5 Habits Of The Exceptional Service Manager | SDR #219

Welcome, everybody, to this edition of Service Driver Revolution. Today we have an exciting show.

You have either worked for a service.

Manager, you yourself have been a service manager.

But we're going to talk about five.

Ways to tell if you're a good service manager. There's a little something in there for everybody. We're going to go through the news. Fun, interesting stuff.

Hey, Chris in the news.

Hey, Christian.

Hey. Why do you. Why do fish not like to play soccer?

Why?

They're afraid of the nets.

Much, much more coming up on this edition of Service Drive Revolution.

So I have on here.

To talk about how fixed stops makes your business recession proof.

Oh, that's a good.

What happens in 2008 in different times during a recession? What happens to people that aren't buying cars? If you don't buy a car, what do you have to do?

You got to fix that bad boy.

Yeah. And so right now, the average age of a car on the street is 13.

Yeah, 13.

What is that? Goes to 15.

Then even more people are going to need to fix their cars. It's going to be glorious.

Knowing how to hire techs, knowing how to run a profitable service department makes you recession proof. So if you need help with that or you're just not aware of what the possibilities are, reach out to us and we can have a little strategy session and go through your numbers. The other thing I had on my list to talk about is the boot camps. So we were during COVID doing boot camps virtually, which was not as good. It's never as good as when they leave and come here and they're away from the business and they're just working on, hey, what's the plan? And how do we implement this plan?

And it's a lot of information to exchange over a zoom. It's so much.

But the last couple that we've had have been a blast.

They're cool. It's literally an event. And I think that the participants are leaving very different than they come in, don't you think?

Oh, see it for sure. Yeah. So one thing.

That I told you this, I was so excited about this because really the only role that I've been playing in the boot camps is I might come in and say hi. But we go to dinner.

Yes.

And so we go somewhere, we pick a restaurant, we have drinks, we eat, we talk, we just sit around the table. It's always a great time and, you know, great conversations. But one of the, one of the managers, she was staying over to go to a couple of our clients here locally to See our process in person, which was very smart. Did we encourage her to do that?

She came up with that on her own, but we didn't discourage it. We helped curate it.

Great idea. We should encourage that, I think more. Yeah. And so she was staying over the weekend, and she told me that at dinner, and I was like, hey, well, if you're around my neck of the woods, we'll go to coffee or whatever. So she was. She sent me a text, and so her and I and my fiance met for coffee, and I. I asked her like, hey, what was your biggest takeaway? And she said that I need to think bigger and that I should think about that. You know, I can be the general manager. And now with what I know, I feel, you know, empowered, and I get it now. And the. This is what we hear all the time. Right. Is like, why didn't anybody else teach us this sooner?

Yeah.

Like, the letdown of, why doesn't the industry teach us how to run our department in a way that's logical and makes sense? Because we'll do it right.

There's that. This is a little adult, but have you ever heard that Sam Kinison joke where he's talking about sex with his wife or, I don't know, whatever. Sex with somebody, and.

He'S like, tell us what to do, we'll do it. Like, just tell us.

Just like.

Like, tell us what to do. Right.

All we need to do is know how.

How often is it like that at the boot camp, where it's like, oh, yeah, they're already like, how do I get home? Like, I'm ready. Yeah, I just want to get back to work now. And it's been way more complicated than it needed to be. And now I get it.

But I was so proud that her takeaway was that she's thinking of being the general manager, because that really is the future. As new car sales go more direct to consumer. The heart and the soul of our business is going to be fixed stops, and the best general managers are gonna come from fixed ops. And so in. In our coaching group, the way we're grading our success, one of the elements is how many of the elite managers are becoming general managers. And last year was what, three?

So 18 months is four. So, yeah, it's incredible.

Before that, zero the year before that, zero the year. Like, we consciously have made an effort to try to weaponize the managers that they go back, make their department so profitable and so successful that they're the clear choice to be the next general manager. And.

It'S all mental, really, at the end of the day. Right. So that to me, I don't know what your takeaways from the boot camp are beyond that, but it's been so fun doing them here and when we can do them in the library.

