Why You Can't Hire Techs (Service Drive Revolution)

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Welcome everybody, to Service Drive Revolution, the home for anybody with the service drive. I'm Chris Collins and. And please say hello to Christian Lafferty.

Hello, everyone.

Christian, how are you doing?

Great.

You know what we're going to talk about today? Let me tell you what we're going to talk about today. Why you can't hire techs. That's going to be the subject today. We also are going to play my new favorite bit. Would you rather. And we're going to take a question from the audience. If you have a question that you would like Christian and I to answer on the show, don't forget the number is 8, 3 3, 3. Ask a SDR for our friends in Canada. That is Ocho. Tres, tres, tres. Ask SDR.

There are a lot of people in Canada that are extremely confused right now. I would say they need to learn.

Spang Nish. Spanglish.

You did that thing where you actually asked the question and then answered it before I even had a chance. Chance. Yeah.

I like doing that to people.

Yeah. And you got upset that I did that to you.

Sometimes, like, like if upset, that might be an exaggeration. Upset.

So, like, like, if I were to ask. Really, if I were to ask you. How many service managers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

How many service managers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

I give up.

3. One to unclog the toilet, one to deprogram the building alarm, and then the other one actually to do the screwing of the light bulb.

That's so true.

Who does the general sales manager call when the sales department's toilet is backed up? Service manager.

Yeah.

So funny.

You wanna. Let's. Let's start off with. Would you rather.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That last episode one was. That was rough.

You were working in Vermont for a year.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure. As opposed to a week in Waterloo. Like, the logic on that was horrible.

But okay. This one's just as bad.

I can't wait.

Okay, Christian, would you rather.

Ride up a night drop.

That ends up being a comeback for an advisor that's no longer there? The tech is still there, but the advisor's gone.

On a Volkswagen van again that the tech left lug nuts loose and the wheel came off driving on the freeway.

Wow.

So it was towed in on. On the weekend on Sunday.

And it's sitting there on a. On a jack. There's three wheels on it. It's missing a. The wheel jumped the median.

There's a lot going on there.

So it's a night It's a freaking vanigan too. You have to call the customer. Would you rather do that or write a 20 line warranty? Roll a car that's one day out of warranty, but they made the appointment a week ago.

Wow.

So a 20 line warranty, RO. And they're one day out of warranty, but they made the appointment a week ago.

Those are both flaming piles of doo doo. Like, I love it.

Which would you rather have?

Just imagine the face of that tech when he gets that 20, 20 line RO.

Yeah.

I really think I'm good at this.

Yeah. These haven't been clear cut. It's definitely been the lesser of two evils. I tell you what I think.

I think I'm taking the Vanagon.

Really? Yeah. The comeback for a different advisor.

Yeah.

Wheel came off.

Yep. Because it's my opportunity as the advisor to become the hero.

Could you. I know you never wrote service for Volkswagen, but you, you were a manager.

I manage Volkswagen.

But you probably didn't write up a lot of Vanagons, did you?

We had a technician that specialized in it. People would bring their Vanagons from all over the country and have them work on them.

You know what the greatest thing is about Vanagon's? The water cooler lines. So the radiators went all the way to the back.

That's right.

They leak. They leak instantly.

Yeah.

Those are the greatest. And I think they're like six hours or something to do.

Yeah, they're. They're definitely quirky little buggers.

Okay, so the Vanigan.

Yeah. I'll take the van again. Because you're getting into a situation where since the advisor left already, then you get to kind of take over and get the fresh start. So.

So you're thinking you'd make a friend.

I would absolutely make a friend out of the whole deal.

Okay, cool. Let's go to your questions. Remember the number if you have a question. It doesn't have to just be about service or parts. It could be anything. Marriage, advice, whatever. 8 3, 3, 3 Ask SDR. Let's go to the question.

Hey, Chris. My name is Kelly. I work here in southern Louisiana. My question for you was working with technicians. I don't want to overstep and make a technician feel like I'm second guessing his diagnosis. He is the technician. He's had the training. But dealing with techs and just knowing that they either didn't take the time to diagnose it and it seems like we're throwing parts at something or.

