Episode 19

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Published on:

23rd Feb 2022

What Does a Great Steak Restaurant and Auto Repair Have in Common? [E019]

  • We compare the automotive to health care. Ever think of comparing us to Chef’s or Cook’s?
  • I'm watching an episode of a master chef with my daughter
  • The speed, efficiency, economy, and emotion that these professional chefs displayed and the contestants could not keep up was very glaringly obvious.
  • The fastest texts that come to mind that I've personally witnessed. And I mean, I know some are just insanely fast out there, and I've never seen them work, but the ones that I've seen firsthand, and it's not the terrible many, but the ones I've seen, that's the other thing. They work soul clean.
  • Everything laid out in a certain way is very orderly, which helps proficiency, efficiency, and quality. That's exactly what I was watching on this cooking show.
  • You do not have to have a license to be a chef. Education helps, and of course, experience helps. 
  • But you can go into a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, have a brilliant cook back there, and have a great steak.
  • A brilliant chef can go to a hole-in-the-wall shop and have a very smart or capable, skilled technician work on their vehicle. And you would never know other than maybe Google ratings or Yelps or something of that nature and word of mouth, or randomly right. 
  • And if you had good luck. it's five years, and they are your mechanic, and they've always come through for you, and you're referring people to them.
  • There is a difference between shops with different labor rates, like steak restaurants.
  • If you have the investment in the facility, people, tools, and equipment, why not be sure your customer understands that they are getting quality, just like you’d get at a high end restaurant
  • We often compare ourselves to the health care industry.  Maybe thinking about quality food and customer experience at a restaurant will help us better explain and relate our pricing and services to our customer.

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology, and Autel

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Thanks to our Partner, Pico Technology

Are you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. Visit PicoAuto.com

Thanks to our Partner, Autel

From drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Learn more at Autel.com

Contact Information

The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/

Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/

Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through StoryTelling and Open Discussion. https://remarkableresults.biz/

Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest. https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/

The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level. https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/

The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching. https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/

Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: Develop Interpersonal and Professional Communication Skills when Speaking to Audiences of Any Size. https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

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About the Podcast

Automotive Field Theory
From Automotive Diagnostics to Metallica and Mental Health
Automotive Field Theory explores the forces that shape automotive repair, including the ones measured with a meter or oscilloscope and the ones that cannot be found on a wiring diagram.

Hosted by automotive diagnostic specialist, shop manager, and instructor Matt Fanslow, the podcast begins in the automotive aftermarket but rarely stays inside its traditional boundaries. Diagnostics, electricity, technology, leadership, psychology, economics, game theory, history, music, movies, family, and human behavior may appear unrelated. Look closely enough, however, and connections begin to emerge.

A vehicle may arrive with a technical fault, but the work surrounding it is rarely technical alone.

Information is incomplete.

People make decisions under pressure and uncertainty. Incentives shape behavior. Standards gradually drift. Good intentions produce unexpected results. The official process may say one thing while the system quietly rewards another.

Automotive Field Theory is an attempt to understand those interactions.

Drawing from real diagnostic work, shop management, industry conversations, personal experience, and an occasionally inconvenient level of curiosity, Matt examines not only how things work, but why they work that way, how they became what they are, and what apparently unrelated subjects might teach us about repairing vehicles, leading people, running businesses, and improving the automotive industry.

Some episodes begin with a failed component. Others begin with Metallica, quantum physics, professional wrestling, a historical disaster, a round of golf, or a question that refuses to leave Matt alone.

Eventually, they all enter the same field.