Trump (yes, Trump) and Selling More Maintenance (Service Drive Revolution)

Foreign.

Welcome everybody to service drive revolution. I am Chris and this is Jeremy. We welcome you to the big show. I believe in a lot of scenarios we are having more fun than you.

Absolutely right. I believe that.

I think we're having more fun. We have a show for you today that is going to be the show of all shows. Jeremy's going to talk about how you can sell more maintenance, which is fascinating. His stuff on that is so good. You're not going to want to miss that. We have questions from the guest and we're doing a new segment here. We're going to have a friend, Don Rito, read the questions. You're going to want to see that. It's going to be a little different than probably what you think, but I'm excited about it. You're nervous about it? I'm excited about it. Nervous about the crew is really nervous about it. Russo over there is going to have a heart attack.

I have an update on my mission for the $100,000 assistant which is going to involve tequila.

You didn't tell me that.

Yeah, we're going to day drink coming up.

Nice. I need a designated driver.

This afternoon a new segment that we're going to introduce called terms you should know. So jam packed. But first off, at the top of the show, we need to read the comp winners for last month. These are the top service advisors and managers in our software. We call it top dog underground. And these advisors, out of hundreds and hundreds of advisors, they were the top advisors in total sales and customer satisfaction. Some of the groups have effective labor rate, some don't, but. But five or six different categories of performance and these were the top. Now the managers are graded on their average advisor's performance.

Got it.

So that's how the managers win. So for the American group, the top manager was John Wayne.

Nice.

Back from the dead.

Absolutely.

John Wayne.

In second place was the grandmaster. For the advisors, uncle rich was number one. Good job, Uncle Richard. Mama was number two. The closer was number three. Shade was number four and pitbull was number five. So good job, everybody. In the American group, Japanese group chief Grady was the top manager. Second place. What would you call that? The bridesmaid. The bridesmaid in the Japanese group was Al Capone. Back from the dead. A lot of people are coming back from the dead.

A lot of different names in there.

Top advisor in the Japanese group was Thorny. Good job, thorny. Second place. Or what we call the bridesmaid Foster. Third place, Lucky Luciano. Fourth place, Carlitos. And fifth place. Judd's mom in the Highline group. Again, nobody could beat him, it seems like, or not very often. The monster. Good job, monster. Hope you're not too cold there. He's an elite. He's in the elite. Member of managers and obviously a very high performer. Top advisor.

From a different store though this store is in Virginia. Jay White. Good job, Jay White. Top second place of the bridesmaid, Rover dog. And third place in Highline was original Spock. No Mo. Where's Mo? Mo, you're slacking. What's going on?

Took a vacation.

Yeah. Then top manager in the Euro and highline group, the Grip. Top advisor, Amish gangster.

Nice.

Good job, Mitchell.

Bam.

Bam is the bridesmaid. And new Spock is third place from New Spock is from San Diego. Bam Bam is from Los Angeles. And then in the Canadian group, Maverick, elite member and assassin, $50,000 challenge winner, Maverick. And first place advisors, Wolfman. Second place is slider. And then in the Asian zing group, baseball Bill is first place. P is first place advisor. And the mad German is the bridesmaid. So good job you guys in the comp. Super proud of you. Keep it up. Let's. Let's have some fun this month. We.

Which we're going to be getting some independence in.

Yeah, we, we. When you launch which is coming up, Jeremy is launching Advisor training and then we're going to launch a syndicate for independent shops. And Jeremy, we should, we should do a comp.

Absolutely.

So in the, in this one we give away about $8,000 in prizes every month. So we'll have to figure out some prize money and how we're gonna do it.

I don't need my tools anymore, so I could give away some snap on tools.

Like you win a wrench.

Yeah, I mean, well, I lose my 10 millimeter socket every week, so I could just give that away. Be like I'm missing it or anything.

Is that the one you use the most?

Crescent wrench is my favorite tool.

Crescent wrench.

No, it's not. I don't even have one in my toolbox.

Doesn't even make sense. Okay, so you, you heard the episode. You weren't here. I don't know. Where were you? You were busy doing something.

Snowboarding. We had some snow in the mountains.

So Jeremy's too busy snowboarding. If you could be this good looking and life came to you this easy, you don't have to work and do this sort of stuff. You go snowboarding? How many days did you go snowboarding?