Them basically saying that a part Failed a certain way, and then either by knowledge or doing my own research, talking to other technicians, knowing that that's not how that part operates. I've actually sold a job on a car where he told me the turbo was leaking, needed to be replaced, only to find out, and my customer didn't actually have a turbocharged car. So that was my fault partly too, because I didn't actually go out there and put my eyes on it being busy in the front. But I just feel like my customers lose their faith in me. Makes me feel like a liar.

I don't know how to approach a technician that way without ruffling some feathers in the shop. Or if I need to ruffle feathers, that's fine too. I just try to keep the peace, you know, when possible.

Ouch.

What would you say to that?

Well, I think that there's a couple of things going on there. I'll let you address what you would do with the technician that told you that it needed a turbo. But in general, I think that this is something that as an advisor, that I actually had to get really, really good at because I don't know anything about fixing cars. Right. So, like, when I went from sales back to.

So no matter what you said, it was an insult to the tech.

Yeah. So what I did is I went back into the shop and I really asked them for a show and tell. What I did is I fell on my sword. I said, you know what, guys, I'm sorry, I don't know anything about fixing cars. And the more that you help me explain this to someone, the better off I'm going to be able to sell it for you. But in the meantime, when they're showing me the thing, it's also kind of confirming their diagnosis a little bit too. Right. Because they've got to show me whatever the thing is that's broken. But the whole tech telling you about something that's needed that's not on the car, that's a different scenario, don't you think?

Do you think that the tech was messing with her or do you think that the tech.

That that was real?

So what I think happens in some cases is technicians, you know, when you figure you've been working on the car for 20, 30 years, you get an rock, it's got a certain complaint on it, and in your head, you automatically go to, oh, it needs a turbo because of the description of the issue. And then you give it back to the advisor, say, call them, tell them it's going to need a turbo. You don't look at the car or anything like that. So that probably works in 95% of the cases where they're right because of their experience. But in those 5% of the cases, I don't know, it's unacceptable to call somebody and tell them that they need a part that they don't own.

I think there's a term for this in. In psychology. But before we talk about that, like, I think in that situation, I would go back to the tech and I would like. Let's say the text name's John or whatever, and I'd be like, you know, John.

You know, your parents did a terrible job raising.

Go right to the parents. Yeah.

Like, just ethically, like they raised a savage. Like, what?

It's bad parenting or something. But I don't think you can let that slide. You gotta make a big deal out of that. But in psychology, they kind of call this process versus content or process or content. And so let's say, for example, like, have you ever been in a situation where you're with your significant other and. And they ask you, like, honey, do. Do I look fat in these jeans?

Yes. Trick question.

You said yes or you've been in that situation?

Yes, I've been in that situation. And yes, I said no.

You said no?

I did.

So why did you say no?

Because yes is what they.

Don'T want to hear.

But the truth is that maybe it did look big. So the content. The truth is the content, right?

Yep.

The truth is the actual. Yes. You do look kind of thick, which now is kind of a cool thing. Yeah.

It's funny how that.

Oh, yeah, right.

Yep.

But the process.

Where people get messed up. So in that situation, like, oftentimes you're arguing with somebody and.

You'Re right in the point that you're making, but they don't like the way you said it, or they don't like the way it makes them feel.

Right.

And so the process is the problem, not the content. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

So it's how the information is being exchanged and how the other person feels. Feels about that exchange. Really. It has nothing to do with the actual conversation.

Okay.

So you got to understand that in that scenario.

You'Re kind of alluding to this. They don't really want the truth.

No.

And so I think when you're dealing with technicians, you got to understand that it's the process, not the content. And so how you approach the technician and what you're doing for them. So say, for example, if I go to a technician and I'm like, hey, I don't. I don't understand that, but I want to make sure that I get you as much time as I can.

It's all about them now.

I flip the process and the content is important.

Yeah.

