Chris Hired an EX-CON Service Manager??

So everybody please welcome our. Our special guest. He's out of prison. We're. We're doing a thing here, Jeremy, where we're hiring people out of prison.

Rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation.

Oh, my gosh.

He went to prison for selling maintenance that customers didn't need.

Oh, my gosh. I heard about this guy.

This is embezzlement. White collar crime. Don Rito, everybody. Please welcome Don to the show. How you doing, Don?

I'm doing good, Chris. I love your beard.

Thank you, thank you. Your hat's falling off there, Don.

As you can see, my entire body is a beard. It's very unmanageable. But I appreciate the beard oil you sent me for Christmas. It was lovely.

You're welcome.

The hat was a good touch, but it's gone down.

It's gone. The hat fell.

Sorry, Don Rito, you're gonna have to go without it.

That's okay.

So, Don, do we have some good questions today?

Oh, we have the best questions this week. You want me to read them?

Please.

All right, this first question comes from Instagram username Syl Wand Effer.

So Oneifer.

I don't understand what language that is, but it is in English. Chris, love the podcast. Every day extra with Gary is a blessing. Quick background. I work as a domestic manufacturer representative for after sales, parts and service. My occupation's focus is to be more consultative to my group of dealerships. I am 24 years old and I am relatively new to the industry. What recommendations do you have for manufacturer reps, pitfalls, qualities of successful reps, how to foster strong relationships with the fixed ops department, etc. I am trying to become a better student of the industry and, and look to you and your podcast on ways I can do that. I've read your book Gamification and am currently reading Extreme Ownership. I am a huge fan of the podcast, and your self made episode was a huge inspiration for me on taking the next step in my personal and professional life. I get you probably get waves of messages all the time, so if you can't get to my question, no worries. Appreciate the podcast and everything you guys do. Keep killing it. Exclamation point.

Awesome. Now that's a good question. You have a. You have some service driver revolution swag coming your way. So basically the question here, Don, is he's a factory guy. How can he relate to his. His dealers in a, you know, in a way that's constructive? Right. So it makes me kind of think of. Of two things. So at one point, I had a bunch of BMW clients like, I don't know. There were 15 of them that were. That were in a group here in Southern California. And BMW, the factory had a. An agenda that they wanted all of the dealers to be on the software program called mpi, which was an inspection.

Yep.

Thing. Right. So I'd had some dealers on it, but it seemed like every time I'd go into a dealership that was on that program, I would have to get rid of it because it just. It didn't work. And their numbers would go down. So it actually would drive. Even though it was a digital inspection system, the hours per O would go down. And the. You know, the nice people at MPI had reached out to me, and I told them a couple times, if you guys want to pay me, I'll tell you how to fix your software. But there's some flaws in it. Right. But long story short, two people from the factory at BMW and one guy, his name was Kevin. And I'd had run ins with him when I ran Crevier, because he. We had this weird conversation where we did. We built a building, and he came in, and he was new to the facilities part of it. So he was the one that signed off that your facility. Facility was okay.

Right.

He's arguing with me that it's not BMW white, the walls aren't BMW white, and we got the swatch, like, up against the thing. The. It's exactly being like we followed everything to the letter, but the guy is colorblind or something. He's like, I'm not signing off on it, but we got his boss out, and they signed off on it because he was crazy. But anyways, he then was in something to do with fixed stops. And this other guy, who used to be the shop foreman for Vicky.

Was now a factory guy in service. So these two guys call me out to their headquarters here on the west coast, the BMW headquarters. And so they call me, and I go through. I'm saying hi to everybody I know there, and they get me in this conference room, and I'm on one side of the conference table, and they're on the other side. This is long table. And I think, like, they're gonna say, hey, how do we. How do we get. How do we get our stores to perform like yours? But guess what? That was not what they were gonna say. So they. They told me, hey, buster, we have a problem with you. Blah, blah, blah. You're keeping MPI from going in all these stores because all these dealers tell us.

