Speak Up! Effective Communication

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, InBound Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today: I had some recent conversations that heightened my awareness to a sales approach that, I feel, give me as much discomfort as it does clients in any repair facility. I wanted to take the time to talk about my most hated experience in the transmission shop - having to call cl...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today If you're like most service advisors, you get uncomfortable when a first-time customer wants to wait. I get it - the pressure, the packed schedule, the preference for phone control. But that discomfort is costing you something massive: the chance to turn a visitor into a cl...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound Watch Full Video Episode If you've tried to implement a quality control system before and it fell apart, you're not alone. Over 90% of shops I talk to have no documented QC process - and many who start out approached it excited… but then slowly lose momentum and revert back to old habits. I'm going to discuss why previ...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today, I tackle something that's been bothering me for years - the phrases we use in automotive service that we THINK build trust, but actually destroy it. As we get to the end of the year, it's a good time to reflect on habits we'd like to leave behind. I've chosen five common p...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today: Whether you're a business owner, client service advisor, manager, or mechanical specialist, you WILL eventually be confronted with negative talk from within our own industry. It's usually not blatant. It's often subtle. It always puts the industry in a bad light....

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our Episode Today: Have you ever lost your cool with a client? Many of us have been there. My story here is about a situation that was completely impossible for me to help with - but I was trying my best to help with - and the client remained defiant anyway… I’ve told this story man...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today: We are diving into one of the most stressful moments in our profession, when a client declines a critical safety repair and your mechanical specialist is standing there saying "they can't drive that." We wont be talking about winning the approval or being a better...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today: I was sitting in my office rounding out the work day. It was about 5:30. As I was tapping away at the last lines of the last emails - I heard something like my grandmother's laughter in the other room. I should tell you, my grandmother passed in 2017, there is no...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today: It was a busy week in Vegas at AAPEX and SEMA! Walking through those halls, I kept thinking about 2017—the year I met Chris Cloutier at AAPEX. (See Episode 64) That conversation changed my life. It led to everything I do now. And this year, I kept asking myself: C...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today: It was a hot day in Phoenix—August 9, 2022. I was in a boardroom delivering a demonstration on digital workflow to stakeholders in a large national organization. I began the demo portion of the presentation by adding a fictional customer to the dashboard. The name...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our Episode Today: We need to talk about those pesky scam emails inviting you to be a guest on an obscure podcast! I sometimes think scams are SUPER obvious and no one could fall for them… but then some of my associates started asking me for advice about replying to some of those in...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today: It was my pleasure to host a friend of mine, Mike Edge, who himself is a host on the “Gaining Traction Podcast.” Mike interviews a lot of folks in the auto-repair industry, focusing mostly on tire businesses. I settled on the title of our episode AFTER the convers...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our Episode Today: I was sitting on hold for an active support ticket recently… the apple phone I’ve been using for three years started having an issue… and for some weird reason I made a connection to a book I read back when I was a teenager:  “How to get out of a speeding tic...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode I'm sharing a story I don't tell often - my first time attending AAPEX (Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo) in 2017. At the time I first attend - I had just left the family business, was traveling on my own dime, and was a week away from starting a new job (which didn’t go quite as p...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our Episode Today: I start heavy in this one, my friends. I start describing a phone call many years ago that resulted in the deaths of seven people. The tele conference that preceded the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Pessimism aversion. This is an important topic - and on...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today: This one started when an email landed in my inbox from my former colleague and friend of the show, Jeremy Glassco.  It was one of those emails that landed at just the right time. Jeremy was e-introducing me to his newest team member, Quinn Butler. Quinn recen...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today: I felt inspired to discuss personal accountability. We all make mistakes, and I know first hand the difficulty of confronting them head on with admission and apology. Ironically, as difficult as it seems, it is the easiest course to a practical resolution and rest...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today - I welcome Autumn Gray to the podcast, a service consultant with SparkHope Automotive in the Denver Colorado area. Our loyal listeners know from Episode 058 , my guest Helen shared what it is like being a single mom who couldn't afford vehicle repairs - and wished...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In Our Episode Today: Many of our loyal listeners have heard me mention my older, little, brother Shaun, or you have heard me jesting with host of Diagnosing the Aftermarket A-Z, Matt Fanslow… Today you get to see us sit in the room and have a genuine conversation! I notice in my day-t...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today- I welcome to the podcast my friend Helen Fradette, the newly elected Club President for Grand Rapids Toastmasters, club 404. As listeners know - one of my favorite things about my weekly participation in club 404 -is that the club is NOT composed of automotive pro...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our Episode Today: I’ve invited my friend Rui Martins to return for Part Two of our conversation on the repair shop role focused on communication.  We discussed this topic in episode 22 - and I point just about every repair shop I work with to the concept of creating a reservat...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In our Episode Today: Craig O’Neill hosts his BOSS! Director of Content/Producer - Tracy Capriotto, joins the podcast to discuss her communication journey - which led her to LEAD the Remarkable Results Toastmasters Club as Club President in the 2024-2025 term. As the Immediate Past Pre...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode On this show, we talk about communication and leadership skills - and well, sometimes I just have something to say, pulling from recent experiences that I hope will help or inspire you on your journey - because it’s helped me on mine. If you’ve caught on to some of my themes these past...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express Watch Full Video Episode In this episode - Craig has some fun with an old anecdote that intends to reminds us how important it is to take a customers complaint seriously - even when it sounds absolutely ridiculous! The old story is about a man whose new Pontiac will not start ONLY if he goes and picks up vanil...

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound Watch Full Video Episode In our episode today: In this episode we’ll hear about Rhonda’s communication journey and how her relationship with Jimmy has lead to a new path speaking and presenting on topics loyal listeners of Speak Up will certainly appreciate. Rhonda Cites George Bernard Shaw with one of her favorite quo...