Undercover Boss (2010) s07e08 Episode Script
4 Wheel Parts
Tonight on "Undercover Boss," Greg Adler, CEO of off road accessory empire 4 Wheel Parts goes undercover in his own company.
- Hey, guys.
- Oh, my gosh.
By joining his employees on the front lines - I see you're sweating.
- Whoo.
This truck titan meets the people who keep his company on the right track.
Why'd you make that look so easy? This is your invoice number.
Make sure all this matches.
- Uh-oh.
- It just went off.
Oh, my goodness.
Along the way, the boss will hit a few potholes.
Warranties suck.
Any time a warranty ticket comes in, everybody's like, "Oh.
" And what will happen when one employee threatens to blow his cover? Find out next on "Undercover Boss.
" Headquartered in Southern California, the heart of American off-road adventure and motor sports, 4 Wheel Parts is the nation's largest distributor of truck and jeep performance parts.
With more than 70 locations, and 700 million in revenue, this high-octane company has been outfitting off-roaders since 1961.
Keeping his foot on the accelerator and his eyes on the finish line, is one man.
My name is Greg Adler, and I'm the CEO of 4 Wheel Parts.
I'm not the typical CEO.
I'm coming to you from the show room, not the board room.
I'm not just selling truck and jeep parts.
I race off-road.
Greg Adler, everybody.
For me, getting behind the wheel of that race truck, it doesn't get better than that.
4 Wheel Parts is a giant toy store for trucks and jeeps.
You know, our culture just wants to go outdoors, wants to drive a big pickup truck.
I mean, I love to be able to go off-road, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family.
We're driving in the river! Whoa! To me it's Americana, and we're serving it up.
It was my grandfather that started the business, and my dad came in as the first full-time employee and really built the business.
I can remember fighting with my brother to see who was going to be able to go to work with Dad on Saturday.
It was just cool.
It's trucks and jeeps and what kid doesn't like trucks and jeeps? So this company was just in my blood.
I was born into this company.
My dad was a passionate, fiery entrepreneur.
We called him Hurricane George.
When my dad would go into a store, he left some destruction in his wake.
And, you know, family businesses in general can be pretty challenging.
My brother Kevin is two years older than me.
Kevin was a bit of a black sheep.
He didn't finish high school.
He was constantly challenging my parents.
Alcohol, drugs, other things that made for poor choices in his life, and it was incredibly painful for our family.
You know, my dad tried to find positions for him, but because of those issues, it wasn't a situation where Kevin was going to stick in the business, really.
Looking back on it, although it didn't feel like it at the time, he was blazing a trail for me to go down a different path.
So, I went to ASU, had a great time there, I remember at least one of the four years.
Uh, a little bit of a blur here and there, but my focus, my dad encouraged me to get a degree in accounting.
After a couple years of accounting, I was able to come into the company in a position as a store operations manager and never really looked back from that.
I was able to go from 14 stores when I started to almost 40 stores in the next eight years.
In 2005, my dad retired, so it was a great opportunity for him to sell the business and for me to stay on as CEO.
2007, we were booming.
We had our best year ever.
We were opening stores like wildfire and then it stopped.
During 2008 and 2009, we went from growth mode to survival mode.
We had grown to almost 1,600 employees, and we just couldn't afford them.
I had to let go of over 30, 40% of our headcount.
We consolidated a lot of our inventories.
We closed down a couple of distribution centers and it was painful, but I did it to keep the company alive.
I didn't want to be the captain on the ship when this company sank.
That's not what I was born and bred to do.
So all this inventory right here is getting ready to go to Texas distribution center.
We had to slim down, and so we still tried to manage the business with that mindset.
- Efficiency back here close to 100%? - Yeah, efficiency's up.
And today, we're on a terrific growth rate.
We are just now getting back to 1,600 employees.
We have over 70 stores, and we're doing $700 million in sales.
I have us focused on a five-year plan to grow from 70 stores to 100 stores, and be a billion-dollar company.
That's the target, that's the goal, and that's our laser focus.
- Hi, there.
- Hi, there.
So what are you thinking? It needs to be aggressive.
It needs to be different.
All right, here we go.
I'm a numbers guy, so I've been running the company pretty mean and lean.
I want to go undercover and find out, is that working? Are we still giving the great customer service that's expected? Yeah, I think we need to keep going.
While going undercover, I'll be posing as Rusty, a down-on-his-luck father from Flagstaff, Arizona.
My employees believe they will be on a business reality show teaching Rusty some of the toughest jobs in the automotive aftermarket.
Oh, yeah.
Going undercover as a visible CEO who's also vertically challenged, my disguise is going to have to be good, so I'm shaving my head, wearing chops, earrings, glasses.
If this doesn't throw some people off the track, I don't know what will.
And a whole different wardrobe.
So I'm definitely out of my comfort zone.
Oh, I think I want to be the tushy monster.
Tushy monster.
Oh, my gosh.
- Are your ears pierced? - Hi, Lake.
Hi, Brooke-y.
Can Daddy have a hug? No.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Oh.
- You're just pretending? - Yeah, that's me pretending.
Doesn't look too bad.
Opening up 30 stores in the next five years is going to be fast and furious.
Give Daddy a hug and a kissy, okay? But at the same time, I want to try to keep that family feel about the business and to keep that consistency in the operations of the company.
- Bye, guys.
- Bye.
I'm here in Charlotte, North Carolina at our 4 Wheel Parts store to meet our service manager.
The service departments in our stores is where the rubber really meets the road.
More than 50% of the revenues of a retail store travel through the service department, so it's critical that we have a service manager back there that is able to operate a smooth and efficient shop and do it right the first time.
How you doing? I'm Rusty.
- Hi, I'm Jeff.
- You're coaching me, huh? I am the service manager here at 4 Wheel Parts.
So what we are going to be doing today is changing tires on this jeep.
We're going to rack it and we're going to take them off, we're going to mount and balance them, we're going to put them back on.
- Let's get dirty.
- Let's get you suited up.
Rusty showed up in some nice clothes that, you know, they're going to be trashed by the end of the day.
Got a shirt? And a little bracelet thingy.
I hope his kids didn't make that, 'cause those are going to be destroyed.
So we got our impact gun.
This will remove the lug nuts.
There you go, Rusty.
There you go.
There you go.
Yep.
Just let gravity fall.
There you go.
This is the tire mounting and dismounting machine.
So you line this up over here.
Push down on it.
Once it starts going, you move your hand out of the way.
Put your hands right here.
Roll it up, lock it on.
Right up against the rim.
Lock it.
Tire bar.
Pull it up like that, stick your foot on that button right there.
- Wow.
- Magic.
Now you're going to lift the tire up, you're going to put your bar down, back down in there, you're going to lift it up, and watch yourself 'cause it's going to come down and hit that and go this way.
All right, you ready to do one? There's your tire.
All right, give it a shot.
All right.
Rusty seems to be picking it up quick which makes me think he's done something like this before.
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I'm working on getting these tires mounted, and I see Jeff kind of walking around and talking to some of the other techs, and I'm thinking, "Man, is he going around kind of confirming, 'Oh yeah, that's Greg Adler right there?'" I'm not sure what to do right now.
I'm just kind of trying to figure it out.
I'm just went Oh, yeah.
I see Jeff talking to some of the other techs, and he's smiling and laughing.
I'm thinking, "Oh, man, this is not good.
" I think he's figured out who I am and I can't have this thing blowing up.
I need to handle this right now.
Hey, Jeff, can I go speak to you privately? Sure.
Absolutely.
So, uh, you didn't have any idea or any thoughts about who I might be? Mr.
Adler, the man.
You ever watch "Undercover Boss"? Ah, jeez! You're killing me, Smalls.
So, um, are there things that you think could be done better in our service department? There's always things that can be done better, easier, you know? Sales people want to get as much work in here as possible so they can get, you know, get as much money as possible.
It's like, you've got, you know, six 9:00 appointments and four people working in here.
We don't have enough people and time to do that.
Some days we work overtime.
