Ep 157: Great Culture Doesn't Happen by Accident with Sam Freeman and Amber Wright
With Sam Freeman, Amber Wright
Now playing — The Limitless Leadership Podcast
About this episode
Amber Wright is the VP of Business Development at Tekmetric, and Sam Freeman is the Partnership Manager at Promotive. Today, Josh and Bret talk with…
Key takeaways
- —Great leadership requires adapting to new challenges and evolving strategies.
- —Hiring should be an ongoing process; shops should always be recruiting.
- —Utilizing technology, such as AI, can streamline the hiring process and improve efficiency.
- —Building a strong company culture is essential for attracting and retaining talent.
- —Partnerships with vendors can enhance shop operations and drive success.
Frequently asked
- What should shop owners focus on to improve their hiring process?
- Shop owners should always be recruiting and building relationships with potential candidates, even when they are not actively hiring.
- How can technology assist in the hiring process?
- Technology, such as AI screening tools, can help streamline candidate evaluations and improve response times, allowing shops to engage with applicants more effectively.
- What role does company culture play in attracting talent?
- A strong company culture can make a shop more appealing to potential employees, as it reflects a supportive environment that values growth and respect.
▸Full transcript
Think about a business owner. What got you somewhere for 10 years is not going to get you where you need to go in the next 2 years. Preach. Right? It is a mindset shift. You're listening to the Limitless Leadership Podcast, the podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train, and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought-provoking interviews from industry leaders.
Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results? Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Limitless Leadership Podcast. Before we get started, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, do all the things you need to on social media to help this podcast impact people and build leaders, just like the leaders we have sitting in front of us today at Tectonic 2026, presented by Techmetric.
Techmetric, of course, is one of the podcast sponsors. Promotive is also a podcast sponsor, and we are blessed to be joined by a team member from each organization today. We're joined by the partner manager, Sam Freeman, of Promotive. Did I get that right, Sam? That is correct. Okay. And the— and the VP of Business Development of Techmetric Amber Wright. Thank you for, for being here.
Thanks for having us. Thanks for being here. Of course, and thank you for having us. And, uh, and for those listening, uh, you of course can watch this episode, uh, on YouTube at The Bearded Leader. Uh, I also have an incredible leader co-hosting with me. I think I'm actually the co-host. Brett, you're the host today. Brett Beitler is also joining me. Um, I'm gonna pass the mic to Brett, and as I do that, if the two of you would each share who you are, what you do, and how you do it.
Promotive is tackling one of the toughest challenges in the automotive industry: finding and hiring great technicians. Their team is built from people who know the aftermarket, understand technician roles, and recognize what actually makes someone a strong long-term fit. Promotive builds recruiting pipelines for the shops they support. They uncover talent you won't find on job boards, run intentional and structured screenings, and guide candidates through interview prep and communication so shops can make confident decisions.
Shops choose Promotive because their process creates consistency, momentum instead of waiting, clarity instead of guesswork, and a partnership instead of a transaction. If your shop is hiring or preparing for growth, head to gopromotive.com. You can schedule a discovery call, submit your openings, and see how Promotive supports shops nationwide. All right, folks, as you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best.
It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop's success. It's about putting the right team in place, It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro, making pro moves. And when I think about the pros, I think about Shop Marketing Pros. The know, like, and trust factor, that's a real thing, and Shop Marketing Pros understands that.
That's why I wanna recommend Shop Marketing Pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know, like, and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know, like, and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level. So when I talk about making pro moves, this is the kind of move I'm talking about.
This is the kind of standard-setting partnership that's going to elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. Amber, you go first. Oh, so fun. Okay. So, uh, Amber Wright, I am the VP of, uh, business development at TechMetric. So, uh, I lead now a team of 16, uh, the last time we talked.
It was much smaller, but we are continuously growing and evolving. But we, we do work primarily— my team works primarily with our partners. So we talk about vendors, but we talk about how we go to market together to drive mutually beneficial opportunities for companies, ultimately with the goal of getting TechMetric into shops to help them be as successful as possible, but focusing on the results that each individual shop is trying to achieve.
And then how do we get them to the next one? So Uh, my team, I work primarily to drive the strategy, also looking at like what's the next evolution of business development, right? The relationships, how can we get involved in the industry? And so there's more to come on that. So that's, that's what I do, and I have a pleasure to work with an incredible team.
I understand you guys got across the threshold of 15,000 shops served now. Yeah, almost fell off my chair when I heard that. He announced it this morning. I was like, oh, come on, it's pretty incredible. It, it's, uh, humbling. It's humbling. I think we, you know, couldn't do it without the customers that we have, but it's also the team and the product.
