The episode tackles the pervasive issue of excuses in automotive shops and how they hinder growth, accountability, and customer satisfaction. It emphasizes a leadership mindset focused on ownership and problem-solving rather than blame. Practical advice includes replacing excuses with solution-oriented questions, tightening systems, and setting clear standards to build a culture of accountability. The host shares real-world examples and challenges listeners to banish phrases like 'that's not my job' to accelerate shop performance and customer trust.
In Episode 249 of The Weekly Blitz, Coach Chris Cotton breaks down how excuse-driven culture slows growth and damages accountability in auto repair shops.
This episode challenges shop owners to shift from blame to solutions and create a standard where problems are fixed — not explained.
If you want a faster, stronger, more accountable shop… this one’s for you.
To listen to more episodes, make sure and go over to iTunes and or Spotify.
The Weekly Blitz is brought to you by our friends over at Shop Marketing Pros. If you want to take your shop to the next level, you need great marketing. Shop Marketing Pros does top-tier marketing for top-tier shops.
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This is the Automotive Repair podcast network.
It's your weekly Blitz with Chris keeping you in the game.
Let me ask you something.
How many times in the last week have you heard one of these?
The vendor messed up.
The customer didn't approve it.
The tech didn't tell me.
Parts didn't show up.
That's not my job.
Well, nobody told me.
And maybe just maybe a couple of those came out of your mouth.
Here's the truth.
Excuses don't fix cars.
Excuses don't grow shops and excuses don't build culture.
Problems get fixed by people who decide to fix them.
And today we're talking about a mindset that would change your shop overnight.
It's called no excuses.
Just fix the problem.
Excuses spread faster than oil on a shop floor.
One advisor blames the tech.
One tech blames parts, parts, blames the vendor, the vendor blame shipping.
And before you know it, the customer's vehicle still isn't done.
So here's what happens when excuses take over.
Accountability disappears.
Speed slows down.
Culture erodes and leadership credibility fades.
And it all starts at the top.
If the owner makes excuses, the team is going to too.
The other thing is, is if the leader fixes problems, the team learns to fix problems.
So real quick, let's get practical.
Parts didn't show up.
It happens.
You got two options.
Explain why it's not your fault or solve it.
Call another vendor, send a runner, offer a loaner, communicate proactively.
Because in the end, customers don't care whose fault it is.
And this is a huge pet peeve of mine in our industry and the restaurant industry.
Well, we don't have enough employees.
Nobody cares.
I'll give a damn if you got enough employees or not.
That's not my problem to solve as a customer.
That's your problem to solve as a owner.
And it's way easier than most people think it is.
Customers do not care.
So if you're offering excuses to your customers, they don't care.
Stop doing it.
I don't care.
You don't care.
Customers don't care.
Why waste your breath and energy?
Explaining why you can't be a business owner, why you can't do your job.
Okay.
The only thing that customers care about is that it's handled.
And this is where leadership shows up.
You don't get paid to explain problems.
You get paid to solve them.
Okay.
This mindset shift is simple.
I can't speak today.
Instead of asking whose fault is it, ask what's the solution?
You know, high performance shops ask solution-based questions.
What can we control?
What's the next move?
How do we protect the customer?
How do we prevent this next time?
Average shops ask blame-based questions.
Who dropped the ball?
Why didn't they tell me who's responsible?
Blah, blah, blah.
Who can I blame it on?
Here's the hard truth, people.
Blame feels powerful in the moment, but solutions build power long term.
All right.
I want to take a quick pause and recognize shop marketing pros.
If your shop has an excuse mentality around marketing, we tried Facebook
once, Google ads didn't work, marketing doesn't work in our town.
That's not a marketing issue.
That's an execution issue.
Our friends at shop marketing pros specialize in eliminating guesswork
and building real marketing systems for independent shops.
No excuses, no random posting, no hoping because hope isn't a strategy.
Just strategy and execution.
I want you to check them out.
Shopmarketingpros.com forward slash Chris Cotton and tell them I sent you.
All right.
Now let's get back to fixing problems and no more excuses.
So if a technician says I couldn't finish it because do you accept it?
Do you investigate it?
Do you train through it?
Or do you fix a system or do you just nod?
Because whatever you tolerate becomes culture.
No excuses doesn't mean yelling.
It doesn't mean harsh.
It means clear, clear expectations, clear standards, clear accountability.
And when your team knows the standard is we fix the problem,
they stop rehearsing explanations.
This might be an old saying, but I've heard it a lot around the
University of Oklahoma football program.
The standard is the standard.
Whatever you set for the standard, that's what the standard is.
And that's what you need to hold people accountable to.
Let's be fair a little bit.
Sometimes there are legitimate reasons.
A part really is on national backorder.
A machine really does break.
A customer really does disappear.
But here's the separator.
Reasons explain excuses defend.
Reasons say, Hey, this happened and here's what we're doing about it.
Excuses say this happened.
Here's why it's not my fault.
There's a huge difference in your mindset and your phrasing.
Here's the part nobody loves hearing.
I want you to really think about leadership without excuses.
If something in your shop isn't working, it's your problem.
It's not your managers.
It's not your advisors.
It's not your techs.
It's yours.
You go to bed.
It's yours.
You wake up.
It's yours because leadership is ownership.
Okay.
And ownership says if it's in my building, it's my responsibility, period, and a story.
Now that doesn't mean you have to do everything.
It means you ensure it gets done.
All right.
Most excuses exist because systems don't.
No SOP.
Excuses.
No KPIs.
Excuses.
Standard.
Excuses.
No accountability process.
Excuses.
High level operators reduce excuses by reducing ambiguity.
Clear processes remove wiggle room.
And when wiggle room disappears, performance rises.
I don't know why I said ambiguity.
Great wiggles.
Great mindset.
I can't handle today, apparently.
Here's what I challenge you to do this week.
I want you to ban the phrase.
That's not my job.
I want you to replace blame with solution focused questions.
I want you to audit your shop for recurring excuses.
I want you to pick one week system and tighten it.
And I want you to model ownership publicly.
When a mistake happens, say that's on me.
Here's how we're fixing it.
Watch what that does to your culture.
Okay.
We recently had an issue in the shop in our shop.
Customer was not treated fairly by a former employee.
Doesn't matter who did it.
Doesn't matter what.
We're the employees that are there now.
And I had a coaching session.
We're owning this.
We own.
We screwed up.
We're going to fix it.
And that's it.
We're not going to say this other employee did it.
So it's not our fault.
And that's the excuse.
We own our mistakes.
We fix them.
We move on.
Period.
End of story.
Cars break, systems break, people make mistakes.
That's all that's business, right?
But great shops separate themselves by speed of correction.
Excuses delay.
Ownership accelerates.
No excuses.
Just fix the problem.
Simple.
Not easy.
Thanks for tuning into the episode 249 of the weekly Blitz.
If this one stepped on your toes a little bit, good.
That's how we grow.
Share it with a shop owner or manager who needs to raise their standard this week.
And as always, big shout out to our friends at the Automotive Repair Podcast Network.
Proud to be part of a network pushing the aftermarket forward.
Only to keep raising the bar, keep solving problems.
And remember, excuses don't fix cars, leaders do.
See you next week.
And remember, always rise and grind.
Have a great day, everybody.
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