5 Things Great Service Managers Do | SDR #373

Welcome everybody to Service Drive Revolution. Today we are going to be talking about the 5 things great service managers do that no one talks about. The 5 things great service managers do that nobody talks about. It's a pretty insightful list.

Fun list.

You will be very inspired and entertained. Also, if you're in SDR Academy, after this, we sent everybody a video that is your homework. So Hoagie and I shot this video with this dealership model that we built and we simulated a process. And so Please make sure you watch that before the top of the hour here when we start, as it will be very helpful. And then bring your, your questions to the Academy. Also, everybody in the Academy today is going to get a signed copy of my buddy Andrew Bustamante's new book. It's not out yet, but it's called Outsmart Everyone: Spy Skills to Gain an Unfair Advantage in Work and Life. It is an incredible book. You can see we read it here because he came on Books That Changed My Life yesterday. And we talked about this book for, I would say, about 2 hours. And it was an incredible conversation. And if you guys want, if I can find it, I will tell you my favorite part of this book. This is the book that I thought Busta would write someday. And I think it'll be a huge hit because he's giving away so much great content in here. But one of the things in the book that he talks about is, and I'll just read it to you guys. He says, I had a phenomenal instructor at CIA who used to say, we repel each other with our strengths. And we connect with each other through our vulnerabilities. Drop the book. Yeah, but yeah, we're going to get a couple hundred of these signed, and we will be sending them to the members of the academy and then clients. Probably give them away at Top Dog too. I think I have a long list of people I want to send the book to. I haven't been this excited about a book in a long time, so you guys will be getting them straight away. But really fun.

You know what that quote reminds me of, Chris, is when we had him at Top Dog a couple of years ago and how just talking with people during the event and then weeks after the event, Everybody kind of had the same thing, like, man, that guy was so much fun to talk to. And then there was another comment that, like, you were talking to him for, like, 5 or 10 seconds, he came up to me, and they would say things like that. And then we were talking like we were childhood friends in, like, 30 seconds.

Oh, the connection's unreal.

And so just his insights just through that quote. So what was it? We repel each other with our strengths and we Come together with our vulnerabilities or something like that.

We connect through our vulnerabilities. I think I'll read it again.

Yeah, bro.

Yeah. As far as charisma goes and the way that he makes you feel like you're the only person in the room, it's all here in the book. He tells you how to do it. So I've hired Bustamante. Me and my best friend Mike hired Bustamante. more than a handful of times to just come to my house and spend a day or two with us working through understanding different things. And one of the things I had him do was critique me and tell me the truth about how I interact with people and that sort of thing. And I learned so much through that exercise. And what prompted it, Hoagie, is that is watching him work the room at Top Dog. He's not the kind of guy who's like backstage and unapproachable. He was going to people. He was seeking people out to understand who they were and to make friends. And he genuinely is curious about people. It's an incredible thing. He's an incredible human being. And I'll read this and I'll tell you one other thing. So I had a phenomenal instructor at CIA who used to say, we repel each other with our strengths and connect with each other through our vulnerabilities.

So good.

So good. I mean, the book is incredible. It's incredible. You can just see our highlights, right? The other thing that, I mean, in a way, I'm super jealous of, because, you know, his wife, Guy, and him were in the CIA together. They met in the CIA, which the CIA encouraged. Encourages you to marry somebody in the CIA. Like, they think that that's a good idea, or they figured out that that's a good idea because you don't have to live 2 lives. But they have 2 kids, and they are so intentional as parents and so engaged. And these kids are so smart. and so social and just really— you go back to that quote from Jordan Peterson's book, don't raise kids you don't like. They're just so likable and they just have, like, a glow about them. And they work very hard at that. It isn't by accident that those kids are the way they are, but they're not leaving it to chance. go to crazy lengths to give them experiences, to educate them. And we talk about that on the interview a lot. And there's some things that he does as a parent that might be considered controversial and frankly surprised me when I encountered it in a situation we were in. But I agree with the outcome. I just think they're incredible parents.

So we can't wait to watch it. Yeah, that's awesome.

