International Truck Update 24

Welcome everybody to Service Drive Revolution, your international version where anyone who loves the smell of a shop in the morning.

The.

Oil and diesel and the noise and the best, this is for you. If you love that like we do, please say hello to Jeremy.

Well, hey everybody.

To Adam.

Hello guys.

And to Christian. Hello.

Just so happy Christian's joining us today.

More like that or Mickey Mouse.

I was until the woo woohoo or whatever that was.

That was Mickey Mouse.

Today we're going to talk about keeping your eye on the customer experience in a very difficult trying time. And we're going to go over some things that have been inspiring us, some books that we're reading. And I have a customer experience story I would like to tell in line with the subject. That was pretty eye opening for me and I think it will be for you also. So should we kind of kick it off with talking about what's inspiring us and what we're reading right now? You want to start off, Jeremy?

You know, ever since I criticized the stories once, I have to lead off with the books every single time.

It's you.

I was just fascinated to hear what you're reading because sometimes it's political, sometimes it's motivational. So it's always kind of fun.

Oh, okay. Well, since from that perspective I'm reading Every Man a King, here it is. And it's not in the whatever it's back here. What is happening. It's a book I should read in.

The Forest of Washington.

You know what, you're right. I'm not. I've been exposed. But anyway, basically what it is, it's a history of American populace throughout our government. So like, it goes through like Ross Perot, it goes through Donald Trump, it goes through.

Teddy Roosevelt, which is one of my personal heroes, and.

Buchanan, James Buchanan as well. So I mean, it goes through a bunch of different, like people like how they came up into politics and kind of their perspectives and what motivated them and how they motivated the people. And as I mentioned before in the, in our earlier versions, I don't usually read business books a whole lot. I tend to read different things that touch on perspectives and personalities and motivational tactics. They're kind of outside the typical business microscope. So that's kind of what you mentioned. When I read, I don't typically read business books. Business books are fantastic.

But I always like to get a little bit different perspective. And I'll try to read a business book after this one. We'll see. But this is a really good book. I think it's very interesting it was written by a correspondent over at Fox. Really well written, really interesting, and it kind of, it makes me feel a little bit better because you know how politics are always, like, it's always the end of the world. Everything's coming down right now. Well, this kind of book kind of teaches you. Like, it's been happened before. Like, FDR taught, like, had to stop his supporters from rushing the stage during the nomination convention. Like, people have been like this before. It's politics is definitely a series of up and down waves and we're just in one of them. So it really helped to, to ground my perspective a bit. And I really do like to learn what motivates people and how they can get their message out to the larger populace. And that's. This book's pretty good about that. So, again, every man a king.

So the takeaway so far is that there's been cycles of, you know, extreme tension in politics over the years, and we're just experiencing another one of those cycles. But although the media tries to say this is the worst ever, it's far from the worst ever. Like, civil rights in Vietnam and all that was way worse than anything we're enduring right now. Right.

We're having 100% less fistfights at conventions now than we used to. Like, it used to be like a thing. So, I mean, yeah, people in general.

Don'T fist fight anymore.

Yeah, it's a shame.

Yeah. Now we just argue with each other on Facebook.

Yeah. We're keyboard.

We unfollow.

Yeah.

That always surprised me when people are like, oh, they unfollowed me. I'd be like, how would I ever know if somebody unfollowed me? How would I. Where do you look for that?

It's going to keep you up on that at night. Now, Chris, who's unfollowed me, who doesn't like me anymore but doesn't want to tell me they don't like me anymore, who care less.

That's. That's fun, though. That's great. What about you, Adam? What are you reading?

Well, I think that's kind of funny how that's a good segue into following people and the small things as far as in, like, customer experience. Right. So book I'm actually just finished reading is Broken Windows, Broken Business.

Oh.

By Michael Levine.

I've given that book away to so many people. Like, it's a. Yeah, it's a staple. I love that book.

And.

