AutoFix AdvisorCast

Michael Doherty [00:00:00]:
This is the autofix Advisor cast, powered by Worldpac. Hey, thank you for tuning into another episode of the autofix Advisor cast with your host, Michael Dougherty. And today I wanted to talk to service advisors out there about visionary and integrator and what that looks like kind of in your shop. You may be the visionary, you may be the integrator, you may be both. So some things I kind of wanted to go over and I made a little bit of a list that I'm kind of go down. So I guess first and foremost I hope everybody's doing great. I hope everybody's shops are busy and everybody's healthy and just want to mention that first and foremost, but you know, so let's get started here. So the visionary, right? So let's talk about the visionary that is usually the person in the shop that is going to be the shop owner.

Michael Doherty [00:01:00]:
The founder will consider that person the idea machine, right? This is the person that, you know, might wake up at 2am thinking about how to, you know, dominate the local market, open up a second location. Just has that kind of just, you know, their, their mind's on rapid fire. They're always thinking about implementing new ideas at the shop. Right? They're, they're. The visionary is typically very passionate, right. So they're, they're future focused. They see opportunity everywhere, but they don't always finish what they start. So a little bit of procrastination there and they shouldn't have to, right? I mean, because their true value is in sparking momentum.

Michael Doherty [00:01:41]:
You know, they, you know, they can ask big questions of us. Right? Service advisors, you know, what if we created a VIP experience for the customer? What if we partner with local businesses to cross promote. What if we switch to digital inspections instead of text updates? You know, I know most shops are doing DVIs, but again, you know, that's the visionary side of it, right? The expansion, seeing past, you know, the, the week, the weekly operation, the monthly operation. I mean typically the visionaries are thinking, you know, six months a year, two years out, you know, coming up with ideas, brainstorming, and from there it's really kind of, I would say a handoff, right? It's a handoff to the service advisors that I would say are kind of, you know, I'll be honest, the integrators, right? You know, how do we. Wire service advisors, integrators. Most of the time it's because, you know, we find a way to get that stuff done that the visionary is talking about. We look for ways to make it Happen on a daily basis, a consistent daily basis. But, you know, I think the integrator, again, as a service advisor, is going to be the person who hears all of what the visionary is telling them and calmly says, okay, cool, here's how we're going to do it, right? And even if they don't say that out loud, just kind of how are they trying to manage expectations from the visionary and not trying to crush the visionary's dreams by any means, but at the same time trying to make things reality, but also with, you know, being realistic.

Michael Doherty [00:03:13]:
So, you know, the integrator, again, service advisors, you know, we're setting timelines, we're aligning the team, we're holding people accountable. You know, it's kind of our position, right? We're kind of getting a quarterback position. We're looking to streamline processes, you know, lead meetings that don't suck, keep the team focused. You know, this is a role that ensures that, you know, the train leaves the station on time every time. And when you pair a visionary with a strong integrator, that's when you get shop magic. That's when things really start happening. So I think again, you know, collaboration, communication between your shop visionary and the integrator or integrators, again, service advisors just kind of, you know, trying to make stuff happen. So, you know, what does that look like? So I think as a service advisor, you know, you are already acting as an integrator without even realizing it.

Michael Doherty [00:04:11]:
And if you're the one who, you know, keeps the team on schedule, make sure parts are ordered and received, you know, customer communication, translating that into action in the shop, making things happen, you know, on the, on the timeline, on a text timeline, things of that nature, then, you know, I would consider that you are, you know, already wearing the integrator hat. But, you know, maybe you're the idea person too. Maybe you're the visionary. You can be both, but, you know, again, try and figure out which hat you are and wear it well. But I think there's key strengths in both. And, you know, how do we, you know, how do we not leverage that but, you know, talk with the shop owner? How do we. How do we balance those two things, right? The visionary and the integrator. So, you know, I think defining, if again, as a service advisor, are you a visionary or are you an integrator, or are you both? If you're the integrator, then.

