It means the shop checks the car and writes up what they find using a tablet or computer instead of paper. The results can include pictures, and it helps the shop show customers what needs attention.
Online scheduling is when customers book their car service appointment on a website or app. It can reduce phone calls and help the shop plan the day better.
AI-assisted inspections use computer software to help the shop during the inspection. It can help sort through what they see and make it quicker to write up and explain to the customer.
Workflow automation means using software to handle repetitive steps automatically. For example, it can send messages or reminders without someone having to do it by hand every time.
CRM follow-up means the shop uses a customer contact system to stay in touch after important steps. It helps make sure customers get updates instead of the shop forgetting to call or message.
Data analytics means looking at the shop’s numbers to see what’s working and what isn’t. It helps the shop make smarter decisions based on trends, not guesses.
Marketing automation means the shop uses tools to send marketing messages automatically. For example, it can follow up with people who asked about service, without someone manually doing it each time.
This is the idea that technology doesn’t replace good leadership—it makes it more effective. When a shop has clear processes and communication, tools like automation and AI help those strengths scale across the business.
LIVE
This is the Automotive Repair podcast network.
It's your weekly Blitz with Chris keeping you in the game.
Everybody wants to talk about AI right now. Everybody wants to automate.
Everybody wants to save labor. Everybody wants to look cutting edge. And listen,
I love technology in this industry. I love testing new tools.
I love innovation. I love seeing shops become more efficient and more scalable
through technology. But let me tell you something,
just because technology exists,
doesn't mean you should blindly turn it on and walk away from it.
I heard two iPhone answering systems recently from competitors in our market.
And honestly, it was brutal, cringe level bad, robotic, confusing,
zero warmth, zero trust.
The audio was actually cutting out.
It sounded like nobody had listened to the customer experience
after they paid for it and set it up.
The crazy part about it is this.
These shop owners probably think they solved the staffing problem.
And what they may have actually done is create a customer acquisition problem
because your phone experience is still your front counter.
It's still your first impression.
And if your technology creates friction instead of confidence,
you're losing opportunities before your advisors ever get a shot.
Today, we're talking about the difference between using technology
strategically versus hiding behind it irresponsibly.
Technology isn't the problem lazy leadership is.
And I'm telling you right now,
if you've been listening Piper's home from Germany for the summer
and my 23 year old is kicking your A.I.'s phone answering services ass.
This episode is about leadership accountability in the age of AI and automation.
We're going to discuss why technology should improve customer experience,
not replace human responsibility and why shop owners need to audit
every automated touch point in their business before it quietly damages trust,
conversations and reputation.
I love technology, but I love standards more people like I want to make something
clear up front. I'm not anti AI. automation.
I'm not anti progress. We even tried.
It wasn't a iPhone answering, but it was a phone tree.
When I first bought Firestone of Durango and what I was trying to do is,
you know, we do 100 plus tickets every week.
We probably take 400 phone calls and probably make 400 phone calls.
I was trying to reduce the load of the service advisor.
And so I wanted to do something different with the phone answering.
Again, it wasn't AI.
It was basically press one to schedule an appointment,
two to leave a message and three to do a service advisor.
So we had it in that order.
If you wanted to use technology to schedule an appointment, go ahead.
Two, you can leave us a message or three speak to a service advisor.
People didn't get it.
Some people did.
It was really nice to be in the shop and not have the phone ringing all the time.
Like you could work in the shop all day when we were doing it and the phone never rang.
I thought on our end, it worked really well.
Customers didn't like it, especially coming from an old shop that had zero
technology to a shop that was trying to go to digital vehicle inspections,
no paper and online scheduling.
It was a little bit much, but spend that forward to where we're at now.
AI is great.
I've heard some great iPhone conversations and I've had some terrible ones.
So actually, I think our industry has been slow to adopt useful technology
in a lot of areas, and there are incredible tools available right now.