Yeah, so I've given it away in audio, but I'm also planning on purchasing several different copies to give this out to maybe some of our locations even. What I like about it is it's fresh. It's just what published recently. So it does talk a little bit about our current environment and what we're working with. But I think the biggest thing for me in there is we've talked about this before on small little things and focusing on that from a customer's perspective. So for me, the quickest thing to go to is bathrooms. Sometimes we have folks that kind of joke around bathrooms being important and clean at a dealership, but it does reflect on your image, even though it's a. Whether it's a shop bathroom or customer lounge bathroom. Right. His example is about McDonald's, you know, being consistent everywhere, but definitely having a clean bathroom. You know, sometimes traveling a lot and you stop in at a McDonald's because there isn't a rest area or whatever, and it's filthy, and it's just kind of like, well, if it's filthy there, where else can it be? And it's just some of those little anecdotal things. So you were talking about, you know, sharing and likes and. And combating, like, now more than ever, if somebody leaves a bad review, they don't really necessarily have to have a survey.

Right.

They just can tweet about it or put it on Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever, Google, you know, and it's just. It spreads like wildfire. So it's one thing to think about moving forward from a customer's perspective. I think it. To me, it's kind of common sense, but we're going to definitely be under a microscope more now than ever when it comes to how a customer is treated. My little experience recently, last week at one of my local dealers, I will not call him out. But not knowing what the heck was going on with my vehicle, in for a small service all day because it's close to where I work and I needed a shuttle and planning and getting the kid from daycare knew nothing until I called. So it's kind of some of those little things, just the little nuances that I believe that people forget in times of our current environment. If not they're getting worse. We definitely have to really make sure that we're. We're keeping tabs that are thinking about that, going the extra mile, whatever somebody you think is going to be like, at par, someone else out there is doing more. So that's just one thing that. I mean, I thought the book was phenomenal. To me, it's kind of common sense, but it's definitely something that I think people out, whether it's in our industry or other industries, definitely should take a look at. You should be working on the business rather than in the business. And from a customer's perspective, that's. That's what they want.

Yeah, you.

You might want to actually hit up the person in our office that you know, and they might have a link where you can get those at a discounted rate. I think, because we've had Michael speak before and we've given those. We've bought hundreds of those, and I think we. We know where to get them a little cheaper.

Bucks, like a wholesale type thing. Maybe I could be wrong, but you might want to try that.

It's worth it, though. It's worth it. I mean, you're right. It's a quick read. And it's very.

Style is very, like just on the nose, like, he's not wasting your time. He's just like, here's the point. Here's why. Here's a bunch of examples of why. And you're like, yeah, you're right.

Yeah.

It's hard to argue with a lot of the things he says.

Yeah. And what's interesting is he's a PR guy, right? So he was the. You know, he's famous for pr. He's PR for how many presidents? Like three presidents. Michael Jackson, Prince, the A list of all A lists. Like, he's done it. And he also is the author of Guerrilla Marketing, which is as iconic of a book in the marketing world. And then he wrote a business book. It's. It's. I mean, it just shows his depth of understanding of human behavior and psychology and just business.

Yeah.

Speaking of behavior.

Hold on for a second, sir. So I was out in Chicago a couple of months ago and I hung out with Adam. So we went to a bar and there's like this really drunk lady over. Just kind of like one of those things where she's got her head on the bar. And Adam's like, yeah, you see that girl over there? I'm like, oh, yeah. He's like, I almost married her 10 years ago. And I'm like, oh, she's still celebrating.

Wow, Adam, you have an effect.

Yes.

Yes.

Thanks, Christian. I appreciate that. Thanks for sharing it to the world.

Yes. I guess he thought that was a secret when that happened.

Not with me.

Oh, cats out of the bag.

Jeremy, have you read Broken Windows?

I have not.

I think that's one if you're going to read a business book next. I think that's one you'd actually like because it is one that's good to give out in the sense that it's. To me, it's better than a tipping point in the sense that tipping point kind of starts out the same way, the Malcolm Gladwell book, but it goes somewhere else. And Broken Windows kind of stays on the same track.

Okay.

And it's an easy read. Like, it's right to the point.

Well, one thing, Jeremy, what I appreciate is, you know, in some of our experiences, when we have these discussions with folks who make suggestions, it's very easy to get into that trap of.

The external locus of control and things that are happening. And what I appreciated, like, kind of what Christian just said is when he keeps peeling back the layers into the why, and you just get to a point, it's like, it really isn't an excuse. You really can't have an excuse for this. It's. That is the truth of a perception of what a customer expects. Bottom line, wouldn't you expect that?

Yeah. Well, that's what's funny, right? Is it's what we expect, but we never see ourselves as the customer when we're in the position of authority.

Right, Exactly.

Yeah. You can't get mad at a customer for making a connection that a dirty bathroom equals a dirty kitchen. Like, that's not their fault. That's. That's just normalcy.

