Ep 91: Turn Failure into Success with Jimmy Lea
With Jimmy Lea
Now playing — The Limitless Leadership Podcast
About this episode
Become a Pro today by partnering with Shop Marketing Pros for your shop’s digital marketing services. Stop wasting your marketing dollars and connect with them…
Key takeaways
- —Effective leadership is about serving your team and helping them succeed.
- —Collaboration within the industry can lead to greater overall success than competition.
- —Coaching can significantly improve shop performance in a short time frame.
- —A thriving mindset can change the atmosphere and productivity of a shop.
- —Setting clear, ambitious goals can drive a shop towards greater achievements.
Frequently asked
- What is the importance of a thriving mindset in leadership?
- A thriving mindset allows leaders to operate from a place of abundance rather than scarcity, positively impacting their team and business.
- How can coaching benefit automotive repair shops?
- Coaching provides tailored strategies that can quickly improve shop efficiency and profitability, often resulting in significant gains within months.
- What should a shop owner do if they struggle with public speaking?
- Joining organizations like Toastmasters can help improve public speaking skills, allowing leaders to communicate their vision more effectively.
▸Full transcript
They're able to feel differently. The air is different, the grass is greener, the sky is bluer. They feel different because the owner is not operating in scarcity anymore. They're now operating in a thriving mindset. Collaboration is so much more powerful than competition. So first of all, leadership is— 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. All right, everyone. Welcome back to the Limitless Leadership Podcast. Before we get started with today's episode, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, do all the things you need to on social media to help this podcast reach people and build leaders. That, of course, is our mission statement, to reach people and build leaders. Go to YouTube, subscribe at The Bearded Leader. And speaking of leaders, I'm joined by a good friend of mine, a leader in this industry. I'm pumped to introduce the VP of Business Development for the Institute.
He is a certified speaking professional. Our guest today is Mr. Jimmy Lee. Jimmy, thanks for being here. Hey, thank you very much, Josh. I'm so excited to be here. And amongst all that pounding the subscribe, let's also share this with your best friend, somebody that needs to know this information. Josh is bringing us leadership, and I'm honored to be on with you today to talk about leadership. Awesome. Well, I'm glad you're here, man. I know the audience is going to get a lot of information, a lot of just a wealth of information from you. I also failed to mention a couple, couple other titles that are important to you.
In your life, and that is you're a husband and a father to an incredible family and 7 children, correct? 7 children. Yep. Yep. 7 children together. Yep. Love that. And so, Jimmy, go ahead and share with the audience who you are, what you do, and how you do it. My name is Jimmy Lee. I'm with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. We are a coaching and training company for advisors, managers, owners. We have 20 groups. We have mergers and acquisitions. We have high performance groups for those that are looking to become or are currently multiple shop operators. So we are the one-stop shop for all of your coaching and business needs for improving your shop, improving your business.
Most shops that come on with us, they within 3 months to 9 months see a significant move in the needle. And that's— we turn them around very quickly. And very quickly, they— the natural progression is to join the Gear Performance Group, which is our 20 groups, our masterminds. Excellent. So you've been with the Institute now for— it's been a couple of years, correct? 2 years. Yeah. Maybe 2 years. Talk about your journey into the Institute, where you were compared to where you're obviously where you're at now. Well, that's a— that's a long journey. We're going to have to go back a little bit further than just coming into the Institute.
I'll say that I was at Log My Calls., which was also ContactPoint, coaching and training for customer service skills and sales skills over the phone. At ContactPoint, the automotive became my vertical. So I called probably every shop in North America. Wow. That's a lot of them. Selling call tracking phone numbers. Yeah, that was a lot. And from there, I demoed— I met Bill Haas at an ASA national conference in Dallas, Texas. And I said, Bill, this is who I'm looking for. Where do I need to go to sell these call tracking? And he says, go here, go here, go here, go here, go here. Well, I sold, sold, sold, sold, didn't sell, but didn't sell turned in to be the next job.
He says, I, I, I love your passion. I love your energy. I need a speaker. I've got this big thing coming. And it was AutoVitals. So I worked with AutoVitals for 4 years. That's where I lost the bet and got into the automotive industry. 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 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 gonna elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. You're gonna work for me. And I said, no, I'm not.
And he said, yes, you are. And clearly I lost that bet. 4 years later, 4 years after Auto Vitals, I went over to Kukui. Was with Kukui for a glorious 5 and a half years. Love Kukui family. They're the ohana. They are part of, of me and part of what we do. And Kukui was a beautiful platform to land, a beautiful launching space for automotive shops, automotive repair websites, CRM, postcards, everything that a shop needs to increase their average repair order and, and engage their current customer base to keep them coming back over and over and over again. Now to the point. I was at a summit meeting for the Institute.
I was repping Kukui. I'm sitting in the very back of the room. Cecil and I have known each other for, well, about 5 and a half years. When I was at a previous company, he didn't really want to associate with that company, but when I came to Kukui, he's like, hey, come visit me, come see me. He was one of the first places I stopped in Ogden, Utah with the Kukui van, which I traveled all over North America visiting shops. Going into shops to see what makes them awesome and amazing. Well, here I am sitting in the back of the room and Cecil's— this— there's a speaker up there that basically says, turn to the person next to you and bare your soul.