It's great. We go really deep into the book. It was hard, too, to not give it away. And he didn't care. He was like, let's talk about it. So there was nothing that was off limits in that way either. I had 2 more pages of notes, but we'd just gone for so long, I didn't want to wear them out. But he was—he was—he's just so smart. It's—it's incredible. So, yeah, we'll—we'll make sure we get—we—we get these out as soon as we get our hands on them. I think it comes out in the middle of September. Hopefully, we can get them a little sooner, but it'll be around then that we get them. But we'll send those out. Then, kind of interesting story flying back from. Washington over the weekend. So I was up at the lake house doing a little jet skiing. Perfect, perfect weekend. It was like a little over 80, no wind, just incredible on the water sort of few days. And flying back from, from Seattle to LAX, I'm sitting in row 4 in first class. And there's a family. Now, I have a question for you guys before I get to my story that I think is— it's funny to watch people navigate this. If you're flying in first class, do you make your kids sit in the back of the plane?

I usually try to— if we're in first class, I usually try to get them seats right behind us somewhere where I can keep an eye on them.

So, no, you're making them sit in the back?

Yeah.

Yeah. They're getting a little box of crackers and cheese, and you're up there eating ribeye and maybe that's steamed vegetables.

I didn't know about that, but Shake Shack, mine are too small.

I probably wouldn't be going first class, but I took Peyton once. We accidentally got bumped up to First class. I ruined her already.

But that's not the question, though, Adam. The question is, if you're paying for a first class ticket for yourself and Brooke, are you putting your kids in the back or are they sitting up there? And let's imagine they're early teenagers in the back. Okay, so this lady in front of me with her husband had a grip of kids. I don't know, 5 kids. And they're all in the back. So she's sitting in front of me and they're all in the back. And the first thing that I noticed that was just kind of odd is one of her sons, who I'm gonna guess was like 13, comes up and he's standing there staring at me. And I'm like, why is this kid staring at me? So I smile at him, he smiles back, but he's just staring right at me. Like, you know, that he's standing up, I'm sitting down. He's standing up with his shoulder to his mom, who's in front of me, and just staring at me. I'm like, okay, that's just getting weird, but okay. So then the mom— do you know where this is going, Hoagie?

I think I have an idea, but keep going.

Yeah, I don't know. How do you say? How do you say this? Yeah, I don't know. If you have a beard, I guess you're lumped in with everybody. But so she keeps looking at me really weird, and then Missy sees that she's searching on her phone Kelsey, and so they think that I'm a Kelsey brother again. So inside joke, everybody, if you haven't heard the story already, I've been stopped quite a few times that people think I'm the The Kelce brother that played for the Eagles, not the one that's married to Taylor Swift. Jason. And so I've had, like, when my cousins were down here, I don't know, a year ago for the Seahawks game, this lady on a Mercedes literally runs me off of the road to stop me to tell me she's an Eagles fan. And I'm completely confused about why she's talking to me about the Eagles and pulling me over, basically. And my cousins are laughing. They think it's the funniest thing ever. And I finally get away from the psycho, and they're like, she thinks you're Kelce. And so they got me a Seahawks jersey that says Kelce on the back that has never been worn. It's sitting in a closet. Never would I wear that. But I just think it's so funny. So this lady thinks, how do you think that I look like that guy? First of all, I look nothing— I'm so much better looking than that guy. So much better looking. I think that's what it is, is that they just go into the spell and they just assume I'm like the only celebrity they know with a beard. I don't know. But yeah, so the whole time these people think she's looking it up on her phone, and even when she looks it up on her phone, she still keeps staring at me. And I didn't know until we got off the plane As soon as we were off the plane, Missy goes, you know, those people thought you were Kelce, right? And I was like, oh, that makes perfect sense why they were being so weird and odd. But pretty funny.

Yeah, I was waiting for him to be like, will you autograph my jersey or something?

I would sign it. I would sign it Chris Collins, but I'm not signing an Eagles jersey. There's no way.

Either you're going to wear one or you're going to sign one. One of the two.

No, I'm not doing either. Everybody, my cousins get mad at me because I don't wear Seahawks stuff, really. But I'm not that guy.

I definitely see it. The beard and then from here to here, like the brow to the nose. And then if you had your glasses on, of course I had my glasses on.

I was reading a book the whole time. Yeah. Oh, you think the glasses make it confusing? No, I look nothing like that guy.

That's not completely true.

I mean, okay, if you think everybody with a beard looks the same, but I don't look like that guy. My hair doesn't look like him. My beard is longer.

Yeah, but my face isn't.

I'm Irish. I'm trying to think what those guys are. Yeah, well, Kelce's probably Irish, right?

Probably.

