Sam, a Ford technician, moved through three jobs in a few years, watching his pay jump from $24 to $37 an hour. He credits better workplace organization and employer investment in training for the biggest gains, not just switching jobs.
So, you know, I went in the next morning, I went up to my foreman. I was like, you ready to talk? And he was like, no, we're gonna wait till the general manager gets here. I was like, okay, so then did.
You get a job and start working?
I. I worked all the way up till noon that day. I was in the middle of a job when they pulled me off and took me into the GM's office and sat me down. And she just slid the letter of termination over to me and said, we are letting you go. You' terminated. This isn't up for discussion. And I had kind of already prepped for the worst. I didn't think that that was gonna happen. I thought more or less I would get written up. You know, maybe a slap on the hand because I really didn't feel like the post was negative. It was just me speaking to my friends.
So this. The funny part about this, when I get overwhelmed or frustrated or something like this happens, I usually immediately just tear up because that's. That's just who I am. I'm just. I don't hold my tears back. But I did not cry. I just got up and left and didn't even fight it. I was like, if somebody wants to go on my Facebook page and go through it and pick something out and go through the, I guess, process of firing me, they want me gone that bad. I don't want to stay where I'm not wanted.
So I literally, I remember leaving. They walked me out. I actually went with my foreman and told them everything that I had done on this vehicle that they stopped me in the middle of working on. I had about five other repair orders that I told them exactly what I had worked on and what I'd done. I was. Didn't have any problem with them. You know, I'm leaving. That's fine, whatever.
I left. I remember going to my parents house to tell them, hey, you know, I lost my job. Kind of sucks. And then I went home and I sat down for about 20 minutes before it could really just sink in. I was like, you know, I have all these Ford certifications and I haven't used any of them. So I called my buddy who I knew worked at Ford. I was like, you guys hiring? He was like, yeah, yeah, come on down. And I told him, I was like, you know, I'm certified. I went through Ford fact. I just never really used it outside of Quicklane because that's what I was working on when I was going through school. He was like, oh, you're certified. He's like. The manager said, come down here right now. I literally had the job on the phone. I walked in, sat down, talked to the GM and the service director for about 15 minutes. I was hired on the spot with. I think that was a $5 raise at that time. And I really, like. I was pushing to work and specialize either in engines or transmissions. I really wanted to work with transmissions, which is what they told me I would do. So I started working at this new dealership, and it was almost. It's probably the worst dealership I've ever worked at in my life. It was completely unorganized.
Unproductive. We had service advisors that didn't know anything about cars at all. Like, they didn't know any. They came from the detail shop, if that helps anything. And.
It was just. It was the worst experience of my life. So I made one more phone call, and I called the. The service manager, where I'm at now, where I used to take my car, because I had a. I have a Mustang, so it was under warranty, and I would always take it to this dealership. And I told him. I was like, I'm at this dealership. I feel like I'm in hell. Get me out of here. He was like, come on over. So I went and spoke with this service director, and I told him what I wanted to do, and I wanted to kind of be clear on this part, because this is what really made me want to leave that first Ford dealership. I was. All our Ford dealerships are about three months behind in transmission work. Their transmission guys are burnt out. The one that I was actually at, he was tired. He just didn't want to do any transmissions at all. And I'm sitting here like, I'm certified in transmissions. I want to do it. But they didn't want to train me. And I remember speaking to the owner, and I was like, you know, I really want to do transmissions. You know, put me in over here. And he told me he did not want to pay for the training, which, to me, is the biggest mistake you could tell a tech at a dealership. He's like, you're unwilling to put money up front now to train a tech so you can make double the money down the road with two techs working on transmissions. I mean, you're literally customers right now.
100 times the money.
I. I couldn't believe he said that, because they had gotten so far behind at that dealership that if you did not buy your vehicle from that dealership, they weren't even gonna See you. So it was, right, it was just when he said that to me, I was like, I've got to get out of here because they're unwilling to, you know, make room to make more money.
So I made that call to the dealership I met now and walked right in and he was like, we want transmission people, we need transmission people. We will put you on and we will make sure, you know, transmissions. And I was like, there you go. That's what I want to do. So I hopped right on in and they put me in the train. I don't do anything but transmissions, which is exactly, exactly what I wanted to do. And I'm so ecstatic to be where I'm at with a service director who listened to the technician and what they wanted to do and what they wanted to achieve. And that's kind of the whole story.
So you, so you ended up making more money per hour?
Oh, yeah, I left, I left BMW at 24 and it was kind of like a dead flatline. Like I'd been there a year and a half with no raise. We had bonuses and incentives, but the raises weren't there. And the first dealership I went to, I got a five dollar raise. So I was at 29 and I'm at 37 now.
Yeah. And your efficiency is probably a lot higher, right?
Efficiency is a lot higher. The hours are a lot higher. I mean, it's just in the production at this shop, it's, it's so well set up and organized. I don't waste time looking for cars, looking for keys, wondering which salesperson took the keys, trying to sell a used car from underneath me.
It's, I'm so ecstatic to be here at this dealership. I can't speak anything bad of them.
Thanks so much for watching this clip of Service Driving Revolution. We're uploading new stuff every day, so make sure you subscribe and click the bell icon so. So you don't miss out. If you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show, call 8333 asksDr 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.
Sam.
