Chris Collins explains why tablets alone won't fix bad service processes. Technicians often prefer paper because it feels faster, and tablets can actually lower metrics if a process already exists. Real change requires accountability from advisors pushing technicians to do consistent inspections.
With all the information they need, how are you going to do it on a video with, you know, a technician that isn't used to being on video?
Yeah. Certainly not. Not trained to do the presentation portion of it. Right. So.
So I find that those, those conversations are changing the subject from what the real fix is. We're treating the symptom, not the cause. And believe it or not, if we build the thing to address the cause, you don't really need a lot of gadgets.
Well, I don't think it's going to make it better or worse. I think that the only thing that we have to accept is that a lot of the manufacturers are going to this, and if they require it, they require it. It is what it is. But I think that the fact that people think that just having it's going to fix it is a different thing. But, like, what you're saying is you're adding more processes to your system and it's harder, probably not easier.
Well, here's another layer of complexity that people don't think about is like, so if you own a tablet company and you go into a service drive who has no processes, can you raise the hours pero 0.25 by actually putting a process in place?
Yes.
Yeah. Now, if you have a process in place, what I've found is the tablets actually make your numbers go down. But they're comparing it against people with no process. But let's compare it in a situation where you have a process. Does that make sense?
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
It's not a fair comparison.
It is. One of the advantages that I put down is I do think that with all the tattletale reports that are on these tablets nowadays and the programs that run it almost forces you into a process. So I do think that it helps when you're going from lawless to lawful. It's not the tablet, it's the fact that you're putting a process in. So it's like an excuse to do it. I also wrote down here that I think that the tablet is the customer's language. Like, they're comfortable with the technology, so it makes them feel more like it's their home field when they see everybody using a tablet that they use. So I think that that's kind of an advantage. You know, there's other things I think that help out the recall thing. Like, so Chrysler is the one that I thought about is that they have like a pod tablet combo and hooking the car up to the computer while you're doing the Write up, you're going to catch things like open recalls, extended warranty coverages, maintenance packages, stuff like that. So there is technology that's good. But I still support your theory that if there's no process or if the process sucks before, it's not going to get better after.
I would also say this, and I haven't done this in a while, but I would go ask the technicians and I would frame it before I ask them, before I pose a question. I would say we're going to do great inspections on every car that comes through here. And I promise you the advisors are going to call and presented in a way that our closing ratios are going to be worth your investment in doing the inspection. Right. Because you know, the demotivator is the technicians spend the time to do good inspections, the advisor doesn't call, there's no accountability. And so then they kind of give up, which is natural. Like it makes sense. Right. So I, I promise you technicians that we're going to do that and I'm going to prove it. Like, you know, we're going to show you. But I need consistency. Would you prefer to do it digitally or with paper?
Oh, and if you ask the technicians what do you think the main reason is, in my experience, they want to.
Do it with paper because it's easier than clicking through.
Well, because they got to go to a computer over here, then it's got to go to parts. Like they do it on paper. They're right there. It's intuitive. And then they're on to the next thing. All I care about is the consistency of the inspection and setting the technicians up for success. If I'm going through the ros and I'm rechecking re racking cars, I don't need the digital reports. They're nice, but I don't have to have them. And if I go through 10 ROS and one is missing an inspection, they all might as well be. It's the end of the world to me.
Yeah, that's the way to treat it.
I don't need to go through 100 ROS.
Yeah.
Nobody asks the techs, by the way.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Tell them they have to do it, but we don't ask them if we wanted to be consistent doing inspections. What's the most intuitive thing for you? Paper has always been the answer.
Yeah. Speaking of intuitive, there's this dead homeless guy outside my apartment yesterday. So I kind of.
In California there was a dead homeless.
Yeah. So I thought we didn't have homeless. We do for sure. So I go out there, I'm just kind of watching and like, these, these two, these two detectives are there, and I'm close enough that, like, I can hear everything that's going on. And the, the one detective, he's like, looking over everything. He's like, I suspect foul play. The other detective was like, oh, you think he was playing with birds?
Oh, foul. Poultry.
Yeah, got it.
That's awesome. Well, let's end on that. Let's end on a little, a little levity.
The abrupt. The conversation's over.
Thanks so much for watching this clip.
Of Service Driver Revolution.
We're uploading new stuff every day, so. 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.