So, yeah. So over 15,000 rooftops and over 350 team members within Techmetric now. Yep. Wild. Such a fast-growing organization. And you guys are incredible at what you do. Passing the mic to you now, Sam, who you are, what you do. That's a tough act to follow, right? Man, you use so many words just now. No. So I am Sam Freeman. I am the partnership manager with Promotive.
We are a full staffing agency. We help find and place automotive professionals from entry level all the way through to second in command, really on the front side and also on the back side of the shop. What I do here, I manage the partnerships, but I also have grown through the team. So I came in primarily as an account manager. And understanding that process and how we were managing our clients and how we are delivering to them.
And now I am going over to the partnership side where it's actually my background. Um, so being able to work with our partners like Techmetric or— and also the podcasts that we sponsor, um, and also figure out how we can really supply a demand that is a high need that everybody has. Sure. Hiring is one of the biggest things that Everybody struggles with, and we're stepping up to the plate and saying, let's figure it out.
One of the things that, uh, Amber, go ahead. I was just gonna say, it's such a need. Leading a shop can be isolating, especially when you're trying to grow and still take care of your people. The good news is you don't have to piece it together alone. Techmetric is the all-in-one platform built for shops and growing operators who want less chaos and more clarity.
Shop management, integrated payments, and built-in marketing all working together in one place. No bouncing between tools, no syncing issues, no missed opportunities, just a cleaner operation, a stronger customer experience, and a business that's built to grow. See how it works at techmetric.com or use the link in the show notes. It's no secret in our industry that speed of service sells. As our world moves faster, instant gratification isn't a want, it's an expectation.
It's proven that the faster you communicate with your guest after they hand over their keys, the higher your close ratio and ARO is. This critical window is called your golden hour. And let's be real, it's hard to achieve when you're buried in essential tasks. That's where Golden Hour Garage comes in. By partnering with their team of industry professionals across the US, you can truly own your golden hour.
Golden Hour provides a virtual estimate building, extended warranty, fleet claim processing, loaner advisors, and hands-on partner support so your team can focus on the guest experience and profit growth. Book a discovery call today. Limitless Leadership listeners receive 10% off their first 3 months. It is. And it's an incredible thing that you guys have done in such a short period of time. It's hard.
I mean, it's, I say all the time, this is the hardest job I've ever had. And I've like run companies, I've run development teams, I've run things, and I'm like, I can't control these two pieces. Like, we can't control shop owners. All we can do is coach them and guide them and pray to Jesus that they listen and that they, you know, are responsive and do the things that we recommend.
And also on the technician and the advisor side, we can't control them. All we can do is guide them through. And again, it's like matchmaking. You don't know if it's going to be a marriage, but we're going to try. So for listening audience, um, they're resonating with what you're sharing because there's a lot of things that are outside of our control that we're trying to get a handle on.
It feels like everything's a fire and we're part-time firefighter because this is a fire, that's a fire, everything's a priority. But if everything's a priority, nothing's really a priority. So for listening audience who is feeling this way, Um, I know how important it is to focus on what we can control or can impact and try our best not to worry about what we can't control.
What advice would you give to someone who is going through this and feels like they have to have control over everything and they just are keeping their head above water? And when it comes to the hiring piece of it, we don't take over the control piece. We actually work with— I tell everybody all the time, I don't work for you, I partner with you.
And that's very important because we are— it takes both of us to be successful. The shop has to be responsive and they have to do their part. They have to do the interview. They have to take accountability. We are doing the front, front-load pieces, that bottleneck. We are getting in front of the candidates, we are screening the candidates, and we're submitting them over.
So, it's like a, what is it, a triathlon? What is— oh my gosh. Triathlon? That one. I can't say that word. Close enough. Yeah, but we're passing the baton at that time. Our goal really is to help them be more efficient. We are utilizing all the tools we can. So we utilize AI with our AI screener that we launched recently, which is magical, by the way.
She just hit 500 screens in one week. That's incredible. Wow. 500 screens. Like, that is— that's crazy. She being the AI person, correct? Yeah, I caught that. I was going to ask that, but what's her name? Her name is Paige, and it's an ongoing joke that she's hot. Um, it's— that's my wife's name. Is she blonde? I'm so proud. I would be so proud of this.
Please tell me if she's blonde. She's a redhead. Thank you. I love redheads. I know, it was hilarious though, because we were at an offsite meeting and, um, we were coming up with the concept and we, um, Lisa's wife actually named her and it's Paige because P-A-I-G-E. You get it? Um, but they're like, so what does she look like? And I randomly was like, well, she's blonde and she's hot.
