5 Dumb Things Service Advisors Say After a "No" (Stop Doing This!)

Welcome to the big show. Today we're going to talk about the 5 dumbest things service advisors say after getting a no. It's a, it's a fun list. It's going to inspire some ideas and give you a real path into how you can increase your sales. And then we talk about, uh, our fitness, I guess. Is that, is that the right way to say that? Mostly I'm concerned about hoagie more than anything, but we talk about our fitness and NFL players, and much, much more coming up right now. I'm Chris Collins, Hoagie, Adam, and this is Service Drive Revolution. Man, I had quite a morning at the gym today. It's funny, the NFL guys are back in town. So it's offseason and there's a lot of players that come to LA that either live, you know, have houses here, just want to be in LA, or they went to USC or UCLA and they work out. And it is funny watching them work out comparatively to how I work out. It's just a different level of things. But it motivates you. But then, you know, at my age, you get pretty sore pretty quick. Like, there's only— only I'm sitting there like thinking, well, okay, do I need to be the strongest man in the world? Like, do I need to bench this much? Like, I don't know. I don't— I need my knees. I know that. I remember I used to work out at a gym where Terry Crews worked out. Do you guys know who Terry Crews is?

No.

Well, he— I think he played in the NFL for a while, but he's a big dude, and he— same sort of thing where he just, he just had an intensity to his workouts that you don't usually have. And, um, he asked me to spot for him a couple times, and I remember he's got like 4 plates on each side, and I'm just thinking like, if this— if he needs me to actually spot, I don't— what am I gonna— like, there's nothing I'm going to be able to do. He's just going to be mad at me. Like, also, like, right when he's benching, like, that's not exactly the, the height where you have the most leverage. Like, you know, it's all arms. You can't really get your legs underneath that. And it's pretty, you know, it's pretty funny. Cracks me up. Lucky for me, I never had to help him, but It's funny. Yeah, there's some big dudes. This one dude this morning, he's clearly in the NFL because he's huge and he's got to play on the line for somebody. But have you guys ever seen that exercise? I don't know what it's called, but it's where you'll hook your feet under something and then you lean forward and then you're almost doing like a reverse sit-up, but you're using your legs. It's impossible to do for a normal person to lift your whole body weight in a, you know, in that way where you're, where you're using the back of your legs to lift yourself. And he was doing it. We were all just admiring. We're like, wow, like, that's nuts. Pretty crazy.

There's a—

I don't know how these players keep getting stronger. Like, they just— they hit harder, they run faster. It's, it's not that uncommon for a guy that's 300 pounds to, to, you know, run a 4.7. It's not—

well, that's what I always say when people are like, uh, getting, getting down on the new— and, and I get it, there's, there's some of the rules in the NFL that I don't that I don't like where you can't, you can't even touch a quarterback anymore. And then like the targeting penalties sometimes, but they got to do something, right? Like how big and fast these guys are now. It's a, it's literally an automotive collision when these guys hit, like they're running 20-something miles an hour at 300 pounds and like, so there's got to be some, yeah. Yeah, it's literally a car wreck. Like every time they're colliding. So it is crazy. They're getting bigger. And in sports now too, it's weird, like basketball or football, just 'cause they're, you know, like in basketball, just 'cause they're 7 foot tall, when they're little, they're not telling that kid to not be a point guard. Back in the day, if you were 7 foot tall, they made you go stand down by the basket. Now they'll let it, you know, So you have like these Kevin Durants and, um, yeah, just, it is, it is crazy. Like, um, they're just huge, huge, uh, masses of human beings.

But, uh, yeah, and they're getting coaching very young, so they're getting nutrition, they're, they're getting weightlifting and all of that. So they're so advanced that, yeah, they're, they're already thinking about the combine when they're in junior high. So they're practicing the sprinting and they're just fast.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can put an app on your phone that records you and teaches you how to run right. Like, uh, baseball, they have these apps now where, uh, it tracks the like angle and exit velocity of the kid hitting the ball. Like, there's just all this technology that can like mirror you to Correction. You know, like, it's nuts. Just— yeah.

The other thing I was thinking about this morning is I don't ever see you guys at the gym when you're in town. Like, Adam used to come with me, and then he got hurt, and I haven't seen him since. I've never seen you, Huggy, at the gym at 5 in the morning.

My best workouts come from me not knowing I'm working out.

That's very intentional.

That's very good.

Ghost workout.

Well, like, like, uh, like I'll play in basketball leagues and stuff like that, and, um, and, you know, like, it is, uh, I, I don't mind, uh, lifting weights, but especially like cardio and stuff like that, like, or, or running or anything like that, I'm just like, my body's like, hey, you know, you know, you have a couch with a big TV, like, what are you doing?