Yeah. Super funny though. I thought it was funny.

Yeah, that is funny. I see it for sure.

Really?

I do. Sorry.

I feel like you got a dog in that fight because you're a Chiefs fan. Maybe his brother plays for the Chiefs.

Yeah, I'm a Kelce fan all around. I like both of them.

Funny. So everybody's really excited that I didn't go on this trip to Indiana. Anybody want to guess why they're so excited? So they can share an Airbnb in the worst part of town. They can all share a bathroom.

Not true. Fake news.

How many bathrooms are there, Adam?

2.5.

Yeah. And how many people? 3. Somebody's sharing a bathroom. It's not fake news at all. It's direct from the source. I think it's so funny that you guys are so excited to stay at an Airbnb. It's my worst nightmare to be in an Airbnb. I've done it before. I did it a couple of times thinking, oh, this is way better than a hotel. You can cook for yourself. Yeah. You got to wait for James to get out of the shower in the morning.

Are you— we had a great schedule, and it's team building.

Also, for me, I feel like I want the best, biggest bedroom, but I feel bad taking the best. So the whole guilt thing just ruins the thing for me, because if I take the big bedroom, I feel bad, and if I don't take the big bedroom, I feel worse.

Hey, Hunter does a good job on a selection of Airbnbs. He makes sure that everything's equal.

Adam, you were just telling me yesterday that it's in a terrible neighborhood, that you got— you're waking up constantly, people yelling and screaming, and that even the people at the dealership were like, oh, you're staying in that neighborhood? So come on, let's not—

Character building.

I don't even think the— I don't even think a lot of the coaches actually like it. I think they like the novelty of it because, uh, it's just something different. But I'm kind of the opposite. I'm kind of on your side on this, Chris, because, uh, like, after traveling enough years, anything that's predictable is better. Um, where— but I think once you see the inside of a couple of Courtyard by Marriotts, you've seen the inside of all of them. So I think there's some level of it that I don't know if they really enjoy it as much as the novelty of it. And just having something different or something.

Yeah. The one time I went to— I'm trying to think of where it was. It was like Philadelphia or somewhere. We stayed on like an animal farm. Like, there were animals there, like goats and chickens and all kinds of stuff. And it was kind of a novelty thing because the house was interesting and that sort of thing. But once again, there's one master bedroom, and then I felt bad taking the bedroom. So then I'm sleeping in a room with bunk beds that's like for kids, and that felt worse. And then you got to go downstairs to take a shower. And yeah, and I got the whole hotel thing figured out. You just tip housekeeping. Like, it's easy. Like, it just works. You got breakfast.

Hey, I made us breakfast yesterday.

They had breakfast. Maybe then the whole house smells like sausage and whatever. I don't know. Yeah, eggs. I probably wouldn't have time to eat breakfast because I'm waiting for the bathroom to take a shower. That's the other thing. Like, hot water runs out. Some of our coaches like to take long showers. You wonder what's going on in there. Like, you're not shaving your legs, I hope. Like, what? Why do you got to take such a long shower? It's a new day.

It's a new age, Chris. I mean, whatever floats their boat if they want to shave their legs.

So then there's a new game that you guys played that nobody ever offers to play this game when I'm around, which is credit card roulette.

That's probably accurate.

Nobody has ever told me about this game, never offered to play this game, which was explained to me that what, what you guys did is everybody puts their credit card in the bill at the end. So you went to some steakhouse and ordered porterhouses and probably drank a bunch of wine or whatever you guys did. And then the waitress kind of picks the card without looking.

Credit card roulette.

And then the one that they pick is the one that pays. Yeah, I've never heard of that, Hoagie. You're saying it like it's a common thing.

It's a shame. They got me. They got me. First, first time player, first, last time loser.

How, how much was the bill?

I think it was like one couple hundred bucks, something like that. Yeah, a couple hundred bucks, something like that. I don't know. I just, here you go.

We can play credit card roulette with you, Chris, but we have to pick the restaurant. Like, I'm not playing credit card roulette. Cut.

Come on, Hoagie. That's like, isn't, isn't the fun of gambling having like high risk, high, high, high risk, high reward? This is—

We need to come to dinner in Oklahoma and we'll play credit card roulette. If we're in Beverly Hills, I'll, I'll do the, where, which pocket is my wallet?