And it just became a slogan that we use internally, and it's now becoming outside. But she does the screening pieces, and we take that and submit that over on that side of things. But we're also utilizing automation to speed up the process because time kills everything. So, so I want to go back to something you just mentioned. You said it's hard, like going out there and recruiting is hard, but it starts internally.
Your team has got a magical recipe of creating a type of culture that I believe people are obsessed with, right? Which compels them to want to do business with you. So can you talk about your culture and how you guys start internally driving that so you can go serve others? Well, I mean, it's, it's actually pretty funny, um, and some of the things we want everybody to be all hands on deck, and we have a bigger picture here.
We want everybody to understand that We are actually impacting people's lives. Like, it's not— yes, it's hard, but it also is so fulfilling when we have that success because we're talking about shop owners that have bays that they rely on those bays to turn numbers so they can provide for their families, their communities. We're talking about technicians and advisors that they need to find someplace that is going to respect them, that is going to support them and grow them.
So, we are not playing with little domino pieces. We're actually playing with real people, and it takes that core understanding And it also takes that grit in that you get hung up on, it's like cold calling every day. And even with people that know who you are, we are in an industry right now where conflict, technicians don't want it, so they avoid it.
They ghost. They don't want to tell you, "Hey, I accepted another offer." They just ignore you. And it's not just us, it's the shop owners deal with this all the time. And then we flip it around and say, "Well, you're ghosting them as well." because when the candidate doesn't meet your expectations, you're not calling them and letting them know. You're not telling them what they need to do to get better.
You're just not reaching out to them and they're like, okay, well, I'm going to write you off. So, we're burning bridges on both sides. And I think that's the big part where Promotive is coming in is jumping in and saying, okay, we're going to communicate and we're going to help this. And I mean, the team, Lisa says it all the time, if you're not committed, she'll pay you to leave..
And I mean, it's harsh, but it's also where we are. We want people that— it's not a 9-to-5 job. I tell her probably weekly, this is the hardest thing to do. Because when candidates are applying, you have to be responsive. When they're available, you have to be available. So it is not a 9-to-5. I'm pretty confident that our team, they work weekends and not the whole day.
We want, we do respect time and family time. We do. That's a thing. But we also wanna make sure that we're striking while the iron's hot. I think Cody Sanchez also said exactly what you are saying right now on main stage. She, she was talking about hiring and you can go on LinkedIn, you can go on Facebook, you can go on Google Ads, like all of those things, but you always have to be doing more.
Mm-hmm. One of the things we talk about, uh, so much is that you should always be interviewing. Like there should never be a time that you are not interviewing somebody. It should always be happening and it should never come off. And the cool thing that you guys are doing though is yes, maybe that talent isn't going to be right for one shop, but now you've created this pipeline to be able to help support.
And it is like you, you said it so well, Sam, you are supporting not only the shop owner, but the, the new people, the next generation that are coming into this industry. And so you have the opportunity to set the tone of what this industry is and the culture that we are creating here. So it's pretty cool. Thank you. My goodness, you're so good at talking.
I know. You know, some people say I have corporate jargon. So she, Cody Sanchez also said that. I'm like, I've gotta stop with the corporate. No, it just flows. Well, and Cody is Lisa's like favorite human. She's so mad she couldn't be here. And, um, I, she said a lot of things, but the big thing for our industry is not running away from AI.
Like that was, I stood up, I was like, I can't sit down anymore. I need to stand up. Um, because she— I felt like half of that presentation was needed to be sponsored by Promotive. It was talking about the automation, it was talking about hiring, it was talking about continuing to do that, utilizing all the tools and being fast. I can't tell you enough how many times every call I have with everybody, I remind them, speed.
Yeah, you have to be fast. Yes, these technicians, they're applying to on average 11 to 15 jobs at a time, and they're only responsive to roughly 3 to 5 of those those shops that engage with them. And when they're done with those 3 to 5, if they don't get an offer, if they don't like them, they don't go to the remaining ones that they already applied to.
They go back and they apply to 11 to 15 more. Yeah. And they start it all over again. So having that speed component and being in front of them quickly is what made us actually start with the automation. So we text them immediately when they apply, no matter where they apply from. If it's through our page platform or our, our team, we're automatically texting them.
If it's 9 o'clock at night, they're getting a text. Well, for a lot of folks who are listening, they're gonna say, well, I, I, I can't reply or respond that quickly because I don't have time, right? Time is our biggest enemy. And I'll throw that in air quotes, but that's what Promotive does for shop owners is we, you give them the gift of time.
