The Secret to Getting Promoted

Welcome everybody to the big show. I am Chris Collins. Adam is here. Hoagie is here. We are excited.

Sup everybody.

We have a really fun conversation for you. Mostly what we talk about today is how to get promoted and how to navigate that versus a degree. And it's a follow-up from an earlier question from somebody that called in. I will remind everybody that if you have a question, you can call 8 8333-ASK-SDR, and we do still look at that and we'll answer your questions on the show. So 8333-ASK-SDR, and that and much, much more is coming up right now on Service Drive Revolution. How's everybody doing today?

Fantastic.

Doing great. Doing great.

It's not very convincing.

Just, uh, I'm not convincing? No.

Nope.

Well, probably not. Like, I'm a little bit, uh, I'm a little bit confused. Like, I was, um, before we were getting started, uh, somebody had sent me something on Instagram, so I was scrolling. And, uh, you guys seen like how many dealerships right now are, uh, Like their social media strategy is to make fun of customers.

Yeah.

Have you guys seen any of these?

I haven't. It's an interesting tactic. And you want, like on the surface you think like, this is terrible. But then you wonder, does it have the reverse psychology? Like, I don't know where people are trying to please them when they go into F&I and sign. Like, I don't— you know how like if you tell your kids not to do something, they do it?

Yeah, maybe.

Are customers just a bunch of kids that when you tell them—

I would love, I would love to say that we're so data-driven that we've tried something that outside the box and paid attention to the results and it drove dynamic results and we're like, oh, you'll never gonna believe how you do this, but this is how you do it. It really works. But like, I mean, I, I hope that's it. I hope you're right. Personally, like, um, like, I, I'm just kind of confused. Like, I was sitting here just thinking about the one I just watched. They're like making fun of a customer in finance getting ready to sign, and their hands shaking, and they're like, no, everything looks right, right? Like, why are you— you know, it's just like, uh, well, I gotta check on my wife. Yeah, yeah, it's, uh, it's, uh, are there any, um, no, I mean, like, a lot of the comments are from other dealerships with like laughing faces and stuff. So like, I don't, I, I don't know. I don't, um, yeah, I don't, I don't get it. I'm trying to figure it out.

It's not customer-facing.

No, that's like an internal joke that nobody really gets or likes unless you're in that band of thought.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's funny. Like, dealers just don't know how to market. I mean, that's just how it is. They're terrible at online marketing. Yeah, terrible at it. Like, I can't think of one that's good. I haven't seen one that I'm like, oh, this is really good. And it's funny because in other industries there's so many, you know, so many good ones. It's, it's not hard to find good examples if you, if you're looking.

No, but it is funny, like, as much as hard as lead generation is, and, uh, or they talk about how hard it is, and then, um, they, they get frustrated all the money they spend on it, and they know that it's, you know, half the leads they get aren't any good at all, but yet they, uh, they find this new thing and they're like, hey, you can reach out, you know, you can get in front of your people with social media, and they know the tool is for the, the salespeople to, to be active in it and all of these different things. Um, so they know that's the new avenue to their customers, but then they're gonna make fun of them in order to— I don't know, I don't know, I'm trying to understand it.

But I thought it was crazy, Hoagie.

Go ahead.

Sorry, I was just going to say it's crazy that, um, I think that most businesses, especially in the— in our, in our industry, they think they see the— they see and they think and they hear about social media and instantly they're like, they're thinking they could just, oh, I watched that on a TikTok and now I got my phone and now I can just put it up and do whatever I want and that will just hit. But I'm on social media, we have a presence, but they're not really like having an intentionality and like how to really truly connect.

