The Top 5 Things KILLING Service Advisors! (Service Drive Revolution)
Transcript of a Service Drive Revolution episode (hosts Chris Collins and Jeremy O'Neill) discussing threats to automotive service advisors—chiefly automation/tablets/kiosks—plus anecdotes (Starbucks, pets), hiring and performance advice for service advisors, and audience Q&A. The hosts debate whether automation will replace advisors, economics of replacing staff, and practical advisor tactics to avoid replacement.
Chapters
Welcome everybody to Service Drive Revolution.
I'm Chris Collins, this is Jeremy o'. Neill. We are going to deliver an amazing show for you today. We're going to talk about the top five things that are killing service advisors, not the top five things that are hurting advisors, making advisors uncomfortable, making it burn when they pee, that's killing them. The top five things that are killing service advisors we're going to talk about can Toyota replace advisors with automation? An interesting article on automotive news.
The automation is coming and we have.
Some great questions from you, the audience. We love you. We thank you for all of your support. This has to be the number one show in automotive.
I agree.
Our downloads are up crazy. Our fans are the best, our listeners and we appreciate you and are very grateful. So thank you for that.
Absolutely.
We love your questions. Some of the questions. It's hard to pick them.
It is really hard.
We have a pre production meeting and we go through them and it's hard to pick which questions because they're so good. So it should be fun.
You know how I always make fun of you that you were the good looking guy, that it all came easy and all that.
I thought you were going to talk about my heartless soul or the dark spot in my soul again.
No, no, I don't believe that. Actually I think you're more of a softy than you put on. Cool.
I, I would agree with that.
Okay. I think that the pet the dog video could transcend industries and I've had people actually say that and play it for, for different industries. But I go to the same Starbucks when I go to the gym. I don't know, for years.
How many years have you been going to the Starbucks?
A couple years.
Okay.
And so at least three times a week I go in there, you show.
Up, they greet you by name. Hey, Chris, good to see you again.
5:15 in the morning, they have your.
Favorite drink ready to go.
No. So that would happen for you, right?
Oh, absolutely. I go to three different Starbucks in my town and they all know my order, they know the different cars I drive and man, we get a lot of business out of Starbucks too.
But yeah, I was thinking this morning that I've been going there for years. They do not know my name, they do not know my order. Every time it's like they're meeting me for the first time.
They.
Every morning I get a green tea.
Okay.
I can't drink coffee before I work out.
Okay.
Can you, yeah. Can you work out in the afternoon?
I typically work out early in the morning. I can work out anytime.
I have coffee right after, but I can't have coffee before. Okay. But I have green tea, and I go in there, I have my $3 that I put in my gym bag. I give them the $3, they give me back a nickel because it's like 2.95 for the large Ventas Big Gulp.
Yep. The Train to Size green tea.
The Emperor's green tea, and then I drink that while I'm working out. Actually, I love it because a little caffeine wakes me up every morning. It's like the first time. Never sweetener in it or.
No sweetener.
No, no, just green tea. How God intended it.
Perfect.
You put sweetener in it.
They do. I. I get it. Without sweetener.
Oh, no, I'm not into all that. But you're that kind of guy that would go there for a week and they would know your name, they would know your order. You'd come in. Me, I'm invisible.
I don't think it's a you thing. It's probably where they trained this particular Starbucks staff at. Do you know where the worst.
No. It happens to me in all Starbucks.
Everyone that you go to. Yeah.
Like, never do. They know.
So you're saying you just blend into the background. Like you. There's nothing about you that stands out.
There's two things, though, about that, probably. One is I never order anything that they have to write your name on a cup and make it over at the barista. I order black coffee, which they turn around and hand you. Or I order green tea, which they turn around and hand you.
Correct.
But I never order anything that makes you go wait in another line.
Okay.
And I hate it when I'm with people and they do that because.
Slows you down.
Well, you're there for 10 minutes waiting for them to put milk in your coffee or whatever. Like, I agree, but I'm a coffee purist, so, you know, growing up in Seattle, Starbucks is the McDonald's of coffee, honestly. But I just wanted to point that out. Like, I was thinking about you this morning. I'm like, you know, if Jeremy was coming here, they would all know his name. He. He'd walk in, there'd be like, oh, Jeremy, your green tea's ready. They'd see you coming around the corner, and they'd start making it ready to go. I come in, and every day it's like the first time, and they're like, the Emperor's green tea. I'm like, well, how many green tea.