Well, until my son broke his Collarbone. We were going like three, four times a week.

Did he have to get airlifted off the.

No, but I picked him up. And it was my fault because it was.

You pushed him?

Well, my wife said to pick him up at 9. So I show up at like 8:55 and he's there. And I say, do you guys want to do one more run? So they go, do another run. And then they came down. I was doing something like, hey, do one more. So it was on that run that he broke his collarbone. So my wife doesn't know that yet. So it's my fault that he actually broke his collarbone. Because if I had fallen.

Wife not know that your son broke his collarbone?

Well, no, she doesn't know that. I let him go on two additional runs. So if I.

She doesn't listen to the show?

No.

So we're safe?

Yeah, we're safe.

So. So that's so funny. I did an episode because I was having a hard time here getting stuff done in the office. Like, I have. You know, do you ever feel like I have a lot of people, but I get very little done? And so I actually have a list in my trello of. And I think that I can't cuss on this. Right. Michael S. Stuff.

Right.

Stuff that I've had to ask for more than twice.

Okay.

And it's a long list. That's painful because I. I do, like. I spend a lot of time following up on stuff when what I want is people to come to me and go, okay, that thing. This is what happened.

Even if.

Even if it hasn't happened. I just want to know their trunk. Like something's happening. Right. So I did a whole rant. I'm sure you heard it. And I said I would pay a hundred thousand dollars a year if I could get somebody that would just get stuck. Stuff done. Right.

Absolutely.

And so a bunch of people have been applying, but so far. And I'm interviewing this kid. His name is Nick. There's his resume if you want to look at it.

So, Nick, for getting noticed.

Nick paid attention. He. He found a tequila that I love, but I've never had. So I've never had this one.

That is.

I have the other one. So this is Dos Artes limited edition. These bottles are numbered. So this is bottle 1061 out of 2000. Wow. So it's a numbered limited edition. If you're listening to this, you should go to YouTube and watch it, because the bottle of this tequila is art. And then he heard me griping about how I want Essential water. Whenever I check into a hotel. You probably don't. When you travel, you don't have all these kind of prima donna demands, do you?

Oh, no. I just drink tap water no matter where I'm at.

Okay, well, I have a whole list of things that I want when I go somewhere.

I'm something for me to aspire to.

I'm a. I'm a pain in the ass, basically, which people will tell you. But have you ever. Have you ever tried the one. This tequila, that. That I have the brand of this. But not this one.

No. I typically don't drink during the day.

We're drinking during the day. Jeremy, your maintenance, the thing you're going to teach them about how to sell more maintenance will be way better after a drink.

Okay.

You'll loosen up.

I'm a little scared here.

Why are you scared? Well.

Oh, my God.

We're just doing a little. We're doing a little sip here, so we're pouring this into sifters. Here you go, boys. Russo, will you come get this for.

Michael If I fall out of my chair, please forgive me.

And then that one's yours. Really? Are you that much of a lightweight?

No.

You know what, though? I haven't been drinking. But, hey, Nicholas, thank you so much for this gift.

Thank you.

We're going to enjoy it. And I look forward to interviewing you here. Coming up. Really nice touch. These little things matter.

Yeah, absolutely.

This is a. This is a big deal. So cheers.

Cheers.

Cheers. To you, Nick. What do you guys think?

Smells good.

That is good. That's smooth.

Should we just forget about the show today and just drink now?

No, but I. I am gonna make. I'm gonna have a few more sips during the show. That is really good.

Have you ever done any kind of hallucinogenic?

No.

They're trying to get me to do mushrooms and go to an art gallery.

I'll drive you guys.

I've never.

I'll be the designated driver.

Anything like that.

I'll be the designated driver.

No, I'm not doing it. There's no way.

Just say no.

Yeah, it's all good, but these young kids, they're doing hallucinogenics and playing Xbox and vaping. Vaping? Yeah. They vape like crazy. Have you ever vaped?

No.

They're vaping constantly, all the time. Doesn't that give you popcorn? Lungs.

So good. Oh, now Jeremy's hitting the sauce. Yeah, I can't wait till we get to your maintenance.

Wow.

That's good.

Okay, Nick. Thank you.

In the News, Jeremy, we should be.

Wearing gas masks today.

Why is that? Coronavirus. Oh, the coronavirus. So they are. They are shutting down a couple factories.

Need some help with that.

