International Coronavirus Update April 2020

Welcome, everybody, to Service Driver Revolution with my guests, Adam and George Michaels. Growing out that sexy, sexy stubble, is this like a protest for the lockdown, Jeremy?

I don't think it's a protest more or less, just, you know, general neglect.

Also, I figure if I'm ever going to grow a beard, might as well do it now.

Oh, come on. Team building. Team building. Yeah.

Also, I wanted to show, you know, solidarity with Adam.

It looks good. I think it looks really good. It's. It's funny right now that, you know, there's. There's some real leaders stepping up, and then there's some people in a panic, and it. It is a real test of character when we go through these sort of things. But you guys were telling me the other day about some managers that are really stepping up and thinking a little bit different and being aggressive and playing offense instead of defense, right?

Yeah, Chris, it's freaking amazing, really, to just see how much on social media how a lot of our service managers, directors, and owners are stepping up as leaders, like you stated, and trying to develop different ways of cleaning, different ways of writing up trucks, bringing them back in, and different forms of triage. I mean, this is really a testament to the great dealer network that we really have and obviously supporting our truck drivers and customers, you know, abroad. So, like, this is one example of just something I just kind of printed off, you know, of some things that, like, they're putting out to their customers and making sure that they're aware of that they're ready for them when they have to come in or when customers have to come in. So just kind of doing a. You know, we have an. I know. Article that we posted out there, too, just for references from an international standpoint. One thing I actually kind of saw, interesting enough, I don't know if you guys ever heard of ifa. So one thing, it's International Franchise association, and I was kind of sharing that with the team is one thing when this all kind of started is that a lot of the truck drivers, at least some of the stuff that I was seeing on the news, didn't really know where to go and, like, eat, because a lot of those places kind of closed down, too, as well. So I kind of printed this off, and there's. There's different things that some of the franchises that are still open trying to help out the drivers as well. But really, I think it's bringing everybody together from a leadership standpoint. So I just kind of want to shout out to some of our dealer locations that I've Seen obviously not limited to. And the list can go on and on, but like Landmark International in Tennessee, Kairos Truck Centers in Texas, Southwest International in Texas, Peterson Trucks in California. Some of these places are the hardest hit. Right. Cumberland International in Tennessee, Maudlin in Florida, East Coast International in New Brunswick, Canada. Hey, Minuteman in Massachusetts, Old Truck Sales in Southern Indiana, Kentucky. Summit Truck Group, Rush Truck Group. And honestly can go on and on. And I just got to say kudos and thank you on behalf of all of us. And I'm sure our customers are appreciating it, stepping up and communicating and doing whatever we can do to keep the truck drivers safe, but also keep America moving.

Yeah, it's funny, like, in times like this, uptime becomes the focus, right? Because it's even more important.

For sure. It's. It's quite amazing. And, you know, I think at the end of the day, as leaders, we're going to come up with some new ideas and opportunities that we can help grow the business moving forward. Right. Once we start kind of trying to get out of this, but it's still. This is the time to kind of sharpen the axe.

What were you telling me about somebody's doing the Chick Fil A model? They're giving out free chicken?

I wish, man. That'd be pretty awesome. I got to go to that location, right? I'll break quarantine for that. No, actually, one of our regional service managers brought up to me over the last couple days that one of his dealer groups has actually adopted the Chick Fil A type method where they bring the tablet out to the driver, try to limit the contact and, you know, save space or the spacing of the. The interaction and right up the truck and then actually trying to do a virtual triage to where they kind of stage the work and then they can assess and what, you know, what lanes or what type of work that they can assess. It's really right there kind of on the spot. So that's. That's truly what we try to practice when. In regards to, you know, accelerated service and the overall process and really get throughput of the dealership. Right.

Yeah, it's funny now. So you, because you're from the Midwest, you say Chick Fil A, but really, really the truth is, and you know, a lot of people are gonna agree with this, that's not the Chick Fil A method. That's the In n Out Burger method. In and Out Burger did that way before Chick Fil A. But the purpose of it at the end and the spirit behind it is that you're greeting the customers and putting them at ease.

Right.

So the problem with In N Out or Chick Fil A is people get in line, so they get frustrated and they pull out of line. So they put those people towards the line. Because once you've ordered, you won't turn out of line, you won't leave the line because you've already put in your order, you've committed. So that's the idea, is to greet the clients right away, put them at ease. They know that they're on our radar, and, you know, and then process them, which is a great technique right now in this environment. But, yeah, that's the in and out burger out of, not Chick Fil A. It's funny how you guys in the Midwest, the context is always Chick Fil A.

Hey, it was also our idea out here in the Midwest too, right?

Yeah. Try getting Chick Fil A on Sunday.

In and out burgers open on Sunday, by the way.

Well, we've also got Portillo's that does that same thing. So, I mean, I think that we'll just go with Portillo's. Did it first. How about that? And we'll disagree.

No bias there. George Michaels. Hey, have you had a chance to write any new songs?

