Just ONE Thing
Why Performance Tracking Matters in Auto Repair Shops
Episode 207
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning, good evening, or good afternoon. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ, and this is My Just One Thing.
What I want to talk about today is performance. And where did this come from? I saw a quote that said:
“Where performance is measured, performance improves.”
What I’m really talking about here today is measuring, okay? Because there are a lot of shop owners out there that feel really, really busy. They feel like they’re really working hard—but are they really being effective?
That is what really makes the difference. Are you being effective?
Here’s what I’m going to tell you, and please write this down. This right here is an absolute game-changer:
Without measurement, you can’t tell the difference between motion and movement.
Let me say that again: Without measurement, you can’t tell the difference between motion and movement.
What do I mean by that?
If you get on a horse and you start going—are you going anywhere? Well, it depends. If it’s a rocking horse, no. That’s motion. Lots of activity, lots of energy—no movement.
Now, when you get on a real horse, that’s movement.
If you just keep pushing and pushing and it's not working—push harder. Still not working? Do it longer. Do it faster. That mentality does not work. You’ve got to be able to step back and measure.
Now, you don’t have to measure everything, but you’ve got to be able to measure—because without it, you can’t know which areas need attention.
Really think this through.
If you don’t measure, you don’t know what to fix—you just know it’s broken.
That doesn’t help.
And listen, you and I hear a lot of times people say, “I don’t want to measure.”
Why?
“Because I don’t want to feel like a failure.”
But that’s not what measurement is there to do.
Measurement is there to show you what you’ve got to work on. Measurement is there to show you what is working, what needs attention. That’s all it is.
The reality is—running your business is like plate spinning.
You’ve got like eight or nine different plates.
You’ve got to pay attention. You’ve got to be spinning them all the time.
And you don’t have to be on one plate all the time—because the other nine will start to wobble and fall off. But you’ve got to be able to watch and see which one’s starting to wobble—and then give it the attention it needs.
This is how it makes a difference. This is how you go from feeling really, really frustrated to feeling progress, to feeling hope in the future.
It’s when you start to measure.
Now, I could do another Just One Thing on what you need to measure—because you need something to measure against, and that’s the ruler, okay?
So you’re going to measure against the ruler—where you want to be—that’s the ruler.
And then you see where you’re at.
And see if there’s forward progress, if any at all.
If there isn’t—you step back and reflect.
You decide and say, “Well, that isn’t really working. What could work better?”
And you start to think things through.
It really makes a huge difference here.
And I need to ask you all a favor.
I think there’s a lot of people frustrated in our industry.
I think there’s a lot of people really tired, frustrated, disappointed—and they need this message today.
Would you please, please share this message?
I’m telling you—somebody needs to hear this today, besides you.
Without measurement, it’s impossible to tell the difference between motion and movement.
It’s really that simple.
Now, when you’re measuring—don’t make it complicated, right?
This is what you’ve got to do. Three things:
1. Keep it simple. It’s got to be super easy to use—or you’re not going to do it.
2. Keep it visible. Whether that’s a dashboard, an Excel sheet, or even a gauge on a whiteboard—keep it visible.
3. Keep it accountable. Set realistic improvement targets, and hold each person accountable for moving toward those every single day.
Does that all make sense? I hope it does.
That’s all you’ve got to do:
* Keep it simple.
* Keep it visible.
* Keep it accountable.
You do that—and it’s going to make all the difference in the world.
Now, if you’d like more information just like this, and you’re not one of our members, we have an amazing program called our Pocket Business Genius Webinar Series. It’s literally $49 a month, and you get a monthly live webinar. Right now, we have a library of over 85 different webinars that are just filled with information. That’s pretty cool. I think it’s awesome.
The last thing I want to talk to you about real quick is our Shop Owners Roundtable. If you know of yourself or somebody else that could use some help or guidance in an area, we would be honored to have you come to the Roundtable. Now, you have to be a shop owner, but if you want to do that—we would love to have you in there. Typically, we have about 50 or 60 other shop owners in there, and it’s pretty cool. That is on June 12, 7 PM Eastern for one hour, and it’s amazing.
So what are the four things I want you to take away?
1. Without measurement, you can’t know the difference between motion and movement.
2. Keep it simple.
3. Keep it visible.
4. Keep it accountable.
I think I’m doing pretty good today—look at that, I’ve got about a minute and a half left.
So does this all make sense to y’all?
I hope this does. I really work at keeping this stuff so it’s really edible—you know what I mean? You can chew on this and make it work.
I’m super, super excited you guys are here. Please share this and guess what?
I hope you have a great week, everybody. Thank you so much for being here—I appreciate you.
Go make some money. Take care everybody. Bye-bye!
