Ep 137: From Technician Shortages to Thriving Teams with Jimmy Alauria

0:00You know, our job is to ensure that our team is winning. Like, I don't, it's not about the shop being successful and profitable and then somebody else having to sacrifice and losing. It's about everybody winning. The goal of the group has to be big enough that it encompasses and it's able to help the individuals within the group. You're listening to the Limitless Leadership Podcast, the podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train, and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought-provoking interviews from industry leaders.

0:35Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results? Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. All right everyone, welcome back. Today we got another fantastic guest for you joining us. Today we are live again at the 2025 Apex Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm joined by a friend of mine, uh, a fellow industry coach, uh, also a shop owner.

1:09Uh, he is the, the founder of Victory Team Building Group. He is the president and owner of 3A Automotive and Diesel. He is also a friend of mine my friend Mr. Jimmy Eloria. Jimmy, thanks for being here, man. Thanks a lot for having me, Josh. Uh, well, Jimmy, I'm excited to get to know you more. I mean, you and I have, have recently gotten connected, uh, you know what, not too long ago, about a month ago or so, uh, caught up at the Ratchet and Wrench, uh, management conference in Arizona.

1:35Trying to think like, where, where are we again? Um, but you know, I've been connected on social media for a minute. I've been following a lot of what you do and, and really admire and respect, uh, who you are, what you do and how you do it. If you would go and share with the audience all of those things so we can get to know you as well.

1:49Promotive is tackling one of the toughest challenges in the automotive industry, finding and hiring great technicians. Their team is built from people who know the aftermarket, understand technician roles, and recognize what actually makes someone a strong long-term fit. Promotive builds recruiting pipelines for the shops they support. They uncover talent you won't find on job boards, run intentional and structured screenings, and guide candidates through interview prep and communication so shops can make confident decisions.

2:15Shops choose Promotive because their process creates consistency, momentum instead of waiting, clarity instead of guesswork, and a partnership instead of a transaction. If your shop is hiring or preparing for growth, head to gopromotive.com. You can schedule a discovery call, submit your openings, and see how Promotive supports shops nationwide. All right, folks, as you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best.

2:39It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop success. It's about putting the right team in place. It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro, making pro moves. And when I think about the pros, I think about Shop Marketing Pros. The know, like, and trust factor, that's a real thing. And Shop Marketing Pros understands that.

2:59That's why I wanna recommend Shop Marketing Pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know, like, and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know, like, and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level. So when I talk about making pro moves, this is the kind of move I'm talking about.

3:17This is the kind of standard-setting partnership that's gonna elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. Awesome. Yeah, it's, uh, it's a real pleasure to be here and, uh, and to get to know you. It was, it was cool, you know, seeing you on social media. I was, following you as well and, and love what you, what you're doing for the industry.

3:39And so, yeah, I've been in the, in the business for about 25 years now. I had no interest in being in the auto repair industry when I was a kid. I was a hockey player and planned on playing professional hockey for a long time. And that, that got cut short in about the year 2000. I had a knee injury, so I ended up moving home after a short professional career and started working for my dad..

4:02And one of the things that I saw right away was how hard he was working and really wanted to help him step away from the day-to-day operations. He had, he'd put a lot of systems in place, had a really successful shop. It was, you know, it was profitable and stuff, but he was still manning up a lot of different posts in the, in the organization.

4:22And I didn't see a path for him to really be getting away from the day-to-day operations. So my goal was to help him get away. And then I was going to go off, you know, and do whatever I was going to do with my career. I was about 25 years old at the time. So anyhow, within about a year and a half, I had him out of the day-to-day operations.

4:44And me, along with a guy that he had kind of slated as the manager of the shop before I got back, we started running the thing and we doubled the sales. And, you know, it was really became a machine for my dad and I to go do other things. So the necessity of the shop was to fund our other investments. So we started doing real estate together.

5:06And so we had other, you know, other interests that the shop was funding. And that was where I really like started seeing the value of having that operation to be able to— it wasn't necessarily, I was never a car guy, you know, I, I, I, I worked on cars when I was a kid because that's what we did. You know, if I wanted hockey sticks and I wanted to play hockey, I had to go down to the shop in the summertime and work.

