How To Sell Bigger Jobs In Your Service Department | SDR #222

Welcome, everybody, to the big show. We have an exciting, exciting topic for you today. We are going to talk about how to sell big jobs. If you're a service advisor, how do you sell big jobs? It's going to be relevant coming up, because customers have negative equity. The Average car is 13 years on the road. It might go to 14, 15. It's only going to get higher. People are going to need big repairs to keep those cars on the road. So we're going to talk about that. We also are going to talk about Chris Jones childhood trauma goals for this year, his new addiction. I mean, lots of fun stuff coming up right now on service. Drive Revolution.

How do you think you're doing with your New Year's resolution so far? Drinking more.

Yeah. So I feel like I. I got to find my niche of what alcohol?

I. Tequila. Don't get in all that bourbon. All. That's all a waste of time.

So just Tequila.

Just Tequila. It's a. It's a straight lane. It's easy. There aren't that many of them. They're not that expensive like some of those whiskeys.

Well, they're art.

$5,000 for, like, that Boone's, like, what, no tequila?

What's a backup? If I don't get the tequila, I like Mezcal. Okay. It's like tequila's cousin.

Don't. Don't shoot it. The Mezcal. Don't shoot it.

Okay.

It's too much for a shot.

Yeah. So mix it in with.

Remember that party that I had at my house where people were shooting Mezcal?

Yes.

And then people ended up not feeling good.

Yes.

You can say hung up.

Well, sick and then got really nauseous. Yeah. That was good. What'd you do for New Year's Eve?

Nothing. My thing. I have a tradition for New Year's that's like no one else's tradition. It's unique to me, and I've done it for a long time. I can't.

The last time I remember not doing it was 1999.

Oh, that was back in Y2K.

I was in Seattle.

Nice.

I heard a Prince song. Then Prince song said, you're gonna party like it's 1999. And so I'm like, okay, well, I got a party this year because everything's gonna end. Or I thought at the time everything was gonna end. Right. Nothing was gonna work. What did they call it? The millennium or something?

Y2K.

Y2K ends up. Y2K was a nothing.

Super huge bust. Yeah.

But my thing on New Year's is I'm probably just like every other day of the year, in bed by 8:30, asleep by night.

Yeah.

And what I would describe New Year's as if I was asked to describe it. If somebody said, chris, could you describe New Year's in two words?

I would say yes, I can describe it in two words and they'll be very accurate. And that is amateur hour.

Oh yeah. Because everybody else goes out and does their thing and blah blah, blah. Right.

Yeah. Like I want to get a start at the new year. Ready to go. Not feeling.

Sick.

Yeah, for sure.

Like to.

Guess I have a different perspective.

No. I think I stay up later than you, but the activities on New Year's are very similar between you and I.

I'm not into it.

Yeah.

It's amateur hour.

Y2K. I actually stayed home to make sure because I thought that I was gonna lose power, electricity, gas, the whole thing. So I was home making sure that.

You know, my significant other does she's home with you. She stays up until 9, which is watches the ball drop in New York, New York, and then comes to bed at 9:10.

Do you know what has never changed about the ball dropping? It's the same thing. I don't know, it seems like a. Seems like, you know, people that play slots in Vegas, like they're like a monkey with a handle. Like there's really no strategy to it or it seems like that for New Year's Eve is just like you're following somebody else's dumb tradition.

Yeah. You're getting nothing out of it.

Yeah.

I really don't understand why they let the people in New York be in charge of that freaking New York New Year's Eve thing. Like they literally always let the ball drop.

You got an off camera laugh, almost a snort.

That's pretty good. So what we're going to talk about, and this, this was your idea.

Driven by the fact that cars on the road are getting older and we're coming into a year where customers have negative equity.

A bunch of it. Yeah.

And they are going to need work on their cars, but not have the ability to trade them in when they need the work. So the question you posed is how should service advisors sell big jobs? So it's a different strategy than selling a small job. And you're going to come up against.

Putting more money into a car often than the car maybe is worth.

Possibly. Yep.

And so what we're going to talk about today is how to sell big jobs. I want to, right up front.

Make it very Very clear.

That.

Whatever techniques we're going to talk about, there is an implied assumption that we're doing this ethically, that we're treating the customer like we would treat our mother. We are not trying to manipulate or pull anything over. We want to play the long term game with customers. We want customers that.

Understand that we're good stewards of their trust.

Yep.

And at no time would any of these techniques.

Be used to do something dishonest or push a customer over. Because they are effective techniques.

That's right.

Did I, did I articulate that?

You did. And it goes right or wrong along with some of the.

Right or wrong along.

Right or wrong. Right or wrong goes right along with some of the.

That drinking is really affecting you.

Yeah. I'm not as good as you would think.

Slurring your worms.

So you want me to go over.

How to sell big tickets?

Yeah.

You want to start or you want to start?

So the first thing that I've got is tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

It always works out better.