In China? Yeah, well, this thing isn't exactly built for me to be able to bend over down.

So I have a theory on this. So wait, you just said they're shutting down some factories in China.

Yeah, I think. I think Trump's behind all this.

Oh, tell me, this conspiracy theory.

Well, I mean, think about it, right? If we didn't have factories in China and the factors are here in the United States, we wouldn't have to shut down production because of the coronavirus.

Make America great again.

Make America great again.

So do you think that the CIA planted the coronavirus?

That's confidential, sir. That's.

So you have inside knowledge that the coronavirus was created by the CIA to cripple the Chinese economy? To make Tesla's stock go down like.

20% in one day?

Yeah, yeah. That's crazy because everything's closed. Right? So you have this on. On good knowledge that that's what happened?

I have some undisclosed sources that, yeah, really? I believe Trump's behind all this.

So you don't think that the coronavirus came from market where they were serving wild game meat?

Well, of course. But the CIA injected that virus into that meat. Yes, absolutely.

You think so?

For sure.

Wow.

This is news.

It is breaking news.

Breaking news here. This is a service drive show and we're breaking national news. Breaking national news that the coronavirus started by the CIA.

But think about the economic ramifications if we can get all these factories back to the United States and get. I don't know who we're going to get to work in the factories, but if we get better paying jobs for Americans, it's going to bolster our economy and then Trump will win a second term and be president again for another four years and America will be great once again.

Because it's great now.

Yes.

Okay, so this is not a political show by any means.

So did I just cross a line?

No, not at all. So I always say that. I always say this to people because people say, don't talk about religion or politics. And I'm always like, why you can change my mind. Like, I'm not so set on anything.

Yeah, but you kind of have an open mind on that stuff then, right? Because there are some.

You don't want to talk politics or religion with somebody who doesn't have an open mind because they're like, they've been listening to too Much Glenn Beck or whatever, that they're just stuck in their weird Fox News thing and they don't understand that that's all propaganda.

So is that where. When you do. When we pet the dog, Right. So we go out and do the. Walk around on the car, you turn the radio on and whatever they're listening to, you tag it in their database so you know which type of customer you're dealing with.

That's genius.

I never thought of that.

That's what you do. You turn on the radio. And if they're on npr, Absolutely.

Then, yes, you change your selling style.

When I used to write service for Subaru, every car was on npr. There was never a Subaru where you got in. And it was on ESPN or.

Right.

Even though I don't know that we had ESPN back then. But there was never on the local sports radio. But by the way, when I was a kid growing up, sports radio in Seattle was amazing.

Okay.

Sports radio here in LA is terrible. It's all syndicated, syndicated stuff. But then we had local guys that talked about the Mariners, the Seahawks, we had the Sonics, we had a basketball team.

Okay, so back to politics, though.

We're way hot.

You said, you said make America great again. But the one thing about that that I kind of agree with is the Democrats for a long time, even Republicans to, to a degree would say, well, we just need to admit and accept the fact that we're not the leader in the world anymore and that China is growing so fast they're going to overtake us. And I agree with the idea that. No, no, they're growing on our money.

The trade deficit's huge.

Absolutely.

There's no reason why we can't still be the best. Why would we just give up? Correct.

Shouldn't give up.

Yeah.

So we have to bring it back.

I don't. Now, I don't support your. Your idea that you go give them the coronavirus or whatever. You did.

Wait. I did. Wait. How are you pinning that on me?

Well, I mean, it's clear that you think it's a good idea. I don't. I personally don't think that it's a good idea.

But just in case you're wondering where I've been for the past few months, I've been over in China. Planting with this.

Snowboarding was a lie.

It was. Yes. It was a cover.

Yeah. I think America's great. I don't. What other country would you want to live in? Like, honestly, how lucky are we?

I love where I live. I'm not Moving.

I don't know about politics. Like, I don't know the, the whole, I don't think that the Democrats can beat Trump at this point.

I would agree with that.

The whole impeachment thing and all that. I don't think it, I don't think that went over very well personally.

And the views expressed on the show are strictly the opinions of the guest on the show and not.

Why do you have, why do you have to say that? For what?

Just in case somebody took something the wrong way.

They don't care what we say. I would, I would think that most of the people listening to this show are in the middle like we are.

I'm not extreme either way, but I'm a capitalist. I'm not. There's no way I'm for socialism whatsoever.

