The 5 Most Important Parts Of The Service Advisor Walk Around | SDR #188

Hey, welcome, everybody, to Service Drive Revolution. I'm Chris Collins and this is Chris Joan.

Hello, everyone.

We have an exciting show. We're going to talk about the five most important parts of a walk around. What's even better than that is we're going to also cover the misconceptions about a walk around, which is going to get some of you fired up, some of you going to be yelling at your screen or at your speakers because it's going to. It's going to piss off some people, frankly. We're going to talk about what's going on in automotive news and a big announcement about some changes here at Chris Kahn's Inc. So that and much more coming up right now on Service Drive Revolution.

Now, before we get to the five most important things of a walk around or the news, we kind of have a big announcement. At least big to us, it's huge. Huge. And that is that we are moving. So in the building we are at currently.

We have been here 10 years.

It's been a long, long decade.

10 plus years. We're moving about a mile away. We're actually buying a building. The reason why we're buying the building is so we can do whatever we want to it because we have some ideas. We're doing a leadership workshop and a few other things that require us to modify a facility. The other thing that I'm really excited about in this new building is I'm going to have all my books, my library.

Oh, yeah.

In one place. So internally we've called it the million dollar library because I probably have close to a million dollars worth of books. I'm actually going to have somebody do an inventory and see how close we are. But I have a lot of books, a lot of you that have come to the office over the years. One of the first questions people will say is, have you read all those books?

Yeah, that's definitely a good question. I also think when you get all those books in one spot, I even believe that you'll be surprised at how much you've got. I don't think you've ever seen it all in one space. So to you it's spread out. But.

Well, yeah, we have books in storage and I'm always buying more books.

And so, yeah, you get Christmas every day.

I was, I was talking to our CPA and trying to figure out if it wouldn't be cheaper for us to own a bookstore just because of the amount of books that I buy. You know, maybe down the road we should own a bookstore.

Yeah, it'd be a. That'd be a little passion project for you, I think.

Yeah. But I don't know if the best use of my time is spent working.

In a bookstore, but at certain points, I mean, like, there's a. There's an exchange, obviously. Like, is it the highest value that you could do? No. But, like, could you get a lot of joy out of, like, having people come in seeking out some of the stuff that you've collected over the years?

I have an analogy. How many car collectors have we seen over the years that love Ferraris, or they love whatever the car is? And so they buy a dealership and then they proceed to just, you know, completely implode because they don't understand how complicated it actually is.

And then they hate cars and sell everything there.

They're like. It was way easier just collecting them.

Yeah, that's a fair point.

So I wonder with the books if it wouldn't be easier for me just to collect them. But I don't know. It's going to be exciting, but there is going to be a little bit of disruption in the sense that the move is going to be hard for us. And, you know, we got to move. We got to recreate the set over there. We're going to create other sets in the building. Currently, part of it is used for filming, so it has huge green screens, and.

It'S interesting.

Yeah, I see endless possibilities. I have a feeling, like, if you were to do. We should probably do this too, like, as we move in, take a photo, log it, and, like, just to see what the progression that thing's going to be over the first year, two years, three years. I bet we change it a dozen times. I think it'd be so neat to see that thing kind of morph into what it becomes.

Yeah, it's exciting. So just a little. A little inside scoop into what's going on over here. But it means we'll be able to create more content, better content. We also, you know, we're going to launch other stuff on YouTube, like a series for leadership. And we'll probably involve the library in that. We're thinking about doing another channel called the Bulldog Library, just kind of highlighting different books and kind of doing a deep dive into that, because it's something that I'm very passionate about, and so I think it'll resonate with certain people. I think, you know, oftentimes people don't understand what kind of books are out there, or you just would never spend, you know, I don't know. You never spend a Thousand dollars on a book. But the actual content in some of those books is incredible.

Yeah.

So I think that I could provide some insight that isn't common knowledge for people.

