5 No-Brainer Ways to Keep Your Best Technicians Happy | SDR #268

Welcome to the big show. Today we're going to talk about the five ways to retain your best technicians. We're going to review what we're thankful for and much, much more. Coming up on this edition of Service Drive Revolution.

So holiday week, everybody. We, we from the bottom of our hearts, want to say that what we're most grateful for is you.

Hands down.

Yeah.

You make this whole thing so fun.

Some of the best, sweetest, most talented clients. Friends. Yeah, I don't even. Clients is always a weird thing because I always feel like friends.

Especially when we get together and do events like the Top Dog and everything like that. And those meetings, like, you feel differently about those people after you get to spend a couple of days with them. Just see how amazing that they are.

So I'm. I'm not going up to Washington for Thanksgiving. I'm having Thanksgiving at my house. I'm invited some random people.

Am I one of those random people?

You're one of those random people.

I have one request.

Okay. Whatever you want, Princess.

Christian, I would like to say grace.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You said whatever I want, princess. For that.

My Thanksgiving one's a doozy. No, I bet if I called you, I bet if I called your mom, if you.

If you're new to the show or maybe you just missed the. Me taking Christian to my mom's for the little summer soiree.

Your mom, is she a fan or not of my prayer?

Huge fan.

Yeah.

But it's ridiculous. Christian thinks so. Here's the thing that always.

Since I was a kid, I had a problem with this. Like, I. There's so many contradictions about God.

So does it not somewhere in the Bible say that God knows everything?

Yeah. Omnipresent, I think, is the.

Yeah. So he knows everything.

Yeah.

So Christian feels like when he says grace, he's got to describe everything on the table, everything that's happened, everything that's gonna happen, the ingredients of everything.

And so just imagine at Thanksgiving with the spread that's gonna be there. Well, this would be a 30 minute prayer.

Yeah. I was gonna say if we started like, you want to eat at 2:30, I'll pray at 2 and we'll be done by the time.

First of all, my mom isn't there, so we don't have to say grace.

I think we can. I think we can.

You know what I like to do? Good. Just go around and say what you're most thankful for.

Oh, I think we should do that too. Like maybe we need to start this thing at 1:30, and then dinner at 2:30. Okay.

So do you say grace for leftovers?

I do an evening prayer whether it's leftovers or not.

I've done a couple of really good ones. Yeah, she. She lasts for the most part, but I can tell, like, when she's really hungry is probably when I do the longest prayer.

And I was so hungry that one time. Yeah, you would not stick. Stop.

It got to you.

The more. The more everybody was into it, the more you just double down. You love the attention.

I really.

You would starve to death.

I was.

As long as people are laughing.

That's not unlike my life, actually. It's so fun.

I was dying. I was going into.

Speaking of food.

So I was at a restaurant the other day, and I was just sitting this table, like, right next to this was. This was this gentleman, and waiter walks up, takes his order. And the guy's like, I'd like half a Caesar salad. And the waiter's like, sir, I'm sorry, We have. We do have two salads. We have a small salad and a large salad. Would you like the small salad since you're ordering a half a Caesar? He's like, no, no, I want half a Caesar salad. And he's like, well, I'm assuming that the small might be half of what a large is, so it's probably really, really close to that. How's that sound? A Caesar salad would be exactly what you want. The guy's like, nope, I need a half Caesar salad. And so the waiter, you know. Cause they don't like to tell the customer no. So he's like, let me go check with the chef. So he stops taking the order, and he. He walks into the back to go talk to the chef. But what he doesn't realize is that the customer has followed him. Ooh. So he gets back into the kitchen, doesn't realize the guy's behind him. And he goes to the chef, he says, hey, there's an idiot in the dining room that wants to order a half a Caesar salad. And he turns around and he sees the customer, and he says, and this guy wants the other half.

Good save.

So, yeah, it was a great save. So the. The guy goes back to his seat. The chef's like, yeah, of course we'll make a half Caesar salad. And then the. The customer walks away. And. And the chef goes to the waiter. He's like, how did you come up with that so fast? That's really, really quick thinking. And. And he's like, yeah, where I come from, you gotta Be. You gotta be quick on your toes. And he's like, oh, where are you from? And he's like, I'm from Toronto, Canada. And at first, like, no, that's not true. He's like, in everybody. Everybody in Canada is either a hockey player or a hooker. I mean, Patricia told me lady of the night. That's editing purposes. So either a hockey player or a lady of the night. And then the chef goes to the waiter, he says, my wife's from Canada. And then the waiter goes, what team did she play for?