Well, there's a trickle down effect too though. Right. So most of the people listening to this show are busy doing their thing like making their livelihood, making their living. So if you're a service advisor, service manager at a dealership or independent shop, your day is filled with work. Right. So realistically, what's happening in China, is it going to affect how many cars come into your drive? Is it going to affect your car count? Is it going to affect how many hours per ro you get? @ some point it.

Could. I think this is kind of to that point too. And that's a good point. Is, but really, can you control it either way? There's things you can control and things you can't focus on. The things you can.

Control.

Correct. Because there's a lot of.

Waste. Yeah. We can't control. But I think right now is the time to be really smart and get prepared for some of the things that could be.

Coming. Yeah.

Do you, are you a good.

Tipper? Absolutely. You are for good service?

Yes. What do you, when you travel around for housekeeping, what do you, what do you tip the.

Housekeeper? Well, at the hotels and.

Stuff. Yeah. Twenty dollar bill each.

Day. No, for like five bucks a.

Day. Five bucks a day. Do you put the five bucks every day or 20 at the.

End? At the.

End. Oh, so I do it every.

Day. You do. Okay, maybe I'll try.

That. Well, because I can't assume it's the same person every.

Day. That's true. I never thought of that, but.

I do five bucks too. So this, this car dealers giving, giving the automotive industry a good name. Aaron Bosch is a billionaire. Tipped $5,000 on $157 bill because Donnie Wahlberg started this hashtag called, hashtag 2020 tipping challenge. It's a viral tipping challenge to see who can tip the most. This guy might be winning, I don't know. But I would encourage you to tip.

$5,000.

Five grand on.

A. Every time you go out to.

Eat. Well, we are close to Hollywood.

So. Did you ever get out of a restaurant for $157 with all your kids and.

Family? Sometimes. Red Robin every now and.

Then. Red Robin. Or the Cracker.

Barrel. There he goes. Bringing up Cracker Barrel again. Yeah, I've been there since we went there. Mama's Kitchen, or whatever it.

Was. When we went to the Cracker Barrel, Jeremy ordered something. It was called, like, Mama's something. And then literally the next day, I read that that's the worst thing you can order in a.

Restaurant. It is. It had every piece of fat on the planet on that.

Plate.

So can we. Can we encourage you to tip.

More? We can. Speaking of that, you're going to be in Vegas this week at Nada, aren't.

You? I am not going to.

Nada. What are you talking.

About? You've never heard my. Because you go to events a lot, right?

This is.

The. There's so many leads there. That's like prime ground for you to pick up business. I.

Can'T. Hey, we're selling plenty of business. We're doing good, but I'm not nada. So for years, I did nada. I would have a booth there, and then I was a speaker there. When you speak there, they tell you what to do. So they said, you can't talk about Tesla. They tried to get me to take Satan out of my pet the dog story, which they micromanage you. The last time I did it, I did four workshops for them. One of the workshops I did with. With Gary, who used to. Used to do this with me. So we did one on.

Gamification.

Okay. And we did one on something to do with service departments. I forget.

I went when we were done or whatever they were. First of all, they were turning people away from the workshop, so they set up the rooms. Wrong. They told us beforehand that we're going to be in this interactive room. Right. The room wasn't set up right when we got there. Then they had. They. So all the things that they made us do, they weren't even organized enough to whatever. They don't pay you to do this, by the.

Way.

Correct. So you pay $100,000 to have a booth, and it's all union. It's a huge pain in the butt. They. They're the most. It's like, they hired the worst factory people to run an ada. They're not dealers. There's no dealers running Nada. It's a convention for profit. They could care less about the people. Most of the people that come to your booth, it's vendor on vendor.

Crime. So what you're saying is it should be labeled the National Communists Against Dealer.

Profits. They don't. Like, I remember that arguing with them about taking Tesla out, and they're. Well, that's not a popular subject with the dealers. And I said, but it's real. It's the elephant in the room. And I'm kind of a guy that tells the truth. No, like. And I was like, you guys. Anyways, long story short, the last time I did nada, and I said, I'll never do it again unless they pay me to do it. But I'm never going there and giving them my money. I got very little business out of it. And I led the. The attendance of all the workshops, except for one workshop where I was literally up against a panel with Penske. I think Peyton Manning was speaking or something. It was some. It was the last day, and I still had a full room, but they had an auditorium that had a bigger speaker than me. But on the other three, my workshops led in.