I would love to have my lunch every day.
Everybody up front gets their lunches every day.
You're running gunning and running from early in the morning till late at night and the warranty stuff.
Warranties suck.
Any time a warranty ticket comes in, everybody's like, "Oh.
" Labor didn't break.
Part broke.
Why should we replace the broken part for free? So, your concern from yourself and your team, they're not making commission on that job because it's not a paying job.
Right, where's the money going that they're collecting from the warranty stuff? You know, yeah, they get a free part.
What about the labor? Jeff brought up some of their concerns around warranties and others.
You know, when the mechanics are having to fix those warranties without any compensation from a commission standpoint, it's something that, you know, I need to take a deeper look at.
How many years have you worked for us? It'll be, I think, five in March.
Five in March? You have any kids? Three daughters, all professional mechanics.
They can tear a car apart in the blink of an eye.
Okay, and they're They're up in Raleigh.
Take 'em to the races, or It's been a while, you know.
Since I moved down to Charlotte, I don't get to see 'em as often as I used to.
All in all, I think it's been a good day.
Not necessarily how I thought it might go.
Last thing is, you know, this has to stay, you know, between you and I.
That's fine.
From what I've seen with Jeff, he's nailing it.
He bounces around answering questions, making sure that the guys are able to keep moving, and he's doing a great job for us.
Today I'm in Jacksonville, Florida at our distribution center.
This distribution center is one of our largest and has over $10 million worth of inventory, and it'll process over $100 million worth of product on annual basis.
I haven't been to this one in quite some time, so I'm interested to see how they're handling that volume.
- Hi.
- Are you Erin? - I'm Erin.
- Hi, Rusty.
Nice to meet you.
I am the team leader of our shipping department.
We house any kind of truck parts, car parts, anything you can think of.
Today we will be doing tires first thing this morning.
Come on.
Rusty does not look like somebody who would be working in a warehouse.
He did look like he was going to be at a country club.
He is in some nice jeans and I'm looking, like, "This is not going to work.
" So we start with tires.
We verify 'em.
We'll load 'em into the truck.
- Got it.
- You sure? - I think.
- Okay.
This is our shipping system.
We ship all packages through here.
Scan your invoice.
Okay.
This is your invoice number.
This is who it's going to.
Make sure the address matches.
This is your part number.
Your tire size.
Make sure all this matches.
Uh-oh.
- It just went off.
- Yeah.
- Did it come back on? - No.
Does that happen often? It happens more than we like.
And it'll be down for five or ten minutes and then they come up.
But it does slow you down 'cause we have to ensure that every customer's order does make it out the store by 6:00.
By 6:00.
Wow.
We had some slow-downs that, you know, just wasted time.
Oh, my goodness.
And then this just makes more stuff back up or Mm-hmm.
It's not the most efficient, that's for sure.
I need to really get to the bottom of this and figure out what's going on there.
Come on.
There we go.
- Let's go label your tires.
- Okay.
You want to stick your labels on the outside of the tires.
- Like that? - Uh-huh.
Once you label all those, we need to start rolling them into the truck.
Okay.
You're going to roll them all the way to the back.
All right, just let it go? Mm-hmm.
It's a race.
Okay, you can go ahead and start stacking a row if you want.
Okay.
You're going to line them up like this all the way across.
Okay.
They got AC in these trucks? There is no AC in this whole place.
And we go three high.
Three high? Get my workout in today.
I have some more invoices that I have to do.
Okay.
You keep rolling them in and stacking.
- Everything that's there, okay.
- Yep.
It's hot in those trailers and those tires are heavy, and it's a workout just getting one row done, let alone getting up to the top row.
Whoa.
We need to start on our other work because we're getting behind on all this stuff.
- So speed up? - Yeah.
- All right.
- Very much.
Big dog coming up.
Let's see.
Rusty is very sweaty.
He is sweating more than I think I've seen anybody sweat in here.
I see you're sweating.
Yeah, I can imagine you guys, you know, being in here in the middle of the summer.
Yes, it's very hot in these trailers.
All right, you look like you deserve a break, so we're going to take a walk outside and we'll sit for a few minutes.
Sounds good.
Yeah, so how'd you start here? My husband works here, George.
He, um, he started me here.
I've been here a year and three months now.
Oh, that's awesome.
I needed the job 'cause we just had our daughter.
Well, she's three now, but when I started here, she was, like, six months old, and we fought very hard for her.
Oh, really, what Oh yeah, um, I lost three prior to her.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, all at two months, and so she was like our little miracle baby.
That's incredible.
Well, thank God, and she's good and healthy and happy? Oh, yes.
Smart as can be.
My dad died in May.
I ended up getting pregnant the following July, and I never could keep one before him, so I figured that's just you lose one to gain one.
But she is my world.
She keeps me going every day.
And what's your daughter's name? - Sierra.
- Sierra? Oh, that's cute.
I would like for us to own our own house, 'cause she points out homes.
Every time we drive by, "Mommy, can I be in that house?" I'm like, "Let me get right on that one.
" Erin definitely embodies the kind of person that we want to see working for the company, and I think it's great that her husband works here.
You know, at the end of the day, we're a family business, and we couldn't ask for a better commitment from somebody like Erin.
Well, I guess we'll go back inside.
Coming up, Rusty faces an uphill battle.
Why'd you make that look so easy? And later.
I'm calling you in on a big favor.
I think I owe you some favors.
The boss heals an old wound.
That was amazing.
I'm in Marietta, Georgia today, and I'm going to be working in the show room with one of our salesmen.
These guys have to quickly demonstrate our expertise, or that customer may go somewhere else.
This store is doing extremely well.
In fact, they're up almost 20%, so I want to see what we can learn here and apply it to some of our other locations.
- How's it going? - Good, looking for Paul.
- Yes, sir.
- Rusty.
Nice to meet you.
As a sales associate, not only am I supposed to educate customers on trying to build their trucks, build their jeeps, but we also want to make sure this place stays clean, because it's not a customer that walks in.
It's our friends that walk in.
We want them to know that we're going to take care of them.
Let's do it.
You're the coach.
Sounds good.
Just going to get a little sweeping done.
I'm going to dust behind you.
You're a truck and jeep guy yourself? Um, I've got a car.
I'm kind of, if you want to say, the oddball.
Everybody here has a jeep at home.
So you're the oddball? No jeep, no truck? No, not yet.
Hey, Paul? We've only got about ten minutes.
We've got to hurry up, get everything finished, mopped up and stuff.
Okay.
Before we open the doors up, we want to get the tire display.
Just take it.
And let the tire do the work.
Why'd you make that look so easy? Watching Rusty put the tires up the ladder, it was a little entertaining.
Lot of tires.
I really hope the tire doesn't roll back on him.
Looked pretty close to it a few times.
There you go.
Looks good to me.
All right, if you just want to get this one on the left side.
Well, I got to clean up the bathrooms and take out the trash.
How long you worked here? I've been here about six months.
Paul is speedy.
I was having trouble keeping up with him.
Oop.
Lost the can.
All right, I'm slowing you down, buddy.
You're good.
Okay, the sales, when a customer comes in.
You walk up to him.
"Hey, I'm Paul," you know? "Hey, nice to meet you," and you want them to feel comfortable.
Okay.
- How's it going? - Pretty good, and you? Not too bad.
What you got? I'm looking for a lift kit.
Okay, what kind of vehicle are we working on? Are we trying to do, like, road? Pretty extreme.
Long arm, coilovers.
All right, and we're obviously doing a mud tire.
And do you have a wheel that you've got picked out? - Kings.
- Kings? So what we're gonna do is we're going to come to King's site.
Paul is going to the manufacturers' websites to find parts.
So we're going to get a part number here.
That wheel is easy to find on 4wheelparts.
com.
He would have had a lot more information right at his fingertips to help with that customer transaction.
Basically what we're going to do is we're going to put it on ticket, but we're going to have to get back to you, especially at the price on 'em.
The frustration is that, you know, it just was a bad customer experience.
