“The economy is down. Business is slow. Car count is dropping. What am I supposed to do?”

It’s a question auto repair shop owners are asking more often.

Coach Dave Schedin’s response starts with another question:

Who told you that?

In this episode of Auto Repair Profit Leaks, Dave and Mike challenge the idea that slower business automatically means the economy is the problem.

Outside conditions matter—but your shop still controls how it responds.

Dave shares how accepting “December is always slow” once became a self-fulfilling expectation in his own shop, until he changed his planning, sharpened his processes, and turned December into his best-performing month.

Then the conversation shifts from mindset to ACTION.

They dig into:

• Why your hours per repair order matter even more when car count drops
• Building stronger customer relationships before the economy shifts
• Turning Service Advisors into front-counter marketers
• Pre-booking the customer’s next appointment
• Preparing repair orders 7–14 days ahead
• Finding additional vehicles inside your current customer database
• Turning “declined work” into deferred work
• Creating urgency around deferred repairs
• Moving future appointments forward when openings appear
• Using local relationships to generate additional car count
• Why waiting until your bays are empty means you waited too long

One of Dave’s biggest challenges to shop owners:

Maybe it isn’t car count that went down first. Maybe the relationship went down.

If business feels slower right now, this episode will help you separate the things you cannot control from the opportunities already sitting inside your shop.

Stop reacting.

Start responding.

And start looking after YOUR economy.

Learn more about CompuTrek, the Auto Repair Profit Leak Challenge, and the Profit Leak Bootcamp at CompuTrekSystems.com.

Is your marketing actually bringing your shop great customers—or just creating more car count without the GP$?

In this episode of Auto Repair Profit Leaks, Dave Schedin and Mike Cooper flip Ask Dave Anything around and start asking the kinds of hard questions they use when coaching auto repair shops.

They dig into one of the biggest misconceptions in automotive marketing: that getting more people through the door automatically means your marketing is working.

It doesn’t.

Dave and Mike explore the difference between discounts and incentives, why dollar-driven advertising can attract customers who never return, and why your Service Advisors are every bit as important to your marketing as your website, SEO, emails or postcards.

They also discuss customer attrition, referral marketing, relationship intelligence, ideal customer profiles, communication styles and why independent shops need to stop positioning themselves below the dealership.

One of the biggest questions from the episode:

What is the biggest message in your marketing—the dollar sign or the relationship?

Because the goal isn’t simply more work.

It’s better customers, stronger relationships, greater retention, more referrals and more GP$.

If you're spending money chasing new customers while existing customers quietly disappear, this episode will give you a very different way to look at marketing.

Learn more about the Auto Repair Profit Leak Challenge and Profit Leak Bootcamp at CompuTrekSystems.com.

Why can one Technician/Specialist suddenly go from producing 8–9 hours a day to consistently producing 10?The answer may have nothing to do with better tools, more training, different vehicles, or another bonus plan.You may simply have never discovered what actually motivates them.In this episode, Mike Cooper and Coach Dave Schedin dig into one of the most misunderstood challenges in an auto repair business:**How do you actually motivate your team?**Dave shares real examples of shop owners who stopped assuming money was the answer and started learning what their people genuinely cared about.For one employee, it was gaming and the dream of owning a better computer.For another Technician/Specialist, it was cycling and raising money for a cause that mattered deeply to him.When leadership connected shop performance to something personally meaningful, performance changed.Not because the employee suddenly became more skilled.**They became more motivated.**Dave challenges shop owners and managers to go deeper than simply knowing what their employees like and dislike.Do you actually know their hopes?Their dreams?Their passions?Their WHY?Because there’s an enormous difference between **knowing about your people and truly knowing your people.**The conversation also explores why motivation isn't only an owner-to-employee issue.When Service Advisors, Technician/Specialists, managers, and other team members understand each other’s dreams and goals, mistakes begin to look different. Instead of:“You screwed this up and now you made my job harder.”The thinking can become:“How can I help you become better, because your success helps all of us reach what we're working toward?”That creates an entirely different shop culture.Dave also breaks down:• Why incentive plans are only one part of motivation • How to uncover what truly drives an employee • Why every leader needs to understand their own WHY first • How to support employees when they’re having an off day • The difference between a mistake and defiance • How accountability can become part of a healthy team culture • Why everyone in the shop is a leader—starting with leading themselves • How a simple “Word of the Day” can intentionally shape shop culture • Why being open to feedback is essential for growth • The difference between excuses and results • How personal responsible choice affects leadership and performance • Why your business systems are actually leadership tools • How stronger leadership and motivation ultimately show up in measurable GP$One of the biggest questions Dave asks is deceptively simple:**Do you really know your people—or do you just know about them?**If your shop has talented people who aren’t consistently producing at the level you know they’re capable of, the answer may not be another incentive plan.You may need to find their WHY.**Find the leak. Change the thinking. Build the system. Keep the GP$.**