I was like, oh gosh, okay, well, here we go. And he's bared his soul to me and I bare my soul to him. And before you know it, February became May and May, I jumped over to the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. And it's been just one heck of a ride since then. We've doubled the business and just keep on trucking, man. That's the plan. So we just keep going. And the results that we see are amazing for shops. The results that we see, not only does it affect the shop owner and the shop owner's family, it affects everyone that's on staff, all the advisors, all the technicians. They're able to feel differently.
The air is different. The grass is greener. The sky is bluer. They feel different because the owner is not operating in scarcity anymore. They're now operating in a thriving mindset and in an abundance mindset. It's totally different. It's totally different to go from barely keeping your nose above the water, barely staying alive so you're not drowning, to walking on water. Okay, bad example, but the analogy is true. That everything changes when shops come in with us, not only for the staff, the techs, the advisors, even the clients, even the customers. Their vehicles are safer on the road. They're smarter.
They're making better decisions. And it's all because of this coaching and training that you get from the Institute. It's different than any other training company out there. We don't have any long-term contracts. We are month to month. Why are we month to month? Because you are also working for the rent every single day. Mm-hmm, yeah. We gotta work for the rent too. I love that. Every single day. If we're not bringing you value, time to bounce. Yeah, and that's great. I think it's great that you're not encouraging long-term contracts. It's one of those things where ultimately we know that there are a lot of great coaching companies out there.
There are a lot of folks who can do some great things, but if it's not a right fit right now, then that's fine. We're gonna press pause on it. I love the fact that you mentioned the scarcity versus abundance mindset. If you're listening, you know that, like, you and I both work for different coaching companies in the industry, but you and I, Jimmy, and we spoke about this at the Sunrise Automotive Training and Expo this past weekend, we talked about it's about collaboration and not competition. I don't view you guys as a competitor. You guys are great. You guys do a lot of great things that I don't do and that I don't offer.
And, and quite frankly, that I can't offer as a, as a, as a small growing company. But ultimately, with this abundance mentality, what we're collectively able to do is help change the industry. We're able to help shift perspective. And with perspective, the way that we view things drives the way that we do things. So to help shift a perspective in one person at the shop, it does affect everyone else, including their families, because ultimately, when the leader gets better, Everyone gets better and everything gets better. Even like you talked about the vehicle repa— the repairs that happen on customers' vehicles, everything improves.
And all it takes is someone like yourself and coaches within the institute to help shift a small perspective. And it's not this massive 180-degree shift. Sometimes it's like a 2 or 3-degree shift. It's something just so, so minute, but it helps change the trajectory of what— where they're going.. And, and ultimately they can achieve massive success because of it. Oh, 100%. 100%. And, and you know, by my estimation, and this is my estimation, there's no— it's, it's a swag, a scientific guess. I guess I'm estimating that somewhere between 5 and 10% of the industry is being coached and trained right now.
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And of all the companies that are there right now, mm-hmm, we could not service the entire automotive aftermarket. Yeah. Collaboration is so much more powerful than competition. Yeah. Yeah. Love that. So, um, Jimmy, I'll ask you because one of the designations to your name, and even, even if you're, if, if you're listening to this episode, you can watch this episode on YouTube at The Bearded Leader, and you'll even see at the bottom of Jimmy's screen, it says Jimmy Lee,, CSP, the institute. CSP stands for Certified Speaking Professional. And as far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, you are the only CSP in this industry.
And for those listening, anyone who's been to any training event, any conference, you probably know or at least heard Jimmy Lee. And if you didn't, if you didn't hear him, you saw him because he's typically wearing these amazing flashy jackets at these conferences. But Jimmy, talk to the audience about what it means to be a CSP and how you achieve that designation. Yeah, a CSP is a designation like becoming an Eagle Scout. I would not dare to equate this to becoming a SEAL in the Navy, a Navy SEAL. No, no, no way. But an Eagle Scout, I'll say it's a little bit harder than becoming an Eagle Scout because the amount of time it takes.
You've got a 10-year time period that you can do it in, and the quickest would be a 5-year time period. So within those 5 years, you have to have at least 250 presentations, and within those 5 years and that 250 presentations, you have to have made from your speaking at least $50,000 per year. Now, by the way, that is a moving target. Every year it changes. So what I'm telling you this year, it's going to change for you next year. They take submissions once a year. September 1st, submissions are open. It's open until January 10th. So you've got to build the ship, submit the entire packet, and hope and pray that it comes through correct.
So 250 speaking engagements over the course of 10 years. Yeah. Uh, and so we're looking at 25, at least 25 a year. And if we're breaking it down even more granularly if that's a word, slightly over 2 per month. Man, you're a busy man. Like, you are regularly jumping on stage and setting the stage at these conferences, which, by the way, you are amazing at. But yeah, keep going. I see you got something. Well, so my submission was 425. I did 425 within the last 10 years. And this is the speaking engagements that I could prove, because I didn't know about the National Speaking Association until a couple years ago.