We don't ever want to tell the customer to come back, we're going to call and get some information.
It shows that our training efforts have got a long way to go.
Hey, Paul? Customer's coming around back to pick some stuff up.
Do you want to help load 'em up real quick? Okay, sounds good.
Here, come and help me out real quick.
Do you have any brother or sisters? Anything like that? I've got an older brother and a younger sister.
Where's this customer for their parts? Uh, they might still be working with them up front.
So you and your siblings, were you kind of the caretaker, or was that kind of your brother's place? Uh, you know, my brother's older, so he was kind of he was a role model, but not always a great one.
Mm-hmm.
He was, you know, kind of the black sheep of the family and you know, he just went his own way and did a lot of things that, you know, I didn't think were right.
Struggled with my parents.
So, you know, it was a lot of tough times with that.
How about with you? Well, I mean, I only grew up with my mom.
My father was actually was killed before I was born.
- Oh, man.
- Yep.
I mean, I've basically been on my own since 15.
So what happened with your mother? She not around, or? My mother was just She wasn't motivated.
I guess that would be the best way to put it.
So I had to make sure whatever money we did have went to taking care of responsibilities and so basically there's one last chance and she blew it, so I haven't talked with her in about six years.
And now she actually ended up going into a diabetic coma, had a stroke, and is now hospitalized for the rest of her life, so it's I guess you kind of want to say, missed my opportunity.
You missed the opportunity, like To make up.
Paul had to grow up on his own.
I give him, you know, all the credit in the world.
Yes, we had our ups and downs.
We had our disagreements, but she is still my mother.
You know, he missed the opportunity to try to make amends with his mother.
It definitely strikes a chord.
You know, I had a lot of challenges growing up with my brother.
There's definitely some wounds that, you know, aren't totally healed.
Being here at 4 Wheel Parts, it definitely feels like a bunch of brothers kind of hanging out.
It's kind of become a second home.
I'd say.
So we're going to get it going.
- All right.
- Let's see.
Today I'm in Dallas, Texas at one of our busier stores.
It's been recently remodeled, and I want to understand, what the employees' attitudes are and how things are working at this facility.
After having blown my cover in Charlotte, I really didn't get a good idea of a typical day in the service department.
So today I'm here to see how a service technician for the company works.
I ended up spending a fair amount of time in Dallas, and I simply can't pull this off without getting my cover blown, so I'm calling in a favor from my older brother.
Kevin hasn't been with the company in the last ten years.
He was getting involved in alcohol and drugs, so it was a big drain in our relationship.
But after working with Paul, I've been thinking a lot about family, and I want to give Kevin a second chance.
- Hey.
- How are you? Doing good.
Here, take a seat.
Yeah.
Calling you in on a big favor.
Yeah, well, I think I owe you some favors.
To say the least.
So you're going to have to be my eyes and ears.
Looking forward to it.
A little nervous.
First off, you got a name? Yeah, I'm going to be Stuart.
I can put these on.
Maybe put some goggles on over 'em.
I like it.
Michael is who you're going to be working with.
I got a little earpiece that I'll be able to communicate with you through this microphone.
- Test, test.
- I hear you.
You feeling good about it? Yeah, I just get nervous around you more than anything.
All right.
Kick some butt.
Yep.
- Have fun.
- Yeah.
All right, Stuart's off on his adventure.
You're going to ask for Michael.
Hey, do you know where I can find Michael? That's me.
Hey, Michael, how are you doing? I'm Stuart.
- How you doing, bud? - Hey, nice to meet you, man.
- Nice to meet you, too.
- I'm here to learn from you.
Learn from me? All right.
Well, I uh, install lift kits.
First off, let's talk about some safety stuff.
- Okay.
- Okay, we wear safety glasses.
- Okay.
- Steel-toed boots.
I've got a shirt for you to wear.
- Okay.
- All right, doing great, Kevin.
Stuart.
Doing great, Stuart.
- You ready? - Let's do it, let's do this.
All right, man.
We're going to do a 3 1/2 inch kit.
Okay, all right.
Do you know much about lift kits? Not really.
The spring's actually what lifts the jeep on this particular vehicle.
Looks like a lot of work to get in there.
- It's going to be fun.
- Let's do it.
So remember, this is somebody else's vehicle, and we look at it as, you know, we're treating it like it's ours.
Music to my ears there, Michael.
First thing I always take off is these shocks on the rear.
Basically pull the bullet off.
Next thing you want to take loose, and I'm going to let you do it.
Pull the brake line off.
You can reach it? All right, look at there.
Professional.
Sign you up.
Give you a job.
I use my cordless drill at home.
He's playing it pretty smooth that he's had some experience but he's not an expert.
These are ABS lines, okay? You're going to pull these out.
Try not to cut 'em.
Just pull 'em off.
Okay.
- Takes finesse.
- Yeah.
Easy, don't cut it.
There for a second I was like, "Dude, don't rip that brake line.
" I got to kind of watch this guy like a hawk because I just don't want to mess something up.
Ah.
Let it out.
There you go.
Those are going in the trash.
- Okay.
- All right.
What you're going to do is you're going to come over here.
Just kind of pull down.
All right, now set it back.
Michael's doing a great job explaining what's getting done and why.
You got it there.
I should have ate my Wheaties today, huh? We both should have.
There you go.
Well, man, I noticed that we are missing a part.
Let's go over and take a look and see if we can find it.
What do you and your family like to do? Oh, man, you know.
My son works at a skating rink, so me and my daughters, we like to go skating while he's working.
There you go.
Grab it and bring it down.
Right here.
Okay.
You know, I'm very proud of my son.
He'll be graduating this year coming up.
That's awesome.
Is he going to go to college? What are your His plans were to go to school, but being that, you know, it's as expensive as it is, - It's tough.
- Yeah, it's real tough.
You know, hopefully I'll be able to help him because he's doing one thing that I didn't do.
I didn't graduate.
I mean, I dropped out in 9th grade.
What made him drop out of school in 9th grade? If you don't mind me asking, what made you drop out of school? I mean I knew with my dyslexia that, you know, I was so far behind all the other kids and I knew I wasn't going to be a doctor or a lawyer, so, I mean, I decided, you know what, I got to start working.
How's your dyslexia affecting you daily? You deal with it every day.
Right.
Does the company help? They have a deal on the Internet.
It's like a training thing.
Well, that wouldn't work for me because for one, I can't read the training deal.
They need to have a little bit better hands-on training.
Book smart, I'm not, you know? Physical, I can do.
Actually, Michael could do a great job teaching how to do the installs.
You know, you can read all the books in the world And it don't make you a technician.
You have to take it in there and mix and dip and try and cut it.
Yeah, Kevin's doing great.
There was a couple times where I was about to say something on the microphone and he just he nailed it.
You know, it's always been about cars.
My dad had a shop behind our house.
Is your father still alive? Man, my dad's still alive.
He's not doing real good.
A couple months back we had to move in with him because they did open heart surgery on him.
After the heart surgery, he didn't bounce back as fast as they thought he was going to bounce back, and the doctor pretty much told me just enjoy every minute that you've got with him.
Right.
You know, tell me a little bit more about yourself.
It's a Um It's been a rough go.
Uh, I had you know, my past was kind of jaded, thought I was king of the world and found out that I wasn't.
- Ended up high and dry.
- Gotcha.
And took me a long time to turn the corner.
It's taken a toll on the family.
It's been a a challenge, but, you know, it's a challenge that I'll never give up on.
Well, you know what, man? Family is the main priority, you know? All you can do now is just look forward and just go forward, you know? Right.
- All righty.
- All right.
Going to shut my mouth and Enough said to that, because what we're going to do next is you're actually going to put the track bar bracket on.
Today was a big milestone for Kevin and I.
I mean, for him to come in here and help me out was huge.
It wasn't like that for the first 40 years of my life.
Hey, Stuart.
That was amazing.
- Love you.
- Love you, too.
That was that was awesome.
I mean, I don't know what to say.
I'm blown away by what you did today.