So I think that that's going to be even an added level of like, you know, and I think I use the word magic sometimes, but it's really not. But we're just trying to curate an environment where people can become a better version of themselves than they thought was possible before they came in. And my other thing that I think is really having a strong effect on boot camp is the way that we're really mixing in how to run your service department along with how to be a really great leader. And, and I think that's.

Yeah, we're adding the leadership stuff in.

Yeah. So I think that if I compare to boot camps of, let's say 36 months ago, this is way more enriching. And then that they get to hang out with you and have dinner afterwards and everything like that and see that it's funny to watch. Cause I think they have this expectation of who you are when you go to dinner.

So what is your observation of what that expectation is?

I think that, you know, it's. They just think that you're someone very different than who you really are.

So they think I'm non approachable?

Yeah, intimidating. The thought that maybe you like the same music as they do or the thought that maybe you like the same food as they do never occurs to them because you're you. So you can't like the same things you are. And like, what I think that they leave dinner with is that you're way more alike than different. And I think that's really cool because then they, at the end of the day, then they elevate themselves in what they could be.

So it is funny to me sometimes when I'm talking to people and I notice that there's a weirdness and I have to remind myself that I'm Chris Collins. But I never feel like I'm Chris Collins. Yeah. I always forget that they have this idea of me. And maybe I've impacted them in a way that is special or whatever. But to me, I'm just a dude.

I don't feel like. And I hate small talk. I think that's the one thing that people don't realize about me is there's nothing in the world that I hate more than small talk.

Okay, so no traffic, no weather, conversations with you anymore.

Or you Know what I hate worse than that is people that just randomly tell you a joke right when you're not ready.

That reminds me that.

You know, as we're having this conversation about, like, who people are and, you know, surprises my kid, we're talking the other day and he's like, dad, I really gotta toughen up. I'm like, well, son, you know, we did the karate thing and all that other stuff. I think that you're working really, really hard. And he's like, no, no, I need to toughen up. And I'm like, okay. Why do you think that? He's like, I tried mud wrestling today and the mud won.

And now coming up in the news.

I had to.

Is that mud wrestling?

Yeah. And the mud won.

Yeah, I get it.

Oh, good.

I fought the law in the long one. What's in the news, Chris? Joan.

This is forefront on most people in the United States. Like, they can't stop thinking about this World cup because everyone knows that America's sport is soccer.

For sure. Nobody cares about football.

So.

What happened in. This happened a little while ago, but.

Saudi Arabia beat Argentina, which is a pretty big deal.

However, it wasn't in the championship game. It wasn't even in the quarterfinals. It wasn't the semifinals. It was just like the opening round is when Saudi Arabia won and.

They beat Argentina. And the Prince. Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. How did I do? Pretty good. Gifted each new player.

Tell if you're telling a joke or if you're reading the news.

Yeah.

Can you read his name again?

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Gifted each new player his greatness. Yes. The prince, Saudi Arabian prince. He gifted each player on that team a brand new Rolls Royce Phantom. Yeah. Like, is that not the best participation trophy you've ever heard of?

Yeah.

So the.

They won a game in the.

Yeah, like they didn't. And they didn't make it past that round, that initial round. Like, they bowed out and.

Well, they were eliminated.

Not bowed out, they were eliminated. And I just want to just see this because I think you might know, but I don't think you've ever thought about buying a Rolls before. It's not really. I don't think it suits you.

I've looked at them.

Okay. How much do you think a Phantom is?

Are they 600.

So base is 450, but it basically.

Alludes to like get to 600 real quick.

They basically say that each one is. Is made exactly how the owner wants it. So. But I thought that was pretty crazy.

So given a Choice.

Yep.

Bentley or Rolls Royce. So Rolls is. Is owned by BMW. Bentley is Volkswagen.

So you're driving basically the Audi platform. Right. Or you're driving the 7 Series.

I. I'm probably bent.

Really stuck on this convertible thing right now. It's so much fun.

Midlife crisis.

I hope this lasts for 20 years.

We should get you some polo shirts that have like an extra button so you can walk around with your shirt open.

