The Top 5 Career Moves Service Advisors Can Make (Service Drive Revolution)

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Welcome everybody, to Service Drive Revolution. I'm Chris Collins and this is Christian Lafferty. Please, Joan, how are you?

I'm great, thank you. How about yourself?

We have an exciting show today. We are going to talk about the top five career moves a service advisor can make. Top five service advisor career moves. How can a service advisor get in the fast lane, the passing lane, and really jump ahead in their career? I also, you know, we've been selling a lot of our on demand platform. And so the on demand platform comes with the best service advisor training in the industry. Service Manager University. There's technician training in there, there's pet the dog, customer service training. We're adding stuff all the time to it. But what comes with it when you buy it is you get a free strategy session with me. So once you're in there, the manager has gone through Service Manager University. Two reasons. One is I want to make sure that they understand the progression and that they don't have any questions. And then also I want to talk to them about our coaching group. Right. And tell them the other things that we offer. And so I've been doing a lot of those and yesterday when I was doing them two times, it came up that there's a company out there and I've heard about this before and I'm guessing because you're in the field more than I am, that you have also. But they are charging dealerships to help them maximize their warranty. So it's a company that takes a percentage of helping you maximize your warranty and labor and parts gross.

Yeah. Which becomes pretty big dollars when it's all said and done.

Why don't we do that?

Because here's the thing, when we go into any service department, the effective labor rates go up and then it's easy to do the parts part.

So if anybody wants help maximizing your warranty gross profit in parts and service, call us. We will do that just for being in our coaching group. And we'll save you a lot of money.

Yeah, for sure.

And I think what percentage are they charging? Do you know?

It's something like a 5, 10%. Which is. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's like a 5 to 10% of the increase and then it's for a set amount of time. So the really cool thing, is it.

Like a year or how long?

I think it varies. But the really cool thing is that the warranty stuff is predicated on customer pay stuff. Right. And what happens is we add so much value to what we're doing on the customer pay side, it naturally leads itself to these huge warranty labor rate increases. So this company is chomping at the bit to come in after us. Right. And we can do that without them.

Oh, they're trying to come. Yeah. Because when it was explained to me, I was like, well, you're gonna get all that anyways. There's no reason to pay them a percentage. And I was showing them the roi, and it was like. Because, you know, a lot of times the warranty rate increase is like, I don't know. The first time after we go in, it could be like, 30, 40 bucks.

Yep.

And the other thing that worries me about that is I wouldn't want a company that's incentivized to upsell warrants or incentivize to maximize warranty to their benefit and not the dealership's benefit.

Yeah.

Like, we want it. We want to get what we're. We're doing. We want to maximize it, but we don't.

Well, we don't want.

We don't want that to be our.

Objective, and we don't want to be attracting any kind of unwanted attention from the manufacturer on the warranty side.

And, like, has there been an audit where they have to give any of that back? Do they refund their money if it is lost in an audit?

That's a really good question.

That would make me really nervous.

Yeah. I would want something like that in that discussion, for sure. Okay.

Are you on TikTok?

No.

Do you know what TikTok is?

Yes.

What is it? Well, so is your reference to TikTok just Trump trying to kick it out of the country?

No. What I was really thinking was, is way more about like, do you ever wonder what happens to the people that were on Jerry Springer? Most of them are on TikTok.

Oh, that's funny. Yeah. A lot of people on TikTok. So if you don't know what TikTok is, it's like an app that. It's younger kids, mostly. I think the average age on there is probably 12.

Right.

I know about it because when Big Mike and I went and did the Logan Paul show, he started it off talking about TikTok, and we were like, what's TikTok? And then anyways, I went on TikTok, and there's a lot of service advisors and texts on there.

Yeah. Which are not the Jerry Springer people. That was totally separate, but there's some pretty interesting stuff on there.

Yeah. One thing I noticed about TikTok is a lot of the people on here, their faces aren't symmetrical.

Yeah, definitely. There's no hemispheric balance.

Okay, so you know. Cause anything I do, I would go on and do hashtag service advisors. So I did that. And this, this girl does these TikToks, which are pretty funny. Now I'm going to play it for you. Now the first one I'm going to play for you is she's in her car and it's called the Life of a Female Service Advisor. I want you to notice a couple things. I want you to notice that she has a closet rack. What would you call the pole in a closet?

I don't know, hanger.

Like a closet pole or something.

Yeah, the device that the hangers go on to hold the.

Yeah, she has that in her car, which seems very convenient. Picking up dry clean. I wonder why manufacturers don't do that. But her name on TikTok is.

Chaotic underscore feminist. What do you think that means? Chaotic feminist. Anyways, she seems like the kind of person that I would love to hang out with. She's. She's very funny.

Yeah.

And so let's walk. Let's watch this one. And then I want your feedback. So are you ready?

I'm ready.