Eating a cheeseburger is a workout?

Yeah.

Well, yeah, the last thing Adam did was send my trainer Chicago deep dish pizzas, and that's the last time we ever saw him.

Well, I can just like eat and just, you know, just burn it off in like one lift. But I, I next time, Chris, because I've gotten back into the some of the swing of things and I definitely had my wake up call this weekend because I think we removed about 25 trees, and, um, that was a workout within itself. We had some—

who's we in this story?

The in-laws, my brother-in-law, father-in-law. So we had some equipment, but I'll tell you what, man, I've never seen a larger, like, bonfire. We just had a burn pile, burned them.

And the purpose of this story is to illustrate that you worked out once on a Saturday, dude. No.

Oh, well, here This is how I know I'm lost out of shape. I am. This is how you're talking. So I was thinking about this in like your workouts. You brought this up. What would be interesting is I used to do this too. Do you remember like talking about in the combine and some of these heavy, like lifting, like competitions or whatever, like the tire with the hammer, the sledgehammer? Yeah, like those kind of workouts.

Clown.

I had my workout. Okay, so I had my workout trying to take, take out roots with a pickaxe. And I definitely like, I threw out my back a little bit because I definitely did not stretch.

Totally interesting. That's what happened when you worked out with me the last time, is you threw out your back.

No, I know.

What was it doing? Deadlifts? Is that what it was?

That's kind of what it felt like.

Was it deadlifts? How did you get hurt?

Yeah, it was deadlifts.

Yeah.

Hey, my recovery, I wasn't as bad as when we did deadlifts there, but I— it's all form. I'm ready next time, my friend.

I did cleans today. Come on.

Ooh, nice. I like those.

God, I get so hungry after I lift heavy too. Like I could eat spaghetti right now. It's funny. Okay, so we're going to talk about the 5 dumbest things service advisors say after getting a no. Now, one thing that we hear a lot is people that aren't in our system that call up wanting help. They want advisor training most of the time is what they say. And they're like, hey, I just need you to help my advisors overcome objections. And I get that, you know, but really that's treating the symptom, not the cause. And I would just say in, before we go through this list, understand that if an advisor is getting a no, something broke down in the process earlier on, it's, it's a symptom. And there's a cause somewhere, but most of the time we try to treat the symptom. I'm, I'm not a big fan of advisors overcoming objections, and we'll kind of get into that. And the last one I have on the list here really is the magic to this whole thing. And it's better than overcoming an objection. It, it, it is the thing that you can do that will help with the, you know, with future sales more than anything else with the customer. But, you know, but once you get a no, it's kind of too late in that way. So the first thing that we hear advisors say, number one on our list, is when something is offered and they get a no, the advisor will say, why? And, you know, invariably that puts the customer on the spot and it's a very adversarial thing in that way, right? Because once you get a no, it's too— anything you say after a no, is too late. It feels a little date rapey because no is final, right? If you're a customer and you say no, that's final. Any objection after that isn't, isn't, uh, taken as constructive or helpful. It's just like, oh wow, they really want to sell me something. That's how it starts to feel. It starts to feel like you're being sold versus somebody caring about you and trying to help you maintain or, uh, drive a, you know, a safe and dependable vehicle is what happens. And so you're, you're putting them on their back foot. So any sort of why up front puts the customer on their back foot and becomes adversarial in, in that way. Um, number 2 is, you know, talking about other things that the customer declined. Without giving them any sort of perspective, um, you, you kind of completely destroy your credibility when you recommend something and then once they say no, you then tell them that they didn't need it anyways, right? Because why are you recommending something I didn't need if then now you're pulling things away? Does that make sense?

There goes the trust.