AI assisted inspections, workflow automation,
smarter scheduling, better CRM follow up, integrated communication systems,
data analytics, marketing automation, like the list goes on.
Technology can absolutely help shops become more profitable,
more organized and less chaotic.
But here's the problem.
Too many owners install technology hoping it replaces leadership.
And that's where the whole thing goes sideways.
Technology amplifies leadership.
It does not replace it.
If your processes are weak, automation exposes it faster.
If your communication is poor, AI magnifies it.
If your customer experience lacks clarity,
automation creates frustration at scale.
And that's exactly what I heard recently.
These systems sounded disconnected, awkward, slow and honestly confusing.
As a customer, I wouldn't have trusted the experience
and I could not actually get to a person.
I also hung up and had Piper call them and Piper listened and she was like,
this is terrible.
She's like, I can't even make heads or tails of this.
I thought it was just because I'm old and didn't get it.
But no, she didn't get it either.
So now imagine what happens when a first time caller,
this is a first time person, you use Google ads, you've done local ads,
you've done something and you spent $20 to make the phone ring.
Their vehicle is broken down.
They don't trust repair shops.
They're stressed about money.
They need confidence and your AI system sounds like a failed science experiment.
That's not innovation.
That's erosion of trust.
You know, your phone process is still a sales process.
And here's what many shop owners forget.
The phone call is still one of the highest value conversion
opportunities in your business.
Your marketing can work perfectly.
Your SEO can be amazing.
Your Google reviews can be incredible.
But if the phone experience is poor, all that money gets wasted.
And a bad phone process kills conversion rates, appointment booking,
customer confidence, average repair order potential, long term retention.
And so now we're entering a dangerous phase where some owners think,
well, the AI answers every call, so problem solves.
Nope, not answering the call is not the objective.
Just answering the phone call.
It is not the objective.
What is the objective people?
It's pass or fail.
Did you get the appointment?
Did you not get the appointment?
That's what you're looking for.
Creating trust is the objective.
So there's a massive difference.
And if you're using a iPhone systems right now, here's my challenge.
Are you auditing the experience consistently?
Not once, weekly, maybe daily, because updates happen.
Scripts drift, integrations fail, responses get weird.
When customers aren't going to tell you how to time, because guess what?
Because they can't get to you to talk to you.
They'll just call somebody else and they'll call me and talk to Piper.
That's great.
That's the scary part, though.
The market gives silent feedback.
Lost opportunities rarely announce themselves.
And when I mean the market gives silent feedback, I don't know how many times
I've let a service advisor go or a manager go and people after the fact
have been like, oh, my goodness, thank goodness you let that person go.
I didn't like my experience with them and I was ready to stop coming here.
And then I always question them, like, why didn't you tell me?
Why didn't you let me know?
And they just shrug.
So convenience cannot come at the expense of the human experience.
I think some shop owners are making decisions based entirely on internal
convenience where short staff, the phones are overwhelming, my advisors are overloaded.
I understand all of that.
Those are real operational pressures, but leadership means solving
operational problems without damaging customer trust.
The other thing is you have to send your people for training.
Next week, I've got two of my service advisors.
We're flying them to Denver, so they don't have a lot of windshield time
to do a one day class.
This one is tire training that a vendor's putting on.
So I'm spending several thousand dollars to send them to training
to make them better to help them sharpen their skills.
It's an expensive print, but hopefully they'll be able to relate with the customer
better, be able to sell tires better.
And also this is a Michelin training class.
They're going to get some product knowledge from Michelin as well.
Here's the truth.
Nobody wants to hear sometimes the better answer is improving
operational efficiency, not replacing human interaction.
Maybe your advisors need a better call flow process, better appointment
Fortunately and unfortunately, my front counter staff right now,
I don't have anybody there that's been a service advisor for more than a year.
Piper's just recently started.
Roland worked at Home Depot.
He was great with customer service there.
Tyler worked O'Reilly's pro and he was our parts person.
He was great with us.
