SDR Rewind: Every Service Advisor's Holy Grail Service Drive Revolution

Foreign.

Welcome, everybody, to Service Drive Revolution.

Please say hello to dream, Jeremy o' Neill and Christian Lafferty. I am Chris Collins. Today we have a fun, exciting and informative show for you. We're going to talk about space travel.

Just joking.

We're going to talk about trust. Today.

I thought we were going to talk about Tesla stock price. Like, holy moly.

No.

So we got a lot of action on the show. That was dealerships versus independence and who has the advantage. You have a weird recollection of those shows, but somebody who's a friend, actually, and a professor, the client of our shop, Freedom Auto Repair client, listens to our show.

Yeah, he watches the podcast. Yeah.

No, has nothing to do with the industry.

No, he's a marketing professor at one of the local universities here. And anyways, he calls me up, he's like, hey, I caught the. The pot episode. You did. Independents versus dealerships. Great stuff. But you guys forgot one thing. And I'm like, what did we forget? Like, we typically cover everything, right? And then all the answers for, you know, we get emails.

We went pretty deep on that.

Yeah, well, we do get emails from the voice of God saying how knowledgeable we are. So it's pretty cool. But he said that we forgot trust.

And it's interesting that I take that word for granted a lot. Right. Like you, you just assume that being good and wanting to take care of your customers and getting the five star reviews and your business keeps growing, that, you know, that that's paramount, like, trust is the foundation. It's the cornerstone of your business. And he did say, you know, that's definitely something you've got to talk about. Independents are way better at trust than dealerships. And I thought that was kind of interesting because I've been on both sides of the fence, right. And so my skill set is, you know, it is what it is. And I treat my customers the same, whether it's independent or dealership. So I just thought it was interesting that his point of view from a consumer standpoint was there's more trust in the independent world. I also paid him $500 to make this call so I could actually win the challenge. So this is the topic that's going to push it in my direction. Independence execute better.

So you forget that the punchline to that was that they both have the advantage, right?

Yes, I forget.

It's about execution.

That's just the competitive side of me that comes out.

I'm just wasting 500.

I did pay him 500 bucks for that.

It was 300.

So he's. He thinks that independence have an advantage of trust. But why? Because I don't understand how they would be more trustworthy than you. You might make the case that a dealership would be more trustworthy.

Well, and I asked him that. I said, what do you mean by that? Come on. Like, why do you not trust the dealership? And he says, give me a break. After what they put me through to buy the car, there's absolutely no way I'm going back to them for anything else.

Sales department screwed it up.

Service loses them before they even get a shot. Interesting.

Parts department is there to pick up the pieces at the end of that.

So the parts department screwed it up.

Oh, they didn't. The. The sales. The sale did.

Yeah. I've always thought that it's an interesting dynamic. And we. We see that our dealer clients that are kind of schmucky at sales, usually service is an afterthought. The dealers that care about both usually are more ethical. Right?

Yeah.

Have you ever made that connection?

I would say for sure.

But the guys that are, like, wearing the open shirt and like, you know, kind of chains and the big wheelers.

And all that stuff.

Yeah, Those guys end up being the ones that are like, you know, if I didn't have to have service, I wouldn't kind of a thing. Because there is also a certain reckoning, especially like if you're selling used cars that are not recon and kind of shady, and you're stuffing people into cars, service has to take that brunt. Right, Right.

So, yeah, I guess I. I get his point of view. It's sad, though.

Well, it was interesting, though, that for me, hearing that, and that was so high on his list is what do our consumers want? How do you capture market share? How do you build a better business that can operate on its own and, you know, perpetuate itself into continued growth, sustainability, and be full circle, you know, and trust is something that's definitely there. So we definitely need. Need to talk about it.

It was interesting. I had the same sort of conversation with somebody about that. And so it's the voice of God. Do you know how we came up with the term voice of God? Because I guess it's a little controversy. People think that it's.

I. I don't know. It is.

How. How would you say? What were the comments?

That it's blasphemous.

Blasphemous, right.

That it's.

Do you feel like it's blasphemous?

I have a dark spot on my soul. So I'm going to hell anyway, so it doesn't matter.

So really has nothing to do with God.

We're not trying to make any kind of a statement.

I. I don't know. Was it last year I spoke at a. At Volkswagen's parts and service meeting. Right.

The parts managers didn't show up?

No, the parts managers were there.

They were, and they asked questions.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I got.

Man.

Have you ever partied with parts managers?

Yeah, they don't have to work the next day. It's not a problem.

He's got an answer.

He can't.

That was quick.