Yeah. And so you erode the trust. The, um, the third thing, and this doesn't happen that often, every once in a while you'll get an advisor that's too aggressive, but saying any sort of thing that is fear-based, right? So the joke used to be like, if a customer declined their breaks, you would say something to the effect of, oh, okay, well, I hope you don't slide into a school bus full of kids. You know, any sort of derogatory fear-based, like, oh, you don't care about your kids. Or you don't care about others, you, you know, you'll just drive around with brakes that don't work. Really, you know, is disrespectful, but it also is missing the point altogether in that, in that way. So any sort of derogatory, fear-based selling comes off as manipulative and, and doesn't work. Um, and we've talked about this many times, like there's advisor training out there that will tell you to ask 5 times. Anybody who's written service a day in their life understands that you can't ask a customer 5 times to maintain or repair their car. You'll just make an enemy. That's it. They won't trust you or like you, and it's too late by then. Once you've gotten the no, you're playing from behind, and you want to avoid the no as much as you can. Um, the fourth one is the one that, that we probably see the most, and that is, well, uh, if I give you a discount, like, that's where most advisors go. In fact, most advisors go there before they even present. So they don't, you know, it's a terrible tool to have, but even, um, before they're using the tool before they even would need it, you know, but going to any sort of devaluation of what it is, offering a discount without even knowing that that's the issue, right? Like you're assuming a lot of things in that. And then the last one, which I think is probably the most important one is, you know, framing it with the customer. So if I offer If I'm going through the inspection sheet with the customer and I'm like, you know, the car's due for this, it needs this. And I give, you know, I give them one kind of total at the end. And we teach this process in our advisor training. And the customer says, oh no, I can't do that. Then the thing that I will try to do right there is I will say, oh, okay, can I make an appointment for this in the future? Do you want to do it in a month or two? So that's completely different than challenging their no. It's, it's taking them into the future. And now if the customer says, well, yeah, I get paid on this day, then I can start to create a plan for the customer, understanding their payday and, you know, what they have coming due. But also if they say, oh no, My brother-in-law Hoagie is going to do it for me. That teaches me something also, right? That they're, they're going to have somebody else do it or they're going to take it to a different shop, but they're more willing to tell me that when they don't feel confrontational or they don't feel challenged when I'm trying to make a future plan. Now, the other thing that I can say right there is I can say, you know, can I, can we book this out a couple months? And they're like, well, no, I need to think about it or whatever. Say, do you mind if I, uh, write this down and I follow up with you in 30 days? And that's the piggy bank, right? Like if I'm creating a piggy bank, but both, both of those, you know, approaches are very, very effective and non-confrontational. They, they feel like I'm trying to serve them and take care of them versus trying to just sell them something today. And the information that you will get and the feedback from the customer when you try to do that, will be closer to the truth of what's really going on. They have another mechanic, they just can't afford it, that, you know, that sort of thing. And then you can work on it from there.

Yeah, I think the more you understand the customer's, the customer's perception, like we're car people and you don't have to work in the car business very long to like, your frame is so far embedded on that side of the counter, it becomes hard to see the other side of it. And even going back to like fear-based selling, I've heard advisors a lot over the years enter into fear-based selling and they don't even know it. And the customer really does need brakes or they really do need to get this thing taken care of. And they start into this thing with telling them how bad it is. And, you know, just know you have different tools at your disposal. Invite them into the shop to look at the brakes, to look at the oil leak that's really going to cause them you know, other problems. And it opens up conversations like Chris is saying, where you can work towards whatever the thing is and have a little bit of discovery, whether the, you know, brother-in-law's going to do it or they don't have the money right now or whatever the thing is. But it is funny how often advisors, when they get a no, they go straight to the discount because they they think they're competing on price. And an exercise we like to do a lot when we're in store is grab an advisor or two and call the customer on their decline list and ask the customer, you know, hey, our goal is to keep you in a safe and dependable vehicle. We noticed we had some services we didn't do when you were in last, and, you know, we wanted to get some feedback on that. And the advisors will always say that the number one thing customers are going to say is price. And that's never it. It's never it. It's always like, I didn't know, you know, and—

That's the worst.

Time is the other one that comes up a lot.

I think the two are time and trust, right? So like one thing to really keep in mind when you're an advisor too is you're going to sell way more the earlier in the day it's presented. And so you want to make a conscious effort to get your, your lists and your diagnosis and all that, you know, before, like the earlier in the day, the better chance you have of selling it because the customer has the rest of the day. If you're calling a customer at 3:30, they get off work at 4 and they're headed to pick up the vehicle. You're going to get more declines than if it's there all day and you have the time. So Time is a big factor. And even though the customer might not tell you that, you have to be aware of that as, you know, as a variable in it. And then trust, like it always, you know, when I was an advisor and a tech would be like, oh, this customer needs brakes and they're, you know, they're below 10% and pretty soon they're going to need rotors. Like if they don't fix this. And I call the customer and I present the brakes and they decline the brakes, it's one of two things. It's price or it's they don't like and trust me. And most of the time it's they don't like and trust you. Your process ignores them. They feel unwanted. It's the write-up process is uncomfortable. Like, we achieve more sales by doing ServiceDrive Geno and having a write-up process that's organized and makes the customer feel important and takes away decision fatigue than any advisor training we could ever do. The, the, you know, how the customer feels about us drives their behavior more than anything else. And if they don't like us and they're indifferent and they don't trust us, they will take the escape route anytime that they can. They will prolong, you know, doing things they should do today. And so if a customer's declining something they have to have, Like you can't avoid breaks. You got to look in the mirror and is it, you know, is it, is it the way that they feel as an outcome of the process that we're putting them into? And in most service departments out there, the process costs more sales than anything else. We're just not likable. They just, they feel rushed. They want to get out of there. They feel ignored. They don't know who's helping them. There's all this chaos. I mean, it's a nightmare to go into your average service department. Yeah. Yeah.