Quick thinking. Witty. You got to be witty these days.

Oh, man, poor Canada. The butt of a Christian joke.

Sometimes they are, not always.

But I thought that it's pretty good. Yeah, that's funny.

With that being said, what's in the news?

Okay, so a little bit of a visual aid. Kevin's gonna put a little inlay on this so you guys can see on the YouTube channel what we're talking about. But there's a. I got a first look. You know, the. The LA Auto show just wrapped and one of the cars that was outlined was the 2024 Ford Mustang GT California Special. I want to see what you. What do you think of that?

What. What makes it special?

I'll go into it in detail. I just wanted you to take a look at it first.

I'll put my glasses on, Christian.

That's okay.

I can't really see.

It looks like a Mustang. Honestly.

Convertible. Do you like the little blue in the front?

Not really.

Okay, good. Good. Sometimes Chris and I differ on.

Great.

Okay, so I thought it was a decent looking vehicle.

Really?

Yeah.

Okay, so they're coming up on their 60th anniversary.

What makes this California? Is it electric or. What is the deal?

Could I have the. Could I have the. The article back so I can read my notes?

60Th anniversary coming up.

That Mustang's been around for a minute.

So it's got special seats on the inside, the leather, the. The embossing, if you will.

You couldn't give me that car.

Yeah, it. It converts into a breaking bad RV if you hit the right button.

That was a joke. That wasn't real.

I left.

Thank you. But. Yeah, so. So making a little bit of a move. There had been rumors that they were going to do away with. I think the Camaro and the. And the Mustang were going to go away. So looks like they're sticking around for now. So.

Yeah, I think that Ford and GM are kind of like the movie business where they don't. They. They are having a hard Time creating anything original. So they just go back to the action movies. The Marvel. It's all the same movie.

Yeah. So this one is modeled after a 68 Mustang. Yeah, you're right on. That's great. Ironically. So we're up to another reboot and I was going to see if we could, we could get a little bit of company funds for this. So.

Ford Yeehaw is the name of this article. Yeehaw. Ford expands Bronco off rodeo driving school to non owners. So you can go to a driving school to learn how to be an off roader. And I feel like we should invest in me going to do that.

Sure.

So yeah. After two successful years of providing, you just.

The only thing is you gotta have grow a GoPro on your head the whole time. Like those kind that stick up.

Yeah. So when we go upside down we can record the whole thing.

Just the whole. Yeah.

There's no way that that Bronco makes it out alive with me driving it off road. But it's a 10 hour experience. So you can take your Bronco, Bronco Sport, Bronco.

10 hours in one day.

Yeah, it looks that way.

You can also do.

I'm too old for any of that.

Yeah, you can do the four hour version. You might make it through that.

You tell me two hours and I'm like.

I don't know. It's an hour getting there.

I don't know. I think it'd be fun. It's so the, the course is out in Utah, but I kind of like that. So if you own a Bronco you can go do the rodeo program. But if you don't own a Bronco, like I bet it'd be fun to take a jeep on this thing.

But. But yeah.

So I'm going to need, I'm going to need the new Range Rover pretty soon.

What do you can do with your old one? Trade it.

Yeah. So I'll have Winston too.

No. You don't want to come up with a different. You don't want to call it Churchill instead of Winston?

No, it's called Winston Churchill now. I just call him Winston for short.

Okay. Winston the second. Which dog does Winston most resemble?

Lola.

You really think so?

Yeah, it's white.

Yeah, it's true.

A little Stunning. Dogs are getting old. Sucks. They're slow.

Sometimes I. Sometimes I don't ask you about the dogs because I'm afraid of what you're going to say. To be honest with you.

Like wine's gone. Yeah, they're slow moving.

But yeah. So that, that was it. For the news. Send me to school in a new Mustang that you don't think is nice. Looking great. That went well.