So when I say that, I think the thing that I've seen happen most often that just breaks my heart is let's say that you've got this huge laundry list of stuff and the advisor decides for the customer what the customer needs or doesn't need. So there might be $7,000 worth of work, but they only tell the customer about $3,000 worth of work.

So what you're saying is don't curate your own inspection sheet. Communicate what the technician.

Yes. What the car needs.

Let the doctor be the doctor and you be the nurse or the communicator. But don't try, try to pretend to be the doctor.

Yeah.

Don't tell me I have a broken arm when I have a broken arm and brain cancer. Right. Like it's.

Wow, that is an incredible analogy. Yeah, I like that.

So I thought that that was kind of a really good way to start it. It echoes what you kind of your disclaimer on the front. And there's nothing to, there's nothing to remember about the story that you told somebody when you tell the truth. Like, the whole thing is, is that. And you know you're not telling. So I always think about that, like you're not breaking the bad news to somebody. You're just exchanging the information.

Yeah. I think too many people.

Do that where they think it's not your fault. It's like it's not your car or truck or whatever. Yeah. You're. You're saving them pain down the road by telling them the truth now.

Yeah. So the only thing that's not gonna get better. That's right.

Cars do not. Or trucks do not heal themselves.

Well, that. That's another really important.

There's no self healing parts.

Yep. So also understanding. And again, telling the truth. If you give me. Let's say that I've got my 2000.

Camry. Right. So it's a 22 year old car and it needs $7,000 worth of work.

23.

The other. Oh, good Lord, it's 23 years old, isn't it?

You're writing the wrong date on your checks already.

Typically for two or three.

I don't even have checks anymore.

I do have checks. Yeah. I never write down.

It's so easy to derail me, isn't it?

But I think that that's the other thing too, is don't make any guarantees that if we do the $7,000 worth of work that something couldn't break tomorrow.

Like the keep in mind of the arena that we're working in, especially with these older vehicles, is that there's no, there's no guarantees on anything. And sometimes what happens is you fix something that's the weakest link and something else just becomes the weakest link. So tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. No editing. No. No doing like, well, I think they'll spend 3,000. So let me tell them about 3,000 worth of stuff when there's really seven.

Now the other thing to go along with that, I would say is if you don't understand or you don't believe, go look at it with the tech. Yeah, there's many times where I'd go back to the tech and I'd be like, hey, I don't understand this. Can you show me?

So if you don't understand it, and that especially comes in handy when it's a big estimate. There's a lot of stuff to understand.

So go, go put your eyeballs on it.

That's great.

Also, I would have situations where the tech would recommend it. I would ask them to show me, and then they're like, oh, well, it's not that bad. They don't need it yet. And I was like, huh? Why'd you write it? You didn't write that on the inspection sheet.

We not do that.

Yeah, could you? You know, so, okay, the next one that we have is that you want to do a complete estimate before you engage. Call the customer, parts labor. A complete estimate of everything. Do not get on the phone and tell the Customer that they need all this stuff and you do not know the dollar amount.

That's right.

You're missing out. At the time of need is the time you want to give them the number.

Yeah, I call that ready, fire, aim.

And you also create anxiety by not telling them the number.

Frantic.

But I see advisors do that where they will tell the customer what they need and the customer is like, well, how much? Like oh, I don't know, I got to do an estimate.

Yeah.

And then most of the time, you know who they blame that on? Parts, parts, parts hold. By the way, part sold is doing pretty good.

It's been a lot of fun.

Yeah. The next thing is that when you call the customer or talk to the customer is before you say anything, before you talk about anything, ask open ended questions and fact find. So here's what I want to know. If a customer has a car that needs a lot of work, I want to know a few things before I do anything. Remember what is my, what is my title?

Coach.

No, in this scenario, Service advisor. I'm a service advisor. What does advisor mean?

You give people, advise.

Do you need all the information in order to give somebody advice?

Yes.

So don't go half cocked throwing around things without knowing a couple things. The first thing I want to know is.

What are your plans with the vehicle? So I literally will ask it that way. This is an open ended question. So what are the plans with the vehicle? Now I might say, hey, the technician did a inspection and found some things and I'm just curious like what are your plans with the vehicle? And then what do you do?

Shut up.

Shut up. It's an open ended question.

Next question. Well, about how many miles a year do you think you're going to put on the vehicle? Are you thinking about trading it in? Are you buying or are you leasing? Do you use it for work?

Now why would all of these questions be.

Important? Christian?

So in the event, let's say that the customer is in a position where maybe not spending the money on the vehicle or that they have options to get into a different vehicle might work.

Out well for them. I want to do the best thing by the customer for the needs they have.

Yes.

I'm not just trying. Like oftentimes if they are in a position to get something else, if they're doing, you know, if I'm guiding them into what to get next, then I have them for longer. Right?

That's right.

