It seems like at least once every week, a press release hits my inbox from The Boyd Group announcing its latest acquisition. The company is taking an aggressive approach to expansion , as late in 2020 the company announced its plan to double in size over the next five years.
We are now in the midst of that growth. Over the last several months, The Boyd Group has continued to grow its network of Gerber Collision locations, including a 16-shop acquisition last week and an expansion into Hawaii in May, which gives them locations in 30 states. And it shows no sign of slowing down or changing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With all this happening, I felt like it was a good time to connect with The Boyd Group to learn more about the logistics behind their growth strategy and the company’s outlook for the future.
The full interview with Jason Hope, The Boyd Group’s Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Projects, will run next week on the FenderBender’s podcast, CollisionCast. But here’s a sneak peek into part of our conversation.
On what they look for in potential acquisitions...
“There’s a number of factors we focus on. Some are physical in nature, structural and even some philosophical… We have stores today that are 5,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet. So size is really relative to the individual situation. But outside of that, we look for stores that have a great reputation. We look for stores that really align well with our culture, a strong workforce, customer-centric and individuals and body shop people who care about the community in which they’re operating in.”
On the different factors to consider when expanding to a new location…
“I think Hawaii is a good example, because of its geographical distance to where we are today. One of the things that really stood out to us with that transaction is the leadership team there. We spend a lot of time up front working with the sellers, who were fantastic to deal with, and getting to understand the culture of the business and how they operate and what it would take for us to feel confident in our ability to integrate this company. And so I would say when it’s in a new territory, we probably spend more time up front just understanding what opportunities are there for us. And how we need to leverage our partners to make sure any potential pitfalls are mitigated or avoided.”
On the growth strategy through COVID and beyond…
Our growth strategy is really one that has been consistent probably for the last decade. We’ve publicly stated that our 2025 goal is to double the size of the business again and that really applies to all lines of business within Boyd. It implies a compound annual growth rate of about 15 percent per year… We think that goal is realistic.
Continued, on COVID: “I wouldn’t say it changed our approach or our thoughts relative to our goal. Going into COVID, we had a strong position in the marketplace and we still have a strong position today and we feel as confident in our ability to achieve our goals as we did prior.”