Attendance.

Right. I led those three days. Not so much as a thank you, not so much as a good job. Nobody even contact. Nobody said.

Anything. So the user experience, I go.

Into their, like, little weird speaker, like, green room, and I asked them to see the attendance thing, and they show me, like, it's ridiculous that no, I. Nada is a.

Joke.

Okay? So their attendance is down every year.

Anyways. So nada is off the.

Table. No. Okay. Anybody at Nada. If you ever want advice on how to make your convention actually help dealers be profitable and not just collect all the money from people buying booths, let me know. But, you know, your attendance is down. I don't know. Every year it seems like they have a new president. It's a.

Joke. Okay, so.

No. Are you sorry you.

Asked? I am now. But no big tips in Vegas this.

Week. That's big tips. What do you.

Mean? 2020. Hashtag.

Tipping. Okay. I'm excited about this next one.

Are you. Are you as excited as I.

Am? Really? I'm stoked about this one. This is. I need another taste of this tequila for this.

One. Okay, now we're going to. We're going to go to your questions. Understand? Everybody who sends in questions that we actually read on the show, we're going to send you swag, we send you service. Drive revolution coffee mug. A hat. You get a.

Hat. I like the hats, by the.

Way. Stickers and other.

Stuff. Very.

Nice. Oh, a T shirt. So you can wear it with pride. But let's. Let's go to your questions.

So everybody please welcome our. Our special guest. He's out of prison. We're. We're doing a thing here, Jeremy, where we're hiring people out of.

Prison.

Rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation. Oh, my.

Gosh. He went to prison for selling maintenance that customers didn't.

Need. Oh, my gosh. I heard about this.

Guy. This is embezzlement. White collar crime. Don Rito, everybody. Please welcome Don to the show. How you doing.

Don? I'm doing good, Chris. I love your.

Beard. Thank you, thank you. Your hat's falling off there.

Don. As you can see, my entire body is a beard. It's very unmanageable. But I appreciate the beard oil you sent me for Christmas. It was.

Lovely. You're.

Welcome. The hat was a good touch, but it's gone.

Down. It's gone. The hat.

Fell. Sorry, Don Rito, you're gonna have to go without.

It. That's.

Okay. So, Don, do we have some good questions.

Today? Oh, we have the best questions this week. You want me to read.

Them?

Please. All right, this first question comes from Instagram, username Syl Wand.

Effer. So.

Oneifer. I don't understand what language that is, but it is in English. Chris, love the podcast. Every day extra with Gary is a blessing. Quick background. I work as a domestic manufacturer representative for after sales, parts and service. My occupation's focus is to be more consultative to my group of dealerships. I am 24 years old and I am relatively new to the industry. What recommendations do you have for manufacturer reps, Pitfalls, qualities of successful reps, how to foster strong relationships with the fixed ops department, etc. I am trying to become a better student of the industry and look to you in your podcast on ways I can do that. I've read your book Gamification and am currently reading Extreme Ownership. I am a huge fan of the podcast and your self made episode was a huge inspiration for me on taking the next step in my personal and professional life. I get you probably get waves of messages all the time, so if you can't get to my question, no worries. Appreciate the podcast and everything you guys do. Keep killing it, exclamation.

Point. Awesome. Now that's a good question. You have. You have some service driver revolution swag coming your way. So basically the question here, don is he's a factory guy. How can he relate to his, his dealers in a, you know, in a way that's constructive? Right. So it makes me kind of think of. Of two things. So at one point, I had a bunch of BMW clients, like, I don't know, there were 15 of them that were. That were in a group here in Southern California. And BMW, the factory had a. An agenda that they wanted all of the dealers to be on the software program called mpi, which was an inspection thing, Right. So I'd had some dealers on it, but it seemed like every time I'd go into a dealership that was on that program, I would have to get rid of it because it just, it didn't work and their numbers would go down. So it actually would drive. Even though it was a digital inspection system, the hours per RO would go down. And the, you know, the nice people at MPI had reached out to me and I told them a couple times, if you guys want to pay me, I'll tell you how to fix your software. But there's some flaws in it. Right?

