4 HIDDEN Ways Parts Can Sell More Labor (Service Drive Revolution)

Welcome, everybody, to service Drive Revolution. I'm Chris Collins and this is Jeremy o' Neill at your service.

We're here to help.

We're here to help.

We are here to help you entertain.

Help give you some love, some encouragement, some ideas, some food for thought. You know what's coming up today on the show. Are you ready for this? We are going to talk about four ways parts can sell more labor.

Oh, wow.

Parts is in the business of selling labor. And we're going to give you four ways to help them sell labor. That we could say. Four secret ways.

Yeah. Four secret ways.

For hidden.

Hidden.

For hidden ways parts can sell more labor. We are going to talk about one question that Elon Musk asks in an interview. That is a game changer and we're going to answer your questions. Some good questions today from you, the audience. Remember, when you post a question on LinkedIn, YouTube or inforriscollinsinc.com if we read your question on the podcast, we will send you a T shirt, stickers, swag coffee mug.

So it will be fun. So in the news. Mr. Jeremy, Mr. Jeremy, are you ready for this man? Goodyear tire.

Oh, my gosh, yes. When I read this, my mind exploded. Purple smoke went flying out of my head.

The crazy futuristic tire envisions a radical new way to replace your rubber. Rather than swapping the physical tire for a new one, the tire manufacturer is pondering something else. What if you simply regenerate new tread? What if you made a tire that grew its own skin?

Sorry, I have to share a quick story. So I share a story in one of our classes that we teach, which is how the consumers hate auto repair. And when they purchase a new vehicle, when they're in the finance department, if they could, you know, let's say that Ford came out because they're trying to save Ford from like a couple episodes ago. So we're going to help Ford with this example. If Ford offered you this magical pod that you inserted in the fuel tank at delivery, you would never have to do auto repair.

So the magical pod keeps the car truck from ever breaking.

Yeah. And check this out. So the only thing is you've got these pads you got to park the car on at night. The tires will magically regenerate. You never have to buy tires again. The brakes will magically regenerate. The fluids will magically regenerate. But you've got to do it now to because once you drive it off the lot, you can't do that. 100% of consumers would choose to Buy this, then go through our process on the repair side of things.

Right.

So this is very interesting that Goodyear's actually developing this. It's fascinating to me.

So the thing is, is that their concept is it's a compound that they insert into the center of the tire. So the rim and the tire are all kind of one. They insert it and then it pushes the rubber out and it grows its own tread.

Yeah. So it regenerates.

And then the idea, too, in the article, too, was that it could, like, do winter and summer. So the different inserts or the different gel or rubber.

Gel you put in Track day coming up, you're gonna put your racing slick. Yeah, yeah. You got winter coming. You're going to do your snow chairs without having to go into the shop.

It's going to affect alignment sales. It is, because you just put more of the goo in. You don't align it. So cars are driving down the street.

All it depends on the cost of the goo.

Oh, you think the goo might be expensive?

The goo could be expensive. So the alignment service can always be a cost benefit and actually save you money. That's very interesting. I wonder when one of the brake companies are going to come out with regenerative brakes. They already have that.

I think that's harder to do than rubber, don't you think?

Well, yeah, with the friction material. Yes. Yeah, I think they'll do something with magnets or gravitational pull, the earth slowing the vehicle down.

What is your style of interviewing? Like, say you're interviewing an advisor. Like, what? Are there two or three questions that you ask in an interview that you think are magic?

Well, Chris, I'd love to give you a great answer. However, with my track record at my shop in three years, going through 18 advisors and 42 technicians, I'd love to learn something today. So go ahead, tell me what I should be asking.

Well, I mean, one of the questions I like to ask service advisors is like, tell me about a difficult customer experience or an unhappy customer and how you turn them around.

Okay.

Just get out the checkbook and write them a check.

What?

I'm answering your question. I'm being funny here.

Give the farm away.

Give the farm away. No, you don't want that person.

What you want is an advisor that answers that question. Well, what I did is I gave away $5,000 to policy or whatever.

Oh, my gosh, that's way too much money.