We have two offerings for that reason. Not everybody needs our full service piece. So they don't need us holding their hands. They don't need us outbounding and turning over the rocks for them. They don't need us scheduling the interviews for them. I mean, some do, like there's a good market for that still. Sure. But there are some that just want us to do a screening.
They just want us to be able to write the job ad, um, respond to the candidates, get them screened and send over the information and they run with it. You can give them the resources. It's up to them to be resourceful. Yes. And that's, that's the biggest opportunity a lot of folks are not capturing is they, they want everything done for them because we don't have time and It's just like, there's just so many things happening, right?
All those fires that I talked about, but we've got to be resourceful with the information that we get. Otherwise, like, knowledge without action is just information. And we can't just sit on information. Something that you just shared, Sam, a few minutes ago is how challenging this role has been for you. But I'm not hearing you say like you're not afraid of it.
Like you're not turning your back to it. Um, when you say— I'm one of 7. No, I don't run away. Well, you know what's interesting? So, Amber, in the interview that you and I had back at the ASTA Expo last year, you talked about how TechMetric is the most challenging but also equally most rewarding job you've ever had. I'm hearing you say the same thing, Sam.
Can either one of you speak to that? So I want to go back to 2 things that I've heard. You asked about control. We control things because of fear. Because we don't want to do something, right? Uh, or it's the unknown. And so I— there is a means to where I'm going with this, but I— Techmetric has— what got me here, what got me to Techmetric, the success that— and I don't want to make it about myself, but like, I just think as leaders— this is your show, Amber.
But like, as leaders, right? Uh, think about a business owner. What got you somewhere for 10 years is not going to get you where you need to go in the next 2 years. Preach, right? It is a mindset shift. And it's a— I— so Techmetric has given me this journey, uh, to be challenged, to go into the uncomfortable. I always say, like, Olaf is my favorite little character because I watched Frozen way too many times, but he says, uh, I think it's a song, but change mocks us with its beauty.
Right? Like, uh, at Techmetric, because we are continuously evolving and growing, but as leaders, it starts from the top, right? Sunil, Andrea, the entire leadership team is always pushing to learn, to grow more. And so as you do that, there is so much, uh, pain through that, but growth comes. And so it's just— that is why I said that it has been the most rewarding and challenging thing that I have ever done, and I would do it all over again.
And there are days where I sit— like Cody was saying, I don't mean to keep beating the dead horse, but like there are days I wake up and I'm just like, I gotta do this again. But I gotta do this again because I'm sitting in fear of— I don't know how to move the needle. But the only person that's in my way is myself.
Yeah, that's good. And so it has been every day I've been able to challenge myself, but not challenge myself and make it about me. It's now about how do I get people around me to be on the same mission with the vision that we set forth and have success. And so like now it's not like I, I said what got me here is not what's going to move the needle in the future because it's not about me, it's about our people, it's about our customers at the end of the day, and ultimately it's about our customers' customers.
And so it's, it is totally reshaping, uh, the way that I think about business. But again, like Michael said earlier today on stage, it's the why. And so, so quickly you can get into the outcomes, and that's where fear and control comes into play, and you forget about the things that you have to do every single day and the reason why you're doing it.
So, uh, I still stand by those words, Josh. I think it was, uh, yeah, ASTA was pretty quickly, uh, one of the first events that I went to as a Techmetric employee. Um, so it's It's been the most amazing year so far. By the time of this recording, the AST Expo would have been about, let's see, 7 months ago. Yeah. Think about the growth that you've experienced in the last 7 months.
Yeah. Personally and professionally, a lot, right? Yeah. And it's because you have done some advice that General Robert Neller shared in a keynote this morning, which is embrace the suck. Oh yeah. You know, it's hard every day. It's not— it's not pretty. No, it's never gonna be perfect. Yeah, perfection is reserved for God, but you embrace the suck. We don't have to do this, we get to do this.
We get to do this to make a difference, to make an impact. We're doing it through the Vestal Automotive Repair. I think when you, you go through struggles, right, uh, right, trusting somebody who doesn't have a limp, there's so many things like nuggets. Um, it's that faith that you have that you've gotten through it before and you will get through it again.
Whatever it is in the future, that thing, you know that you can get through it. Right? But you just have to believe, and you just have to put one foot in front of the other. Like, that is truly, uh, I feel like when you freeze and you don't move, that is when you fail, and you have to keep going forward. So anyone listening to this podcast knows that Brett and I are believers.