Well, you got to talk to Chris Collins, you know, and So I wasn't gonna spend five grand a month on something that made their numbers go down, right? So long story short, I said, here's the, here's the problem, you guys. It's not that I'm trying to mess up your agenda from the top, that everybody has to be on this program, whether it works or not. Like, it's just the agenda. Nobody's actually seen numbers go up. But I said, let me ask you a question. What's the average net to gross in the average service department in the western region? And the one guy Kurt says 1%. And then Kevin says, no, no, I don't know that that's right. Or whatever. I'm like, well, what is it you guys don't even know? So first of all, they have no clue what the net to gross is for the service departments whatsoever, right? But I'm hired to produce net to grows. So I just said, like, listen, the thing is, is like your, your agenda and my agenda are in conflict with each other. And it doesn't make me bad. It's just I'm there to create net to gross. Correct? And you, you don't care. You could care less about their natural ghost, hence you don't know what it is ends up. My average client was like 30 times higher than the average net to gross in the western region.

So they wanted to bring him down to.

They want to sell parts and they, they want. Right. So the, the best that I know out there, and they're not really a factory, they're a distributor is Southeast Toyota. Southeast Toyota. So they're a distributor for Toyota, but they kind of act as the factory in the southeast. So Florida, Georgia, all Carolinas.

Yes.

They are by far and away the best I've ever seen. That's what I would model myself after because they grade themselves on the profitability of their clients. No other manufacturer, like, nice. Ask a factory guy, what's the net to gross? None of them ever know. But they know, like, they care about the success. And a lot of times the feeling that I've always had when I, when I owned a dealership or when I ran a dealership, was the factory begrudged us for making money.

Correct.

They were like, you guys make enough money. Why can't you just do these stupid ideas that we have, right? And so to make a very long winded answer, get in line with the profitability of the, of the department or the dealership you're serving, not.

The flavor of the month, because everybody knows the factories come out with a new thing. Every year and a new agenda, but it doesn't always benefit the dealer.

Yeah. And I know for me as an owner, when reps show up and they have their own agenda and they don't even know about my business, they don't even know about my staff, they don't even know what we're going through, you've got to take a personal interest in the success of your client. You're absolutely right. And show up and be there for their agenda, not your own personal factory driven agenda. Agenda.

Good. Good job, Don. What's the. Do you have another question?

Oh, yeah, we got another question. This one comes from Jordan, who is a person and not the country.

Hey, Chris. I have been an Advisor for about 10 years. I worked at multiple dealers and have experience with many different brands. Currently, I am at a Lexus store. My question to you is, what is your opinion on calling a customer by their first name or last name? I prefer the first name because I feel like it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Do you have an opinion on this? First name vs last name?

Depends on where you're at. If you're South Central, Los Angeles.

Yo, what's up?

How can I help with your ride today?

So it's relative to the part of country. So what? In Canada, what do you say? Sorry.

Eh?

No, you just say sorry.

Sorry.

They always saying sorry.

They're always saying sorry.

What do you say? What do you say? North Dakota.

I'm. I'm lost. I have no idea. Do you have another jacket?

Because it's free, like a Fargo thing. No. So the. The answer, Dawn, I think to that question, and I remember doing this when I was an advisor, is just.

Would. Would you like me to call you Chris or Mr. Collins? Just ask.

Absolutely. Another great one is to offer your name and shake their hand or however you do that and just ask them, I didn't catch your name. Or. And you are. And then they'll tell you their name and then use the name they gave you. Yeah.

Because older customers will say I'm right. So I think that asking is a nice touch, Dawn. It shows respect. And then they will direct you. Absolutely. And it's weird because you can really get in trouble with that one because some people that are, you know, I know billionaires that want to be called by their first name. And I know people that are broke as a joke, that want to be called Mr. Thompson or whatever. So it really depends on the person and how they were raised and what their idea of respect is. But ask that's. It's a great question, but I would just ask up front.

Good.

Good. Good job.

Absolutely. We got some swag coming your way.

Anything else, Don? Are you feeling okay?

You know, I'm just happy to be here. That's it for the questions this week, Chris.

Okay. You gonna drink some tequila?

Oh, absolutely.

Okay.

I've been drinking since 8am.

Cheers.

Cheers to that.

Cheers to that, Chris.

Thanks, Don. Good job. Give Don a hand.

Thank you so much for watching this clip of Service Drive Revolution. Now you can catch the full episode on YouTube, iTunes, or Spotify or wherever you consume your podcast. If you have any questions, go ahead and post them in the comments below. Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're notified when we post new episodes. I'm Chris Collins, and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Chris Bulldog Collins. And I'll see you again on the next episode.