Description

Thanks to our Partners, Shop Boss and AppFueled

We all want great teams, but most shop owners don’t realize that a high-performing team doesn’t start with talent; it starts with culture. In this episode, I sit down with my right-hand man, J.R. Portman, and we unpack the real story behind building and keeping a team that not only performs but thrives.

JR’s been instrumental in shaping the culture here at Shop Marketing Pros, and together we walk through what it takes to build a team from scratch, the brutal cost of hanging on to the wrong people, and how to create an environment where your team steps up even when you’re on vacation.

We’ll get into hiring for character vs. capability, how tools like EOS and DISC can transform your business, what “core values” actually mean in the real world, and the moment when your team starts running the business better than you do.

This isn’t fluff. It’s real talk about what culture is, what happens when you get it wrong, and how it feels when you finally get it right.

 This episode is sponsored by Shop Boss, manage and grow your shop with top features like integrated payments from 360 Payments. 

Are you ready to convert clients to members? AppFueled specializes in creating custom apps tailored specifically for auto repair businesses. Build client loyalty. Get started today with your own customer loyalty app. Visit Appfueled.com

Lagniappe (Books, Links, Other Podcasts, etc)

EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)

Shop Marketing Pros - Core Values

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Book

DISC Assessments

Show Notes with Timestamps

• Introduction and Sponsor Acknowledgments (00:00:01) Brief intro to the podcast, host, guest, and sponsor messages.
• JR’s Role and Team Building Philosophy (00:00:56) JR’s background, importance of team and culture, inevitability of workplace culture.
• Hiring for Character vs. Skill (00:02:38) Challenges in hiring, value of character over skill, teachability, and long-term impact.
• Personal Stories: Hiring for Character (00:04:34) Examples from Shop Marketing Pros, hiring people with no marketing background, teachability.
• Culture Forms with or Without You (00:08:14) Unintentional culture, negative environments, and the need for intentional leadership.
• Long Road to Positive Culture (00:09:48) Building culture takes time, sometimes requires hard choices, removing toxic high performers.
• Impact of Hiring for Culture (00:10:50) How hiring for culture affects retention, team performance, and broadens hiring pool.
• Employee Growth and Retention Stories (00:12:30) Michelle’s journey from assistant to SEO lead, training and internal growth.
• Using Assessments in Hiring (00:14:10) DISC, Kolbe, and other assessments to understand and hire for character.
• Sponsor Messages (00:15:24) Additional sponsor messages and product features.
• Defining Company Culture (00:17:18) What culture really means, how it’s perceived internally and externally.
• Culture’s External Impact (00:19:41) How culture affects customer experience and business...