Oh, you, oh, go to the bathroom. I like that move. Yeah. I love it when people do that and I was going to pay anyways. It's like, dude, don't worry about it. I got it. You don't have to go for 15 minutes. So funny. Credit card roulette. Yeah. So don't do it. Nobody was ordering dessert and drinks and all that, I guess.

Yeah, no dessert.

Yeah. Like, I want to play credit card roulette with you guys, but let's go for it. Like, let's have dessert. Let's order some bottles of wine. Let's have some fun. Wouldn't it be funny if Adam just always lost?

I feel like that's just gonna be a trend. That was the joke.

Hey, as soon as we started playing, uh, when Hunter brought it up, I was like, oh, I know, I know which way this is going. Like, um, I even took the cards and like tried to shuffle them and then had the, had the server shuffle them also. But, uh, yeah, I mean, she went right for Adam's.

Did you guys establish credit card roulette before you ordered, or had you guys already ordered?

Oh, no, Hunter. Hunter came up with it as soon as the bill showed up.

Oh, okay.

Play a game.

Because I think Hunter already knew. If I would have known, you know, early on in the evening, I would have like, okay, appetizers. Like, I would have kind of like gone for it.

Made it interesting.

I mean, I don't even like bruschetta or whatever, but let's get some calamari.

I thought their gumbo was pretty good.

Yeah, Indiana is known for their gumbo. Hey, Hunter said a lot of people fly from Louisiana to Indiana to get gumbo. I don't know if you knew that.

You got to try it.

They make the pilgrimage. It's Mecca of gumbo.

Then play this awesome game called credit card roulette. It's the best thing ever.

Oh, that's so funny. That's so good. Okay, uh, let's talk about 5 things great service managers do that nobody talks about. I think this is, this is a pretty good list. This is a fun topic.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, we have a front row seat to this because we're dealing with service managers all the time. And, uh, we could have made a list that said 5 things bad service managers do. That would be almost a funnier list, I think.

Sad. Sad too.

5 things great service managers do that nobody talks about. The, the very first one that came to mind for me was they don't accept the status quo. And what I mean by that is most service managers that we interact with have been trained through tribal knowledge. So they, what they know about running a service department, they know through watching The people that they've worked for before, but it really isn't in line with an outcome or results. It's just in line with surviving and doing the thing that's always been done in a in an effort to be safe and secure, and not ruffle anybody's feathers. Not kind of try to do anything outside of the box, basically. And in in a service department, it's a what we call a closed loop system. In the sense that in business, you, you have open systems and you have closed systems. A closed system is something that happens repetitively over and over again. And so in service, you know, we make appointments the same way, customers pull into the drive the same way, advisors, right? Like, it's a, it's a closed loop system. There's no variables. It's not like if you're going out into the field working for an oil company, And there could be 20 different things going on with an oil well that isn't working anymore. Or, you know, if you're a Navy SEAL and you're going into battle, there could be all kinds of variables. In service, there's no variables. It's very consistent. Like, the personality of the customers might be a variable, but the basic process is a closed-loop system. It's the same. And if you've been doing it for 6 months, you've kind of seen every type of personality. You've dealt with every sort of issue. You've had a comeback. You know, there aren't really any, any new problems after you've been doing it a little while. And so the, the service managers that are really great, that are special, are focused on getting better and improving, and they're a little more creative. The, the problem with, with status quo is you're not creative in the sense that you've trained your mind to maintain. You're in the habit of maintaining a certain process and kind of a certain ideal. But in order to improve, you, you have to do something different. You have to be creative and try something new. And, you know, one of the things that we run into over and over again is we get hired. So we're told like, hey, we're not doing very good. Our customer satisfaction isn't very good. Our profitability could be better. Come in and help us figure that out. And then we come in, and then what happens is the manager proceeds to try to convince us that we should keep everything the same, not quite making the connection that if we kept everything the same, you don't need us, and nothing's going to improve. In order to improve, you have to do something different. And I think the best service managers understand and are looking for ways to do things different. They're looking for ways to apply their creativity and to change. They're looking for inspiration. And what, you know, why not have the best CSI in the country? Why not be 50% net to gross? Like, why not really be shooting for something special? If you're going to show up every day and you're going to put in the work, why not do it at a high level? The, you know, the varying degree of effort to perform at a high level versus just surviving is oddly a trick because it's easier to perform at a high level than it is to just maintain. And people that are just maintaining won't agree with that because of the, the aspect of not wanting to change, right? They're so afraid of changing because they're in a habit. But the, the people like, you know, we could take, uh, we could take you to Lots of service departments where you would sit in the service manager's office and you'd be like, you would look at the service manager and be like, hey, you don't do much. And those are the high-performing ones.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, uh, you know, an interesting thing with, uh, like thinking about this from a performance aspect that, you know, um, Being, being on your team enough years into it, I started kind of seeing it enough times, um, where there's that thing where a service manager has a record month. And a lot of times if a service manager doesn't have the right mindset and is kind of satisfied with the status quo, um, they do a thing where, uh, once they have the record month, they start complaining that, oh, now that I had a record month, my boss wants even more. Yeah, you're not done. We've reached the destination and can you believe it, Hoagie? We made it to $350,000 in gross and now that's not good enough. And then it doesn't happen very often, but the ones that have the right mindset that you're looking for, and I don't want this to get lost on people because there's a ton of wisdom in what Chris said. And if you unpack this enough, you'll truly realize it, that if you're reaching for full potential, You're not allowing the status quo, things like that. It's easier. There's a world that if you're reaching for full potential and customer experience and profitability, that what you find is you control the things that you can control and you'll find yourself way more proactive than you are reactive. And I promise it's easier. And it's not, I get it, when you're in it, it's not easy to see, especially if you're kind of learning this game, but it is the truth.