Michael Doherty [00:05:11]:
Or, I'm sorry, if you're the visionary, then you know, who's helping me implement those big ideas, right? You got to find the integrator who's holding the team accountable for processes, things of that nature. And, you know, if you guys don't have. If your shop doesn't have an integrator type or leadership on your team, then, you know, that might be a good next hire, you know, finding somebody that can be an integrator. Because when you've got too many people, you know, kind of being a visionary again, you know, it's. It's building momentum, it's getting that spark, it's coming up with ideas. But there's got to be people to put those ideas and if they're realistic into action, and that's going to be important. So again, kind of define on your teams who's an integrator, who's a visionary. So just things of that nature.

Michael Doherty [00:05:57]:
I do feel that. Not really a bottom line, but I think it's good for shops that are built on vision and execution. Those are the ones that, again, that's where magic happens and just trying to really dive into that. You know, how do we, how do we come up with those situations where, you know, it's being respectful of everybody's ideas and then implementing them? But I think at the end of the day, you know, you got to have one good visionary, one or two good implementers, if you would, and kind of, you know, rock it, go from there. You know, one thing too, I also kind of wanted to talk about, and it's kind of a funny term, would be the term golden handcuffs. So what does that mean? Golden handcuffs, I think in our industry are. I think there's a delicate balance there. There's a delicate balance between golden handcuffs as leverage and golden handcuffs as loyalty.

Michael Doherty [00:07:07]:
Right? So when we're working at a shop, you know, I mean, who out there, service advisors, who is in that shop experience or who's had that shop experience where, you know, you're being just, It's. You're, you're. The pay is too good to leave, but at the same time, you know, the burnout, you know, the burnout may make you want to leave. And how do we balance that? Right? How do we, you know, kind of again, you know, if you felt that you're too well paid, but you're also, you know, to leave, but you're too burned out to stay. Right? And I think like in the corporate world, golden handcuffs is just, you know, all the things that they give you, you know, key to the executive bathroom, parking spot, you know, 28 days off a year, things of that nature, which a lot of that's, I think, hoopla. But in any event, you know, from a service advisor standpoint, what's that delicate balance? You know, are we looking just for pay or are we looking for future growth in that company? Are we staying just for the pay? Are we looking to be loyal? And, you know, how do we, how do we reward our top performers and reduce turnover? You know, I think there's, you know, tiered bonus systems, obviously. You know, I mean, I know technicians, when they get billable hours, if they get, if they reach certain brackets of billable hours, they get a tiered pace, tiered pay plan, things of that nature. I don't think it'd be a bad idea to include a service advisor on something like that, honestly, as it's tiered, right.

Michael Doherty [00:08:38]:
You know, if shop hours are there, you know, you got to figure it out with your manager or whoever's holding the financial strings. But again, you know, things of that nature, you know, retention bonuses, you know, if, if somebody, if you've got a new hire as a service advisor and they've been there for more than two years, right, I think that kind of means they're going to gel pretty good with the shop and they're going to make it, you know, they're, they're accepted by the shop, the co workers and they're doing their part, you know, having kind of a retention bonus after they've been there, you know, access to better tools and training. Right. We've got so many events that are sponsored by worldpac, getting more service advisors to those events, those classes, right. And yeah, I mean, I don't think the shop's going to fall apart if you send a service advisor to class or a couple days and, you know, someone can help out and fill that role. But it's, it's important to get out of the shop, it's important to go to classes, hear new things, learn new things, maybe reaffirm that the way you're doing it is the way it should be done from coaches and teachers and whatnot. So, you know, again, just, you know, I'm talking about the golden handcuffs, right? Is it loyalty? Is it leverage? I think for most places that have their hearts in it, especially shop owners, you know, it's loyalty, right? We're rewarding loyalty. Where, not only that, but, you know, we're there, there's, there's a, there's a, there's a place for us, the service advisors, you know, as time goes on, right, we get into management, we can possibly get into ownership.