It's a faith-based company, Limitless Leadership. And biblically, in the Bible, I mean, we, we hear about, um, God's word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And it's about that one step. It's not the, like, I don't even call it a leap anymore, a leap of faith. It's a step. It's a step of faith. Like, if, if you were to walk into this huge warehouse in one door and across this massive warehouse, you can see the door at the under, uh, at the other end, but it's pitch black, but you have enough light to take one step.
And what you don't see is all the challenges, all the obstacles, all of the suck that you're gonna need to embrace. And instead what you're doing is, because if you turn the light on and you could see everything, you'd be like, nope, I'm gonna go out this door that I came in. I turn around, right? But, but I'm gonna, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna turn the light off.
Yeah, I'm gonna light my lamp enough to take one step, and I'm gonna take another step, another step. And we know that when, uh, where there's faith, there's also fear, otherwise there wouldn't be a cause for faith. And so I love the fact that you're talking about, um, embracing your faith amidst the amidst the suck. Yeah. Um, it's, it's critical. It's critical because too many of us, we quit in the dip.
And the dip is that J-curve that I've talked about before where we quit in the dip. It's just too hard, it's challenging, it's not working. The easy thing to do is to quit. Yeah. But you fall down 7 times, you get back up 8. Yeah. My husband tells me— I love him, we— I, I will say it on this podcast every single time, but there's times where I walk to him, like, I, I think we all do this to our spouses, right?
We go back and we just like talk, we want to vent. Um, he either tells me when I'm making something hard, it's because I'm making it about myself and not about the person. Please elaborate. I love this. Uh, so when I have meetings with people, like, we all have hard meetings with people that we— I mean, humans are messy, right? Just like, I'm a messy person.
I'm not perfect, although I think I am. Uh, uh, we're just messy. And so if I go into a meeting already stressing about a meeting or having a hard conversation, it's because I'm making it about me and I'm not serving that person. And so, uh, you have to remove that. It's also the one-minute manager, right? You have to remove the emotion out of it.
So there's two things that are going on in those moments. And I will say that the people aspect of leadership is always going to be the most difficult and challenging thing because there's ego involved. There is the reflection of yourself, uh, the things that you're walking through. We're all human beings. We walk through those things. Um, but ultimately Uh, yeah, Tyler tells me that all the time.
Yeah. How do you get through that? Like, like, people are gonna people. Yeah. So how you, how you gonna manage people? How you gonna lead people? What's your first step? Um, my first step, uh, when we're in business, okay, so like there's, there's people and there's, there's business. So there's kind of like a, it's a black and white thing to me sometimes, right?
Uh, I have to get the business objective and ensure that we're always moving forward and marching in that way. We're all on the same ship. But at the end of the day, I have to understand the people that I'm leading, and they're all different. Um, and so I think just like, as long as you are being a good human being and you're trying to support them, um, that's ultimately how I go about it.
Goes to my basis. Yeah, I'm a big believer in treating people the way you want to be treated. Like that's my number one thing. And so what my kids, they can't stand it, but I'm a big believer in treating people the way you wanna be and be treated and also being a good human. Uh, my husband actually, which I also love him by the way, I went and shout out to both these husbands.
Husbands. Oh, he's amazing. Um, Lisa actually said, if anything ever happened to you, I will take him. I'm like, wrong team, buddy. But that's funny. Um, in reality, I get frustrated because I expect more from people and they let me down. High bar. And he reminds me all the time, why are you getting frustrated? They already showed you who they are. You need to understand who they are and don't be surprised every time.
So set the expectation to what their abilities are and not what your, your expectation of them is, and then grow them. Maya Angelou once said, when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. Oh, could you have told me that like multiple relationships ago? Same. Great. Hey, I learned this not too long ago. I do think there's an expectation, like, I also think that there's a setting a high bar with people, right?
Like, there's also this expectation and having people to be held accountable. Some people that you lead and are on your team aren't always going to be there with you, right? And so I think that there's also— those conversations are hard, and you want to do what's right, but not everybody's going to follow, and that's okay. So I agree, like, there's a, there's a point where we have to lead, we have to lean in, But it's also, until somebody's ready to change and do those actions, you can't make them, right?
And so that's something, it's just like, hey, I, I have really high expectations of the people that are on my team. I don't want to micromanage you. I don't, right? But if I have to, I will. And I, in a certain way, to lead. But it's also just like, hey, I have a high bar for people that we hire. It's a blessing to know without any kind of reservation, not everybody deserves to be on your bus.