Now, some people would ask that question a little bit different, and they would say, like, how have you used your sense of humor? Or Your magic powers, that sort of thing. So.

But then you're assuming somebody has a sense of humor or magical powers, Right?

It's a trick.

It is.

It's a trick.

It is. Was the, is the point here though, to keep them talking and see, the.

Purpose of a job interview is to scare the living crap out of people.

Okay.

Intimidation.

Yeah.

Oh, God, no.

I'm joking.

Okay.

No, but the, the purpose, is it to understand what their system is or their style? Right. One question I like to ask advisors too is like what when you're walking up to a customer that's at their car. So you're approaching a customer at their car, you're going to write them up, you're going to help them. What do you think?

Should we do role play for the audience now? Pretend that you're the service manager. I'm the service.

Too kinky. Let's not do that. But what, what would you want to hear from an advisor?

Well, one of the things I would want to hear is what are they going to look for to connect with the customer? How can they help the customer?

The personal clue now what if they say what I'm thinking, what I'm going to sell them?

Wrong mindset. Yeah. How much are Spiffs?

Sales are easy. The sales come if you connect.

Absolutely.

Right.

Yeah, for sure.

I want somebody who's in the, in the spirit of connecting, helping, taking care of the money, takes care of himself.

Absolutely. Go to relationship, not transaction.

So Elon Musk has a question that he asks in every interview when he's talking to candidates. And it's one simple, important question. Tell me about some of the most difficult problems you worked on and how you solved them.

That's a great question.

It's kind of in line with this, with our style, right?

Yes.

Like give me an example. And how did you fix it?

That's really good. I also, like for advisors, give me one of the hardest sales objections you've ever had to overcome. And how did you overcome it?

So what did we learn here?

We learned that they. Your answers in hiring the right people lie in the question that you ask.

Maybe. Maybe that's what we learned. But could it be possible be intimidating? Well, yeah, I shared that. Is it possible that we're more like Elon Musk than we think I would.

Yeah, absolutely. Is that a good or a bad thing, though?

It's a great thing. What, are you kidding?

Changing the world.

What do we have against Elon Musk?

That's kind of a polarizing topic.

Really?

I believe so.

Yes, but I mean, just as an individual performing, like.

Absolutely.

Let's go back to his PayPal days with Peter Thiel. Do you ever watch any of Peter Thiel's stuff?

No.

Do you know who Peter Thiel is?

How should I answer this?

Honestly?

No, I don't.

Honestly, and quickly.

Honestly, no. There you go. Done.

You don't know who Peter Thiel is?

I don't know.

So Peter Thiel and this guy you might have heard of, elon Musk, started PayPal.

Okay.

And then Peter was one. When he. When they sold PayPal, he was one of the first investors in Facebook.

Nice.

I think he was the first person to give Facebook money.

Which was interesting because I saw an interview when they asked him about that, and they're like, hey, was it this? Was it that? He's like, no. We tried to start a social media company before, and they were just growing really fast. And so, like, it wasn't a lot of thought in it. He's like, you know, I don't know. Like, was it Mark? Did he have a great pitch? He was like, no. They just needed money for more servers because they were adding, like, 20 schools a month, and I thought, maybe there's something. Let's give them half a million bucks.

Throw it at the wall and see.

Yeah.

Sticks.

But pretty interesting guy. And his interviews are great. He. He had a lot to do with Trump getting elected. He was a big.

I'll give him a high five.

He's also the guy that. That hated Gawker and gave Hulk Hogan the money to sue Gawker, which ended up putting Gawker out of business.

Wow.

He's. That guy. He's.

I have some homework to do.

So he funded. Do you know that story? He funded Hulk Hogan.

You're asking me all these tough questions today, Chris.

Well, I don't know. I'm just. I guess I'm watching different stuff on YouTube than you are. You're watching, like, how to replace an AC compressor, and I'm watching Peter Thiel.

Why? I know how to do that.

And then. What are you watching?

How to increase my fourth labor line.

No, Nobody but us is putting stuff out like that. The. You're probably watching, like, motocross. You know what? You know what I'd love to do? And you and I should do this together.

Okay.

F1.

