Austin compares two service-advisor offers: Autonation Ford at $12/hr plus 4.5% commission versus Gordon Chevrolet at $850/month base with 6.5-10% tiered commission. Chris Collins says pick the place with better mentorship and learning, not just the pay structure, and spend time at each dealership to see how they actually coach people.
Hey, Chris. This is Austin here in Florida. I'm starting my journey in the service drive, and I have two offers. One Ford.
Autonation Ford, which would be a bigger store, and then one short Gordon Chevrolet.
You know, I got a small store versus a bigger store. One's got an hourly rate of about 12 bucks and at max, four and a half percent, and then compared to a solid base pay of 850 for the entire month. And then, you know, a tier system starting out at six and a half percent all the way up to, if I hit KPI, 10%. You know, I don't know what I should take. I know it's a pretty detailed question, but start small or go big brother? You tell me.
I've got a couple of thoughts on this.
Okay.
All right. So the first thing I would say.
You do it more in a rant style, though.
Yeah. So, Austin, here's what I would tell you. The pay plan is probably not the primary thing that you want to do here. What you want to find is the environment that it's going to allow you to grow, to learn the business the right way, and to be around people that can adopt you as mentors. So what I would say is before you take either job, I would take two days. I would spend one day at the first dealership at the big store, and then I would spend one day at the small store. Watch how they interact with each other, watch how the manager coaches his people or her people and see if one of those two is the environment that you fit in and then kind of go from there. And then the thing I would say is look for an opportunity where you can learn. Because I do think that the position of being a service advisor is not something you get in a day, it's not something you get in a month. I really think that you have to invest in the career over a year. So look for the place where you think you're going to be able to grow the most.
Wasn't any of tech?
No, it was an advisor job.
Oh, really?
I would go with the non autonation.
Would you? Okay.
Why? I don't want to get like. I don't want to get in a fight with autonation, but I just wouldn't.
Fair enough. I did not expect you to say that.
That's what it means.
I wasn't sure if he had more reasoning. So big store, small store doesn't matter to you in terms of volume and everything like that? I always thought it was easier to learn in a smaller store.
I feel like the advantage is whatever you make it. I think you could have a huge advantage in a small store and you could have a huge advantage in a big store. The only thing that's hard is if you're the only advisor in a small store. That's hard because you can't take lunch. You can't. Like that's a hard thing.
You're it. Right?
But beyond that, I think you could have just as much fun in a small or a big store.
How was my rant?
It wasn't a rant, bro. Dang it. It's like, you know, wise advice. That's it.
All right.
Fun, though.
I'll get better.
Thanks so much for watching this clip of Service Driver 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 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 to offers.chriscollinsinc.com now that's offers.chriscollinsInc.com I'm Chris Collins, and I'll see you in the next video.
