The Fine Line Between Viral Content and Rage Bait | Bryan Pollock, Tonnika Haynes and Braxton Critcher
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About this episode
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Key takeaways
- —Social media is critical for automotive businesses to grow their audience and attract new customers.
- —Engaging with negative comments can be draining; it's often better to ignore them.
- —Technicians should focus on their own growth and opportunities rather than comparing themselves to others.
- —The automotive industry faces challenges, but many technicians can achieve success with the right mindset.
- —It's important to balance the need for social media engagement with maintaining a positive mental space.
Frequently asked
- How important is social media for automotive shops?
- Social media is crucial for automotive shops as it helps them reach a wider audience and attract new customers. Engaging content can drive traffic to their services.
- What should I do about negative comments on social media?
- It's often best to ignore negative comments, as engaging with them can be draining. Focus on the positive interactions and the audience that appreciates your work.
- How can technicians improve their career prospects?
- Technicians can improve their career prospects by focusing on their skills, seeking training opportunities, and being open to new job environments that may offer better growth.
▸Full transcript
Okay, you do you, like, you, and we're gonna do us. I don't care as much as I used to care about what somebody else was doing and whether it was wrong for the industry. I'm past that point. I put my focus on my people, which is the technicians, and that's where I put my focus. And it's like, this can work for you and it might not work for you.
It depends on the type of person. You may go to dealer and love it, and you may go to an independent shop and love it. If both of them are opportunities— Yeah, but the nipple chafing, is it nipple chafing a thing for this tape? For that? Oh well, I didn't use the tape. I was in pain. Couple days pain. Did your nipples bleed?
Oh yeah, you just seen all the skinny people I still outran. Yeah, they ain't got no will to live, them people. Well, they just over there so upset cuz they ain't eating nothing. Threshold, right? How long did you run? 5— 3.1 miles. Ran it in like just under 30 minutes. Who's, who's in Braxton? You look marathonish. You done a marathon? No, no, no.
Uh, 5K. 5K. Okay. What was your 5K time? Braxton's in way better shape than me. 27 minutes? I was like 12. Oh my God. I don't remember. Yeah. Disc golf. Disc golf. Yeah. That's what keeps me in shape. Yeah. Yeah. And we're just jumping in. Well. Oh, please. Come on. You gotta get your, the sun's out, buns out into the shot there, Brian.
My Oreo teeth. No, yeah, no, tell the people what that is. It's my emotional support wiener. Yeah. With mustard. With mustard. Yeah. Yeah. Just mustard. Okay. So, so anyways, on that note, here we are. Enough of the wiener shenanigans. Tools Pennsylvania 2026. And we got 4. No, wait, my math is terrible. 3 podcasts represented at this table. 2 and a half. Who's the half?
You discounting yourself? Stop that. No, no, no. Yeah, I'm not really. Well, I'm a half too. Next year we're all going to be catching you. I'm not really a half. Mike's in charge. Yeah. So I thought it'd be a valuable opportunity to let the listeners and viewers kind of peek behind the curtain of what goes on in our group chat. Not all of it, dear God, not all of it.
Hold on a second. Let me take my shoes off for this, Brandon. Oh my God. That's where it went wrong last time. So, for those who don't know, we all are in a group chat that often goes off, like, probably hundreds of messages a day. Like, no, not a day. I like the AI summary. Some days. Is that a lot? Some days it's, we hit 100 something.
Lucas, Jeff, Tanika, me. I don't have a lot of words. I don't. Yeah, it's usually— if I have time, Jeff, if I have time, I'll get into it. But a lot of times, like, something will happen and I'll be like, I ain't got time for this. Yeah. No, it's a lot of back and forth. There are some days where it's not much happening, but there's a lot of days where it is.
One of the conversations that we have had at length, 2 or 3 or 4 times, and I have notes. Watch out, he's been taking notes. Is social media and reels. It's the devil, mama. And it's all Jeff's fault. It's the devil. It's all Jeff's fault. That jaded guy over there. Oh, I know. People will blame me because I'm the one that edits the video.
Yeah. And people think, oh, Braxton, he made somebody say something that they didn't. Really? I mean, everything bad that happens on all of these podcasts is your fault. Well, it's actually Mike. Yeah, it's Mike. Come back to Mike. Well, really, you know, it could be Lucas too, because he's kind of the guy that started all— well, listen, they're the leaders, they're not— yeah, they're the leaders.
Who's the leader? Mike Allen and Lucas Sunderman. I thought you were talking about buying gas in Canada. You were like, leaders, sorry, like Leader of Cola, like Super Troopers. Okay, does that look like— It sparkles. Thanks. Wipe it off with your wiener. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Mom. Now you look good. The first time he's had a wiener on his nose. And that's what happens in the chat.
I might edit that out. That might have to go. That might get edited out. Braxton, take that out. That means you can't. Yeah, because they were like, what did he say? Usually people are like, you know, Braxton, edit that out. And I tell people, when that gets said, that means guaranteed still in. That's not true. I wasn't paying attention to what you said.
Yeah, that's banned. I'm gonna leave that in. So Reels, and I want to talk about social media because any business today, social media is critical. Yeah, it is. And then, well, maybe not for Brian's business, but I mean, if you had social media, I posted in December, December 17th, 2024. Good job. Last time I posted on our business page. If you did social media, you probably couldn't handle it because you'd have way more business.
They'd probably— nobody would show up. I just think it's a situation at your facility. Like, how much more do they expect you to do? Right. That's how I would look at that in that situation. Yeah, I'm fine. I don't need any more to do. We have too much to do. I think you have other people that could pick up that torch and run with it.
I feel like that the results of that and the additional car count would be not for me. Yeah. Zero stores. Yeah, we get, we get excited when we have a cancellation. We get excited. Oh, even if it's someone we like. Yeah, because you can take it. I'm like, I'm— we're like, we're so happy you canceled because we have too much to do.
That's a good problem. So we're very fortunate. I've recognized that, and it's not common, and I understand that. Yeah, but it is reality for Rural Joe. That's the situation. Yeah, for anybody, uh, but Brian, uh, social media is, is important. And in growing a podcast You need a social media because if you don't, how are people supposed to know that you're out there?
Right. And reels clips from an episode are one of the easiest ways to get people to say, hey, oh, there's a podcast. I got to check this out. That is how Jeff has turned into who he is today in this industry is because he's had some reels go crazy. Absolutely. Lately. Yeah. And then Confessions. Mike's not here, but Brian on Confessions has had a number of reels recently, one that's got 2.4 million views.
I feel so bad for all them people looking at my ugly face talking about not tearing down a Volkswagen engine. I almost feel bad for them. They could choose not to look at it. Yeah, but you and I have discussed this at length several times. There's so many people out there that are not in the industry that are just wake up every day and choose violence and are angry and just want to cuss out the professionals.
Yeah. And it's, and it's They're really mad. Sometimes I comment, thank you. Like when they really get going, I'm like, thank you. You know what's driving it? Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the help. Appreciate you. Love you. Bye. Thanks for helping the algorithm. Thanks for helping the algorithm. But there comes a certain point that the reason I brought this up was in the chat.
I mean, there's a lot of negativity with these reels. Yeah. And it's good for growth. People will follow the page and follow and listen to the podcast. Well, there's nothing negative about not tearing down a Hitler mobile. No, you can't say Hitler Mobile. That's what they are. It was Hitler's car company. It's facts. Are you history? Are you turning it down? Nein, nein.
Wir asking ze questions here. We are not turning it down. I'm not in on this. But so Lucas has brought up a number of times, you know, the conversation about where do we want these podcasts to go? Because some of the reels that have gone viral have gained a lot of followers. And those followers are people that, like you said, they wake up every morning and just want to be mad.
And sometimes you will gain that following and that turns into the things that your followers expect to see. And so I just want to talk about it because this has been in our group chat for months and months and months. It comes up about once a month and recently it's been a real topic of discussion. And so I want to get all of your guys' thoughts on reels and social media and the importance of it and the brand of it, the 5-year plan.
How does that go into it, especially for these two guys who have already seen that, but also Tanika starting out thinking about the kind of content that you want to release that creates the following that you want to have. She can say the same exact thing, Jeff, and I can say more eloquently. Yeah, yeah. And here's the thing, and you've already experienced some of it recently.
Yeah, I mean, on a smaller scale, but you've already experienced some of the hate happening. Somebody giving you a problem? Well, it was with Becky. Just watching people be ignorant about that. Yes, it's like, are you even listening? That's a major conversation we did have. I forgot about that. That was on TikTok, I think it was. That was on TikTok, and it's on Facebook.
Facebook. I just like And then I'd ask, I said, do I delete this? Or do I just leave it there? Because I don't want to just filter. You delete it. You delete that. And I was like, yeah, delete that. Then people can go F off. And when they're done effing off, they can keep effing off. I mean, even coming to my inbox and saying, this lady is crazy and off her rocket and blah, blah, blah.
I was like, well, did you listen to the whole podcast? Who cares? And what do they think you're going to do? Like, take it off Spotify? Like, take it off? Oh, man, I'm sorry. Let me take it off for you. I'm so sorry that you messaged me. Let me take that off of Spotify. Why don't you just go do whatever you do?
Like, turn it off if you don't like it. Listen to another one. There's 800— everybody's a podcaster. There's 8 million of them. Go listen to somebody else, right? Yeah, yeah. But the hateful stuff is just— I'm, I'm not ready for that. Not— yeah, that had me, that had me— oh, you remember? I was irritated, as you should be. When I had her on, I had similar comments too, and I would just immediately— I didn't even ask for questions, I just deleted them.
It's not necessary. I would think, okay, I've seen this person here on this podcast, this podcast, let me shut up and listen. But everybody's so smart that they're stupid. It's like you couldn't look past what offended you. I don't know why it offended you, because to me, none of your damn business. Yeah. And you could not— yeah, you're so smart, you're stupid.
And you didn't even take the time to listen to the message, to what was— you couldn't get past the real. Yeah. So when people can't get past the real, and we talked about that, that's— you can't get past the real and you listen to the highlight because just like on the news, I mean, I think about it and I go back and forth with it because me and Braxton have talked about it on the news.
The news will tell you something, something, something, details at 11. You're like, shit, I want to know now. Yeah. So it's kind of like the same thing, right? Yeah. So they try— if it bleeds, it leads. It gets eyeballs. Yeah. And then you come to find out it was in another state. What makes me mad is that my local news would talk about something and it was another state that happened in Oregon.
Yeah. Like, yeah, it must be a slow news day. Yeah, so who cares? Lucas has pointed that out, and like you said, it's, it's the reels that are driving people to at least comment and engage, which is what you at the end of the day you want, right? But it has to transition to actually listening to the episode for people to get the true context.
And a lot of people, depending on how the reel comes up— I see his point. What he was trying to say to me is that because if the reel is effective enough in angering them they're never going to listen to the whole episode. And that's the— that's that fine line you got to watch where you got to say it just in a certain way and say it in just enough that they, they don't get like angry, but that piques their curiosity.
Then there's a, there's a recipe to that, and I don't know what it is. You want to, you want to hear the uncomfortable— what I think the deal is? I honestly think that people are so used to being spoon-fed, they ain't even capable of going to find out what your podcast is and where to get it from. I don't think they have the brains to do it.
Well, I think 50% of people are dumber than average, or the median, technically the median. I don't think half these people could even get there from here. Yeah, not even talking about podcasts. Somebody calls the shop and then asks you what your, your office hours are. How the hell did you just call me? Did you not Google that? Could you not like— we know that.
And if they do, we'll come out. It's right there. You— that is not a phone call. Like, people just do not— yeah, what are your office hours? The ones that were posted, the one that were above the call button, above the call this place button. Yeah. They're not capable of getting the information. They're not. They're really not. I've been in this industry 25 years and I've never heard of this, and this guy doesn't work on cars.
Well, if you've been in the industry so long, you can't use a Google search to figure out who this guy is? Come on, bro. Yeah, like, don't be lazy. And we're no longer working on a 1978 Chevy. This is— we're talking about— it's the average competence level, and that's everything, you know. 50% of people are dumber than the median. I can't say average because that's not technically accurate.
It's the median, whatever. They don't know the difference anyways, those people. Yeah, I, I find, um, like, again, you know, my— the two that, like, I was joking, every morning when I wake up, I get notifications from the Jaded Facebook page saying there's more comments on Sherwood's reels. It's always those two, three, four, whatever that he did. But it's, you can't mark up a spark plug, Uh, don't tell me we can't charge $200 an hour.
Um, all this kind of stuff. And it's every morning when Jeff turns his phone on, there's a notification for that. It's been great for engagement, but like, I'm sitting here going, I'm tired of reading comments about this reel. It's like The Sixth Sense. I see dumb people. I, you know, I almost want to— instead of I see dead people, like, if I had more time, I'd go back and just sit there and try because that's the way I'm wired, right?
Is okay, let's— I'll go back and forth with strangers all day, all day. That doesn't bother me at all. Right. And yet I don't have the time and I'm running out of the physical energy to do it because they don't want to ever say— like, a win would be to say, okay, I see your point. You were right. I'm not going to change what I'm doing in my place, but I can see— but I can see why you do what you do.
They're not— most of them are not capable. Never. That's the reality. Right. And it's like we always, you know, everybody talks about the change, the change, the change. Well, I know the unfortunate reality. Most people ain't changing. No. Until they have to change or lose their business. And half them people or more will just lose the business anyways. It's like somebody said, that's the reality of the situation.
The average shop rate's still $70, $80, or $90. And I said, on what planet, on what planet are you seeing door rates under $100 an hour? Like, we know of a few pockets, maybe, yes. And they're not fixing I don't, they're not fixing and they're not working on a lot of the same stuff that maybe a lot of people that we run with are trying to work on, right?
There's not, and that's not to say that there isn't a place for that, but when you, what do you qualify as being a place? You know what though, you know what, to be quite honest, you can't work on Chevy pickups for $90 an hour and grow. You can work on Chevy pickups for $90 an hour and you as the shop owner can go to work all them hours And at the end of the day, you can take home $42,000 a year and hopefully your spouse works and earns an income and health insurance and you can make it work if you want a hobby.
Yeah. But this is what they think saving the community is. I'm going to do the community a favor and work myself into a hole in my back and my shoulders and my damn knees. I'm going to do it. I am serving the community by providing them the best effort I have. That's how I'm doing it. I am being honest with them. I'm telling them when the cost per mile to maintain that car is starting to get a little high, It's time to get a new one.
Yeah, we tell people trade their car in all the time, right? All the time. I have to do it too, especially how I'm doing it. Yeah, but I'm certainly not— I'm not in this for the experience anymore. No. Sorry to interrupt, but I have to share something really quick with everybody. As a technician, I know how much time can be wasted running back and forth between the bay and the front desk.
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But I just heard 3 different reels that I could cut right now and get views from what you guys just said. And my job as producer extraordinaire is to grow shows. El Capitan. Grow the show. El Capitan. And this is me. And I want you guys to tell me if I'm wrong and to tell me how I need to shift and improve and downshift.
Right? Yeah. So there's a plug. Tell you how to improve. How am I supposed to tell you how to improve? Here's my confession. Yeah, it's a downshift. It's not my— not be so jaded. Okay, we've gone too far with that one. Let's go. I just heard those clips, and I would clip what you said about— we tell people all the time, you can't charge $90 an hour to do a Chevy and grow.
And that's true. And grow. And that's what he said. And I would clip that., and people would get all hot and bothered about it. Too much money and this, that. I don't care. That's the thing. The idea is I don't care. I still do. To me. Do you really? Yeah. It bothers you? No. I mean, I would. Yeah, I still do. It will bother me for now.
I'm just starting. Okay. I'm not ready to step on your toes. Let me interject in this. Let's remove you from the podcast realm though for a minute and go like, let's hypothetical. Then somebody was to call you tomorrow and say, Yeah, I want to bring my 1992 Chevy truck into Brown's Automotive. No, we don't do that. That's right. Well, what I'm saying is, I do care about how other people would feel about that reel.