My favorite song is that one. I forget the name of it. It's something like, I'm never gonna dance again. Guilty Feelings. But you kind of got that faith look that you gotta have. Faith. The faith, the faith. But actually, that's a good subject for right now, is remember as leaders, that this is the time where we need to be leaders. We need to tell everybody it's gonna be okay. We need to listen, we need to be attentive, but we need to drive an agenda of positivity. We're all gonna get through this. It's temporary. If you panic right now and your team sees you panic or seems that you're, like, super confused and you don't know what to do, they're gonna remember that in three months from now, when we're back to business and everything's going, their view of our leadership is gonna be, will they panic when things get tough? So be the one telling everybody it's okay. We're gonna get through this together. Use it as a chance to push in on your team and build a tighter team than to let everybody scatter. Get in their head. Control the narrative. Control the narrative more than anything right now. And this is a good time to practice. Like, you know, we talk about in the online training that Abraham Lincoln said that if you asked him to cut down a tree in four hours, he would spend three of them sharpening the axe and one hour cutting it down. This is a great time to practice and role play. Go through the online training, you know, role play with your advisors. Role, even to the point of just role playing. If a, if a truck came in, how would we process it? Different scenarios, all of that, It'll add up. You know, sometimes slow is fast. If we practice when it's slow, then when it's fast, our systems will be ready for contingencies and be ready for the volume.

Well, we're open. Also, I'd like to invite dealerships, reach out to our team, and let's discuss some of this stuff and collaborate while we can sharpen that axe. Right. I think there's. This is the time that we can really, you know, like you said, really good, you know, offense, you know, and really pushing forward. I think it's a great opportunity in light of things.

Yeah. When you, when you think about, like, the. It's gonna be Christmas in no time, like, years go by really quick, especially the older we get. Right. And so this, this, this period, although it's, you know, unique and we've never faced it before, we're ready for it. We can handle it. It's gonna, It'll go by quick. Some of us will get a little cabin fever, but it'll make us appreciate things even more when it, you know, when it lifts. So just make sure you're controlling the narrative with your employees and with your team. More than anything else, the narrative has to be positive. Right. Do you agree, George?

Absolutely. I mean, as it is like in our state, essential businesses only are allowed to operate. That's. That's essentially the trucking industry. We cannot, society will not hold together without truckers being on the road, without waste management hauling away, hauling away the trash, without the dealers keeping these trucks. Good going. So, I mean, there's. This is not an easy time, but as you can see, I'm bunkered out here. Adam's located in a supply closet, but we're still here also supporting you wherever we can, bro.

It looks way more like you're in a supply closet.

I'm. I'm in a basement. This is luxurious.

Has anybody ever finished their basement in the Midwest?

Yeah, right here. It's a glorified closet. This is all I get.

I, I And by the way, I would just want to point out the heavy metal thunder behind you car. What is that? A PV into a carving? That's straight up heavy metal. That amp right there, not messing around.

As soon as we're done.

That thing only sounds good with full distortion on 10. That's the only way that sounds good.

Does it go to 11?

There's really no numbers, so, yeah, we'll just say 11. Just crank it up.

That's awesome. Yeah. The other thing too we're talking about is I know we've canceled some training, but we're talking about if this keeps going, how we could do something virtual. So this is a good time to hop on and go through the online stuff and practice. How we do anything is how we do everything. So you use this time because it'll go by quick.

Absolutely. We're going to find a way to get this training out to you. Whether we're going to do the sessions, wherever we can do the sessions. But if we got to do it online, we can do it online. We got the web based. We will get the training out to you because we think you need to know it and it'll help your business a lot, even during these tough times.

Well, the feedback's been so positive. Right, Jeremy? A lot of our service managers and service advisors that have gone through this training.

We'Ve had a lot of really good success and just keep wanting more of it. So I think this is a good opportunity. You know, we're here to support being flexible. We're going to try to, you know, we got to think and work a little differently ourselves, too, and challenge ourselves to make sure that we can deliver. So that's. That's obviously our promise to you.

We've got a lot of positive feedback here. Just going from some of the survey results. It's all right. We typically get. We have five stars. You can get a max of. We're at like 4.9 or something like that. And it's just like the ELR exercises, the recruiting, the leadership exercises. It's opened a lot of minds. We've had some really experienced managers attend this training and they've all come back with a lot of positive things to say about it. And everybody comes back out of this thing with something they can go back to the dealership and apply right away.

Yeah.

One of the surprises for me is how Murder Line stuck with everybody.

It really did.

And had you not gone through the class and you just hear Murder Line, you might think something else.

But it's a little disclaimer. But it's fun, right?

Yeah, it's an inside, inside thing, but it's fun. Well, awesome, you guys. Let's. Let's keep doing these, and if there's anything we can do, the team is here for you. Reach out once again. Be a leader. This is gonna go by quick. Control the narrative with your people. Be positive. Use the time to gain market share and think outside the box. Don't just sit in your office with a seatbelt on, looking at your computer, watching the news. It isn't gonna get us anywhere. Let's be creative and let's really serve our customers and make this a time where we're there when they need us.

I second that you'd ask about what songs I was writing, Chris. I think I'm go with I'm never going to leave the house again because there's nothing out there open that's worthwhile out there.

So let's hear you sing it. I'm never going to leave the house again. Guilty.

We'll have to write a melody. Next time I'll be playing for you while you sing.

Next time we're together, we got to go do karaoke.

Oh, God.

I want a video of you singing, like, wham Song six.

Six feet away, though. Six feet away.

Yes. Yes. Social distancing.

My iPhone works from six feet away. It'll be fun.

Everybody would treasure that. Jeremy, if you would do that.

I don't think they would. I don't think they would.

See you guys. We'll see you next time.

Thank you, Chris.