How do you break through a limiting belief about yourself? Reflecting on this question, reminded me of a story I read in John Maxwell’s book, The Five Levels of Leadership. Maxwell writes about of a young lawyer named Herb, who was new to the legal profession. In an effort to get up to speed, Herb studied two experienced attorneys to…
You just had ten forklift drivers respond to your State Inspectors ad. Your $$3,000 Google Adwords campaign only generated a $30 oil change. Your new “A” Technician that started on Monday still hasn’t come back from his lunch break. Each of these scenarios has one thing common. They leave you feeling frustrated. This is problematic because it’s impossible to feel…
What’s possible if you become a master of persuasion? As I ponder this question, I’m reminded of something that happened back when I was a shop manager in need of a new car. The shop was 45 minutes away from home, so I was looking for a reliable and dependable vehicle. The plan was to get…
“My tool guy says that everybody’s slow!” Said “Katie”, the service manager of a local repair shop. She was averaging $12,000 per week in sales which was a 16% decrease when compared to the previous year. Katie went on to tell me: “It’s a tough economy, and we’re in the fall season, but I’m sure things will pick up…
Are you frustrated by the decrease in car count that came with your increase in Google AdWords? Does it feel like you’re flushing money down the drain with each marketing campaign? In his book titled, Sticky Church, Larry Osborne communicates a similar frustration. Osborne is a church pastor who struggled to grow his membership. Back in 1980,…
How do you achieve a positive outcome in a negative environment? To answer this question, it helps to understand the concept of home-field advantage. In the sports world, teams that play in front of their home crowd, have a better chance of winning than the visiting road opponent. For example, in the National Football League, a…
“This tire is defective! I want to talk to the manager!” This is what I overheard at the service counter while conducting a shop visit back when I was a district manager for a national automotive chain. I won’t tell you the name of the organization, but I will say that the employees had a lot…
Now that I have your attention, imagine that you’ve just landed in an unfamiliar town where you don’t know anyone, and you lack access to a rental car. To make matters worse, your hotel doesn’t offer a shuttle to pick you up. What would you do? Catch a bus? Catch a train? Hitch a ride?…
What’s the biggest barrier that’s blocking your path to success? As I ponder this question, I’m reminded of a story shared by author Ryan Holiday. In his book The Obstacle is The Way, Holiday shares the story about a King from the ancient times, who conducted an interesting experiment with his subjects. The king purposely…
Do you have a celebrity gap at your shop? “Dan,” a shop owner from the Midwest, has one. A few weeks back on a 100-degree afternoon, a customer named “Sarah” arrived at his location with the following request, “I just blew my right front tire, and I don’t have any cash on me. Can someone help me…