And I was like, wait a second. I want in. I want, I can do this. I, this is a designation. I'm going to go after it. So I submitted last year, failed, failed on phase 3. Then I submitted again this year after getting a lot of feedback and a lot more recordings. I submitted again. A friend of mine submitted this year, uh, Christoph Merrell, 1,802, 1,802 presentations within the last 10 years. That's a lot of presentations. That is one every couple days. And he didn't pass. He failed at the same place I did, which was my video. So when you submit, you've got an option of sending in two 20-minute videos or two— or one 40-minute video.
Okay. So last year I failed because my video, you couldn't hear the audience very well. There wasn't the audience participation. You there was an audience view. So, the suggestions was, well, do a virtual meeting. And I had 52, 57 people in on a live presentation with R.O. Ryder. And we did this live presentation. It was really good, high engagement. It was really good. So, that was the video that I submitted this year. And it passed with flying colors. So, I'm super excited. One of 570 active CSPs in the world. That is incredible. 1 out of 570. 1 out of 570. By estimations, there's 18,000 public professional speakers in North America.
By all estimations, you can go to ChatGPT and search it the same way I did, 40,000 to 50,000 worldwide. The CSP is a worldwide designation. You do have to qualify in the United States according to the United States rules to to achieve it. And this year there are some international recipients. Of the 33 that are getting it, I think there's like 6 or 9 that are international— French, Germany, Bulgaria, uh, uh, India. So this is a designation that's pretty amazing and pretty elite. Brother, I applaud you for this designation. This is no easy task. I mean, this is— you, you just scratched the surface of how challenging it, it is to get the, the designation.
But man, um, I am, I'm proud of you. I'm excited for you. And that's, that's a, that's a massive achievement. So congratulations to that. Jimmy, I'll ask you, because, you know, this of course is a leadership podcast, and we know how important it is to effectively communicate as leaders, as people rather, for that matter. But, but speak to the audience, speak to the listener who is, is a leader in their shop, but they struggle with leading team meetings, or just the thought of public speaking absolutely terrifies them, which I'm sure you've heard this, but public speaking is, is a, is a greater fear for, for, uh, for, for more people than death actually is.
So, so there are more, there are more people who would rather be in the coffin at their own funeral than giving their eulogy at their funeral. Speak to the listener who's like, "Man, I struggle with public speaking. Where do I begin?" What advice would you give to that person? Oh, man. Okay. So, there's a lot to unwrap there. There's so many different avenues to talk about. Number 1, speaking is the most feared event over drowning and burning by fire. Yikes. So, people would rather drown or burn by fire than to speak publicly. So, to that, where can you start? Go to Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a great platform to get into.
Are you the best man at a wedding and you need to be able to toast in front of 200-300 people? You don't want to stammer. You don't want to get cottonmouth. You've got that good 7 to 8 minutes? Toastmasters champions at this. This is the level where you develop yourself. And you will be able to speak in front of a small group. The chapter here in St. George, we have 20, 25 people. There's 45 members, but on an average week, there might be 20 to 25 people that show up for the chapter meeting. Go to those meetings. Start there. When you are speaking about something that you're passionate about, it's easier for you to talk about it.
So, Josh, if I was to ask you to speak about underwater basket weaving, You may struggle to put together a 20-minute presentation about underwater basket weaving. Truth. You ask somebody who is passionate about underwater basket weaving, 20 minutes is just the start. So, if you're talking about your shop, your culture, your company, your business, if you're talking about those things that you are passionate about, it becomes easier. And as you're talking to your team, your family, your team, Share the vision. Where do you want to go? And there may be a problem there, Josh. They may not have a vision.
They may not know where they want to go. As a shop owner, what is your legacy? What do you want to be known for? What do you want to be remembered for? That becomes your passion. So, as you talk about this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to do it and this is where we're going to go. And today, we're here. At, I'm just gonna use a number, $600,000 a year. But next year, we wanna be at $1 million a year. And what does that look like? You know, we're gonna have to hire another technician. We're gonna have to install another lift. We're gonna have to hire another service advisor.
So I've got all of these milestones along the way that helps us to know that we're going in the right direction so that we can get to that million dollar a year. And once you get to that million dollar a year, now what's next? You do it over again. You do it over again. You make a new target, a new target for you to shoot for. And what if you were to double it and say, okay, next year we're gonna do $2 million, like this huge, audacious, big, hairy goal. The behemoth. $2 million. We're gonna go from 1 to 2. How do you get there? Chances are you're going to need somebody in your corner to help navigate that path for you.
Someone who's been there and done it before, someone who knows where the speed bumps are. When you think you've run into a mountain or a wall, chances are if you've got a coach, they solved that yesterday. They solved that on Tuesday. This is what you need to do. Da da da da da. All right. Solved. Let's move on. What's next? Yeah. So, you've got this goal of $2 million. What if you don't get it? What if you fall in at 1.8, 1.7? Look at what you accomplished. Yes, thank you. That is a huge increase, a huge increase. Applaud the victories. That is a victory. Did you get the goal? No, but let's set another goal.