Well, you know, that's the difference of a service advisor with an E and a service advisor spelled with an O.
Hold that joke.
You're jumping ahead.
No, I'm trying to tie it in.
So the other thing that's amazing about Starbucks little observation, okay, Is like when I go in there, they've been open for like 15, 30 minutes, okay. There's always a line in front of me.
Okay.
I'm usually the first person to put a tip in. The tip is empty. I'm only putting in a nickel.
You're only putting a nickel, but I.
Still feel like I'm putting in a nickel. But it's more than they've made in the last half an hour.
They're probably just pissed off that you don't use your credit card so they can't go shopping online.
But when you do the credit card, you don't tip them.
Well, no, but they are going to take your credit card information and go shop later and steal your credit card, basically.
Later, Starbucks.
Yeah.
Is this another conspiracy? It is another conspiracy started the coronavirus.
No, but what I was going to say was this. It's like that service advisor that doesn't understand how to pet the dog or.
Service advisor or er.
Well, we'll get to that in a second.
Service advisor.
We'll get to that in a second. But you know, like the customers that come into the shop forever or the dealership forever, and the service advisor has helped them numerous times. They have an appointment. They've already talked to the advisor maybe 10 minutes ago, customer walks in and they say, how can I help you? It's like on the customer side of. It's such a hollow experience, right?
No, totally.
Yeah.
That's how I feel when they're like. I'm like, could you guys pet the dog? Like, how's your morning? What's going on? Like, it's literally like it's the first time they ever saw.
Have you shown them the pet the dog video?
No, they don't care.
Show it to him next time.
We'll send it to the CEO of. Of.
If you want, I'll go with you and I'll film it.
Whoever that new guy is, I don't know. It's not Howard anymore. Did you see? I emailed this to all of my dogs, but did you see that? In Hong Kong, authorities have warned people to avoid kissing their pets because dogs are carrying the coronavirus.
So don't kiss your pets because dogs are carrying the coronavirus.
Yeah, I'm not kissing my dogs anymore.
How did your dogs take that news They.
I emailed it out and I haven't heard anything. They haven't talked to me since, so.
So they blocked you?
No, they haven't talked to me.
Well, what's their typical return response rate? How long does it take your dogs typically, to get back to you?
They're slow to email back on.
Like, I get instant feedback from my dog.
Really?
Yeah.
Like, he'll text you right back immediately.
Yeah, because we have an iPad at home on my daughter's tablet, and then my dog, she's on it.
What kind of things are you texting your dog?
Ready to run, Ready to ride.
You take your dog for a run every morning. Oh, what kind of dog is it?
We have a Golden doodle.
Yeah, that's a real dog. My dogs aren't real dogs.
Your dogs will, like, go outside and be like, it's 72. It's too cold. I'm going back. Too hot. It's really hot. Yes, absolutely.
Yeah, my dogs are. Bulldogs are more of a. What would you call that? Like a trophy dog. Like, they're friendly, they're fun, they think they're people, but they're not super motivated. Like, I grew up at Shelties, Okay. Those dogs, like, energy. I would play soccer. Like, they would run. They would chase stuff. They catch a Frisbee. If you threw a Frisbee, my dogs. And I'll be like, why are you throwing stuff?
So what you're saying is they'd be.
At their therapist going, hey, my dad's throwing stuff, and it's making me really uncomfortable.
So what you're saying is the. The bulldogs are more like trophy wives. Like, it's there, but you can't really play with it a lot and kind of like that.
I like this. I like this path. So what is a trophy wife? Do you call your wife a trophy wife?
Of course. My wife is everything to me. 21 years of marriage, my soul mate.
But is she a trophy wife?
Absolutely. Well, my trophy. I mean. Yeah, for sure.
See, when I think. When I think you're gonna get me.
In so much trouble here.
Something different. I think of your second wife.
Well, I'm only gonna have one, but I don't know.
When I used to live in Orange county, like, a lot of older guys had the younger.
Yeah.
Trophy wise.
Okay.
So now there's a stereotype instead of fake bullets. Yeah. Lips, the whole thing.
