Do Dealerships Have Culture?

Happy Friday and welcome to this edition of your Friday Drive by, where we answer your questions. I'm Chris Collins and this is Chris Joan. Hello, everyone. The phone number. Get a pen.

Piece of paper, pencil if you're old school.

Chisel.

Chisel and a rock. Or just simply open up notes on your phone and Write this down. 8, 3, 3, 3, ask a S, K. SDR. SDR.

You don't have to spell out SDR.

It's like when I call, I call places sometimes and I'm like. They go, can I ask who you're with? And I'm like, chris Collins. And they go, and your name? And I'm like, chris Collins. And they go, yeah, who are you with? And I go, chris Collins. Oh.

How long could that go on for?

Some people for a while.

They're not.

They're not that.

Speaking of stuff that.

Sir, could I ask what company you're with?

Chris Collins. Yeah. So.

About a year ago, I remember this happening to me. I hear this knock at the door, so I go, and I answer the door, open it up. Nobody there. I look down and there's this disgusting snail just sitting there looking at me. So I pick up the snail and I throw it down the hallway. Last year, right? So last night, sit at home watching television and hear a knock at the door. Open it up. Snail says to me, what was that all about?

Right. Thank you.

Snails are fast.

Super fast.

More on that. Okay, we have a question. Let's hear the question. Today.

My specific question is about dealership culture. I have sales experience. I've owned my own sales business for a few years. I've been recruited into a service advisor role. I also have car experience from when I was a kid. Although I've never worked in the automotive industry, I've rebuilt many engines and worked on lots of cars my whole life and motorcycles. So I know that part of it very well. Here's what I'm struggling with. It really seems like the dealership culture is very corporate, and I am looking at a luxury brand. I don't like the benefits. It's not like it would keep me from the job. But it seems that the way that they do this is very hustle culture. And they want people to be there 55, 60 hours a week, working six days a week. And they say that it's also the pay. When you break that out versus what you're being paid against. Another role, an only commission job where you're working 60 hours a week, the pay isn't really that significant. And I think that most People think that it is because they're willing to give their lives up for it. I always had a pretty good example in my dad of not doing that of a man who was with his family. And while he taught my brothers and I to all be hard workers. I'm curious if all dealership cultures are similar in that if I get into this industry, I'll only end up being a slave to my job for years. I would assume that that's probably part of the case and that people do it for the money.

Hey, Cody, thanks for the question. So I think if I'm sensing this right, you're kind of teetering. And I.

Have learned that there's two things. One is the service advisor position is a service industry position, like working in restaurants. And so you're working longer hours.

In service of the customers that are coming in that we're taking care of. And so, I mean, it always blows me away when you talk to somebody who works in restaurants and they're working until 2 in the morning and then.

Coming around in the morning to work again. Right.

Especially if you're, if you're like a sommelier or something, you're in putting in your wine orders at 9 in the morning, meeting with vendors and you didn't get to bed until 4. And so, and it's day in and day out, you're not, you know, you're not taking a day off. So it is, for the most part as an industry, you are going to work longer hours.

Most dealerships or service departments, you're not going to work six days a week. You might work six and then five. But Saturdays usually are something that you're going to be rotated into, especially if you're new, because customers want to come in on Saturday. And it is a service industry. There are, there are quite a few dealerships now that are open on Sunday also. And service departments, tire shops are open on Sunday. Cause that's when customers are off and they have time. So.

You'Re gonna put in the hours. The thing about the industry that I love and that I enjoyed and you were kind of alluding to, there's a lot of loyalty to it, is that I was able to make an income that was above what other people were making in other jobs. Like, for example, I was making more than lawyers, like the average lawyer. I was making more than, than a lot of the average doctors out there writing service. And then, you know, as I moved up, of course, as a general manager, I was, you know, I was making way more than, than those careers. And I didn't have the student debt. So, you know, you're coming from a sales side of things. Sales is probably usually the best paying gig out there. Being a service advisor is more of a service industry job. It's not really a sales job in the sense that there are people out there that say being a service advisor is a sales job. But it's really in my opinion and with my scope of experience, not just in the sense that if you're, if somebody needs breaks and you're telling them they need breaks, you're not selling them something, they need it and you're more like accommodating them really.

So it's a pretty easy sell.

So I mean, it's a personal thing. I will say what I would like to do is we're gonna send you a swag bag for being on.

And also I'll send you my book on being a service advisor. It's an easy read. We call it a two cup of coffee book called the Millionaire Service Advisor. And it talks about growing your clientele and how to mentally approach being an advisor. And that might give you a little more insight into it also. But in any service oriented industry, you got to be there when the customers need us. And so it requires a sacrifice of time.

Yeah, I think that that's, it's all about the customer at the end. And then if you've already chosen your place, then you kind of have to figure out if it's the right thing for you. But what I heard through that question, Cody, is that it's okay for you to kind of test the waters a little bit before you take a job. And, and Chris has said this on previous episodes, so I'm kind of, I'm borrowing it from him. But you know, if you're going and you're applying at a job, you know, to be a service advisor, it doesn't hurt you to hang out in the waiting room and just kind of see what, what the environment is that you're getting into. So do your homework on your side too. And then just understand that I think that the future and the success you have is up to you to ride it. So I think that's, that's by far my favorite thing about the car business is that that you're not limited and just put yourself in situations you can win.

And then you have the question about culture, which I think we have a different idea of what culture is. But if, if corporate culture means that things are ran very similar, very uniform, with a lot of accountability and predictability built in. That is pretty much.

The majority of car dealerships now with consolidation, most of them are run from a corporate mindset and the smaller ones are trying to be that. So I would say, yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty corporate and it's only going to get more corporate. So thanks for the question. Thanks for dming me on Instagram and.

Hope that gives you a little food for thought. And we'll see you next time on your Friday Drive by on Service Drive Revolution. Thanks for watching this week's Drive By. I hope we gave you something to think about over the weekend. 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 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.