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Continuous Improvement: Build a Shop That Never Stops Getting Better [E223] - Chris Cotton Weekly Blitz
Continuous Improvement: Build a Shop That Never Stops Getting Better [E223] - Chris Cotton Weekly Blitz
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About this episode
Chris Cotton dives into the essential principle of continuous improvement for auto repair shops, emphasizing that great shops are built and rebuilt consistently. He discusses the importance of creating a culture of ongoing development, setting ambitious growth goals, and implementing practical systems like weekly team meetings and one-on-ones. Cotton also highlights the value of outside coaching and training, encouraging shop owners to seek constant small improvements. With actionable insights and a focus on accountability, this episode provides a roadmap for shops aiming to thrive in a competitive market.
Topics:
continuous improvement
shop culture
team meetings
goal setting
coaching and training
kaizen mindset
employee engagement
productivity
marketing strategies
performance metrics
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This is the aftermarket radio network.
It's your weekly Blitz with Chris, keeping you in the game.
Are you ready to supercharge your auto repair business?
This is Coach Chris Cotton from Audifix AutoShop Coaching.
The weekly Blitz is where industry expertise and business innovation collide, revving
your engines for the week ahead.
Every episode has game-changing insights, up-to-the-minute industry updates, and practical tips to shift
your business into high gear.
We're talking about stuff you didn't even know you didn't know, folks.
This episode is brought to you by Shop Marketing Pros, the experts in marketing for top-tier
auto repair shops.
If you're running a successful shop and want to take you to the next level, Shop Marketing
Pros is without a doubt your best option.
From websites and SEO to social media and digital ads, Shop Marketing Pros helps
shop owners just like you and me fill our bays, grow our revenue, and build the life
we've been working for.
If you're ready to take the guesswork out of your marketing, I want you to visit
ShopMarketingPros.com forward slash Chris and get a free digital marketing inspection
and start building the shop of your dreams today.
Hey, everybody, here we are, episode 10.
This is the grand finale of our Back to Basic series.
Over the last nine episodes, we've rebuilt the core of your shop from the inside
out, vocabulary and KPIs, communication, workflow, tools and diagnostics, marketing
and retention, and now it's time to bring it all together with the principle that ties
it all together.
And I said all together twice.
How interesting.
Continuous improvement.
Great shops aren't born.
They're built.
And then they're rebuilt over and over again.
So we're going to talk about how to create a culture, a system, and a rhythm in
your shop that guarantees you're always leveling up.
One of the questions is, is why continuous improvement is non-negotiable?
You cannot fix it and forget it.
You can't hit a revenue milestone and coast.
I once had a coaching client ask me, hey Chris, when does it all go away and there
are no issues?
And I'm like, never.
Like there will always be something to be working on in your shop.
There will always be something that is broke that needs to be fixed.
There will always be an employee with a problem.
So if you think that someday all that's going to go away, it's not.
You'll be there whether you're paying attention to it or not.
Maybe you have a GM that pays attention to it at some point, but it will never all go away.
I want you to remember every system in your shop from estimating to inspections to team
meetings can be tuned, tested, and tightened up.
And if you're not improving those, I promise you somebody else in your market is.
Shops that commit to continuous improvement.
They increase productivity with less burnout.
They stay ahead of tech and customer expectations.
They keep employees engaged and growing and they improve profitability over time.
I want you to remember this.
A good shop can make it through a good year.
A great shop gets better every year.
A lot of time towards the end of the year and we're, gosh, we're almost done with
the third quarter here and hitting the fourth quarter and we'll start talking about goals
for next year.
People like Chris, what should our goal be for next year?
The goal is always 10% growth or more year over year.
You should be growing 10% or more.
I would say 10% or less.
We got some issues, either some customer issue, some other type of issue, something's going
on.
You know, you should be shooting for 10% or better goal every year.
So what are some systems that support growth?
So let's talk practical.
How do you build improvement into the fabric of your business?
Number one, weekly team meetings with metrics.
You need to track and review average repair order, hours per repair order, closing
percentage, car count and more.
You need to ask your staff what went well, what didn't and what's one thing we'll fix
as a group this week.
Make sure to keep it short, focused and honest, like agenda driven.
Next we have one-on-ones with your team.
You need to meet monthly at minimum and I almost think that you need to check
in weekly with each technician and advisor.
If you are the acting general manager in the shop, then that's your job.
If somebody else is the general manager, then that's their job.