Michael Doherty [00:10:15]:
I think it's definitely important to share financial information with the service advisors, right? Include them on that because just letting them know, you know, weekly what the goal is, monthly what the goal is. But just kind of seeing the breakdown, right? I mean, it shouldn't be a hidden thing, right? I mean, it's not, you know, hiding finances. It's so that they know what's going on at the shop. You know, why the labor rate is what the labor rate is? Because it's not always easy. When a client calls, you know, and you're saying, hey, you know, our shop rate is $150 an hour, it's $160 an hour, it's $170 an hour. And I know it's job price for a lot of places, but still you do get those phone calls of what's your shop labor rate? And, you know, being able to, you know, break that down a little bit more inside the service advisor's head of what goes into that labor rate, right? Building, rent, utilities, know, healthcare, loaded cost, right? Just like the technicians have loaded cost, you know, per hour, same thing up front, same thing with a building. So just a better sense of finances. Right.

Michael Doherty [00:11:16]:
And teaching us through the way of those things, I think will help service advisors want to not only do service, but, you know, grow with the company because you're, you're teaching them things. Owners are showing them things that most businesses don't. And again, it's not hiding the information, it's being transparent. Just like we're supposed to be transparent with customers, right? Be transparent with us. Show us things, learn. Let us learn new things. Let us grow or room for growth. I can't say that there was a time where I worked as a service advisor that I didn't feel that I didn't have room for growth.

Michael Doherty [00:11:51]:
But at the same time, I was kind of maxed out on what I was doing on a daily basis. There wasn't really a lot of extra time that I could build in to my day to learn new things now, especially with a lot of AI tools that are available, you know, that time, I think is now available to service advisors, you know, that are using AI tools to help better their job. You know, emails, things of that nature. Let AI help you, right? Those are tools that we need to submerse ourselves in and learn more about to help us be more efficient at our jobs. And it will free up time. It'll free up time for you to learn other things in the company, should management, you know, let you, etc. But again, you know, management don't hide things, right? Especially numbers. Because a service advisor, we're all about the numbers.

Michael Doherty [00:12:42]:
We have to be, you know, we're creating estimates, we're looking at labor times, we're looking at, you know, just a whole bunch of numbers. So it's kind of on par with what we do anyways. But again, you know, kind of talking about golden handcuffs, you know, is it, is it loyalty? Is it leverage? Curious on people's thoughts with that. It's kind of a funny word that I heard from a client a couple weeks ago that I was onboarding for some marketing services and he had used that phrase, the golden handcuffs. I'm like, what is that? Sounds kind of weird. And he started laughing, he told me about it and I was like, ah, it makes sense, you know, because I asked him, you know, hey, you know, what's one of the reasons that a new hire would want to hire or be on with you guys? Why would it, somebody want to interview with you guys? What, what, what do you guys offer? Right? And he said, we offer the golden handcuffs. I said, what is that? So, you know, 401k healthcare, paid vacation, four day work week. I mean, the four day, the four day work week, that sounds very enticing.

Michael Doherty [00:13:40]:
But again, you know, I got to keep in mind those are 10 hour work days versus 8 hour work days. But again, every shop's different. But again, from a service advisor's perspective, what do you guys think about that? The golden handcuffs? Is it loyalty? Is it leverage? I think if it's done the right way, it's loyalty. Right. But in any event, Service Advisor Nation, I really appreciate you, thank you for tuning into another episode of the Autofix Advisor cast. And again, just kind of recapping from today, you know, we're talking about, you know, the visionary and the integrator at your business, especially on the front end and trying to figure out, are you a little bit of both from a service advisor's perspective, are you one or the other? And you know, I think defining that is going to help you out more, you know, with your role every day in tracking toward that stuff. And also again, just, you know, kind of funny, but talking about the golden handcuffs. So I just want to see what your guys and Gail's take is on that.

Michael Doherty [00:14:39]:
So thank you for tuning in to another episode. Appreciate you guys and wish you a fantastic upcoming week and keep those bays full. Thank you so much. All right, appreciate you. All right, bye. Hey, thanks for listening to the Autofix Advisor cast. If you're ready to take your shop to the next level, check out our sponsor, WorldPAC and the WorldPAC Training Institute WTI big thanks to them for their sponsorship. Follow the podcast on social media for more insights and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Michael Doherty [00:15:12]:
Oh, and tell your friends we want to help the industry grow and help advisors love their jobs again. See you on the next Autofix advisorcast.