How long is it gonna take you guys to change my oil? It takes anywhere from half an hour to 45 minutes. Why does it take so long? I can change my own oil in less than 10. Well, we do a multi point inspection for you. So we go through the whole vehicle and check it for any needed maintenance or repairs and we come back to you with our findings. That seems completely unnecessary. Well, it is complimentary so you wouldn't have to pay for it. I don't have time to wait that long. So just do the oil change and don't do the multi point inspection. Okay, no problem. I'm just gonna have you sign this waiver saying that you opt out of that multi point inspection. Fine, whatever. I just, I need to get out of here soon, so if you could hurry up. Bye. Have a good day.

Oh my God.

So if you're listening to this and you're not watching, she's doing like a call and answer. So she's set up her phone one way and pretended like she's the advisor, and then the other way she's the customer with like a filter that distorts her. Her face. Right.

So what do you, what do you think about her? Her idea there of having a customer sign a waiver that doesn't want an inspection sheet?

It's interesting. I don't think that.

Gosh, would I do it?

So here's the. Here's the thing that I've noticed about service advisors that customers don't want the inspection is because we ask and we make it optional.

Maybe that's what I was going to say is that I'm trying to think back to my service advisor career and how many people said, don't, don't look over my car. I don't want to know if it's something bad. Like, that's a handful at best. To your point, to say it, like, why would we ask? We just look the cars over in the best interest of the client.

Yeah. And so I think if a client ever said to me, like, I can do it in 10 minutes, I'd be like, do you want a job?

Yeah.

Like, you can do it in 10 minutes and it'll be really good.

But you're here.

But I wouldn't make it about the inspection.

Yeah. Hmm.

I would never ask a client to sign a waiver. I don't know. I would love to talk to her. I think she's great. If you're on TikTok, you should go follow her and give her some love. The chaotic feminist. The other thing that I think is cool, she has her tongue pierced. Have you ever thought about getting your tongue pierced?

No. So let me tell you why I got one word. Hygiene. Lord only knows what kind of stuff. So, first off, I gotta say this. Like, I'm crazy about. I love piercing, piercings. I love tattoos. I like everything kind of edgy. Dyed hair, crazy stuff like all that.

Because you're all pierced and tatted up.

Totally. It doesn't make any sense, right? Yeah, but the tongue.

Do you have a tattoo?

On October 24, you're getting your first one. That's right.

To everybody write down. What is it? October 24th. The beginning of the midlife crisis for a Christian.

Right.

He's going to trade in his Tesla for a Corvette.

Yeah. I'm going to get some hair.

You're going to start wearing your shirt open with a necklace.

But think about the stuff that gets stuck in a tongue ring.

Midlife crisis coming through the front door.

It's going to be great.

Okay, keep going. I don't understand how hygiene has anything.

To do with it. First off, our mouths are probably one of the most dirty parts of our body. Right. And.

But having a tongue piercing doesn't make you not be able to brush your teeth.

Yeah.

But still, stuff gets stuck in there in the piercing.

I believe So I think inside it, underneath it, it's not my thing, but I respect the people that do it.

Really.

But you never know. You get a boot stuck in there.

Okay, let's do one more of the chaotic feminist.

Okay, I like it.

This one is called the Life of a Female Service Advisor.

All right, sir, your truck is all ready to go. And the total for that Transmission service is 89.99. I shouldn't have to pay for anything. The truck is under warranty. Your Truck is a 2008, sir. It's no longer under warranty. And preventative maintenance doesn't fall under the warranty anyways. And we're an independent shop, so we don't do warranty work here. I'm not paying for it because I didn't agree to that amount. But you did, because you signed right there on the dotted line saying that you agree to that amount. I'm not paying that. Let me talk to somebody. Somebody else. Who else could you possibly need to talk to? Because they're gonna tell you the same thing that I just told you. You owe me 89.99. Well, let me talk to him. He seems like he knows what he's talking about. Why would you assume that? Because he has more experience than you. Are you talking about Brad? Yeah. He might be 65 years old, but he's only been writing service for two months. I've been doing this for several years, Brad. Do I have to pay for this? Yep. I'm leaving a bad review.

I love that. That is one of the. That's definitely a thing. Right? Like, where there's the older person. Let me talk to that. When they seem like they know what they're talking about. And it's either. It's either a gender issue or it's an age issue. Like, either way, there's no bearing for saying that the older person knows exactly what they're talking about.

Yeah. It's also harder for females because they get that a lot.

Oh, for sure.

It has an. Customers are just mean when it comes to that, I think. But are you. So you need to download TikTok. We need to go on TikTok and start making videos.

Yeah, it looks like it's a really good avenue. And there's really no filter, which is really cool.

Yeah. Like, some of them we can't play because it's just swearing after swearing after swearing. Advisors just going nuts.

It would just be one straight beat for 25 seconds.

It's funny. So, questions from the audience. I have kind of bad news. The Voice of God. I think we're going to retire the voice of God.

Is it appropriate for us to genuflect when that.

What does that mean?

Christian just did the sign that Catholics do, like the Spirit, Holy Ghost and whatever.

Father, Son, Holy.

What do you call that?

Genuflect.

I believe that's what it's called.

I think so.

I've always just said it's the thing that the Catholics do. Yeah, I didn't know that it had a term.

Yeah, usually they know what you're talking about when you say that, though, so.

So that's your way of saying goodbye to the voice of God is doing.

