Hard Shop Life

We are back! And in this episode of Hard Shop Life we are discussing how you can maximize your employees effectiveness by accentuating their different personalities, and strengths. Not everyone who works for you will be like you, and thats a great thing. A dealership is a symphony that has to seamlessly work together, but to create a musical masterpiece there have to be competing instruments. Some employees will only care about a bigger pay check and some will care more about hearing they are doing a good job. Some employees are innately outgoing and good with people, and some are inherently very structured. Knowing what makes your people tick can fill in the gaps in your skillset and help you to maximize the positions you have, and therefore your department as a whole.

A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I am sorry, but I couldn’t resist the urge. It’s in my nature.” How does this fable apply to us? In this episode, Coach J and The GMan discuss the meaning of this fable, and how you can use this lesson to guide you. Listen in as our hosts help you to understand the motivations behind your employees, and co-workers, actions.

In this episode, Coach J and The GMan answer the questions they get asked the most by the listeners, and the people they meet while traveling the country. They cover everything from technology, technicians, and the industry as a whole to their biggest mistakes while working with dealerships. If you ever had any burning questions about our hosts or the car industry, listen in! GMan even spills the secret about how you can possibly get on the podcast. 

What does it mean to inspect what you expect? As a manager not only do you have to be the example, but you also have to set the standards by which your advisors operate. Now our hosts have used this saying in many different ways, but the desired result is always the same, to control the outcome of a situation. Like creating a system where a lube tech measures a vehicle’s brakes every oil change, or having your advisors do walkarounds on every car. Being untrusting isn’t the manager you want to be, but you can’t expect all your employees to do everything just the way you want them to without you holding them accountable. In this episode our hosts, Coach J and The GMan dive deep into the delicate topic of Advisors and inspecting what you expect, specifically their “pay-plan workarounds”. We should all be trusting of the employees we hire, but trusting blindly will rarely work in your favor. Listen in as our hosts share stories of sketchy past co-workers, and how to make sure your advisors are stealing the store. 

By its definition a “tool” should help you perform a job. Hammers drive nails, wrenches turn nuts and bolts, and computers can increase productivity (sometimes). It seems that lately the tools that are sold as “the next best thing” to improve service advisors sales or technician productivity, have become “tools of torture”!

No one is advocating we stand in the way of progress, or to revert back to hand-written RO’s. Technology is good and in many ways has made the job of a manager or employee better. It is the layering of technology that turns an otherwise helpful tool into a torture device. In today’s service drive, it’s common for an advisor to be required to log into at least 5 applications.

At some point our employees are so bogged down with technology that connecting with the customer becomes secondary. At the base level we want them to take care of our customers, offer any maintenance or repair items needed, and fix the car right the first time. How can we do that when we are managing a suite of software services?

On this episode of Hard Shop Life Coach J and the GMan have on special guest Luis Romano to fight for the side of the tools and software. They all discuss how we can use these tools better and when to know it’s too much.

In this episode, Coach J and The GMan interview another Superstar Advisor, Yordano. He has been in the business for around 8 years, and within six months of moving dealerships has quickly risen to the top. Everyday he strives to learn more, is the first one in and last one to leave, and comes in with an extremely positive attitude. Yordano shares with you what he thinks is most important to be a top advisor at any store.  

Gas prices are through the roof, EV’s are booming, and around half of all full-time workers work from home. Now, what does all this mean for an industry reliant on people driving, buying, and repairing their cars. In the field, Coach J and The GMan are hearing a mostly “Doom and Gloom” perspective from almost every position in a dealership. So in this episode, they dive deep into the current issues and discuss why the Automotive Industry shouldn’t be worried, and even how it could have positive effects. 

Whether you are Parts or Service, how are you supposed to maximally run your department when the other manager won’t play along? Coach J and The GMan along with their return guest, Luis Romano, discuss and share their first hand experience on both sides of the playing field. The collaboration of the fixed operation departments is key to any dealers success, but also for each individual department. One cannot run at it’s best without the other.

In this age of information technology, all of us have computers in our pockets capable of calling, texting, email, and many more forms of communication.  Let’s also include all the money your dealerships spend on software to do the same. Yet, the biggest complaint we hear from customers in our industry is a lack of communication. It is the ultimate CSI killer. Our hosts have seen it again, and again all over the country. However, bad CSI is not even the worst effect lack of communication will have. The biggest impact it will have will be on your numbers. In fact, having great communication is the ONE thing you can do tomorrow that will dramatically improve your results. So in this episode, Coach J and the GMan talk about how advisors should communicate with customers, the anxiety curve, and how to be the top advisor at your store. And GMan challenges you to commit.

On this episode of Hard Shop Life, Coach J and the GMan talk with long time friend, and client, Luis Romano for an update on the reinvention of his San Francisco service department. In this update we bring you up to speed on our current progress, discuss some issues that are “new” in this post-COVID world and we celebrate a HUGE milestone on our way to becoming #1 in the country.

If you have questions, want to know more, want to interviewed for our top advisor series, reach out to us at [email protected]