But long story short, two people from the factory at BMW and one guy, his name was Kevin. And I'd had run ins with him when I ran Crevier because he. We had this weird conversation where we did. We built a building and he came in and he was new to the facilities part of it. So he was the one that signed off that your facility was okay. Right. He's arguing with me that it's not BMW white, the walls aren't BMW white. And we got the swatch like up against the thing. The. It's exactly being like we followed everything to the letter, but the guy is colorblind or something. He's like, I'm not signing off on it, but we got his boss out and they signed off on it because he was crazy. But anyways, he then was in something to do with fixed stops. And this other guy who used to be the shop foreman for Vicky.

Was now a factory guy in service. So these two guys call me out to their headquarters here on the west coast, the BMW headquarters. And so they call me and I go through, I'm saying hi to everybody I know there, and they get me in this conference room, and I'm on one side of the conference table and they're on the other side. This is long table. And I think, like, they're going to say, hey, how do we. How do we get. How do we get our stores to perform like yours? But guess what? That was not what they were going to say. So they, they told me, hey, buster, we have a problem with you, blah, blah, blah. You're keeping MPI from going in all these stores because all these dealers.

Tell.

Us.

Well, you got to talk to Chris Collins, you know? And so I wasn't going to spend five grand a month on something that made their numbers go down, right? So long story short, I said, here's the, here's the problem, you guys. It's not that I'm trying to mess up your agenda from the top, that everybody has to be on this program, whether it works or not. Like, it's just the agenda. Nobody's actually seen numbers go up. But I said, let me ask you a question. What's the average net to gross in the average service department in the western region? And the one guy Kurt says, 1%. And then Kevin says, no, no, I don't know that that's right. Or whatever. I'm like, well, what is it you guys don't even know? So first of all, they have no clue what the net to gross is for the service departments whatsoever, right? But I'm hired to produce net to gross. So I just said, like, listen, the thing is, is like, you're. Your agenda and my agenda are in conflict with each other. It doesn't make me bad. It's just I'm there to create net to gross. Correct? And you, you don't care. You could care less about their net to go, hence you don't know what it is. Ends up. My average client was like 30 times higher than the average net to gross in the western.

Region. So they wanted to bring down.

To. They want to sell parts and they want. Right. So the, the best that I know out there, and they're not really a factory, they're a distributor is Southeast Toyota. Southeast Toyota. So they're a distributor for Toyota, but they kind of act as the factory in the southeast. So Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, yes, they are by far and away the best I've ever seen. That's what I would model myself after because they grade themselves on the profitability of their clients. No other manufacturer, like, nice. Ask a factory guy, what's the net to gross? None of them ever know. But they know, like, they care about the success and a lot of times the feeling that I've always had when I, when I owned a dealership or when I ran a dealership was the factory begrudged us for making.

Money.

Correct. They were like, you guys make enough money. Why can't you just do these stupid ideas that we have. Right. And so to make a very long winded answer, get in line with the profitability of the. Of the department or the dealership you're serving. Not the, the, you know, the flavor of the month. Because everybody knows the factories come out with a new thing every year and a new agenda, but it doesn't always benefit the.

Dealer. Yeah. And I know for me as an owner, when reps show up and they have their own agenda, they don't even. They don't even know about my business, they don't even know about my staff. They don't even know what we're going through. You've got to take a personal interest in the success of your client. You're absolutely right. And show up and be there for their agenda, not your own personal factory driven.

Agenda. Good. Good job. Don. What's the. Do you have another.

Question? Oh, yeah, we got another question. This one comes from Jordan, who is a person and not the country.

Hey, Chris. I have been an Advisor for about 10 years. I worked at multiple dealers and have experience with many different brands. Currently I am at a Lexus store. My question to you is, what is your opinion on calling a customer by their first name or last name? I prefer the first name because I feel like it makes a better connection. But out of respect, sometimes I feel like the last name is better and any help would be appreciated.

Thanks. Do you have an opinion on this? First name vs last.

Name? Depends on where you're at. If you're South Central Los Angeles. Yo, what's up? How can I help with your ride.

Today? So it's relative to the part of country. So what? In Canada, what do you say? Sorry. Eh? No, you just say.

Sorry.

Sorry. They're always saying.

Sorry. They're always saying.

Sorry. What do you say? What do you say? North.

Dakota. I'm lost. I have no idea. Do you have another jacket? Because it's.

Free. I thought you turned into like a Fargo thing. No. So the answer, Dawn, I think, to that question, and I remember doing this when I was an advisor, is just.