It's a 10-minute meeting, hey, how are you doing, how are things at home?
And let them unload.
90% of the issues in the shop come from the home.
Also you need to discuss their performance goals, roadblocks and development.
You need to ask for ideas on what to improve in the shop and actually act on them.
So at minimum, once a month, I would love it if you talk to each employee weekly.
Next, we have postmortems for big mistakes or comebacks.
You have to use every comeback as a teachable moment.
What happened?
Why?
What's the fix?
I need you to share the lesson with the team without blame or finger pointing, but it's
important that we talk about those things and try to eliminate them as much as possible.
Usually you have a part error, a part installation error, training error, like there are some
of those things that we need to pinpoint and then if it's training area, we need
to outline, okay, what additional training do we need to get to make sure this
never happens again?
Next, I want you to have a Kaizen mindset and Kaizen is basically constant small
improvements.
I need you to look for tiny inefficiencies daily, tools out of place, forms not
filled out correctly, parts misordered.
Do not wait for major issues or overhauls to happen.
Make 1% improvements weekly and that's the Kaizen mindset.
Next, let's talk about a little bit training, coaching and getting outside help.
You don't know what you don't know, folks.
That's why even the best shops invest in outside coaching, training programs and
networking groups.
Like if we're talking about top tier shops, the best they enroll advisors in monthly
sales and communication training.
They pay for tech certifications and specialty classes.
They bring in a coach or join a peer group to audit operations.
They benchmark against other top shops.
Outside eyes see things you're blind to, you got to bring them in.
If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
I guarantee you this will make your shop better unless you're ghosting your
coach and things like that.
Actually, that would be a great topic for a podcast.
Don't ghost your coach.
Don't ghost.
Next, you need to set some goals.
Set annual, quarterly and monthly improvement goals.
Continuous improvement needs targets.
And here's how we're going to structure them.
Annual goals are revenue, net profit, tech efficiency, possibly retention rate
among employees, retention rate among customers if you want to.
Quarterly goals.
Let's talk about launching a new service.
Do we want to launch into alignments, BG services, tires?
Please, for crying out loud, everybody do tires.
Hire and onboard a new technician.
Do we want to reduce comebacks by 50%?
Monthly goals.
Increase average repair order by $50.
Implement 100% digital inspections.
Add 15 Google reviews.
Put these things on your wall.
Talk about them weekly.
Celebrate the wins.
Your team will rise to the bar you set, but only if you keep raising it.
People often ask me, like, Chris, why do you set such big goals?
And to me, if I set a big goal and get 75% of the way there, then I think that's awesome.
I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
Once I get to 75% of that goal, I'm going to raise the bar again and keep going.
Like somebody has to have their foot on the pedal in your business.
Typically, it's always the owner.
You need to find other people in your businesses that can put their feet on the pedal.
Back to basics doesn't mean basic.
It means foundational.
What separates the good from the great is whether or not you keep building on that foundation.
If you want help designing a continuous improvement strategy, if you want to join a peer group or get hands on coaching,
go to the website, auto-shopcoaching.com.
I want to thank you all for listening to this series.
If you listen to this and didn't get anything out of it, I'm like, maybe you need to listen to it again.
But I need you to go out and lead a shop that gets better every single day.
It starts now if you haven't already started.
If you're 20 years into your career and the last 10 years have been the same,
what are you going to do different in 2026?
Yep, I'm already talking about 2026.
What are you going to do different in 2026 than you've never done before?
I don't know what that is.
You have to identify it.
You have to ask for help.
You have to figure it out.
But don't do nothing.
I want to give another shout out to our sponsor, Shop Marketing Pros.
They're the only marketing company I recommend and they handle all of the marketing for my own shops as well.
If you're serious about growth, you need strategies that actually work.
Better websites, higher Google rankings, and ads that bring real customers through your doors.
I want you to go visit shopmarketingpros.com forward slash Chris
and partner with a team that understands your business because every great shop deserves marketing that's just as great.
Thanks for tuning in to The Weekly Blitz.
Remember, it's time to rise, grind, and keep your mindset positive.
Until next time, this is Coach Chris Cotton signing off.
Have a great day, everybody.
You've been listening to The Weekly Blitz with Coach Chris Cotton on the aftermarketradionetwork.com.
Follow Chris on your favorite podcast, listening out.
Well, let him know what you'd like him to cover.
His email is in the show notes.
Chris is all for advancing the aftermarket.
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