When you're training people for an industry where nothing is black and white, you need more than a binder. You need a system that keeps up.
That's exactly what Matt's Automotive set out to build. The multi-location auto repair and collision company has grown to 10 locations — spread far enough apart that leadership can spend a week traveling between Bloomington, Columbia Heights, and points four hours in between. With a team of 30-plus and a hiring philosophy that pulls talent from outside the industry entirely, consistent training isn't a nice-to-have. It's the whole engine.
For Vern, who's been with Matt's since 2016 and has personally trained over 100 people in his career, that engine used to run on documents. Long ones.
"I started typing out my SOP for checking in a customer, and when I got done with it, it was 17 pages long. I started rereading it and I'm like, there's just no way. If I were a new hire and I had to read this, I'd be like, 'what are you talking about?'"
It was thorough. It was also unusable. And it was slowing everyone down.
The problems that held Matt's back
Before they leaned into Trainual, a few issues kept getting in the way of scaling cleanly:
- SOPs that were too long to use. In the effort to make everything "dummy proof," documentation ballooned to the point of being unreadable — down to instructions like "navigate your mouse to the upper right corner and click the blue rectangular box."
- Training that pulled Vern off the floor. The old method leaned on a rigid, hands-on process where Vern simulated appointments and estimates with each new hire — which broke down entirely when the shop switched management software and new hires could no longer visualize the steps.
- The perfectionism trap. "We were always the perfectionists trying to revise and revise and revise," Vern said — which meant good content rarely made it out the door.
- No accountability trail. When something went wrong, the response was predictable: "I was never taught that."
The turning point: Trainual University
Matt's signed up for Trainual back in 2021, but — as happens — it sat mostly unused for a couple of years. An early attempt to hand it off to an HR team member without a clear plan stalled out. The real shift came when Vern decided to dig in himself.
"I started going through Trainual University, and that's where I probably learned the most. I was like, 'wow, I've been thinking about this completely wrong.' It's not about perfection, it's just about getting something out there."
That single reframe unlocked everything.
"I looked at what I built and said, 'you know what, it's good enough.' Somebody's going to notice an error, and if they do, they can comment on it and I'll fix it. If not, at least we have something as a backbone."
Video-first training that actually sticks
Matt's had tried the "proper" way before — an expensive camera, written scripts, sitting at a desk doing 15 takes and still not getting it right. Trainual's approach flipped that on its head.
"The way you guys explained it in Trainual University was, 'people don't like content like that. Nobody wants a pre-recorded script.' And I was like, that's so true. I sit and scroll reels all day."
Now Vern builds quick Loom videos that show the work in context — the way his team actually does it — and new hires pick it up dramatically faster.
From a full day of typing to a five-minute module
The biggest unlock was speed. Building training stopped being a project and started being a reflex.
"I think it's far easier to build a module in Trainual that takes you maybe 5 to 10 minutes, as opposed to typing something out that might take you a day."
That speed changes the math on everyday friction. When Vern got the same parts-lookup question five times in one week, the answer wasn't another phone call — it was a module.
"I can build a 3-to-5-minute module that will help everyone, and I never have to answer that question again."
Onboarding time, cut roughly in half
Because Matt's deliberately hires outside the industry — former baristas, restaurant staff, banking backgrounds, "somebody that knows people" — onboarding speed matters enormously. Trainual delivered.
"Before, it would probably take 3 to 4 weeks before I'd feel comfortable stepping away from the counter. Now, it's usually after 1 or 2 weeks."
Accountability that shows up in the day-to-day
With everything documented and always available, one phrase disappeared from the shop.
"Before Trainual, I'd get a lot of 'I was never taught that.' And now, I don't hear that response anymore. It's always available to them, so there can't ever really be that excuse."
The result: fewer procedural phone calls, less driving between locations to put out fires, and managers who've taken over building SOPs themselves — often better than Vern did.
"I've had managers I tasked with helping me who fell in love with building those, and they build them better than I did. It takes the problem off my plate and keeps things moving forward."
Getting the whole team on board
Here's the part most success stories skip: it didn't click on the first try. Matt's signed up in 2021, handed the platform to an HR team member, and — without a clear plan for how to roll it out — it quietly stalled. For a while, they drifted back to the old ways of training.
If that sounds familiar, it should. Resistance to a new system is normal, not a red flag. When Vern finally started rebuilding, even his most trusted people pushed back.
"My operations manager was very hesitant. Same with my lead technician — it was like, 'oh, another software program we have to deal with.'"
What turned them around wasn't a mandate. It was giving them a structured place to start. Vern asked both of them — for four weeks — to complete Trainual University before judging it. When they finally did, the reaction was identical.
"When each of them started Trainual, they were like, 'oh. That makes a lot of sense.'"
That's the pattern worth calling out for anyone weighing the switch: the hesitation is real, but it tends to evaporate the moment people actually get their hands on the tool. The trick is making that first step easy — which is exactly why Trainual pairs new customers with a dedicated implementation team and a library of resources like Trainual University to get you off on the right foot. Matt's proved you don't have to nail it on day one. You just need the right on-ramp.
The bonus? The person who was once talked out of using it became the one everyone else learns from. Today, Vern is Matt's resident training expert — the go-to for building things the right way, both inside the company and among fellow Trainual users.
Results: A training system built to scale
Here's what changed once Matt's Automotive went all in on Trainual:
- Onboarding cut from 3-4 weeks to 1-2 weeks before a new hire is ready to run the counter
- Module build time down from a full day to 5-10 minutes
- 100% availability of SOPs, eliminating the "I was never taught that" excuse
- Fewer repetitive questions and fewer procedural phone calls pulling leaders off task
- Distributed ownership — managers now build and maintain their own modules
- Consistent processes across all 10 locations, adaptable to the gray-area moments the job demands
- Employees treated as internal customers, reinforcing the company's core mission
More than just an experience
For Vern, Trainual ladders directly up to what Matt's stands for as a company.
"One of our core values is becoming more than just an experience and setting the new standard. Trainual has been a big piece of that — because our employees are internal customers too, not just the people we serve every day."
It may be showing up in the numbers, too. In an industry where average tenure runs roughly 1.5 to 3 years, Matt's estimates their team stays 4 to 5 years — close to double.
What's next for Matt's?
Growth. Matt has his eye on expansion, with a few properties already in view. As Vern put it, "we always have our eyes on a few properties. If the right opportunity pops up, we'll jump on it." And a training system that scales cleanly is what makes saying yes to the next location possible.
His advice to any business still on the fence?
"You should try Trainual. You don't know what you don't know, and until you actually try it, you won't really understand what you were missing. You're not going to want to look back — you're going to start to question why you didn't start using Trainual in the first place."
TL;DR
Matt's Automotive traded unreadable 17-page SOPs and off-the-floor, hands-on training for a fast, video-first system built in Trainual. After leaning into Trainual University and embracing "good enough beats perfect," they now onboard new hires in 1-2 weeks instead of 3-4, build training modules in minutes instead of a full day, and keep processes consistent across 10 locations — all while treating their employees like the internal customers they are.
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