the role as the new president of Moran Industries, one of the leading franchisors of automotive aftermarket centers.

Moran Industries, which offers specialty chains available in virtually every aspect of the automotive aftermarket, has a total of 185 locations, including 143 Mr. Transmission service locations, Multistate Transmission, Atlas Trans-mission, Dr. Nick Transmission, 33 Alta Mere Complete Auto Imaging centers, 9 Milex Tune Up and Brake Centers.

To give perspective on the Moran Industries income, the sales revenue generated for Alta Mere were $11 million last year, and sales for the transmission brands hit $67 million.

After years of holding several key positions within the company, along with operating her own Mr. Transmission franchise, it’s understandable why the grating phrase continues to push her hot button. In fact, Moran-Ploger left Moran Industries to pursue other career opportunities, but gravitated back by colleagues and her father, company founder Dennis Moran, who realized his daughter’s organizational skills and business savvy were extremely valuable to Moran Industries.

“Working for your parents is tougher than working for strangers,” she said. “As their child, they expect so much more from you than an outsider. You have to work twice as hard to prove yourself, and there’s so much emotion tied to your job,” notes Moran-Ploger, who graduated high school with full intentions to pursue a career in the arts as a sculptor, then later enjoyed successful stints as a legislative aide for an elected congressional representative.

The Moran Industries presidency role did not exactly fall in her lap. In fact, far from it. In 1998, Moran-Ploger, mother of 9-year-old Amanda and 5-year-old Jacob, was diagnosed with operable cancer. During this same period, Dennis Moran, at the time age 58, suffered a heart attack, followed by bypass surgery.

Today, Moran-Ploger remains cancer-free and Dennis Moran maintains good health and energy. During their recovery time, following growing pains stemming from rapid growth in the early `90s, Moran Industries had lost direction and vision. Then, one morning in January 1999, Moran-Ploger had a heart-to-heart with her father that would ultimately result in the reinvention of their company. He and Barbara agreed that they needed a long-term strategy to move the company on track for the future.

Since that fateful father/daughter discussion in January of 1999, Moran Industries has exploded into the new century with a new philosophy, a new team and new direction that is leading the innovative franchisor into a path of unbridled future growth and success in the $300 billion auto care industry. Since then, it’s been like being on the campaign trail,” said Moran-Ploger, highlighting a recent string of motivational and team building visits to franchisees nationwide.

One of the first steps taken to guide the company toward a successful future was to hire Management 2000, a consulting firm who has for the past 19 years worked with numerous franchise companies to facilitate positive system-wide changes. The firm’s first task was to find a leader that could implement the strategies. After many meetings and evaluations, Management 2000 recommended to Dennis that Barbara could be that leader.

“When they first suggested I be president, I was pretty taken aback. Our whole intention was just to get the company on track with a long-term strategy and goals, and me being the president was not exactly what I had in mind,” Moran-Ploger recalls.

Humble as she originally might have been, Moran-Ploger has since truly proven her worth as a capable leader. Moran Industries has exploded into the new century with a new philosophy, a new team and new direction that is leading the innovative franchisor into a path of unbridled future growth and success in the $300 billion autocare industry.

Since officially earning the presidency title in February 1999, Moran-Ploger has redefined the company’s goals and business strategies, basing her entire philosophy around growing the brands and unifying the companies that her father had acquired throughout the years. Meanwhile, Dennis and Cele Moran stay involved in the business via the board of directors, and meet regularly with their daughter to discuss goals and direction.

From a market perspective, with its new business strategies in hand, Moran Industries is positioned for significant growth in a booming U.S. market, given the more than 5 billion vehicles in the world, with thousands more being manufactured daily, and the average 9.1 year age of automobiles on American roads, heading toward 10. Even more, computerized vehicles make transmission repairs more technology-dependent, significantly boosting average ticket prices.

During the past year, Moran-Ploger has instituted significant changes, including retraining staff in the concept and understanding of leadership, empowerment and accountability. In addition, she has been traveling across the country to meet with franchisees to instill a new belief in “team mentality,” boost confidence in the franchise system, and ensure that each center applies a consistent customer-driven strategy that will ultimately result in increased profit and growth system-wide.

“While we had built a great deal of trust over the years, we needed to communicate our goals and vision to our franchisees so that everyone would be working toward common goals and strategies,” Moran-Ploger said. “We have visited over 80 of our franchise centers, meeting individually with them to determine their needs, help them solve problems, and get them to network with each other via regional and town meetings. We’ve been very successful so far,” she said, further noting that a franchise advisory alliance has been established. “I can sense the pride growing with every visit I make.”
Along the way, efforts are made to attract yet more franchisees to the successful Moran Industries system. In true classified-ad style, Moran-Ploger makes one message clear to potential franchisees: We take your success personally.

Of course, it helps that Moran-Ploger can speak from experience, having successfully operated her own Mr. Transmission franchise with her husband, John Ploger, since 1992. These days, she has removed herself from the day-to-day activities as a franchisee to concentrate on the system-wide strategies as president, while her husband, John, remains more actively involved in the South Side Chicago franchise.

Moran-Ploger commented on the widely held myth that you need mechanical experience to have successful automotive-related franchise. “That’s not the case,” she said. “You just need business sense, management ability and enjoy dealing with people.”

In fact, a customer-driven focus is at the core of the company’s newly stated objectives, creating customer experiences that result in satisfaction and loyalty.

“It’s a lucrative, exciting business for both men and women,” Moran-Ploger said. “It’s really all about helping people. When people need major car repairs, they are understandably upset. Their life is disrupted from a practical and financial standpoint. Even more, based on past experiences, they aren’t sure if they’re being told the truth or being taken advantage of. Our franchisees understand that and try to make sure that unplanned disruption is as painless and convenient as possible for their customer. We believe in educating the consumer about their vehicle, and make them feel confident that they are working with experts that can solve their problem quickly with quality craftsmanship. To me, that’s exciting, and extremely fulfilling.”

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