The Bless his soul.

Bless his soul. Okay, so now we kind of want to try something else because we get so many questions, it's getting hard to navigate. So we set up a hotline and we'll put this in the description also. But if you want to ask a question, we would love if you would call in and ask your question on the voicemail and then we'll play it on the show. And same thing. If, if your question makes it on the show, we'll send you some swag. Coffee mug, sticker, T shirts, notebooks, some service Drive Revolution stuff. But the number is 18333, ask SDR. We got our own phone number.

How about that?

8333 ask S, D, R. Or if you can't spell and you want me to do it for you, it's 833-327-5737. But call, ask your question and on there, that would be fun. And if you make it on the show, we will love you and send you swag just like more than anything else. So what are the questions that we have this week? Let's go to question number one.

Hey there, Chris. Longtime listener, first time caller.

I just wanted to know, how did you become a general manager?

Wow. It's one of my favorite stories.

What part of the story?

Pretty much the whole thing. I want to spoil it because it's your story. But I'll tell you what my favorite part is.

When you're done.

Should I tell the whole story? Do we have time for that?

Let me see.

You know, today was leg day and I am starving.

Oh, I love the food after the workout.

Oh, I'm so hungry on leg day. Do you notice my legs are getting bigger?

I feel like.

I might be on the verge of being in the best shape I've ever been in my life.

I feel the same way. That's really interesting. I think your Legs are looking bigger. This part's looking bigger, and this part's looking smaller. Yeah, you're doing a lot of things right, which is really cool.

Pretty soon, I'm just gonna start walking around the office with my shirt off.

I don't blame you. I don't know why we don't do it.

How funny would that be? That would be just walking around with your shirt off. Yeah. People. It's always funny when people do that. Okay, so.

And I don't know. That's a great question. So how did I become a general manager? So.

The funny thing is about this story is I was never a service manager. People assume I was a service manager. I never was. So I went from being a service advisor to working for a consulting company as an advisor trainer. And then I became a consultant. And for most of my early 20s, I would go into service departments on commission and turn them around so I would get a percentage of the new sales that I would create.

And I had a lot of clients doing that. Most of my clients were in California, But, I mean, I was going all over the country doing it. And I could only do, like, three new clients a year because it was a lot of work and intensive. And I eventually had a couple people under me that were working for me. My deal with the consulting company was I got a percentage, and they took a little bit, but I had to get my own clients, that sort of thing. And so one thing that I did early on, I knew the key to my success early on, even when I was a service advisor, was that mysterious thing called the financial statement. I remember it would be sitting on the dealer's desk. It was in the service manager's office. Sometimes if I was in there, and I would kind of look at it and try to understand it. But I always understood that the key to understanding how to make a dealership go was that. Right. The financial statement. So when I went to work for the consulting company, I actually traded advisor training for them to train me on the financial. So I would get like $1,500 for a couple days of advisor training in a service drive. Sometimes it was like $2,000 for a week or whatever. I would tell them and trust me, like, I needed the money, but I would tell them, like, hey, I'll go do this advisor training for free if you'll train me on. On financials. And so they. They took it seriously, and they trained me on the whole financial, every department. And what would happen is, as I would go into a dealership and fix the service Department. I'd become friends with the dealers because I was kind of the only person they could talk to, Right? Like that happens to us. Like, especially when you start to get them results and you take. So you take an asset. Like let's say they have a department that's making zero and you take them and now they're making 3 or 4 million a year. That's life changing money, even for a dealer. And they invite you over, you meet their spouse, you become friends. Then what they do is they see you as an expert on the financial statement, which I kind of was. And they will say, like, hey, I'm thinking about buying this dealership. Would you, would you look at it? Tell me what you can do with it. Mostly they're referencing the service department, but I would look at F and I, I would look at their front end. Like, I would look at all of it. Because I don't. I still to this day, when somebody hands me a financial, I get excited like I want to, because the financial is the story.

Like, you can tell what's going on in a business with the financial. I can tell if the culture is broken. I can tell if the leaders are good or not. I can tell if they have systems in place. Like, you just. You can tell, right?

Yep. It's a puzzle.

Yeah. And so one of my clients that I had done a pretty good job for and became friends and would see socially and hang out with was thinking about buying. This is funny. It was a SOB bunch of Saab dealerships that this guy here in Southern California owned and he became a.

Senator or something and he, he wanted to get rid of him. You just think about Saab. Like, imagine if that would have happened, right? So I did a projection. I did a projection on the front. I built this Excel spreadsheet and. And I would project car sales F and I used service parts, the whole thing. And I would say, like, this is what I think we, you know, we could do with the back end. And I would give them a kind of an analysis of the financial statement and what I would look for.

And I knew, because my goal was always to be a dealer. I knew that to be a dealer I had to do one of two things. Be a general manager or I had to go to the dealer academy, the mysterious nada academy. Now, I didn't work for a dealership, so I needed somebody to sponsor me to go to the nada academy, right? So this client and I. And it would happen with quite a few clients, but I really like this client. And we became friends would ask me consistently, like, hey, I'm thinking about buying this Audi store I'm thinking about, and.