I mean, compared to what you're driving. You would trade what you're driving for that?

No. So.

Well then you're just being nice.

It's also 20 grand less than what I have.

So I think for, for a forty thousand dollar convertible, it's pretty good.

Maybe. I don't. Yeah, it's still okay. It's still a Mustang.

I wouldn't trade my car for it. You're right.

I like the look of that. I had a Mustang once. It was fun.

On a Pinto.

It was a manual transmission. I had a. The. The most ridiculous car I ever had was a Ford Escort. Remember those things at the Ford Escort gt.

Which was no faster than the rest of the Ford Escorts out there. It just had a spoiler.

My grandfather. So I had a car, Chevy Citation. And then it blew up again. And my grandfather.

Went to a government auctioned and bought a government Ford Pinto that was owned by, I don't know, the post office or something.

And I think he bought it for like 500 bucks. And then he's like, hey, here you go son, I got you that. And I was like, grandpa, I'm not driving that.

And he was so mad that you.

Wouldn'T drive the Pinto.

I think I drove it for. Yeah, I think I drove it for a month. And then I traded it.

And a bunch of other stuff for a Malibu. But a muscle car Malibu, not.

Yeah, the nicest.

A rental car. The old big.

Yeah, I remember, I remember my dad actually we had dueling escorts for a little while and, and I remember every time I was in my dad's Escort, he'd put it in reverse and then he'd always say, ah, this takes me back.

Yeah, might be where you get your sense of humor.

Could be.

How long did your dad take to say grace?

Oh, no, his. His grace is fat. It's right up your alley.

I'll.

You want me to go through it really quickly?

Sure.

God is good. God is great. Let's sing for our food. I'm in. Like that was his prayer.

Yeah, I support that.

Yeah.

What do you think his, his take was on saying grace for leftovers?

Maybe just like the initials of the words he's trying to say? Probably. I don't know. There was also times I remember him where if no one else was at the table and he was just doing it, he literally did this. He would go like he made the noise, like he was just going through the motions.

5 Ways to Retain your best technicians.

Christian, everyone's like, what does that have to do with technicians?

Nothing.

That's why they call it banter. I've got a list of five. Do you?

No, we're going on your list.

You're going on my list List. Okay. I wonder if I should put this in any kind of order.

Yeah, just start at the one on the top.

Okay. So these aren't necessarily in any order of importance. They're just as. They kind of came to me. All right, ready for number. The first way to retain your text. Your best text. Don't make the mask for a raise.

Yeah, that's great. Like ever. What do you think? Every quarter you should do a formal review.

Yeah.

And then once.

I don't know, once or twice a year that she get a raise. The thing that we found is smaller raises more frequently do better than larger ones less frequently.

Yeah. Because what happens just with any kind of an employee is the anticipation of a race sometimes makes people not look for other jobs. Oh, I know I'm gonna get another race. I know I got this coming. Or whatever it is. I think there's a lot to that when it comes to employee retention is that they've got to have something to look forward to in addition to the. Don't make them ask for a raise. I think that telegraphing when the raise points are is really, really great. And then if you gave like either behavior performance based surprise raises on top of the expected raise, you'll. You'll really retain a lot of your people.

You know what else has worked really good for me? Oh, go ahead.

The probably the most important thing, what you said, I want to reiterate it. It doesn't have to be a $5 an hour raise. It literally can be a smaller increment. But it's the fact that they're getting a thing every couple of months, I think that's the right way to do it.

Lead the market.

Doing a Christmas accrual.

Okay. See if that's on my.

So this is six.

Yeah.

No, this really is a part of them not asking for a raise. It has the same effect is, you know, 25 or 50 cents they put in for every hour they flag and then you match it. And at the end of the year they. They have a little Christmas money that mama don't know about.

But same thing. They're not going to quit when they lose what they. What you would be matching.

Yeah. Which I think around August, you tell them where they're on pace to get from their match.

You do it every. Every paycheck.

