Strong battery, good ignition components, good valve seal all help in quick starts. Not sure what your mech did. On a fuel injected car, if fuel pressure bleeds off / pump is weak long crank times will result.

But, a cranking of say 5 seconds before the engine fires does help engine life as oil pressure has a chance to come up a bit before the engine is running.

My trucks still have carburetors, when cold I crank a bit then push the peddle to set the choke.