I'm down with that. Like, we're gonna build an F1 team to go drive.

No, we're gonna go watch a race.

Okay.

If you watch the series on Netflix.

No.

So they had one Last year.

Okay.

It's really well done. And then they just released the season two, which is last season.

Okay.

I'll check it out of, you know, the drivers, the drama, the whatever. But I'm addicted to it.

I'm down with that.

I'm thinking about if the. If there's a way I'm going to get the F1 package.

Okay.

So I'm going to watch all the races. Sometimes you got to get, like, one in the morning.

I like formula drift, too. That's coming up here in a couple months.

Formula drift?

Yeah. Streets of Long Beach. I'll take some footage. I'll throw it up.

Ghetto. Come on.

It's ghetto.

F1. There's. They're spending, like, a billion dollars.

I know, but that's not. See, the great thing about formula drift is somebody could go out and buy a $500 car, turn it into a drift car, and have fun. You're never gonna touch an F1 car. Like, literally, if you try to touch it, they're gonna chop your arm off. Like, they have lasers that, like, take your limbs off your body, and then they put you in a box and bury you in the ocean. So you're never gonna touch an F1 car, but you can touch a formula drift car.

First of all, I don't believe that I could test an F1 car. I think I could drive one.

Could you fit in one?

Well.

I don't know.

What do you guys think? Could Chris fit in an F1?

So what are the. I've driven. Could Chris fit in an Indy car?

Okay, so was it, like, nice and tight?

They're different than F1, right? Nice and tight. Yeah. They took the seat out.

I was sitting on the metal, sitting on the frame. That's cool.

It was scary, but I went, like, 169 miles an hour or something.

What track were you on?

Vegas.

Awesome. Yeah, I wouldn't do it again. Why not?

But I don't. I think we could drive an F1 if we wanted to. Somebody would let us do.

If somebody knows how to connect us to get into an F1 car and drive private. Let us know. I'm on that.

Okay. Jeremy, you know what time it is?

No, but I have a question.

It's time for questions. Let's get Don Rito and get your viewer questions. Hey, Don, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great. Alcoholism is the best, and I'm back in it.

Alcoholism is the best.

How about. Have you ever been to an AA meeting?

What the hell is aaa?

Alcoholics Anonymous. It could help you.

Wtf?

Do I seem like the kind of person who can go away with anonymity to you?

Did you tell him we got his bonus check in?

I got a bonus check.

Yeah, It's a dollar. Here you go. Just so you know, that's 20 times.

What Chris tips at Starbucks.

Wow, I feel so special.

Okay, what's the. You got some good questions?

Oh, yeah, we got two really good ones this week. Let me get to them.

This one comes From Brandon on YouTube. I just recently discovered your content. Really appreciate someone experience putting out this knowledge.

Welcome to the party.

Brandon, do you have any recommendations for a shop limited by technician load? This is an opportunity out the wazoo, but with only 4 techs and 6 bays, I'm not sure how to seize it.

Yeah, so the industry is losing two techs for every new one coming in.

Are you serious?

Yeah, it's. And it's not going to get better?

No, it's not.

What I would suggest is go to ChrisCollinsInc.com and sign up for our on demand. And in there there's a module that's called Technician tree and it's how to grow your own technicians, how to hire the top technicians and how to maintain the ones you have. It's kind of three different parts and so there's some tools in there how you can hire. But the thing that you want to get good at, Brandon, is hiring techs. Because the future is whoever has the techs wins. The other thing that I see oftentimes is when you struggle hiring techs, your culture in the shop is terrible because you need the text more than they need you. So you have a bunch of terrible techs with terrible attitudes that don't want to work driving the culture in your shop.

Damn. You just described my shop.

So Technician tree, bro, get in there, buy it. You know, every technician usually is worth between 10 and 15,000 in gross profit a month. So if you can't afford the on demand, you probably might want to get into another industry.

Absolutely. Can we talk about the supply and demand factor on this as well? So when you are.

You heard it first here, what does that mean? Supply and demand.

Supply and demand, Right. So as demand increases and supply decreases, what happens to pricing? I don't think we're aggressive enough on our pricing right now as an industry.