Well, and you can. You can extrapolate that to people that are late, Right? Like people that have messy houses or what an office. Like, you pretty much can tell a lot about somebody by just watching behaviors or outcomes of behaviors, like, you know, just how they handle things or run their general life. You can pretty much tell how they're going to approach other things.

How we do anything is how we do everything.

True.

Bam.

Yeah, I'm dropping them today.

Adam, what do you. Did you come up with a book?

I don't think anything that would be super fascinating to the audience. Probably the closest thing, like, if you really want to start to understand human psychology, 6 minute X ray, I think is pretty Cool by Chase Hughes, where it talks a lot about, like, how to interpret the information that's coming to us from people where they don't know that they're letting off the information.

Yeah, it's. It's interesting, though, that, like, I'll recommend that. And people. I don't know, it seems like it's a little dense. People don't. You gotta. If you.

Sure.

You have to really have to practice. You have to really want to go into it, understand understanding, and you Got to put in a little work because it's not an easy, you know, it's not a one trick pony. Here's the magic pill, idealized version of things. It's actual, you know, real.

So I would classify it as a textbook. Yeah, like it's definitely. You're taking a class, right, Adam? Like that's, that's one of those ones where you have to take notes. I don't think the audible version does it justice. I think you need the paper version and you should be highlighting and writing notes on the side. I mean, he's got some supplemental materials that go with it too, but it's pretty cool. Like the things we do that we don't know that we do are fascinating.

Yeah, I would agree with that.

What happens is you start to see that you're doing it before you notice it in other people. Because I don't know, we're self centered like that. We're just wired that way. So it is good. Okay, well that's a good one. That's awesome. Okay, let's talk about keeping your eye on the customer experience. So I have a hobby. Like I don't have kids or anything, but one. Well, I have a couple hobbies, actually. I have two hobbies. One hobby is collecting books and the other hobby is audio. Like hi Fi audio. And so the thing with hi Fi audio is it's a rabbit hole. So like if you have a system that you like and then you go and upgrade to your record player, then you kind of have to upgrade your amp. And then if you upgrade your amp, you kind of need to upgrade your speakers. And so you're always in this like, hey, I want to upgrade. And then they're always coming out with new stuff. Then you want to try that stuff. And so it's a fun, it's a really fun hobby that really in a sense is, is nonsense because like at some point you get to a point where things aren't sounding really better, they're just a little different. But you equate the difference to sounding better. I don't know, it's. It's a funny hobby full of like really interesting people that have really strong opinions and you know, but like any hobby, I am ordered a new integrated amplifier. That is my. I have a friend who's really into this codis that said, you know, you really need to try something with tubes because everything I've had audio wise has, has been solid state, I guess I would call it. Right? Is that the correct term?

That's the correct term. Yep.

And so I, I ordered this Macintosh that is a blend. So the pre is tubes and then the solid state is the amp, but it's. It's both in one. Now that, that according to forums online, that setup doesn't sound that great with the speakers that I currently have. So I've been going, you know, I've been thinking about speakers, watching reviews on speakers, kind of going down the rabbit hole. And it's part of the fun is the hunt. So a lot of people say that the Bauer and Wilkins speakers sound the best with the Macintosh. And so the guy who sold, who I ordered the Macintosh from, by the way, it takes three to four months to get it because just like everything, they are behind and having a hard time getting parts and that sort of thing. So you put a deposit down and then, you know, three or four months later, you. You get it. But the person that I bought it from is a friend of Patricia here in the office. And they went to school together. Really nice guy. Owns a hi Fi store here and outside of Los Angeles. So I ordered it and then I'm looking at these Bauer and Wilkins speakers and I'm on Bauer and Wilkins website and they have that little, hey, you want to find a store by you or you know, somebody who sells it? So I do that. I put in my zip code and it says there is one two miles away from me. And so I get up the next morning and it said that they open at 11. But I usually go for a walk in the morning, you know, on Saturday. So I was like, hey, let's, let's walk over there. So we walked the two miles over there and two miles back, but I'm like a little kid in the window, like literally like looking in the window at their speakers and like, wow, you know, I've driven by this place and I didn't know that it was a hi Fi store. How cool. It's close to me. You know, you turn into a little boy. So then it 11, I get in the car and I drive over there and I, I walk in the place and the first thing that I asked the guy who was the store owner, I asked him about the Bauer and Wilkins Nautilus ones, which are. They're high end, they're super expensive. They require 3amps to run them. I mean, they're. But they look incredible because they kind of look like a shell of like a snail or something.

