International Truck Coronavirus Update 4

Welcome everybody to service Drive Revolution. Hope you're having a great week. How are you doing, Jeremy and Adam? What's going on, boys?

Pretty good, I'd say. You know, it's. What are we in like week, like 30 of this quarantine. So, you know, holding together pretty well so far.

How's the homeschooling?

You saw what happens when I'd have to do homeschooling. It's not going so great, but, you know, I think the kids are learning a lot about, you know, street smarts and, you know, productivity in the workplace, at home and that there isn't much of it. And also, you know, they're really exploring a lot about.

The immediate backyard of my house. I guess that's pretty much as far as they can go. So also, you know, proper mask etiquette and you know that thing.

Yeah, it is dressing.

You don't have masks, Adam?

Nope.

What kind of mask could fit Adam? You need. He'd need like a whole body bag.

Just. You just like flip it up, man. Haven't you seen that? There's some like homemade masks. You just like flip it up.

There you go.

I think you can do it, Chris. I have all kinds of different masks. I don't go out much, but I have them if we need, if we need them. I have the N95s, all of that. So one thing that's super exciting is that we, we pulled off something this week. I'm really proud of us as a team.

It.

It took everybody to do it. I know we, we thought about it a lot, right? But we, we did the, what we had scheduled to go do live, we did virtually on Zoom and so we had our, our service manager kind of boot camps online and we learned a lot. Like, you know, we, we went into it knowing that we were going to get better as we went. But yeah, I thought that the first part that we open up with when we're talking about the financials, I felt like the retention on that was better than when we do it live. I thought it was incredible. What was the feedback after? So we did two, two days and then two days, four hour sessions each this week. So the last, that ended yesterday and we haven't talked. Jeremy. But what was, what was your overall feel and what was the feedback on?

Seems to be like send out surveys after every one of these sessions. It seems to be pretty positive. A lot of the managers really liked it, thought it was comparable to a hands on session. They even liked the additional amount of attention on the ELR exercise Because, I mean, most of the managers we've spoken with, they never broke it down that way. So they'd be either looking great, or they'd be looking at negative 4% and be like, well, I need to get my expenses under control or I need to really drive that labor rate higher, that elr higher. So it's really good for them, I think, to understand at an hourly level how much they're gaining or how much they're losing so that they can, from then they can use that information to start making positive changes. Like, either I'm doing great, I just need to tweak a couple things, or I need to really start looking at how my operations are. So I think starting with that exercise really was a positive for them, and I think they really enjoyed it.

Yeah, I did feel like they retained it more with the way we did it with the iPad and taking their specific numbers then than normally they would in a live session. So I felt like that part was really, really positive.

Well, they couldn't hide. I mean, everyone presented, everyone went over their numbers and, you know, you talked with all of them about them all. So they really understood. And I think that really helped.

It also really helped. You did a good job. And I didn't know that you'd done this, but you told everybody they had to have a camera. And so it was really interactive to be able to look at them. And I don't know, even though we're on Zoom, it's still like, you know, to be able to look at somebody and talk to them and really look in their eyes. It had that personal, you know, feeling that you don't really think that you're going to have on a virtual training session. So I thought that was genius on your part to tell them to do that. So everybody was on camera. And so the conversations, it wasn't us teaching, it was, you know, it was interactive.

Well, it's a workshop, right? Yeah, I think it was a good job, too. You know, Jeremy did a good job. And we made a decision to split the classes up in halves so to add more of that personal touch to it as well. It worked out really good.

Awesome.

What we wanted to avoid most of all was just like having one presenter just put up a slideshow and then have everybody else, you know, do their emails or be on their phone during the thing. You had to be engaged at this, at this session. I think that really helped out.

So, yeah, we didn't have a lot of that. I was really kind of impressed. You know, when we're Looking and being engaged. I didn't see a lot of people really moving or leaving a lot or reaching the phone. I mean, granted, they're in their offices, sometimes it's going to happen, but we didn't see a lot of that.