Y.
And they. So that's what I felt would be a trophy wife, But I don't know.
That's why you can't play with the Trophy wife.
So your wife is not a trophy wife?
No, all natural.
Oh, so you have to have plastic surgery to be a trophy wife?
Well, yeah, because then if you have that and you play with it, you might break it. So that's why the trophy wife stays.
I wish we could get your wife on the phone and ask her.
No, no, no, no, no. We're not going there. No. Moving on. What's the next topic?
The next topic is. And this is a big deal. I'm going to put it. I'm going to put on my glasses. So, new article in Automotive News written by Larry Veliquet. I hope I'm saying that right. Larry Veliquet. Larry obviously is a good writer, but he doesn't know the first thing about auto.
You can tell he has not.
He's never spent a day in his life in a dealership.
I agree with that 100%, Larry. At least on the service road.
Good. Right. I actually think I've met Larry before.
Larry Velaquette, reporter covering Toyota and Volkswagen for Automotive News. I actually think I've. I've met Larry. So I don't know, maybe we're being too hard on Larry. But here's the thing, Larry. Anybody who has written service or worked in a service department knows that the way that you spell service advisor is with an or at the end, not e. And so through this article, he spelled advisor a D, V, I, S, E, R, which is not, like you pointed out, not the wrong spelling, but not the correct spelling.
Correct. Not from the insider's perspective.
Yeah. So little inside. Little inside love for you, Larry, is. Let's. Let's change that E into an okay and it'll be a little more accurate.
Absolutely.
But great written article. I love. So I'm going to read part of this because it's really funny. He said. He said, hey, service advisors, can you talk for a second? That new co worker and the service driver is kind of making you look bad out there. Upselling every customer, pushing accessories more effectively, checking on every VIN for recalls, equity mining every vehicle that comes through for sales leads, and all while processing customers and maybe a tenth of the time that you take and throwing every bit of information from each transaction immediately into the dealership management system like nothing.
Tell me about it. How does he have the energy to do it?
And the worst part, the same co workers doing all this without having to take breaks or complaining about long hours or needing health insurance or vacations, and this newbie is working for less. Admit it, a tiny fraction of what you're making.
Are you serious?
And basically the point of this is that, and it's something we've talked about on the show before is automation. And the stats are coming in more and more that just putting an iPad in front of a customer and letting them pick, they will sell themselves more than an advisor who doesn't ask.
Well, okay, right, I agree. Now if you understand sales, Jeremy, seriously.
Okay, you and I. Well, I gotta put my versus the automation.
Okay, I will kick the crap out.
Of that automation 100% every time. Yes.
There's no way.
There's no way what that.
What we're saying here is that advisors don't ask and they're not consistent and that's why. But there's no way that automation is gonna outperform me.
I agree with you, absolutely. And the other thing is, if you look at the sales language, look at the words that he used to describe the sales process pushing, upselling, those are all things that customers don't want. So yes, a tablet or a kiosk might pull things up and say, hey, it's raining today. Do you want wiper blades? Okay, well any idiot could say that, but you're not going to really double or triple your gross selling wiper blades. It's the connection that you get. Now the thing that I think is going to happen is the kiosk, in my opinion is a novelty right now. What's going to transcend it is the app on the phone is when the customer can actually just check right in on the phone without having to go to the kiosk and it's already automated in through the system and they can drive the transaction there. There's always going to be a need for an advisor though. Always. We need. So yes, absolutely.
Okay, so I've been in some meetings and I've been hired to come in and add my point of view to meetings about this. And the thought process at the top at some manufacturers and dealer groups is that.
Even if the automation performed to what advisors perform to now, if you take out the expense of the advisors.
Right.
It's a huge profit. Okay, so it's a huge increase in profits.
Can I break it down real quick.
For the individual dealer?
So let's say $50,000 a year for an average advisor. Okay, six advisors on the drive, that's 300k a year is what they're looking at. They're saying that all they have to do is match what current production levels or sales levels are and they're going to earn that extra 300% or three.
Well, they're going to keep the 50 grand.
Yeah, they're going to keep the 300K.
But if. So if you have a store and you have four advisors and let's say they're, they're averaging 50k, but it's probably a little higher than that with benefits and everything else, right? So you're saving 200k a year. The average service department isn't making 200k a year on average. Like there's some making millions, but.