You said something earlier too, when you were talking about fear-based selling and, uh, and I don't, I don't disagree. Like I don't think the fear-based thing is something that is, uh, is super, super common, but it did make me think of something like as we're going through some of these, I was trying to think of like how often I, I have heard these things and like different examples of it. And the thing it made me think about was to take inventory of where I'm at. It's amazing. Just go listen to a couple of phone calls. A lot of times you don't think it's that bad or you don't, you know, but when you go listen to a couple phone calls, it's a brutal, brutal teacher. And then you'll hear the objections and how your people are responding. Responding to them. And then again, it's just overcoming objections. Again, I think it bears repeating that that's treating the symptom, not the problem. Like you're talking about, it's our systems and customer experience and how we're processing it all. Kind of setting the advisor up for success with good systems and processes. But it is a funny thing how an advisor thinks they're successful at their job based on how well they react to things. And, you know, which is totally backwards, right? It's a hard thing to abstract.

And like they embrace the firefighting. Yeah.

Like, hey, let's role play overcoming objections. It's like, wow. Yeah, it's pretty— yeah, the, the one thing too you said there, Hoagie, about listening to phone calls, like, the first thing that you realize when you listen to phone calls is how long it feels when somebody's on hold. Like, 1 minute feels like an eternity, and that makes people feel ignored. Like, like it or not, like, you're, you're way— like, there's little things, like, you're way better off just going like, hey, I'm gonna look into this, can I call you right back? Than putting them on hold while you wait at the parts counter or whatever it is you're doing.

Oh, I was going to say parts hold.

Yeah, totally. So, you know, we're in the feelings business and say, you know, a lot of times we don't manage the feelings. We're making customers take it as it is with no thought for, well, what What does this feel like from the other side? You know, that you can sell a lot more cars that way. You can, you know, you can sell a lot more of anything by just fixing how the, how the customer feels.

Yeah. Yeah. I had an interesting conversation with an advisor last month and, um, he was having like genuine questions about like tools or tips or tricks I had to help him connect with customers. And I had asked, I was just like, well, get, you know, like back up with me a little bit here. Like when's the last time that you can think of a situation where you had to, like you connected with a customer? Like when was it? And he was like, oh, actually like just the other day. And he started telling me about it and it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks because what he was saying was, is we had messed up the this customer's car, you know, the classic thing, like the porter backed into another car and like messed up the bumper and, you know, whatever. And he was saying, so since we messed up, I was trying to like really schmooze over the customer. And I asked him, I was like, oh, okay, so is that the main time you try to connect with people is when we've messed up? And he was like, totally. And I'm like, okay, well, there you go. It's too late. It's too late then. Like if you're asking for money or we've messed up, It's amazing how much better the process goes when your intentionality is trying to connect with people. And it is, it's a hard lesson to learn as an advisor for some reason. Like we're inundated with training when we start about like product knowledge and how to use the DMS and what the warranty guidelines are and all that stuff. And not that you don't want to be an expert in all of those fields, but It's about connecting with people like it just is. And it all gets vastly easier after that.

A good book to read is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Like, being genuinely curious about people goes a long ways. It's good. Well, that's a good, good list. I think the thing we learned is Adam won't be going to the gym anytime soon. Hoagie will never go to the gym. Eating a cheeseburger as his form of working out.

I'll, I'll do my cheeseburger pre-workout and then we can go play basketball.

Actually, I don't think I would play basketball. I don't want to do it all. It's good.

Probably safer.

Thanks, you guys. We'll see everybody again real soon and, um, have a great week. See you next time on Service Drive Revolution. Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Drive Revolution. We're uploading new stuff every day, so make sure you subscribe and click the bell icon so you don't miss out. If you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show, call 833-ASK-SDR and we'll answer your question on the show. That's 833-ASK-SDR. For special deals on our books and training, head over to offers.chriscollinsinc.com. Now that's offers. Chriscollinsinc.com. I'm Chris Collins, and I'll see you in the next video.