Posts by Carm Capriotto, AAP

In December 2022, we released a very important episode with author and customer experience consultant John DeJulius. It is my second interview with John. I met him at the Transformers 2022 Summit in December. Listen to John’s interviews HERE.

John landed a ton of insight in our interview, but one that is worth mentioning in this email. No matter what your labor rate is: $95 or $195 per hour, sit with your team and ask this question. What would our service and company be like if our labor rate was X?

So if your labor rate is $100 per hour, ask your team what our service and company would look like if we raised our rate to $150. What could you do to rise to the occasion of a higher labor rate. What do you need to provide your customer to justify $150 per hour? Do you deserve it? Only you, and your team, know the answer.

This exercise will uncover the kind of medicine your business needs. A deserved higher labor rate means you can pay your team a deserving rate, and send your people to training to be better at everything they do. Ultimately you will earn loyalty from your customers because their experience at your shop is like no other.

Please listen to this specific episode here. It is packed with inspiring messages to help you get your business to run like a business. Please implement at least one idea. Listen HERE.

Find John’s books on the Books Page.

In a recent Town Hall on ‘Details’ we discussed the importance of a clean bathroom. Please don’t discount this entire premise; it is undoubtedly a critical determination and reflection on your quality and depth of work.

While moderating the discussion, I had an idea and wondered why not establish a strategy stating that our bathroom is as good as the Ritz. The Ritz Carlton hotels and golf courses are known as the cleanest, nicest, most cordial, and most polite resorts ever.

So why not emulate the Ritz strategy and make our bathrooms, customer or employee, as good as the Ritz? It would not cost that much to do it, just some thought on what your customer would want in a clean and functioning bathroom. Ask any female customer.

This discussion prompted me to get a few shop owners on a podcast with a ‘Ritz’ type bathroom already set up. We can learn from them. In the meantime, gather the team and become exemplary. Listen or watch here.

PS: The picture in this post is from Dale Warmuth, Leons Car Care Center, Eureka, CA

There is so much traction inside our industry with shop owners that are building great cultures and top teams. It is refreshing to see the level of sophistication that has embraced our shop owners to accept the power of purpose and values that build a culture in their shops.

Without it, you will never hire rock stars who become your biggest advocates and fans. They are the ones who will advocate for you to their friends and family, share the positivity of your company to their community, and show up to work with a positive attitude every day.

Rock stars, who are advocates, are valued members of the team. This can be done by giving them opportunities for growth and development, providing meaningful feedback on improving, and recognizing them when they do well.

We have many episodes that build upon this theme of employee advocacy. In the 700th episode, AJ Nealy and others talked about the strength of their team. I encourage you to listen to AJ HERE.  Also, a great tie-in to building a quality team is in the Academy episode on Workplace Motivation, Academy Episode 260 HERE.

Great business leaders know that their employee is the most valuable asset of any company. They are on the front lines. You need to know that you satisfy their basic needs and what their intrinsic motivation is. Keep them engaged, challenged, and have reachable goals; they will make a strong team player and take care of your customers. Know what makes them tick.

We should always appreciate what an employee can do for your business. Advocates can help you to figure out what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and when it needs to be done. Give them the resources they need to succeed, offer growth opportunities, and provide ample feedback so they know how their work impacts the company’s success.