5:29Yeah, but I wasn't a car guy. But I saw that, you know, that this, this business that, you know, it didn't require my dad and I to be there all the time and it was making a good amount of money. And, you know, so we were off, you know, doing real estate projects and, you know, and I was doing some other things with some friends and some other businesses.

5:51Started speaking, you know, for another consulting company. And so that was kind of like my motivation behind being in the industry was it was, it was, it was, it was a cash cow. Yeah. And so fast forward 10 years ago, my wife and I bought the business from my dad. It was at that point where it was time, you know, for me to take the reins fully and fully take responsibility for the family business.

6:15So my dad and I worked up an agreement, you know, and I wanted to make sure that he got what he wanted out of the business. And so we worked out an agreement and my wife and I bought the business. And so that's 10 years ago. So now it's 25 years I've been in the industry and I have my consulting company, Victory Team Building Group, you know, and the mission behind that is simply that I, you know, I want— I'm a— I was a hockey player.

6:41I was captain of my hockey teams growing up. I wanted to build an environment where the employees win, you know what I mean? That they're— that they— that it's like a locker room atmosphere and you're— and you're going towards team goals, not just individual guys showing up for a paycheck. It's more about the long-term vision of how does this business help— help them reach their goals.

7:05And, um, so I want to teach that to, you know, other shop owners. How do you build those teams? How do you— how do you make it a win-win-win? You know, it's a win for the customers, obviously, or we're out of business. It's a win for the, the shop, otherwise we're out of business, but it's gotta be a win for, for, for the technicians and for the people who are part of the group.

7:26Because if, if, if we're constantly recruiting, we're never gonna reach our missions. Yeah. That's so good. You know, we, we can, we can go fast alone, but we can go way further together. And I love how you are mindful of the importance of team. It's a we before me mentality. I love that. I mean, the name of your, of your consulting group is Victory Team Building Group.

7:46And even I'm looking at your business card right now. In fact, I'm gonna show the business card. If you're watching this or if you're listening to this episode, go ahead and, uh, head over, head on over to YouTube, uh, at The Bearded Leader and you can watch this episode. I'm holding up Jimmy's business card right now. It says winning is everything and being able to provide that winning environment for, uh, for your guests, as you shared your, your team, uh, for your, for your group.

8:08I mean, quite frankly, like this is a, this is a business for you as well. I think is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved. I gotta ask you, because, you know, I mentioned that we're live at the 2025 Apex Show in Las Vegas. We're on day 2 of a 3-day event, and we're right smack dab in the middle of a trade show.

8:26If you hear some noises, it's because we're in the trade show. We're actually in the very— it's the first episode of the day that we're doing, and so it's pretty quiet right now, but it's gonna pick up here pretty soon. All that to say this though, Jimmy, yesterday the opening keynote was the great one, Wayne Gretzky. I'm curious, did you attend the keynote?

8:46And I mean, like, for, for a hockey player, that's gotta be a big deal, right? Leadership grows faster in the right rooms. The auto repair industry is evolving and the shops that win long-term aren't chasing every new trend. They're choosing what aligns, what works, and what lasts. Tectonic 2026 is where shop owners, advisors, and technicians come together to sharpen what actually moves the needle.

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10:14I did. Yeah. No, I— the great one is, you know, he's, he's got some roots in Arizona as well because he was, he was a, he was an owner of the Phoenix Coyotes at one point and then he coached them for a little while. So, and I as a, as a young player, I started playing hockey in 1980 after the Miracle on Ice.

10:32Yeah. So Gretzky was everybody's favorite. And so, yeah, it was really cool. I really have a lot of respect for Wayne Gretzky. And that was a neat— I had no idea. I actually thought he was going to be giving a presentation, but it was actually an interview. And there was some really, really neat insights there about his role as a leader and his responsibility and the the level of responsibility that he took throughout his career and even currently now, you know, as, you know, one of the icons of our industry, that was really fun.

11:13What, what— and, you know, the thing is with hockey is that it's, it's so fitting for our industry too, because hockey is just one of those sports where it's a grind. You know, it's, it's not a— it's, it's not a soft sport, you know, and you don't make it to where Wayne made it even as you know, Wayne had bodyguards and things like that.