That's really good. Yeah. Yeah. So don't— they don't accept the status quo is number one. Number 2 is they know their numbers, and they, they know their numbers to the degree they know how to affect the numbers. They know where the leverage is. They know, they know how to reduce unproductive wages. They know how to increase the net. They really understand and have tools in their toolbox for everything. And they're kind of constantly analyzing that, and they're not surprised. I mean, but they understand the financial, they understand that they're a production facility and what numbers matter in production, and then they're driving those.

Yeah. And if that's something you struggle with as a manager, I know we talk about this from time to time. We definitely have spent time talking about it in Academy, but there has to be a fundamental understanding of business that business is about growing in profitability and customer experience. And if you're tracking a lot of metrics and they're not somehow improving those 2 particular outcomes, then they're probably not the most important metric to track. And in service especially, we're guilty of chasing down a lot of things. I always think it's kind of funny when we ask an owner if the department had a good month and they go straight to the financial statement. But you ask a service manager sometimes if they had a good month and they're like, yeah, tire sales are up. It's funny.

Yeah. You want to be on the same page with the boss.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What were you gonna say, Adam?

Oh, I was just gonna say, or the different formulas of, of how they can calculate other different things to just get lost in the minutia when it's really just that it should be simplified. Just that simple profitability and customer satisfaction, whether it's NPS or CSI.

100%. So they know the numbers. Number 3 is they're people collectors. They know how to Recruit, train, maintain people. They're a teacher of people. They, uh, you know, it, it, it is something you can see early on in somebody is like, if they're an advisor and you go to hire them and you say, hey, how many techs are going to follow you? The advisors that become great managers will say, oh, 2, but maybe 3. I'll give you some number. You know, there's people that are going to follow them. They understand that their success is based on the team that they have. And so they're always collecting people. They kind of know people in different places. They always have somebody on the bench ready to go. They're not just hiring or looking for people when they're caught shorthanded in a way. They're not overreacting to that. They're always recruiting, always looking for people. People want to work for them. I mean, so many times I've seen managers go somewhere else and people follow them. People are very loyal to them.

Yeah, I think a lot of people, what they love about the industry, and your story, Chris, is no exception to this, is the opportunity affords people. And a manager a lot of times kind of gets a taste of that, of being able to give somebody an opportunity in this business. And it is a life-changing thing for them, a career that they didn't think they had the opportunity to get. And if you embrace that, you start to see the power of influence. And then if you can take influence with you and you start to develop some sort of system that gets you the outcomes that you want out of the department, a system's way easier to move forward with influencers within it. And then things like, how do I get rid of unapplied time? Or how do I motivate my technicians? How do I get my advisors to do walkarounds? You start to realize how elementary some of those questions are. And the people collectors are like, it's just, it's a different conversation. It just is. It's a different conversation with them instead of things like, how do I get my advisors to do walkarounds? It's way more strategy and just a more fun conversation. But yeah, that's probably one of my favorite ones on your list so far.