For me, for the company, that Grandpa started, Dad built, and now you've given back to in a big way, so I want you to be involved in what we do going forward.
You know I'd do anything for you.
- All right.
- And this company.
The position doesn't pay well.
I don't need pay.
I got you.
- All right, I love you.
- I love you.
My brother's given me tons of opportunities, but to be included in something as monumental to this company as it is is huge.
Get out of here, get your flight.
- I love you.
- I love you.
- Be careful.
- See you soon.
- A couple days.
- Yep.
Thanks for that.
Thanks for doing this.
Yeah, you got it.
4 Wheel Parts is a family.
To know that there's opportunity for Kevin to come in and be a part of this and really brings it full circle as a family business and, you know, makes very me proud to call him my brother and my friend and, um, look forward to sharing a lot more memories together in the future.
Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide if Rusty deserves to win money to start his own business.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? You're not Rusty.
I'm Greg Adler, CEO of 4 Wheel Parts.
Oh, my! Oh, man.
Well, it's the end of the journey and this week has changed me and the way I look at the people in the company.
I hoped that the business still had that family feel, and I learned this week that it's still there.
- Hi, Erin.
- Hi.
- How you doing? - I'm good, how are you? Good.
You recognize me? - Um - No, I don't, really, I don't.
Well, I'm not Rusty.
You're not Rusty? I'm Greg Adler, CEO of 4 Wheel Parts.
Oh, man.
I don't really know what to say.
And you're on "Undercover Boss.
" Oh, my! - You were definitely suspicious.
- Mm-hmm.
It was like, 99% or 60 - 110%.
- 110%.
Wow.
Well, Jeff, I thought you did a really good job.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
You brought up some issues to me that are concerning for not only you as a service manager but for the techs.
Right.
Sales people want to get as much work in here as possible.
The people up front do get carried away sometimes.
I would love to have my lunch every day.
Everybody up front gets their lunches every day.
So the scheduling.
I'm implementing a new system that's going to allow scheduling to become a lot more automated.
Good.
Thank you.
Talk to me about the warranty issue you brought up.
Salespeople get paid for selling the warranty.
Techs have to do the work for free.
Doesn't make sense.
Well, I think you're right, and that's why I'm committed to making that change and I'm committed to paying our techs for the warranty work on parts and the 300-plus techs in our company are going to have you to thank for bringing that topic up and getting it resolved.
Cool.
Thank you.
We will all be happier.
Talked a little bit about your kids.
Mm-hmm, my daughters.
And not having the time or opportunity to spend quality time with them.
You said they were car girls? Oh, yes, they are.
They're all gear heads, every single one of them.
Well, I'm going to pay for a vacation for you and your family, a $10,000 NASCAR VIP Experience.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
It's going to be great to get the kids, the family, go on this vacation together.
This is something that I've never had, something I've never dreamt of having.
Thank you, sir.
It's big to know that Greg is willing to change the warranty issues that we've been having.
It's wonderful.
I truly believe that he wants to make his company a better company for the people that work for him.
Erin, it's fortunate for the company to have such a hard worker like yourself.
I was thoroughly impressed with you for getting in there and doing that job, which almost had Rusty at his knees pretty early on.
We need to start on our other work because we're getting behind on all this stuff.
- So speed up? - Yeah.
What impresses me a ton is that you've done that job.
Yes, I have.
When we were working together, Erin, I could just see the pressure building to get the products out on time to our customers and the computer systems were just making it almost impossible.
Yeah, the computer system needs to be better.
Well, because of you, I'm motivated now more than ever to invest $10 million to improve our computer systems throughout all of our distribution centers all of our stores, to gain the efficiencies we need.
I'm glad I could help.
So you told me something when I first met you.
You said you had three miscarriages before? Yes.
It was rough.
My wife and I went through a miscarriage, and my daughter came after that.
And if my little Brooke turns out to be anything like you, then she'll be doing great.
Thank you.
I very much appreciate that.
What do you want next for your family? I would love to have a nice and stable environment for my daughter.
My goals are to get her a nice, you know, home that she knows is her forever home so that she can have everything that she deserves.
And not have to worry like we do.
I want to give you $20,000 to help you make a down payment on a house for your family.
I didn't ever think that day would come.
Thank you.
I'm very, very grateful.
Can I give you a hug? Oh, absolutely.
I'm very much in shock.
Never in this lifetime did I think anything like this would ever happen to me.
My little girl will be very excited, and she will be very excited to go pick out her home.
Michael.
You met with Stuart.
Yes, I did.
Well, Stuart is actually my brother, Kevin Adler.
Really? And working with Kevin really showed, you know, a passion for what you were doing.
Well, I appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Means a lot coming from you.
Well, I know there was discussion with Stuart about some of the challenges in training.
They have a deal on the Internet.
It's like a training thing.
That wouldn't work for me, because for one, I can't read the training deal.
They need to have a little bit better hands-on training.
You're absolutely right, and my focus now is to really develop a training program that's really going to be effective.
That's a commitment over $400,000.
Oh, man.
And I'd like you to be part of that team helping to make sure that the training we're providing is hitting the mark.
Oh, man, I'd love to do it.
That'd be awesome.
Where did you learn to start wrenching? My dad.
What's going on with your dad? A couple years back had a heart surgery, and the doctors told him that his heart's only functioning at 15%.
We recently had to move in with him to try to help him out.
Well, let me give you $10,000 to help you get out of that hole.
That really means a lot.
Thank you very much.
And I also want to put together a crisis fund, and I'm going to invest $25,000 from the company and $25,000 of my own money.
Have that fund be there for people when they're in need.
Oh, that's awesome.
I know I'm not the only one in the same position that I'm in.
I know other people have the same things going on with them, too.
You know, family's so important and sounds like you've got a tight bond with your family.
You've got something to celebrate with your son.
Yes, I do.
What are your goals for your son? I love him and I want him to go to school and get a good education.
Well, I'm going to start a scholarship fund for all employees of $50,000 and I'll commit $25,000 of my own money and $25,000 from the company.
And I want your son to be the first recipient.
It's like a dream, to be honest with you.
This is a dream.
That would be awesome.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
Because of, you know, the things that you've shown me, I want you to take your family on vacation anywhere you want to go.
I'm going to put up ten grand to make sure it's a good one.
I want to go where my dad wants.
I want to be able to take him, though.
Colorado.
He wanted to live there his whole life and never was able to move there or nothing like that.
So Thank you.
You don't know how much that means to me.
Pretty much everything that I do, I do for my family.
I do what my dad did for his family.
He took care of us.
He made me the man that I am today.
Thank you, Tim.
Thank you.
To be able to actually take my dad somewhere that was his dream place to live, you know I want to get to see a smile on his face.
This is a big deal.
This is for him.
This is for my father.
Paul, it was quite an experience spending time with you.
You know, you talked about making the customers your friends.
You know, I was really impressed with that.
You know, then when we started to get into, you know, really the heart of dealing with customers, I saw that product knowledge was really not there yet.
Do you have a wheel that you've got picked out, or? Kings.
Basically what we're going to do is we're going to put it on ticket, but we're going to have to get back to you, especially on the price on 'em.
This isn't your fault.
I can't expect that someone who's been with the company for six months in a sales position is going to know what a lot of our guys who've been there for years know.
I definitely want to learn as much as I can.
My focus now is to really develop a sales training program, and I want to enlist your help.
Definitely.
And I want to mentor you through your career.
I think we can make a pretty good team.
Let's do it.
If you stick with me for a year, I'm going to pay you $10,000 to help you out.
All right? Wow.
That'd be awesome.
Thank you.
I want to do something special for you.
I want to give you a jeep that you can call your own, and you can build it your own and you can learn about it.
Oh, wow.
I've never had somebody go that far out for me.
Thank you.
Go check out your new wheels.
- All right, buddy.
- Thank you.
Go hop in that jeep and have some fun.
All right.
Oh, wow.
So this is all mine? Being with an awesome company like 4 Wheel Parts, but also being able to work with the CEO, this is definitely going to change my life.
