The Overdrive Podcast: By Christian Brothers Automotive · Christian Brothers Automotive, Cameron Giddings

Effective Onboarding with Jeff Toth

·27 min·1 clip

Jeff ranks training performance with four stars and says only gold-star people belong on his team.

1. The Overdrive Podcast: By Christian Brothers Automotive focuses on effective onboarding with Christian Brothers Automotive multi-unit franchisee Jeff Toth. 2. Josh Parnell hosts Jeff Toth, a franchisee he has known for almost a decade, because Toth’s two locations are used as examples inside the brand. 3. The episode asks how to set up new hires for success while also building retention, training consistency, and leadership beyond the hiring process. 4. Toth says onboarding starts in the interview by checking whether the candidate and the shop are a good fit. 5. He says the first day should include a quarter to a half day with the employee manual, stories about the company, and introductions to team members. 6. He describes Christian Brothers training as "world-class" and says he wants new hires to believe in it before they arrive. 7. Toth says his teams are "all overachievers" and that he tells candidates they are "swinging for the fence every day". 8. He uses a dealership DVI video example to show how a practice that was once amazing becomes ordinary as the standard rises. 9. He says, "today's great, tomorrow's good," and adds that "good 100% of the time goes out of business." 10. He explains Genesis training with four colors of stars: red, green, silver, and gold. 11. He says red means someone "totally crashed and burned," while green and silver still fall short of what he expects. 12. He says he only hires gold-star people and expects each person to get the color they are capable of earning. 13. He gives an example of a team member who returned to Genesis, earned a gold star, finished first in class, and ended up with more points than he started with. 14. Toth says he is embarrassed by silver stars and had one employee blot out a silver star on a name tag with liquid paper. 15. He says retention is strong because team members care about each other, apologize quickly, and laugh often at work. 16. He says the stores eat all the time, "probably going to put on the freshman 15," and stage big Christmas parties to show appreciation. 17. The interview style is direct and conversational, with Josh Parnell repeatedly pressing for practical examples from Toth’s locations. 18. Toth’s tone is blunt but encouraging, with frequent jokes and repeated returns to standards, accountability, and coaching. 19. Leaders, franchisees, and managers who hire and train people. 20. Listeners wanting automotive detail without leadership or hiring interest.

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