Would you like me to call you Chris or Mr. Collins? Just.

Ask. Absolutely. Another great one is to offer your name and shake their hand or however you do that and just ask them. I didn't catch your name or anything. And you are. And then they'll tell you their name and then use the name they gave.

You. Yeah. Because older customers will say, I'm Mr. Smith or whatever. Right. So I think that asking is a nice touch, Dawn. It shows respect. And then they will Direct.

You?

Absolutely. And it's weird because you can really get in trouble with that one because some people that are, you know, I know billionaires that want to be called by their first name, and I know people that are broke as a joke, that want to be called Mr. Thompson or whatever. So it really depends on the person and how they were raised and what their idea of respect is. But ask. That's. It's a great question, but I would just ask up front. Good, good. Good.

Job. Absolutely. We got some swag coming your.

Way. Anything else, Don? Are you feeling.

Okay? You know, I'm just happy to be here. That's it for the questions this week.

Grace. Okay. You gonna drink some.

Tequila? Oh.

Absolutely.

Okay. I've been drinking since.

8Am.

Cheers. Cheers to.

That. Cheers to that.

Chris. Thanks, Don. Good job. Give Don a hand.

Now we're gonna go to a section I like to call terms you should.

Know.

Terms you should know.

Know.

Retention.

Retention. What does retention mean? Do you know the formula for.

Retention?

All I know is it's my trust.

Fund. Your trust fund, your rich.

Uncle.

Absolutely. You call it trust fund, I call it rich.

Uncle. Same.

Thing.

Yeah. Yep.

Absolutely. What is the formula for.

Retention? I don't know. Educate me.

Please. It's how many of your customers come back? Okay, so are you retaining those customers? So in the independent world, it would be if somebody comes in, how many of those customers come in a second or third or fourth or fifth time? In the. In the dealership world, it would be if you sold a car. How many of those do you get in? In a lot of scenarios, even when they have free maintenance in the dealership world, they lose retention. By the fourth or fifth one, they're down to 25% that low. So they're saying that I would rather pay $80 at Jiffy Lube for an oil change than to come into the dealership.

Sad. And there's a number of reasons.

For that, but that is you owning an independent shop would. What. What do you think those reasons.

Are? Well, I think number one is convenience. I think a lot of times the amount of time it takes to get the vehicle in for service, sometimes the location of the dealership isn't as close to the work or to home as possible. So convenience is probably number one. The other thing, too, is I'm just going to smack the dealers right upside the head. It's the attitude of the service department when the customer is there trying to get an appointment, get.

Serviced. Too hard to get in, too.

Hard to get a live person on the phone, who's nice and.

Friendly. You don't like the. The automated phone systems, Press one for.

NASA. You know what? Forget the.

Phones. Just forget about.

It. Let me just book online with my phone, text, and just all that. So things are.

Changing. We have percentage of your customers book online in your.

Shop. We're at 22% right.

Now.

Wow. We're trying to move that number.

Up. I love it. So absolutely. That's terms you should know. Retention it is. How many of your customers come.

Back. And remember, the service advisor holds the key to that. And every person that touches that customer during the transaction plays into that retention.

Role. Great, Great point. Okay, now to the big. The big content here. Selling.

Maintenance. Yeah, but did you know I found a time.

Machine?

No. No. Seriously? Absolutely. I found Delorean, similar to that. But the cool part is we can have every customer take a ride in this time machine. Do you know what it.

Is?

No. It's vehicle maintenance. So think about this. What's the one thing as a service advisor that customers say no to? Pretty much regularly or easily? They neglect their car. They say no to maintenance. Why is maintenance easy for a customer to say no.

To?

Tell.

Me. Well, because if you say no when you leave, the car doesn't run any differently than it did before it came back. Like, wouldn't it be great if the.

Manufacturer. Because you don't notice a difference in.

Performance. Yeah, but think about this. If the manufacturers program the cars that if you were overdue for maintenance, the car would literally shut off and stop on the side of the road until you maintained it or the car would break down. That just doesn't happen. So I was thinking the other night, and I'm like, okay, how do we help service advisors and dealerships increase their maintenance revenue? Because parts revenue is under attack. Parts profit is under attack because of online venues. And I thought about this. What if you could help your customer understand that today they're in a really good position to step into the time machine and save 800% or get a return on their money of.