There's three miles on this thing.
Very thankful.
I'm happy to be home.
Home is definitely
- Hey, guys.
- Oh, my gosh.
By joining his employees on the front lines - I see you're sweating.
- Whoo.
This truck titan meets the people who keep his company on the right track.
Why'd you make that look so easy? This is your invoice number.
Make sure all this matches.
- Uh-oh.
- It just went off.
Oh, my goodness.
Along the way, the boss will hit a few potholes.
Warranties suck.
Any time a warranty ticket comes in, everybody's like, "Oh.
" And what will happen when one employee threatens to blow his cover? Find out next on "Undercover Boss.
" Headquartered in Southern California, the heart of American off-road adventure and motor sports, 4 Wheel Parts is the nation's largest distributor of truck and jeep performance parts.
With more than 70 locations, and 700 million in revenue, this high-octane company has been outfitting off-roaders since 1961.
Keeping his foot on the accelerator and his eyes on the finish line, is one man.
My name is Greg Adler, and I'm the CEO of 4 Wheel Parts.
I'm not the typical CEO.
I'm coming to you from the show room, not the board room.
I'm not just selling truck and jeep parts.
I race off-road.
Greg Adler, everybody.
For me, getting behind the wheel of that race truck, it doesn't get better than that.
4 Wheel Parts is a giant toy store for trucks and jeeps.
You know, our culture just wants to go outdoors, wants to drive a big pickup truck.
I mean, I love to be able to go off-road, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family.
We're driving in the river! Whoa! To me it's Americana, and we're serving it up.
It was my grandfather that started the business, and my dad came in as the first full-time employee and really built the business.
I can remember fighting with my brother to see who was going to be able to go to work with Dad on Saturday.
It was just cool.
It's trucks and jeeps and what kid doesn't like trucks and jeeps? So this company was just in my blood.
I was born into this company.
My dad was a passionate, fiery entrepreneur.
We called him Hurricane George.
When my dad would go into a store, he left some destruction in his wake.
And, you know, family businesses in general can be pretty challenging.
My brother Kevin is two years older than me.
Kevin was a bit of a black sheep.
He didn't finish high school.
He was constantly challenging my parents.
Alcohol, drugs, other things that made for poor choices in his life, and it was incredibly painful for our family.
You know, my dad tried to find positions for him, but because of those issues, it wasn't a situation where Kevin was going to stick in the business, really.
Looking back on it, although it didn't feel like it at the time, he was blazing a trail for me to go down a different path.
So, I went to ASU, had a great time there, I remember at least one of the four years.
Uh, a little bit of a blur here and there, but my focus, my dad encouraged me to get a degree in accounting.
After a couple years of accounting, I was able to come into the company in a position as a store operations manager and never really looked back from that.
I was able to go from 14 stores when I started to almost 40 stores in the next eight years.
In 2005, my dad retired, so it was a great opportunity for him to sell the business and for me to stay on as CEO.
2007, we were booming.
We had our best year ever.
We were opening stores like wildfire and then it stopped.
During 2008 and 2009, we went from growth mode to survival mode.
We had grown to almost 1,600 employees, and we just couldn't afford them.
I had to let go of over 30, 40% of our headcount.
We consolidated a lot of our inventories.
We closed down a couple of distribution centers and it was painful, but I did it to keep the company alive.
I didn't want to be the captain on the ship when this company sank.
That's not what I was born and bred to do.
So all this inventory right here is getting ready to go to Texas distribution center.
We had to slim down, and so we still tried to manage the business with that mindset.
- Efficiency back here close to 100%? - Yeah, efficiency's up.
And today, we're on a terrific growth rate.
We are just now getting back to 1,600 employees.
We have over 70 stores, and we're doing $700 million in sales.
I have us focused on a five-year plan to grow from 70 stores to 100 stores, and be a billion-dollar company.
That's the target, that's the goal, and that's our laser focus.
- Hi, there.
- Hi, there.
So what are you thinking? It needs to be aggressive.
It needs to be different.
All right, here we go.
I'm a numbers guy, so I've been running the company pretty mean and lean.
I want to go undercover and find out, is that working? Are we still giving the great customer service that's expected? Yeah, I think we need to keep going.
While going undercover, I'll be posing as Rusty, a down-on-his-luck father from Flagstaff, Arizona.
My employees believe they will be on a business reality show teaching Rusty some of the toughest jobs in the automotive aftermarket.
Oh, yeah.
Going undercover as a visible CEO who's also vertically challenged, my disguise is going to have to be good, so I'm shaving my head, wearing chops, earrings, glasses.
If this doesn't throw some people off the track, I don't know what will.
And a whole different wardrobe.
So I'm definitely out of my comfort zone.
Oh, I think I want to be the tushy monster.
Tushy monster.
Oh, my gosh.
- Are your ears pierced? - Hi, Lake.
Hi, Brooke-y.
Can Daddy have a hug? No.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Oh.
- You're just pretending? - Yeah, that's me pretending.
Doesn't look too bad.
Opening up 30 stores in the next five years is going to be fast and furious.
Give Daddy a hug and a kissy, okay? But at the same time, I want to try to keep that family feel about the business and to keep that consistency in the operations of the company.
- Bye, guys.
- Bye.
I'm here in Charlotte, North Carolina at our 4 Wheel Parts store to meet our service manager.
The service departments in our stores is where the rubber really meets the road.
More than 50% of the revenues of a retail store travel through the service department, so it's critical that we have a service manager back there that is able to operate a smooth and efficient shop and do it right the first time.
How you doing? I'm Rusty.
- Hi, I'm Jeff.
- You're coaching me, huh? I am the service manager here at 4 Wheel Parts.
So what we are going to be doing today is changing tires on this jeep.
We're going to rack it and we're going to take them off, we're going to mount and balance them, we're going to put them back on.
- Let's get dirty.
- Let's get you suited up.
Rusty showed up in some nice clothes that, you know, they're going to be trashed by the end of the day.
Got a shirt? And a little bracelet thingy.
I hope his kids didn't make that, 'cause those are going to be destroyed.
So we got our impact gun.
This will remove the lug nuts.
There you go, Rusty.
There you go.
There you go.
Yep.
Just let gravity fall.
There you go.
This is the tire mounting and dismounting machine.
So you line this up over here.
Push down on it.
Once it starts going, you move your hand out of the way.
Put your hands right here.
Roll it up, lock it on.
Right up against the rim.
Lock it.
Tire bar.
Pull it up like that, stick your foot on that button right there.
- Wow.
- Magic.
Now you're going to lift the tire up, you're going to put your bar down, back down in there, you're going to lift it up, and watch yourself 'cause it's going to come down and hit that and go this way.
All right, you ready to do one? There's your tire.
All right, give it a shot.
All right.
Rusty seems to be picking it up quick which makes me think he's done something like this before.
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I'm working on getting these tires mounted, and I see Jeff kind of walking around and talking to some of the other techs, and I'm thinking, "Man, is he going around kind of confirming, 'Oh yeah, that's Greg Adler right there?'" I'm not sure what to do right now.
I'm just kind of trying to figure it out.
I'm just went Oh, yeah.
I see Jeff talking to some of the other techs, and he's smiling and laughing.
I'm thinking, "Oh, man, this is not good.
" I think he's figured out who I am and I can't have this thing blowing up.
I need to handle this right now.
Hey, Jeff, can I go speak to you privately? Sure.
Absolutely.
So, uh, you didn't have any idea or any thoughts about who I might be? Mr.
Adler, the man.
You ever watch "Undercover Boss"? Ah, jeez! You're killing me, Smalls.
So, um, are there things that you think could be done better in our service department? There's always things that can be done better, easier, you know? Sales people want to get as much work in here as possible so they can get, you know, get as much money as possible.
It's like, you've got, you know, six 9:00 appointments and four people working in here.
We don't have enough people and time to do that.
Some days we work overtime.
I would love to have my lunch every day.
Everybody up front gets their lunches every day.
