AutoFix AdvisorCast

Michael Doherty [00:00:00]:
This is the Autofix Advisor Cast, powered by WorldPac. Hey, Service Advisor Nation. Thank you for tuning into another episode of the Autofix Advisor Cast with your host, Michael Dougherty. Hopefully everybody's doing well, everybody's staying healthy. And it's been warm weather here in North Carolina lately. Upper 80s somewhere in there, been hanging around there. But everybody's lawnmowers, man, I tell you, midnight, six in the morning, somebody's always out there cutting their lawn this time of year. So good gravy.

Michael Doherty [00:00:42]:
In any event, something that I came across that I wanted to talk about today that I thought was important and you know, I'll be honest, I just, I never had the steps or plan of action to be able to talk to these particular clients without just getting frustrated other than saying, hey, this, you know, I, I appreciate you telling me that, but here's what it's going to cost for us to check it out. If you'd like to make an appointment, I've got openings on this date at this time, or what works for you. And the call will usually end with, yeah, I'm going to keep calling around. And I could just never seem to really capture these types of clients because I think a lot of it was just, it was a pride thing with them and I didn't know how to handle that. And what I'm talking about is the clients. Well, they might not be clients yet, but secretly they want to be. They're sick of doing it themselves. It's the do it yourselfers.

Michael Doherty [00:01:44]:
And I know, you know what I mean, service advisors that are out there. So me growing up, I grew up with my dad in the garage at nights, on the weekends, doing the maintenance on all the family vehicles. And if my dad for some reason couldn't figure it out. Now, my dad came from a blue collar machining background. So he would, machining in terms of he would make things out of metal to fix machines and things of that nature. And you know, if he couldn't figure out how to do it, if he was stumped on doing something with one of the family vehicles, which wasn't too often the vehicle will go to Dave's, which was his friend's garage in the town that we lived in. And it was very, very seldom that my dad had something that he just didn't want to do, didn't have the time for, or just couldn't figure it out. But if that was one of the three cases, it would go to Dave's garage and Dave would help him.

Michael Doherty [00:02:47]:
But when I went to Pick up the vehicle with my dad. He'd always take me when I was younger. And no matter what happened, my dad would always leave with his pride still intact. Dave would never say, hey, man, I don't know why you couldn't figure this out. You know, what you did was wrong. You messed this up. I had to fix that. There was none of that.

Michael Doherty [00:03:09]:
It was just a handshake, exchange of cash and, you know, handwritten receipt and off we went. But in any event, again, how do we as service advisors talk to educate and want to get the do it yourselfers and convert them, convert them into clients, convert them into, why come to us? Stop working on the cars yourself. And I think a lot of this, you know, stems from people just grown up in a garage atmosphere or, you know, not really having the financial resources to bring their car to a shop. So, yeah, I mean, with, you know, thank you, YouTube. With YouTube around and, you know, people, you know, oh, I watched the video on YouTube. You know, it's going to take you guys 20 minutes to replace my starter under that intake manifold. I'm not paying that much. I'll just do it myself.

Michael Doherty [00:04:00]:
Okay, well, best of luck to you, sir. Thank you for your call. And probably a couple hours later or a day later, that same person will call back up and say, hey, I tried to replace my starter. I got the intake off and some bolts broke and I don't have the tools to extract it. You know, if I get it towed to you guys, it's in a non running condition. It's kind of halfway disassembled. How much are you going to charge me to work on the car? Right? Oh, and by the way, I've purchased all the parts and they're in the trunk. So, you know, I'm supplying the parts.