Something to think about, it really is.
No, I'm. Yeah, like it's a thing. So.
But there's a reason.
And then the point is, is it outperforms advisors. So that's like, that's the nuclear weapon, right?
Must have went to the worst dealership on the planet to get those numbers.
No, no, in the stats. In the stats that are out there. Well, here's the thing. I was speaking in a, in a, at a thing years ago and a guy was speaking before me.
From I think, Chevron.
Okay.
And when I was all done, he kind of pulled me to the side and he was like, I really like what you're saying. He goes, you know that our average gas pump with no advisor there, 33% pick premium.
Okay?
So if the average closing ratio of an advisor selling breaks or an oil leak or an alignment or whatever is 30%, okay. And they're saying that with automation it's closer to 50%.
Okay?
You reduce your expenses and increase your, your net. And so could a parts guy coordinate that? Do you need an advisor? Like, that's the thinking now. I don't know. It's kind of like driverless cars. It's like, yeah, eventually I'm sure that happens, but it isn't happening today.
Let me throw another curveball at you. Let's think about this. What if that Starbucks that you absolutely love because of the personal touch they don't give you. What if you walked in tomorrow? Well, you can't do it tomorrow because we'll be somewhere else. What if you walked in on Monday morning and there's a kiosk there, there's nobody behind the counter and it's fully automated and you can punch in your order. You know, you walk up, it does retina detection, honestly. And it says, welcome, Kris.
I would refer it to that face girl that's usually there.
Literally like the girl that's usually there in the morning is talking to the barista. Never even makes eye contact with me. Could care less that I existed. At least the machine is like, I don't know. I'm a gadget guy, like.
So why hasn't Kerbals done it yet then?
McDonald's is absolutely.
But McDonald's. And I would say McDonald's is probably a good lesson in this.
Have you gone to the McDonald's where they do it?
Yes.
Yeah.
You've got the bit.
Yeah. It's easy.
And they've cut down their staffing. They're payroll load is probably 50% of what it normally is without that system in place. So it's definitely an enhancement. It's something that we could do. I'm actually thinking of, well, how do I do this at my shop now? Right. However, I still want the person.
What's your advisor's name?
Mike.
Mike. I'd be worried, bro.
No, Mike is really good.
How much does Mike make? An extra. It's an extra 60 grand to the bottom line. Mike.
Hey, come on. We're in Hesperia. We only pay three bucks an hour up there.
Minimum wage is three bucks an hour.
It's his spari. What do you expect?
That's so funny.
Something to think about.
Really fun article, Larry.
Absolutely.
Thank you. Yeah, bro. Just the. The o would make this for us insiders. I get that that's inside, you know, soup, but.
So our next show is going to be the five things advisors can do to avoid being replaced by the tablet.
Oh, that would be a good one.
There we go. You heard it here first.
Have a higher closing ratio.
100%. Close it all.
So funny. Okay, let's go to to your questions.
Hey, I thought of something while we're. I found this. This is going to help you.
How's this going to help me?
Maybe if. Maybe if you tip more than a nickel at Starbucks, it might remember your name.
Get out of here.
I feel like a dancer. Throw dollars.
I'm going to tip them a dollar to not remember my name. I'm not tip. I shouldn't even be giving them the nickel anymore. I'm going to start. I'm going to start playing with the card thing that way.
You don't believe in over tipping.
I way over tip. What do you mean?
It doesn't sound like it. A nickel at Starbucks. That's why they're like, you're not giving him a dog. No. No way. That's fine.
Take your dog. Mr. Don Rito, how are you today, my friend?
Oh, I'm doing just fantastic, Chris.
The feedback has been unbelievable. People, people love you on the show. Everybody's rooting for the XCON to rehabilitate Himself.
Oh, good. I'm trying my best. You know, I only drink four times a day now instead of 20.
You don't. You haven't been selling anything to anybody who doesn't need it, right?
No, nothing. As you know, a part of my parole is that I can't work in any business.
You know what I always say, if you wouldn't sell it to your mother, don't sell it.
Well, it's a good thing that I am an anthropomorphic furball with no. No genetic bloodline.
That's a big community college word. Anthropopotic. Yeah, anthropomotic.