Well, and it's also hard to hide the loathing they have for customers. Like you're really just showcasing how much you hate what you do. You're not celebrating customers. Like, that's the funny thing is like these people that are making these videos hate what they do. They hate— they literally— well, they're, you know, it's, it's just a funny juxtaposition because from my perspective it makes me super uncomfortable because I would want to highlight customers, you know, but I don't know. I, we always try with everything we do not to punch down like that. And it's hard to do sometimes, but it's punching down is what it is. And there's, there's this book that, that I've been reading and I was going to have the team here do a book record on it here at the office. But you guys could be included in it if you wanted. But it's, it's this author and I can't— her name's like Anna Angelou. And the book is called Hitmakers: How Brands Influence Culture. And it's so good. And I mean, we do a lot of this stuff right, you know, um, we've been, we've kind of been the first ones to do any, we're the first ones doing the AI stuff we're doing most. I mean, dealers are still talking about SEO and SEO is dead. Search engine optimization has been dead for over a year and you got to optimize for the AI. 'Cause people are searching in AI, they're not searching on Google anymore. And, um, yeah, yeah. It's interesting how, yeah, I don't, I think too, like, 'cause we, we've talked about this a little bit, Hoagie, is like with the new thing that Trump has done to the European cars and adding higher tariffs to them, you think about how many Volkswagen dealerships we have that are suffering. BMW and Mercedes stores are going to start to suffer because the— even like on a Porsche, like, have you priced out a Porsche? Like, you're talking about $200 grand now for a Porsche. Like, I, I have a lot of friends that have money. They're not going to spend $200 grand on a Porsche. They're just not. They'll spend $120, they'll spend $140 maybe. But these, these, uh, European cars are to the point where you're just not going to buy a 7 Series. You're going to go buy something else. It just doesn't make sense. And so, you know, you price— just think about the amount of market share that Tesla took away from BMW, and then think about now if they lose another 20% of their, you know, sales because the cars are priced out of certain people's budgets. It, it's, uh, it's not good. Like, it's really bad. And if we don't have them selling cars, we don't have the traffic in the drive. And so we're going to have to get better at marketing because you can't afford to run a dealership and lose 80% of your customers to independents if you're not selling new cars.

Yeah.

I mean, we might see the sort of thing that we saw before where Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche are all in one store. Like they'll consolidate. We're also going to see consolidation where, you know, some of these local owner operators that own a couple of dealerships are going to sell to the bigger groups because they just can't survive. There's no way for them to keep losing money every month, especially in a Volkswagen store. Like how much are sales down for Volkswagen dealers? It's like crazy.

Yeah, it is. It is crazy. There was, um, When we were talking about that a few days ago, the thing that brought that up was I was reading something that the electric Volkswagen is in some of the markets, it's at a 1,200-day supply. And then in the best markets, it's at a 400-day supply. And so, yeah, I mean, just interest rates on floor, it goes on and on.

Think about the timeline of what happened, right? COVID, there was, there was no supply. So people started charging over sticker for cars. Then dealers started ordering cars fully loaded. Then the manufacturers are like, hey, we want to get in on this. So they started raising the prices. I mean, remember back when Chevy raised the price of the truck like $8,000? Like they just added $8,000 to the truck, right? And so they weren't even, they weren't even close to Ford. Price-wise. Like, you had— if you were selling a Chevy truck, you, you had to somehow justify that the thing is $10 grand more. Like, that's a hard jump to make, right? So the manufacturers wanted to get into it, and then I don't know, what was the average truck on the lot? $80 grand? And all of these people got stuffed into these, these cars, had all this negative equity, and now the cars are even more expensive. And people still have tons of negative equity. It's a— it's an interesting situation. I don't know how it washes out, but yeah, it just keeps stacking.

They're doing— they're doing, uh, longer terms, like, uh, I don't know, I'm just waiting for the next, uh, commercial to come across the TV that's like 2.9% at 96 months or whatever.

It'll be zero.

They keep on going out longer and longer. And yeah, there are zero—

the 0% interest is cheaper than the, the flooring and those being 1,200 days old. Like, yeah. And then have you guys seen what Canada did? And they're allowing in, is it 50,000 of the Chinese electric cars?

Yeah.