So what you mean by pricing is what we pay the tax?

No, I'm talking retail pricing.

Oh, to afford to pay the tax.

Yes.

So your effective labor rate.

Yes.

Should be higher.

Yes.

So then I'm going to translate for you guys what Jeremy's saying. What he's saying is you should get your effective labor rate up, so you should teach your advisors how to sell. You need to learn pricing strategies, how to create a menu, all that. Because as things go forward, the cost of a technician is going to go up.

Yeah. And I want to get ahead of that curve right now. I want to be able to afford paying a technician 40 to 50 to $60 an hour to get in that range. I've got to have my effective labor rate at 150, 175, 200, 225 if I have the demand and I'm backlogged. Like for instance, in my shop, I just did this yesterday. Cleaned all the old ros over. My work in progress is cleaned.

We have 68 push some cars out in the street.

Yes. And we let the city of his ferry come pick them up. 68 active cars that are actually working in our shop right now. With two technicians, that's a month's worth of work. And we do. Absolutely. But if I can't find the text, then I increase my pricing till the car count drops and find that happy medium. So instead of maybe having 68 cars, I go to 28. But if I increase my pricing by 60, 70%, what's gonna happen to my net?

It's gonna go up.

And could I then afford to pay a tech 50 bucks an hour? Yes, I could. And then I could attract the top talent to my shop and then balance it out. So that's kind of the balance that I'm talking about.

That's how Jeremy's mind works. That is all that. I hope you guys followed that, because he went around the cul de sac and then through the back.

Crystal clear in my mind. I don't know how confusing that was.

No, it's a good. It's a very good point.

That's a supply and demand economics of America.

You understand that, Don?

No.

Well, can I get you a drink?

We.

We'll.

We'll circle back to that.

Sounds like Don's already had.

Sounds like I need to start looking for a new podcast to work on.

What.

You got another one?

Yeah, we got another question.

This one also comes from YouTube. From Pete. Thanks, Pete. Do you guys like the idea of waiving diagnostic fees in order to capture the repair? Curious about your response. If we lose the job to another shop, he only gets the diagnostic if I sell the job. I can potentially get them a better chance at more hours. Plus, sometimes you don't lose anything and get both time and diagnostic. Just curious how most others perceive it. Plus wanted Chris's feedback.

Pete is short for Peter. Can you imagine?

I would probably.

Peter. Yes.

What? You say yes to that?

Yeah, I've done it before.

I say no to that.

What do you mean?

Totally on the other side of the fence on that. That's just weak sales skills is all that is. So go to our on demand platform. You've got total training. Get a coach to help you deal with this. Now here's my point on this. If your shop is skilled enough to diagnose the problem and the customer is going to go to another shop to have them repair it, I've got a very big issue with that. Why didn't you go to the other shop in the first place? Okay, you're at the right shop. Our testing fees pay for themselves. You. When you consider how much time and money is wasted by doing any repairs that we don't know the root of the problem. So I'm not a fan of waiving diagnostic charges. And it's a shell game, right? It's tough. It's an invoicing thing. Well, we zero out the diag line and then we put the hour labor or two hours labor down in the repair line. So then we artificially inflate our repair price and then the customer takes that and goes and shops it and finds a cheaper price. But it's not about that. Especially now. We just talked about the shortage of technicians. Right. So I'm a fan of setting up your diagnostic testing fees properly the first time. Charge a fair price for them and don't waive them if the testing's been completed. You've earned it. Leave it on the ticket and charge properly for the repair as well.

So you're telling me that if a customer brings their car in for diagnosis and let's say you're half an hour into the diagnosis and the repair is a thousand bucks, you would let them leave for the thousand bucks and not do the repair?

That's not what I said.

Oh, what did you say?

I would tell you that the total to fix your car today is 1150. Would you like me to proceed?

But in a situation where the customer perceives that their other shop that can't diagnose it correct but can fix it for less correct, you would let them take it there if it came to that?

No, they wouldn't leave. You're missing the point.

The.