Not the fact— no, I'm not charging no damn $90 an hour. That's not happening. Yeah, but if he cut a reel and then it would cause controversy, I don't feel comfortable with that yet. Oh, there's no controversy. There's just people who are right and people who are wrong. Yeah. Oh, it's not controversial. It's not a debate. I'm right, they're wrong. Oh, okay.
You just don't like the negativity. I don't like the negativity that goes along with it. How many people come get a vacuum? Somebody's wrong. I'm not asking for your input because I'm trying to set up my business model here. Yeah, I've already got the business model, right? And, and we ain't doing that. Like, oh, what do you do, Frank, that works for $90 an hour in your shop?
Oh, you have a real job at the town so you can have health insurance because you can't afford to pay your health insurance at your shop. So all the people— those are the people commenting, right? They have to have real jobs. Yeah. Real jobs because they're automotive shop, much less pay for benefits for employees. They can't even have health insurance themselves. They can't afford it.
So they're servicing all the late '90s to mid-'90s stuff that's still on the road. And they're— and the same people that come in that haven't had a mortgage that they've had to pay in 50 years, it's all been paid off. And they're coming in and they feel like they're the best thing in the world because the people still have them convinced they ain't got no money and just keep patching it up.
And they've been patching up for 10 years. And they go, What are all these events you go to? Like, I don't know how you can even afford that. I could never shut my shop down. And it's like, stop working on old rusted junk and you can maybe make some profit. And even if you don't come to event, maybe you could pay yourself.
Maybe you can hire some talent. Maybe. That's a big maybe. That's a big maybe. That's a big maybe. Instead of crying about the technician shortage, maybe you can hire better ones. But no, you would have to turn some of your customers away. Or you have time to train some. Whether you can hire them if they're truly— if you're in a situation, an area with low population.
And this is not going the way that Braxton wanted to go because I know what you're saying. I'm trying to get like the reels. The reels do not bother them. Yeah. Well, no, no, no. What I'm saying is I think when we got into this, we— and I'm new to growing a brand too. Like, you know, I'm not— this is not my— like, I've been doing it for 30 years.
We're all new at this social media stuff. And I don't think any of us understood what exactly we were getting into on driving people crazy. There was— I didn't know that. You're absolutely right. I didn't know that so many people— I didn't know that you would say you could cut a reel. There's just somebody saying something that's common sense to somebody who's educated and how this has to work.
I didn't know people could get that pissed off. I mean, people get pissed off. And why they got so much time to get that pissed off? Why are you not at work? Like, that was a whole paragraph you wrote. Yeah, some people at work have a lot of free time still in front of their screen. They still do. The idea around all of this stuff started with changing the industry, right?
And I think that is, you know, one of the core things about all of the shows is to help encourage people in their journey in this industry, right? That's, that's the deal. I just had a guy talk to in the parking lot that listens to the podcast. He knows, he knows I like, uh, weird oddball vintage scan tools. Yeah. And he said that he picks up, and he picks up stuff from, from David Lucas.
He picks up stuff from all of us. Yeah. He said he really likes it. And that's, that's, that's what we want. And you're gonna have those people. And that's what he does. But we talk about this stuff each he sees what works for him, some stuff doesn't. We talk about— super reasonable. And I'm like, I never see him in the comments. And I'm like, well, thank goodness this guy's out here.
The, the, the— David, I'm happy you're out here. People aren't always going to be doing that. But the, the thing is, and we talk about this at trade shows, is honestly, we can't actually change the industry. You can give— change themselves, right? Yeah. You can give people advice and you can do your best to help them. But for the most part, what, 10%?
Whatever the money. Yeah. Whatever it is you say it is, that's always going to be true. Like, I don't think you're actually going to see tangible growth in more shops doing things right. And that's the guess. We always guess, okay, who's actually willing to help? Is it 10? Is it 5? Who knows? I don't know. Because we are— but it's very, very small.
It's not the majority. That's for sure. We can all agree on that. We are in Pennsylvania in April. It's beautiful here in Hershey. It's a great place to be. And there's 400 people. Smells delicious. It smells delicious. There's 400 people here. You know how many shops in a 200-mile radius need to be here right now? I asked Brett how many shops were within 20 minutes, and he almost— he rolled his eyes in the back of his head.
He goes, dude, yeah. He goes, this is insane. Yeah. He goes, you can't get— he goes, he was talking about some groups he's involved in. He goes, I have a whole group that I'm involved in, there's only 3 of them here. Yeah, people rather complain than change. Exactly. And if you, you know, challenge them, say, hey dude, why are you only charging $90 an hour if you know if you charge correctly?
How do you say it's correctly? If you charge correctly, you wouldn't have to have that job at the city and then break your back here. So do you really have 2 jobs or a job in the business? Because it sounds like you got 2 jobs. Yeah. So you call somebody out on it. It sounds like you got a job and a hobby.
A job and a hobby. Job and a hobby. I use the term business loosely and job loosely. It's a hobby. Yeah, because a job, you can go get benefits at a job. You ain't getting benefits at a shop. Ain't even a job. Yeah. Your auto repair shop doesn't slow down, and neither should your tools. When diagnostics get more advanced, systems get smarter, and vehicles get more complex, one name keeps shops moving forward: Launch Tech USA.
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So let me, let me— there's somebody out there and he ain't worth saying the name, but there's a person out there in the scope of what we do that makes himself out to be, you know, a white knight coming along, rescuing people with broke down cars. And it's all got this— I fell for it for a little bit too, bro. And it's all got this, um, tangible feeling that it's all positive, right?
And so he had a ton of followers, a ton of engagements. Like, the GoFundMe and all this kind of stuff is great, and it— I guess you could spin that and say it's all positive. But again, it comes back to one of my favorite words, perspective, because it's very easy to sit here and say every other shop doesn't know what they're doing, is ripping people off, And that's a very negative thing to say.
But if your audience is who you made it up to be, want to hear that, to them it's very positive, right? So it comes back to perspective. We're not out here, the outliers that are in these channels that we run in, right? They've already changed the industry for themselves. They've already changed the industry in their local area because they're not doing the norm.
So positive and negative is perception. And I think what I became overwhelmed with was just like, I felt like I was, yes, getting a lot of, uh, comments and a lot of communication, but it was in such a negative place that it was pointless to try and get them to see the other side because they didn't want to, right? And I don't know if that's the difference between a rage bait and a clickbait.
Maybe is a rage bait is going to get somebody angry and they don't even want to have the conversation, they just want to be heard by their opinion and that's it. Whereas clickbait maybe gets people to engage. That's so, so, so, uh, you didn't answer my question. Sorry, but we can come back to that. So the guy that stopped you in the parking lot never comments, but he sees all the stuff that you know.
I should say I've never seen him comment. He said he really appreciates. So there's people. So the deal is, the, the reality is, yeah, all those reels have to be posted to catch the eyes of people. So the people who are willing to do the work because those are out there, right? Because remember, I only said 50% of people are unwilling to do the work, right?
Or whatever the number is. There's a percentage of people who are willing to do the work. Yeah. But, and this is my perspective, and this is where I want you guys to tell me if I'm wrong. I, making reels, am not trying to cut something that makes that person look bad or create negative rage. I am trying to get eyeballs and those eyeballs help those people because you're not going to change the bad people.
And him and I had a probably half hour conversation. He didn't need our help. He's got his stuff together. He's got multiple businesses. He's diversified multiple businesses, multiple industries. But those people, the ones that actually do care and will change, to me, he's interested in listening. He sees it. We'll ever see real without He sees the reel. Yeah, he sees the reel.
Yeah. Now he's interested. He's like, oh, I wonder what these guys are all about. Right now he clicks on, he's like, oh yeah, this is pretty cool. Yep. I'm going to listen to this. And if, and if, if we only posted, you know, the super positive feel-good stuff, which isn't all about what you guys talk about it to me, if I, if I cut only those things, it wouldn't be an accurate representation of what goes on on the shows because sometimes there are, there are things you guys talk about that are rage.
Yeah. And that's okay. So you wouldn't be an accurate representation, but also, if I only cut reels for those, you wouldn't get the eyeballs, you wouldn't get the attention, the listeners, to then have people like that, because he probably would have never heard about the show had he not had other people in the comments getting attention and rage. If you don't have some of the negativity, you're not going to get— Driving the algorithm, and then, you know, the social media sees that he's involved in automotive, among other things though.
Right. He's involved in multiple industries. From what I understand, he's, you know, he's has a couple of restaurants, does a little dirt work, construction type work, stuff like that. He's got multiple and he's not, he's not, he was, he was a technician, you know, he's a guy and he's talking about maybe, you know, narrowing back down and focusing on a certain thing, but he didn't need it.
He's successful in multiple businesses. Right. So when you have somebody that's successful in multiple industries, They're going to seek out knowledge. They don't need Mike's help and my help, but they're going to actively seek out the knowledge. And he's like, hey, I kind of— I like listening to your guys' show, you know. It was, it was interesting. But like you said, without all the engagement as far as comments though, the algorithm never drives that so somebody sees that.
Because that's the reality. That's the reality, right? If nobody— if it doesn't grab people's attention, okay, like let's see, let's say the confessions— let's say Mike and I sent the confessions page to the to the couple hundred people we know, right? Let's say there was 1,000 people we know that we sent it to, and every— all those 1,000 people like it, right?
If you don't ever put anything on there that may be a little thought-provoking or spicy, as some people call it, it never gets commented on. People like, oh yeah, okay, yeah, well, whatever, right? And none of that ever happens, and it never grow— it doesn't grow to 27,000 followers like it has, right? You sit there at 1,000 followers till the end of time.
And those 1,000 followers are people who already know your opinions and already know the conversation you're having. You never actually reach out beyond the bubble that you already had. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And that's— that's— that's— that— well said. That's— that's how I see it. And I'm a stupid grease monkey. I figured that out. I went to— I played— I played baseball in high school with a guy who got married and has a kid who's about 2 years old that was born without half of his arms and half of his legs.
And they're Christians, and they chose— the doctors knew this was going to be how the baby— they took ultrasounds and they were like, "You could abort this child," and they chose not to abort the child. And so they wanted to create this social channel around what happiness that the child gives them, but also what kind of value of life that he has, hoping to inspire other people in similar situations to keep the kid.
That's their hope. And they post all kinds of really heartwarming videos about this kid and their life together. And they have hundreds of thousands of followers online. And if you go and scroll in there, while none of their content ever has anything to do with negativity or rage, it's all good stuff, they got a lot of hate in there. Of course they will.
A lot of hate in there. Can't believe you're trying to monetize your child, or I can't believe you're in here trying to, uh, show off this sad kid. Why are they so mad? Like, why are they so mad? Let me— I guess I just don't understand that, but I definitely see what you're saying. I think is, I have no matter what kind of content you post, don't be an idiot, you're gonna have stupid people.
Do those people understand how stupid they are though? No, but they're— no, they don't. I have a— I have a good friend who has— who has a disabled child. And there's medical expenses involved. My friend does— he does pretty well for himself now, and they can, they can absorb that. He does well enough for himself that he's just— I just talked to him not too long ago.
He says he's super thankful for the position he's worked himself into in life with his— in his financial position, that he knows that he can take care of his daughter without having to rely on XYZ, right? Yeah. So Let's just, let's just dive into that. The, the mentality of the average American. How stupid are these people to think that that child doesn't have medical bills?
How do they know that even if, even if this page is making money, why are they getting pissed off? What do they think the parents are going to do with the money? They're going to seek treatment to improve the life of the child. That's why people piss me off, because people do kind of— people piss me off. I guess it's still shocking to me, and I'm not gullible.
It's not— they, they they— it's not that they don't know that the child has medical expenses, but they don't know the, the expense of what something like that is. A custom wheelchair, a custom vehicle to move a wheelchair. They have no concept. They don't understand that the expense of taking care of this child could be $30,000 a month. And then they don't understand exactly.
And then they're mad that if it's monetized through social media— but they're mad that if it's monetized through social media and their living conditions are better than theirs Maybe they're on a house with a lawn and they're in some terrible apartment on skid, like in the skids, and they're looking at that going, "Must be nice." Like, that's, you know, that's the stupidest conversation that ever gets happened or anybody say because— I know, I hate that.
Must be nice. Must be nice. But that's what they're saying when they hear it. I never see any of the must be nice people at the shop at 4 in the morning. It's weird, so weird. You know what, man, a lot of times I'm at the shop Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon and people are dropping off their cars and they're like, "What are you doing here?"
I got stuff to do. I got stuff to do. I got stuff to do. I know it closes. I still come in here to work. But it's the must be nice attitude that is what has spawned so many people to grab a keyboard and try and make themselves feel better. Must be nice. In most cases, must be nice is linked to an adult that's incapable of making a good decision, and they've chosen Newports and Red Bulls.
Yeah. Instead of improving their financial position. I'm going to express myself with these two sleeves of tattoos as I stand there and ask if you want fries with that. Yeah, yeah, that's— that's a typical person. I got $6,000 worth of ink this year. That's exactly— that is my favorite, right? Choose your heart, man. You know, so it's like— and they're like, they wouldn't want to trade positions with that parent.
Look at Braxton. He's pumped right now. No, but what Braxton is trying to get at makes sense, that if it were not for the reels, spicy or not, we could not get the message out that we're trying to— 100% agree. Yeah. 100% agree. Yeah, it's just how you said to me yesterday, just don't engage them in the comments. You just let them do what they're gonna do because you can say just like you said, bless you, bless it, you know, right?
Or I say thanks for listening. I started doing that. Oh yeah, that'll be a good one. Thanks for listening. I'm gonna try that out. I want to— I don't think I've engaged anybody in our comments. And then a cash register drawer sound that will come out. Thanks for listening. Cha-ching! Just put another dollar in my pocket. Thank you. Right? And you don't want to be that arrogant because it's like, hey, you started it.
I started it. So that's it. That's, that's fair. I mean, think about like, you know, thanks for 27,000 on Facebook, right? 37,000 on Facebook. And we got, and we got, you know, other big followings on social media. I got 725, but Facebook is a big one. Yeah. Oh girl, we can think about the people who like are mega famous. Like You can't even imagine.
You think it's bad with the amount of followers we have? Think about like millions of followers. Sherwood and Sherwood are almost at 500,000. But I'm talking about followers on YouTube, millions and millions of followers, like, you know, athletes, they have a social media, they have a manager, manager. But, you know, there comes a point where you can't respond to these people, right?
You physically would not have enough time in the day to do it.. And if you did, you're going to go crazy. So there has to be like, and this is what I was saying earlier too, we didn't know that this is where it was going to go. And so now we're experiencing new things. We didn't really know we were going to have to do this.
This is a Mr. Rogers. Can you cut the Mr. Rogers in there? You're learning so many new things. So many new things. Please add that in there. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. You're learning so many new things today. So, I mean, it's like we kind of just have to— you have to find the off switch somewhere because there's— I mean, as the page, it's good to engage with people.
Yes. But sometimes there is a line there somewhere where it becomes unhealthy for you. You got to protect your peace, man. Yeah, you got to protect your peace, man. I used to hold the flashlight for my dad. None of that. Not a single one of them people bother me. And that's the thing, like, and that was— oh, you know what, I take that back.
Who hurt your feelings? Who hurt you? I had one guy hurt my feelings. Was his name Mike Allen? No, I won't get into it. It's a long story, but Mike doesn't look at him. But I made some— I made some phone calls. Mike, hey, by the way, that video is doing well. Oh, it is? Okay, good. I made some phone calls and I found him and I called his cell phone and we had a conversation.
I found him. No, no, I found him. He had a lot— he had a lot to say online. He didn't have a lot to say on his phone. And that's sometimes the difference. Keyboard Warriors. Oh yeah, I said, you know what, you know what, I don't— he said something to the, to the, uh, effect of F your whole bloodline, you know, because my background picture is my dad's gravestone with his military service plaque on it.