Now that we know that 2 is only $200,000 out of reach or $300,000 out of reach, Well, what's that? A month or two? All right, let's revamp this baby and we're going 2.2 next year. That's so even you describing that analogy and that example, Jimmy, when I think about great speakers who I've listened to, and you fall in this category, by the way, when I think about great speakers who are clearly passionate about what they do, I've noticed that they're passionate. Passion turns into conviction. Like a great speaker, they have this conviction about them where they could tell me that the sky is green.
And because they are so convicted in what they're delivering, we believe them. It's like, "Yeah, I'm on board. You know, you are influencing me." I don't feel the weight of my leader's title. I feel the influence and the energy of their leadership. And when we can get in front of our team at a daily huddle or a team meeting or just having a good team lunch together, and someone delivers this passionate conviction-based speech or monologue, if you will. Yeah. How can you not get on board with someone like that? Yeah. Because they believe in what they are— they're striving for. And we will always find evidence in the things that we believe, which means if we are at a $600,000 shop and we're striving for $1 million, but someone on the team doesn't believe we're gonna hit that $1 million, we will find evidence that backs up that that limiting belief.
However, when we can identify the opposite and say, you know what? It's going to be tough. It's going to be challenging. It's going to be big, hairy, and audacious. I'm going to find evidence that supports why we can do it as well. Jimmy, I'll ask you. You've delivered, at this point, thousands of speeches or messages in your life. I'm going to put you on the spot. Is there one or two that stood out that stands out to you as This was the greatest keynote I've ever delivered. That's a really good question. I've got 3 that are my top favorites: teamwork, leadership, and resilience. Okay. Teamwork talks about going from the viewpoint of me to we, and it's the journey of the I's.
You go through this journey. There's 17 different I's that I've identified, but I'll just share with you a couple. First, you've got to inquire. You've got to find out and ask yourself while you're in this fetal position, rocking back and forth, how did I get myself here? Inquiring. You're asking questions of yourself. I need help. I need a team. I need more people. I can't do it all by myself. So second, you're going to gather information, as much information as you possibly can from the public library, from business classes, business courses, free videos, YouTube videos, gather as much information as you can about that subject, about that topic and about that interest so that you can now make an informed decision, because that takes you into action.
In action, you need to implement, and that'll be your fourth eye. In implementation, it's Sifas. You're pushing the stone up the hill. It's hard. You will require some inspiration along the way, and there's your fifth eye. Along the way, you need inspiration. Who's going to inspire you? Who's going to inspire you to take those next steps? Some people have it within themselves to cheerlead themselves. Others need a chief cheerleader. Others need a coach that says, hey, you can do this. You can do this. Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Yeah. Remember your vision. Remember where you're going. Remember the why.
Into leadership, don't leave anybody behind. There's a story about me being left behind on a high— on a mountaintop at Boy Scout camp. I was 11 years old, brand new Boy Scout. Share it. Come on, let's hear it. I, I was left on, on this mountaintop and the Scoutmasters, they, they all got down to the church and they're sending everybody home, backpacks and everything. Oh, whose backpack is this? Oh, it's Jimmy's. Where's Jimmy? I thought he was with you. I thought he was with you. Okay, man, the leadership has failed. They give the backpack to one of the Scoutmasters and says, nose goes, you lose.
You get to take this over to mom and dad and tell them that Jimmy was left on the mountain. Don't worry, they said to my mom, dad, don't worry. He's resourceful. It's Jimmy Lee. He's resourceful. He's a good kid. He's 11. He's, and, but that's what my dad said. He's like, yeah, but he's 11. So here I am up on this mountain and I, I, I'm at the closing ceremony. They tap out, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Hey, we're out of here. We didn't win the grand prize. We're not going to stay for the closing song. Camp's loaded, packs are loaded, let's go. So they took off and went home. I turned around to a vacant parking lot.
Hello, where'd y'all go? I run this camp, they're gone. I run to the parking lot, they're gone. Well, I better start walking home. So I'm on the road walking home, trucks are whizzing past me full of Scouts. I figured I might be one of those Scouts that, you know, you just want a knucklehead I might have been one of those kids, but yeah. Anyways, they all went whizzing past me and here I am almost to Boulder Highway in Las Vegas. I'm almost to Boulder Highway. I'm going to walk home. No, Blue Diamond, Blue Diamond Highway. And the last car pulls up. The two camp directors are in the car and they roll down the window.
Where are you going? Walking home. Why are you walking home? Well, my troop left me, so I got to get home. I'm going to walk the 28 miles across the desert to get home. I'm 11. Resilience. I figured this out. Yeah. So the scoutmaster drops it and says, good luck. You know, yeah, no, we're not going to go get him. And the next thing they know, they dropped to their knees and prayed. And the next thing is me walking through the front door saying, hey, I'm home, dusty, but I'm alive. Unbelievable. And they were just in total shock. Yeah. So as a leader, are you accountable? Do you take care of all your people?
Are you willing to leave somebody behind? If you do, are you going to go back? Are you going to make sure we all make it there together? I was a scoutmaster for 18 years, and I'll tell you, the first camp that I went on with those scouts where I was the, the, the person in charge, I did not sleep. I was so anxious. Are these kids going to wake up? Are they going to walk away? Are they going to sleepwalk? Is there going to be a big coyote come get them? A bear? We were in Death Valley. There's no coyotes. There's no bears. But I was still afraid. Yeah. Yeah. And the final one, talking about resilience, is your determination, your desire.