11:32I can tell you right now, anybody that played as long as Wayne did, and those are tough guys. Oh yeah, they're very tough guys. Well, I mean, and you got to be— you got to have a level of thick skin and, and be, be tough in a blue-collar industry that is a grind like you talk about. Uh, we know that tough times don't last, but tough people do.

11:50And I think a lot of the times that we go through, uh, it really builds, uh, a person's character, and it, it, it builds just growth development. Um, it helps people establish and develop grit and resilience to get through things in order to grow through things. You talked about Wayne's role as a leader. I'm gonna talk about your role as a leader.

12:12Of course, this is a leadership podcast. I'll, I'll straight up ask you, Jimmy, what does leadership mean to you? To me, it's, it's really willingness to take responsibility. Um, And that responsibility is in the sphere of influence that we have. And that sphere of influence can be, you know, I have one shop, right? But my influence doesn't just extend, you know, into my bays.

12:37It goes out into our community. So my wife and I are very involved in the community and taking responsibility for what our business does. Like, we want to support the community that supports us.. I think that's really important. I also think it's really important for the staff, for the team to see that we do give back to the community, that we, you know, that we are part of the community and that our shop represents our community.

13:01So, you know, from that aspect, you know, I feel like my role as a leader is to, you know, it goes back to, you know, you talk about winning is everything, right? And, and I, I truly believe that. I believe that, that, you know, our job is to ensure that our team is winning. Like, I don't— it's not about the shop being successful and profitable and then somebody else having to sacrifice and losing.

13:25It's about everybody winning. And, uh, that's my role. Like, I tell people when they come on board at our shop that, look, my— I, you know, I don't have a quantitative statistic that I follow, but, but my role, and I look at it, is when I bring somebody on board on our team that I want their standard of living to be better than it's ever been before.

13:47And what does that mean? That doesn't always mean money, because some people are paid a lot of money, you know, and that's why they leave, is because, you know, the culture is bad or, you know, they're expected to work 7 days a week or something, you know what I mean? Like, it's not about the money, it's about the standard of living. So that can be money, that can be their happiness, like feeling like they're part of something that's bigger than them.

14:07And, you know, the doing better with their family life and they're doing better in their personal life and they're, and they are making money and they are improving in the industry, getting training, things like that. So that's how I look at my, my role, you know, in the shop as a leader. And then I like to extend that out into the automotive industry.

14:24You know, that's why I created Victory was that I wanna help shop owners win. I wanna ask you more about Victory here in a moment, but before we do, I'm just gonna ask a very broad question, probably a surface level question, but we're gonna try to go a little deeper here based on the conversation. How do you create and develop a winning team?

14:42Oh, that's— yeah, that's the billion-dollar question, right? But I, you know, I think it really, it has everything to do with the owner's belief in what we're doing and having a clear vision of what our goals and purposes are for our organization. So it's not just about the bottom line dollar. It's not just about the growth of the company. It's it's having everything aligned.

15:09And how does that filter down into the organization? And how are the employees impacted? But also, what do you expect from the employees? I mean, I like recently have been looking at, look, there's times when as owners, I feel like we can get a little bit soft about what what we expect because of there's a technician shortage or whatever, you know, whoever.

15:37And so now we get a little bit reasonable about how many hours a guy can do in a week and, and what they're capable of doing. And no, no, don't, don't, don't push them too hard and give them a big salary. Yeah, kind of, kind of falling back a little bit, right? You're justifying it in a way. Sure, absolutely. And, and, and really the truth of the matter is, is that this business, my business and our industry, was built on on hardworking, capable people.

16:03Let me ask you this, Jimmy, because what you're describing I think is great. I, I, I think it's a, it's a great topic because it's about, it's about perspective. And with perspective, the way that we view things drives the way that we do things. Is there a technician shortage? Yes. I mean, I think, I think we can collectively agree that there is.

16:19Now, is that a reason to operate differently or is that an excuse to operate differently? It's about perspective. And, and I think we can very easily determine one or the other and start doing something different that may not be what is necessary for the growth and development of our business. I'll ask you, how do you, uh, in, in, in an effort to not be a quote unquote soft leader, as you referenced, how do you hold your team accountable on the expectations that have hopefully been clearly set?