Yeah, I thought it looked like the inner ear. Yeah, I thought it was fascinating.

Yeah.

And so I asked the guy, I go hey, do you. Do you ever have those? Because he's a Bauer and Wilkins dealer, right? Do you ever have those for anybody to listen to? And he goes, you'd have to go to New York to hear those. And instantly I'm thinking like, well, that's not true, because I know people here in LA have them, because I've seen people with them before, so I know people here in LA have them. So, okay. So that, you know. And then I said, well, can I hear the new. Because they just came out with a new. A new set of speakers, and there's different levels to those speakers. And so I said, can I. Can I hear him? You know? And so he takes me in this little room, and there's. There's the new speakers there, and there's some receivers in the middle. And then in kind of like three quarters of the back of the room, there's equipment on the floor. So there's, like, receivers and things. There's actually turntables sitting on the floor. So you're. There's no chair. There's nowhere to listen to. Sit down and listen to these speakers how you should. So I asked him, I said, well, is there any chance I can hear him? And he. He's like, sure. He goes. He comes back and he starts streaming Spotify through an iPad, which is. Spotify is like, the worst quality signal that you could have through WI fi through Bluetooth or, you know. And what. What song do you think he plays? Adam? Right out of the gate, like, what do you. What's the.

These? I swear to God, like, everybody plays this song. This song.

Or is it like a live Dave Matthews Band song?

John Mayer.

Yeah, see, John Mayer, they want to get that acoustics in there. Live, whatever.

Yeah. So. And I. I said, well, is there any chance I could play, like, something that really will show me what this thing will do? And I'm like, can you play, you know, Nicholas Jar? And he's like, what? And, you know, whatever. And he goes, well, here you can get on the WI fi and you can play whatever you want. Once again, now I have Tidal, and I have that other one, so I have a better quality, but it's Bluetooth, which cuts it all in half anyways, right? So. So now I. I hook up to his WI Fi. Now I'm playing mine, and I start playing a song, and then he turns it down. So I'm standing, like, two feet from the speakers, standing up in the middle of the room, nowhere to sit, nowhere to listen, and he turns it down, and then he goes back out. Granted, nobody's in the store. I'm in a side room, and there's, there's nobody on the phone. Like, you know, there's no reason. So as soon as he walks out, I go and I turn it back up and, like, I want to hear the speakers, right? He comes back in and, and I mentioned to my girl, I go, that's the. He had the Macintosh that I ordered. I go, that's the one that we ordered. And he goes, oh. He goes, if you want to cancel your order, you can take this one. And I said, well, no, I mean, I ordered it. Like. He goes, yeah, well, cancel the order. And you can, you, you can take this one today. And I go, well, why would I, like, I, like, I would never do that to somebody. I ordered it. He Then he would have this in. Like, how would I. It makes no sense. It's like, unethical to me to do that. And so that was super weird or whatever. And then what does he do? He turns the music down again and walks out. And I was like, okay, forget this. I can't deal with this guy. So then I go, I go out, and the guy goes, what kind of speakers do you have now? And I said, well, I have the Fleetwoods. And he goes, huh? And I go, the Fleetwoods? He goes, I've never heard of them. And I'm like, okay, well, thanks. Because in the audio thing, isn't it interesting that guys only know the stuff they sell, but they. Everything else doesn't exist? And I've thought for a while, like, the business model. And I tell my friend, my hi fi friend, this all the time is, listen, let's open a hi fi store where you have the equipment you don't sell and charge people, you know. So I, I, I tell the guy, I go, man, it'd be really nice if I could bring my, you know, my stuff in and then hear it with the speakers, like, in my turntable and all that. And he's like. He said something to the effect of, well, if you, if you understood this business, like, I'm a moron, you know, like, totally discounting the fact that. So I said to him, so here's the problem with Chris Collins is I get in these situations, and I'm doubling down, and it doesn't. I'm talking to a moron. Like, it doesn't. Why I think I'm going to change anybody's mind, I have no idea. But I said, hey, you know, it would be a great business model if you Charge people by the hour to come in. And maybe you had some equipment that you don't sell, but people could see like, hey, my amp works with these speakers that you sell and that sort of thing. And he goes, you, you, you don't understand this business. And I was like, okay, I don't understand this business. I go, by the way, Jay Z right down the street has a studio that you can rent for $2,000 an hour and sit there and listen to records on a high end. Maybe it's a $200,000 system. It's not a, it's not a million dollar system. It's 200,000, but you can rent it for a few grand an hour. And people, it's booked out solid, like. And so there is a market to rethink the way you're doing business instead of trying to convince people to cancel orders and buy. You know, it's just so weird. And so then I told the guy said, well, I would be interested in the speakers in black if you can get them. Because the ones he had were wood. If, you know, call me and you know, and, and let me know if you, you know, you can get them. And he goes, well, I'm not a, I'm not back until Tuesday because we're closed Sunday, Monday. And it's like you're not open when people want to like it. Everything is built around your.