Michael Doherty [00:04:44]:
The labor is already halfway done. You know, and kind of you're, you're cringing over the phone, right? Like as a service advisor, right? I wouldn't say your eyes are rolling in the back of your head, but you're kind of like, man, okay, so that's extreme scenario, I think, you know, sometimes you get people that call up the do it yourselfers. Hey, you know, I'm in the middle of doing my breaks and the piston stuck. I don't have the tools. You know, if I just get it towed in, how much you guys gonna charge me, right? So again, you know, I mean, the fact that they're making a phone call to you already, you know, I hate to say it, admits defeat. You know, it's not something to laugh about. I mean, these, again, are people that are very prideful men or women that work on their cars, and God bless them, you know, I mean, it takes some grit to want to do that, especially in the atmosphere that they're doing it in. Most of the time it's in a parking lot because they don't have a garage.

Michael Doherty [00:05:38]:
It's, you know, with tools that are. I would consider subpar. You know, they just, they're. They're ornery, they're tired, they're just trying to save a couple bucks. So, again, it's extending value. Here's why you should be doing business with us, and here's how we can help you. But again, for the do it yourselfers, here's some notes that I wanted to kind of go over. Number one, for somebody calling up that's a do it yourselfer, I think it's very important to validate their knowledge and effort.

Michael Doherty [00:06:09]:
Right. It's actually crucial. So, I mean, the fastest way to shut down a do it yourselfer is to dismiss the research. Their research or their experience. Whether you think they have it or not is irrelevant. Again, you know, they're. They're likely going to tell you, you know, here's what the car is doing and here's what I've already done, and I'm just, I don't want to do this anymore. What are you guys going to charge me to bring it in? But, you know, say, hey, you know, again, to not dismiss or research our experience.

Michael Doherty [00:06:36]:
Right. Again, it's a pride thing with a lot of these people. So something to say would be, hey, you know, it sounds like you've done your homework on this. I can tell you spent some time trying to track this down. Always good to see someone that knows their way around a car. Right. It's a small shift from the dynamic. And, you know, that says, I know more than you do.

Michael Doherty [00:06:59]:
Right. As the shop. Right. And it's showing collaboration. Right. We're on the same page, we're on the same team. That's kind of where the mindset shift goes with that. So, again, when someone calls up, you know, and they're going through that painful cycle of, you know, you know, I did this or I did that, and I just can't figure it out.

Michael Doherty [00:07:17]:
Again, they're admitting defeat. The last thing you want to do is kind of just, you know, kick them while they're down. Not a good thing. So, again, just, you know, a little more upbeat, you know, hey, sounds like you know your way around the car. Sorry you couldn't figure that out. But yeah, hey, you know, we'll be happy to help you out. Here's what we can do, right? And you know, ask questions, ask questions about their findings. Again, it shows, you know, collaboration, right? You know, what led you to that conclusion? Why do you think the starter is bad? If it's a starter, you know, the car won't start or cranker won't start.

Michael Doherty [00:07:48]:
It, you know, have power but it won't start, whatever it is, you know, again, qualifying questions. But, you know, what led you to think about that or, you know, did you happen to test anything after, you know, replacing that part, if they replace the part, and again, finding that knowledge out too, you know, what have you, what have you done? And what I found out in the past is the best way to really get all that information. Because when they're calling you, they're frustrated because they couldn't figure it out, because they couldn't get it done on the cheap like they thought they could or they don't have the tools, you know, hey, here's my email, you know, it's michael.com. when we get off this phone call, before you have it towed in, please send me an email. Send me an email of your make, model, VIN number, approximate mileage, what have you done to it? What parts have you replaced? Really, what have you done to it? Send pictures too, if you, if you can. Right? And again, it's showing that you're, you're speaking their language, right? Showing, show them some empathy to a degree. You're trying to help them out, right? And it may work and it may not. Some people just want a price.

Michael Doherty [00:08:52]:
I just want to price. How much is it going to cost? I can't give you a price with a car that's in a non running, non starting condition. You've got halfway disassembled and also I'm not able to install your supplied parts and here's why, right? Everybody's got their policies on client supplied parts and I hope you're not installing them, but if you are, again, you know, it's not my call. It's your shop. But again, including them in the conversation, not just, yeah, it's going to cost this. Tow it in, we'll get to it when we get to it, right? There's, there's more to it. Again, collaboration. And this also makes them feel seen and heard and that you're not making them feel like they're foolish, right? Again, in the back of your mind that might be the case.