How committed are you to your goal? How committed are you to fulfill that promise that you've made? Mike Rowe likes to say, because his dad said, a promise made is a debt unpaid. Mm-hmm. A promise made is a debt unpaid. I was to speak in Alaska. And here I am leaving my house in St. George, Utah, 2:30 in the morning. Why so early? Well, it's a 6 AM flight out of Vegas. 2:30, I wake up. 3 o'clock, I leave. It is snowing. It's snowing a lot. It doesn't snow a lot in St. George, Utah. It's knuckle driving all the way to Vegas. It's a 2-hour drive normally. It was a 3-hour drive that day. Okay, bad decisions, Bad life choices.
It was a 3-hour day and white-knuckle the whole way there. I get there, we get on the plane. Nah, no worries, no issues. I finally think this is the first time I'm going to check my bag. So I check my bag, all I have is my backpack. I get on the plane, I fall asleep. Bam, I'm out. We're on the tarmac waiting in line for the de-icing liquid. It is actively snowing. Did you know there's two types of de-icing liquid? No, I didn't either. There's two types. One is for active snow. One is for standing snow. Okay. It was actively snowing in Las Vegas. Wow. They ran out of de-icer. Captain comes on and says, this flight's been canceled.
We're headed back to the gate. Good luck. Good, good luck. Good luck's what you say to somebody buys a Kia off Craigslist. This isn't good luck, get to Alaska. Yeah. So we're frantically, everybody on the plane is like, oh, find the next flight, find the next flight. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. They're all gone. Like seagulls on a French fry. They were, it was all gone. No flights. I get off the plane and I'm like, oh man, I have to get to Alaska. I'm speaking tomorrow morning at 8 AM. So I call, and this is the only time I've flown Alaskan Airlines. I've called Alaskan Airlines and I said, I don't care where you have to reroute me.
She's like, everything in Vegas is gone. I know, I know. I'm here. I'm here. So I run down, I get my bag. I said, I don't care where it is. Phoenix, Burbank, California, LAX, Ontario. Put me on a plane, get me to Alaska. I got to speak tomorrow morning. So she's like, type, type, type, type, type, type, type. I get to the point on the freeway. It's either left to Phoenix or I'm straight on to California. Where are we going, sister? Come on. Where are we going? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We're going to California. There's more options. Okay. Okay. California. Burbank, 5 o'clock.
Ontario, 3:30 or LAX at 1:30. Dude, it was like 9:45. It's a 4 hour and 45 minute drive from LA. Las Vegas to LAX. Mhm. That doesn't compute. There's not enough time. I said, book me, I will make it, I'll be there. Zoom, under the radar. By the way, LAX, have you ever been there? I, I have been to LAX, yes. Have you ever driven to LAX? No, nor do I plan on it. Experience, 7 parking lots, 9 terminals. Which one do you pick? There's a sign, Terminal 5. Okay, Alaska Airlines, Terminal 5. So I park, I run across, they're not there, they're in Terminal 6. So it's a half-mile hike across. Mm-hmm. Dress shoes.
I'm running as fast as I can, but I am determined. I am not going to miss this. I get to the gate. Hey, you made it just on time. Hey, go get in line. You're good. You're good to go. You're, you're Right on time. So here I am thinking we're on the plane. No, they put us on a bus. We go out to the very back of the airport. I mean, like, has this plane just been fixed, repaired, and we're the first flight? I'm not feeling so good about this. Yeah, we're going way out there. So we get out there, we load us up all on the plane. We're sitting there and the captain comes on. He says, hey, you know, this plane has new fittings and this water truck has old fittings.
It's not working quite right, but in only another 5 minutes, we should be full of potable water so we can go. Great. Half an hour later. By the way, my layover is an hour in Seattle. And then, okay, tick-tock, tick-tock. I'm feeling it go. I'm feeling it go. I'm feeling it go. 30 minutes later. Okay, we're full of water, but look out to your left. See those clouds? Big, huge storm. I mean, this was like The Mummy storm was blowing in. Are we going to make it? Are we going to make it? Hey, we got clearance. Where do we go? Foom, foom, foom. Plane takes off. I fall asleep mid, mid-lift. I awaken as we descend into Seattle.
Thank heavens the gate was just next door. Get on the plane. Okay. I arrive in Alaska 4.5 hours after I was supposed to. Mm-hmm. That's a 4.5-hour drive to LAX. Wow. But I made it. I made it. And the lesson learned there was control the things you can control. Yeah, that's so good. And give away those that you can't. You have no control over the weather. You have no control over Mother Nature. You have no control over flights. You have no control over the de-icing liquid that an airport stocks or doesn't stock.. But I was determined to make that presentation and make that speech and fulfill my promise.