And I begged him to work for us for like a year before he finally left
O'Reilly's and came to us.
These people are great at taking care of customers.
We can train the rest and we have been training it and our numbers show it.
Average paratroopers higher than it's ever been.
Our average estimates higher than it's ever been.
We have people all the time being like, man, Tyler, you're awesome.
So anyway, technology is not the enemy.
The poor leadership around technology is the shops that win in the future
are not going to reject innovation.
They're going to manage it responsibly.
They're going to test it.
They're going to refine it.
They're going to audit it.
They're going to improve it
because customers still remember how you made them feel long before
they remember what software you installed.
Don't confuse automation with excellence.
Leadership still matters.
Standards still matter.
Customer trust still matters.
And if you're going to put AI between your business and your customers,
you better know exactly what that experience sounds like.
I want to thank you for spending time with me today.
As always, keep pushing forward, keep improving and keep leading at a higher level.
This industry needs stronger operators willing to evolve instead of coast.
If this episode challenged your thinking or gave you something actionable,
make sure you subscribe, share it with another shop owner and leave us a review.
Let's keep building better shops and stronger leaders.
Have a great day, everybody.
Remember to rise and grind for me.
You've been listening to The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton on the Automotive
Repair Podcast Network.
Download our exclusive podcast app at automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com
because the best conversations in the industry start here.
Want expert advice on running your shop?
Well, Chris is listening.
Check the show notes for his email and send him your topics.
About this episode
Leadership, not technology, is the real lever in auto repair. The host argues that “just because technology exists, doesn't mean you should blindly turn it on and walk away from it,” because customer-facing systems can create friction, erode trust, and “kill[] conversion rates.” AI and automation can help—like “AI assisted inspections, workflow automation”—but only when processes and communication are already solid. Phone handling remains a high-value moment, so leaders should audit calls, track missed-call metrics, and train the human connection.
Technology is moving fast in the automotive repair industry — and that’s not a bad thing.
AI phone systems, automation tools, communication platforms, and workflow integrations all have the potential to improve efficiency, scalability, and customer experience.
But here’s the hard truth discussed in this episode:
Bad implementation creates bad customer experiences.
Coach Chris Cotton shares recent experiences hearing AI answering systems from competing shops that sounded robotic, disconnected, confusing, and trust-breaking. The issue wasn’t the technology itself — it was the lack of leadership oversight behind it.
This episode challenges shop owners to stop blindly automating customer interactions without personally auditing the experience their customers are actually receiving.
Key Topics Discussed
Technology Is Not the Enemy
Chris makes it clear:
He loves technology and innovation in the industry.
Modern tools can improve:
Workflow efficiency
Scheduling
CRM follow-up
Customer communication
Capacity management
Shop productivity
Marketing effectiveness
But technology should enhance leadership — not replace it.
“Technology amplifies leadership. It does not replace it.”
The Danger of Poor AI Phone Systems
Many shop owners are implementing AI answering systems to help with:
Staffing shortages
Overloaded advisors
Missed calls
Operational pressure
But if the system sounds:
Cold
Robotic
Confusing
Slow
Untrustworthy
It can quietly damage:
Customer confidence
Appointment conversion
First impressions
Long-term retention
Brand reputation
Most customers won’t complain.
They’ll simply call another shop.
Memorable Quotes From This Episode
“Answering the phone is not the objective. Creating trust is.”
“Too many owners are trying to automate chaos instead of fixing chaos.”
“Customers don’t announce lost trust. They just call someone else.”
“Convenience cannot come at the expense of customer confidence.”
“Good technology still requires leadership oversight.”
“The market is becoming less forgiving of sloppy execution.”
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.
Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through Story Telling and Open Discussion
Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z with Matt Fanslow: From Diagnostics to Metallica and Mental Health, Matt Fanslow is Lifting the Hood on Life.
The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level.
The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching.
Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest.
Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: Develop Interpersonal and Professional Communication Skills when Speaking to Audiences of Any Size.
