Chris Collins gives a new service manager at an underperforming Volkswagen store a three-month roadmap: month one, listen and interview staff; month two, build a hiring and pay plan; month three, launch everything at once on a single date. Hire to higher standards than the people already there.
Questions this video answers
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One employment coordinator, three advisors, and 12 technicians
Month 1: research and listen; Month 2: make a plan (hire, set pay plans, design menus); Month 3: launch all changes on a single kickoff date
Chapters
Foreign.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to our Friday drive by. This is where we answer your questions. The phone number is 8333 Ask SDR. That's 8333 Ask SDR. If we answer your question on the big show, we will send you a swag bag, usually made up of a hat and a T shirt and a notebook and a coffee mug or something like that.
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Okay, let's go to this week's question.
Hey, Chris. My name is Luke and I am going to be taking over Volkswagen store very, very soon here as a service manager. First time service manager, but I've been in for almost 20 years. I've been part of a dealership that was on the Chris Collins program for a long time. So I know it works and I know it can really make a lot of strides. My question to you and my question for all SDR listeners is what is your 90 day game plan for a new service manager going into an underperforming store? Right Now I have one employment coordinator, three advisors and 12 technicians. It sounds like I got some roadblocks in terms of scheduling and I got a roadblock in terms of hours per o. I keep on being told nobody knows how to sell. So aside from petting the dog and returning to basics and making sure that people are talking about the people and not about the cars, what other tips do you got for me? Be really excited to hear what you got.
Thank you, Luke, for the question, I would say. So you're looking for like a checklist of things to do. We're not, we're not going to be able to give you that. That would be a. Would be a longer answer. And. But what I will say is whenever I have gone in to fix something, and I think we, we think of it this way as a company is we give ourselves 90 days. For me, in the first month, I'm doing a lot of research and listening. You don't, what you don't want to do is go in there and tell everybody how messed up it is and how it's going to change and who's going to go and this is going to happen because all that does is put people on this wait and see mode or they bail. So I just want to get to know everybody and I want to listen and I want to understand because I want to measure twice, cut once. So I'm, I'm looking at the systems, I'm interviewing the people. I'm looking at everybody's performance receivables. A lot of times if it's messed up, you're probably going to have, you know, a huge whip. There's, you're going to find all kinds of things. I would guess if it's mismanaged. So the first part of it or the first 30 days, I'm just listening and asking questions and learning, taking a lot of notes of, you know, what needs to be fixed, what doesn't need to be fixed, that sort of thing. Then the second part is. Then the second month, I make a plan. So you're probably gonna have to hire some new people. So you need techs, advisors, whatever it is you need to hire. If you want the numbers to go up, you're gonna need more techs. You're not. You're not. You're usually rarely ever going to increase the sales by just technicians increasing their efficiency 10%. That usually isn't going to happen. So you're going to need to hire some people. You're going to need to, you know, figure out what the pay plans are going to be, what the menus are going to be, all of that.
Can I interject really quickly?
Yeah.
On those hires, hire them in at different standards than the people that work there. That's something you always remind me about.
It's good. Then the third month, I would kick it off. I would kick everything off at one time. And here's what. Death by a thousand paper cuts. If you change the pay plan, but you haven't added the technicians or change the menu, none of it's going to make any sense. And so you want to, you know, think of it as painting a Picasso. Like, this is your masterpiece. So do it like pick a date. And that's the date where all the texts that you hired are there. The new menu, pay plans, whatever your games you're doing with the. The whole thing is all going at once and kick it off. And so that would be my 90 day roadmap. Research, learn.
Don't.
Don't step on your feet by saying too much or being too opinionated. Just listen. Then come up with a plan. Measure twice, cut once, and then launch everything at one time. So like, it's like yesterday we were this, today we're this, like, it's a complete, it's a complete turnaround of who we are. Very very quickly. And that 90 days goes by fast.
You run up against it like you're scrambling in days 80 through 90. The other thing I would kind of add to that is once you've set that salvation date or whatever you want to call it is that you have to really quickly, like the best service managers that come in after a system's totally broken is set a date where it's no longer everyone's fault from the past. Like that we're responsible for our actions from today on. Because I think the thing that I've seen handcuff a lot of service managers when they come into that situation, they'll spend six months blaming the old manager.
Yeah. And if you go through 17 laws of leadership and are on demand. Isn't it. I think it's law number one takes care of that for sure.
But yeah, it's got to be. It's your. It's your show. Cool.
Luke, keep us posted on your progress. We're excited. If you need help, we're here.
So knock him dead.
Give Christian an email and we'll. We'll set up a strategy session.
It's good. Thank you. We'll see you next time on Service Driver Revolution.
Thanks for watching this week's Drive By. I hope we gave you something to think about over the weekend. 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 Ask SDR 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.