Adam, you kind of worked for a people collector in Bruce. Like, I always was really inspired by him. So at International, Adam worked for this guy, Bruce, incredible people collector. And kind of like what I was saying about, he just knows people in different places. He's very interested in people, but also a great teacher and mentor.

Yeah, for sure. I think that's an important piece in anything that we do. I was just talking with a few of our clients today, and it's just all about the connections and building those relationships. I think within our transportation industry, people just lose touch of we're still in the people business after establishing a process. It's kind of that simple, right? We're just people collectors and Don't be quick to judge, but continuously just help and support them.

Yeah, that's good. Then the next one is retain customers and making the customer experience easy. And I think that you have to fundamentally be a fan of customers. You have to like customers and have that bug. I remember one time I was interviewing This girl that had been a general manager in some restaurants, and I was kind of asking her about how she built her team and what she would look for. And she just said this thing like that to her made so much sense, but to the outside is kind of like, you know, feels a little different. Is she said like, oh, you can tell right away they either have the bug or they don't. And I'm like, what's the bug? And she's like, the hospitality bug. You either want to serve people or you don't. You're either a good— like, you're a good host all the time or you're not. Like, that's one of the things that I love about our team is when people come here, everybody we have working here is a great host. They want to make sure that people have a great experience and that, you know, it's very intentional and offensive. It's not— They're not waiting for permission in a way to, you know, to the degree that Alex is making cookies and, you know, it's just a, it's a whole thing. But I think that you, you either have the bug to understand fundamentally that customers drive everything. The customer experience is the key. So many times we have this conversation and it, it's like the, um, I mean, there's so many conversations we have like this that it's like people live in one world and the real results are in another world, right? Like, people want to talk about video inspections and it's like, okay, but if you can't, you know, video inspections add a layer of complication. Now all of a sudden it's social media in a way, and your texts have to be presentable. They have to know, like, there's just way more to do than just doing an inspection with a piece of paper. And if you can't do it with a piece of paper, you're certainly not going to do it now with software. Like, but people get caught up in this thing like, oh, well, you guys are saying that you don't like video inspections. And that's not what we're saying. We're saying we got to get good at the basics before we add on layers, because it gets worse, not better, if you're not good at the basics. Right. And so in, in that same sort of thing is people are like, hey, we want advisor training. And it's like, you don't want advisor training. Like what you want is a system that, that takes away decision-making for customers, makes them feel comfortable, builds trust. They will buy. I know that most dealers came up on the front end and they think sales training is the answer because it is in the front, but in the back, people aren't buying because they don't trust and like us, not because we overcame 5 objections. You can't overcome objections in service. You got one chance at it. If you're asking them 3 or 4 times to buy, they're never coming back. That's badgering. You know, you know, and so there's like, you have to fundamentally understand that what's important is the customer experience, and that's what drives revenue long-term. You need people to come back. They're going to spend more money if they like and they trust us. And I mean, it's, you know, all the studies too that, that are out there just go to show you that the younger generation now that, that are the car buyers are even more put off by the experiences that they have in car dealerships. And the retention from car dealerships to independent has gone down. Even you didn't think it could go down anymore, and it keeps going down because they just don't have patience for the shenanigans. of the way we do it. And so, you know, you just, you just see the managers that care about customers and kind of build everything around the customer experience, calling people back when we say we're going to. And they're just fanatical about the basics in taking care of customers and making it easy for customers. That, that's the, the key. That's what it's all about.

Making friends.

Yeah. I mean, it really is that simple, but we miss that piece of it a lot. And I think it comes from bad recruiting processes. I think a great service manager also knows you're always recruiting. You're never done recruiting. And if you're not operating from that standpoint, chances are you let somebody on the team that you didn't not want to. And it's funny how many people have the story of— and when I'm visiting the store, this is always— I've learned it's always the last person they introduce me to. So we'll make our way around the dealership, they'll introduce me to the different people, and I can always kind of tell if they have this person on the team on the drive, which most people do, because it's the last person they introduce me to. And it'll be like, oh, there's Mr. Advisor. He has pretty good sales. He struggles with CSI because he doesn't really like people.

Yeah, he doesn't really like people.

It's fascinating how many people have the story of that person on their drive. And you got to understand that the crux of this, you truly have to— there's zero customer service training you'll ever take that doesn't say you have to have a burning passion for your customers. It's that old Emerson quote. Emerson says, who you are is so loud, I can't hear what you're saying. Like, advisors need to understand that at its core. We need to understand that with who we're allowing to interface with customers. If not, like, you know, the independents are going to keep having record months and they're doing pretty good.