So I need, I need to understand how they use the vehicle. What, where they're at, are they Buying. Are they leasing? Are they planning on trading it in. In three months? Now, oftentimes, what we're going to hear this year and probably next year is a customer's going to say, oh, I can't trade it, and I'm not in that position.

Yeah, okay, I need to keep it running. Yeah, stuff like that, too.

Well, now. Now we're going to advise.

It's that time.

It's that time to advise, right?

Yep.

Now, we have a technique in our advisor training called table of contents. I'm not going to go through that on here on how to present the. The work. Get our advisor training if you. If you want to learn how to. To sell it. But I would say that it's really important to understand the customer's needs and their goals before you advise on the work.

Yeah. Good.

Then the next one that I have on my list is have a financing option.

Our clients are having tremendous success having a financing option. When you offer the financing option, I would offer it early, and I would offer it in a way that is not condescending or that could make the customer feel like they need to defend their financial situation. For example, hey, Christian needs a lot of work. We have financing that's 0% interest for six months. A lot of our customers right now are holding on to cash, and they're taking that option. And then you have time. Now, when I'm saying, hey, a lot of our customers are holding on to cash, what I'm trying to do is diffuse the idea that they're broke, they can't afford it. I'm not trying to make them feel bad.

Yeah. They're not broke. They're being smart with their money.

Yeah. And that is true. What I'm saying is true. It's not, you know, people that are smart will take a zero interest and hold on to their cash.

Yeah. They use other people's money. Exactly.

Do it all the time. You know, it's funny, I would say I'm smart.

Yeah.

Very smart.

We were talking about New Year's resolutions, and one of those, obviously, is for me to drink more in 2023. But.

I also kind of made a secondary resolution. And I went to a gymnastics place the other day, and I walked in and I said, hey, it's New Year. Trying to get a new skill.

Can you teach me how to do the splits? The gymnast goes, how flexible are you? And I said, I can't do Tuesdays and Thursdays.

What do you have on your list next?

The next on my list is.

Framing the call. Oh, I could do another one too. But framing the call is very similar to what you're saying. But I think that preparing the customer. So one of the things that I remember doing as an advisor and also seeing this from people is that, you know, I've got some things to go through, I want to get all the way through them and then I'll answer any questions that you have. So you have to maintain control over the call. So I.

No questions.

Not when you're doing your presentation.

So kind of like when you go into a movie and they're like, please silence your phones.

That's right.

Yeah. Okay.

I like it all the way through that. And then I'm gonna sneak in front of the other one just because I think that you've got two more and I think that this will get us there.

I don't have two more.

Oh, how many do you have?

I really don't have anymore.

Oh, so don't sell from your own wallet.

Yeah.

Do you have that on your list?

No.

What do you think about that one?

I think it's always fascinating how the job is to tell customers the truth, like you said at the top. And then we don't tell them the truth because we.

Imagine you're like a 22 year old advisor and a customer in a brand new Corvette comes in. Like you're not expected to be at their economic status, but you are expected to tell them the truth and save them from unforeseen.

You know, I remember once a customer told me when I, when I was telling him something about what the car needed and he was like, listen, do it. My wife drives this car and I don't want her stuck at night. She's a nurse. And I just remember thinking like, oh wow, this isn't just tires and CV boots. You know, like it's a big deal. Yeah. And so the idea that, that our context or our self esteem would come into. Because really it's like you have low self esteem because you don't have a lot of money. So you're gonna treat everybody else's problems like yours is not fair to the other people. What's fair to the customer is to tell them the truth.

Yeah, yeah. What the best way to not sell from your own wallet is try to go work at a Ferrari dealer.

Yeah. Well, there you go.

That fixes it really fast.

Yeah.

It's just to just pretend that you're not, you know, it's not your decision because it's not your decision. And the same thing kind of goes with. I was Thinking about that with these big jobs and these big quotes where, you know, kind of like what you were saying is that the value of the repair exceeds the value of the car. Also remember too that there's more that goes into the value of the car than just what it would blue book for or what it would book for. Like, there could be sentimental value to the client. There's also like the, what I call. There's the value of the car, but there's also a replacement cost, which is a very different thing. That sometimes that, that $7,000 quote is the best thing for them. The only difference is that I can't make that decision for the customer. But just because I don't think it's a good idea doesn't mean that they don't. Yeah.

And then just one thing you might want to think about is if it exceeds the value of the car, get a deposit.

Yeah. Just to help. Just to save the business. A lot of people are doing that. I'm seeing that way more. More often just anytime there's a big job, if there's heavy parts, people are getting deposited on the part price. I think that's actually a decent business.

And a little bit of the labor, too. I would, I'd at least get half.

That's good.

That works. Yeah. Good stuff. Well, hopefully that helps and inspires you. I think this is very relevant to what we're going to face this year. So take, take into consideration, think about it, and we'll see you next time on Service Drive Revolution. Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Job 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 asksDr and we'll answer your question on the 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.