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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-revere business? This is Coach Chris Cotton from Audifix Auto Shop 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 help shop owners just like you and me fill our bays, grow a 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, if you haven't listened to part one yet, I need you to go back and start there. It's the last episode. It's episode number 229 and then come back here because in that episode, we talked about what the game really is running your shop like a business, not a job, understanding the rules, your scoreboard, your KPIs and how to finally see what winning looks like.
But today, we're leveling up because knowing the rules doesn't mean you've won the game. It just means you finally know how to play this episode is called now that you know the game. It's time to play to win and we're going to talk about execution, accountability, leadership and mindset, the stuff that separates the winners from the wannabes.
Let's get one thing straight. Knowledge alone does not win games. I talk to shop owners every single day who know their numbers. They can quote their average a pair of ordered card count, gross profit, but their shop still feels chaotic. Why is that?
Because they're not acting on the information. It's like a quarterback memorizing the entire playbook but never stepping on the field. Knowing what to do is easy, doing it day after day when it's uncomfortable, when you're tired, when you're short-stacked, that's the difference between average and elite.
And here's a truth bomb for you. Information without execution is just potential energy. If you're sitting on knowledge and not acting on it, it ain't helping you. It's holding you back.
So here's something I want every shop owner to ask themselves, I want you to close your eyes and think about this. Am I playing to win or am I playing not to lose?
There's a huge difference. I am all gas, no brakes. If I burst into flames and flame out, then wait. But I am never playing not to lose.
When you play not to lose, you play scared. You make decisions based on fear, fear of losing a tech, fear of raising prices, fear of losing a customer. When you play to win, you take control.
You make confident data back decisions, you invest in your team, you hold people accountable. Remember that. You hold people accountable and talk about that again here in a minute.
One of my clients said something recently that struck with me. He said, Chris, I realized I was running my business like I was constantly waiting for something bad to happen.
How many of you out there doing that right now? That's not leadership at all. That's just survival. When he means being proactive, not reactive, it means setting your targets and chasing them relentlessly.
It means leading your team with vision, not fear. When we talk about this, we talk about reps, practice, consistency, how our champions built.
You don't win championships with one great play. You win with thousands of reps in practice. Your shop is no different. You can't hold one meeting and expect your advisor to suddenly hit a thousand dollar average per order.
You can't talk about efficiency once and then think it's fixed. Repetition builds rhythm and rhythm builds results.
I want you to look at any great team. They practice the same plays over and over until it becomes muscle memory. That's what you've got to build in your shop.
Muscle memory for success. That means reviewing your numbers every single week. It means checking DVI's every day. It means role playing cell scripts, not just handing them out.
Your processes should be so second nature that your team doesn't even have to think about doing them right. They just do them.
You can't expect game day performance from a team that never practices. Here's where most shops fall apart, no accountability.
Everybody says they want to win until it's time to track the score. Everybody says they want to be aligned until they know what it takes to be one.
Accountability isn't about punishment. It's about clarity. It's the scoreboard that shows who's executing and who's not.
And if you don't review the score, your team will assume it doesn't matter. So I want you to start thinking like a coach.
A coach doesn't yell because he's mad. He holds players accountable because he wants them to succeed.
What does accountability look like? It looks like setting expectations clearly, measuring performance weekly, following up every time.
If your technicians aren't producing, talk about it. If your advisors aren't closing sales, train them. If you aren't following through, own it.
Because leaders go first, you can't hold your team accountable to standards you're not living by. And that's the hardest pill to swallow, but also the most powerful.
Let's talk about team culture because winning shops have it. I've seen shops where everyone walks in, fired up, focused and ready to go. They know the goals, they know the score, they know what winning looks like.
And then I've seen others where people clock in, do their job and go home. No fire, no ownership, no team. That is not culture. That's clock punching.
So how do you build a culture that competes? You celebrate the wins, both big and small. You talk about numbers openly. You share progress weekly.
You make sure everyone knows their role in the victory. You can't have a team of MVPs if they don't even know what game they're in.
When you're rolling on Monday, what do Monday meetings look like or what question do we start with? Maybe this is the question. What does a win look like this week?
That's how you shift the energy from we have to work to we get to win. First thing Monday morning, what does a win look like this week?
I had a client that was really, really sharp, super sharp. One of the best owners I've ever worked with.
He knew every number, average a pair of order, gross profit, car count, you name it. He had the dashboards, he had the spreadsheets. He could recite all of it.
But something just didn't click. He wasn't making the money. He should have been making. So one day I asked him, I said, you've got all the tools. Why aren't you using them?
And he said, Chris, I think I'm afraid to see the truth.
That really hit me because I've been there too. It's scary to look at the scoreboard and see your behind. But that's where change begins.
Once we knew that and once we moved past it, we started meeting weekly, reviewing one KP at a time. We built habits, not ideas. 90 days later, net profits up 25%.
Same car count, same team, different mindset. He stopped knowing the game and started playing to win.
If we get real and if we're really being honest for a minute, winning starts in your head before it ever happens in your bank account.
You got to expect to win. You got to walk into your shop every morning, believing that you're going to find solutions, not problems.
And what do I say? You got to be pissed off for greatness. That's mindset. The truth is success is contagious. If the leader believes the team follows, if the leader doubts, the team has a date.
You can't lead your team to victory if you're still questioning whether you belong on the field.
You belong there. You've earned your spot, but it's time to play to your full potential. I want you to stop surviving and start competing.
Here's your coach's challenge for the week. Simple but powerful. Pick three KPIs. Maybe it's average of pair order, a gross profit and car count.
Now for the next 30 days, track them daily. Talk about them in your meetings. Make one actionable change per week to improve them.
Don't overcomplicate it. Don't make 15 dashboards and 10 spreadsheets. Just play the game. One play to time.
And if you do that, I promise you're going to feel the shift. Your team will feel it too. And you're going to move from reaction to rhythm and that's where winning lives.
Alright, so let's shut this down and bring it home. Knowing the game is step one, playing to win a step two. And this, this is where the real work begins.
Anyone can memorize the rules. If you have the discipline to show up every day and play their heart out, so I'm going to leave you with this thought.
You can't win the game if you don't know how to play it. But once you do, you've got no excuses not to win.
You've got the playbook. You've got the scoreboard. You've got the team. Now get out there and win your game.
If this episode fired you up a little bit, then share it with another shop owner who's ready to play to win.
And if you're ready to take your shop and your mindset to the next level, I want you to reach out to us at Auto Fix Auto Shop Coaching will help you build your playbook, track your numbers and coach your team to victory.
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 the marketing for my own shop 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 visit shopmarketing pros.com forward slash Chris and partner with a team that understands your business because every great shop deserves a marketing that's just as great.
Remember to keep your mindset positive, rising grind and most importantly, keep smiling.
This coach Chris signing off. Have a great day everybody.
You've been listening to the weekly blitz with coach Chris Cotton on the aftermarket radio network.com.
Follow Chris on your favorite podcast listening app. 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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