So sorry, Brian. So I get to the. I'm going to tell you how he came up with the Voice of God and why it has nothing to do with religion. Okay. It's a. It's a industry term. I was trying to be hip for the boys to understand that I know how to speak their lingo. But so I, I get there the day before and I do a little sound check. And the, the guy who was running sound was a fan of the. The show and super nice guy. And he's like, hey, you want to come out to acdc, right? And I was like, sure. And he goes, okay, I'm gonna play. He goes, you want back in black? And I'm like, yeah, okay. That'd be awesome. So then the, you know, the next day.

I'm kind of ending the. The event. I'm the last speaker. And so I don't know, there's like. I think there's like a little over a thousand people in this hall. It's. It's. It was in Dallas.

It's gorgeous.

And so they, like, you know, there's people with headsets. It's a big production, right? So there's people with headsets behind, and they kind of tell you what's going to happen. And they say, okay. So when they, when the, when the two before me come off stage, then the Voice of God will announce your name and walk out. So you gotta, like, you know, you gotta be coordinated and follow their. The rules of their production. So then the two guys that were on stage come off and everybody's clapping for them. And then the Voice of God says, please welcome to the stage Chris Collins. So the reason why they call it the Voice of God is because there's no face. It's just a voice over the top, right? So the audience doesn't see, but it's just, please welcome to the stage Chris Collins. So funny. So then I walk out and I start Talking. And then.

And I don't. I've thought about that so many times. What I could have said that would have been way funnier than whenever I did. But it really caught me off guard because I was so focused on the voice of God. So, you know, Russo isn't on camera, but he's a voice, so it's the voice of God. That's. It has nothing to do with religion, so if you're offended by it.

Nothing to do with religion.

Yeah, get over it.

It's an industry term.

Yeah. So you were talking about trust.

Yeah. And so I was talking to the voice of God, and his real name is Chris, but we call him the voice of God because there's already one. There's Christian Chris. We. We really have a rule now. We only hire people named Chris. Yeah, perfect. Chris Hoagie.

Yeah.

It's making resumes really easy to review.

Yeah, we got a lot of Chris's here. But the voice of God was telling me the opposite. He's like, I don't trust independence. Because he has had an issue. Every time he's gone to this shop in Orange county, it's had another issue, and he's been towed back and forth. Tell us the story.

Russo. God, voice of God. And if he sounds like the voice of Satan, it's because he's really pissed.

So I was driving on the freeway after visiting my family, as I'm one to do on the weekends, and.

I had just gotten on the freeway and was driving back up home towards LA when my car stopped going. When I pushed the go pedal, it.

Was a Toyota, by the way.

Says Toyota Yaris 09. Great car. Very sensible, conservative, $4,000 car.

Go pedal, wouldn't go.

So pulled over to the. Pulled over to the side of the road.

He's like a hip mechanic now. He's like the go pedal. He's a NASCAR driver.

Pulled over the side of the road, got it towed to my family's mechanic, who said the next day, oh, well, this and this are broken. We'll have it done by Wednesday.

And then how much?

Fourteen hundred dollars. And so said Wednesday, got it done Tuesday, thought great.

Under promising delivery back to Orange County. Mm. Because if you're not from here, Orange county is 45 minutes to three hours away, depending on traffic on a good day.

Went back down to Orange county, picked.

The car up, was running it past the 405Y or. Yeah, yeah. So it's deep into Orange County.

Deep, deep, deep.

Orange county, northern San Diego, pretty much.

So it's closer to San Diego than it is Los Angeles, that's for sure. So got the car.

And then as I'm driving away, it starts making a terrible screeching noise. So I had to bring it back in. And they said, oh, well, that sounds like it's probably your starting motor, so we'll change that out.

That starting motor?

Yeah, the starter.

Starter.

The before go pedal gets pushed. The go motor has to start.

I thought it was your water pump pulley.

That was the first thing that broke.

Oh, that was fourteen hundred dollars.

It was that and a fuel pump.

Okay.

So then brought it back in. They just charged for the part. No, no labor. Just because I had been in and out of there already. So labor was on them.

How did that make you feel?

That made me feel good. Made me feel like a valued customer.

So how much did you spend the second time?

It's 300 bucks for the part, and.

We'Re up to 1700.

1700.

We're pushing 50% of the purchase cost. That was awesome.

And what was that? That was about two weeks ago, wasn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah. And so now it just crashed out on me again this morning when I tried it.

So what you need to do, Russo, is you need to go into the shop and ask the person there. Can you say. Can you show me the dartboard that you throw the dart set to decide what you're going to tell me that I need?

Is that how you guys do it, Jeremy?

No, we use diagnosis. We use diagnostic dice at our shop.

So see. Which is an upgrade that would happen in a dealership.

It would.

No, wouldn't.

Come on.

No, it wouldn't.

You're. Wait. The problems that have been there could just be how many miles are on your Yaris?

I just passed over a hundred thousand when it broke down.

Initially, it's barely broken.