Yeah, right. Because you two ladies and your companies have amazing cultures. Yeah. That people are drawn to, which allows you to thrive at the levels that you're thriving at right now that you've already shared with on this podcast today. So when you talk about protecting that culture, name a, a thing or two that you're most proud of when it comes to protecting that bus and not letting everybody on it.
We talk about hiring a lot, uh, as a leadership team. Actually, we just did an, uh, SLT offsite and hiring was the majority of the things that we talked about. And so, um, one, ultimately we wanna make sure that, um, the people that we bring on have a level of urgency as everybody else at the company, as Techmetric. Um, one of the things that I'm just gonna paraphrase is we don't wanna hire jerks.
Mhm. And so there's certain things that we look at and interview, um, whether somebody makes excuses, right? Uh, we don't, we don't want excuses. We want people that are going to push forward. Yeah. And, and take ownership into whatever comes their way. Um, we look at people who have high integrity. Integrity is a big portion of our interview process. I personally, and I know a lot of other leaders, we have— we're really focused on our values.
So we have 5 values, and so I incorporate that into my interview process, and I either ask them for a historical view of how those specific values have shown up into their professional and personal lives, or I ask them to look at, like, once you have this role, if you get this job, how do you see these being incorporated into the job as you know it thus far.
And so, there's just a lot of ways, but I think we want to make sure that anybody that we bring on has a really good work ethic and are good human beings, right? I think those two, you can't teach being a good human being. Yeah, absolutely. I think on our side, we actually are a small company and we're still growing, and we are actually pretty, as you would say, blessed or pretty fortunate that majority of our hires are referrals from people that already work there or that we know personally.
So we already have one of those lovers of what Cody said earlier, you know, are they known? So we already have one of those pieces checked already because it's typically a referral and we're looking for people that are going to proactively come and understand what the job is that they're interviewing for and be ready to provide some level of solutions for it.
If you're hiring for Or if you're applying for a marketing position within our company, I would love the fact that you researched our company and that you have already identified things that are issues. Yeah. Opportunity. And, or opportunities to come to the table. Like show that you wanna play. Like you, I mean, we do a lot of sports analogies, uh, our place and you're not that redshirt.
You wanna come, you wanna show up to practice. You wanna actually say, all right, I'm gonna shout at you. My daughter is in cheer and stunt and she's like, I want all 6 of these routines. So, I'm gonna learn them all. And that's before she even gets the opportunity to try out for those spots. That's awesome. Preparation goes a long way. Um, Sam, let's stay on the, on the culture piece for a moment because, um, if, if anyone is listening or watching this episode, again, I don't know, I think I shared this earlier, but if not, YouTube @TheBeardedLeader, you can watch the episode.
If anyone of you listening or watching has attended any automotive repair conference, you probably know Sam Freeman because she is, uh, a just a bundle of energy. Yeah, I mean, just like the, the life of the party. Always have a smile on her face, always giving people hugs. Selfie Sam, I like to call you Selfie Sam. It's actually my Instagram handle. Is it really?
So, wow. Um, Lisa's idea. So let's talk about the way that you show up at these conferences. Sam is incredible. Um, it's, it's important for everyone at this conf— at the conferences to recognize the value that we can bring as vendors, as partners, as like every role counts. Can you speak to the value of a vendor and how it plays into the trade shows side of, of the conferences?
Absolutely. And I'll tell you a really, really quick story on that whole Selfie Sam thing. Sure. So my first trade show I ever did, this was a million moons ago, it actually feels like. And I noticed that every shop owner that was walking through was doing the same thing. They were going to the booth, they were giving the same info at shop owner, company name, email.
They weren't either actually interested, they were just doing it to check the box to have the person stop talking to them. And I never want to be like somebody else on that. Like, I need to be unique for me. So I started taking selfies, and then I'm like, oh, let me send it to you. What's your cell phone number? I'll text it to you right now.
And then I would text it. So while everybody else is calling— sales 101— yeah, when everybody else is, is emailing— you did that with me. I did, actually. I mean, I do it still to this day. It's not the same reasons now, but, but I had the cell phone number. I had an item to trigger the memory on who I am all before they walked away from me.
So when I did follow up— and I also am very respectful of following up, I'm not calling you right away let you digest the world. Um, but when I did follow up, they knew who I was. And working these shows and understanding kind of the value of what we are bringing as vendors primarily is we're all here because we have something valuable for the attendees.