Yeah. And I remember a store, the only way they would recruit is like through some of the hospitality places like Chick-fil-A. You know, if they had a really good experience, like I'd even say Our waitress last night was so good. I think we all looked at each other and just we had a little bit of banter, but just the engagement. We're like, you think she could be a service writer? She was awesome. It's just those people that you make those simple connections that make it just pull off the anxieties and that decision fatigue for sure.

Was she the one that was really good at credit card roulette?

Yeah, I didn't think Adam would have liked her at all, but apparently maybe I got banned.

He was so good. Adam's so nice that I couldn't even see it coming. The slight advance.

She puts you to sleep. Then the, the, the final one on the list is that the, the greatest service managers have a coach or a mentor. They're always learning. They're always getting better. It blows me away constantly when I'm around people that are really, really successful. that they, they have a coach or they've had a couple different coaches. But even at the highest level, like, I'm in this mastermind with a couple people that are billionaires, like, very, very successful. And one of the guys, he's, he's in his late 70s. He's the sweetest, sweetest man. And he, he owned Century 21. He's very, very successful. in real estate and hotels and different things. And we had a speaker in that group that we're in, and that the speaker has been mentoring him for like 10 years or something. So think about that. In his 60s, he was, he was already really, really successful. He's going out and finding a mentor that is, is helping him, keeping him on track, giving him a, you know, a fresh set of eyes and opinions on, on what he's doing. And, you know, having somebody in your corner that is there to, you know, help you succeed and give you an unbiased opinion— sometimes the more successful you get, the lonelier it is, and the less people tell you the truth. And it's really great to have some sort of coach or mentor that will tell you the truth And keep you relevant and your mind in the right place, pointed in the right direction, because we can get very distracted very easily. And the other part of that, too, is just learning. You can tell a lot about a person by the books they're reading. I know I'm sitting in a library right now, and I have a show called Books That Changed My Life, and I read a lot of books. But the reason why I do that is because it's a cheat code. Like, it really is a cheat code. And whenever you're around people that are really successful, they're constantly reading, they're constantly learning, and they love to talk about it and share what they've learned. And so, I mean, just— I was talking about Andrew Bustamante at the top of the show. I think he probably turned us on to 5 books, and he gave me a book yesterday that I'd never heard of that sounds absolutely incredible. I can't wait to read it. But people that are successful are constantly learning, getting better. They have a coach, they have mentors, and they're always seeking out, you know, people that have done it or people that have been around others that have done it. And it's, you know, the clients that we have that are the most successful see us as coaches. And understand that we're in their corner to try to get the most out of them and help them get closer to their full potential. And that's what they're looking for. They want to be challenged. They want to be told the truth instead of kind of going back to what I was saying before with the status quo.

That's good.

Yeah, I think kind of a telltale sign of that, if you're trying to take inventory of that for yourself, One, yeah, seeking out people that are mentors. And some people don't know how to go about that. And one, look for somebody with results that's already getting results, because usually they're the quiet, humble one in the back of the room. And seek those people out. And then you just have to be curious and focused on results. And you'll find those people. But it never ceases to amaze me, whether it's clients or even coaches on our team, it's the people that ask the most questions that move the fastest towards success. It's a telltale sign of that, right?

I'm glad you brought that up, Pogi. Yeah, that was a good one. I was thinking the same thing. It's always the curiosity always just helps breed more of the success and just shows a really good sign then on building upon what they're establishing. It's awesome.

Yeah, like, I think that the thing, going back to the, the first one, is like a lot of people just want things to be done and they want to put up their feet and they want to say, I won. And that's just not how life is. Like, life is about the journey and learning and constantly improving. And so in order to, to To do that, you gotta get rid of that thing that you're going to someday arrive, or it's gonna be done and final. That, you know, that just never happens, nor is that the recipe for a fulfilling, great life. A great life is where you're improving and learning and taking on new challenges. And you learn way more about yourself when you take on those challenges. And just to the mentor thing too, like, I haven't talked to you guys about this, but, you know, we've built in our software a tool that will do projections, right? So when we're doing strategy sessions with, uh, new possible clients that, that we would help, we want to show them a projection and overlay our clients' average performance. And once again, and, you know, tribute to our team and, and what we're doing out in the field is Those— those— I've, I've had Mike double-check those numbers because I can't believe that they're real.