You're running gunning and running from early in the morning till late at night and the warranty stuff.
Warranties suck.
Any time a warranty ticket comes in, everybody's like, "Oh.
" Labor didn't break.
Part broke.
Why should we replace the broken part for free? So, your concern from yourself and your team, they're not making commission on that job because it's not a paying job.
Right, where's the money going that they're collecting from the warranty stuff? You know, yeah, they get a free part.
What about the labor? Jeff brought up some of their concerns around warranties and others.
You know, when the mechanics are having to fix those warranties without any compensation from a commission standpoint, it's something that, you know, I need to take a deeper look at.
How many years have you worked for us? It'll be, I think, five in March.
Five in March? You have any kids? Three daughters, all professional mechanics.
They can tear a car apart in the blink of an eye.
Okay, and they're They're up in Raleigh.
Take 'em to the races, or It's been a while, you know.
Since I moved down to Charlotte, I don't get to see 'em as often as I used to.
All in all, I think it's been a good day.
Not necessarily how I thought it might go.
Last thing is, you know, this has to stay, you know, between you and I.
That's fine.
From what I've seen with Jeff, he's nailing it.
He bounces around answering questions, making sure that the guys are able to keep moving, and he's doing a great job for us.
Today I'm in Jacksonville, Florida at our distribution center.
This distribution center is one of our largest and has over $10 million worth of inventory, and it'll process over $100 million worth of product on annual basis.
I haven't been to this one in quite some time, so I'm interested to see how they're handling that volume.
- Hi.
- Are you Erin? - I'm Erin.
- Hi, Rusty.
Nice to meet you.
I am the team leader of our shipping department.
We house any kind of truck parts, car parts, anything you can think of.
Today we will be doing tires first thing this morning.
Come on.
Rusty does not look like somebody who would be working in a warehouse.
He did look like he was going to be at a country club.
He is in some nice jeans and I'm looking, like, "This is not going to work.
" So we start with tires.
We verify 'em.
We'll load 'em into the truck.
- Got it.
- You sure? - I think.
- Okay.
This is our shipping system.
We ship all packages through here.
Scan your invoice.
Okay.
This is your invoice number.
This is who it's going to.
Make sure the address matches.
This is your part number.
Your tire size.
Make sure all this matches.
Uh-oh.
- It just went off.
- Yeah.
- Did it come back on? - No.
Does that happen often? It happens more than we like.
And it'll be down for five or ten minutes and then they come up.
But it does slow you down 'cause we have to ensure that every customer's order does make it out the store by 6:00.
By 6:00.
Wow.
We had some slow-downs that, you know, just wasted time.
Oh, my goodness.
And then this just makes more stuff back up or Mm-hmm.
It's not the most efficient, that's for sure.
I need to really get to the bottom of this and figure out what's going on there.
Come on.
There we go.
- Let's go label your tires.
- Okay.
You want to stick your labels on the outside of the tires.
- Like that? - Uh-huh.
Once you label all those, we need to start rolling them into the truck.
Okay.
You're going to roll them all the way to the back.
All right, just let it go? Mm-hmm.
It's a race.
Okay, you can go ahead and start stacking a row if you want.
Okay.
You're going to line them up like this all the way across.
Okay.
They got AC in these trucks? There is no AC in this whole place.
And we go three high.
Three high? Get my workout in today.
I have some more invoices that I have to do.
Okay.
You keep rolling them in and stacking.
- Everything that's there, okay.
- Yep.
It's hot in those trailers and those tires are heavy, and it's a workout just getting one row done, let alone getting up to the top row.
Whoa.
We need to start on our other work because we're getting behind on all this stuff.
- So speed up? - Yeah.
- All right.
- Very much.
Big dog coming up.
Let's see.
Rusty is very sweaty.
He is sweating more than I think I've seen anybody sweat in here.
I see you're sweating.
Yeah, I can imagine you guys, you know, being in here in the middle of the summer.
Yes, it's very hot in these trailers.
All right, you look like you deserve a break, so we're going to take a walk outside and we'll sit for a few minutes.
Sounds good.
Yeah, so how'd you start here? My husband works here, George.
He, um, he started me here.
I've been here a year and three months now.
Oh, that's awesome.
I needed the job 'cause we just had our daughter.
Well, she's three now, but when I started here, she was, like, six months old, and we fought very hard for her.
Oh, really, what Oh yeah, um, I lost three prior to her.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, all at two months, and so she was like our little miracle baby.
That's incredible.
Well, thank God, and she's good and healthy and happy? Oh, yes.
Smart as can be.
My dad died in May.
I ended up getting pregnant the following July, and I never could keep one before him, so I figured that's just you lose one to gain one.
But she is my world.
She keeps me going every day.
And what's your daughter's name? - Sierra.
- Sierra? Oh, that's cute.
I would like for us to own our own house, 'cause she points out homes.
Every time we drive by, "Mommy, can I be in that house?" I'm like, "Let me get right on that one.
" Erin definitely embodies the kind of person that we want to see working for the company, and I think it's great that her husband works here.
You know, at the end of the day, we're a family business, and we couldn't ask for a better commitment from somebody like Erin.
Well, I guess we'll go back inside.
Coming up, Rusty faces an uphill battle.
Why'd you make that look so easy? And later.
I'm calling you in on a big favor.
I think I owe you some favors.
The boss heals an old wound.
That was amazing.
I'm in Marietta, Georgia today, and I'm going to be working in the show room with one of our salesmen.
These guys have to quickly demonstrate our expertise, or that customer may go somewhere else.
This store is doing extremely well.
In fact, they're up almost 20%, so I want to see what we can learn here and apply it to some of our other locations.
- How's it going? - Good, looking for Paul.
- Yes, sir.
- Rusty.
Nice to meet you.
As a sales associate, not only am I supposed to educate customers on trying to build their trucks, build their jeeps, but we also want to make sure this place stays clean, because it's not a customer that walks in.
It's our friends that walk in.
We want them to know that we're going to take care of them.
Let's do it.
You're the coach.
Sounds good.
Just going to get a little sweeping done.
I'm going to dust behind you.
You're a truck and jeep guy yourself? Um, I've got a car.
I'm kind of, if you want to say, the oddball.
Everybody here has a jeep at home.
So you're the oddball? No jeep, no truck? No, not yet.
Hey, Paul? We've only got about ten minutes.
We've got to hurry up, get everything finished, mopped up and stuff.
Okay.
Before we open the doors up, we want to get the tire display.
Just take it.
And let the tire do the work.
Why'd you make that look so easy? Watching Rusty put the tires up the ladder, it was a little entertaining.
Lot of tires.
I really hope the tire doesn't roll back on him.
Looked pretty close to it a few times.
There you go.
Looks good to me.
All right, if you just want to get this one on the left side.
Well, I got to clean up the bathrooms and take out the trash.
How long you worked here? I've been here about six months.
Paul is speedy.
I was having trouble keeping up with him.
Oop.
Lost the can.
All right, I'm slowing you down, buddy.
You're good.
Okay, the sales, when a customer comes in.
You walk up to him.
"Hey, I'm Paul," you know? "Hey, nice to meet you," and you want them to feel comfortable.
Okay.
- How's it going? - Pretty good, and you? Not too bad.
What you got? I'm looking for a lift kit.
Okay, what kind of vehicle are we working on? Are we trying to do, like, road? Pretty extreme.
Long arm, coilovers.
All right, and we're obviously doing a mud tire.
And do you have a wheel that you've got picked out? - Kings.
- Kings? So what we're gonna do is we're going to come to King's site.
Paul is going to the manufacturers' websites to find parts.
So we're going to get a part number here.
That wheel is easy to find on 4wheelparts.
com.
He would have had a lot more information right at his fingertips to help with that customer transaction.
Basically what we're going to do is we're going to put it on ticket, but we're going to have to get back to you, especially at the price on 'em.
The frustration is that, you know, it just was a bad customer experience.
We don't ever want to tell the customer to come back, we're going to call and get some information.
It shows that our training efforts have got a long way to go.