Just literally lopping the shins off of the, the automotive industry up there and the workers. Like, They're— they made some deal, and in order— I guess I've watched a bunch of videos on this, so I in no way pretend to be an expert on this, but from what I understand, the, the government kind of had to make a deal with China for them to keep buying their canola or something, like something for the farmers. And the only way that deal could get done was to take electric cars. And these electric cars are priced way under the market. So you can buy one of these cars for what, $15,000, $20,000? And the tech is better. Like, they've just— because the Chinese government subsidizes the manufacturing of these cars to gain market share. So that's what China does, is they will like subsidize steel, they will subsidize whatever it is they're, they're trying to do, rare earths, and everybody else will go out of business, and then they own it for the world, or for whatever, you know, market they're in. So the same thing with these cars is they've subsidized the manufacturing of these cars. So they're way less than anybody else's cars. Toyota, nobody can keep up price-wise. And it's kind of the beginning of the end when you let them into your market, because when consumers start to see that you can get that sort of car with that technology, that nice for $20,000, who's buying a $40,000 Honda Accord?

Yeah, yeah.

No one.

No one. And Honda manufactures in Canada. Like, you know, a lot of these cars, even though they're Japanese, are manufactured in Canada or here. And you just literally are lopping off the shins of the automotive worker by doing that. It's interesting.

Hmm. I haven't heard that yet. I'm going to check that out.

Yeah, they made a deal with China and, um, yeah, it's— Canada is tough because they, you know, I don't know, it's tough. I feel bad.

Yeah, it's crazy. The—

meanwhile, let's make, uh, let's make videos making fun of customers.

Yeah.

And all of this, who, who We're making fun of customers. It makes sense.

The ones that are still coming to buy a new car.

Let's, uh, that's the most rational thing of all of this.

I know how to get in front of them.

Yeah, dude, that's crazy. That's just crazy.

I want to be friends, Adam. Can I punch you in the nose real quick? Yeah, it's like, I like it.

We'll bond.

That, that hugging stuff, the way you make me feel, that It's old news.

So funny.

Oh man. Yeah, it's, uh, it is.

They were bullied as kids. They were just bullied as kids. That's all I'm going to say.

Well, one of the things that we've been talking about as far as maximizing our social media and kind of being at the forefront is going live with this, with SDR. So doing SDR live and having interaction. And then on the back of that, we were going to do this new kind of service manager university, which we're going to, um, what are we going to call it? Service Drive Live? Service Drive Revolution Live? We're working on the name, but we're going to teach and have like curriculum where we, we kind of teach live once a week. And, um, I got it.

I got it.

What is it?

It was Service Drive, Service Drive Academy.

Service Drive Revolution Academy or just Service Drive Academy?

I thought it was Service Drive Academy.

Maybe, maybe, yeah, SDR Academy.

Put in your comments.

SDR Academy Live. Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea.

But we're going to teach, we're going to teach, uh, how to, you know, how to market, how to run a profitable department, all of, all of that stuff, leadership, and have lots of fun in an interactive live environment. But we like to put SDR on the front of it, go live on SDR, and then, you know, everybody who's in the, in our on-demand platform will get to stay and go, go live. And so we're thinking about doing that on YouTube, maybe something we, uh, we wanna start in June, but we're trying to figure out new ways to get better and stay ahead in that way too.

And make it fun. Yeah. I think it's gonna be fun.

Yeah, let's— like, being able to read people's comments, super fun. It's good, man.

I feel, I feel like I should have made a video when I bought my truck. And like, can we get back at them as, as consumers? Like, we're going to make like— is this like a little hidden war? We'll make our, our video, uh, experience of buying it and getting it back at, you know, the industry.

Like a video making fun of them.

Like making fun of the dealers.

Yes.

That's our marketing is we the dealers make fun of our customers. We make fun of the dealers.

I'm saying us as consumers.

Like, we're not consumers. We're in the industry.

Hey, I just was. I bought a brand new truck. I was one of the ones that got 0% for 60 months.

What do you think about that, Hoagie? We make videos making fun of dealers. It's a terrible idea. Just saying, as it's punching down, it's punching down. Like, I wouldn't want to do that.