Did either of these shops that you took the vehicle to ask you for.

Your service record, was it same shop?

It was the same shop.

Oh, did that shop. Family.

Family shop.

They asked you for your service record?

No, probably because I've only ever taken it there.

Ah, but now he's going to take you to a dealer.

No, he's not.

He's not.

I'm going to fix it on the way home.

That's like Jeremy offered to do it to.

I would.

I mean, yeah, it's to Vegas, basically.

It's easy to get customers. They're everywhere. You just have to be willing to help them.

Jeremy's shop is closer to Vegas than.

To la, so it's going from San Diego to Vegas.

There we go.

There we go.

LA is complet written out of the conversation at lunch.

Just go play the slots in Vegas.

We can head to state line in about an hour and a half.

I was going to say you'd open your door and drop your coin in the, in the machine. You're so close to Vegas.

So with trust, has the shop reached out to you to follow up to see how things are going?

No.

If they did, would you be open to their offer of help? Probably. If you were to place a call to them or text them and say, hey guys, I'm still having another issue. What can you do? How do you feel their attitude towards you would be?

They would probably say, bring it in.

That's another word that should have been on the four letter list a couple episodes ago, but it's not four letters. Why don't you just bring it on back in? That is the most frustrating thing for customers. Like, you want the car fixed. You want it fixed right the first time and you don't want any other problems. Right. So no matter how far they've been over backwards to help the customer out, bring it back in. The fact that his car is still broken is very frustrating.

Yeah. Now he's got a. We spent $4,000 on the car.

Yeah. I think it was 3,800.

Now he's gonna be in it. $3,800 sunk.

Yeah.

That thing's not getting sold.

You're an owner.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna break you.

Now can I ask the voice of God another question about this topic? Sure. So in your opinion as an auto repair consumer, how intensive should a shop or dealership look your vehicle over? So when you go to pick it up, what are your expectations with everything?

Are you asking, like, did they tell them all the other stuff that was wrong with it?

They did not. They said these two things that would.

Happen in a dealership.

They said these two things failed. It's going to be 1400 bucks. And then something broke.

Literally. After I drove it back home from.

The shop, it started making a noise and they said, okay, well then that's got to be this, so bring it back in, we'll fix that.

Which they did.

And then now a couple weeks later, it doesn't start.

Wow.

Which could just be a battery issue.

Could be.

But, yeah, but the, the point of the matter is, is, you know, there's other stuff wrong with that car and they, they're not telling him all the stuff that's wrong. So every time Something breaks, he thinks it's related to the other thing.

Right.

Because they're not telling him, hey, by the way, you might want to plan on spending another $3,000 in the next six months because this and this and this.

Well, there's that saying that consumers have. Which is ever sent ya.

How many letters is that?

Too many together.

Spell that.

Well, that's a high does. That's a 909 term. Why 760 term. That's the IE term there.

Interesting though. Interesting that, you know, wouldn't happen at the dealer.

So I disagree. Could happen at the dealer.

Dealers never don't inspect a car and present the work.

I will say I would have been happy to pay more money for it to just work.

Yeah.

If he, if he was, if he was.

That's a good lesson. Yeah.

He's not shopping.

Yeah. If he was telling me, you know, these parts are also broken, but we're not going to fix them now because they're not an issue. Like you can solve that later down the line. That would have been okay. But instead story instead it's these parts are broken, Go fix those. Oh, but then this other part is broken. Go fix that. But now this other part is broken.

And if they had told you at that time that your battery tested marginal and one of the things you can do is you can date code battery so you can see how old the battery is. So if they had had that conversation with you prep before it and it is a battery now, then that's on you, not necessarily on the shop. So it's your, your choice to do it at that point. Very interesting though.

It's interesting. The perspective though, right? Is when you don't inspect the car and tell them what to plan for, then they assume that it's your fault because you just worked on it. Right. Even though the battery and the water pump or whatever aren't really connected in any way. And so you bring that on yourself as a dealership or a shop. Right. I'm, I'm being facetious. At dealerships inspect every time because they're just as bad.

But can I interject a different word here? Instead of dealership and independent, can we use the word expert? Because there's a big difference at the expert, you know, the expertise level of the technician doing the inspection.

Amateur or pro?

Amateur. Pro, absolutely. So we had a customer a couple weeks ago, brought in a car that she had just bought. She took it to a quick loop. They did $500 worth of who knows what. The vehicle had a blown head Gasket. But because they weren't experts, they weren't able to identify it.

What did they do to it?

They did a radiator flush on it. They did a transmission service. Yeah. And had a blown head gasket. It overheated.

How is that gonna fix it?

It's not. That's.

I think they didn't recognize that there's a head gasket issue and just recommended the preventative maintenance is what it sounds like.