Hey, Paul? Customer's coming around back to pick some stuff up.
Do you want to help load 'em up real quick? Okay, sounds good.
Here, come and help me out real quick.
Do you have any brother or sisters? Anything like that? I've got an older brother and a younger sister.
Where's this customer for their parts? Uh, they might still be working with them up front.
So you and your siblings, were you kind of the caretaker, or was that kind of your brother's place? Uh, you know, my brother's older, so he was kind of he was a role model, but not always a great one.
Mm-hmm.
He was, you know, kind of the black sheep of the family and you know, he just went his own way and did a lot of things that, you know, I didn't think were right.
Struggled with my parents.
So, you know, it was a lot of tough times with that.
How about with you? Well, I mean, I only grew up with my mom.
My father was actually was killed before I was born.
- Oh, man.
- Yep.
I mean, I've basically been on my own since 15.
So what happened with your mother? She not around, or? My mother was just She wasn't motivated.
I guess that would be the best way to put it.
So I had to make sure whatever money we did have went to taking care of responsibilities and so basically there's one last chance and she blew it, so I haven't talked with her in about six years.
And now she actually ended up going into a diabetic coma, had a stroke, and is now hospitalized for the rest of her life, so it's I guess you kind of want to say, missed my opportunity.
You missed the opportunity, like To make up.
Paul had to grow up on his own.
I give him, you know, all the credit in the world.
Yes, we had our ups and downs.
We had our disagreements, but she is still my mother.
You know, he missed the opportunity to try to make amends with his mother.
It definitely strikes a chord.
You know, I had a lot of challenges growing up with my brother.
There's definitely some wounds that, you know, aren't totally healed.
Being here at 4 Wheel Parts, it definitely feels like a bunch of brothers kind of hanging out.
It's kind of become a second home.
I'd say.
So we're going to get it going.
- All right.
- Let's see.
Today I'm in Dallas, Texas at one of our busier stores.
It's been recently remodeled, and I want to understand, what the employees' attitudes are and how things are working at this facility.
After having blown my cover in Charlotte, I really didn't get a good idea of a typical day in the service department.
So today I'm here to see how a service technician for the company works.
I ended up spending a fair amount of time in Dallas, and I simply can't pull this off without getting my cover blown, so I'm calling in a favor from my older brother.
Kevin hasn't been with the company in the last ten years.
He was getting involved in alcohol and drugs, so it was a big drain in our relationship.
But after working with Paul, I've been thinking a lot about family, and I want to give Kevin a second chance.
- Hey.
- How are you? Doing good.
Here, take a seat.
Yeah.
Calling you in on a big favor.
Yeah, well, I think I owe you some favors.
To say the least.
So you're going to have to be my eyes and ears.
Looking forward to it.
A little nervous.
First off, you got a name? Yeah, I'm going to be Stuart.
I can put these on.
Maybe put some goggles on over 'em.
I like it.
Michael is who you're going to be working with.
I got a little earpiece that I'll be able to communicate with you through this microphone.
- Test, test.
- I hear you.
You feeling good about it? Yeah, I just get nervous around you more than anything.
All right.
Kick some butt.
Yep.
- Have fun.
- Yeah.
All right, Stuart's off on his adventure.
You're going to ask for Michael.
Hey, do you know where I can find Michael? That's me.
Hey, Michael, how are you doing? I'm Stuart.
- How you doing, bud? - Hey, nice to meet you, man.
- Nice to meet you, too.
- I'm here to learn from you.
Learn from me? All right.
Well, I uh, install lift kits.
First off, let's talk about some safety stuff.
- Okay.
- Okay, we wear safety glasses.
- Okay.
- Steel-toed boots.
I've got a shirt for you to wear.
- Okay.
- All right, doing great, Kevin.
Stuart.
Doing great, Stuart.
- You ready? - Let's do it, let's do this.
All right, man.
We're going to do a 3 1/2 inch kit.
Okay, all right.
Do you know much about lift kits? Not really.
The spring's actually what lifts the jeep on this particular vehicle.
Looks like a lot of work to get in there.
- It's going to be fun.
- Let's do it.
So remember, this is somebody else's vehicle, and we look at it as, you know, we're treating it like it's ours.
Music to my ears there, Michael.
First thing I always take off is these shocks on the rear.
Basically pull the bullet off.
Next thing you want to take loose, and I'm going to let you do it.
Pull the brake line off.
You can reach it? All right, look at there.
Professional.
Sign you up.
Give you a job.
I use my cordless drill at home.
He's playing it pretty smooth that he's had some experience but he's not an expert.
These are ABS lines, okay? You're going to pull these out.
Try not to cut 'em.
Just pull 'em off.
Okay.
- Takes finesse.
- Yeah.
Easy, don't cut it.
There for a second I was like, "Dude, don't rip that brake line.
" I got to kind of watch this guy like a hawk because I just don't want to mess something up.
Ah.
Let it out.
There you go.
Those are going in the trash.
- Okay.
- All right.
What you're going to do is you're going to come over here.
Just kind of pull down.
All right, now set it back.
Michael's doing a great job explaining what's getting done and why.
You got it there.
I should have ate my Wheaties today, huh? We both should have.
There you go.
Well, man, I noticed that we are missing a part.
Let's go over and take a look and see if we can find it.
What do you and your family like to do? Oh, man, you know.
My son works at a skating rink, so me and my daughters, we like to go skating while he's working.
There you go.
Grab it and bring it down.
Right here.
Okay.
You know, I'm very proud of my son.
He'll be graduating this year coming up.
That's awesome.
Is he going to go to college? What are your His plans were to go to school, but being that, you know, it's as expensive as it is, - It's tough.
- Yeah, it's real tough.
You know, hopefully I'll be able to help him because he's doing one thing that I didn't do.
I didn't graduate.
I mean, I dropped out in 9th grade.
What made him drop out of school in 9th grade? If you don't mind me asking, what made you drop out of school? I mean I knew with my dyslexia that, you know, I was so far behind all the other kids and I knew I wasn't going to be a doctor or a lawyer, so, I mean, I decided, you know what, I got to start working.
How's your dyslexia affecting you daily? You deal with it every day.
Right.
Does the company help? They have a deal on the Internet.
It's like a training thing.
Well, that wouldn't work for me because for one, I can't read the training deal.
They need to have a little bit better hands-on training.
Book smart, I'm not, you know? Physical, I can do.
Actually, Michael could do a great job teaching how to do the installs.
You know, you can read all the books in the world And it don't make you a technician.
You have to take it in there and mix and dip and try and cut it.
Yeah, Kevin's doing great.
There was a couple times where I was about to say something on the microphone and he just he nailed it.
You know, it's always been about cars.
My dad had a shop behind our house.
Is your father still alive? Man, my dad's still alive.
He's not doing real good.
A couple months back we had to move in with him because they did open heart surgery on him.
After the heart surgery, he didn't bounce back as fast as they thought he was going to bounce back, and the doctor pretty much told me just enjoy every minute that you've got with him.
Right.
You know, tell me a little bit more about yourself.
It's a Um It's been a rough go.
Uh, I had you know, my past was kind of jaded, thought I was king of the world and found out that I wasn't.
- Ended up high and dry.
- Gotcha.
And took me a long time to turn the corner.
It's taken a toll on the family.
It's been a a challenge, but, you know, it's a challenge that I'll never give up on.
Well, you know what, man? Family is the main priority, you know? All you can do now is just look forward and just go forward, you know? Right.
- All righty.
- All right.
Going to shut my mouth and Enough said to that, because what we're going to do next is you're actually going to put the track bar bracket on.
Today was a big milestone for Kevin and I.
I mean, for him to come in here and help me out was huge.
It wasn't like that for the first 40 years of my life.
Hey, Stuart.
That was amazing.
- Love you.
- Love you, too.
That was that was awesome.
I mean, I don't know what to say.
I'm blown away by what you did today.
For me, for the company, that Grandpa started, Dad built, and now you've given back to in a big way, so I want you to be involved in what we do going forward.