I know we prefer to punch up. I've always been taller, so maybe that's why.

We gotta punch up for sure. Yeah, we don't want to pick on anybody.

We're not the bullies. Well, you keep thinking of, uh, making me think about the turkey I missed over the weekend that I didn't tell you about. I felt like I could have punched that bird.

What, did a turkey walk through your front yard and you didn't have a tag?

Okay, so first off, there's two sides to this. Did go out hunting. I missed at a tom. I actually tried running after him after I shot him.

What does that mean? I don't know what a tom is. Is that a turkey, a male turkey?

Yep, it's a male turkey. It's an adult.

So you saw a male turkey, you had your— what are you shooting with, a rifle or a bow and arrow, or what are you shooting with?

No, it's, uh, a shotgun. Shotgun.

Isn't that a little overkill for a turkey?

No way, dude. You're just going for the head.

Turkey.

You're just going for the head. You're just going for the head. Okay, so we're going to try to keep this within less than 30 seconds. This deal here was— my eyesight was on a different bird. My partner, my partner— is this you explaining how you missed? Yes.

With a shotgun. Hold on.

This is at 40 yards away. That doesn't help me. Okay. So my eyesight's around this other bird and this is an amazing bird.

What if I'm a better shot than you? I think I might be a better shot than you.

You know what? I'm pretty sure my soon-to-be 6-year-old daughter is a better shot than me. Okay. This thing, the adrenaline rushing. This bird flies down. I'm looking across the way. My father-in-law says the other bird flies down. So the first bird that I'm looking at now is probably 70, 80 yards away. Okay.

Okay.

The other bird that I shot and missed at was 40.

What's behind those birds that you're shooting and missing?

Okay. Nothing. It's just acreage. Okay. We're in timber. It's all trees. Traffic on the freeway. No, this is the problem. We were on a path. We're on a cut-in path. This thing's going down the hill. My father-in-law, it just drops. He goes, shoot it. I'm looking at it on the other way. I go to turn and I shoot as his head is going down, down the hill. And then he just— you can't see in the segment, but he just opens up his wings and starts going. And I started trying to run after him to try to shoot him and I missed again. And then, yeah, so the bird I was actually looking at that I was wanting to shoot, I was totally diverted to shooting this other bird and missed.

So how disappointed was your father-in-law? What did he say?

A little bit of blame, but he was also like, not again, not again. He's like, you're cursed. You're cursed. So here, check this out. Turkey. This is all—

you know, you can buy a turkey at the grocery store.

No, it's not as fun. That's all Saturday morning. So I come back Saturday morning, I'm going to cut the grass in the afternoon. All right. It's about 1:00. I get on the riding lawnmower to go down the hill and then down the hill. Guess what? A hen and a tom are in front of me and they're running towards the timber. So I've got turkey out here that—

yeah, I mean, my suggestion is get yourself to the range. Start shooting at some targets. Get, get it to where you can, you can close a little gap, or you can, you know, hit, hit a certain part of the, of the target over and over again. I think it's a, it's just a repetition thing.

I'm just going to tell you, Chris Collins, okay, so it's a red dot sight, but I'm going to tell you this real quick. Um, I love the fact that you're looking at like this small of like a pattern But because we use a special ammunition, the pattern's actually a lot wider. It has over 100 little BBs of tungsten instead of just regular steel.

So it's like birdshot.

Yeah, it shouldn't— It's a birdshot, but it's—

So you missed with birdshot that shoots like—

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, same thing. Let's get to the range.

Yeah.

The solution is the same. Yeah, run, run some ammo through that thing and dial in the red dot or whatever you got.

Adam, I have some comments, but I'm trying not to punch down.

Like, just gonna leave it there, guys. Not again. Just get—

yeah, is there a range? Is there an outdoor range by you?

Yeah, it's called the farm. Just start shooting. The only thing is, it's like I, I gotta shoot. It's— I, I just get too excited.