We have some piece of that puzzle that is going to get your shop to the next level, whether it's a duplication of something. So there's a lot of marketing opportunities here. You got, you know, what are the— Kukui, you got Oh my goodness, I'm drawing a blank on them all, but Limitless Leadership is one. That's, that's, that's a good one too. Nice slide.
Yeah, just, just one of the vendors available. But you have— there are some competitive pieces out there, and you also have ones that you've never tried. I mean, recruiting itself, when I first came into the industry, again, million moons ago— it's been over 20 years, by the way, just for the record— um, the first call I ever made, he's like, I don't need marketing.
I need somebody help me find technicians. Well, 20 years later we're doing it and now it's, it's like, oh no, I'm gonna run away. I ask everybody all the time, are you fully staffed or you need technicians? Oh no, we're good. Are you sure? Because I know underneath that, like, that's like not real. Well, what we can do is, I mean, you're identifying the problem and we are the problem solver, right?
So if you're, if you're a vendor at a trade show, the, the expectation is that you're you don't want to necessarily be looked at like a salesperson per se, but you're a problem solver, and we all have some kind of business problems, and this is where the problem solver comes into play. I think a big part as well is these shows. I mean, the shop owners that are coming, they have dedicated trade show time for a reason, because they would like you to go and talk to these vendors.
They would like you to explore other opportunities, be open-minded. I think Sunil actually mentioned that on his ecosystem, like, we all play a part here. Um, the other piece is when we're here, we're taking time out of our family time. Like I have 5 kids, I have a husband that I actually like, 3 dogs and 2 cats. It's like a farm there.
Yeah. But I don't just wanna come here. Throw some chickens into that one. Checkmate. You win. You win. But I'm coming here for a purpose because I wanna, I wanna help. I want to, if somebody has a problem, I either wanna be able to solve it or I can help direct you to where somebody can. I pretty much know all the vendors.
Um, but we are all a big team here, and when it comes to those puzzle pieces, I say we're the pillars of that success. You're the shop owners, you're the shop management system. You guys bring the podcast, the information, that leadership component of things. You also have a great beard. You scared the crap outta me, by the way, on your April Fools'.
Don't ever do that again. That was good. I actually, you had me for a minute. No, it did not have me. ChatGPT really did me dirty that day, and, and it was just a good reminder that if that's really what is hidden underneath the beard. I'm just gonna always keep the beard. Yeah, it has been— no, I was like, such a lie, such a lie.
Yeah, I think like, look, I— the one thing that I think is so important about coming to these events, you came for a reason and you obviously have something in your business that you're hoping to, uh, move forward or change. And just like, like, think about— at least for me, I think about— I'll come back to the vendors when I, I run.
And so I grew up in a really small town in Peachtree City where we have golf cart paths everywhere. And I made it a point to make sure, like, if you really watch people when they're walking, what are they doing? Like, when you pass people on the streets, looking down, they're looking down and they're on their phones, right? And then there's a whole world out there that you just don't even know what's going on.
You don't know the connections that you can make. You don't know what a single conversation with somebody is going to lead to. And so thinking about trade shows, you've come and yes, maybe vendors are out here to sell you. Totally. We're all running businesses, right? It's how you do it, um, I think is, is the big piece. But what I would encourage shop owners, service, service advisors, technicians that do go to these shows, you're there for a reason.
So do go visit the vendors because you don't know what they may be able to do to help your business. In the back of my head, I was just saying, you don't know what you don't know. You don't. And I've made some of the most amazing friendships with talking to people. Half the people I've never even sold. Yeah, I just, I, I genuinely enjoy talking to people and understanding what drives them.
And what's your problem? Let's go talk to this person, they can help you. Yeah, but you never know unless you step foot in there. I mean, people are constantly trying to avoid the trade show time. And I'm like, why would you do that? Well, I will say this. I know, Brett, you're— it looks like you're— but I will say, just putting on— I— my background actually was in corporate events, so I used to run it for a NASDAQ company.
I used to globally run events. And so makes sense. Um, that was, that was a thing. Uh, these events would not be possible without sponsors. Um, so it does take a lot of resources. It takes a lot of, uh, financial investment, uh, time. And so I would say that if anything, it's thanking the people that are here that have sponsored these events, every single event, not just Tectonic, but, uh, at the end of the day, they are part of the ecosystem that helps shops run their businesses.
And so that is what is important, uh, because there is a shop that they are helping in some facet. And so it's super important. So you ladies, going a little bit further and talk about the abundant mentality, right? Um, we're talking about building community. Josh and I are focused on this, like laser focused on building this type of community that does think in terms of abundance on top of it, right?