Oh, you know what I should do?

You should undo a couple buttons. And we need to get you gold chain.

Gold chain. I also think we should get me to a doctor. And I know that a lot of people are talking about hair implants. I know that I'm balding, but I wonder if I can get like a triangle chest hair implant.

For sure.

Yeah. Like, let's make that thing in dark black.

They have stuff now. It'll grow hair in a rock. You just rub that lotion in, it'll grow hair on anything.

I love it.

Yeah.

So, yeah, so that.

Let's start, like, can we lean into the midlife crisis a little more?

Yeah, let's do that.

Convertibles. Just. We're just getting started, I hope into.

The possibilities of a midlife crisis.

That's just.

It's actually a pretty conservative start.

Okay.

You might need to pick it up.

Yeah. What. Have you ever.

Have you ever had a pinky ring?

Never.

Yeah, so the. Okay, when you're in Vegas throwing dice, you got to have the pinky ring.

Right. What are the. What are like the main things that people do for their midlife crisis?

19 year old girlfriend.

No, thanks. Next.

19 year old girlfriend.

Oh, good lord.

Then the car.

Is not.

It doesn't feel like I'm in life. I feel like it's a conservative midlife crisis maybe.

So jewelry dressing different. Like you'd go out and have a makeover. Like you'd be on one of those shows like go your eye or whatever, and they would.

I'm on a shoe kick. For sure.

Your eyebrows and.

Okay, so you think my shoe thing.

Is they would give you foundation. You'd start wearing foundation. Yeah. Some sort of men's makeup.

I think that's one of the things that Raelyn asked me. He's like, do you have to wear makeup? When he figured out I was on the podcast. That's hilarious. Okay, so the shoe thing. I do. So it's not a makeover. Yeah.

You developed a very expensive shoe habit.

Maybe you need like a merse. Like a fancy purse guy purse.

Not quite a purse. Not quite a briefcase.

I would only do that justice and.

Then wear it like cross body.

Okay, I like it. That's good stuff.

You take that off to get in your convertible. Yeah, yeah. You should start wearing like more, more aggressive like clothes, like MMA type shirts with like skulls or.

Could I bring back the affliction shirt?

Yeah, affliction, Ed Hardy, all that.

I like it.

Good stuff would be great.

Tattoo. I got a tattoo.

Yeah, you did get a tattoo. You're clicking on boxes.

A neck tattoo would be great.

Oh, I was thinking skull tattoo.

What if you, what if you got a neck tattoo, what would it be?

There was a news story that I wanted you to include in the news and I don't think you did. About Metallica. Ain't Kirk saying that Metallica is for. What did he say he realized that Metallica is toxic, Max.

Toxic. Toxic. Toxic masculinity. I think it'd be funny to get.

Taking all the fun stuff away.

I think it'd be funny to get a norm tattoo.

He's lucky that I stopped supporting Metallica like last year.

Oh yeah. Next up, the news Segment has been 20 minutes.

GM service centers now working on Teslas investor day presentation. I'm going to guess Investor day is something that GM pulls all the people around, they can roo rah about what's going on in General motors. They claim 11,180 repairs on Tesla since 2021. Upon further inspection, what they found is people just stole Tesla badges and put them on their Chevys.

That's not true. Don't point that.

No, no, we really are.

But GM spent its day touting how its EV investments over the past few years are beginning to take off. But essentially what it said is that they think they have no verification of what the repair orders were or anything like that. But Tesla last year made it so that their proprietary software was available to the general public. So they think that maybe some dealers.

Bought some of that software and then made it so that they can work on them. But the guess is that it's general maintenance that's being done on these companies cars.

So I've had a Tesla for two years now.

Yep.

I've never even needed a service department.

So that means between the two of us, four years, zero visits.

Now at one point the tires are.

Still okay when I turned mine. This might surprise you. I think it was 12,000 miles when I turned it in and it still had 6:30 seconds on the tires. So I don't know. Super interesting. But yeah. So I don't know what the 11,000 things were okay.

You ready? Five ways to tell you are a good service manager. Five ways to tell you are a good service manager. Number one.