And the, you've kind of got the lineage and the stories on some of the books, which I think is just a huge part of it too, not just the book itself.

Yeah. Like, think about that book.

That, that I gave you, the Derek Dog audio one. What is it called?

It's by a bandit. And I can't remember the name of the actual book. I just remember the, the spine has a bandit on it. And that's what I always look at.

So, I mean, a lot of these books are limited and they sell for, for a higher dollar amount to kind of keep consumers away from understanding what's really going on in magic or psychology or business. And so, you know, if you saw a book on ebay that was, that was being resold and you saw that it was twelve hundred dollars, most people just aren't going to spend that on a book. But somebody who's really interested in magic or really interested in business or psychology would spend that, you know, and so I have some business books, some psychology books and magic books that the information in there is incredible and isn't, you know, common knowledge and you can't really go somewhere and learn it. But most people would just never do that. They would never invest in themselves that way. And that a bandit book is one that comes to mind that the information in there is incredible, but so much more than the can't find that book. Like, I, I looked the other day and there's one person selling one and it's like close to a grand.

I believe that.

And so you're welcome.

Thank you so much.

You have your own personal library.

I do. I got a little collection.

That's another thing that would be fun on there is to profile other people's libraries.

Oh yeah.

Like, people don't think that they have a library, but if you have over 10 books, you have your own little personal collection.

That's right.

You're a collector. And so it'd be fun to see what other people have. Like, you know, when you watch people on the news or on a YouTube video where they're working from home and you can see their books in the background, like it's happening a lot. Like Jerry Seinfeld or all these people are doing.

You know, videos from home because of COVID And I'm literally like pausing, taking a screenshot and trying to.

What'S on the shelf to see what books they have, like, so smart.

But it's a fun thing to like, you know, see what other people are reading or what they're collecting. Okay, you want to get to the news?

GM seeks US approval to deploy self driving car without a steering wheel, which would already make me a better driver. This is all going to happen for approval by 2023, which is a year away.

Yeah. It's interesting that they are allowing them to test cars on the road. Same thing with heavy truck. There's actually trucks out there pulling loads that don't have a driver in them.

And nobody knows.

And nobody knows. So you know the Tesla that I have that has the steering wheel, that's like the yoke, the, the joystick on a video game. People freak out about that. Now think about having no steering wheel whatsoever, what this car looks like, because you can't see the picture because it looks like two Honda CRVs that were cut right down the middle and they welded the two back ends together. There's no front end. You can't even tell where the engine is.

I don't know, I assume it's all underneath. Right. Like this must be some sort of an electric type deal. But.

But it's just like four seats facing each other. That's it. Two and two facing each other.

Yeah, it's a tram. It's just a communication device. And then also out of automotive news, Ford will begin selling cars without chips. Ford chips without chips.

So if you're a technician or a service advisor in a Ford dealership, get ready because at the pdi and then later you're going to have to write another RO back. I know when I bought my Range Rover they only gave me one key because they said there's a shortage of keys, which makes no. Yeah, I just feel like it makes no sense. But anyways, whatever. And so I'm like, well, how am I gonna get the other key? And they're like, well, when they have them, you can come into parts and then whatever and it'll be in the warranty system that you didn't get it. Which I mean means that I'll never get the key.

I was gonna say it's almost better. They just say you're not gonna get.

Because I got time to go sit at the dealership and try to figure that out. Right. For half a day.

But essentially what they're doing with these, the cars that Ford is shipping, they're taking off things like the rear climate controls that don't need those specific chips. So they're kind of Dumbing the cars down to get them into production.

Yeah. So basically kids and dogs are going to get screwed.

Poor, poor dogs.

They're not going to have air conditioning.

Yeah. I mean we didn't have air conditioning when we were kids.

Yeah. But times have changed. These younger kids, they're entitled.

Skin isn't thick. No.

No. They expect to be able to play video games back in a perfectly climate controlled environment.