Michael Doherty [00:09:35]:
I hope not. But again, you're not saying that out loud, right? And explain your process, explain your process in terms that they're going to respect. You know, you can use technical language when you need to, but don't confuse them, right? The whole goal of this is to earn their trust and to get them to stop doing that type of stuff, right. So, you know, you can approach it with, you know, hey, again, you know, you're welcome to have it towed in. Do you need a tow truck number? Do you have aaa? How do you intend on getting it here? And before we go down that path, you know, I just gotta let you know, you know, we're gonna start with level one testing. It's gonna cost this or if it's an extreme scenario, whatever type of testing you need to do, Level two, level three, level four, whatever you think is appropriate. But again, you know, letting them know up front, being transparent, painting the picture, because it's going to come up, right? What's it going to cost me? You know, and letting them know that, you know, you're going to do what you can to help. But again, you know, you're helping them, right? You're helping one another.

Michael Doherty [00:10:42]:
Ultimately, you're trying to gain a customer, right? It's not all about the revenue. And I think especially with somebody like that, the do it yourselfer, if you can establish rapport with them, keep them updated during the process. You know, again, from the beginning, hit them with things that are respectful. You know, I, I think that's really cool that you try to do that yourself. It's not the first time we've had this happen with somebody before they had have it towed in. I'm sure you've had the experience with somebody with a starter under the intake manifold that they thought they could do it and it just got to that point they said, man, the heck with this, I don't want to do this anymore. This is, this is driving me nuts. Forget you.

Michael Doherty [00:11:20]:
YouTube for 20 minutes, right? Took me 20 minutes on YouTube. I don't think so. But again, right. And also too, you know, if it's a check engine light, if it's something where they're saying, hey, you know, I, I hooked up my OBD scanner, my OBD2 reader and you know, these are the codes, right? These are the codes. You know, I gave the codes to AutoZone. They told me I need an oxygen sensor and that didn't fix it. And, you know, I've put oxygen sensor on it. And again, find out, right? What type of part, right? Was it the right part? And what type of oxygen sensor? Right? Was it bank one, Was it bank two? Was it sensor one? Was it sensor two? I mean, you know, these are all things that you need to know going into the conversation, right? So again, the knowledge base of it, but again, you know, not putting them down, right? Letting them know, in a better terminology, that we are equipped with the right tools, right? Point out that your diagnostic process and equipment go beyond that of we'll call it consumer grade tools, right? We didn't buy our, we didn't buy our OBD2 reader from Amazon, right? We didn't buy our OB2 reader from, you know, Carquest Auto Parts.

Michael Doherty [00:12:28]:
And again, no disrespect to any of those places, but let's be realistic. You know, there are levels of tools, you know, improper tools. So, you know, again, letting them know in that conversation when you're mentioning to them what's going to cost to start the process, you know, letting them know, you know, yes, we have the knowledge, we have the tools, we're using factory tools or we're using this type of tool that goes deeper than, you know, generic codes. Sometimes those, you know, Carquest or, you know, Amazon OB2 readers, they might miss the manufacturer specific data, you know, things of that. So again, you're not seeing that they're wrong. You know, if they're saying I got generic codes, by all means tell them to put that in the email to you. Write them down what they were. Again, you're, they're taking note of what you're saying, right? It's showing that you're listening, get your listening ears on, right? But again, you're not saying they're wrong.