And Jimmy, I'm sure you killed it. You know, determination, resiliency, the amount of mental real estate that the uncontrollables take in our mind that we allow to take over in our minds is, it's unfortunate. And this is where coaching like the Institute can offer this concept of shifting perspectives. We know that our thoughts dictate feelings. Our feelings dictate actions. Our actions dictate results. And many of us are not achieving the results we're destined to achieve because we simply don't know how to manage and control the thoughts that we're having, right? Yeah, I mean, you're pointing to your brain right now.
It's like, can we challenge these thoughts and question these thoughts? I wanna go back to, you know, we're talking about— first, thank you for sharing all this. Facts tell, stories sell. You are a great storyteller. If you're listening to this episode or watching this episode, Jimmy is clearly animated. Like, Jimmy is your guy for your next speaking event. Let me ask you, and I'm kind of putting the cart before the horse, but if you're listening to this episode thinking, "Hey, I'm looking for a keynote speaker. We have an event coming up in the next few months or next year. I want to at least jump on a discovery call with Jimmy."
How can our audience get in touch with you to do this? Oh, my cell phone. You can text me, 435-669-4940. My email, jimmy@wearetheinstitute.com. Excellent. Please reach out to Jimmy. I can assure you, you will get way more than your investment. So you're going to get an ROI on the investment with Jimmy as a speaker. But let's go back to determination and resilience. Those are great attributes every leader should possess to be an effective leader. If I were to ask you, Jimmy, what does leadership mean to you? How would you answer that question? That's a good question. And I've been thinking a lot about this.
You gave me a little bit of a warning a couple days ago to think about what leadership means to me. And with, with so many years in the Boy Scouts, that is a very strong foundation for me with the Scout Law, the Scout Oath, the Scout Motto. Leadership to me is service. It is becoming that servant leader where you don't work for me, I work for you. What can I do to help you do your job better? What obstacles are in your way that I can help remove those obstacles and make it easier for you to do your job? So, first of all, leadership is service. Leadership, second of all, is ownership, accountability.
Ronald Reagan was a phenomenal leader, and he stood up in front of the entire nation and said, "It was my fault." Was it his fault? Ultimately, yes, he's the president. But it was Colin Powell that made the mistake. Reagan owned it because at the end of the day, he is the leader. He is the CEO. And I saw this demonstrated very recently with Wayne Marshall, CEO of the Institute. He stood up and said to the entire company, guys, I made a mistake. That wasn't his mistake. But at the end of the day, it was his mistake. And the level of respect that you guys have for someone like Wayne to do that, that is— I mean, that's a leader I want to follow, right?
Yeah. And because I'm behind the scenes and I know what happened and I know where he's going and what he's doing, my level of respect for him is 10x what anybody else in this company is looking at and seeing. Yeah. Leadership is also going first. It's courage. Leadership is courage. Leadership is going first and trying out that uncertainty and pioneering and trailblazing, going where no other person has gone before. You know, Star Trek. Well, Jimmy, so I'm glad you shared this because we know why people don't often take action and really go that next step or that next leap because it is often rooted in fear.
I'm afraid. I'm afraid of success or failure. I'm afraid of not— making it. Speak to the listener who struggles with taking action because their, their, their, their beliefs are rooted in fear instead of faith. Oh, interesting. So I'll tell you from my own personal perspective, I failed as a business owner. I was not good at the paperwork. That is not my jam. That's not my, um, that's not my strength. My strength is in telling stories, in the presentation, in making the complex simple and easy to understand so that you can take action and do what you need to do. So, if fear is crippling you, get yourself a coach that will help guide you.
So good. You need an Obi-Wan Kenobi. You need a Yoda. You need a guide that's going to help take you there so that you understand the Force, so you understand the business, so you understand. And then from a position of strength, you're no longer afraid. You're empowered. So good. You're encouraged. A philosopher takes the simple and makes it complex. A communicator takes the complex and makes it simple. You are a great, effective communicator. I'll ask you, you alluded to the BHAG earlier, Big Hairy Audacious Goals. If I were to put you on the spot, Jimmy, and ask you, what is your next BHAG.
What would you say to that? I have some personal ones that I'm not gonna share. Okay. Professionally and publicly, I will share that we are gonna grow the Institute by another 100% next year and 100% the year after that. That's awesome. You guys are growing quick, and you just, you just shared that you've already grown it by 100% the previous year, correct? We did, we did, absolutely. So we, we've got the secret sauce, we've got the formula, we've got the recipe. It's just now churn and burn and continue to grow. We've got some really cool things going to start happening in August. Okay, can you share that?
So, uh, the cool things is, is in our reach, we're developing more, a bigger reach, a broader reach. Right now we're— I figure we're hitting maybe 10,000 to 11,000 shops of a 250,000 rooftop business. Yeah, yeah, there's so many. There's so many to be able to reach. And so we're barely scratching the surface where we are. So we're implementing some really, really neat, really cool tactics into our marketing that's going to reach even broader than what we're doing today. Jimmy, in terms of what's next for you, I know you're going to be at the ASTA Expo. Speak to the listener who is considering going to the Expo, which by the way is September 25th through the 27th in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Raleigh Convention Center this year.