I always wonder that. Like, so, so do people play videos and video games for like 4 minute rides? Like by the time you boot the thing up, you're there.

Some kids, and I don't know, your son is kind of like this. They never take their eyes off of the phone or the video.

Like, oh yeah. When he gets into his.

They're walking from the car to wherever they're going. Playing a video game.

Yeah. Just amazing sometimes what he does.

Parenting.

Yeah.

Bad parenting.

Well, for sure.

So that's the news.

That was the news. Good stuff.

Let's talk about our subject. I'm excited about this one. Five most important parts of a walk around.

Yeah. What's a walk around?

We get this question a lot. Should we do walkarounds? Another question we get is how do we get people to do walk arounds? Right.

That's the most common one.

And so we're going to talk about very, very specifically the things that are really important to a walk around. And we're also going to talk about some things that people perceive to be important that aren't, which might surprise you.

So.

Great. Okay. So number one.

In importance of doing a walk around is do it.

Sounds so easy, doesn't it?

You got to do it. Yeah. Most people don't do it.

They might say they do.

Yeah. But they don't. Then the next one goes right with that is do it at the car.

So a walk around loses all of its magic if you're doing it alone and the customer is inside.

It's like having a Broadway play and not having an audience and you just got there and perform.

Now I can't remember taking a car in in recent memory where the advisor didn't do the walk around without me. And it surprises me every time for a bunch of reasons. One is they've lost all control at that point. Second is I'm sitting there with nothing to do for quite a while. Right. They've detached. There's no rapport being built, Nothing. And also it pretty much tells you the story of customer comes in, doesn't know where to go and finds an advisor at their desk. Then the Advisor goes and does the walk around alone, which means that I was confused of who was going to help me or where to go for a specific amount of time. Right. Yep. So that's insight, too. So you got to do it and you got to do it at the car or truck.

Yeah. So a news flash is that the customer does not want to be in control. We almost force them into it in those situations where we don't tell them what's going on.

Right. Okay. Now the third most important part of the walkaround is creating a connection. So a lot of times advisors think, or managers even, that the purpose of the walk around is to find out what's wrong with the car. Or even to, you know, a lot of advisors will walk up to a customer and they'll say, did you have an appointment? The walk around is not to figure out if they had an appointment. What if they don't have an appointment? Now what? You're not going to help them?

Like, yeah, they get branded for such a redundant.

Like, it's a stupid question. Do you have an appointment?

It is. And also, are you going to diagnose the check engine light? No. So the check engine light really is secondary to building rapport and creating a connection with the customer. And I've said this a million times that it's not about the commodity. People fall in love with the idea that they're a Toyota dealership or a BMW dealership or a Mercedes dealership. That is irrelevant. It is irrelevant. There's tons of other places that can fix a Mercedes or a Toyota. You know, it isn't about that. It's about your connection with the customer. That's. It's the relationship that you create. So the first part, the most important part of the walk around after doing it and doing it at the car is creating a connection with the customer, making friends and talking about the things that matter to them. So looking for things on the car or in the car that help you build rapport.

And just asking them like, hey, where are you headed today? What are you doing getting them talking about anything but the car?

Yep. It's such a departure from when I was trained, when I was a service advisor, many, many moons ago. Is that literally? Well, I wasn't trained to do it, but. But my coworker said, you better do a walk around in the car. And of course I'm like, well, what's a walk around? Explain that to me a little bit. And they're like, we have to go around the car and look and see if it's got damage. Because if it's got damage and you don't note it and the customer says, we did it, it's coming out of your pocket. The only reason I was told to do walkarounds, like, the thought of the customer being there, the thought of connecting and actually asking questions like it was 1000% about the commodity. Such, in hindsight, like such a failure and opportunity for me to connect with people right out of the gate.