But if they don't appreciate the content and they think I'm just wasting their time, or they have an ego and they're kind of a pain in the ass, then the content doesn't matter. Right?

Yeah.

Does that make sense?

They're just fighting to win at that point.

And so it's very much in the frame in how you handle the process and so making it to their benefit and that you're trying to protect them or trying to save them time. So say you go to a technician and you're like, hey, I want to understand this because I don't want to write this wrong or I want to. I want to make sure that you get paid under warranty for this. Or those little things I found, make them open up and they're your best friend. But if you just come to them and you're like, hey, show me that. Yeah, a lot of them are super insecure. And it's like, well, why? You don't trust me?

Right.

So you have to manage the process with technicians often and make them feel like it's to their benefit.

Yeah. So maybe it's kind of like saying, instead of saying, yes, those jeans make you look fat, I want to make sure these jeans fit you. Right.

Or saying, like, what, are you trying to have a big butt like Kim Kardashian or.

Right. Which is the end thing.

Yeah. So, yeah, you can. You can manage the process.

Definitely manage the process. And. And coming at it in an accusatory manner. I've never seen that really work with technicians. I think that's the thing. As an advisor, like, you have to be the technician, has to be your biggest fan in order for the thing to work really, really well.

I mean, I often thought, like, thank God these techs don't talk to customers because they're mean. Like, they were very mean, you know?

But the, you know, the thing is, is I, like, I'm sure they see, like, when I was an advisor, a young kid, and I'm making money and like, all, you know.

There'S maybe more glory in being an advisor sometimes. Like, the techs don't get enough credit, even though they should get all the credit. They don't. And so just the. The way the process is in a service department, they're in the back, you know.

Yeah.

They get blamed For a lot of stuff. And so it's just the nature of the business that we should be aware of and try to try to change that.

Yeah, for sure. Showing gratitude to technicians is a really, really good way to kind of get little things like this solved.

In answer to your. To your question, Kelly, is manage that. Manage their feelings, but get to the point, like, that's unethical. And I'd be very clear that that's unethical and it's not something that should be allowed. And, I mean, I hope that you don't work for a place that that's okay.

Yeah. And I don't think most places are okay with that. I feel like what happens is sometimes we will sweep it under the rug and it doesn't get to the right people.

So we hear this a lot, Christian.

Why can't they hire techs? I can't hire techs. That's what we hear over and over and over again. Have we ever ran into a situation where we can't hire techs?

Nope.

It's never happened. Right. But the predominant belief in the industry is that they can't hire techs.

That's very true.

If you're listening to this, Christian's eyebrows.

Just.

What.

What does that mean?

What does it mean if your eyebrows go up?

Yeah.

With some sort of expression. I don't know.

Yeah. I was so funny. Like, when we're talking now, I'm like. I'm really cognizant of, like, what I'm doing. And then I want you to tell me, whatever it is that I'm doing, what does it mean?

Because I'm a trained assassin.

Yeah.

So let's talk about why people can't hire techs.

Mm.

So the first reason I believe that people can't hire techs is because they're saying they can't hire techs.

So the mindset portion of the whole thing.

And so if I say to you, you can't hire techs, what is that in nlp? What do you call that?

A preconception.

Embedded command.

Yes.

So I'm saying I can't hire techs, then I can't hire techs will become reality. So the first thing to do is start saying, I haven't figured out yet, or I'm going to figure out, but saying, I can't.

You won't.

It's the nail in the coffin.

You're going to be 100% accurate in that situation most of the time. Okay. The next thing in hiring techs that we see is that the ads Are terrible.

Yes.

The ads are written by an HR department. There's something to the effect of the job of a technician is to fix cars and 401k and bullet points. Yeah, Bullet points of everything. The tech already knows. It's not appealing. You have to understand that technicians that are good aren't looking.

And so most of the time, those ads only are replied by technicians that you probably don't want that are bouncing around. Maybe if you're lucky, somebody's relocating, but for the most part, you're not attracting anybody with the ad.

Yep.