That's just a sales objection. He's got to get over. He's not skilled at dealing with the sales objection. You know, it's like we've got dumb things that advisors say or do when a customer says no, that's coming up, but it's simply a sales objection. We should close that sale. You have the car, you've got the diagnostic test completed. You've got the right technician. If you didn't take it to them to diagnose it, how are they going to properly verify the repair? It's simply a point of closing the sale. At that point, you've got to close it. You can't let that go.

So I don't. I don't disagree with what you're like.

All these millennials that don't, you know, they hop in and out of relationships and Tinder and all that stuff, just because I see it happen.

What about Tinder?

Well, I don't know anything about Tinder. I'm just saying.

That sounds like you know a lot about Tinder.

Don't know anything about Tinder, actually. What is it?

No, what I was gonna say before you brought up Tinder was that.

I've. A couple times I've had those. So Ford had a bunch of my clients open these, like, express, right. Service departments, like, five miles away from their dealership, and they would lose money, you know, and one of the marketing campaigns I would do over and over again that would work was check engine lights free and that sort of thing.

Right.

So I don't know, like, I agree with what you're saying, but in every situation, I could. I could raise my labor rate, up my effective and be okay. Riding off a little diagnosis sometimes to keep a job is what I'm saying. You're. What you're saying is right. I'm just taking the counterpoint that in some situations I've done that and it's worked.

So then there's not a black and white answer to this question.

No, but your answer is more right than mine.

No, it's. It's not about being right. It's about helping our viewers and, you know, help him close more of those jobs. You know, he might be in a very competitive market.

It's about being right. You're more right.

Thank you.

Another one, Don, or is that it for this week?

That's it for this week, Chris.

Thanks, Don.

Thank you. And thanks for the bonus.

Yeah. Don't spend it all in one place.

Four hidden ways parts can sell more labor.

Buy an F1 car.

No.

No.

Okay, first one, number one.

Hold on a second. So when this topic came up, my Brain was like, this is very interesting because the parts department is when I at least go into a dealership and I purchase a part or talk to the parts department, it's like this just hidden thing that people don't even really recognize. Right. And what you're telling me is we're going to show them.

Are you saying that the parts department doesn't get any respect?

That is exactly what I was saying. But remember, most.

I think a lot of people in parts would probably agree with you.

Most problems in a service department are the parts department's fault, though.

Well, it's easy to blame parts, of course, because they don't talk a lot.

It is. But now we're going to show them how to harvest labor dollars out of the parts. Oh, yeah, department. Okay, here we go.

These are some nuggets.

All right, Number one.

Number one is sell some accessories or modification.

Sell some accessories or modification. Why does a lot of that go to the aftermarket?

Because we don't try.

We don't try. We don't ask.

Like, I. I do this all the time. I'll sit in the drive, and we'll just stand there and we'll. We'll look at the next 20 cars coming in. What percentage of the vehicles coming into the drive do you think have some sort of upgraded wheels lift kit?

Easy. 50%.

Yeah. So if you just sit there and count. So I'll take the parts manager and the service manager. I'll be like, let's just stand here for a second and talk about the Seattle Seahawks. Watch cars come in and, like.

They'Re lifting them. They're doing things. So why don't we lift them? Why don't we pre lift them? Put them in the showroom? Lifted. Why don't we? When?

When?

Because the key to selling more accessories is gamify it. Why isn't the parts manager at the sales meeting every Friday gamifying and handing out spiff money for accessories? Sold.

Absolutely.

Get out of your desk.

Get out there.

Get out of your office, away from your desk. Take the seat belts off.

It's all about ptd.

Get yourself a lot of cash and start spiffing salespeople to sell accessories. Even spiff the sales manager.

Here's how they do it. So I just bought a Volkswagen Passat tdi and nobody at the dealership asked me what I do in my personal life. So what's one of the hobbies I love to do during the summer? Mountain bike. I like to do downhill mountain biking with my kids.

Thanks for letting me Guess.

Sorry. It's like a rhetorical slow, like the clock's ticking. We gotta go.

It was a rhetorical question. I answered it for you. Sorry. I brought my B game.

Maybe some of us wanted to guess.

Okay, so what is.