Now, the next one, If I stand 200 to 500 yards away from the drive, but let's say I can still see it, but I'm way, way back, so I can't hear anything, but I can see the service drive. And I'm watching an advisor do the walk around. I can tell if they have this next one or not just by. By watching. Yeah. And that is control. So if an advisor doesn't have control, then one. The customer is at their desk inside, which is total loss of control. You have zero control. You're not building rapport if the customer is on their cell phone, if the customer has their back. Right. The really, really good advisors have control. The customer is following them or they're telling the customer where to go, but they have control. And the thing about control that you want to understand is if you have control, you have created compliance in the customer. So if the customer feels safe and they're following your direction in your lead, you have a much better chance of getting them to maintain and repair their vehicle later on. If they don't trust you and you don't have control and you don't have connection, you're going to have a lot harder time and it'll become more about price. So I guarantee you, in a service drive where discounts are high and sales are low, the reason why is because they don't have the connection or the control.

That's right.

And control is physical. Like, I can tell if we call it in our advisor training, we call the customer. On your hip now. Follow me. We're going to, you know, we're going to do this, but it's. Let me know when you're done with your call so we can. Right. Tell him, like, get off your phone.

Right.

Like we're. This is important.

I always say. I would say I'll wait. It's important. And then I step back.

Yeah, but you're gaining compliance, and compliance leads to trust. Because if you're letting somebody take control of a situation, you are subconsciously saying that. That I'm trusting this process. Right, Right.

Yeah. We got to make it a party.

A lot of times the reason why you're discounting, the reason why customers aren't coming back, the reason why you aren't selling is because the customers don't trust you more than any anything else. So first one is do it. Second one is do it at the vehicle. The third one is connection. The fourth one is control, Right?

Yep.

And then the last one that goes with control is trust.

You have to have the customer's trust. So if the customer comes in and they don't know where to go, they don't know who's going to help them. There's complete chaos everywhere. When they do find you, you're on the phone talking to an extended warranty or calling parts or whatever it is you're doing. You never actually connect with the customer. And you go do the walk around. You come back, it's like, okay, so your check engine lights on anything else and it's just a transaction. You're just making them feel like a number, like they're just a part of a process that has no emotion or care built in. You wouldn't treat your worst enemy this way, let alone a friend.

Yeah.

Then you're not going to have trust. So control and trust go hand in hand that you want to have trust because trust leads to retention and sales. So having a clear, you know.

Understanding of that really, really is going to help you in, in the long run. So do it. Do it at the car. Connection, control and trust. Now let's talk about the things that people think that are important, that are not important. And I'm, I already can hear you morons in the comments. It's great. I love it. What people think is important about a walk around that isn't. The first one is show and tell.

Interesting.

So the, the thing you want to understand about show and tell is not that that's what sells the customer.

The thing that sells the customer about show and tell is the consistency and.

Probably a little bit of control too. Right. Like you have a system and a process.

I think it confuses customers. Whenever I've come into a service drive where our competition has trained the advisors or the chemical companies have trained the advisors and they're doing the dip thing on the brake fluid and whatever. The customers look confused and like they want to be anywhere else but there. Whenever you're doing the show and tell dog and pony show, I, I don't feel like customers feel that way when you measure the tread on tires. So that show and tell, I, I do think is important and works. But when you're, when you're dipping brake fluid and cooling hoods and all that goods and all that, it's not selling you anything. Trust me when I tell you this. The only reason why you perceive it is is because you're consistent with it. And what happens is if you consistently are bringing attention to something, you're going to sell more. But here's the thing that I will guarantee you. If you spend more time on the connection and making friends and just check history and advise that they're due for brake fluid, they're due for whatever it is they're due for, you will sell way more and your customers will come back and you'll have more key throwers than if you do the stupid dog and pony show showing them that their brake fluids black when it should be clear. Whatever it is, it's buffoonery. Trust me. The only reason it works is because it's consistent. That's it. Now, some of you are going to disagree, and I'm sure you work for BG or whatever or that's the only process you've ever tried. And so you're selling more than, than the people around you. But I will outsell you by a huge margin. And I will never pop a hood. But I will spend all my time talking about their kids, their work. I will be genuinely curious about them and I'll make friends and they'll come back too. They'll be asking for me. It'll drive you crazy. I remember I used to drive the other advisors in the driveway. We're crazy. They'd be like, we hate it when you're gone because customers pull in, they find out you're not hearing the name, they leave.