800%. So for every dollar you make.

$800. Eight. Eight.

Dollars. For every dollar you make $8. Okay.

Yes. That is the math. Maybe the tequila is working too much and my brain's not.

There. No, I'm wrong. You're.

Right. But yeah, what if you could get an 8 to 1 return on investment for every dollar that you spent? Well, maintenance does that. Studies have shown that for every dollar of maintenance that a customer invests in a car, it actually prevents approximately $8 of repairs down the road. Now, in the independent world, what happens is we see a lot of cars that are on the repair plan, and you'll see it too, in the dealership. But a lot of the dealerships take really good care of their customers vehicles, so they're on the maintenance plan. It's cheaper to drive a car on a maintenance plan than it is for a repair plan. So we want to get the customer out of repair land to get them back into a proper maintenance plan. And the way we do that is by selling maintenance. So the time machine is this. If you say yes to maintenance today, what you're doing is going three, four, five, ten years into the future, and you're preventing that transmission from failing. You're preventing an internal failure. I can't go out five years when an internal failure happens and flush the fluid or change anything. There's not a chemical I can put in your transmission to fix it once it's broke. But we can do it today and prevent it in the future. So we have a time machine moving forward. But go five years from now. If you said no to the transmission service today, I can't take you back in time and do.

It.

Yeah. So that's where the time machine aspect comes.

In. And it really applies to power steering, transmission. Like, I see more power steering racks. Like there's just metal chips in.

There. Oh, absolutely. And power steering racks are very. We're doing a lot. We're probably doing three or four a week right now in our.

Shop. Yeah, but it could be.

Prevented.

Absolutely. But the problem, too, is the manufacturers. Don't tell them.

To. It's not in a maintenance.

Book. Yeah, but man, they need.

It.

Absolutely. It could be prevented. I like that analogy of a time machine because it is. It's.

Huge. And the core of what we do as trusted service advisors is create a customized maintenance and repair plan, tailor fit for you and your car. So I am going to step outside of what's in the book. I am going to step outside of what the factory has recommended. Because keep in mind, when the car manufacturers design these maintenance schedules, they design them for a number of.

Reasons. To sell more power steering.

Racks. Well, to sell the car. So if I'm Ford and I'm designing the F150, but my cost of ownership for the first hundred thousand miles is 2500, and Chevy and Dodge is at 1200 for maintenance, who's going to sell more trucks? So I've got to be competitive on the maintenance. So that's where extended service Schedules have come out. That's where all these fluids are coming. But now we're seeing just a labyrinth of deep, expensive repairs between 100 to 300,000 miles because the system was neglected in the first hundred thousand. So what we want to do is customize the maintenance plan for our customer, help them understand we're going to put you in that time machine, take you into the future so you can save that.

Money. Do you actually say that to the customer at time of write.

It? During write up, we talk about their timeline. And then if I do get an objection with the sales presentation, talk about the time, I talk about the time.

Machine. And yeah, so it's like a crystal ball. Like you could say, like, hey, I got a crystal ball. Yeah, that. You already kind of know this. And everybody knows that if you maintain your car, you're going to save yourself money in the long run. But it's hard in the moment to do it. And you.

Procrastinate.

Right. But it is a time.

Machine.

Absolutely. I like.

That. Yeah. And you know, we've all had those instances where we wish we could go back in time and make a different decision. But today you have the power to make the right decision and say yes to your maintenance. So we protect your car for the next three to five years. So is it okay to go and move forward with the maintenance today.

Chris? Yes.

Sir. And you got to close. You got to ask that closing question. It's right there. So that's something that we're working with. That is we're getting great results with our coaching clients and we're seeing a ton of approvals and customers are happier than they are. We're preventing the.

Breakdowns. It's great. Yeah, preventing the unforeseen breakdowns. Right. Well, great show. Did you have.

Fun? I.

Did. I had a blast. Cheers with tequila. We want to thank you for tuning in if you're watching it on YouTube or listening to it on your favorite podcast outlet. Is that how you would say.

It? Network, whatever, absolute.

Channel. We hope you have a great week. Keep your your ears out this week for a drive by on Friday and we'll see you again real soon. Thanks.

Thanks for watching this episode of Service Drive Revolution. If you have any questions, go ahead and post them in the comments below. 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 chrisbulldogcollins. And I'll see you again on the next episode.