You know what I like to do is go to, um, Safeway when they have Safeway Select. You get a case of the cream soda. It's cheap. It's like $5 for a case of 24, and then you shake them, and then you put them on the fence, and that's what you shoot. So when you, you know, when you hit them, they explode. It's kind of fun.

I thought you were going to say you take target practice in Safeway. I was like, that's the most LA thing I've ever heard in my life.

I know, so did I.

I was like, wait, No, I'm talking about up in Washington. I don't— you go to the range here and you got to buy a Paper Target, but it— up there, Safeway Select cream soda is my favorite.

Yeah, yeah, I spent a little bit of time with some of your people up in Washington a couple weeks ago, and, uh, yeah, a bunch of those guys made me feel right at home. Some good people up there.

Oh yeah, when people up there ask you how your day is, they want to know. Like, they— yeah, it's a serious question. It's not a formality. It's not out of obligation. They seriously want to know. Yeah, and it takes, it takes a half an hour to get out of the grocery store. It's so funny. Okay, um, we have a follow-up question from before that I think is really good, and I think she felt like we answered the question a little off because we didn't have enough background, so she, she kind of called and gave us more context. And so if we could, let's play that and then let's, let's talk about it.

Hi guys, this is, um, you answered my question last podcast. I did listen to it and I'm sorry I wasn't more clear. I have 3 years experience in the automotive industry as a service advisor. My first year I started as an express rider, I got promoted to a service advisor my second year, and now I am a lead service advisor, and I just graduated with my bachelor's in automotive business management. So, I do have, I would say, mostly advisor experience and a little bit of leadership experience being a lead advisor. But that was my big question. I feel like I'm just kind of stuck in a lead advisor role, and I haven't been given the opportunity to take on more responsibility or more tasks. They basically put me in this role as lead advisor. To answer all the advisors' questions, help with warranty things, and I'm still getting paid the same. So I'm trying to move up and do something different. I just don't know, do I need to spend another 2 years in the role I am to gain at least 5 years' experience, or do I need to do something else where it comes to my work ethic to show that I'm ready to be more than where I'm at right now as a lead advisor? But thank you guys so much for your insight for my question.