No, you missed a lot.

I learned a lot from that, Adam, that it is. It is kind of possible to do this where I would have thought, you know, you got to isolate them in a room in a hotel in northern Canada in order to get them to pay attention or. I don't know, that's Jeremy's tactic.

In February, hey, we're gonna do a.

Meeting in Phoenix, and then I get on the plane and I end up in northern Toronto. Yeah, but I thought that, you know, the thing that we talked about, we did in private is we said we're gonna learn from this and there's gonna be things that aren't gonna be as good and there'll be things that will be. I feel like, you know, for what it is, and I still wouldn't trade it for the in person, but for what it is, I think we learned a lot and it was very positive. And I feel like the managers that went through it are, you know, they're way better than when we got them. They have some new tools that are gonna serve em well and they're gonna be able to get results. So I felt like I was really proud of us as a team and that part of it. So I thought it was good.

I think that we're still able to network. Yeah, I was just gonna say I think it's still good. They were able to network too. You know, I think that's what sometimes a classroom environment helps. Foster is a networking environment with service managers network wide. And even with a smaller classroom setting, we still had the opportunity virtually to have some that networking, sharing some of those ideas. I thought that went really well.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Any other feedback? Jeremy?

Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late. Christian, this is the CIA's conference on how to interrogate a prisoner, right?

No, this is International Service Tribe Revolution.

This. This line isn't secure. Jeremy. Oh, hey, Jeremy.

Adam.

Hey. Hey, buddy. What are you doing?

What are you doing here?

Did you guys notice that it took a while for the coronavirus to spread to other countries, but China got it right off the bat.

I don't get it.

Bat meat. It came from bat meat.

Oh, yeah. I thought it was a baseball joke. I get it.

And then he's gone.

I've been hoping that a zoom I'm on would get Hacked, but that isn't the same kind of hack. But I hear people are getting hacked. But obviously Christian, just randomly going into Zoom conferences. Just funny. Did you have any other feedback, Jeremy?

I got a little distracted there. Generally, they like the interaction, they like the ELR understanding, they like the recruiting information and everyone's sharing their best practice. Yep. How to hire them and keep them. So I think that we hit all the really good points and I think that's one of the things that kept our attention was because if you weren't paying attention, you missed a lot of good information from not only from us, but from also the dealerships too. Everyone that's already doing what they're already doing. So, no, I think went really well. And the survey seemed to be really positive.

So one of the things that we heard, Jeremy, as feedback is the part about shop efficiency and how important that is to the profitability and how, you know, we all struggle with that. And some of them were surprised that there was a tool that you shared with everybody online that they didn't know that you had, that they loved. And, you know, everybody was excited to go back and download it and look at it and start implementing it, which is a. It's a, you know, a spreadsheet that's really well laid out that helps them. It helps you visually see efficiency and shot production. And it's definitely something I would share with the shop and have it up on a screen or hand it out. Can you tell everybody kind of about that tool?

Yeah. Let me show you what it looks like. So what this is, it's the Technician Efficiency Action Plan.

That's it.

What this does is it actually takes actual hours, build hours, and it will show the efficiency for technicians over a period of time. So there's a lot of different ways that dealerships look at efficiency, but what I really like about this is it's a visual. It's a visual trend information. So if you want were to sit down with, say, for example, this technician here, John, you can actually show him how his efficiency has gone up or gone down through a period of months, show him his build hours and actual hours, and then also you can actually see how he's doing with regards to the other technicians in the shop. So it doesn't. It takes a lot of the emotion out of a performance discussion with the technician and allows you to stick to the facts. And it's a highly visual document. It's our Technician Efficiency Action Plan. It's over in our Diamond Edge page. We can, as a team, the Diamond Edge team can help you set up this at your dealership so that you can have these kinds of discussions with your technicians.