16:51Yeah. So that's a great question. I think you got to look in the mirror. I mean, if you're, you're not taking full responsibility for what you've set out and getting up early and staying late and hitting those numbers that you know are going to— like, for example, looking at like, what does it take to fill the bays every single day? Okay. And we can talk about different models of car count and things like that.

17:19But the fact of the matter is, is that you've got to have a system in place If you want guys to be flagging 40, 60, 80 hours a week, it's not just a technician that's super capable coming into the shop. It's the whole system. Yeah, right. It's the marketing, it's the service advising, it's the training behind that. It's the leadership, it's the managers like that, that we coach and, and get them to believe in hitting the targets.

17:45It's not just— it's not just one thing. It's— but at the end of the day, it's the, it's the CEO, the creator of the company had better believe in their own vision and be responsible for attaining those targets to keep everybody else accountable. You're talking about a lot of moving pieces, especially in our industry. Like it is, it truly is a grind.

18:06It's long hours. There's a lot of things that are happening at one, any given time. And for a lot of us, it feels like everything's a priority, but if everything's a priority, nothing's really a priority. And we're playing part-time firefighter because all of these fires are ablaze and we're trying to put each one out. We're, and, and we're, we're being reactive instead of proactive and, and all these things are happening, right?

18:29And, and by the way, we're not designed to be multitaskers. So in a world, in, in an environment or in a shop, specifically a shop environment where we're trying to multitask, we're, we're, we're often feeling like we're barely keeping our head above water. And by the way, I shouldn't even be saying we, I mean, like, I think you guys know everyone who's listening.

18:46I'm not a shop owner. I'm not in a shop like you guys are. I have a high level of respect. That's why I love this industry so much. I love the folks in this industry. I love trying to make an impact in the industry and being a voice in the industry. But the reality is I don't know what it's really like to go through what you guys go through.

19:04But I think everyone knows I'm here for you. I'm in your corner. I'm supporting you. But I'll ask you, how do you ensure that everyone not just feels like they're keeping their head above water, but really feels like they are rowing the boat? Like they're not only— they're not only above water, like they're rowing the boat. They're all operating, as one team, they're all, uh, organic, they're fluid, they're all aligned.

19:26It, it is, things are humming and, and it could be super busy because you've invited the chaos, but it doesn't feel like chaos. It might be controlled. And you guys are doing, I mean, crazy numbers and impacting so many people, but it, it feels fine because everyone's rowing the boat in the same direction. Yeah, no, it absolutely is. And, and, you know, I, I, I gotta say, you know, I mean, your, your, your level of leadership, you know, coming from a military background, I mean, that's a total duty point of view, right?

19:58It's a responsibility and duty. And, and I think that that's the way that the shop owners and managers have to think about what they're doing is that it's a responsibility, it's a duty to ensure that things are running smooth. It starts with them. That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, the thing is, is that You look at, okay, well, what decisions do we have to make and how do we keep that thing rowing, everybody rowing the boat?

20:27And it does break down. A lot of what I do in Victory is breaking down the functions of the business and looking at where are the stress points. Years ago, I got thrown into the day-to-day operations because somebody that I relied on, my unicorn, left., and I was up front, you know, working as a service advisor, which I hadn't done in at least 7 or 8 years.

20:51And I go, how in the heck can anybody do this job? Why? Because I had the service advisor dispatching, I had them being receptionist, I had them ordering parts, I had them talking to all customers, shielding calls, you know, telemarketing calls, things like that. And then, you know, having to deal with technicians and going out and saying, I don't know what size rotors are on this Toyota 4Runner.

21:14Can you at least give me that so that— and I'm going, how— I literally walked out of the office one day and I go, how in the heck can anybody do this job every day? And I changed our structure, you know what I mean? I added positions that would, that would service and support a service advisor so that a service advisor could do what they do.

21:36What do they do? They build, they build relationships with our customer base and they make sales. And if they don't have the time to do that, You're not gonna get the product out of them. Right. So Jimmy, that, that right there is a great form of leadership that you just described. You are talking about removing obstacles from a team member's workload so that they can be in a position to exceed all expectations that have been set for them.

22:01Speaking of the military, you know, what you described is you said when with Victory Team Building Group, you, you break down the functions of What do you say? Did you break down the functions of the process or something along those lines? No, the, of the entire business. Okay. From— So, so you break down the functions of the business and, and I know that you build it back up.