Your insecurities and like, well, they're convenience.

They're convenience.

It has nothing to do with, with me or.

Nope.

Like the idea that you would go listen to high end speakers that cost as much as those speakers cost and you don't have a chair for somebody to listen to the speakers and you can't go past 2 on the dial. Like, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'm listening to my music pretty loud and I want to know, like, I want to, I want to hear what the thing's capable of. You want me to spend that much money? I mean, what's funny is I left there and I went to the art store and I've been trying to dabble in painting with oil paints. And historically I've used a different kind of paint. And the lady spent an hour with me explaining, and I spent like $50 on a couple brushes and paint and she spent an hour explaining to me what to do and what to watch out for and what not to do. And this guy's selling, I mean, those nautilus speakers are 60 grand. And then I think the speakers would go down to Like a couple thousand at the low end. But the guy can't even, like, treat you like a human. Just, you know. Oh. So the end of the story is this is. He says. He looks up the Fleetwood speakers on his computer, and he says, oh, those look retro. Those wouldn't work here. And I said, well, I would hope, you know, once again, I'm like, I. I think that people care or whatever. I would hope that most people buying speakers were buying them for the sound, not just the look, that it would be 70% sounding goes, oh, yeah, not here. And I was like, oh, okay. I go, well, what's the most. What's the most retro thing in hi Fi. Macintosh? They look like Trans AM dials, like. And so you're selling the thing that is the most retro thing. But. But you think that by talking down my speakers that you've never heard of, let alone experience, that that's going to make me want to buy your speakers? Like, we're on the. We're on the playground, and we're. We're five years old, and it's like, oh, I like this girl, so I'm going to punch her kind of a thing. Like, it's. It's about as juvenile as. As it can get. And that's that market. And you just walk away, and the rest of the day, you're just pissed. You're thinking, like, I. Like I want to spend my money, but how. How could I possibly. Like, I'm trapped. Because he's the only guy in town that sells them. And it's the same thing in service. It's like our customers are kind of trapped, coming to us, but oftentimes we're making them do it our way, and we're not listening to them, and we're not aware of the fact that the market is changing. The consumers have more say in what's going to happen. And we can't. You know, we can't just hold them hostage and make them do it our way, because that's the way we've always done it, because, frankly, a lot of our systems are the way they are because it was handed down through tribal knowledge. And every generation, it kind of lost something. But we're just copying what they did 50 years ago. We're not thinking like, how can we make this better for the customer? We're just thinking about, how can we just do this thing?

We.

With the least amount of effort or brain damage is what we're thinking.

Well, and it's not gonna last. It's not gonna last in our current environment. Right. Things will hit worse in rock bottom. So what we've been doing, you know, the way we've always been doing things, isn't gonna work moving forward. I would find it very hard to believe for that business to still be there, maybe in a couple of years. But I agree with you 100% in the whole hi Fi thing.

Well, I asked him if he would. If he was interested in. And he did a.

But I don't know if the means, like, you wouldn't want this business because it's so bad or like, I. I'm so good, I wouldn't. I couldn't translate the. But I'm going to take another swing at him because I. I believe that with very little investment, you could create an environment where.

You know, I just. I remember when I was a younger kid and I was a general manager and Don Crevier had had a, you know, a very specific outlook on how customers should be treated. That was instilled in me when I worked for him. And we would sell so many M5s and M6s and M3s because nobody else would let people drive them. And we would let them drive them. And just the fact that you would let them demo, people would come in all the time and they would have an invoice that was sticker, like, so retail in their hand. And we were selling them for over sticker. And all we did is let them drive them and.