Yeah, it's an awesome tool.

It's really easy to use. You can use it to select multiple technicians, you can see the whole shop. It's a really cool document and we can help you putting that into place. But a lot of dealerships didn't know that we had that. So it was really good to put this in front of service managers, let them know that this is a resource that they can use and that we will help them put it into place so they can start measuring efficiency really specifically among all their technicians and take the emotion out and stick to the facts as far as how they're doing.

That's good. I really like how it goes over time.

Do you guys have a book this week?

Oh, yeah, yeah. First Adam, I'd like to hear yours.

Just shut up and do it.

It's pretty close. So mine are all digital because it will take a week to get my books. So I have to read online all the time now. More than our eight to 10 hours that we already spend. But my book is the 10x Rule by Grant Cardone and it's one of those kind of leadership books, but it's also self reflecting. There's a couple things that I really kind of like that stick out with them. And one of the. I've been also reading some reviews on this book and a lot of people don't really like it because they're not really truly achieving, trying to achieve success. And one of the things is the only difference between success and failure. And he kind of goes in and explaining that and again just started it. I'm like about halfway through it. But what I really like that sticks out to me is, you know, someone else's gain is your loss. And a lot of people like to self reflect and think negatively on that and it really should be flipped over and, and really that, you know, it's really not that, you know, it's. It's. A lot of people are like, oh, I'm lost. I'm just gonna kind of give up. And he's kind of just taking. Take control of the situation. And I think we've said this numerous times and what in the current state of things, but I think in anything else we really just need to take control. He says a few other choice words in the book a little bit, but.

It'S like adult words like swearing.

Yes.

There you go. But what sticks out to me and even says it like Ricky Bobby. Right. You know, if you're not first, you're last. And I think I talked a little bit about this. There's no really winners or losers. And it's consistently reflecting on, you know, don't feel sorry for yourself. I think that's been kind of my mantra the last few weeks. But also taking control and just continue to be successful and really true success. And his is like 10 times. So if you want to make a hundred thousand dollars, you know, over the next year, well, maybe you should shoot for like, you know, a million dollars or, you know, just anything that you're doing right now is always 10 times. And you can set these goals and of course, you know, 10 times what they might normally be and you might fail at them, but they're. They're better than what your minimum or your, your murder line would try to be in minimum standards of just at a lower level. And he said when he typically set goals or standards in place, you know, that are not really shooting for the stars, you're typically more inclined to. If you're not really achieving them, you'll just look back and say, oh, well, we'll just change the forecast or we'll just kind of lower that a little bit and make it easier towards the end. And he's no, 10 times. Focus on that. Anything that you do is always to achieve success. It's just 10 times. That's the rule. And he goes in through different scenarios. But really what I kind of like about it is just not feeling sorry. Gain control the situation. There's a lot of times when we say, hey, what's not in our control is not our control. But he's saying, well, take control of it and still improve on that. And that's a level of success. So it kind of resonates with me. There's still some pieces of this book that I believe that I want to finish. But it's kind of interesting with a lot of things that people are taking action or success in, there's always some sort of naysayers out there. So even in relation to this book, you know, and when people are successful or perceive success, they're like, oh, well, he's lucky. He goes in this segment about being lucky. Well, you can be lucky as well. It's always just achieving that 10 times as much, you know, being perceived lucky. Success is going to build more success. So that's my soapbox for the day. No, it's.

Yeah, it's good. It's a good book. One of my takeaways from the book Was, and I'm not going to say this in an adult way, but hump it ten times harder.

Right? That's.

That's the way to put it.

Because if you up your goals, then you got to up your effort. You got up your thinking. You gotta, you know, your time management, your. Or like, everything has to get better. All ships rise.

Yep.

Yeah, it's all about action. He goes in the segment about actions. You know, you set your goals and then 10 times your actions. Because if you set these goals and you don't increase your actions, it's not about doing more work. It's just putting more effort into taking more action and then extrapolating that over so, you know, have those. What some people might perceive as unobtainable goals. And he says basically, people are always focusing on.