There's plenty to go around for all of us, and we need to help each other win, right? Yeah, because business gets passed between who do you know, like, and trust. Yeah, right. That's why we have something on it. I see a word coming out. Let's go. I mean, that kind of goes back to before I was here. I was doing DBI service, and I helped bring DBI to the market with, you know, other great DBI platforms.
I would start out all of my presentations in— can I cuss on here? Let's find out. No. Okay. Oh, Amber said no. Yes, you may. You can clean it up. Jesus. Okay, um, I would actually start every one of my presentations with, I don't give a shit what you're using for DBI, just use it. And I meant that wholeheartedly because the impact that utilizing something like that, that was doing for the industry and for the consumer's understanding of our industry was bigger than me.
And I say the same thing for this. I don't care what they're using as long as they're doing something to always be recruiting. And if you get to a point where it's a hurdle or you're not being able to do it, it's okay. You're not like lesser than a human because you need to outsource that piece of it. You still have the control.
You're still the one making that decision at the end of the day. But it is— you can't grow holding everything on your back. You cannot do that. And I'm actually learning that myself. Lisa's like, you gotta let go of some stuff. I'm like, uh, but I'm a control freak. At least need to proofread stuff. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard to let go.
It's hard to trust the people that you've put into place, but that's ultimately why you've put them in the positions that they are in. To give those things over to them. And they also have to experience failure or messing up and moving forward. That's how they grow. I mean, we as a company, and I haven't been promoted for a million years, but I've obviously been a part of it since the part of the infancy of the conversations, who we were 7 months ago, a year ago, that is not who we are today at all.
And we are constantly growing. We are constantly understanding What our clients are needing from us. I mean, I talk to people that are happy. I'm like, okay, but what doesn't make you happy? Like there's something that we do that we can fix. What is it? I need that feedback. I rely on it. Um, and I've always been, when I like ran development teams, I am that person that speaks to the, the end user and I'm like, all right, let's understand this and communicate it back so we can fix it.
We're, our whole page component of our platform was built based off of feedback that what the market needed was that bottleneck support. I love this conversation, but for sake of time, um, we do need to begin wrapping up. I'm going to ask for each one of you to just give a plug for each one of your companies. If, if I'm a shop owner who is for whatever reason not with Tekmetric right now— Amber, I mean, God bless you, but I mean, I don't know what, like, what are you doing with your life if you're not with Tekmetric?
What can I do? Where can I go to learn more about Tekmetric? Yeah. Yeah, well, obviously our website, you can go to our website and learn, learn more about TechMetric to get a demo. So we have account specialists that will walk you through a specialized demonstration of TechMetric. But what that call will do is really focus on your, your result. What is the result that you are trying to achieve as a business, whether that is, are you trying to make more money, bring in more cars, create a better customer experience?
And so we start with that. Conversation first to really understand how we can help support you, because we know that if we can't get you to your first result, then we aren't really helping you at all. And so that conversation is going to be specifically tailored to what you as a business owner are trying to achieve first, and then we will show you how the product can get you there.
So ultimately, go to our website at techmetric.com and we will be in touch with you, or feel free to reach out to me, Amber, or awright@techmetric.com, and I will make to support you and get you in the hands of somebody else who can. Excellent. Thank you, Amber. And Sam, same for you. If I'm looking for recruiting needs, how can I get in touch with Promotive?
First I would say is everybody should be looking for recruiting needs. Amen. You should always be hiring. You should always be doing that piece. And realistically, it's not something that is easy done on your own because it does take time. But you can go to gopromotive.com and we have a lead form on there that you can reach out to, fill it out, and we'll be in contact.
Our big thing on that is really just, if somebody has somebody that is, they have an HR department already, they have somebody in-house that is hiring, that doesn't mean that we're replacing them. We are helping them. We have something set up for everybody at this point now that we've been doing it for a good amount of time. It never hurts to talk and understand what the options are.
Yeah. These calls are complimentary. Demos are complimentary. Reach out to Techmetric, reach out to GoPro— sorry, reach out to Promotive at gopromotive.com.. And since I shared your website, I'll say it again, techmetric.com. Uh, thank you for— thank you both for being on the show. Um, this will not be your last time. So Amber, you— I know you're already a returning guest. Sam, you'll be back as well.
Uh, so thank you both for being here, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. As you know, we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results. So thanks again, everyone. Have a great day. Don't forget to smile today. Don't forget to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.
I'm Josh Parnell, and here's Brett Beitler. Okay. Reminding you to keep leading well.
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Shop Owners: Maybe YOU'RE the Problem | Tristin Sweeney - 38
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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.