So, Savannah, great question. The kind of two perspectives I would have on this is if you're the lead advisor, I would attach myself to a couple of clear measurables like, you know, average sales per ticket, something like that. Customer satisfaction, two measurables. That you being the lead advisor are going to influence in all the other advisors? So if the advisors are coming to you for advice and you're the lead advisor, how can you show leadership and affect the overall outcome without you actually doing the work? Because you know what happens invariably is we're good at what we do. So we're really good advisor, but when we become the manager, Unfortunately, everybody doesn't do things like we did. And you, you realize really fast that it's hard to influence the group of advisors to get them to perform at the level that you were performing that got you promoted. So I would pick a couple measurables to attach yourself to and really show dramatic increase in those measurables through, through your influence, like intentionally figure out how to make them better. And, and there's a bunch of different ways to do that, and you probably have to do all of them or try as many as you can, because it's not a straight line. The, the other part of this that I would say is, I know that making money is a focus, and the reason why we work is to make more money, and we want to see an increase in that. But everything in your career comes in seasons. You might be in the season of doubling down and proving to yourself that you can lead and affect outcomes versus making more money. And you might have to do that before you make more money. And so, you know, it's just seasons. Like, you know, I remember the question before, and we're talking about a degree. With us, and I, you know, any of our coaches out in the field or the stores that we influence, You, you would get hired because of your results, not because of your degree. So we would be looking at the department that you ran before. What was the profitability? What was the CSI? You know, what, what was happening there that was special and magical? Your degree would really not even have a seat at the table most of the time. And I think that was the point I was trying to make before. I would make that same point now is The degree might mean something to others, but really what makes you special and irreplaceable in the market, and the reason why I called my, you know, first book The Irreplaceable Service Manager, because that's what you want to be. You want to be irreplaceable, is your ability to affect outcomes. And that comes through practice. And so you have an incredible opportunity right now where you're the lead advisor. You have some influence, you have some, some authority. Authority and some responsibility, what can you do with that? What magic can you bring to the table to make it better, to, to make the overall culture? And, you know, everything you touch needs to show an improvement. And so that's a hard, that's a hard thing to figure out. It takes a lot of work, but you certainly, you know, you're capable of that and you can. But I would forget about the money for a minute. And I would say for 6 months to a year, just focus on how can I affect the outcome and make this better? How can I make it better for everybody? Now, pay attention also to the fact that when you make it better, you're making it better for the advisors, you're making it better for the techs, but you're also making it better for the customer. And if you have the ability to do that, you are special in the industry because most people in our, in our industry just maintain. They just maintain the status quo of what they were handed. And what I would love to see you do is focus on taking what you're handed and making it dramatically better. How can you double the sales? How can you— how can you have perfect CSI? And, you know, you might think on the surface, like, oh, that's unobtainable or crazy. I'll tell you this, if you shoot for that, you're going to come up you know, in a— you're going to come up aces for sure. Like, shoot for something big and special. I, I just feel by the way you're asking the question and how intentional you are that you have high expectations of yourself. So plant some seeds where you are right now. Don't look beyond the horizon. Don't look at other positions and jump around. Just prove to yourself that you can do this, that you can make the opportunity that you have dramatically better. And I mean, I can tell you from experience, and, you know, Hoagie is the same, Adam is the same, is when we are given an opportunity throughout our careers, we have made it dramatically better. We've done things that were a surprise to the people that we were working for or reporting to. Then that's where the magic is. So, you know, those two things, like really focus on the results, put the money aside, and then I would just end with also get used to the fact that the manager doesn't make as much as the top advisor. A lot of times, like, you're not necessarily going to get a raise by being the manager. A lot of times the manager makes less than their top performers. There's managers that make less than the top salespeople. I mean, it depends on, on the environment and, you know, the pay plan and where you are, but I've seen it many times where the manager wasn't making more than the top advisor. So just keep that in mind. That's not, that's not a foregone conclusion that you're going to make more by being the manager.

Yeah. I think, I think that's a, you know, something that kind of parallels this a little bit. That may help also. I get a question from techs and advisors of, and sometimes even managers, like, what's the next step? And, you know, I'm performing at this level, so how do I do more? And a lot of times with the top performer, it's a genuine question. It's not a, you know, they're not trying to sidestep anything or anything like that. And truly the answer is like, uh, an advisor that's performing at a really, really high level, um, their ability to take the next step is their ability to make, uh, those around them better. Even staying in the position they are, even as an advisor, um, once you get to a certain point, like one thing I noticed is, uh, whether it's an advisor or a tech, when they get really good, people start to turn to you, like you're kind of naturally a leader a little bit and they're asking you questions and things like that. And I know a lot of top performers, they end up spending a lot of their day having to help people around them. And sometimes that's not a, you know, it's not always something you have perspective on when you're the one in the situation. But a lot of times your ability to further your cause is your ability to make those around you better. And so, I think that kind of parallels with what Chris is saying is, you know, ask your bosses like what the most important metrics are and they should be something like Chris said, like dollars per ticket and CSI in your situation. And maybe they even share with you some of the financials and goals they have with some of those things. And then, do your best to affect the outcome. And I promise you, if you're trying to flip the outcome, you're going to realize really quickly that your performance by yourself is only going to be able to do so much. But if you can take the people around you and dramatically improve some of the bottom performers, that's how you achieve levels and outcomes like Chris was talking about where you're doubling sales and things like that. And to Chris's point, you have a ton of opportunity. And if you've done all that in 3 years, that's not exactly shooting less than your goals or than a— that's not not hitting a goal in my book. So yeah, I would encourage in that same thing to just kind of take hopefully Hearing some of this feedback gives you a little bit of perspective on it and how to attack it. But yeah, you're very aware. I remember hearing the question the first time also. And so just being aware and asking the questions and keep asking questions, keep seeking out high performers and, you know, asking them what they're doing, how they're achieving. some of their success, things like that?