And, uh, and it said especially Ron. Well, my dad's name's Ron, my child's name is Ron. So I made a couple phone calls, I found the guy. We got— we're straightened up. He won't, he won't be commenting again. He won't say nothing no more. He can be all right. Yeah, but see, that's, that's taking that irritating. That's the only one though that I've ever really— of course, because that was taking it to another level.
Like, what was the video context? But the thing is, what would piss you off so bad, right, from a clip in the interworld that you feel like you had to say something like that? You have to say something like that and have a refrigerator hunting you down. That's not good. It's not a good situation. Candace has to remind me a lot of times because I'm a very competitive person and I love my, I love my sports teams.
And there was a time where it was bad bad. Like, if my team lost, don't talk to me for a day or two. Like, it was bad. And I've gotten a lot better, but she has— whenever I start to get upset about something stupid like that, she's like, Braxton, you realize there's starving people in Africa right now that have real problems? Here we go.
And that's true. That got me to 400 pounds. You have to finish your dinner. There's starving kids. But seated at the end of the table. Yes, You know, you know, put it, puts it in perspective though. Yeah, you know, people got real problems. People are in the hospital right now with issues, and you're over here perfectly healthy with a good roof over your head.
No, I'm saying about your sports. All flats, right? All I wanted was all flat. Piss me off. And I think some people really wouldn't mind for a drumette. When we put ourselves out in the automotive realm, we have to remember that a lot of us that are our audience as people not in the realm. So they all have a situation where they feel like they didn't understand what the repair was, or they didn't feel the repair was fair, or like you and I go back and forth so many times.
First thing, what is fair? Yeah. And, and, but the second thing is, is like, it didn't— they, they were ripped off. They were just frankly ripped off. They were promised that this part would fix this complaint, and they didn't fix it in the lights back on, pardon my language, and they're mad and they're angry, right? We have to remember a lot of those people have that, that are watching, and what the algorithm is going to show it to them are the exact people that are watching.
So they're not interested in us trying to be better than those people that screwed the most— somebody out, they got it. Exactly. They're going to throw hands through the screen at someone, and we represent that. And that's the difference, is it doesn't matter how hard we try, you know. But you know, that sucks for for them, I guess. Well, and I don't know why, why are people— I don't want to go on the tangent.
I was going to say, why are people paying for cars that ain't fixed anyways? But that's a different— well, you— yeah, how many times have you asked? And what doesn't make sense? Why do people— and I know shops that have— I know shops that have subbed cars out to the dealer because the shop can't get to the bottom of it. They send to the dealer, dealer puts a bunch of parts on, writes them a bill, $2,900, and says, yeah, the car ain't fixed, but all these modules are here now.
I'm like, why are you paying them? They didn't fix it. Yeah, but that's a whole— we can't get it. That's another part. Well, it's a completely different subject about it. So what's the real— what's the real money that you can charge people if they'll pay $1,400 and it doesn't fix the car? $4,001. And you're the bad guy? I said that how many years ago?
15 years ago. Price is Right. Yeah, $14.01. But it is. Yeah, but it is. If they put $1,400 into it and the car ain't fixed, you find a broken wire, what's the fix worth? What's the market value of the fix? The market value? $14.01. $1 more. And we don't do that, to be very clear. However, but that's the— yeah. Braxton, what else do you have for us?
I love this stuff. This is great. Good, good. So many more angry people, and we're not going to respond to them because if you're angry, we don't like you. Cutting that one too. Not me, not me. I like you. Well, they're not our people though. Well, that's the thing, right? They're not your people yet. We're gonna change the industry and they will become— No, no, you know, can I tell you something Greg Buckley told me one time?
Yeah, I was real frustrated. I was trying to help somebody with something and I was just super frustrated. I'm like, oh my gosh, this guy just won't— he won't under— he's choosing not to understand this guy. Greg Buckley told me— I just talked to him this morning and I told him I took that advice very seriously when he— I literally told him this this morning.
But Greg told me one time, he goes, "Brian, you're not the Messiah. You can't save all these people." That's what he said. I am not Captain Sable. Well, I was going to say, Tanika loves to say this, and I think in this situation with people getting upset online, we have to remember, "What you eat don't make me fat." He said it right too.
"What you eat don't make me fat." And what you have to do— Other people's cake don't make me fat. Either way. No, down south, we down south. "What you eat don't make me fat." Okay. I'm not arguing with you. I think we have to remember that these are our missions. We're trying to help the industry and we're going to stay focused, but some people just aren't going to get on a train.
Just like they won't show up for training. Right. There's just nothing you can do about it. And you can do your best and don't worry about the rest. Yeah. I don't know. Christen dropping bars. Look at that. Do your best. Don't worry about the rest. Yeah. Freaking word to your mother. That's the thumbnail image. Word to your mother. Word to your mother.
Um, I think in some ways it's like we don't, we don't necessarily talk about the positive things enough because it would seem braggadocious, right? And the reality is, so what we just discussed is we just discuss always the challenges. The challenge is a challenge, a challenge. We don't like— you don't ever puff your chest out like outside of, um, the circles necessarily on some of the amazing things that you do, right?
I don't really do that many amazing things. I've just— oh, shut up. So I figure a couple things. I know, I know. Yeah, maybe that's something that we try to lean into, and that's so— highlight some of the good stuff. And that's what I keep thinking going forward is we do talk about that. Does a good job at that. I try to do— I try to do that.
You do. I want to like, this is where I'm from, this is where I went, and this is what's happening happened. This is the good that came out of it. Yeah. And you always wrap up the episode with like, hey, what gives you hope about this industry? Encourage someone that's in shoes that you were in 20 years ago. Right. Like stuff like that.
I find that people think it's just them and they're still thinking that in 2020. It's just my shop. It's just me. I'm not doing good. No, you're doing great. No, same problems, different zip code. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Everybody's facing the same problems. And that's another— and they're looking up, they're looking at the highlight reels of our lives on social media.
Oh yeah. And they're thinking those other 23 hours are just as easy because that's all we share is the highlight reels on any social media, whether it's business, personal, podcast. The people that get online and cry for a living to music, now that's a different beast. We'll talk about that in another episode. But really, that's what we post. We edit our highlight reels and we put music behind it and you make everybody laugh for the likes, for the dopamine.
And that's what people are seeing. And then that's how they get the feeling like, oh, it's just my shop. I'm the only one that's struggling. And that's why I was saying with Benji today, I was like, listen, dude, if you've got 3 bays and your capacity is $500,000 a year, get there. Don't sit there and compare yourself to the guy that has $400,000 a month.
Stop looking at those fools because they're miserable anyway and they smell funny. Um, work on you. Focus on you, boo. Yeah, do the best you that you can do. Social media has, has done way more damage than it has. Absolutely. Sure. I mean, there's a lot of good out there in there, but yeah, it's, it's It can— everybody wants to compare their self to everybody else.
Why is everybody taking these vacations? Baby, that vacation reel was from 3 years ago. You wouldn't know damn where. You believe that? I did go somewhere, but I'm just saying. Um, but yeah, people believe all of the highlight reels. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's what people want to show because they want to make it feel better. Like, how many people are in dead-end relationships and open marriages and stuff, and they're still posting celebratory, you know, this is our anniversary, and yet, you know, I know a couple, right?
And it's like, and, or you know the backstory and you're like, oh yeah, I know the real story. And it was like, oh, and that's, that's ugly. And I'm not trying to put those people on blast, but I mean, that's exactly what I like. People are lying. Yeah. People are not who they post to be. And from the business standpoint, we've talked about this, people can get in there and get all up on boat, like, this is the revenue that we generated, this is the hours that were turned and everything.
And then we can go, we in the industry know that there's also fallout from that. Right? And, and so when— yeah, some of those business models, although they may work for a few years, yeah, there's certain business models that have an expiration date that has to do with population density, market size, so on and so forth. Yeah. And that's when we get into that, you know, everybody was so just— it was so divided last 2 months ago, right?
Yeah. When that happened, the, the plane crash, and everybody was so divided and it got so toxic in one week. That was ugly. Yeah. And it was like, holy crap, like, everybody just chill for a minute. Like, it doesn't— what that— what they, uh, talk about all day long isn't for me. But it doesn't mean that— like, but again, eat don't make you fat.
That's right. If you don't like it, keep it moving, big dog. Yeah. You know, and like, for me, that's not my model. Todd Hazey's not my model. You know, I choose to do it this way. You choose to do But as long as we're treating the customer right. Everybody looks a certain way online. And then you find somebody in that market that's actually involved and you find out that, oh, maybe.
That they show up every Monday at that shop and go. Are exaggerating about how great it is. And the staffing gets changed more than Brian changes his socks. It's not as great as everybody thinks it is. You know, there's a lot of people acting like everything's great, but then there's a lot of people that have a whole ass hiring manager because you can't keep people in the building for 130 days.
But anyways, but yet those people in that that represent that side of the industry, they're still our people and they're still within our industry. Exactly. And that's the thing, it's like we, we need to remember that they still deserve a somewhat level of respect, you know, um, and, uh, and, and at least of, okay, you do you, like you always say, and, and we're gonna do us, right?
Yeah. And it doesn't necessarily— I promise you I will keep doing me. Somebody will have a gun to my head, I'll just keep doing me. I'll risks surviving the gunshot. Yeah, yeah. Um, and that's the thing. So it's like, that's how it's going to go. I, I don't care as much as I used to care about what somebody else was doing and whether it was wrong for the industry.
I'm past that point, right? I, I put my focus on my people, which is the technicians. Yep. And that's where I put my focus. And it's like, this can work for you and it might not work for you. It depends on the type of person. You may go to a dealer and love it, and you may go to an independent shop and love it.
Both of them are opportunities and, and Avenues for some young people. And then sometimes even on that level, you got to be like, dude, if it's so bad, do something about it, right? And that's why I have to tell— yeah, I have to tell so many of them, right? Like, it's like, so let's— why do you keep— why are you still crying about— why are we having this conversation again, bro?
Did you take the wheels off your toolbox? What's the trouble here? Yeah, right. I don't want to move. Well, and then when you say that, other people get mad. I don't really care. Yes, you know. Oh no, you're just trying to help them think because you— I'm not going to sit here and listen to you saying complaints. You're going to say, complain how you get get screwed every single day.
Well, why don't you go try a different shop and see if it's— well, let's try that, because let's at least change one thing. You can't change you because you are you. Change your environment. If you still suck in the next environment, it might be— maybe it's time to check the mirror. Maybe it's better in the next environment. I don't know. I don't know the answer.
I'm not you. I don't work beside you. I can't tell you. But yeah, I'll tell you what, do something. Doing nothing— yeah, do something. Shit or get off the pot, as my grandpa used to say. Do something. Yeah, yeah, you know, and that thing, I can show them person after person that moved across the country to find a better opportunity. You know, and I would talk to some people who bring people in from across the country all the time.
Yeah, all the time. Built whole businesses with transplants. Look at Zeb. Zeb threw that money up there and said, I don't care where you come from, come here if you can do the job. Well, you know, I can't come. And it's like all of a sudden all the hands went down. I'm not coming. Everybody talks a big game and then somebody says, show me what you can do.
Come here tomorrow, right? Cricket. We've got more bays and more cars and you get done and nobody comes and knocks on the door except a few people. Right now my phone will go chirp, chirp, chirp. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, and it's, and again, there's a big difference between having the, the trying to be heard, right? And legitimately complaining. And that's just what I, I have to have this conversation all the time with with my mom is that sometimes, like, it sounds like complaining, but I'm just trying to unload.
Right. And that's a lot of the people when we put ourselves out there again is they're complaining and it sounds like complaining, but they're just trying to be heard and get some, some tension out of themselves that makes them feel better. Right. And, you know, now nobody likes to hear, well, suck it up, buttercup. Like I had to— like I had to walk uphill both ways to school.
That never taught a kid to appreciate, you know, the fact that they— oh yeah, don't forget, didn't have to walk. Don't forget snow, right? Tanika didn't— there was no snow. But you know what I'm trying to say, right? Like, that never made anybody appreciate better. It was just, okay, it's a disregard. You want to be a sounding board. Yes. But then when, uh, Jimmy Bob complains about the same thing for 5 weeks, yeah, I don't hear that shit no more.
Jimmy Bob, that's right. Like, what are you gonna do about it? Like, Brian's like, okay, what we do? Do something. Change something. Do something. Yeah. If you're like, this place is horrible, this place is a prison, move. Get out. You're not trapped there. I mean, dude, it was a shop owner, friend of my father's, and he sent me a message on Facebook and he was talking, talking, talking.
He was like, listen, you should do this, consider this. You know me from my childhood. Now you know the type of people that me and my father are. I am telling you, the best advice I can give you right now is to shut your door and come to Feeling Connections and listen to Becky Witt on this Friday. I will pay for you to go.
Oh, man, you know, I got those. You know what? You know what? Now, all the excuses. Can't, can't, can't. Yeah, I got a car lot full. I got a lot full of cars. I can't miss a day. That's not working out for you. You know what I use for my wrestling coach? I had the best wrestling coach on this planet. He's in the coaching hall of fame.
Yes, he was good. Yeah, and he used to— if we were, if we were messing around and not, not doing what we're supposed to do and getting beat or something, and, uh, he, he'd pull you aside and he goes, you know, you're out here finding a way to lose. It's just as easy to find a way to win. Yeah, right. And they— what they do is they keep making the excuse and they keep finding a way to lose.
Yeah. And it's just as easy to find a way to win, and it's not as comfortable, but difficulty level long term Winning is easier than losing long term. And that's how losing is easier short term. That's how you create that movie that you play in your head is when you keep finding the people to blame and the excuses that you're going to make.
And people to listen to it. That's right. And then nobody else will listen to it. No, you'll find some trolls that will be sharing the misery with you. But only for a little. Some other person that chooses to lose also. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. This sucks. That's right. You're fucking— and that movie in your head— a change. That movie in your head is what will really screw you up.
Yeah, make a change. Josh talks about that all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's your very— because here's the thing, that's your very real reality, is whatever you picture in your brain as the reason for why you act this way or whatever, that's the movement. I have a whole section in our class on, on visualization. Yeah, yeah, right. Like, the beauty of it— visualize where you want to be.
You have to visualize it, right? And, and then build steps to get it. And it's not some hokey-pokey BS that— I mean, what do you think? What do you think these trainers are teaching some of these professional athletes to do? Mm-hmm. Right. Do you think a quarterback visualizes the throw to the ball into the receiver's arms? Right. People visualize professional Olympic shooters, right?
The Winter Olympics this year, they're all skiing around and shooting, right? They're all visualizing the shot. It's not some hokey-pokey. You walk up to the putt thinking you're going to miss it. Well, you're going to miss it. Yeah. I don't watch I'm not skiing. Black people don't ski. I'm lying. I just say stuff like that. Um, but they were saying, definitely no water skiing, you know, on the slopes.
Yeah, you're going fast as hell on two little skinny little pieces of me. Yeah, but they say you just have to look at where you're going. That's right. Yeah, like if they didn't look at exactly— because I'm like, how do you focus at that speed? Snowmobiling, we have a funny saying: if you ride out in the powder, if you look at a tree trying to avoid it, you're gonna hit that tree, right?
Every single time. You want to go— if you look right, you're going to go right. Yeah, you have to look where you want to go. So if you don't want to hit the tree, you better be looking at the gap. You look at the tree, you hit the tree. Yep, every time. Yeah, every time. Not just like, oh, it might work out.
No. Hey George, look out for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to visualize. And some people, like Jeff said, their visualization— or as Jeff referred to it, the movie they're playing in their head— is woe is me, woe is me, woe is me. This industry sucks, I'll never do this. And but then they say it so much that other people believe it.
