A Big Welcome to Our “Winter Escape Sweepstakes” Winners!
A Big Welcome to Our “Winter Escape Sweepstakes” Winners!
When Jeff Knapp got the call informing him that he’d won the Mitchell 1 “Winter Escape Sweepstakes” and a free trip to San Diego, he was very skeptical – as most of us would be. In fact, he had his front desk person screen the call before Nick DiVerde, senior marketing director for Mitchell 1, persuaded them that Jeff would want to take this call. After that it didn’t take much convincing.
Jeff is co-owner of his family’s business, Knapp’s Service Center in Newburgh, IN. He and his family — wife, Laurel and son, Colton — flew to San Diego from Indiana on Thursday, Feb. 6 to escape below-freezing temperatures and enjoy a long weekend in San Diego, including a VIP tour at the Mitchell 1 headquarters in Poway.
Dave Ellingen, President of Mitchell 1, right, greeted Jeff Knapp, co-owner of Knapp’s Service Center, along with his wife, Laurel, and son Colton, as they arrived for a tour of the Mitchell 1 headquarters.
As the sweepstakes winner, Jeff won round-trip airfare for two people to San Diego and three nights in a double occupancy room at a four-star San Diego hotel, a rental car and $500 spending money. He was selected randomly from a pool of customers who used or upgraded to ProDemand™ during the contest period. (More details about the contest can be found here: https://mitchell1.com/press/?p=1723).
Knapp’s Service Center was founded in 1971 by Jeff’s father and continues today as a successful family-run business. Jeff has been working in the shop since he was 14 and now does service writing and oversees the front-end of the business. His brother, Kevin, runs the shop floor and their mother, Ginny, manages the accounting side. They are long-time users of Mitchell 1’s repair information and the shop’s technicians now often access ProDemand on their Android tablets. “They love the program and being able to be mobile,” said Jeff.
Adding Mitchell 1’s industry-leading shop management software in 2008 has helped the shop get more organized and profitable. “That really changed our business and our bottom line,” said Jeff. “We used to hand-write everything. It was pretty messy and parts often got left off the repair orders. Now we’re much more organized and all the parts are getting included on the ROs.”
“We offered the ‘Winter Escape to San Diego’ sweepstakes as a way of showing our appreciation to our loyal customers,” said Dave Ellingen, President of Mitchell 1. “While Jeff may be only one of our many thousands of subscribers, his family-run shop reflects our core customers – small businesses that rely on our products and services to help them fix more cars and trucks more efficiently. We are delighted to have the opportunity to welcome Jeff and his family and show our appreciation for all that he and shop owners just like him mean to our business.”
The Knapps arrived in San Diego just as the first “real” winter storm of 2014 reached drought-ridden California, bringing rain and cooler temperatures (low 60’s). But the Knapps could not have been happier to escape the frozen Midwest. “It was 8 degrees with snow showers when we left Indiana. This feels great,” said Jeff. First on their list of attractions to see in San Diego was the USS Midway Museum. After that they planned to do a trolley tour of the city and decide which other sights and attractions to visit – including Balboa Park, Old Town and Coronado.