I don't recall her, um, did she have a— and, um, showing interest with her management, did she say that in the first one? I don't recall that.

I think you get the feeling that they're disinterested.

Okay, so I think showing an interest is, is key. So obviously if they're not disinterested, um, that's one thing you're trying to talk about your your kind of career path, right? That's what a lot of folks, um, would like to kind of paint with their management. Um, but if they're—

if they're not, Adam, I would still do it for myself.

100%, you have to. So that's where I was going to kind of hit on the automotive management degree. Um, man, I've had so many conversations just regarding continued education Do I do it? Do I not? Uh, I don't believe in, in investing all this money into a so-called piece of paper, and that's probably a whole nother segment. But like, I, I'm the guy that had, you know, went through, um, tech, becoming a tech and going through and getting a, an automotive degree, but then like more like a minor in management. But just kind of want to touch that base is kind of in, in alignment with what you said, Chris, is I look at it as an investment in yourself. It's laying a foundation. I went to school not to just make, like, I didn't really go to just make more money. I know there's a lot of peers, a lot of friends that I had going through school. It was like, well, that's how I can make more money. I can honestly say people would say that when I'm done with getting my degree, I'm going back to my place of employment and I'm demanding a raise. And I was like, how? In what world would you ever do that? Like, I know in the education system, if you get a master's degree, you get a different certification, different path. So maybe that's what they're, they're trying to steal it from or whatever.

In the government, for sure. Like, if you have a master's, you get paid more. Like, yeah, yeah.

See, so like, that, that never, uh, not in our industry. It doesn't work. But I always wanted to use it as an opportunity that if I could get some more foundational outlines or frameworks that I could use that to my advantage. So, I like what you said there, Chris Collins Collins, and just doing that to invest, find some measurables, but use what you've learned to further yourself and do it for yourself and getting a little bit more ahead. You might have a different perspective because you did go through academically and maybe in some of it, I'll be honest, some of the courses, some of the classes, they're throwaway. Today's academics and getting that collegiate experience. It's more of an experience than what some of the piece of papers that are out there. But from the automotive side, there is some foundational basis that is helpful, but it's only— it's an applied science at the end of the day. It's only in how you apply it. And through experiences, in my experience, in my ability to do things that were bigger and better, it was always through experience of what I did learn. And some of it, from that book material, it was just theory and it really didn't do anything for me. But it's in how you apply it. So I've definitely used it as a foundation, but not as a bargaining chip to get more money in any case. That was just from my experience. I like what you said there, Chris, and just using the experience, finding the measurables, you know, I mean, showing an interest. But at a certain point, yeah, it's just bettering yourself and that will help open more opportunities and doors.

Yeah, I think too, like, how many people come in here for our new customer, like, bootcamp masterclass, and how many of them have degrees and have gone to school and they never taught them the financial, they never taught them pricing strategies, they never taught them pay plans. Like, the stuff that really has the biggest leverage, for some odd reason, is the stuff that isn't taught. And, and I would say that your money is way, you know, better spent taking our on-demand than anything else. Because at the end of the day, when you're leadership, it's about the results. And yep. Unfortunately, there's, you know, even doc, like my, I remember my doctor's wife was like in tears once, like, because I'd helped them with marketing and set up some stuff for them and she was just like, they don't teach us this in medical school. Like, we don't know how to run a doctor's office. We know how to, you know, be a doctor. And it's like, it's the same thing. Like, they're just— a lot of those classes to degree, but they're missing the things that actually make you successful.