That's so great.

And I was never popping. I mean, I did it a couple of times when you were kind of forced to do it, but it.

Never made sense to me. And it's the consistency that makes the sales go up that you're actually doing it. It's not that that is a better way to do it. If you're consistent at presenting and making friends, you will, you will do better in the long run, for sure. Okay. The next thing is that the purpose of a walk around is lot damage. I find it hilarious when advisors.

Are spending five minutes taking pictures on iPads of cars from every direction that they'll never use. That they'll never use.

And I understand as service advisors, you're just following the direction of whoever you work for or whatever.

You can very simply mark down lot damage on a diagram of a car on the pre write. You do not need to take a million pictures. If you. If, let's just say over a period of time that you end up fixing a scratch or a bumper or a set of wheels, you're throwing the baby out with the bath water. Most of the time you just are. You're spending all this time focusing on playing not to lose instead of playing to win, that you forget to present, connect, do all the other things that you're supposed to do. Yeah, but it blows me away when advisors are doing pictures and it's all because we're scared of customers. It's like, well, one guy, one time and it's like just mark down that the wheels are scratched on the lake. We don't have to do this big. You'll spend more money on software and hard drive space to protect yourself from light damage than you will on service manager training, advisor training. Like things that actually would make a difference.

Yeah. And it puts so much reliability on computers. And computers are crazy. They like to party. Did you know that computers like to party?

No.

Yeah. You know what they do when they party?

What?

They take a lot of screenshots.

Nice segue.

Thank you.

Next one that I have that people think are important on a walk around that aren't that tablets make the thing more efficient.

I have yet to.

Be able to create higher sales with tablets.

Yet to do it. I know manufacturers force people to go to tablets. Like, I get that there's people out there selling tablets that love tablets. Most of the time they're boat anchors and they're collecting dust. The problem with tablets is that the advisor is staring in a tablet and not connecting with the customer. And then this brings me to my last one here I had on the list it goes with tablets is we're assuming that people want to get out of there quickly.

And it's not true. People want to get out of there quickly because we're not connecting with them, we're not building trust and they don't like us. But if they like us, they're not in. They got 10 minutes. You can do this whole process in 10 to 15 minutes really well and connect with them and have a conversation with them and make friends and. And it does not exceed their expectations. They want to get out of there and they tell you they want to get out of there quick and you think that tablets are going to allow you to get them out of there quicker. But you're missing the most important part and that's the connection and making friends. And there's something about separating them from the vehicle and taking them to another desk that allows you to put them into another headspace and then present whatever it is and talk about the things that. That matter in a different environment. But I've yet to see it where at the vehicle, tablets create a better experience or more sales. Most of the time it drives the average per ticket down.

Yeah, I agree with that 100%.

And it's not that we haven't tried. We've tried. It doesn't work. And I'm not so in love with the fact that people have invested millions of dollars in tablets that I won't tell you that it won't work.

Because I'm focused on your results, not. Not your idealized version of. Well, you know, I got cognitive dissonance because I spent money on the tablet, so I got to prove that they were. But all I have to do is pull the numbers. It's all I got to do. I mean, I remember the same experience years ago where everybody was like, you got to get rid of the back parts counter.

Because if the technicians are in their stall and they order the parts through the computer and they never go to a back parts counter, they will be more efficient. And so.

It was never the case. In fact, I went so far as to putting parts people out in the shop.

Yeah, that's not a bad idea at all.

Yeah. Ask me how much the efficiency went up a lot.