Yes. And it also. It was a train wreck. They could not identify that. It didn't have the factory cooling fan on it, so it had an aftermarket one. So there's obviously something going on there, which I would have been like, oh, timeout. We got to figure this out first before we do any type of maintenance on this car. So that's just the difference of having an expert. And, you know, I've seen it in my career where you have a master technician that's, you know, somebody's been with Volkswagen for 25 years. They can look at that car from bumper to bumper and give you a list. And they can project what's going to fail and when it's going to fail. And they're pretty much zeroed in on it. And then if you don't have the experts working on the car, it's kind of more of a transaction. They're transactionalizing it and they're not looking out for everything. Totally.

I agree with that. Do you have any questions? Voice of God, on a lighter note.

Yeah.

Should I do this one in character?

Bring this. Depressing.

But before you do that, it's lonely getting stuck on the side of the road. You know what else is the worst part about being lonely?

Your segues.

When are you gonna start over?

Yeah.

What's the worst part of being lonely?

What's the worst part of being lonely?

I don't know.

Playing Frisbee.

That's why they invented the boomerang down in Australia.

That's right.

Yeah. They're ahead of the time.

Frisbee for lonely people.

The voice of God is here.

The voice of God is gazing upon the massive wreck of the fourth wall.

That we just broke.

This first question comes from YouTube. I'm opening a Euro shop with a friend who's a veteran in the auto industry. Asc, Master Tech. Been a shop foreman for a year or so, and he believes he knows the recipe for an independ independent shop to thrive. I'm new to the auto industry, but doing my best to run front of the house. We use one of the major manager shop programs as first time entrepreneurs and shop owners. What are the most important variables in maintaining a healthy financial environment? And can you list any typical problem areas as well?

Thanks.

I get a lot of inspiration from you guys.

Nice. Jeez.

I would suggest you get in our coaching program and we'll help you. Because it's not.

You know, it's like if you were to say what's the most important part of making a movie? It's like, well, you got to have a good script, you got to have a good director, you got to cast the right actors, then the actors got to execute on the script. Then sometimes you film things that you thought were going to be good when you read the script, but they're not and you got to rewrite. And then once you've filmed in the right locations with the weather cooperating and the right equipment, then you got to edit it and then you got to promote it. And it's like, what's the most important part? Well, all of it. And so it's really hard to say what would be the most important part because you got to be able to produce the work in the shop. You got to have systems to create, you know, to inspect the cars, create more work, communicate with customers, pricing strategies.

All of that marketing. I mean, it's a lot of stuff.

Well, the good news is if he's got a partner that has the back end of the shop, the expertise they're taking care of, you need to focus on the front end, take care of the customers and really make those customers feel really good, Communicate with them properly.

And do accounting from day one. Like, do your accounting. Right?

Yeah.

The other thing too, I think with that is that a lot of people go into business for themselves and they expect it to be easy. And they don't understand that success has like a gauntlet that you gotta jump through and it's gonna get harder before it gets easy. And you're gonna be tested a couple times, right to the point of giving up. And so if you set your mind to that, that it's going to be harder than you think, that you know your top tech's gonna walk out right at the wrong time. Like all that stuff, like.

You'Ll, you'll be more successful if your expectations are that things are going to go right, you're just going to be disappointed and it's going to spin you.

Right.

And if you're easily spun, your energy is going to be spent in the wrong place. Yeah.

My other concern is partnership.

Right.

Make sure you've got the compensation laid.

Out as far as what happens signed and written up. What, how you get out of it. That's the other thing is if your partnership doesn't work, now's the time to talk about how you exit, how you buy the other person out.

Yeah. If there was ever a time to talk about your thing about never assume a social contract, it's when you're in a business partnership with somebody like you can't be, you can't over communicate that either that you've got to make sure that everything's laid out and it's very clear and there's no decisions to be made at the time when everyone's all emotional and things aren't going like they're supposed to.

Yeah. Because then everybody just wants to win.

Yeah.

So if it's pre written out when everybody is, you know, amicable, then those end up being the rules to follow and it makes everything easier.

Yeah. The other thing about expecting that things aren't going to go right is like you almost start to train your mind that when that happens you kick it into another gear going the other direction as opposed to folding up and failing. You're like oh no. So this is the time to double down and get going and get better. Right. I think that that's so important to be realistically aware.

Yeah. I actually am putting this in some training the story that we're doing. But I was thinking about there was this time that I left being a general manager and I was buying my own dealership and there was about a year in between I didn't feel like it was right to work at the dealership I was at and try to buy my own. Like I wanted to be fair to the guy. And so I, I wasn't working. Like I was going to meetings, I was talking to banks, I was talking to manufacturers, I was doing a lot of stuff. I did a little consulting but I wasn't really working. And so I'd go to Vegas a lot and I ended up in a six month period making about 120 grand gambling.