Or in how to apply it though. That's not the thing that has always bothered me, is that going through a financial statement Man, I hate to admit this, but I learned it way later than what I would have liked to have been able to understand it. I feel like it's more of a catch-up playing. What do we call it? How are you playing from behind? We hate playing from behind. And that's, that's the biggest thing I would ask more for experiences in connection with other people that will share their time. I wouldn't. I would— I don't know if I'd redo everything, at least from my experience in my past, but I would definitely try to ask others to help review some of the financials and stuff because I know in my management classes from a dealership world, they would hear, share this and go through this. But it was not until later in life when I was working with a dealership and they actually said, well, this is what I actually get. And it was like, okay, the copies that I saw before Okay, I seen it, but how do I actually apply it? What does it actually mean, man? I agree, our, our, uh, on-demand is way more— breaks it down way easier, and, uh, that's way more beneficial than I guess I could call it the piece of paper.

Yeah, what is it Elon says? Your, um, college is— a college degree is to prove that you can do your chores, but you'll learn more in the field and on YouTube.

Yeah, like, man, why? So I always think too, like, I've you know, I've had a couple Harvard Law graduates, you know, reporting to me in different scenarios, and Stanford Law, and I— it always just cracks me up. Like, I don't have to go to Harvard Law to have a Harvard Law attorney. I just hire them. Like, you know, and so it's, it's really about getting, getting results at the end of the day and, and finding the right mix and If you were to get a degree in anything, I would get a degree in psychology because being a successful manager is way more about psychology than anything else.

Yeah.

And they don't teach that.

And if she is in a situation, I think I may have missed that. If she's in a situation because I get asked the question a lot where, hey, I don't think I have opportunity here. Like, you know, this guy is the guy and that spot's not going to be available for me here. Um, should I just go ahead and, and go somewhere else? And, uh, it, man, people are wearing that out and it doesn't serve them.

That's like clients that call us and they go, hey, we're losing money and what we need is more traffic. Yeah. And we're like, yeah, well, wait, you're averaging 0.8 hours per RO per ticket and your ELR is from 1972. You're at an $85 ELR. Why don't we do more with the customers we have before we just try to be busy? To be like, we feel like being busy would make us profitable. And it's like, I get how that could make sense, but that's not how it works. Like, it's just not. And it's the same thing, I think, in that is it's like where the actual leverage is, is different than what people automatically think. They think, oh, we need more traffic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and I think that's the sound advice in that situation is, uh, do really good where you're at and the next thing will come along. And the, and the, if you're getting great results, I promise, um, you know, the next thing will— yes, the next thing will find you.

You just can't keep it secret.

Yeah. And, and just know that, uh, You know, even if people aren't looking for it, like Chris mentioned, when we're interviewing advisors, techs, even when the very first thing on our vetting process for our team that is vetting for coaches is we're looking for results. What outcomes have you changed? If you, if you don't have those on your resume, like you're not going to make it even through our first part of vetting for anything, for techs, for advisors, for a coaching job here, whatever it is like. And so, if you have intentionally created outcomes and tracking those outcomes and you have those on a resume, that's going to be where the opportunities come from. Just getting the results will make you stand out. And then if you're setting up a resume that way, Adam could tell you, we literally have the last year have gone through thousands and thousands of resumes, and, um, there's not a bunch of them— there's not a bunch of them that have, uh, you know, that are set up that way, right?

I remember this, um, this dealer—

might be now—

he owned a bunch of dealerships, sought me out through an F&I connection, and he asked me to go to lunch, and I met him for lunch, and he said over lunch— now this is the first time I ever met the guy And he told me over lunch, he said, I will write you a check for $1 million and give you equity if you'll come run this store of mine.

Yeah.

And I said, um, why would you do that? Like, I was like, the idea of writing me a check for $1 million like seemed so far-fetched. And he goes, uh, because you have a track record of selling cars. You know how to sell cars. And he goes, that's not common. And I need somebody who knows how to sell cars, and I'll write you a check. Like, we'll go back to the office and I'll hand you a check. Like, and you just can't— you can't keep results a secret.

You can't. Yeah, yeah.

So focus on— focus on that. Great stuff. Well, thanks for the question, Savannah. Thanks everybody for tuning in. Lots of fun stuff coming, so make sure You're subscribed and we'll see you next time on Service Drive Revolution. Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Drive 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 833-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.