Yes. That's great. I love that idea. That's kind of like what I've got with number four. So I'll get to my. My version of that. But I think the Christmas thing makes a ton of sense and it's all. It's more encompassing than mine was of. Of everybody. Second thing I've got here is. Is recognition. So their home is their shop is their home away from home. So make their toolbox area look like they're their place, they want to stay and they're not going anywhere. So, like, I'm a big fan. I know it sounds crazy, but like banners. If somebody's a Ford certified master tech or whatever it is, like stuff that hangs, like this is the home of Bill Smith. I think that anything like that, like making that area permanent is a good sign. And like you just want to recognize. I've seen a lot of our clients are doing like 10 year plaques, 15 year plaques, 20 year plaques, putting pictures of the employees that have been for a long time in the trophy case in the showroom. So I think all that stuff is really, really important. But the recognition gets you just as far as the money in a lot of cases. Just letting them know that you appreciate it. We think about that one.

It's great.

Okay. This one might be the most controversial. Buy them car.

Explain.

So it's not unlike the thought of like the demo thing, but in a lot of cases, you can lease a technician a car for fairly reasonable amount of money and where they're sourced for having a vehicle.

So if it's 500 bucks a month for a lease, then you can do whatever where you reimburse them for the 500 bucks or something like that.

But yeah, I've done apartments before.

Oh, I wouldn't. I wouldn't hesitate to use that as a recruiting strategy. For sure. If you're trying to do it, reload from somewhere, somebody out of town, or.

If it's in a area where they can't afford housing or they don't want to live there. Like, I've had places where technicians fly in for two weeks and then fly home for two weeks.

Go up north, I bet.

Yeah. Because it's the oil fields and nobody. No wives and kids want to be there.

Yeah, yeah, because it's freaking cold.

So they already have a home somewhere else. They're coming in and just working.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Like a little catastrophe team. That's good stuff. All right, so number three is is Lisa McCarr then number four. This is kind of like what Chris was saying with the Christmas bon bonus, but the same thing, it can be a longer term thing is starting a college fund for their kids where the employer doesn't match.

So, you know, it sounds like just a little bit, but like 50 cents an hour over a five or six year time period probably ends up to be a bunch of dough. And if you pull it from their pay for the 50 cents, it's a savings account that they don't, they forget that they've got and then you match it on the 50 cents for an hour. Like even though colleges are expensive, that would be a great way for technicians to stay around and stay loyal.

Yeah, for sure.

And then my last one is probably the most important one, but it's the, the most abused is you have to stop and listen to them about whatever it is that they've got going on.

So I think the number one way to retain your text is to make them feel human. Yes.

Take them to lunch, make them feel important.

Yep. Give them a, give an opportunity that their voice is heard. And, and then anytime someone, I think I remember this when I was a service manager that no matter what the concern was, I probably wasn't going to, you know, put a free vending machine in the, in the, you know, the tech lounge. But if they, if they asked for it, I was going to get back to them. And I think that that's the thing that happens most often with technicians is they'll voice their concerns and then nobody responds back to the concerns. They're like, oh yeah, okay, I'll check into it. But they never do. And then they just stop asking because they don't think that anyone cares. So even if you're going to tell them, no, I'm not going to do it, you have to get back to them. So you have to listen.

Yeah, I, I think too though that what happens there is then you, you end up learning stuff.

Like more than you now.

Yeah. I think they usually, their perspective usually isn't wrong.

Yeah.

You might not understand it or know what to do, but it's not wrong.

I think when I got better at listening to my text is actually when we started to fix stuff in the shop that I didn't know was broken because they'll work around it if they don't think anybody cares. But I remember seeing a lift held up with like the controls were held up with a bungee cord that I never noticed until we started having communications and I was out there with the, with the techs. And like, I'd say hi and good morning to the text in the morning, but I wasn't, I wasn't rack inspecting. And turned out the guy had been working for two months with a messed up rack and just didn't think anybody cared to fix it.

That's good. Okay, go through them again.

Okay. So don't make them ask for a raise, recognition. Remember, it's their home away from home. Buy them a car, start their kids a college fund. And most importantly, what you want to do is you want to listen to them.

Yeah. Make them feel special. That's great. Well, we appreciate you spending this time with us. Once again, we're very grateful for you and I hope you have a great time with your family this week and have a chance to kind of think about what you're grateful for and start thinking about 2024. And we'll see you next time on Service Drive Revolution.

Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Job 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 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.