The Secret Might Just Be To Shut Up (Service Drive Revolution Drive By)

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Welcome everybody to Service Drive Revolution and your Friday drive by. And today we're going to give you something to talk about going into the weekend. Something to make you think, see things a little bit different and what that thing is. Hold on one second. Hi, Jeremy, how are you doing?

I am good. Chris, how are you doing?

You got big plans for the weekend? Okay. No.

Good. Chris.

Christian, how are you?

Great. Better than ever.

Okay, awesome. We're going to talk about today. Listening. It is a magical tool.

Jeremy, what'd you say?

Listening. Listening. It's a magical tool. And most people don't do it. Most people pretend like they're listening, but they're really not listening.

Yeah. You know what's funny is that I interviewed a guy earlier this week and, and I asked him, you know, where do you see yourself in five years? And he said, my biggest problem is that I'm not good at listening.

I agreed.

He didn't get his second interview, you know.

Was that. Cause you hired him on the spot? Yeah. Right.

The new member of Chris Collins Inc. I hope his name was Chris because we only hire Chris's or Christians.

I only interview Chris's.

Now we're on a zoom the other day and. And it's all Chris's. It was pretty funny. The people on the. Because he got Chris. You got Chris in Oklahoma. Christian Chris.

It's great.

They joke about it, but that it's true. Most people don't listen most of the time. You think you got it figured out. You think you know what you're doing. You've been doing this a long time. So heaven forbid that there'd be another way to do anything. And maybe that's true, but. But even like with customers, I don't know how many heated customers have been handed over to me. And they're like, you gotta talk to them. They're impossible. They won't, you know, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. And I get on the phone and all's I do is listen. I let them go. I've had them for 45 minutes. Just go. Without taking a breath. You're like, wow, I can't believe that person on the other end of the phone is in such good shape that they must be those deep divers that can hold their breath for 40 minutes because they never take a breath. They just go. And then at the end they're like, you're the first person to ever listen to me.

You never say a word. Or they're like, chris was so nice. And you're like, I didn't say A.

Word, wait till I talk, then I'll change your mind on that. But I think the thing is listening. And so here's an exercise that I think you could do is.

Over the.

Weekend and next week, I want you to approach three to five people and I only want you to ask questions. So going into the conversation. So I want you to approach this person. So say it's an office manager, a service advisor, your spouse, your kids, whoever it is, I want you to go to them and start a conversation and only ask questions. You're not allowed to comment, you're not allowed to give your opinion. You're not allowed to do anything but ask another question and watch what happens. And it's the funniest thing is their perception of you will be that you're a great conversationalist, even though you never said a word. This happens to me all the time. People are like, wow, he's really fun to talk to. And I'm like, really? We were talking? Because it really felt like you were talking. But their perception is, wow, he's a great conversationalist. Listen. What do you think about what's important about listening with customers, Jeremy?

Well, Kris, that's a great question. I think right now, with the time that we're in, it's important to listen to some of the customers mental state. Where are they at? How are they doing? What fears do they have? And then also road trips are coming up, right? Road trips are huge. So we're at the beginning of the summer driving season. Things have opened back up. That road trip is like a bell or a buzzer that goes off when somebody says, yes, we're getting the car ready to go on the road. You definitely need to make sure that, you know, we've got some good stuff coming up for them on Monday is do not prejudge. We had a customer come through with a 2018 Sprinter van with 12,000 miles on it that the dealership had looked at it, got it ready for the road, but it had a broken bolt in the serpentine belt mounting and the fan belt fell off and they overheated on the road trip and they had to turn around and go back home and it ruined their trip.

Can you imagine the nightmare for this customer that they broke down in Hesperia? Like, they're gonna be telling that story forever. Like, we're driving from Vegas to LA and we broke down in this place.

There were cowboys on horses just past Satan's house.

So I want you guys to just practice your listening skills real quick and keep your mouths Quiet for 3:30 seconds, please, and then I'll finish my story.

