A short conversational transcript from the Service Driver Revolution YouTube series (host Chris Collins) in which Chris and guest Christian list and illustrate characteristics of top automotive/field technicians. Key traits highlighted: keep a clean stall and system/process, self-educate, invest in tools (even personal tools to avoid downtime), take pride in their work (handle comebacks personally, know customers' names), and curiosity (enjoy solving problems and finding better ways than manuals). The hosts also suggest interview questions to surface curiosity and problem-solving (e.g., ask about hacks, unique issues they solved, and their process).
Chapters
I always had a couple of technicians that even though I would come in in the morning and I would have, like, the day's bulletins printed out and everything like that, and they were always coming into my office before work started me, like, hey, Christian, did you hear about this? Like, they were so far ahead of me. Or they also, you know, they also had.
The latest and greatest, essentially. I mean, the tools are a pretty big thing.
So that was the next one. They invest in tools.
Yeah. So let's kind of put those together only because I think that both are for the same thing. Right. They look at information as the law is an advantage, and they look at the tools as an advantage. Right. So my favorite thing was, and I think that you brought. You said. Brought this up, and you said you've seen the same thing, too, is that I had shop battery chargers. Like, if I had two sides of the shop, I had two big chargers that you would just hook up and then you do it during reprograms or whatever. But my best techs had their own. And it was so funny that I couldn't figure out why they would spend their money on something that we had as a shop tool. And then it kind of just hit me like a ton of bricks. It's because it was worth it to them to not ever have to wait.
And I thought that that was really, really. That's a telling thing, is that, you know, and they love to talk about having the latest and greatest tools, too. Like, they always had the. They always had the best inventory.
The next one was they're proud of what they do.
So I think that that's probably the thing to recognize most. And you might be able to get into this question on an interview by talking about comebacks. Like, your best technicians, they handle comebacks very, very differently because what they say is, that's a representation of my work.
And.
And they don't want a comeback to be the thing that defines them. So they typically, like, drop everything and figure out what went wrong.
Yeah. I would say, too, like, if you asked them about comebacks and their answers were deflecting and blaming on others, they're not proud of what they do because they're deflecting. But if you asked them about comebacks and they stopped for a second and kind of exhaled, and it was like, yeah, like, that's not. That's not okay. And then they, like, kind of slowed down and like, we're very serious. That's somebody who, like, they're going to be harder on themselves than you could ever be on them. And that's what you want.
The best techs know the customer's name, like they owned it so far. To be like, oh, this comeback affected Mr. Smith. Yeah. That's a high level thing. When the text know the customer's name.
And then the last one, they're curious. They'll figure it out.
Yeah. So it's not, it doesn't have to be in the script. They're gonna get there one way or another.
It's fun. Like they like figuring it out.
Yeah. So in many cases their, their joy and their curiosity was in trying to figure out something that could beat the book. They were trying to find a better way than the engineers that are writing the manuals. And I think that that's really cool to watch.
How would you ferret that out in.
An interview about curiosity? Yeah, I'm not sure.
So you could ask them just straight up, like, what are some hacks that you've found? What are some. Have you had issues that nobody else can figure out that you did? And what was your process?
Oh, that's good too.
And if they show enthusiasm towards that. Right.
Yeah, that's really good.
They also tend to be when they're curious, they're less judgmental. They're usually more of a team player because they can see both sides.
Yeah.
If that makes sense.
Cool.
So let's recap characteristics of the best techs.
Clean stall. They have a system, a process they follow. They self educate and invest in their tools. They're proud of what they do and they can figure it out. They're curious.
Thanks so much for watching this clip of Service Driver 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 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.