22:19And I mean, everyone know, everyone who's been in any branch of the military knows you go to basic training, you get beat down, broken down. They, they essentially bring you as low as, as you can physically and mentally go to build you back up. And, and it's interesting that, that you mentioned the military. And here we are talking about how you break down the functions of the business so that everything is out on the table.

22:41And now you start building things up in a way that everyone feels supported. Everyone understands this process is in place for the betterment of myself and my team members so that we can grow and develop our business. Speak to the listening audience about, let's say they're someone, someone is listening or watching this episode and they're thinking, you know what? I hear a lot about, you know, Josh talks about coaching a lot.

23:02I hear other people talk about coaching a lot. I still haven't pulled the trigger. What can Victory Team Building Group bring to my business? Go ahead and, I mean, this is your opportunity, Jimmy. Like, pitch your services. I mean, go, go for it, my friend. Okay. Well, yeah, I mean, I, I like to, to, to look at like, look, somebody who's a business owner, um, I have all the respect in the world for entrepreneurs.

23:25When you're the one that's signing the front of checks, there's a lot of responsibility. And the bigger you get, the more responsibility. And I don't even look at Like, it's okay. Yeah, you've got money in it and you've got time and you've got responsibility. I look at the end of the day, the employees that, that we employ that are part of our teams, they have families to feed.

23:46Yeah. Those checks, you know, big or small, are going to make a difference in their lifestyle. So I start when I'm working with somebody, I look at it like that. Like there's a tremendous amount of respect because I know what my dad did to build our business. And I know what it takes to sign the front of checks and to, to every Friday or whenever you pay to have to have that money sitting there and, and make a profit.

24:08So that's number one. And in looking at like, why, why should you hire a coach? Or, you know, what, what do we do? Is that, look, we're, we're the eyes from 30,000 foot above. Um, yeah, that's good. You know what I mean? And, and we can see, you know, maybe we can see, you can't, some days say you can't see the forest through the trees, right?

24:27Yeah. But when you're looking up above and then using certain pieces of technology that are available, the management system that I, that I use breaks those functions down and you can start looking at this. And it's not uncommon for me to go in and I'll do a shop inspection and we're just, just observing, like sitting there like a fly on the wall watching what's happening.

24:47And you start seeing the different black holes that the owner doesn't see. I once went into a shop in North Carolina, very successful operation. The first, like, hour of the day, the manager was out moving cars out of the shop. I literally— that was the man— what the manager was doing. I was like, well, you know, maybe he likes doing that. But the fact is, is that the manager really should be preparing for the day, not moving cars, you know.

25:14So you start looking at that and you start breaking those things down. And now not just with the shop owner, but with the team involved, looking at the functions as the, as the balls pass, you know, through the organization from the, the time that the appointment is set to the time that the, the, the customer picks the car up and is given their keys, pays their bill, and is happy enough that they're gonna refer somebody else or leave a good review.

25:39We gotta break all those pieces down, and there's a lot more pieces there than most people look at. Let me ask you this, Jimmy. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna try to make sure I'm, I'm I'm clear because there's a few thoughts I wanna, I wanna tackle and I'm like, which one do I start with? Um, you talk about breaking down the functions of the business, but you even just referenced how you're, you're even helping shops with role delineation because if you identified within the first hour of visiting that shop in North Carolina, you have a manager who should be preparing for the day, but instead is moving cars, which, hey, I mean, I, I appreciate

26:13anyone who's willing to do any job, you know, big or small, Um, that is leading from the front. However, is their time best suited moving cars when they could be and probably should be preparing for the day and leading a daily huddle, um, preparing their entire team for the day? We know that when the pressure's on, we don't rise to the occasion.

26:31We fall to our highest level of preparation. A manager's responsibility should be to prepare not only themself, but everyone for the day. And here I go again, Jimmy, like the thought that I had, I, the other one, escape me. I knew this was gonna happen. So, so anyway, um, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll probably come back to it. I have these squirrel moments often.