What can the— what can I expect if I were to attend the ASTA Expo this year? Well, let me give you a little history of ASTA to tell you that they have doubled and doubled and doubled and doubled and doubled. They've outgrown facility, outgrown facility, outgrown facility, and this will be the first year at the convention center. They— it could house anywhere from 1,200 1,800 to 1,800 and 2,000, 2,000 people could come to this conference. By the way, that's a big conference in the automotive aftermarket. Yes, it is. That's a big conference for us to participate in. This is a conference where you could bring your entire shop.
Technicians, you have a tech that wants to learn about diesel? Great. Gas, gas engine, internal combustion engine? Not a problem. They want to learn about EVs? Not a problem. They want to learn about how to use their PicoScope better? Not a problem. We've got all of that at this ASTA conference. Advisors that need to be more confident selling on the phone, answering the phone, being more confident with giving an estimate, asking the customer to buy. These are the skills that an advisor needs. Managers, you need more humanistic, human-centric training, leadership training. How do you get somebody to do something that they don't want to do and it's their idea that they want to do it?
It's not manipulation, it's leadership. You're helping them to see the vision of why they need to do it. That's true. To owners, and owners need this same sort of leadership training. Manage yourself, time management, scaling the chaos, going from chaos to process and procedures. Are you writing down your process and procedures? By the way, you should, you need to, and save it as a Google Doc. It's a living document. Continue to add to it, add to it as the shop grows, as things grow, as people become bigger and the shop becomes better, you want these processes implemented because is there a better way to do it?
Okay, let's analyze it. Now we're going to put it as part of our process, as opposed to, I'm a tech, I came from another industry, I came from another shop. This is the way we did it and it's better than yours. Okay, but this is my shop and we do it this way. Let's analyze it to find out which one is better, and then we'll do it. And sometimes you find out this takes twice as long, we do have the better way. Or flip it, this is a better way, let's adopt it. And, and I'm noticing that even the verbiage that you're using, it's we, right? It's, it's a we before me mentality. You mentioned manipulation earlier, and, and I believe that manipulation is moving people for, for personal benefit, whereas motivation is moving people for mutual benefit.
And that's the we before me. That's the connection before the content. It's the abundance before the scarcity. My last question to you, Jimmy, is what is the greatest advice you've ever received from a coach or mentor? Man, greatest advice, greatest advice, greatest advice from a coach or a mentor. I'll also ask you this too. If, if you want to share what's the greatest advice you believe you could provide to the listener, you can answer that question instead. Well, so we can flip this both ways. Greatest advice I got from a coach, and I'm going all the way back into high school and college. When I was on the ballroom dance team and I was on the dance team and I was the drum major of the high school band, Gary Sassenberg and Alan Lewis and Mary Reif said, in your performance, reach the back row.
Hmm. So for you as a shop owner, let's translate this to you. What does this mean to you as a shop owner? Reach those that are unreachable. Reach those that don't have the same capacity or capabilities to do what you're doing. Reach the— spread the wings and reach as many people as you possibly can, all the way to the back row. So, what does that back row look like to you as a shop owner? You definitely need to know where your bread and butter is. Focus on that. Build that. Build it, build it, build it. You can't feed hungry mouths from empty shelves. You've got to fill the shelves. Now you can reach to the back row.
Love it. So good. This is actually my final question, 'cause I do wanna make sure that anyone listening who understands now the importance of hiring a coach, looking for the right coach, the right fit, how can our audience get in touch with the Institute? Come to the Institute, come to our website, wearetheinstitute.com. We have a channel on YouTube, we have a Facebook, Uh, we, we sponsor a few different podcasts in the industry. wearetheinstitute.com, click on book an appointment or book a demo or book a, a business analysis. That'll put you with one of my business associates that's going to sit down with you and talk about your shop and your business.
What is your process procedures? What is your average repair order? What is your door rate? What is your labor rate? What is your rent? What is your insurance? What are all your fixed costs? Labor costs. What we find is that most people in the industry are operating at about a 2 to 3% net profit. And very quickly, we help to turn those dials. It's a fine-tuning process that we fine-tune those dials. And now you go from, uh, oh, great example. Shop came to us. I, I'm not going to name them specifically, but if you ask me about it, I'd be happy to tell you who it is. This shop came to us and said, hey, look, man, I'm stuck at 7% net profit.
Big family business, 14 bays. I'm stuck at 7% net profit. I've been to other coaching companies and they tell me to raise my average repair order or to increase my car count. At the Institute, we come and meet you where you are. So he says to me, he says, if you are gonna talk about car count or average repair order, we'll just save a lot of time and say thank you very much, but no thank you. We'll still be friends, but I'm gonna part ways. And I was like, bro, we got you. We're going to meet you where you are. You need shop proficiency. You need shop efficiency. And he says, you're exactly right.
That's where I want my focus to go. His average repair order was $650. By focusing on his shop efficiency, what happens? Shop becomes more productive, more proficient. Average repair order goes up and car count goes up. Love it. Well, and that's a testament to how you guys, like, you're listening to the voice of your potential customer. In this case, it is your customer. Owner. That's so critical for the success. Within 9 months, he went from a 7% net profit, broke all records in his shop, 24— 23.9% net profit. Amazing. And then the next month broke that again. It was 24-point-something net profit.
