Hard Shop Life

Whether you’ve been in this business 20 years or are just starting out, this episode contains a couple golden nuggets you’ll want to use. Veteran and superstar advisor Jeremy sits down with GMan and Coach J to talk about what makes him one of the best advisors in the country. He strives every day to provide his customers with the best possible service, and his goal is to have every new customer return, not only to his dealership but, to him. This level of service has allowed him to easily overcome objections, discounts, and price struggles. Listen in and apply Jeremy tools of the trade, your numbers could see huge improvement!

This week we sat down with a few of our favorite people who are also the best parts managers in the country. The conversation was around all the mistakes made in parts departments every day. We ended up narrowing it down to the 7 Deadly Sins! Let’s see if you agree.

 

 

Everyday the average person is loaded with over 34GB of data, which is enough to fill a laptop within the week. Our brains take in so much information, hours and hours of content, and thousands of messages a day. In short, our brains are overloaded with data and even more so when you are juggling employees, customers, selling, and getting work done in the shop. So when it comes to training, where is it all supposed to fit in? Well I’m sure we can all agree there is no replacement, training is VITAL in our industry and in any other, but how do we make it work?  So often GMan and Coach J hear the importance of training (which they love to hear!) but more often there is a huge missing element, ACCOUNTABILITY. They believe that training and accountability go hand in hand, and 99.9% of the time training doesn’t succeed.  Why?  Because there was no accountability. You might think your advisors (or even yourself) need to learn more and more until they are perfect, but most times this will not help your end goal. Training without accountability is just passing on information, adding even more to the 34GB already flowing through the brain. GMan and Coach J dive deep into this subject to give advise and talk about the best ways to make your training more than just some words floating in thin air. 

In this episode, GMan and Coach J talk about intuition vs. intention, but there is no argument or debate, no battle between what’s right and what’s wrong. These traits don’t (or shouldn’t) compete. Intuition and Intention are two sides of the same coin, and without one you may be missing a large chunk of the big picture. Intuition is that gut feeling, it’s something you know is true or right without even needing a reason why. Working in the car industry for several years, as many of us do, we develop intuition for how things work, and shouldn’t work. We can spot why an advisor or technician isn’t producing as much as they should at just one glance. Most importantly, intuition can give you the sight to create something more than what is, and has been. But what good is this knowledge and a vision of what can be without the ability to follow through, and execute. Every great entrepreneur started out with a vision, but the most successful had the Intention, the drive and determination to will it into existence. Without one the other suffers, and, yes, you can run a successful department, but will almost certainly struggle to grow. Now not everyone has both, but GMan and Coach J talk about the best way to have both Intuition and Intention.

Our second of many Superstar Advisors, but he is not number two by any means. Cesar made the move from Southern California all the way to Iowa for his family. Like many of us, 2020 was not his year, and he was never able to get his numbers up, despite the dealer as a whole profiting. Now, in 2021, he’s crushing it every month not happy unless he is the #1 advisor in a store full of high performers. Cesar gives us an insight on how he adjusted to his new market, how he connects with his customers so well, and the “secret sauce” that will improve your skills massively. GMan and Coach J hand picked Cesar because he is the best of the best, so listen in!

What does it look like to have complete synergy between Service and Parts? A Fixed Operations Director as an unbiased mediator for conversations between Service and Parts Managers? Well no, but there really isn’t just one solution to this problem. However, one thing is for certain: PARTS AND SERVICE NEED EACH OTHER TO SURVIVE! And that is a fact. Every manager worth his salt knows it, but do they truly understand what it means. In this episode, GMan and Coach J have two fixed ops experts on the show to discuss how to best synergize Parts and Service. They talk about what made their departments so successful, how to handle discounts, and the one thing that’s most important for complete interdepartmental harmony. When Service and Parts become one, employees are happy and everyone profits. 

In this episode, GMan and Coach J are tackling the BIG issue. The one keeping many dealers from profitability, slowing down your shops, and racking up thousands of dollars every month in lost opportunity. There is no easy fix, and in today’s environment we have to think outside the box to solve it. We are talking about the “Technician Drought”. Now it is a fact that less and less people are choosing to become technicians every year, and many master technicians currently employed are nearing retirement. But GMan and Coach J believe there is still talent out there to be recruited, and you need to stand out in order to be the #1 choice. And just as important as recruiting technicians is retaining them, so you can train the next generation of “Master Techs”, and profit together. Listen in as our hosts talk about new ideas, and ones they’ve used in the past, not only on how to stand out and hire new talent, but retain the talent you have. In Part 2 GMan and Coach J have a debate about which pay plans are best for every level of tech. 

In this episode, GMan and Coach J are tackling the BIG issue. The one keeping many dealers from profitability, slowing down your shops, and racking up thousands of dollars every month in lost opportunity. There is no easy fix, and in today’s environment we have to think outside the box to solve it. We are talking about the “Technician Drought”. Now it is a fact that less and less people are choosing to become technicians every year, and many master technicians currently employed are nearing retirement. But GMan and Coach J believe that there is still talent out there to be recruited, and you need to stand out in order to be the #1 choice. And just as important as recruiting technicians is retaining them, so you can train the next generation of “Master Techs”, and profit together. Listen in as our hosts talk about new ideas, and ones they’ve used in the past, not only on how to stand out and hire new talent, but retain the talent you have.

In this episode we are kicking off our five-part Superstar Advisor Interview series with the best of the best, Chuck Suter. Our hosts stole his preparation method and used it in the first step of JDI’s Advisor Mastery Training. He doesn’t believe in selling and still crushes it every single month. Learn how he has become a massively successful advisor by just mastering this one process.

GMan and Coach J are addressing one of the most asked about topics they hear at every dealer they visit, Special Order Parts. Advisors are frustrated with parts, and parts departments are frustrated with advisors all over the country. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Fixed Ops is only as strong as it’s weakest link, both service and parts are most efficient when they are communicating and collaborating. In this episode, we have our new JDI team member Tony on as our resident parts “guy” to discuss the wins and woes of the war on special order parts. As you know GMan is also a parts “guy” but service listeners don’t worry, Coach J has his advisor “hat” on and is on your side defending you at every turn. Listen in as our hosts get into a debate about the SOP problem, give tips and solutions on how to improve your special order parts process.