So you go to a lot of nudist colonies in the summer?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Isn't there a nudist colony out by you?

There's probably a lot of stuff.

When you take that turn on the 15, that thing down there is a nudist colony, right?

I wouldn't know. You know.

Come on, you know. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. I've never been there, though.

But it is a Nunes colony.

I believe it is.

And you go there in the summer?

No, we don't go there in the summer. We go to Big Bear and do downhill mountain biking. Now, the reason I bought my Passat was for the fuel mileage. And I'm sitting here thinking, awesome, I can save so much money. Instead of driving my big Suburban up the mountain, I can drive the Passat. And I'm like, oh, wow, because your.

Commute from home to work is a little long.

It's. Yeah, 30 miles each way. But I'm sitting here thinking, how am I going to get the bikes up to the mountain in the Passat? And how could the parts department help me?

They don't care.

They should care.

They don't care.

I'm going to spend probably a thousand bucks outfitting the Passat.

What? How much does it pay to put that thing on an hour Labor?

What, the.

The bike rack?

Whatever it takes. Do it for me.

No, but does. Don't they usually pay, like, half an hour? An hour?

Yeah, it depends if you're doing it.

Brings me back to my point. Four hidden ways. Parts can sell more labor. Okay, sell bike racks.

There we go.

But what you're saying is nobody cared to get to know you. What's this dealership. The name, the dealership.

Car pros, Volkswagen in San Bernardino could.

Care less about their customers.

I'll. Okay, there you go. Absolutely.

Could care less.

Could care less.

What do you think that parts manager is doing right now?

Probably looking for a new job.

No, he's sitting in his office checking email, doing some report like most parts managers. Okay, so he's definitely not out trying to figure out how to sell more accessories so he can sell more labor.

Man, the numbers are just adding up. There's so many opportunities for parts to.

Convert to labor it's endless.

It is.

Lift kits.

Lift kits.

Hey, when I bought that. So service manager challenge your jeep. What are we giving away?

The Jeep.

A Jeep. A Jeep what?

Rubicon, Right?

Gladiator.

The Gladiator.

It's not a Rubicon. I wish I would have done the Rubicon, honestly, because sorry to hit a. I didn't do the Rubicon. And so then what did I have to do to it?

Okay, you had to re gear it, lift it, do all sorts of stuff.

Nobody cared when that. When I bought it. Nobody said, hey, what are you going to do to this dude? What are your plans?

So that's what hours of labor look like.

A guy that likes to stick out from the crowd.

Right.

You look like a guy with a small man's complex that wants to lift the thing up. Right, Right.

Yeah. Nobody asked you a question.

I lifted it, but it wasn't.

You didn't go back to the dealer, did you?

No.

So you went to an aftermarket shop.

Yeah. And that specializes in lifting and there was a line out the door?

Well, yeah.

It took me a week to get in.

That long?

Yeah.

Wow.

So they're taking it somewhere.

So how many hours of labor did they leave on the table?

So what they did to mine was three and a half hours.

Okay.

So how could parts sell more labor?

Sell lift kits, lift kits sell accessories.

Getting to the business of selling parts.

So these advisors can also do that as well. They can build relationships too. So what's number two?

Number two is body shops. So if you have body shops that are buying a lot of parts from you, you go to them and make a deal that if they bring their alignments and their programming and the heavier mechanical stuff to us.

We work out some sort of deal.

Absolutely.

But there's a. Body shops have the ability to charge at our rate to do the mechanical and create a relationship between the service department and these body shops.

Now if the dealership doesn't have a body shop, they should. That should be a two way street too. I used to control the collision repair that would come in. It was from the dealership. And then I subletted to the body shop and then that helped me get my mechanical rate for the insurance company. So there's definitely ways you can do that too.

Yeah.

Body shop's great.

Do you think that parts managers are thinking like that?

No, I think they're running reports in their office right now.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's another way to sell more labor.

That's another way to sell more labor. What's number three?

Wait, one more question. Oh, is there a lot of. Is there a lot of profit in wholesale parts?

No. In fact, a lot of dealerships are shutting down their wholesale parts department.

Right. Would there be if there was some sort of reciprocal relationship?