26:50Um, but, uh, but, but let me go, let me go to, um, to, to what I'm, what I'm sharing. When you talk about breaking down the functions of the business and you're seeing the opportunity to not just break down the processes, you're breaking down role delineation. If I'm a shop owner listening and thinking, you know what, I feel like we have a good team.

27:09I don't know that we have a great team. I'm sure that there are things, plenty of things that we could be doing much better, but oh, actually I just, I remember where I was gonna go and I'm taking it right into the question I was gonna ask. I'm afraid of breaking down all these things because I know it's gonna take time to change all of these things for the better, which actually segues into my next question.

27:29What kind of, how do you coach someone on making sure that once you break things down, it's gonna take some time to build things back up. You're gonna go through a dip in success, a dip in progress, a dip in accuracy and efficiency and productivity, but too many of us quit in the dip. So the encouragement is don't quit in the dip, trust the process, but speak to the listening audience who's like, I don't wanna break anything down because I know it's gonna take time, which I don't have.

28:00And I know it's gonna be hard, which I don't want to experience, to make changes that I don't know is even gonna be necessary. Right. That's long-winded. Sorry for that. No, no, it's, it, no, it's, it's a really good question because, you know, we, we, we, we associate hard work with actual production and that's not the, that's not the fact. I mean, 'cause we all know there's, there's, there's certain technicians in our industry that they don't, you don't even look, they don't even look like they're breaking a sweat.

28:26Yeah. At the end of the week, they've got 65 or 70 hours on a 5, 5-day week. Yeah. Why? And there's others who've been busy all week, but not necessarily productive. Right. There's tools everywhere. They're running back and forth through their toolbox and you know what I mean? One looks really busy and doesn't produce and the other one looks just methodical and, and at, you know, in this, this just, you know, serene area of their shop and, and there's just a massive amount of production coming out.

28:50So that's where the confusion comes in. It's like the, the example of the manager, there was no lack of willingness to work hard. By that manager moving a lot of cars. I don't remember what it was, but it was like 30 cars, a big shop, you know what I mean? Out of the shop. And it was like, okay, yeah, that's not easy, but is it getting him his product?

29:09And the product of the manager is like— so for example, you know, we talk about statistics or metrics. Every employee in the business needs to be measured by some sort of statistic. Okay. Everybody. Can you give it— can you give us an example? Well, okay, well, let's start at the top from the— from the the manager standpoint, right? The manager, what we're paying them to create is a profitable expanding business.

29:37Okay. Well, what that number is, is going to depend on what the overhead of the shop is that the owner's got to figure out what the break-even is. And then how do we get to that point every single day, every single week, every single month? Is moving cars out of the shop going to get that shop more profit? No, probably not. How about a service advisor?

29:57You want to measure a service advisor and bonus them? Like, for example, I'm not a big proponent of bonusing on average repair order or gross profit margin, like a percentage. Why? Because what are we paying a service advisor to do? They're there to make sales, gross profit dollars, right? Gross sales dollars. That's how we pay bills. Right. Okay. Average repair order. Okay.

30:20I mean, you can, you can use that as a tool, but it's not something that we should like completely condemn somebody because they have a high or a low average RO week to week. It's, I'm looking at gross profit dollars. Okay. And that also depends on the shop technicians. Look, build hours. And I don't care if somebody is being paid on a salary, hourly, flat rate.

30:42At the end of the day, if you're not getting billable hours out of those technicians, I'm not talking just flagged hours because some flagged hours, aren't billable. It's like billable and flagged hours, and then looking at comebacks. Like, what are their comebacks? That's a metric, right, that we need to watch. So when we're talking about breaking those things down, now we go, okay, well, how do we get to a billed hour?

31:06And then we back out of that and we go, okay, is there anything that the technician's doing that's not assisting that? Let me ask you this, Jimmy, and this is, coming from someone who doesn't know automotive like this audience does. And I mean, and I think everyone knows that I'm, I'm, I'm not, I don't shy away from that at all. I know, I know what I'm good at.

31:24I know what I'm, what I don't know. Right. Um, from a place of, from a comeback perspective, let's say a technician, or as our friend Carm would say, a mechanical specialist would, um, have a certain percentage of comebacks. Is there a number, a threshold where it's like at some point there needs to be some documentation, maybe a personal improvement plan, or potentially even termination.