Um, phenomenal shop. If you're listening and you're thinking, hey, I can use this kind of results in my shop, go to wearetheinstitute.com. Jimmy Lee, man, thank you so much for being here. This will not be your last time on the Limitless Leadership Podcast, my friend. Yeah, because we didn't even get to talk about developing others. We didn't even get to talk about integrity in leadership. But what— that's something to look forward to. Hey, guess what? So I'll, I'll be, uh, I'll be doing this podcast at the ASTA Expo. I'm gonna save you a spot. We're gonna do this live in person next time. Love it.
Let's do it. Cool. Awesome. And thank you for being here. As you know, every episode we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results. So thanks again, everyone. Don't forget to smile today. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I'm Josh Parnell reminding you to keep leading well.
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Ep 174: More Leads Won't Fix a Broken Sales Process with Christian Mosley
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Why Most Shop Owners Stay Stuck | Jimmy Lea - Ep 16
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Ep 97 - Tektonic 2026 Coaches Panel | Flat Rate, Technician Shortage, Performance Based Pay
Tekmetric opened my eyes to just how much a good SMS will do for a shop. Their software is top of the line, and with them, so is my shop. Try them for yourself HEREASTA is coming up September 24-26 in Raleigh. Be there or be square, dog! Register now and use code Confess25 for $25.00 off your registration. Sign up HEREMy marketing before and after signing up with Turnkey Marketing is pretty scary. In a good way. Get your marketing right today HERETired of your shop’s social media looking like every other repair shop on the internet? Stand out with 47 Consulting. Learn more HERE Make your techs happier with Detect Auto. They'll stop getting "check noise" or "check vibration" from advisors with the customer concern tool. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Book a demo HERESend your service advisor to hands down the BEST service advisor training in the industry (even other coaching companies agree). It's Elite Worldwide's Masters Program. The next one is happening in Dallas Texas, September 10-12. Learn more HEREThis episode was recorded at Tektonic 2026. Thank you to Tekmetric for allowing us to use this recording for an episode. Want to go to Tektonic 2027? Register HEREToday, Mike Allen leads a lively panel of coaches as they tackle some of the auto repair industry's most daunting topics. Things like flat rate and how compensation models impact recruitment, motivation, and shop culture. They also confront the persistent undervaluing of the industry, pointing out the urgent need for better marketing and self-regulation if auto repair is to attract the next generation. Plus, the coaches don’t hold back as they discuss private equity’s growing influence—offering straight talk on exit strategies, business legacy, and the real impact on teams left behind. Tekmetric opened my eyes to just how much a good SMS will do for a shop. Their software is top of the line, and with them, so is my shop. Try them for yourself HEREMy marketing before and after signing up with Turnkey Marketing is pretty scary. In a good way. Get your marketing right today HEREMake your techs happier with Detect Auto. They'll stop getting "check noise" or "check vibration" from advisors with the customer concern tool. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Book a demo HEREFor years I thought I could handle the hiring process on my own. But, after far too many bad hires, it was clear I needed help. Promotive came through for me with a rock star hire in just a few days and I couldn't be happier. Swallow your pride and bring in Promotive for that open position you have at your shop today. You can thank me later. Learn more HEREAI for Shop Owners: Open the Hood of the Future is happening June 12-13 at Carfix in Raleigh, NC. Use AI to your advantage! Register HERETimestamps:00:00 Why is the auto industry undervalued? The real story behind pay and standards01:06 Flat rate pay: Is it tradition, incentive, or what’s driving the “tech shortage”?02:44 Hourly vs. flat rate vs. blended: Can we finally pay techs what they’re worth?04:06 What performance-based pay REALLY looks like in the real world07:03 Is there even a tech shortage, or just a leadership and culture failure?09:09 Recruiting top techs: Why should someone work for YOUR shop?11:05 Employees want more than money—how culture and environment win12:33 Why we can’t afford to be “broke” shop owners (& why most of us are)13:28 Are we destroying our own value? Party clowns vs. techs and the marketing gap15:56 Leadership confession: We got into cars, NOT for people, and it’s catching up16:26 How to reach the next generation of automotive stars17:17 One shop’s youth welding program that sparks real careers18:06 Why trades like welding are beating automotive for young talent20:03 How do we market the industry and reach parents, not just students?23:39 Got Milk? Why we need a national campaign to sell the value of this business24:53 Raising your labor rate: Genius or a recipe for backlash if you don’t raise value28:28 What customers are REALLY paying for—and how service changes the game30:13 Making your shop irresistible: Clean, beautiful, equipped, and worth the price31:42 You don’t need to wait to raise value—start by fixing your shop now34:36 Relationships and trust: The foundation for customer and team loyalty36:24 The biggest profit leak no one talks about: productivity loss39:35 Private equity: Golden parachute or community killer for auto shops?41:54 What’s your exit plan? How to think years ahead (and why it matters)45:45 Should coaches own shops? The truth about what makes a great coach51:39 Leadership, engagement, and communication: The four pillars of high-performing teams55:54 AI, DVI, and service advisors: The NEXT revolution in customer experience58:04 Why hospitality always wins—technology tools are only part of the story
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.