Doug Higgins on What Your Shop Is Actually Worth

"I'm sorry to tell you, the business is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it." Doug Higgins has watched shop owners fixate on a multiple they heard at a conference and then make bad decisions for years because of it.

In this episode, I sit down with Doug Higgins, founder of Collision Advisory, a fractional CFO practice built specifically for collision repair operators. Doug spent more than a decade at Kroger in high-level finance roles, including running the numbers for a $2 billion division and working M&A and strategic planning at the corporate level. Then he left the Fortune 100 behind for collision repair, where he ran a collision MSO and an ADAS calibration company at the same time under the TAG umbrella.

Doug breaks down the financial side of shop ownership that most of us never get taught. He explains EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA in plain English, including what add-backs are and why a buyer wants them. He walks through the number one cash flow mistake he sees, why operating out of your checking account puts blinders on you, and why a five percent sales drop can turn into a twenty percent profit drop when your cost structure is stuck. We get into why he pushes back on the 7X valuation talk and the question almost nobody asks: why are you worth that? He also gives three things you can do this week to get a handle on your numbers, and shares a genuinely contrarian take on where independent shops land five years from now.

If you own or manage a shop and your books aren't where they need to be, this one is for you.

The BodyShop Leaders Podcast is powered by BodyShop Marketing, the agency helping collision industry leaders grow smarter and lead stronger.