Hey, guys, real quick. Got another one.

How did Princess Leia contract the coronavirus? How she tried to woo Han.

I get that. I get that one. I get that one.

Got it.

Yeah.

Well, we got hacked again.

I like it.

That's good. That's a good. That's a good book.

We gotta make this.

What about you, Jeremy? What are you reading?

I finished with the Goal by Eli Goldratt.

How good is that book?

It's huge. Such a good book. Honestly, if I were a service manager and I hadn't read this book, this would be the number one book I would read because it's huge on understanding bottlenecks and understanding the theory of constraints, which is basically the heart of managing throughput through your service department.

First step, I believe to this day it's still a Harvard Business School. One of the weeks they do it on that book. What's great, what my favorite part of that book is, it's so easy to read because it's told as a story of a guy who's running a factory and his boss comes in and he's like, you got 90 days to turn it around or we're closing the factory. And, you know, a lot of stuff in there, like how they have the latest, greatest technology, but they're not making any more money. And it's like we try to automate and, you know, all these things, and at the end of the day, it's really about the. The human connection and just doing, you know, having a system, you can't automate everything. So it's kind of old school. But, yeah, that book is. It's a must read, I think, for anybody running a shop.

Oh, yeah, it's. It's easy to read. It's not that Long of a book, but it's just huge and a bit. Such a huge takeaway is you need to understand what your bottlenecks are in your service department. If it's. Is it waiting on diag, is it waiting on approval, is it some job it's taking too long to get parts in. You really need to understand that and be able to understand it on a daily basis and make those decisions really quickly. If you can't judge within 5 to 10 seconds how quick what your bottleneck is for that day, figure out a better system.

You would love the book, Adam, in the one thing that you're going to learn and I'm not going to tell you where to put the fat kid.

Yeah. Right now you have no idea where to put the fat kid. But by the middle of that book you'll know.

Right.

What to do with the fat kid.

All right.

Yep.

All right.

Jeremy knows what to do with the fat kid.

I do. I do know what to.

Yeah, you. It's a good book. It's a great book. It's good on audible too. They act it out. It's like kind of funny. There's different characters.

Is the same guy doing different voices?

It's hard to tell. There's female, like the wife. You know, it's kind of drama. The book. The guy's wife leaves him because he works too much and like.

Yeah. It put a lot, a lot of emotion into a book about throughput.

But it's great. It's a great. That's a man. You pulled that out. That's the surprise. That's a good one. I tell people to read that book, but I haven't talked to anybody about it in a while. Well, that's good. Great job. You guys was really fun this week doing that. I think that we made a difference. That was our goal, right?

Yep.

Yeah, it was awesome. So I think we. We probably can do that again. I think it'll, you know, I don't know how long until we lift up the quarantine, but I think it'll work.

I mean. Yeah.

Prepare for the future.

Yep. Maybe next week we'll try to pull in a high performing service manager and talk to them for a little bit. What do you think, Chris?

I would love that. That would be great.

Awesome.

Do you have somebody in mind when you say that or is that just a random Jeremy drive by?

It depends who. It depends who accepts. I got a couple.

I think next week we'll have an A list celebrity come on and say it's.

A list. Is it gonna Christian somebody in mind is my question. Like when you said that.

I got a couple people in mind. Yeah? Yeah. Who? Yeah, I mean, I don't know if Carl might jump on. Carl from Highway?

Yeah, he was on what? During this week's session. His. His input was awesome.

Yeah, he put in a master class about recruiting, honestly.

So it's. Yeah, if. If we can get Carl on, that'd be great. If not, we'll get some. We'll get another high performing service manager on there as well. Awesome.

Yeah, that would be great. Cool. Thanks, everybody.

Have a great week.

We'll see you again next week.

Thanks, everybody.