So you're talking like three to 400 hours a month going through the parts department.

It can be that.

Could be that.

I've made it that before. The thing is, is like a lot of parts guys got to sell the wholesale to hit their bonus.

Right.

Why not?

Win, win, win, win. Absolutely. Labor is there.

Gotta get out of the office. Gotta get out there, bring them coffee mugs, give them some service. Drive revolution swag.

There we go.

Right.

Number three. This one was yours and it's genius. Do you remember what it was?

Don't just sell the part. Sell the diagnostic.

Genius.

Absolutely. So when we look at the number one thing that we get phone calls on is how much is it to replace X? And it doesn't matter what X is. When a customer wants a component replaced, there's a triggering event that happened with that request. And it's no different in the parts department. When I walk up to the parts counter, say, hey, Kris, can I get an O2 sensor? What do the parts people do?

Get them an O2 sensor.

Okay. Do they ask any questions about the car?

Why do you think you need an O2 sensor? What makes you think you need an O2 sensor?

Those are two great.

Who told you you need an O2 sensor?

That's the third grade.

Who told you you need an o2 sensor?

Why do you want to change it?

Please. Can I ask you a question?

Yes.

Who told you you need an O2 sensor?

Well, the retail parts store down the street.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. Right. Or somebody's drunk uncle. I like to say so.

Or they watched a YouTube video.

They watched a YouTube video.

You know what's good is watch YouTube videos for advice on your health. Like, don't go to the doctor.

Oh, what?

Watch YouTube?

That is so.

Right.

Absolutely.

Would you get. Would you get advice from a doctor on YouTube or would you go to a doctor?

I'd go to a doctor, absolutely. So yeah, so don't just sell the parts. Sell the diet. Have a two way conduit where the advisor can actually come to the counter and answer questions for the customer. But turn that retail parts customer into a service customer and sell them the diagnostic too. There's so much work that.

Is there.

The great thing about Jeremy and I doing this show together is a lot of times I learn just as much as I'm sharing. And the fourth one was something I've never thought about before. And it's so right on. It's one of those things that it's like, clearly that's how you should do it, but nobody's doing it.

Number four is create a CRM with the customers that come in.

Yeah.

Customer relationship manager in the parts department. The parts retail parts customers neglected. Right.

And they never follow up.

No, they don't. But there's sales opportunity. There's also the service opportunity as well. And when that customer leaves, what do we want to ask them? Your next appointment. Don't worry, I'll answer that for you. Rhetorical, right? Rhetorical question. What about setting their next service appointment? Can we introduce you to our service department? We have a great search. How can we help you? Yeah, right. We've got a ton of resources.

We're in the business of doing this. We do this stuff. We, we got, we got all these parts and we got these tech standing around and they're dying to help you.

The other thing, the, another triggering question that is going to be asked is do you think this is going to fix my problem? So your parts personnel have to be skilled in identifying that and then moving it over to labor. There's so much labor to be sold, it is untapped. And then we don't even try. We don't know. Get the customer's email, get their cell phone, text them email. Get the permission to follow up. It's free marketing. Seth Godin Coin that permission based marketing. It's absolutely free. We're missing a huge golden opportunity in our parts department by not creating a CRM.

Four hidden ways parts can sell more labor. Number one, accessories. Number two, body shops. Make deals with your.

Wholesale clients that you're not making any money on to begin with. And get the labor in the parts department. You can work up some sort of trade, some sort of share. I've done that before. Get out of your office. Go touch your body shop clients. Number three, don't sell the part. Sell the diagnosis or the next appointment. Number four, start putting people in a CRM and touching them, marketing to them, treating them like they're of value.

Absolutely. That's a home run right there.

Great stuff.

Absolutely.

That's all we have for the show today. Thanks everybody for tuning in for myself and Jeremy. We say have a great week and we'll see you next time on Service Drive Revolution.

Thanks for watching this episode of Service Drive Revolution. If you have any questions, go ahead and post them in the comments. Below. Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're notified when we post new episodes. I'm Chris Collins, and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram @chrisbulldog Collins, and I'll see you again on the next episode.