Like, no dude, you suck, or maybe you're in the bad shop, but the loudest person gets the attention. And how many high school educated level people do I have to go through that have just absolutely made it in this industry? This industry is so terrible. Yeah, I have, I have dozens of people that are just killing it, killing it. Some of them didn't make it out of high school.
They're multi-millionaires. Some of them didn't make it out of high school. They're multi-millionaires. It's like Daddy's story. He's 18 years old with a kid, me. And I tell people, statistically, according to statistics, I wouldn't even know who— I shouldn't know who he is, and he shouldn't be anything. High school, did graduate from high school, started a shop, but he had people behind him that believed him, and he kept his eyes on the prize, and he did the work.
And he did the work. Yeah, you have to do the work. You have to do a lot of people trying to skip out on the work. That's the problem, you know, because like I was saying, the coaches are saying, well, work on your business, not any— no, you got to do both. You have to do both for a long time. We have a whole section of that that we talk about.
How do you know what's wrong if you don't show up? Yeah, do the work. You gotta do the work after hours, before hours. You have to do the work. And it's the same as like the more technical side of stuff that I do. If you think that I showed up the shop from 9 to 5 and I supposedly figured out all this magical crap between 9 and 5.
It's no, no, no, no. But they have to have work-life balance. And you can choose— I'm ignoring you. He gave you the side eye. You've got to have— and you can choose how successful you are. Yeah. Yep. Here's the deal. If you put in an extra 20 minutes a day, the statistics that Kokonas collected— so I'm assuming they're correct because he's a master researcher.
So I'm going to believe him. The statistics say that if you put an extra 20 minutes a day, you'll achieve a level at a certain thing. If you focus on that subject for 20 minutes a day extra, you'll achieve mastery of that subject at a level that will put you within the top 10% of people in that subject. Yeah, that's what 20 minutes a day extra work gets you.
Is 20 minutes a day even that much? You have— everybody's got half hour lunch. Your shop, the guys take half hour lunch. They got an hour. Okay. Wolf your cheeseburger down, spend 20 minutes a day watching Scandidate. Choose your flavor. I don't even care what you want. Choose your flavor. Watch it. You don't have to do what I do. What Jeff knows, what I've done in 20 years, I've put an additional 20,000 hours in outside of— yeah, right, training.
Yeah. And that's what you get. What I have, the blessings that I have, is what I get. For that extra effort. Absolutely. But you're certainly not just going to show up and— somebody brought it up in the class the other day— I have a girlfriend, I want my work-life balance. Okay, buddy, that's fine. So if you would like to be— oh, this is gonna, this is gonna be a rage bait click— if you would look up, go online, go to the U.S.
Labor Statistics, look up what the average salary of an automotive technician is. And if you want to be— if you want a 9-to-5, you will be that average technician. You will earn the average salary. Good luck. Don't complain to me when you chose average. Yeah, you're choosing average. Yeah, well, that's exactly what they choose, average, and they get pissed off that they're average, bro.
You chose average. I didn't choose average for you. You chose average. This is how you live now. I think I can get away with saying this: the girlfriends really mess techs up. The girl— I can get— I can, I can say it. Yeah, no, I'll say it. I'll be the female. The girls really mess up They get all twisted up over these girls, and I'm like, bro, like, especially pull your head out of your ass, we got shit to do.
Especially if you're with a toxic one. That was me way back in the day, and it cost me a job. I think that even a— even, even a, even a girl that's not a problem, I think their head gets all discombobulated, and they're all— why, they can't even make heads or tails of what the situation is, and they start acting stupid. I've seen it happen.
I've seen it happen. And it's— well, you had one, you had one that left your shop and followed her. No, no, that's how much— that's how much about that. But I love everything about it. But that's what I mean. You and I have talked so long. This kid, yeah, his freaking girlfriend broke up with him. This kid go— drives to the Buffalo airport the next morning instead of coming to work.
It's— he buys a plane, toolbox and everything. Love this shit. Ain't no way. Yes, yes, way, Miss Tisha. Yes. She was working with the WAP. I ain't never seen— yeah, Wings and Pizza. Yeah, Wings and Pizza. That's exactly what we meant when we said that. But no, I had a young lady started off as a tech with me. She was really young and she wanted to do it.
She was doing a good job. She wanted to be a diesel tech. She could have got a boyfriend. And I said, let me tell you something. And then her mom kicked her out. And I said, if your mama kicks you out You know you got problems. And she, I'm gonna be late because he was down in Vietnam. So it was an hour and a half, 2-hour drive, and she's trying to come back and forth to work.
She's called Vietnam. Vietnam. I, I had not heard that. We call Fayetteville. Yeah, some military in Vietnam. I'm familiar with the military town. I had never heard it called that. Vietnam. My life, my life has been improved. So you killed He lives in Vietnam. I know, I'm going to tell Josh. We got a really— Okay, sorry. Oh, it's 5 o'clock. I love it.
You guys have given me more content to cut. That was not the point of this whole conversation, but he's enjoying it. When is Vietnam getting cut? Because I want to put that on endless loop because I'll laugh at that forever. Do it in the Forrest Gump style. How much are you willing to pay, Brian? I'll get it up for you. And we'll get Michael Gunther to put like your face onto Rambo's body.
No, I want to be Forrest Gump. He's my favorite. Oh yeah. You know, he says, "Fate now!" We can get her on Robin Williams. Good morning, fate. Now. Okay. Okay, folks, it's really— Well, we're back. I love you all. And I think these conversations are valuable for us and the listeners, especially the ones that actually care and aren't just here because they mad.
But, you know, you guys, I believe, because I came— I worked for a Christian radio station.. And I really do believe that God called me out of that space to be in this one to help you guys do what you want to do. And I love getting to do what I do. And sometimes there are things that we got to figure out, and this has been one of those.
This 2026 so far has been figure out how to manage social media, how to build a brand, really come up with where you want to be, where you want to be in 5 years. And I think we're really changing things up on how we do it all. And it's been fun. It's been fun. I've learned a lot and I do appreciate you.
I've learned a lot. 100%. Well, I'm learning a lot too. I mean, like I say, I'm kind of new at this at the same time. So bottom line, what we want from our listeners is to get past the reel because we need the reels. In order to reel in new listeners so that we can continue to do our work. But we need you to listen to the whole thing.
I don't know what percentage of it is, but say if you had 100,000 views on a video, let's say there's 1,000 people that actually go to watch the full episode. That's still good. I mean, yeah, that's 1,000 people. That's 1%. That's 1,000 people that wouldn't have gone 100. Can you imagine if we change some— if you take 100 people, yeah, and convert them?
One. Yeah, one. I rode down here with Dan and Rachel. They brought to a guy that's running a shop and his employees. So one, one shop, one shop is a huge change. I was excited. I was like, this is awesome. This guy's mind is blown. He's down here. So if anybody wants to know what we want to do other than hear ourselves talk, What he just said.
That's right. One at a time. One shop at a time. One shop at a time. One bite at a time. That's right. That's how you eat an elephant right there. I'm going to say like Jeff does, I loves you all. Yeah. How do you say it? I love you all. God bless. Good night. Thank you for listening. Chop chop. I'm not saying nothing because, you know, if you do, you won't stop.
And that is the rest of the story. You could do me a favor real quick. And like, comment on, and share this episode. I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change.
Thank you to my partners in the ASAR Group and to the Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say: in this industry, you get what you pay for. Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10mm, and we'll see you all again next time.
More from The Jaded Mechanic
They’re Married AND Mobile Mechanics?! with Ben and Jenna Dellaria
Like the show? Show your support by using our sponsorsNeed to update your shop systems and software? Try Tekmetric HERELaunch your tool game to the next level with Launch Tech USA! HEREIn this episode, Jeff sits down with Ben and Jenna of 3Ts Automotive to talk about mobile automotive repair, business growth, marriage, and building a business online. Ben and Jenna share the realities of running a high volume mobile business, from working in extreme heat to managing customer expectations and diagnosing vehicles on camera. They discuss their plans for a future brick and mortar shop, the challenges of growing a YouTube channel, and why staying authentic matters more than chasing views.The conversation also covers pricing, profitability, parts sourcing, scheduling, maintenance, industry misinformation, online trolls, and the importance of supporting technicians who want to do quality work. They also share lessons on working together as a couple, avoiding burnout, staying focused on your own journey, and keeping the business fundamentals ahead of social media.Timestamps:00:00 Ignore Online Hype00:36 Meet 3Ts Automotive01:02 Heat and Going Brick and Mortar04:23 Working With Your Spouse09:57 Filming Real Diagnostics11:32 Authenticity Over Views14:35 Trolls and Teaching Values19:12 Pricing Labor and Profit23:34 Wild Customer Calls32:16 No Means No Requests33:34 Turbo Noise Request34:14 Why Enthusiast Cars Hurt35:46 The Never Ending Project39:40 Parts Sourcing Reality40:23 Friends and Family Pricing Trap43:56 Home Shop Time Management46:53 Hemi Truck No Start Mystery50:16 Flexible Repair Philosophy54:24 Maintenance First Hard Truths59:42 Social Media Pricing Damage01:08:03 Battery Light Surprise01:08:52 Alternator Fix Then Stalls01:10:42 Cat Converter Root Cause01:11:23 Parts Quality Domino Effect01:14:10 Parking Lot Mechanics Debate01:17:34 Regulation and Certification01:22:24 Building the Skool Community01:28:21 Rage Bait and Misinformation01:34:43 Staying Positive Online01:40:00 Profitability and Public Perception01:42:49 Who to Argue With01:45:14 Quiet Supporters Matter01:46:51 Handling Trolls Online01:48:12 Who Deserves a Platform01:49:57 Internet Outsiders Weigh In01:53:36 Stay the Course01:54:51 Working With Your Spouse01:59:35 Mobile Life and Burnout02:02:14 ADHD, Anxiety and Focus02:06:08 Stop Comparing Journeys02:08:03 Closing Advice and Growth02:10:22 Content Second, Business First02:13:18 Revenue Goals and Training02:16:04 Thanks, Sponsors and Community02:18:23 Final Sign Off and CTA Follow/Subscribe to the show on social media! TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffcompton7YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJadedMechanicFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091347564232
Is Flat Rate Driving Young Technicians Out of the Trade? with Tanner Watters
Like the show? Show your support by using our sponsors.Need to update your shop systems and software? Try Tekmetric HERELaunch your tool game to the next level with Launch Tech USA! HEREIn this episode, Jeff Compton talks with Tanner Waters, a field and shop technician in rural Montana, about his path into the trade and what life is like working on tractors, combines, and hay equipment. Tanner shares his apprenticeship experience, field diagnostics, long drives, and major repairs while comparing hourly efficiency pay with flat rate.The conversation also explores why younger technicians leave the industry, the importance of shop culture and leadership, technician communication, diagnostic time, training apprentices, and the future of agricultural equipment with autonomy, EVs, emissions, and right to repair.Timestamps:00:00 Shop Culture Wins 00:34 Podcast Intro and Guest Setup 01:45 Montana Life and Fishing Talk 02:43 How Tanner Got Wrenching 03:24 Corvette and Hemi Memories 05:43 Wrangler Ownership and Oil Cooler 08:41 Life as a Field Tech 11:55 Winter Regens and Emissions 13:36 From Kenworth to John Deere 14:32 Old-School Trucks and Cabovers 18:17 Apprenticeship Tools and Toolboxes 22:50 Princess Auto and Canada Road Trip 26:14 MMA Stories 31:02 The Missing Age Group in the Trade 32:00 The Flat Rate Gap 34:48 Recalls and PIPs 36:08 Why Technicians Leave 40:54 Hourly Efficiency Pay 51:18 Workflow Support Roles 55:03 Technicians Selling the Job 59:54 Pre-Authorizing Repairs 01:04:18 Why Diagnostics Take Time 01:09:50 Transmission Service Expectations 01:11:05 Free Diagnostics vs. Evaluation 01:13:08 Asking Better Questions 01:14:07 Intermittent Turbo Faults 01:15:19 Parts Quality Reality Check 01:18:39 Build Quality and Technician Pay 01:20:54 Training Apprentices the Right Way 01:23:27 Motivation and Career Paths 01:27:13 Turnover and Leadership 01:32:56 Ag Tech Levels and Certifications 01:34:08 Autonomy and Electric Agriculture 01:38:29 EVs in Rural Life 01:41:32 Muscle Cars and Collectors 01:44:49 Jeep Ducks Culture 01:45:53 The Top-Off Jeep Debate 01:47:13 Wrangler Tops and Leaks 01:48:26 Refrigerant Changes and 1234yf 01:49:58 AC Repair Customer Headaches 01:52:57 DIY Refrigerant Cans and Regulations 01:57:29 Right to Repair Deere 02:01:26 Technician Shortage and OTA Updates 02:04:36 Self-Driving and Subscriptions 02:08:54 Shop Culture and Career 02:13:35 Events, Sponsors, and Farewell Follow/Subscribe to the show on social media! TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffcompton7YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJadedMechanicFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091347564232
Building a Career From Scratch at 30 with Sean Pierce
Like the show? Show your support by using our sponsors. Need to update your shop systems and software? Try Tekmetric HERELaunch your tool game to the next level with Launch Tech USA! HEREIn this episode, Jeff talks with Oregon technician Sean Pierce about his unconventional path into automotive repair, from car audio and alarms to trade school, ASE certifications, and advanced diagnostics. Sean shares lessons from working on exotic vehicles and Sprinters, explains why process and proper brake work matter, and discusses his shop’s hourly-plus-bonus pay structure and technician development pipeline. They also explore scan tools, hybrids and EVs, ADAS calibration, liability, parts quality, and the challenges of bringing the next generation into the trade.Timestamps:00:00 Trade School Journey 00:53 Podcast Intro and Wildfires 01:30 Farm Life and Animals 02:58 Toyota vs. Sprinter Shop Specialties 03:44 Sprinter Repair Nightmares 06:55 Car Audio and Euro Roots 10:57 Exotic Car Installs and Ferrari Stress 12:48 Becoming a Technician and Earning ASEs 15:52 Training Technicians the Right Way 18:00 Pay Plans and Shop Culture 20:21 Building a Community Reputation 26:14 Parts Quality and Counterfeit Components 35:26 On-Car Rotor Truing 38:40 Hub Preparation and Brake Vibration 41:28 Flat Rate vs. Quality 43:05 Proper Brake Bedding 45:56 Why Diagnostics Is Addictive 51:33 Setting Diagnostic Expectations 57:44 Audi S8 Diagnostic Nightmare 01:03:49 Scan Tools and Diagnostic Resources 01:08:38 Hybrids and EVs 01:13:03 EV HVAC Safety Warnings 01:14:11 ADAS and Calibration 01:15:53 Tesla and Self-Driving Reality 01:17:25 Calibration Liability and Pay 01:25:07 What Frustrates Technicians Today 01:27:49 How Passion Changes With Age 01:31:22 Side Work and Going Solo 01:40:15 Building the Next Generation of Technicians 01:48:13 Two-Year Goals and Wrap Up Follow/Subscribe to the show on social media! TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffcompton7YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJadedMechanicFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091347564232
Why Flat Rate Is Failing Today's Technicians with Dustin Stutzman
Like the show? Show your support by using our sponsorsNeed to update your shop systems and software? Try Tekmetric HERELaunch your tool game to the next level with Launch Tech USA! HEREIn this episode, Dustin Stutzman, a shop foreman and high-efficiency flat-rate technician, shares why he left engineering for the automotive industry and how he became a master technician without a dedicated mentor. Drawing from years in dealership service departments, Dustin explains how flat-rate pay, poor dispatching, and corporate policies often discourage quality repairs and technician development. The conversation explores AI, diagnostic pay, training, dealership culture, and what it will take to retain skilled technicians in the future.Timestamps:00:00 Learning Without Mentors 00:47 From Engineering to Automotive 01:51 Work-Life Balance and Career Values 04:45 AI and the Future of Service Advisors 07:16 Paying Technicians for Video Inspections 11:45 The Shop Foreman Role 14:07 Dispatching Work by Skill Level 17:19 Solving a Cold-Start No-Start Mystery 23:31 Fighting for Diagnostic Pay 24:50 Feeling Appreciated by Great Leadership 30:00 Leaving After Pay Cuts 34:46 Dealer Groups and Industry Consolidation 39:48 Becoming a Chrysler Master Technician 42:40 Life on the Training Road 43:27 Why Dustin Avoided GM 44:30 Diesel Emissions and Warranty Pay 49:02 Getting Diagnostic Time Approved Upfront 55:40 Quoting Worst-Case Repairs 57:53 Service vs. Parts Department Friction 01:03:41 Dispatch Roulette at Dealerships 01:05:15 Demanding Real Diagnostic Data 01:05:46 The Air Filter Diagnostic Lesson 01:11:25 Old-School Electrical Diagnostics 01:13:57 Chrysler Warranty Pay and the Neon Squeak 01:15:19 The 40-Hour Dash Rattle 01:16:46 Brick Road Dash Rattle 01:17:32 One-Shot Repair Success 01:18:06 Foam-Filled Repair Solution 01:19:25 Why Dustin Praises Chrysler WiTech 01:21:09 Preventive Maintenance Matters 01:22:34 Oil Change Reality Check 01:25:19 The Cost of Oil Neglect 01:29:45 Training Technicians Under Flat Rate 01:33:18 The Missing Career Path for New Techs 01:34:39 Learning by Doing 01:37:45 Advocating for Better Pay and Metrics 01:41:20 Dealer Groups and Technician Burnout 01:45:07 The Technician Shortage and Pay Gap 01:50:16 Keeping Great Technicians 01:53:16 Closing Thoughts and Upcoming Events Follow/Subscribe to the show on social media! TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffcompton7YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJadedMechanicFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091347564232