Michael Doherty [00:13:22]:
You're showing why you would approach it at the next level, right? So obviously what they did didn't work. And here's what's going to take to really dig into that, right? So again, you know, you're not saying they're wrong. However, if they are wrong, you know, don't bring that up. There's a way to bring it up in a polite manner but you know, you know, instead of saying, hey, you know, you know, yeah, you're wrong, you know, that's not going to work, you know, something a little bit better, right? Language is going to be a big part of that and again, it's going to keep their pride intact, their dignity intact. Again, I mentioned earlier, you know, my dad, you know, it was very, not often that he was stumped with something, but if he was, he would take the car to Dave's of town, Dave's Garage Dave's shop. And you know, he left with his dignity and his pride intact. Dave never said, hey, man, I don't know why you couldn't figure that out or you did this wrong. None of that, right? So again, it's, it's being inhuman, right? Especially with someone's a DIY person.

Michael Doherty [00:14:21]:
But, you know, the communication again, you know, instead of, you know, hey, you were wrong, you know, change it up to, you know, hey, your logic made sense on why you did it that way. But, you know, there is a deeper issue at hand. And here's what we found, right? Two totally different things, right? And again, you know, not in a condescending way, because again, you know, when we get the call, I'll be honest as a service advisor, hey, you know, here's what I did and it's not working. And you know, I'm trying to do this on the cheap and it didn't work out. And you know, holding back from, you know, saying you did it incorrectly or you're wrong and changing it to, you know, hey, your logic made sense in the manner that you approached it. But there's a deeper issue if that's the case, if that doesn't apply, you can still say something instead of saying you're wrong. Right? It goes a lot way. And also, you know, talking to somebody like that, the do it yourselfer, it's inviting them for future collaboration, right? Because if they're seeing that you're hearing them, if you're acknowledging that they're somewhat automotive savvy, if they've got tools, if they'd invested in tools to figure things out, but they couldn't figure it out again, building rapport, building that relationship.

Michael Doherty [00:15:34]:
And if they have a good experience with you, I think that's going to make them want to the next time something happens for their car, maybe just call you directly, hey, you know, might be six from six months from now, might be a year from now, might be two months from now, who the heck knows? But point being, it presents an opportunity to make a customer, right? And that's why we're doing this. We want customers coming back, we want repeat business. And especially getting someone to do it yourselfer to be a, a repeat customer. That's awesome, right? I, I think I'd have to put that on my goal list as a service adviser, right? You know, got them in, got it figured out. No insults, pride intact, you know, car works and they came back. I mean, that's, that's kind of a, just a, a winning situation, right? For you and the team. But again, in any event, you know, to them, if you can do that, you're now a resource. You're a resource, not a rival.

Michael Doherty [00:16:33]:
And I think that makes a big difference because a lot of the do it yourselfers, I think they've just been burned by shops in the past. And if you can give them a quality experience and not insult them at the same time, they're coming back, right? They're gonna feel comfortable to say, hey, you know, honey, you know, or their wife or the girlfriend, whatever. Hey, they're going to tell somebody a story. Trust, trust you, me. They're going to tell somebody the story of how you treated them and, and went the extra mile to make them feel again with their pride intact when they left, that they didn't make them feel like an idiot because they couldn't figure it out or what they did wasn't right. You know, again, just have that experience and, and they're going to tell people and you're going to get referrals from that, I guarantee it. I never had that experience, but I think if I had, that's the way I would do it. But again, you know, just trying to talk about the do it yourselfer and you know those calls that we get with, hey, you know, I saw this on YouTube, you know, I tried it, it wasn't 20 minutes.

Michael Doherty [00:17:36]:
My cars and pieces, you know, and again, it's not for everybody. You know, you might get somebody that calls and they've got an engine out of the car. I mean, that, that's an extreme situation. But again, check engine, lights, drivetrain stuff, brakes, suspension, right? You know, things that, you know, things that, you know, you can take on and help out with. You know, do it. Make, make a new client, you know, again, you know, let them see that you're a resource, not arrival. But again, thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Autofix Advisor Cast. This is your host, Michael Dougherty.

Michael Doherty [00:18:10]:
And until next time, keep those base full and I appreciate you so much. Thank you again. All right, have a good one. 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 [00:18:39]:
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 Advisor Cast.