31:46I mean, like, what, what, what kind of— is there a percentage of comebacks that is kind of your threshold? And if there is, what is the next step? Yeah, I— that's a, that's an interesting question, right? Obviously, the, the target of comebacks is 0%, right? And what are the chances of getting 0% comebacks? 0%. So, um, no, I think it's more, it's, it's got to be done on an individual basis.

32:12Okay. And tracking it. Most shops aren't tracking it. You know, we, we actually statistically track it. So we, we have the number of comebacks, like the number of, of items that came back. Oh, if it's a car, right. Came back. That's one. Yeah. If it's two, that's two. But then there's hours too, right? Because hours plays a big role in it. Like if we have a comeback on a 12-hour job, that, that one hurts.

32:34Yeah. Right. A lot more than, than, you know, something. But you got to also measure, is it, is it something that is, is it a parts quality comeback or is it a technician error comeback? Um, that's fair. Okay. And then, and then the third way to look at things is the, the, is it a comeback or is it, is, is it actually that we predicted that this might happen and it's a phase of the repair?

32:56I like that you broke down, I mean, that you just gave four essential, four, essentially four, um, categories that, that to fall into. So I, I appreciate you shedding light on that, on that question for me. Here's a question, uh, for you, Jimmy. So the, the second question I ask every guest on every episode is, what is the best advice you've ever received from a coach or a mentor?

33:17Um, you're a coach yourself, but what, how would you answer that question? What, what's, what's the best advice you've ever received from a coach or a mentor? You know, I, um, when I, when I was playing hockey, my— I was my, my biggest critic is what my coaches would tell me. And I would get off of my game when I tried to start trying to do too much.

33:42And, you know, the biggest— probably the biggest lesson I learned and when I really started thriving as, as a hockey player, I got a college scholarship and played professional hockey was was knowing what my role was in the, in the, in the game and getting really, really good at that and then expecting others to, to be really, really good at what they did, you know?

34:08And I wasn't— there was times when I was, you know, not expected, but I would score goals. But most of my career was not around scoring goals. That wasn't my role. You know, I was, I was, I was somebody who could change the game with a physical presence, right? I was— I'm a big guy. I hit hard and, and I, and I could control that.

34:28But also there was the other side of that, which was, you know, losing my cool. Oh, okay. Right. Yeah. And staying composed versus staying composed. You know, there's a, there's a level of intensity that, that we have to have as leaders, but we have to stay composed. And when people, when people lead with emotion in a negative way. Yeah. Then that usually doesn't result in good results.

34:54Right. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Leading with passion is why we're leaders. You have to lead with passion. Yeah. But leading with negative emotion, that is going to affect people in a negative way. Just like what I would do to myself in a game where I was being too hard on myself rather than just focusing on what I'm good at. Right? Yeah. And that's what I expect out of my team, is that be good at what you do and I'll be good at what I do.

35:24And when we, when we're faltering, are we— is somebody out of their lane and we need to get them back into their lane? Or, or what training do they need? You know, what help do they need? What, you know. And so my, my, my approach was always like, look, lead with emotion. Yes. With compassion and, and, and intensity. But what effects am I gonna create with that emotion?

35:49Is it gonna be positive or is it gonna be negative? At the end of the day, we're contagious. We can either infect or we can affect. I, I love what you just shared, Jimmy. You talked about staying in your lane. You talked about how everyone typically, I mean, you're not the only one who's your harshest critic. Like a lot of us are our own harshest critic.

36:06That means we have a standard. That means we care, which is great. But there is this fine line. There's a balance that we need to find where we, we want, we need to give ourself grace in the process. Perfection is unattainable. I say that perfection is reserved for God, and I believe in this relentless pursuit of perfection, knowing you're never gonna attain it.

36:23That's kind of this Mamba mentality. But at the, at the end of the day, you've gotta give yourself grace in the process as well. I appreciate you opening up about how ultimately when emotions are high, logic tends to be low. And as a leadership coach, one of the things that I share often is how emotional maturity is having feelings, but not letting our feelings have us.

36:44That can be challenging when we care so much and when we're trying to do so much for ourself, so much for our team, so much for their families. Because you talked about, you bring someone on board, you're not just bringing on that individual, you're bringing on their spouse, their kids. I mean, like you are, you are someone who's providing a, a living wage for someone who can provide for their family.