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Brakes for Breasts: How Auto Repair Shops Are Fighting Breast Cancer [THA 500]
Thanks to our Partners: NAPA TRACS, Today's Class, KUKUI, and Pit Crew Loyalty Watch Full Video Episode *]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id="request-WEB:8e59eec7-a235-4fa3-a072-956fea3fe478-7" data-testid="conversation-turn-4" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn="assistant"> *]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id="request-WEB:49a777bf-d263-4496-bf0b-2eb3a46ac96a-11" data-testid="conversation-turn-24" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn="assistant"> What if your auto repair shop could help advance breast cancer research while growing your business? Co-founders Leigh Anne Best and Laura Frank, alongside Dr. Justin Johnson from the Cleveland Clinic, share the story behind one of the automotive industry's most impactful grassroots fundraisers. Since 2011, participating shops have partnered with parts vendors to provide free brake pads during October, helping customers save on repairs while shops donate 10% of the total service cost to breast cancer vaccine research at Cleveland Clinic. With $2.4 million raised and a $3 million milestone in sight, the campaign is helping fund continued research into the alpha-lactalbumin breast cancer vaccine for triple-negative breast cancer while giving independent repair shops an opportunity to strengthen their communities and grow their business. What You'll Learn How the Brakes for Breasts win-win fundraising model works.How participating shops can partner with parts vendors and customers.Why 100% of donations go directly to the research laboratory.How grassroots funding helped keep the Cleveland Clinic research lab open after Dr. Vincent Tuohy's passing.What Phase 1 vaccine research revealed and what Phase 2 will require.How participating shops can generate community awareness and increased car count.How your shop can participate and access promotional resources. Brakes for Breasts demonstrates what can happen when the automotive industry comes together around a cause. Shops can serve their customers, strengthen their communities, grow their businesses, and help fund research that could change lives. Every shop, every customer, and every dollar can make a difference. https://www.brakesforbreasts.com/ The First Breast Cancer Vaccine Trial Recipient Jennifer Davis: https://remarkableresults.biz/remarkable-results-radio-podcast/cc111/ NAPA TRACS will move your shop into the SMS fast lane with onsite training, six days a week of support, and local representation. http://napatracs.com/ Optimize training with Today's Class: In just 5 minutes daily, boost knowledge retention and improve team performance. https://www.todaysclass.com/ Stop juggling multiple marketing tools. KUKUI’s integrated platform delivers 4x better website conversions, automated follow-up, and real-time ROI tracking. https://www.kukui.com/ You’re probably tired of chasing new customers who never return. Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one-and-done cycle, turning first visits into lasting, reliable revenue at https://www.pitcrewloyalty.com/ Connect with the Podcast: Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/Visit the Website:https://remarkableresults.biz/Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/carmcapriottoFollow on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/RemarkableResultsRadioPodcast/Follow on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmcapriotto/Follow on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/remarkableresultsradiopodcast/Join Our Virtual Toastmasters Club:https://remarkableresults.biz/toastmastersJoin Our Private Facebook Community:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1734687266778976Join our Insider List:https://remarkableresults.biz/insiderAll books mentioned on our podcasts:https://remarkableresults.biz/booksOur Classroom page for personal or team learning:https://remarkableresults.biz/classroomBuy Me a Coffee:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/carmSpecial episode collections:https://remarkableresults.biz/collections The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: <a href="https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener...
Shop Owners: Maybe YOU'RE the Problem | Tristin Sweeney - 38
Running a shop is hard enough—you don't need your software making it harder. 😂 If you're ready for more clarity, better organization, and a smoother experience for both your team and your customers, check out Tekmetric HEREConsistency is key - heard that! But, consistency is HARD. That's why I gave up on trying and let the experts handle it. Detect Auto. Let them clean up your estimating process and raise your ARO - like they did for me! CLICK HERE TO BOOK A DEMOAt 29 years old, Tristin Sweeney is running an auto repair shop, building automotive technology, and questioning some of the industry's favorite excuses. In this episode, Tonnika Haynes talks with Tristin about his unconventional path from the startup world into automotive, acquiring Honest Automotive, building Shift, and why owning a shop became the ultimate testing ground for solving real industry problems. But things get spicy when they tackle the supposed technician shortage, outdated hiring practices, shop owners blaming younger generations, and why good employees may be leaving shops that refuse to change. They also dig into AI, technician training, communication, leadership, burnout, and why new technology should solve problems instead of creating more work. If you're a shop owner who keeps saying, “Nobody wants to work anymore,” this conversation might make you look in the mirror.Timestamps:00:00 Why automotive has become unattractive to work in00:23 Downshift intro00:42 Meet Tristin Sweeney: 29, busy, and obsessed with automotive01:23 Audi, Volkswagens, and where the car obsession started03:15 Can you be a great service advisor without knowing cars?04:40 There are more automotive careers than turning wrenches06:26 From tech startups to the automotive industry07:17 Getting laid off, joining ShopGenie, and finding his industry09:17 Running TWO automotive businesses at 2910:11 How Tristin bought Honest Automotive after finding it on Facebook14:01 Has shop ownership given him gray hair yet?14:32 Building a shop around passion and customer experience16:21 Honest Automotive is also Tristin’s “laboratory”16:48 How Shift Automotive was born18:19 Building software from the problems that drive shop owners crazy19:10 Technology problem or people problem?20:17 How does someone working 60–70 hours a week avoid burnout?22:55 Success isn’t worth burning yourself out by 3023:19 Tonnika gets VERY personal about Tristin having kids 😂25:32 Why Tristin is committed to automotive for the long haul28:53 Shift grows to more than 150 shops30:02 Why simply SHOWING UP can change your career31:21 The “Gen Z stare” and learning how to communicate33:34 Get in rooms where you’re uncomfortable37:04 What will automotive look like 10 years from now?41:11 Shop owners who ignore AI WILL get left behind42:43 How should shops prepare technicians for new technology?43:27 Does every tech need to understand the newest cars right now?45:48 Why the next generation matters more than ever47:58 What does a technician actually need to “look like”?48:48 Is the technician shortage actually a hiring problem?49:48 How many great technicians are shops overlooking?50:48 “I hire people. I don’t hire jobs.”52:00 Why automotive can be an unattractive place to work54:18 Great shops generally aren’t struggling to find applicants54:51 The talent is out there—and some of them want to leave their current shop55:55 If recruiters can steal your technicians, that’s a YOU problem56:04 Most shop problems start with the owner57:30 Accepting criticism from your employees—even your own son58:03 Old-school leadership vs. the way Tonnika leads today59:33 The macaroni-and-cheese recipe for evolving a family business1:01:47 Is treating every employee differently “coddling”?1:03:50 Why one universal pay plan doesn’t work for everyone1:04:39 Flexible schedules, flat rate, salary, and what actually motivates people1:07:08 Shop owners who refuse to compromise may lose great technicians1:07:56 Bad bosses create the next generation of bad bosses1:08:21 Why leadership and communication have to be learned1:13:00 Stop micromanaging every detail of your shop1:14:22 “Granddad did it that way” isn’t a good enough reason anymore1:15:28 The Carfax data debate gets spicy 😂1:16:24 What Carfax actually gets from your shop1:17:47 Tonnika’s grandfather discovers OnStar and thinks “they’re coming for him”1:19:03 Technology fear usually comes from misunderstanding1:19:45 Tristin’s legacy: Leave automotive better than he found it1:20:00 Where to find Honest Automotive and Shift Automotive1:21:22 Closing, AI hot takes, and what’s next
216 - Coach the Call: Using AI Insights to Develop Stronger Service Advisors
216 - Coach the Call: Using AI Insights to Develop Stronger Service Advisors August 26th, 2026 - 00:54:51 Show Summary: Strong phone skills can turn more incoming calls into appointments while building trust from the first interaction. Consistent call reviews give service advisors a clear path to improve without making coaching feel like punishment. AI call analysis reduces the time required to find useful coaching opportunities and helps owners identify patterns across their team. Positive reinforcement also matters because great calls give advisors examples they can repeat. Simple habits like smiling asking for the appointment and using the customer’s name can dramatically improve the experience. Better phone performance ultimately supports stronger customer relationships higher appointment conversion and long term shop growth. Host(s): Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development Guest(s): David Boyd, Founder & CEO of Callinbound Tonnika Haynes, Owner of Browns Automotive, Downshift with Tonnika Haynes Show Highlights: [00:04:00] – Listening to real calls reveals missed opportunities that owners rarely see. [00:10:00] – AI identifies coachable calls without hours of manual review. [00:14:00] – Consistent coaching creates awareness before advisors answer each call. [00:17:00] – Replace a hard no with a plan focused on customer needs. [00:24:00] – Help advisors self coach instead of simply pointing out mistakes. [00:28:00] – Every missed appointment can represent significant lost customer value. [00:34:00] – Asking for the customer’s name immediately creates a stronger connection. [00:39:00] – Scheduled call reviews make coaching normal instead of threatening. [00:43:00] – Asking for appointments helped turn successful marketing into a fuller calendar. [00:49:00] – Call tracking connects marketing performance with actual appointment conversion. In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry? Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode. 👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fv9ewVBoSks Don’t miss exclusive insights, expert takeaways, and real talk you won’t hear anywhere else. Hit Subscribe, drop a comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear this! Links & Resources: Want to learn more? Click Here Want a complimentary business health report? Click Here See The Institute's events list: Click Here Want access to our online classes? Click Here ________________________________________ Episode Transcript Disclaimer This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com. Episode Transcript: Jimmy Lea: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or good night. Thank you for joining. So excited for us to have this conversation today with some really good friends. Everyone, this is to be an interactive webinar. So you're sitting there, you've got questions, you've got concerns, type them into the chat. We wanna be able to ask those questions of our panel today as we are talking about a very interesting topic. And with us today, first, is our good friend, Mr. David Boyd of Inbound Communication. David, how the heck are you, brother? David Boyes: I'm great. I, I, uh, I fully intended to have my jacket on, Jimmy. Jimmy Lea: Man. David Boyes: So excited to be here. We Jimmy Lea: coordinated on this and everything. David Boyes: I know. I, uh- Next time ... I, I was, I was lucky as, as busy as we've been at Call Inbound to, uh, uh, get up and, and organize and dress today. So I really, uh, it's always great to see you and of course, um, uh, we got to visit a little bit out at, uh, Worldpac STX and, uh, man, I tell you what, your wardrobe is always top notch. Jimmy Lea: Hey, thank you. Thank you. We're glad you are dressed today, just don't stand up. Thank you very much. David Boyes: Great. Jimmy Lea: And joining for us in our conversation today, David, is Tanika, Tanika Hayes with, uh, Haynes with Browns Automotive. Tanika, how the heck are you, sister? Tonnika Haynes: I'm doing good, guys. What's going on? Jimmy Lea: Staying alive. Good to see you. Great to see you. Also at STX, what did you think of the, the conference there with Worldpac? Tonnika Haynes: It, it was really, really good. I was not prepared for the size of it. There was a lot of people. People were peopling. So, um, once I got adjusted to all of the crowds and everything, I enjoyed it. I hadn't sat in a class in a really long time, like at an expo. Ooh. I'm usually just walking around and being nosy, but I picked up some good nuggets, so it was great. Jimmy Lea: Beautiful. That's awesome. Well, if, if the STX was a large conference to you, I would suggest that you really prepare yourself months in advance if ever you come out to SEMA and Apex in Las Vegas. Tonnika Haynes: I will be there this year. Oh, good. I keep hear- hearing that, so I don't know what meds I need to be on to take, To take it all in. But Jimmy Lea: we'll- You- Tonnika Haynes: I'm excited about it ... Jimmy Lea: we, we will talk about that because there is more than you can see within a week, and you really only have three days at Apex, four days at SEMA. You want to map out where you're gonna go, who you're gonna talk to, who you're gonna see- And for you, Taneka, schedule some time to sit down and chill Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. I'm gonna have to definitely do that. You're talking about, um, scheduling times. I'm gonna schedule time to go sit in the corner and recoup. Uh-huh. So where's Taneka? She's in the corner. Jimmy Lea: Yep, and, and I- It's David Boyes: scheduled time ... Jimmy Lea: I, I'm gonna work with you on that because I know the corners, I know the places where you can go and, and find some solitude. Tonnika Haynes: All right. Jimmy Lea: I am. Well, our conversation today is in preparation for making your shop better David, I'm gonna kick it over to you, brother. Let's start this conversation with Taneka. David Boyes: Yeah. Let's, uh, let- let's kinda move into this. You know, we're, uh, talking about communication, and there are so many facets that impact the customer experience. I think that it's important to know that, you know, there are tools and there are, uh, from an owner or, and manager's perspective and from a service provider's perspective, there are ways that we rally around making communication better. Um, you know, one of the things that is common at all shops is, uh, the customer phone call. Tonnika Haynes: Oh, yeah. David Boyes: So you winced a little bit. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: Uh, how many times do we, you know, talk about our phone skills, uh, getting better on the phone, understanding the customer, understanding their needs, addressing their needs? And there's so much, you know, revolves around, uh, the phone calls and, and the way that our advisors and our front office team handles these. Maybe you have a CSR, maybe you have, you know, a service manager. Um, but people are, are answering calls all day long, and this becomes important that we understand who's answering the phone- Mm-hmm ... how they're communicating, what, what's the message that's being shared. Every time that phone rings, uh, that, you know, we like to say that's money calling. So Taneka, let me just ask you, you know, what, what are some of the challenges that you see or the, uh, the successes that you have with your team when it comes to managing and, and, uh, getting better on our phones? Tonnika Haynes: I wanna start by saying, um, I think I listened to my first phone call at my meeting with Jen- Jennifer, with the Institute. I'm currently coaching with the Institute, and that is life-changing- Yeah ... to listen to your team answer the phone. So if anybody's out there and they have not done that, they have not listened in on a phone call, figure out a way to do it. I don't know if it's gonna be a little paper cup and a string, but figure out how to do it. Um, and then I, listening to my own phone calls, and I- I'm the boss, right? I still cringe. And so you never know what's missing from those phone calls, what, what, what is standing out. You know, my team, we would not even ask for the appointment. Like, "Would you like to bring this in today?" You know- Oh ... you ask all the questions, they go through the scripts, but then we found that they were not saying, "Hey, would you like to get that done? Would you like to bring that in today or tomorrow? What works for you?" They were leaving it all to the client to say- Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm ... " Tonnika Haynes: What's next? What's next?" Hmm. So they were answering the phone, and they were s- being very polite, but they were not closing. They didn't have a lot of words with closing. And so with inbound, I've been able to coach- You know, when you listen to yourself and you're like, "Ooh, ooh." And you can say, "Do you see what you did there?" Or even, 'cause you know, the team can listen to their own phone calls. "Oh, I see what I did there. I see where I dropped the ball." So that was, opened up a whole bunch of eyeballs around here. Well- It's like, "Oh, it's Monday, it's time to listen to phone calls." Like, "Ah." But you just increasingly get better over time. Jimmy Lea: Oh, it's so true. And, and the ability, Taneka, the ability to have calls from today- Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm ... Jimmy Lea: or from yesterday or, or even the day before. Uh, there was a time a decade ago when we would have to listen, as coaches, we would listen to calls. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. We're trying to find a coaching call, a call that is coachable, and this might be a call from two weeks ago, three weeks ago. Mm. The advisors are going, "Dude, oh man, that's forever ago. No, man, I, I don't do that anymore. I'm not like that." But David, I, I think you kind of solved a bit of that problem with your phone services. David Boyes: Yeah, thanks. It, you know, it's, it's important to, to recognize. I think every owner I've ever talked with has a similar issue. It's... And a lot of it rev- revolves around time, right? Are, are we aware of what's actually happening- Jimmy Lea: Yeah ... David Boyes: on the front line? Mm-hmm. And, uh, some of it is, uh, I wanna keep this a little bit at arm's length because I, I can tell you as an owner, I will have an emotional response when I listen to that phone call. And Taniki, you brought up a great point. For owners and managers here that are on the phone, please listen to your own calls. Yeah. Do it at least one time. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: Well, twice. Have to Tonnika Haynes: bite the bullet. Just do it. David Boyes: Yeah. Just do it. And, Tonnika Haynes: and, and be ready. Just like- ... just like, "Oh, that is me." Yeah, that is you. David Boyes: Do it- Yeah do it twice because the first time that you listen to a call, uh, it's gonna just be weird, right? So listening to myself on recordings is always weird, but there's this heavy lift of time, right? Am, am I aware of what's actually happening on the front line, and how are we interacting with customers? And then do I have, do I have a mechanism to understand what's my expectation? As an owner, um, you know, it, it's important to establish that expectation. Maybe you're working with a call coach, maybe you've been in trainings yourself. It's, it's ideal to have a method by which you're going to measure your call handlers. And, um, you know, we wanna be professional. We want to build confidence and, and build rapport with these customers. It doesn't have to be fast, but typically- Mm-hmm ... you know, an incoming call from a customer is likely an appointment setting call or a status call. We're gonna set that status call, uh, bucket aside for a second 'cause we wanna be in front of, uh, status calls instead of having customers call us. But if you're listening to these and you have that rhythm around it, uh, we understand how these small habits can build on one another. Am I, am I smiling when I answer the phone? There's something physically that hap- When I, when I physically smile, there's something that is noticeable in the way that I'm communicating. And, uh, am I, am I clear? So what are the expectations? You know, uh, if you watch your advisors, I have, uh, my little cordless handset here. If they tuck their phone in like this, and, and you know, they're, they're trying to multitask Listen to those calls because likely it's very, very difficult to hear on the other side of this. So listening to calls, uh, helps us understand how, you know, how we conduct ourselves, how we conduct business, how am I representing the business that I, you know, that I'm working at as a professional. But also, what is the customer hearing and what is the customer's experience? So, um, these are, uh, important points, and it starts by listening. Jimmy, you brought up a, um, an important aspect here. Historically, we would listen to call after call after call after call to try to find something I can use to coach. So Taneka, you might do this. You've got a call recording system. It doesn't do much but just record those calls, and now I have to go through this, this process to identify a coachable opportunity. And this is now I think where we can move effectively into technology, right? We all hear so much about AI today, and what's really nice about, uh, having, you know, a, a phone system that records is now you have an asset, and you can use that asset to do something more with it. And we can use AI to help that heavy lift of time and, you know, take 90% of the time requirement off. So instead of having to spend 30 minutes, I might have to spend two or three minutes to take that call, sit down with my service advisor, go through this, and have a meaningful, constructive conversation about the things that work well. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. I, I love, David, that your software makes it so easy to find these coachable calls so much faster. A- and Taneka, that's just gotta be a lifesaver for you as well, coaching your service advisors. Tonnika Haynes: It is. I remember, um, speaking with a friend, fellow shop owner, and he's like, "I need you to set aside a time." And so what I did is on my calendar, on Wednesday, that's the day that I sit down and we go over phone calls. And so, you know, you got the dashboard, and that dashboard will say, "This is a coachable call. This is a coachable call." And it is a habit for me as the owner/manager, um, to make sure that I'm staying on top of it all the time because we'll slip into old habits, right? So me listening to the calls and bringing the service advisor or, um, or bring Jay in and say, "Hey, let's listen to this. Let's see how we can get better." You know, you continuously improve on it, and you don't slide back into old habits. Because I'm not on the phone as much anymore. If I have to answer the phone, I know personally, and everything's at stake for me, I slide back into old habits. So we all are capable of it, and so having that dashboard in front of us and said, "Hey, this is a call you need to look at," the service advisor or the person answering the phone does not feel like they're being picked on, but they're being improved upon. So, "Look, I'm just lifting you up. This is what we can do. Do you see how we can make this better?" And it's a we, it's a us, it's coachable, it's there, it's real, and, um, I really enjoy th- that part of the dashboard. Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love that. How often, Taneka, do you send, "This is a really good call"? This is a really good call. I Tonnika Haynes: like a really good call How often do you send that to the team? You know what? Yeah. I probably should do that more. But when I see a good call, I, I, I like to share it. And when I get a good review, like I l- literally just got a good review based off of a bad situation that we were able to turn around with proper communication, and the customer l- literally said, he's like, "The communication... The problem was still there," he said, "but the way they handled it and the communication was key." So he was not satisfied when he left, but the way that we dealt with it afterwards, and that recording of how we guided him through the process, and how we, you know, we apologized, we came up with a plan, apologized again, and kept it moving, and that was a great coachable call. It's like, this is how you handle a bad situation. Look how we won here. So yeah, those are just as important as the, as the losses, as the bad calls. "Hey, this is a good call. G- this is a good call." That balance is super important. Yeah, it balances it. Yeah. And then, you know, it's like, okay, I did that right. Even when that client is a client that does not belong to you, and you can hear them tell the customer, it's like, "Hey, you know what? Appreciate your call, but this isn't the place for you." And that's not the word for word, but, "Hey, you handled that good. Thank you for saving us from a nightmare." Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: Amen. Share it with your team. So you gotta share the wins and the, the misses. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And, and, uh, for a lot of people, I think they struggle in the creative. So if they can hear it, that it's already been done, they can duplicate. Sure. They can mimic. They can do the same thing over and over and over again. So the more we send these beautiful calls, "Oh my gosh, you guys did so well on this phone call. I, I love this part, this part, and this part," they're able to duplicate that, and they'll do it over and over and over again. And then, then you're- The mistakes that are being made become much less because you're showing, you're, uh, mirroring to them these are the really good calls that we wanna hear. Tonnika Haynes: And, and sharing that when you're going over a call, you got the good call here, we can work on this call, but this is another good call. You know, we talk about giving that sandwich. Yeah. And so that's another opportunity you can give that good sandwich. So when it's time to come in on Wednesdays and listen to your phone calls, you're like, "Ooh, I know I got one coming and I think I know which one it is." And then you're like, "Yeah, but you got this one too, so you won here, and, uh, we missed on this one, but next time it's not happening." Right? Right. So it's, you know, it's all in coaching. Jimmy Lea: Oh, David Boyes: it's so true. You just said something that's super important, and, uh, ooh, I think I know which one this is. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: Um, there, there's a lot to unpack there. I, I, I love the, the good with the bad. We'll talk about that more too, but, um, creating the awareness. So consistency wins, and, um, I'll say it again, be consistent with the process because consistency wins. And when you have that rhythm where it's familiar and it's expected, we're gonna sit down and we're gonna listen to calls, we're gonna go through this, identify the opportunities, um, it's not good and bad calls, it's, you know, it, it, uh, we call them top calls or champion calls and coachable calls. So a coachable call isn't inherently bad. Maybe we even got an appointment. Tonnika Haynes: Mm. David Boyes: Right? But there's, there's opportunities. So, uh, when we have that rhythm and it's expected, what's really important about what you just said is the awareness. So when I go to pick up that phone, is this the call that Tanika's gonna be talking with me about tomorrow or, you know, Wednesday, whatever our rhythm is? It, it will begin to create that moment of pause that as an a- an advisor when I'm picking up that phone, I can take that breath. Yeah. I can, I can, uh, let that, uh, you know, that technician that just blew me up Tonnika Haynes: Let 'em David Boyes: go. I can let that slide off. I can shake that off. Yeah. And I can focus for a moment to make sure that that customer knows right at this moment they are absolutely the most important person to me right now. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: So that's an important message to convey over the phone, our, uh, the, you know, the way that we speak, the words that we use, my en- excitement and enthusiasm about being on that call all comes through. So as we get through this rhythm and we develop the consistency and it becomes normal, now I've got that awareness on my team that, hey, this next call I'm taking, I'm gonna have the moment of pause to focus because this might be the next one that, that we're reviewing. I want this to be a positive call that, that Tanika's coming to me and saying, "You did really well on this one. Let's continue to develop this," and, you know, replicate the things that are working well. Instead of, "Hey, there's some opportunity here. You know, you didn't ask for the appointment. You were, you know, pricing over the phone. You said 'no'." No comes out in a lot of ways, doesn't it, Tanika? Where- Tonnika Haynes: Oh, yeah ... we, David Boyes: we might be telling somebody, uh, "You know, I'm really busy right", or, or, or "W- we, we're really busy right now, I can't get you in until Friday." Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: That's, that's, we might as well just say, "No, I can't help you." Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. You, that's, that's all they heard was the no. Um, even if you give... And, uh, everybody knows that I'm, I'm big on nos. Like, I can give you a no where there's some healthy nos, but then there's some nos and you have the customer saying, "Hey, um, m- my brakes are making the noise and it just started." And he's like, "Oh, no, I can't see you till Friday." He's like, "Yeah, but I'm gonna die before Friday. I wanna see somebody now." Um, so you don't, you have to learn how to coach them and say, "Yes, so bring that in. Let's take a look at what you've got, and then we'll come up with a plan." You didn't promise that it was gonna be today or tomorrow, but you said, "Bring it in. I'm worried about your safety. Let's see what you've got." Yeah. "Let's see if you should really be concerned about that check engine light. It might be a EVAP code." They don't know that, "But go ahead and bring them in." So and then you, like you said, the cadence in it. This, I'm not gonna make you any promises over the phone, and I would literally say that. "Hey, I don't wanna disappoint you by making a promise that I can't keep. So don't- Yeah ... don't make me, don't put me in that hole. But I need you to go ahead and bring that in to me as soon as you can. Um, and let's scan it. Let's see what you've got, and let's see if you should really be worried, if you can make that trip or we need to bring you in right away. We will help you come up with a plan." So just that solid no. "No, I'll see you Friday." Jimmy Lea: He, " Tonnika Haynes: Meh. No you won't." Yeah. Like, so that's support. That's Jimmy Lea: my- David Boyes: It, it becomes very collaborative in what you just said. Hey, let, let's make this about you, let's make this about your safety and your confidence to drive that vehicle. Maybe you gotta get across town and your commute is 30 minutes. Let's make sure that your vehicle is safe, and then once you're here and we make sure you're safe, let's talk about, uh, when we're gonna have that on the schedule. We'll get that vehicle in Tonnika Haynes: and prepared. Yeah. What are the next steps? Yeah. So let's go ahead and get- let's get your nerves calm- Mm-hmm ... and then let's come up with the next step. Let's come up with a plan. Us, us, us, we, we, we. So Jimmy Lea: yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love it. I love it. And, uh, you talk about s- building a solid foundation for this, the solid foundation for their skills so that the, the ongoing training you're doing really builds on that foundation. Uh, we've got a three-day service advisor with the institute. We're gonna give a shout-out to the institute here right now. So everybody grab out your smartphones, scan the QR code if your service advisor needs a solid foundation. Thank you, David. If you need a solid foundation- Registered now ... and you need to start with... Yeah, get registered. I know you've been to a couple of these, David, 'cause- I have you've talked about all the skills here just really, really well. If your service advisor needs that and you need to go from zero to hero very quickly, this is an intensive that you wanna send your service advisor to, and it will be at headquarters in Ogden, Utah. Fly right into Salt Lake, and, uh, and we got you set up there in Ogden. So, yes, David Boyes: scan that. It's a beautiful drive up from the airport. This class is, uh, it, it, it will help establish the, the fundamentals to build on. Yeah. So you come here, it's, you know, it's boot camp, right? We're, we're going to make sure that we're establishing the expectation and give you something to build on as the owner. Send your service advisors in here. Uh, they'll get those fundamentals, and then you'll have, you know, these, these mechanisms, uh, to improve them over time. I promise you it'll be a, a real game changer for your frontline. Tonnika Haynes: Well, you know what? Beautiful. I wanna piggyback on that. Um, and I wasn't coached to saying this. If they've already been, send them again. Jimmy Lea: There you go. Mm. Tonnika Haynes: Send them again, because here's the thing that I know, and I'm just gonna make it simple. I want you to think about your favorite movie. Like when, when I was in the 20s, for me it was Friday, the movie Friday. And then we watched that movie every Friday after work with the crew that I worked with, and it was just the most ignorant movie and the best movie for my generation. Each time I watched that movie, I would see a different thing. So I want you to think about your favorite movie and, or v- your favorite comedy. Each time you'd watch it, you would pick up something else. So it was like, "Oh, I didn't see that that last time." So even when it comes to training, "Hey, I did this three-day class and I did it a year ago. I grew." Jimmy Lea: Do it again. Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: Do it again. Do it again. You, you're never too mu- uh, there's never too much coaching. So just do it again and you'll see it from a different angle. I just wanted to say that. Yeah, 'cause, um, there's been some classes that I, I take, and not just this one, but other classes, like, let me take that class again. Yeah. And you're like, "Aha. I didn't remember that from last time." Yeah. I didn't implement that from last time, 'cause we, you guys tell us, and coaches will tell you, "Just go and implement one thing. One thing." I mean, watch those changes, and then the next time you take the class, let's do one more thing, maybe two, and get, get a little bit better. Right. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. So speaking of training, ASTA, A-S-T-A, is coming up here real soon, Taneka. Real Tonnika Haynes: soon. We're less than 30 Jimmy Lea: days out. Let's give them a shout-out. Tonnika Haynes: Shout out to ASTA. Those are the people, not the people that made me, but it's my just one, my just one thing that I took away from there each time has helped build me to where I am. And I am, I cannot say I would not be where I was without them. But I would not be where I was, where I am without them. From those, those people that I met, the village that I met, meeting you, meeting my first coach, just meeting my, my industry brothers and sisters that I can call on at any time when I'm about to flip out, or when I have a win. 'Cause you know as owners and when, when you're a little higher, you can't share your wins with everybody without some jealousy. True. Yeah. So when you have a win and you have that community to call on. Mm-hmm. So yeah, ASTA is the place to be, September 24th to 26th, right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. So I hope somebody shows up. And, uh, I wanna meet some... Well, I know Jim. I'll be there. Jimmy will be there. You will not miss him. David Boyes: He'll have the jacket. Tonnika Haynes: He will have plenty of jackets on. It is a fun atmosphere, lots of community, lots of learning and growing. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna have a jacket war, so anybody who wants to play. David, you're bringing your jacket, so David Boyes: who wore Jimmy Lea: it best? Yes. Yeah. David Boyes: Yeah. I, I wanted to make sure that we were gonna f- uh, be able to carve out some time to do the who wore it best. Tonnika Haynes: Oh, David Boyes: always. I think, so B- Benji will be involved. Brett will probably be involved, right? Mm-hmm. And, uh, you, you two- Mike Allen ... Mike, okay, Mike, yep. Tonnika Haynes: I, I, I feel like we should have a girls version of this, 'cause you know, if the women got involved- Jimmy Lea: We always lose Tonnika Haynes: I mean, we would just throw you guys under the bus. Jimmy Lea: It's true. We tried that, Tanika, and you swept it. Yeah. You swept it. There, there was no- Tonnika Haynes: I don't wanna do that to you guys ... competing with Jimmy Lea: Tanika. Tonnika Haynes: I don't wanna do... Yeah, I don't wanna do that to you, so we'll, we'll figure it out. Maybe I'll make a f- couple phone calls and text messages and see what's up. David Boyes: Yeah. Speaking of phone calls. Speaking of phone calls. Tonnika Haynes: Throw that back in. David Boyes: I have a question for you. Yeah. Yeah. That's, hey, I couldn't have asked for a better softball there, but that's great. Um- ... thinking, thinking about the coaching process, you know, I, I, I had mentioned before it can seem a little uncomfortable, even as an owner. You know, listen to two calls, because that first one, you're gonna be so- Mm-hmm ... consumed by how weird I sound on the phone, right? So, but when you, when you started this with your team, what, how was it received? What were some of the, the challenges, uh, do, you know, h- what feedback did you get about listening to calls and going through the analysis? Tonnika Haynes: So I wanna say that when I first did it in, in coaching, so in a group setting, and you're listening to your team, so they call in, they have to do a call and they'll record a call. And so it's like, "Oh, well this time she did this, and this is the excuse." You wanna come up with excuses. You wanna defend- Right yourself. I wanna defend my shop. And so that service advisor's gonna wanna defend him or herself. Like, "Oh, well, you know, that customer and this was that." I was like, "No." So you get past that, and it's like, okay, like I said, you give the sandwich. Okay, so this is a great call. You tell me what you could have done, could have done better in this call. Right. 'Cause I don't wanna be in... 'Cause if you go into attack mode and say, "Oh, you should do this better, and you didn't follow the script, and you, you, you, you, you," you're gonna get somebody that's gonna put up a guard and be like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I did my best." So I'll say, "I know you did your best on this, this one call, and you did a great job on this call. What happened, brother?" Balls in your court. Tell me how you can improve on this. Mm. What do you need from me to help you improve here? Was there a distraction? What was, what was the problem? So I kinda feel like I can teach them to self-coach. Jimmy Lea: Yep. Tonnika Haynes: I'm, I'ma give you a whole toolbox. You've got this toolbox. You know what a good call to- sounds like. Like, you also have a mirror. There's a mirror right there. Look at yourself. You've got reminders. I've got sticky note reminders on each, each person saying, "Don't forget to ask for the sale." What happened? "Oh, man, I was distracted, I sh- I should've..." Yep, you should've put the mouse down. You should've put the mouse down. So usually people will first get defensive, same. Mm-hmm. Um, then the defense mechanism starts to come down. Say, "All right, okay, so how do we fix this so next time I cannot find a bad phone call?" Jimmy Lea: Bingo. David Boyes: Yeah. Jimmy Lea: I love it. It, yeah. I love that you have a mirror there and you have sticky notes there helping as well, Taneka. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. That's, that's so good. ' Tonnika Haynes: Cause we forget. And- And it's okay- Oh, we do ... 'cause we get busy. But the Jimmy Lea: more Tonnika Haynes: we work on it- And I, Jimmy Lea: I, you... I'm certain that you guys have heard this before, that a fake smile is better than a real frown. Tonnika Haynes: Yes. David Boyes: Yep. Tonnika Haynes: Yes. And I'm really good at that. And so I've learned that because I've been doing it a very long time, so people know that I can really make you... I could, like, really fuss you out, and I would sound so sweet 'cause I'm smiling at you the whole time. "Well, you know what, Jamie? I think that was the stupidest thing you've ever said." Jimmy Lea: And if you do it with a smile, you can Tonnika Haynes: get away with it. And you're doing it with a smile and, and when you're shaking your head. So that smile makes a difference. And when I'm- It does ... picking up the phone out of an emergency, if they are busy up front and I'll see that phone ringing, and I pick it up and I'm not ready personally, I'm not ready to answer that phone, and it's a client that knows me, and I'm not smiling, I will get a, "Hey, Taneka, what's wrong?" You Jimmy Lea: okay? 'Cause Tonnika Haynes: they, "You okay?" And I'll say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was distracted." 'Cause that's usually what happens, you're distracted, or that service, that, um, technician just rubbed you the wrong way or something's happened at home. So but once you put that smile on- You just fake it till you make it. And now you, I usually don't like to say that, but sometimes you do have to fake it till you make it. Like, yeah, absolutely. And use those words of, those positive words. Absolutely. Let's look into that for you. Yeah. Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Sure. I love it. Love it. We talk about the phone call and how much it's worth. Uh, Bimmer PhD Motorsports is saying, "Can we dig into that a little bit?" How much does it cost to get that phone to ring? How much does it cost to acquire a new customer? You talk about the mindset and you talk about the service advisor- Mm-hmm ... and the smile that's needed to be there, fake or real. How much is that phone call worth, Tanika? Have you analyzed any of that in your shop? Tonnika Haynes: So that was actually a, um, something we did in the 20 group with my coach Jen. We went through that and we calculated how much it costs to sh- get that phone to ring. And I really wish I was prepared and I had that number for you. But once you realize that number, share it with your team. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: And then, uh, the institute probably has, um, a blueprint on how to figure that out. So you're looking at how much your website is, your Go- Google ads, any form of marketing that you have out there, down to the phone bill. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: How much does it cost to make that phone ring? And once you see it as the owner, you're gonna be like, "Whoa." And you share that with the team. Like, every time that phone rings, it costs me this. And then also think about your ARO. Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm. Bingo. Tonnika Haynes: And every time- Yep, yep ... we do not get a y- yes, and we don't get that client through the door, we lost $850. Potential $850, potential $1,100. Jimmy Lea: Yep. Tonnika Haynes: So once we start thinking about, you know, everything, everything's not about money. It is That Jimmy Lea: we keep score. Tonnika Haynes: It is how we keep score. Yeah. Like, you know, we, we talk about we've got the metrics on the dashboard. Numbers don't lie. People do. Your emotions will. David Boyes: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: It costs me $75 every time that phone rings. Mm-hmm. And when you ring it, and when you land that deal, that's a potential 850, or whatever your ARO is, or whatever- Yeah ... that's what it is. And that's, and how long does it take to get that one client to get through the door? Yeah. And also think about how long you can hold onto them as a client. How many years Jimmy Lea: are you gonna- Tonnika Haynes: What's the lifetime value of the client? What's the lifetime of that client? Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: So that smile when you answer the phone, yeah, that's worth a lot of money. Jimmy Lea: Tens of thousands of dollars. Tonnika Haynes: Tens of thousands. So go ahead and put your Vaseline on your teeth- Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm ... Tonnika Haynes: and, and start a- smiling. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. That's an old theater trick. Yes. Are you a, are you a musical theater person? Tonnika Haynes: No, but I just know about- Where are you pulling that from? ... Vaseline on your teeth and, 'cause you get tired of smiling. You, you know, at the conference, you have this whole muscle thing. You're like... Jimmy Lea: Uh, yeah. Tonnika Haynes: Keep s- keep, just keep smiling, smiling, smiling. Jimmy Lea: That's right, David Boyes: Dorothy. Those are important numbers, uh, to know how much does it cost to get that phone to ring. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: Uh, in some cases it can be, uh, you know, several hundred dollars depending on really all of those factors around generating those phone calls, and then what that ties into when the phone does ring, um, and we don't ask for the appointment. Has that $850 or $1,100 just walked over to my competitor across town? Yeah. But it also sets the stage when we're talking about coaching and development to bring it back to what's in it for me. As a service advisor, you know, most high performing shops are incentivizing their advisors on these, you know, these GP numbers and, you know, there might be other metrics on Google reviews, maybe have spiffs for these different things. It all requires us to generate the appointments and get those vehicles in so that we can have an inspection and we can, you know, generate the, the estimate and ultimately have a sale, and then make this an amazing experience for the customer so they're gonna come back next time. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: Uh, at the very front end of the phone call, you know, it, it takes X number of dollars to make the phone ring. When that phone rings, the customer, if they're a first time caller- Uh, they're likely y- we as, as a business are likely setting the stage within that first 15 to 20 seconds for the length of our relationship. So based on those initial interactions, we're going to begin setting the stage of how well this customer visit is going to go, uh, how much that we're developing trust with this customer. Do they trust me as an advisor? Do they trust this business, that we're experts and we're gonna help them, and we're gonna do so in a, in a fair and meaningful way? And then also, uh, we're going to set that basis for a repeat customer. Jimmy Lea: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: So that, that's where we get into the, the longevity of our relationship. Interestingly enough, so much of this happens at the very first moments of that very first phone call. And when we acknowledge that as a service advisor, I'm like, "Oh, that does tie back to the paycheck I get." As a business owner, "Wow, that ties back into the stickiness of my customers." I love, you know, repeat customers. I love repeat business. So we wanna drive these skills up front. Uh, Taneka, you talked about, you know, sitting down and going through, um, some of these calls and the, the service advisor reaction. Have you really developed and, you know, share your expectations on how you'd like the, the phone answered? I'm not asking about a script. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: But like that flow, right? We don't wanna create robots. Right. What have you done at, when you, you know, train and develop your team on here's what I would like to hear from you? Tonnika Haynes: So I haven't honed that in 100%, but I, I do know that we wanna thank them for calling. David Boyes: Mm-hmm. Tonnika Haynes: We wanna know how did you find out about us? Great. Is this your first time calling? How'd you hear about us? So, so we can track that, right? Yeah. Was it a repeat? Was it a neighbor? Was it a Google? How did you... Was it a postcard? How did you hear about me? Um, what can I help you with, and how soon can I get to it? Can you bring that in today or tomorrow? And, um, and smile. So I have these little things that I want them to say that's on the side- Yeah ... of their computer, and I don't want you to sit there and read and just say, "Oh, well, yes, sir, how can I help you today?" I want it to flow naturally because that's who we are as a shop. We- we're not a scripted shop. We're, we're a bunch of goofy people, actually. People. We just happen to fix cars. Um, and that's who we are. Yeah. And I want that to come through. I want you to be friendly. I want you to re- when they come in with the cat or the dog or whatever, please not a cat, but the dog. I want you to put in the notes, this is, this is that customer's name and this is what their dog's name. If they refer to their, their car, "My car's name is Pearline." If you called my car by his name, I'm not taking it nowhere else So I want you to build that relationship. And so I don't have a script and I don't have a formula yet, and maybe I should work on that. And, um, we do have like a SOP. Yeah. Probably should do a better job at that. But then what you just said made me raise my eyebrow, like, I should do better with that. But we do have some things that I'm, that are non-negotiables. David Boyes: You've got your flow there, which is great. Mm-hmm. And I think you're, you're doing better in that than, than- Yeah ... uh, some owners that, that we talk with. I encourage, I encourage everybody to have a flow, right? Yeah. We, we wanna kind of go through the conversation. I'll tell you the number one, um, deficit that I hear within the first probably 10 seconds of a phone call is asking for the customer name, right? So- Right ... "Thank you for calling ABC Automotive. How may I help you? Um, yeah, I can help you with that. My name's David. What's your name?" Jimmy Lea: Mm. David Boyes: It's so simple. Yeah. And, uh, I listen to call after call after call. I mean, these, they, they pop out because of our AI call analysis, but where we go through this whole process and we've had a 90-second call or a two-minute-long phone call, and at no point ask the customer name. Tonnika Haynes: Right. And then you assume that the name on a caller ID is their name. David Boyes: Mm-hmm. Right. Tonnika Haynes: That, that's a problem, too. I know that we were doing... I was doing it as well. Yeah. I would do it as well. David Boyes: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: But, um, and, and with that, I had a little challenge saying, "Hey, I want to see you guys' name on the, the review." Yeah. And it really bothers me when a client calls to check on their car, and I have to, have to answer the phone, "Hey, who was your service advisor?" "Uh, I don't know." What? David Boyes: Mm. Tonnika Haynes: They need to know your name. David Boyes: Mm. Tonnika Haynes: So I had to make sure that everybody had their own business cards when the car was dropped off. "Hey, my name is Stuart. This is who you should call to check on your car. Everybody here can help you, but I'm the main person." So I think a lot of people just don't do that, and say, "Hey, well, my name's Tanika. Who am I speaking with?" Great. "Have you been here with us before?" David Boyes: Mm-hmm. Tonnika Haynes: You know, if it doesn't pop up on the caller ID, "Have you been here with us before?" Yeah. But the caller ID pop up, that's a game changer. Am I skipping ahead? Should we not go that far yet? David Boyes: No, you're fine. Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: Thank you, David. Yeah, just be ready. Yeah, be ready when, when David Voigts calls Brown's Automotive, and you call and say, "Brown's Automotive. This is Tanika. Hey, David, how can I help you today?" What is that? What are you doing? You knew I was calling. You know, like- Yeah ... yeah, caller ID exists. People forget about that. David Boyes: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: But- They do. They do. But it, it's just extra special. Yeah. And that's what the caller ID... I know one thing I do when the customer's walking in, and if I know I have a blue Toyota Coro- Corolla coming in at 9:00. "Who is this coming in?" Yeah. "Hey, Mrs. Such-and-such. Good morning. Oh, hey." Instead of saying, "Can I help you?" Yes, you can help me. That's why I walked through the door. David Boyes: Mm-hmm. " Tonnika Haynes: Hey, M- hey, Mary David Boyes: Jane." Or, "Hang on a second. I'll be with you in a second." Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. No. David Boyes: Don't do that. Tonnika Haynes: Don't do that. David Boyes: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: So, um, there's a lot to be said about customer service, and there's a lot to be said about s- calling people by their name. Jimmy Lea: Amen. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: It creates familiarity. Yes. And, uh, when, when we have familiarity, we have a relationship. Mm-hmm. It's in- it's potentially implied. But people love to do business with, with the, the folks that they have a relationship with. Mm-hmm. And they're inclined... You know, this is the fun thing about consumer behavior and human behavior, is when I have a great experience, I wanna rally my friends around that too. I want to include them in the joy that I get to experience when I come see Tanika and her team. Yeah. So I'm gonna- I, I'm gonna be much more likely to tell folks about it. If I have a meh- Meh ... average experience, it's probably not gonna come up in conversation. I'm not gonna stick my neck out there. But, um, how do we do that? Well, we address people by their name. We know when they're calling, right? I might even be pulling that up in my shop management system or my CRM. Just the s- the second the phone rings, it's gonna pop and present that information. "Yeah, I saw you were in three, three months ago, and we had looked at, you know, X, Y, Z on your vehicle. Should we add, add some additional time to take care of that this time?" Right? It, we have an awareness. They have confidence in us. We know them as a person. We know their vehicles. And now we're, we're joining together with our customers. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh, at, at a common goal, right? And it comes back to their safety. Well, Tonnika Haynes: so what'll happen is you'll get a client, and, um... Sorry about the background noise. That's all right. You'll get a client, and they're not thinking about their car. They, they, they've grown to love you. They've grown to know you. They know you by your name. And then you made the recommendations last time. They trust you enough that they are just gonna be like, "Okay, whatever. I'll talk to you about it next time. Tanika's gonna remember that for me." Say, "Hey, Miss Mary Jane, you remember we talked about..." "I don't remember we talking about." "Well, here's a copy. I'm gonna send that over to you. We're gonna look at it, these things again." Yeah. It's just like having a whole system, and then you become that person. It's like I don't have to remember what my car needs 'cause Tanika and her team have the history, and they know me by my name. David Boyes: Mm-hmm. Tonnika Haynes: Right. And they're gonna take care of me. David Boyes: The paradigm shift there is I, you know, as a service advisor, I'm the expert. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: As the service manager, I'm the expert, right? You've come to me because of our and my expertise, and I'm sharing the belief that you wanna be safe and you wanna care for your vehicle. So allow me to make these recommendations. Allow me to, to keep that, those notes about our previous interactions so that when we meet to, when we meet again, we can make sure that w- you know, we're, we're not starting from zero- Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm David Boyes: that we already have this information available, and we're going to improve that experience. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: Um, on the, on the call coaching side of it, um, you know, I, I think at some level you've kinda normalized it in your shop, and I'd love to learn more about how, you know, how did you do that? It's, it's not typical, I would say, that people are just, like, rallying around, "Let's listen to calls," right? 'Cause part of it is, you know, the exposure or this kind of fear of judgment. But once you normalize that and make it consistent, um, I'd love to know how you've done that and, and keep the, uh, the Big Brother mentality out the door. Tonnika Haynes: Well, I don't, well, we've got cameras, and we've got these things recording the calls. And, and first of all, these calls are not being recorded to get you. These calls are recor- Yeah ... recorded to cover your butts from that crazy person that swear they didn't say it. Mm-hmm. These calls are recorded to make you better. Um, I remember Chad say, "Hey, just put it on the calendar. Just put it on the calendar." It's like ha- having that one-on-one for the first time. Nobody knows what to say or to do. I'm not trying to attack you. I'm just trying to make you better. So let's just... I listened to my call. Be vulnerable. Me. Hey, Jimmy Lea: Yeah ... Tonnika Haynes: you don't wanna listen to your call. I didn't wanna listen to my own call. But let's, let's do this. It's just on the calendar. And like I said, the defense will just break down a little bit at a time, and I found that with my one-on-ones again. Like, we do a first Monday one-on-one. If I was late or if I skipped the one-on-one, they're like, "Well, why did, I didn't get my one-on-one. Am I in trouble?" They look forward to it. Everybody wants positive reinforcement. Amen. So if you keep it positive, and then some- like, "Hey, I looked at 10 of your calls, and out of the 10, only 3 of them were coachable." Or, "Hey, you remember when we started out, how you would have, like, a 11 bad calls out of 20? Dude, you only got two this time." So make sure we measure it, okay? Schedule it, measure it, keep it going. Know you're uncomfortable, they're uncomfortable, and just say- I don't wanna do this. Nobody wants to do it. Nobody wants to lift that... Well, a lot of people don't wanna lift the heaviest weight for the muscle gain. Mm-hmm. It's gonna be painful, but it's gonna get easier. It's gonna be easier for me and you as the coach and the coachee, or is it a coachee? Whatever. So, I mean, it, it's... I don't know if there's an easy way to put it, but I just know that you just keep doing it, you be consistent, and you let them know if you're uncomfortable. Like I hear shop owners say, "How do you start this one-on-one stuff? How do you start this coaching stuff?" You just start it. And you're just like, "Ooh, hey, I don't know what I'm doing either. Let's do this together." Yeah. "Let's, let's get better together." Like, I'm listening to my calls too. We're all getting better together. So I would just say start it, put it on a schedule, make it, make it pop up, show up. Yeah. Wednesday, coaching calls. Jimmy, one of the- Schedule it. It's ready to go. David Boyes: Yeah. That, that's perfect. I, I, I love the perspective too. And Jimmy, one of the, you know, the things that I share with owners consistently is be consistent. Mm-hmm. So I think the, the technology drives that, right? We're delivering an email with, you know, here, here's a, a top call, here's a coachable call. Here's some additional information. So delivering that is important, and the technology really helps us drive that consistency in this case. So, um, when that, that email comes out, here's a call example, you don't have to do anything with that today, or you can. If you don't, there's another one tomorrow, right? Mm-hmm. And we wanna create that normalcy. And th- this is the part that drives change, is one, you know, we're, we're making this normal. Yep. And Tanika, you were just talking about that, right? We're gonna put this on the calendar. People begin to expect it, right? It becomes normal for them, and that's a super important milestone in the coaching, training, and development process, is that sense of normalcy in the shop. And then, um, u- understanding the expectations and, you know, where do we have the opportunities. Um, Tanika, you know, one, one thought that comes to mind here is, you know, you'd mentioned at the beginning, like ask for the appointment. As you began doing this, you know, what, what did you begin to understand and, and see happening across, you know, the phone calls and across your organization? What patterns began to emerge? And really, what's that aha moment you had where you're like, "This is bringing value to me while I'm bringing value to my team"? Tonnika Haynes: Ooh, that's a good question. So when we start asking for the appointment, you know what? The calendar filled up. David Boyes: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. So the marketing was working. And, um, but the big aha moment... Ooh, that's a good question, Dave. You got me on that one. Should have text me that before you asked me that one. I'd been ready. David Boyes: My Tonnika Haynes: apologies. Phone with you. Aha moments with phone calls. I don't know. I, I really, I can't answer that one for you, but what I do wanna say before I forget the chance, don't get the chance to say it, when they're sitting beside each other up front and they're lis- 'cause they're, everybody can hear everybody's phone calls. Mm-hmm. I can hear them say, "That was a good one. What was that one about?" Or like Stuart would tell Hailey, he's like, "She's, she's had a lot of good phone calls here lately. I can hear the change in the way she's handling the phone calls." So again, um, may have got a little bit off subject, but them helping each other and encouraging each other. Maybe they can only hear one end of the phone call, but there's some key words like, "Oh, you killed that one." Jimmy Lea: Yeah. " Tonnika Haynes: You killed that one." Or making that sale on the phone call. Yeah. "I heard how you delivered that BVI. I heard that delivery. You gave them the good sandwich," and they said yes. Like this morning, she was like, "She said yes to everything." It's like, "God, it's working." Imagine that. Love it. Imagine doing a training, following the instructions, and it actually working. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Gotta David Boyes: love that. It really is the aha moment too, right? Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. David Boyes: You're, you're going through, you're driving consistency. You have, you know, some form of flow and expectations, and you're learning from one another. I love the fact that- Mm-hmm ... they're listening at least to one side of each other's conversations- Right ... in real time. Tonnika Haynes: I David Boyes: think I'm lucky Tonnika Haynes: with that- And then getting to populate from that ... with my team. David Boyes: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes: I think I'm lucky with my, 'cause they're, they're not in competition, and, um, it's like how do you keep them... I don't know. God blessed me with that, but I'm just lucky that way. But encouraging each other- So. Jimmy Lea: It's good. That's good, Tanika. You, you've set up a solid culture there, solid people. They've got great results. You're listening to the phone calls. Consistency, like David's talking about. You know, um, hearing one side of the conversation helps a little bit, but if you, if you, as an owner, if you're only listening to half the conversation and you are not booked up three, four, five, six, seven, eight days in advance, chances are you're missing the other half of the conversation, and you need to listen to it. So you do need a device, a program, a, a hardware. You need a, a phone system that allows you to listen to all sides- Mm-hmm ... of the conversation. You've g- just gotta be able to do that. You gotta be able to do that. Now I'm gonna give another shout-out here as we work in our marketing. So a lot of times I hear shops talking about their marketing. "Well, my marketing's not working. I'm not... It's not working. It's not working." A lot of times it comes back to the phone call. Mm-hmm. How well is the phone call being handled or treated from an advisor? But speaking to the marketing part, we've got a shout-out here for the institute is holding a marketing intensive this October 26, 27, 28. Tanika, I just got off the phone with Brett Faidley. He is signed up. He is coming out for Mars Conference, so if you wanna get signed up as well, sister, we'd love to have you out here. Tonnika Haynes: I gotta get a real flashy jacket for that one. Jimmy Lea: Uh-huh. Tonnika Haynes: Pull out my Jimmy Lea: rhinestones. Right behind that Mars Conference. So if you got your smartphone there in front of you, grab out your smartphone, turn on your camera. There's the QR code right there. Oh, man. Flash the QR code and get registered. The, the, uh, the Mars Conference is going to be awesome. It is a conference where when you are done with the workshops, it's a three-day conference. When you're done with that three-day conference, you have 2027 mapped out, ready to go, and you know what you're gonna be doing month to month throughout that whole next year. It's super awesome. I, I love the Mars Conference. David Boyes: I do too. So Jimmy Lea: come- David Boyes: I was at the last one. Excited to be there. I'm, let me just say I was there as a participant at the last Mars Conference. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. David Boyes: And, uh, one, getting to, you know, to interact with so many, uh, friends across the industry was great, but also, uh, you know, I, I, I don't own a shop. I own a, uh, communication business. I took so much away from that that I immediately applied. I can speak from my own experience. Uh, and I know, uh, you know, many of the participants there that took those components right back to their shop and made immediate changes. So it is, uh, it's not just a, um, it's not just a workshop where you're gonna come away with a flashy workbook and put that in a dusty cabinet somewhere and never do anything with it. I promise you, you attend the Mars Conference, and, uh, you will come away energized and ready to make a real difference in your shop Jimmy Lea: Yep, for sure. For sure. Tonnika Haynes: All right. Like I s- I'm never gonna be at work if I keep coming, following you around, Jimmy. David Boyes: Just imagine your wardrobe, though. Tonnika Haynes: Oh, I know. It'd be so good. Jimmy Lea: It'd be so good. Tonnika Haynes: But no, we'll see. I, I'm thinking about that. I thought about what we talked about the other day, but we're not gonna get off subject 'cause I do that a lot. David Boyes: It can happen. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. David, what else? What else can we talk about with phones, phone systems, programs? Um, can we track our marketing using your phone system? David Boyes: Yeah. Uh, just on that very note, you know, the, uh, uh, we'll talk about this a little bit this year at Mars as well, but, you know, market tracking is important, right? We, we spend a lot of money, and understanding the performance, uh, is important. So with our phone system, you know, we can provide, uh, market tracking numbers if you have different campaigns, mailers, text messaging, website, uh, related, uh, leads that you're generating. Um, we can certainly provide unique numbers. The customer experience is the same, and the, um, you know, the shop experience is the same, except you have all of this additional data about, you know, how many calls were generated. So that's important to know, and, uh, it's also important to, uh, use that as a, you know, a good baseline of information about your capacity to manage phone calls in your shop. So when we look at some of the, uh, the other performance metrics, how long does it take us to answer the phone? Are we answering the phone, right? Jimmy Lea: Mm. David Boyes: In order to ask somebody for the appointment, we have to first answer the phone. Uh, and if you're spending this money on marketing campaigns, there are a variety of reasons, and I'll just tell you one example that I hear often from owners is, you know, they put out a marketing number and they, you know, advisors, uh, might believe that it's, you know, it's generating bad leads, something like that, so they won't answer that phone. Um, but we wanna, we wanna understand, uh, the behavior of what's going on. Is it something that we can control? Um, are, are we effective in the marketing campaign? What information do I have around that? And then additionally, uh, running that into the call analysis, uh, so that we understand are we, are we converting these, right? If we're generating the leads, are we actually generating appointments? And then, uh, from that point, if you know you have the appointment, you can measure your performance, uh, go forward. So there's a lot of data that we can capture, um, other than just sending in all of these phone calls to the main number. Jimmy Lea: I love it. David Boyes: Mm-hmm. Jimmy Lea: I love it. I love the, the phone is such a powerful tool. I love when we can multitask that tool and do multiple things with the, the same tool. Very cool. Very cool. But i- if there a- any questions, comments, concerns from our audience, we would love for you to type those in. If there's questions for David or questions for Tamika, go ahead and type those into the comments section. While they're doing that, I will say if you are trying to keep up with me, good luck. But you can find it on our website. The website page is, uh, wearetheinstitute.com/events. That's all of the events that are coming up here in the very near future where you will see the institute participating and locking arms with the industry to help elevate the industry. Our motto, our mantra is, better business, better life, better industry. We're gonna lock arms with you as a shop owner so that you have a better business. The net result of you having a better business is that you have a better life. Tonnika Haynes: Mm-hmm. Jimmy Lea: And not just you have a better life, your advisors have a better life, your technicians have a better life. Your, uh, your partners have a better life. Your spouse Your advisors' significant others, their spouses, uh, their, their technicians and their spouses, the, and their children. Everyone elevates, everyone breathes better, everyone sees a bluer sky and greener grass when we have a better business, a better life, and our commitment is that we will help this become a better industry. Looks like there's a couple of comments that did come through. Oh, no, that's Raleigh posting out the webpage for the events. Yeah. Uh, super awesome. Super awesome. Uh, last final thoughts, final ideas. David, we'll start with you. Tanika, then to you. Yeah. That we can help this industry grow. David Boyes: Tanika, thank you for joining today and, and sharing your experience. It's super valuable for, for me as a provider to our industry that, uh, we understand how we're driving impact. So thank you again for that. Thank you for your trust and support. For the, uh, the audience, uh, Call Inbound is our company, callinbound.com. Uh, we provide communication services, uh, call tracking information, uh, advisor call handling performance metrics, and AI call analysis. But above all, we're part of the industry, right? So, uh, I got my start with, uh, with the institute in a 20 group. Got, you know, very ingrained in the industry, uh, while I was building my company. And, um, you know, I'm proud to say that I'm part of the, uh, not just the automotive aftermarket, but the, the service repair industry. Thank you, Tonnika Haynes: gentlemen. I wanna make, make sure you know that I appreciate your company. Um, I don't know how many employees you have, but it seems like they're all just sitting in the same room waiting to help. I can send an email and I get a response so quickly, and it's always been consistent great service, so I do appreciate that. And, uh, anybody that's on the fence, whether you, you know, I'm like, "I don't wanna listen to phone calls, that's just another thing for me to need to..." Do it. Listen to the phone calls. Start with yourself. Start with yourself as the owner. I always say start, start with yourself. I always assume that I'm the problem, then I can work from there. Listen to your phone calls, and if you think you're good and then you listen to them, you realize how bad you are, think about how bad your team is if you're not coaching them. So get them in coaching call services or what- whatever. Listen to the phone calls. Get everything in order. And not only will you make better sales and better connections, more appointments, but I really truly believe that it could save you a lot of heartache. Yeah, they record bad calls, too. Bad calls from the other end that you're, you know, that you need, I hate to say for court, but anything. It's like, "Hey, sir, we've got that call recorded and that didn't go quite the way you're saying it's gonna go." So that's another part to it that could, that could be very important in your shop. We call that David Boyes: the replay booth. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. David Boyes: We'll take that to the replay booth. Tonnika Haynes: Yeah. Jimmy Lea: It, it, it's an important to CYA. Exactly. You gotta cover your own behind. Tonnika Haynes: There's a great... That's a great tool for that. Jimmy Lea: Yep. Yep. Yep, for sure. Well, with that, thank you very much. David, thank you for being here. Taneka, thank you very much for being here. Tonnika Haynes: Any Jimmy Lea: time. Look forward to seeing both of you very soon at our next conference, and to give you a big hug and say hello. Uh, bring your best jackets, David. Say Tonnika Haynes: less. Gotcha. Say less. Back in the David Boyes: studio. Jimmy Lea: Yes, yes. Very much looking forward to working with all of you in the very near future. And for everyone that is listening, thank you so much for joining us today as we talk about building a better business, a better life, and a better industry. My name is Jimmie Lee. I'm with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, and we're here to lock arms with you and make a difference. Click on it. Come find us. We're here to help. How can we help you? Let's make a difference. Talk to you soon.