I heard, I heard. I'm like, no, they're real, I swear. He's like, are you sure?

I guess I just focus on the ones that are struggling more, and I haven't looked at the, the, the top of the group. But even like, so we in our software have, what is it, the top 30% is a benchmark that comes up under your numbers. So it shows you where you are compared to the top 30%. I've been having Mike take it down and change it to 50% or even lower because the numbers are just too good to believe. And I think the problem we run into is people think that we're doing something nefarious to get those numbers, which we're not. And so you can't even tell people upfront the numbers that some of our clients are getting because they just won't believe it. Is a, is a funny thing when you're just talking about having a mentor or a coach. But—

Can I add to that, Chris, real quick? So like, I had, I had a call earlier this morning with a client, and their, their numbers are, are fantastic. They're, they're actually great. And it was just, it's just awesome with the, you know, like you were saying, with the, our folks in the field and our coaches and what we do and how Everything is— they're like, well, you don't understand. We're not— they're panicking. They're like panicking. We need more. We need to do this. You know, I'm like, all right, great. Let's, you know, continue to make that plan and grow it. And the same thing, like currently where we're at today in a store, it's like once that momentum goes, like we were talking about it, you know, with, with staff here is like, I don't think we could stop this momentum if we tried. Like, I just can't. It's kind of that, that magic in what we're doing and how we're carrying it out is all of a sudden it just takes flight and just, what is it, keep pouring gasoline on it. It just keeps going. It's pretty fantastic.

I would say too, like the, the thing going on there where you guys are is there, there were some stores that were struggling that weren't profitable and that, you know, one of the stores was profitable for the first time just off of Hoagie's boot camp. Right? Like, just off of training them on what the numbers mean and where the leverage is. And they just took that information, and in less than a month, they were profitable for the first time ever. And the, the— like, that to me is better than anything else that could exist in the world, that we can take somebody who's just never been trained. I mean, it's in— it's crazy to me in our industry that we don't train service managers, we don't train parts managers to really be effective on what, you know, what matters. And, um, yeah, it's just nuts. But that to me is like the best, the best thing ever. Like, I'm—

The best thrill.

Walking on cloud nine when that, that sort of thing happens. When you, you can, uh, when they do the work too, you're just really, at the end of the day, we're just giving them the information, and they're doing it on their own. And that just proves too, like, how many talented people there are in our industry that just don't have the information. Like, we keep the information secret from them for some reason, you know? And I mean, the, the impact we've had as a team on the industry in giving away— like, we give away better, better information than people charge for. That's always been the goal. Uh, You know, just matters because I always feel so bad for managers that don't understand what they're doing and they're chasing gross and just getting further and further behind. It's crazy.

Yeah.

Well, we gotta wrap this up, but we'll just go— I'll just recap the list really quick. So the 5 things great service managers do that nobody talks about. Number 1 is they don't accept the status quo. Number 2 is they know their numbers front and back. They know how to find the leverage and change those numbers. They're people collectors. They retain, they retain customers and create an incredible customer experience. They know that the customer drives everything, and they have a coach or mentor. They're always learning, reading books, looking for the, you know, new ways and seeking out outcomes and results. So fun list. Great job, gentlemen. Uh, reminder to everybody, now we will take Just a 10-minute break here, and then we'll see you inside of the academy. We're going to be talking about the drive process. Hopefully you watched the video that Hoagie and I made for you that we sent, and we're going to kind of go through the psychology of how do you put customers in a buying mindset and retain them at a high level. It's all about the psychology of a customer experience. So We'll see you guys in there in a few minutes. Thanks everybody for tuning in. See you next time on Service Drive Revolution. I know from experience that a lot of our dealers, owners won't invest in training for fixed ops, but 8 service managers in our coaching group have been promoted to general managers, something that doesn't happen enough in our industry. Proof that when you're given the right tools and the right mentorship, You can do amazing things, and I'd like to personally invite you to something that should exist already, but unfortunately it doesn't. And that's a live fixed ops academy, a mentorship, a community. But what it really is is a service drive revolution. Anybody can afford it. Anybody that wants to invest in themselves. We're going to teach what we know about running a healthy fixed ops service business. Our average coaching client performs well. Well above the industry average, and a handful of them are in a league completely their own. In fact, if I told you their numbers, you wouldn't even believe it, they're so good.