So knowing how to write a good ad, that attracts the right technician. And it's. It's not your fault, but it is like sales copy. You, You. You have to be able to do that. Which is why in our stuff we have swipe files of tech ads that work and we're always collecting them and testing them because everybody isn't good at writing them. But if they have examples, they usually can do it.

Yep.

The other one is that they delegate it to hr.

Which is a task for them.

It's not a lifeblood of their business. When it's hr, it's just them just doing one more thing on their list for the day. It's not their fault. I don't think. I just think that if you're going to try and hire techs, like, you have to do it.

I think it's easier to hire just about every other position than techs. Techs is the hardest one.

Yeah. But to an HR person, you don't see the difference between hiring a receptionist and hiring technician. It's all one ad. So they don't understand the complexity of the whole thing.

When you look at how much gross a technician produces, like, so say your. Your average tech produces 12,000 in gross. Something like that.

144,000 a year.

So 144,000 a year in gross just by one hire. Why would you delegate that to anybody? Why wouldn't you be the one selling that? Engaging.

You know, it works better if you do it.

Yeah. You can't delegate it, but oftentimes we delegate it. And then we wonder why it isn't working.

Yeah.

But they don't. Most of the time, HR doesn't understand how. How to get text. The other thing that we see a lot is the placement of the ad.

Yeah. The.

Where everybody just automatically puts their ad up on. Indeed. Indeed. Just puts it around your local area and that's it. And it's, you know, it's not unless somebody's searching specifically for your Town, it's not going to come up.

And even within, if you don't have certain key keywords in there, then it doesn't come up. When they're searching, you have to kind of guess what they're going to be typing into the search.

So where you run the ads, all of that matter a lot. So we were. Christian and I were talking, and I think what we're going to do coming up is we're going to do a thing in Facebook where, you know, for however long it takes, but I think it'll take about six weeks. We're going to go through how to hire technicians, and anybody in our coaching group can jump on there. We'll fix your ads for you, we'll coach you, we'll kind of teach you how to do it, but we're going to go through the steps of how to recruit techs, because I don't know that there's anything more important to be good at in the next five years than hiring techs. It's going to get harder and harder. We're losing two for every new one coming in to the industry.

And so I think that would be a fun thing to do. Do like a weekly thing where we just get on Facebook live and we go through, hey, this week we're going to talk about the ads. This week we're going to talk about placement, that sort of thing.

Yeah, it's like an accelerated masterclass, right?

Yeah.

That's pretty cool. I love that. I love this idea.

So watch out for that. But that's going to. That's going to be something we're going to be doing coming up. Anything else?

Well, I think that this is just like a little nugget that I want to give people more. Talking about putting ads out, and this is one little tiny trick. So let's say that I'm trying to recruit a technician from another place and I like the look you're giving me, like I'm in a joke on this, but it's not. It's great.

How many service managers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

3.

So let's say that I'm a technician and I've been at my shop for 10 years, and all of a sudden my shop is starting to get slow and my hours keep going down every. Every week. So when am I at the most vulnerable to look somewhere else for a job?

When your hours are going down?

Yep. Specifically, like, what day of the week do you think?

Oh, I don't know.

I think on payday. So I think that if I was going to post an ad with all the, almost all the sites, it's like a, it's a most recent thing, right? So you're at the top of the feed with your advertisement. So when I think about when I want to place my ads, I want to do it Friday at like 3:30. Because when they get home at 5 and they're like, I can't take another paycheck like this, your name magically appears.

Genius. I like it.

So that's my one little nugget. The timing of it, like the whole thing is strategy. If we, if we played it like a really complex strategic game, we'd be way better at it.

Yeah, it is. It is complex. And you got to embrace the, the complexity of it. But fun show. Thanks, you guys. Remember, if you have any questions, 8333 ask SDR. And we will see you next time on Service Drive Revolution.

Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Job Revolution. We're uploading new stuff every day, so. 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 8333-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 that's offers.chriscollinsInc.com hi, I'm Chris Collins, and I'll see you in the next video.