You know I'd do anything for you.
- All right.
- And this company.
The position doesn't pay well.
I don't need pay.
I got you.
- All right, I love you.
- I love you.
My brother's given me tons of opportunities, but to be included in something as monumental to this company as it is is huge.
Get out of here, get your flight.
- I love you.
- I love you.
- Be careful.
- See you soon.
- A couple days.
- Yep.
Thanks for that.
Thanks for doing this.
Yeah, you got it.
4 Wheel Parts is a family.
To know that there's opportunity for Kevin to come in and be a part of this and really brings it full circle as a family business and, you know, makes very me proud to call him my brother and my friend and, um, look forward to sharing a lot more memories together in the future.
Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide if Rusty deserves to win money to start his own business.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? You're not Rusty.
I'm Greg Adler, CEO of 4 Wheel Parts.
Oh, my! Oh, man.
Well, it's the end of the journey and this week has changed me and the way I look at the people in the company.
I hoped that the business still had that family feel, and I learned this week that it's still there.
- Hi, Erin.
- Hi.
- How you doing? - I'm good, how are you? Good.
You recognize me? - Um - No, I don't, really, I don't.
Well, I'm not Rusty.
You're not Rusty? I'm Greg Adler, CEO of 4 Wheel Parts.
Oh, man.
I don't really know what to say.
And you're on "Undercover Boss.
" Oh, my! - You were definitely suspicious.
- Mm-hmm.
It was like, 99% or 60 - 110%.
- 110%.
Wow.
Well, Jeff, I thought you did a really good job.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
You brought up some issues to me that are concerning for not only you as a service manager but for the techs.
Right.
Sales people want to get as much work in here as possible.
The people up front do get carried away sometimes.
I would love to have my lunch every day.
Everybody up front gets their lunches every day.
So the scheduling.
I'm implementing a new system that's going to allow scheduling to become a lot more automated.
Good.
Thank you.
Talk to me about the warranty issue you brought up.
Salespeople get paid for selling the warranty.
Techs have to do the work for free.
Doesn't make sense.
Well, I think you're right, and that's why I'm committed to making that change and I'm committed to paying our techs for the warranty work on parts and the 300-plus techs in our company are going to have you to thank for bringing that topic up and getting it resolved.
Cool.
Thank you.
We will all be happier.
Talked a little bit about your kids.
Mm-hmm, my daughters.
And not having the time or opportunity to spend quality time with them.
You said they were car girls? Oh, yes, they are.
They're all gear heads, every single one of them.
Well, I'm going to pay for a vacation for you and your family, a $10,000 NASCAR VIP Experience.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
It's going to be great to get the kids, the family, go on this vacation together.
This is something that I've never had, something I've never dreamt of having.
Thank you, sir.
It's big to know that Greg is willing to change the warranty issues that we've been having.
It's wonderful.
I truly believe that he wants to make his company a better company for the people that work for him.
Erin, it's fortunate for the company to have such a hard worker like yourself.
I was thoroughly impressed with you for getting in there and doing that job, which almost had Rusty at his knees pretty early on.
We need to start on our other work because we're getting behind on all this stuff.
- So speed up? - Yeah.
What impresses me a ton is that you've done that job.
Yes, I have.
When we were working together, Erin, I could just see the pressure building to get the products out on time to our customers and the computer systems were just making it almost impossible.
Yeah, the computer system needs to be better.
Well, because of you, I'm motivated now more than ever to invest $10 million to improve our computer systems throughout all of our distribution centers all of our stores, to gain the efficiencies we need.
I'm glad I could help.
So you told me something when I first met you.
You said you had three miscarriages before? Yes.
It was rough.
My wife and I went through a miscarriage, and my daughter came after that.
And if my little Brooke turns out to be anything like you, then she'll be doing great.
Thank you.
I very much appreciate that.
What do you want next for your family? I would love to have a nice and stable environment for my daughter.
My goals are to get her a nice, you know, home that she knows is her forever home so that she can have everything that she deserves.
And not have to worry like we do.
I want to give you $20,000 to help you make a down payment on a house for your family.
I didn't ever think that day would come.
Thank you.
I'm very, very grateful.
Can I give you a hug? Oh, absolutely.
I'm very much in shock.
Never in this lifetime did I think anything like this would ever happen to me.
My little girl will be very excited, and she will be very excited to go pick out her home.
Michael.
You met with Stuart.
Yes, I did.
Well, Stuart is actually my brother, Kevin Adler.
Really? And working with Kevin really showed, you know, a passion for what you were doing.
Well, I appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Means a lot coming from you.
Well, I know there was discussion with Stuart about some of the challenges in training.
They have a deal on the Internet.
It's like a training thing.
That wouldn't work for me, because for one, I can't read the training deal.
They need to have a little bit better hands-on training.
You're absolutely right, and my focus now is to really develop a training program that's really going to be effective.
That's a commitment over $400,000.
Oh, man.
And I'd like you to be part of that team helping to make sure that the training we're providing is hitting the mark.
Oh, man, I'd love to do it.
That'd be awesome.
Where did you learn to start wrenching? My dad.
What's going on with your dad? A couple years back had a heart surgery, and the doctors told him that his heart's only functioning at 15%.
We recently had to move in with him to try to help him out.
Well, let me give you $10,000 to help you get out of that hole.
That really means a lot.
Thank you very much.
And I also want to put together a crisis fund, and I'm going to invest $25,000 from the company and $25,000 of my own money.
Have that fund be there for people when they're in need.
Oh, that's awesome.
I know I'm not the only one in the same position that I'm in.
I know other people have the same things going on with them, too.
You know, family's so important and sounds like you've got a tight bond with your family.
You've got something to celebrate with your son.
Yes, I do.
What are your goals for your son? I love him and I want him to go to school and get a good education.
Well, I'm going to start a scholarship fund for all employees of $50,000 and I'll commit $25,000 of my own money and $25,000 from the company.
And I want your son to be the first recipient.
It's like a dream, to be honest with you.
This is a dream.
That would be awesome.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
Because of, you know, the things that you've shown me, I want you to take your family on vacation anywhere you want to go.
I'm going to put up ten grand to make sure it's a good one.
I want to go where my dad wants.
I want to be able to take him, though.
Colorado.
He wanted to live there his whole life and never was able to move there or nothing like that.
So Thank you.
You don't know how much that means to me.
Pretty much everything that I do, I do for my family.
I do what my dad did for his family.
He took care of us.
He made me the man that I am today.
Thank you, Tim.
Thank you.
To be able to actually take my dad somewhere that was his dream place to live, you know I want to get to see a smile on his face.
This is a big deal.
This is for him.
This is for my father.
Paul, it was quite an experience spending time with you.
You know, you talked about making the customers your friends.
You know, I was really impressed with that.
You know, then when we started to get into, you know, really the heart of dealing with customers, I saw that product knowledge was really not there yet.
Do you have a wheel that you've got picked out, or? Kings.
Basically what we're going to do is we're going to put it on ticket, but we're going to have to get back to you, especially on the price on 'em.
This isn't your fault.
I can't expect that someone who's been with the company for six months in a sales position is going to know what a lot of our guys who've been there for years know.
I definitely want to learn as much as I can.
My focus now is to really develop a sales training program, and I want to enlist your help.
Definitely.
And I want to mentor you through your career.
I think we can make a pretty good team.
Let's do it.
If you stick with me for a year, I'm going to pay you $10,000 to help you out.
All right? Wow.
That'd be awesome.
Thank you.
I want to do something special for you.
I want to give you a jeep that you can call your own, and you can build it your own and you can learn about it.
Oh, wow.
I've never had somebody go that far out for me.
Thank you.
Go check out your new wheels.
- All right, buddy.
- Thank you.
Go hop in that jeep and have some fun.
All right.
Oh, wow.
So this is all mine? Being with an awesome company like 4 Wheel Parts, but also being able to work with the CEO, this is definitely going to change my life.
There's three miles on this thing.
Very thankful.
I'm happy to be home.
Home is definitely