Comes in two parts, so there's like an A and a B to number one. Are you ready?

I'm ready.

You are a people collector. People collector. A is employees. Talented people want to work for you. You have the most talent in your market working for you. Techs, advisors, etc. You have the most talented car washers.

Yeah. Top to bottom, whatever. Right.

Then the same thing. People collectors. You have high retention. Your systems in your department make customers feel comfortable, trust you, and they want to come back. That's the outcome. The systems that you put in place. So people want to work for you. You collect talent. Number two is customers want to come back.

Yeah. And I think that that's important that they want to come back as opposed to the. I know that I've seen some stores out there that have really good retention, but it's because they're the lesser of two evils or something like that. Not because they're going above and beyond and creating this experience, but that raving fan customer. Those are the ones that I love. Like, you have to go see, I would say, like, when you're out in a social setting and you'll hear people start talking about cars and they'll be like, you have to go see blah. That's when you know that you've got the raving fan.

That's great. Number two is your department is a money tree profit machine. You are printing money.

So you understand the financials. You're not just putting gross up you. You're actually putting profit to the bottom line. You're putting profit down. So a lot of managers that end up getting fired or bounce around might be good at profit or at gross profit, but they're not good at actual profitability. So you have to understand the financials. You have to understand how to hit the sales button. You have to understand how to do it at a high margin, all of that stuff. Yeah.

Well, another thing I would add to that is that it's consistent, too. Like, you're not. You're not up, down, up, down, up, down. It's just consistent and really has a little bit of an upward trajectory where you don't stop growing.

Number three is you are the hunted, not the hunter.

So what we mean by that is your value in the marketplace is people are trying to hire you, they're coming after you. You're not looking for a better gig, right?

Yep.

You. You can kind of name the gig that you want and you're not getting fired. Once somebody gets you, they're trying to keep you. You're the hunted, not the hunter.

That's great.

And then number four is you have a coaching tree.

I think I know what you mean by that.

Who's Pete Carroll? A part of what coaching tree?

Is he part of the Belichick coaching tree? No, no, no, no, no. Don't tell me. Is he part of the Bill Walsh coaching tree?

Yeah, he was the defensive coordinator for the Niners when they.

That's right.

Won the Super Bowls.

Belichick has a tree, but Pete's on a little bit of the older one.

Yeah, but think about Bill Walsh in the library. You know, I have that Bill Walsh.

Book on how to run the west coast offense.

One. Yeah. Which is a very hard book to find. And it literally tells you how to run a football team, the travel, everything.

But you have a coaching tree in the sense that you're creating other leaders. Yeah. Right.

And then because you're the magnet, which was your number three or whatever, the second that one of your people gets promoted and moves on and moves upwards, someone else just kind of naturally hops into the spot where it's not like you're. You're starving and you almost expect that you know that people are going to go and you just wish to them the best, I think.

And then number five is that you have a seat at the table. And what we mean by that is when decisions are being made, you're in on those decisions. You're a part of the business plan. You're curating the outcome for the overall business. You're not just on the receiving end of the information or reactionary. You're actually proactive in. In the plan, in the bigger picture, not just reacting to the news that's been sent down. Dealer comes back from a 20 group layoff, five people, you're actually respected and you have a seat at the table when decisions are made.

Yeah. If your dealer or GM is coming to you and asking your advice on the situation outside of the service department, it's a good sign that you're a good manager.

I would say so. Five ways to tell that you're good Service manager. Number one, you're a people collector. Employees, you have the best techs, best advisors. People want to work for you. The other half of that is customers want to come back. You have high customer retention. Number two is you're a profit machine. Your department is printing money. Number three is you are the hunted. Not the hunter. Number four is you have a coaching tree. You're mentoring others. You're building the future of our industry. And number five is you have a seat at the table. Your opinion is relevant to the overall business plan.

Good job.

Great stuff. Well, thanks, you guys. It was great hanging out with you for this time and we will see you again real soon on Service Drive Revolution.

Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Job Revolution.

We're uploading new stuff every day, so.

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 8333-ASK SDR and we'll answer your question on the show. That's 8333-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.