You know what?

Really, Jeremy, we can't use our drive by against us. Jeremy.

That's right. You know what, what you're saying, Jeremy, is we're being rude. And that reminds me of a joke.

I would love to hear another one.

What do you call a criminal? A rude criminal walking down stairs?

What do you call a rude criminal? So this is a criminal. That's rude walking down the stairs.

A condescending.

You heard my punchline. Condescending. Condescending.

Okay, by the way, so back to this poor family that's in a sprinter van. They break down because the dealership never inspected it. And then what happens?

We were able to make an emergency repair, but I didn't feel comfortable letting them go further into the desert to Lake Fowl. And I recommend that they go back home and get, you know, the actual correct part put back on so it doesn't happen again. The worst case happened. You send them out further into the desert and they break down. So it did. It actually ruined their vacation. They had to turn around and go home. So. And listening to your customers, some of the things that you're going to hear. I like to use the phrase strategic listening when you're interviewing a customer at drop off. You know, petting the dog is you listen for strategic information, but you've got to be genuine in it. Customers can tell when you're just listening to sell them something, and they can tell the service advisors that genuinely have a heartfelt connection and genuinely want to serve them. So right now you really have to understand empathy and be a great listener because customers are gonna see. Hey, what was the joke you said earlier? The BS joke? They're gonna see through your bs, right? And they're gonna be able to tell.

What happens when you breed a shih tzu and a bulldog or a bulldog.

And a shih tzu.

Your choice. Well, either way, right? Yeah. Your choice. Absolutely. And, you know, some of the most profound moments in my life have come when I have done a listening exercise and when I've gotten off of the offensive and stopped worrying about myself and what I want and really got heartfelt and just sit back and listen to people. And, you know, my relationship with my wife is better after those times and my kids, I feel better connected to people. So I encourage everybody this weekend, put your listening hat on, sit back and just observe and be a sponge and be there for those people that are close to you will actually be a lot better.

Yeah, and if you, if you try the exercise I suggested, the thing that you're, you're going to find out is people will put their cards on the table and you'll know way more about the person in their situations than you ever would have if you hadn't listened. So a lot of times the, the fix of, you know, in a business, the fix of a person, if you're trying to fix, figure out what's wrong with them or why they aren't performing or whatever. Most of the time it's in listening, not in telling. That's. That's it. The leverage is in listening. And like I said, you'll be surprised how many people lay all their cards on the table if you listen. Listen with intention, like Jeremy said. So that's our food for thought for this weekend. We will see you next time on Service Drive Revolution. But first, here is a clip or a bunch of clips smashed together that are really, really funny as a preview for next week's Service Drive Revolution, the big show.

Next week on Service Drive Revolution. Two things that can help you.

Improve your department and make more money. Basically.

Right. There is a word that is circling around me right now, and it is opportunity.

Oh, I love it.

The.

Let's go through the landmarks in Hisperia, California, Cracker Barrel. What's that thing that you order on the menu? Grandma's package or whatever? They had gravy on everything. Yeah, they're like, do you want, do you want white gravy, brown gravy? He's like, bring me gravy on the side.

It's a KPI that a lot of people ignore in our industry. I'll be right back.

Okay. You know, can I, can I vent real quick? God has me all fired up today. I'm like, ready to go.

Do you know what SOS stands for? Next time, don't apply for an advisor job in a communist country. It's so much cooler than Flavor Flav and the clock. It'd be so funny if Jeremy started doing that and then people started wearing car parts around their neck. Thanks for watching this episode of Service Drive Revolutions Drive by. I hope it gives you something to think about over the weekend and inspires the some new ideas and hopefully some new results. If you have any questions for the big show, go ahead and post them below in the comments. We'll be looking out for them and we'll answer them on the show. Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're notified when we post new episodes. I'm Chris Collins, and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Chris Bulldog Collins. And I'll see you again on the next episode.

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