37:07It's a big responsibility, which goes back to what you shared in the very beginning about, about responsibility. Um, can I ask you, Jimmy, what has hockey taught you over the years in terms of how to manage your emotions effectively, knowing that you are contagious? You can either infect or affect your team, and knowing when to dial it back, for lack of better terms, when you talk about the intensity that is also necessary?

37:33Yeah, that's— it's a great question. I mean, I, you know, what hockey has taught me is, is that, you know, the, the group goal is, is the senior to the individual goals when you're working in a group. But at the same time, the individual goals have to be, be able to be met through the group. Yeah. If you're going to keep people engaged and, you know, I learned that later on in my career, I saw a big difference between when I was in college.

38:06We were going for a national championship and my junior year in college, we won the Division II national championship and everybody was focused on that, the whole team every day. That's all we did. That's all we talked about. That's, you know, we trained, we focused, we sacrificed. And, you know, the emotions that, yeah, you go up and down in games, you go up and down at times, but you got to keep your focus on what, what the goal is.

38:34Later on, when I got to minor professional hockey, I didn't feel that. And the teams in the minor professionals and in the NHL that win championships, it's when everybody's focused on that goal of winning a championship. When you— when I, when I was playing minor professional, those guys were— there was the, the senior goal of the group was not to win a championship.

38:54It was everybody's individual trying to get up to the next level, trying to get called up. Yeah, trying to score points so they get their bonus. And that was a real, you know, eye-opening experience for me. And in the way that I manage our, our team is that the goal of the group has to be big enough that it encompasses and it's able to help the the individuals within the group, the technicians, the service advisors, the managers reach their personal goals by the shop reaching its goals.

39:23Yeah. I love that you just shared that. It's, as a sports enthusiast myself, I'll say sports enthusiast 'cause I gotta be honest with you, Jimmy, I'm not really a hockey guy. I mean, I grew up playing basketball despite my lack of height, but I'm a basketball, football kind of guy. My wife is actually a bigger baseball fan than I am, but we watch, pretty much all sports in our house, sadly, with the exception of hockey.

39:47I mean, I'm just gonna be real with you. Um, but what you're describing across all sports, we see this often. College versus pros, there's a different level of passion and intensity there. And, um, and the way you just described that, I, I can see how it translates into a shop where you can have a lot of people staying in their lane and just focusing on their lane and their ideas and their agenda.

40:14Or you can have folks staying in their lane, but also being mindful of others in their lanes, helping out, supporting, investing in all for the sake of one shared common goal, which is the end in mind to serve our guests. Uh, the, the, the, the money is a byproduct of exceptional standard-setting service. And to me, that's the difference of you got a team environment, it's a we before me mentality, or you have this, I'm kind of on my own doing my thing, only worried about me.

40:44It's a me first type of mentality, and that could be a dangerous spot to be in. So I think it's something that every, every shop needs to be mindful of. But as we begin to wrap up this episode, Jimmy, go ahead and share with the audience, where can our listeners learn more about Victory Team Building Group? Yeah. So online we're at winningautoshops.com.

41:05My email's jimmy@winningautoshops.com. I'd be happy to speak with anybody. I speak at a lot of the conferences, just got done speaking at Ratchet and Wrench. And so we're, you know, and we do a lot of online training as well. So if anybody wants to know more about that and, you know, get things organized in their business, that's, we really specialize in that, building winning teams, getting everybody focused on common goals, and then, uh, you know, breaking down what those mean to the individuals and the, in the, on the team.

41:35Love it, dude. You brought a, a lot of great content, a lot of great wisdom to the, uh, to the episode. Um, I mean, we talked about the great one, Wayne Gretzky. I gotta say, Jimmy, you're a great one. You're one of the greats in the industry. So thank you for what you're doing. Keep on doing it. Keep on going. Keep on growing.

41:49And, uh, I appreciate you, brother. Thanks a lot, man. Really appreciate you. Of course. Likewise. And, uh, thank you for tuning in to yet again, another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. As you know, we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results. So have a great day, everyone. Don't forget to smile today. Don't forget to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

42:09I'm Josh Parnell, reminding you to keep leading.