I didn't hear. I don't know.
You obviously went to community college. Okay, what are the questions? Don't.
Today we got some great questions. Let me, let me get to the first one here.
Hi, Chris. I love all your videos. I would like to know, how would you go about attracting a service advisor for an independent shop? What are the best ways and places to host the ads to get in front of the right people?
Thank you for that. But I think that you probably want to address Jeremy because he's better at that than me.
Yes, absolutely. So finding a service advisor for an independent shop, number of things. First, you want to profile the type of advisor you want. So you want to know the personality that you're looking for.
So you're short, chubby.
Yeah.
Stutters.
Absolutely.
Doesn't really like people.
Cost right now.
More introverted.
Introversion is great, you know. Yeah.
Introverted doesn't really like people.
Task oriented versus people oriented.
Doesn't like dogs.
Hates dogs.
More of a cat person.
Cat people.
What you want is a guy who has 12 cats.
That's what you want. That guy whose house smells like cat pee.
Oh my God.
Those make the best advisors at independent shops.
Yeah. Now on a serious note, hit up your Facebook page. One of the things I would do is poll your customers and ask them who is the best service advisor they have ever dealt with. Find out who the main player is in your town and try to attract them. It took me over two years to. Yeah, took me over two years to find my guy. Michael's now at our shop. In two months. I look back at over the two year process of building that relationship to where the stars finally aligned. For him to come out of a dealership and come into an independent, it's a big risk on his part, obviously.
You stole it from a dealership?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, wow. Took me two years to steal him from a dealership.
Well, I didn't Steal him. He's not.
What has been his feedback coming from a dealership, going to your shop.
You know, the Indy's a little bit harder just because you're dealing with multiple brands. You're, you know, know anything rolls up, you've got to work on it. So that's been about it, but it's a little harder. It is a little harder, absolutely. But we're setting record months. It's great. So poll Facebook, find out who the main player is in your town. Maybe the top five, top five advisors you'd want to deal with. Also I love Indeed. Get something out there on Indeed. Get your resumes going or your job posting going. And then real estate. Just talk to customers and then go shop people, phone shop people. Have you ever done that?
Yeah.
Yeah. Call the other shops and dealerships in town and find out who's good on the phone and then start recruiting. Take them to lunch.
It's good. Good question. What, what's the next one? Don?
This next question comes from Josh on YouTube. Hey Chris. I work for a Nissan dealership in San Diego and I ride about 350 to 400 arrows a month. Jesus.
Holy moly.
Which is most than more if not all of other advices. I've noticed my ELR and hours per RO have gone down recently. Am I writing too many ros?
Okay, so let's do the math here. Can you do that in your head?
So 15 to 20 cars per day.
15 to 20 a day on a 20 day Nissan. So I think Nissan, you're okay at 15, but 20 is too much. So I, I would, I would try to keep that around 15. I usually find that you can, you can do your, your math with what would I make if my hours per row, my ELR and I sold more, you know, alignments or whatever it is compared to riding too many under delivering being stressed out all the time. The sweet spot is usually like one less. You know, you can do the two hour call, you can update, you can touch people more, spend more time with them. Usually is the magic. So I try to, I'd try to keep it around 12 to 15.
Yeah. And I think make sure your title is spelled with an E not an O.
Little kick it automotive news. The man with no soul. Yeah.
You know the other thing too is think about front loading more of the transaction. Make sure go back, watch the pet the dog video. Get really purposeful and passion filled. Is your passion bucket filled for serving your clients? Because right now you're talking about numbers and transaction. You got to get back into relationship with these customers and watch how the sales just roll in. Every time I get a slump in my sales, what do I do? I take.
Go to your passion bucket.
I go to my passion bucket. Absolutely. And I got to make sure it's full because when I serve people and I really feel confident about the recommendations or the concerns that we find on their vehicles, the sales magically follow. And I get a lot more of these on the paycheck.
I love it.
Yeah.
Awesome. Any more, Don?
We got one more. This one comes from LinkedIn.
Hi, Chris. Just gonna start out by saying that you've helped me a lot in the past month as a service advisor. We love hearing that. Don't we love hearing that, Chris?
Absolutely.
I have a question for you. We have implemented a new pay structure at work and a new appointment.
