AutoFix AdvisorCast

Michael Doherty [00:00:11]:
Hey, welcome to another episode of the autofix Advisor cast with your host, Michael Dougherty and today's special guest, Chris Cotton of Autofix AutoShop Coaching. This episode is sponsored by WorldPac and the WorldPac Training Institute. Be sure to check out WorldPac.com for the latest in auto parts and distribution and also wtitraining.com to explore training programs that can take your career to the next level. Chris, good morning. Welcome. How you doing?

Chris Cotton [00:00:43]:
Hey, thanks, Michael, for having me. I just want to say thank you to WorldPac and the WorldPac Training Institute for allowing us to do this. A lot of time people are asking, gosh, Chris, you have enough stuff going on now. Why the heck a service advisor podcast? And honestly, I heard Michael on a podcast with Kim and Brian Walker on Shop Marketing Pros. I thought it was awesome. And I told my wife Kimberly, I'm like, hey, listen to this guy. And she listened to it for about nine minutes and was like, yeah, he's awesome. What do you want me to listen to? And I'm like, I think we should do something with this guy.

Chris Cotton [00:01:25]:
And so that led to a follow up with Brian, led to follow up with you, and now here we are. I think this is gonna be episode number nine. We're nine episodes in, right? So yeah. So again, why? Well, one thing is I, as far as I know, there's not a podcast kind of geared towards service advisors. I could be wrong, but I haven't seen or heard of it. Have. Do you know of one that's out there?

Michael Doherty [00:01:52]:
I do not. That's what I was told. I was told that there, there's some Service advisor coaches around. Not many, but there are. But as far as a podcast goes, it was new territory for me. And just, you know, talking with you and Brian, having that first podcast with Brian and Kim from Shop Marketing Pros, and then getting to be connected to you and meet you and talk with you and, and all those good things. And it was really kind of a dream come true. I'd never thought of helping people past where I worked as a service advisor.

Michael Doherty [00:02:24]:
And it's very exciting and I thank you for the opportunity. Continued opportunity, but hopefully we're helping service advisors and auto shops and getting some good information out there. But I'm definitely excited about all of it. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Chris Cotton [00:02:40]:
Yeah, no, I mean, this is, this has been a really cool opportunity. It happened really, really quick. Like most things do in the auto repair industry, you start shopping things around. And worldpack's like, yeah, we'd love to do that. And of course, they've split from advance, and now we hear from advance that they're closing 700 stores across the country. So that's kind of crazy, but really back to. Back to what it was. So you and I had a phone call or a zoom call, and we're like, what does this look like? And we have, as far as auto fix, auto shop coaching goes, a lot of people that reach out to us and be like, hey, do you have Service Advisor coaching? And I was always like, well, we can do that.

Chris Cotton [00:03:19]:
That's really not what we specialize in. And my take on Service Advisor coaching has always been that it's been fairly expensive, which, I mean, in order to get better, you know, you pay a coach, you have to pay for their time, but there's got to be an alternative to finding a better way to coach. And so, you know, kind of the way we talked it out and the timeline was, was let's start the podcast. Let's see what happens. Let's develop a plan, which we're in development now. We're doing the beta testing on, and then after we're done with the beta testing, we see what we need to fix, what we need to get rid of, and then we offer Service Advisor Coaching, hopefully at a fair, affordable rate to others in the industry. So that's. That's like my overall plan, and that's kind of like what we've talked about.

Chris Cotton [00:04:12]:
And so, you know, just with the weekly blitz with Chris Cotton, the best way to get out to everybody is to do a podcast and just start and go. So, you know, that's. That's kind of what we're doing and why we're doing it. I feel.

Michael Doherty [00:04:28]:
I very much think that is a solid plan and looking forward to getting more involved as things progress. Up until this episode, I've been doing solo episodes and have been trying to come up with good content, positive content, content that I feel that will be relatable to service advisors nationwide, whoever's listening. And, you know, you had asked me in the beginning, you'll think about what that looks like. Do you think about how you want to coach people, how you want to do Service Advisor Podcast? And I had mentioned to you that I felt that my superpower was going to be relatability. So in every episode, I try and really think of not just my experiences, but how can I be relatable to the people that are listening and help them along. And hopefully that's shown through in the episodes that I've done solo so far. And hopefully you're happy with the progress on that.

Chris Cotton [00:05:19]:
Yeah, no, I think it's, I think it's really good. Like, I think back to when I first started the podcast. Back then it was like a private thing just for shop owners that were already clients. Like, it wasn't. The way it was working is you couldn't just make a podcast public to everybody and be on Apple and Spotify and whatever. And they changed the rules about 30 episodes in and the producer's like, hey, do you want to make this a public thing? I'm like, sure, why not? And now, you know, we, when we talk marketing to shop owners, we talk about content, content, content. And all the content that we create on the podcast is going to live in perpetuity forever. But now it's also our biggest lead source.

Chris Cotton [00:06:01]:
Right? Like most people, they might go to the website, they might read a blog, but then they go out to the podcast and listen, they learn who we are and they're like, hey, I want to be. I really like you said, relatability, I relate to this person and I want to learn more about them, I want to hang out with them, I think they're cool, I think they have good things to say and then that's when they reach out and they inquire about coaching or whatever. So the other thing that I completely forgot to mention, it's because worldpac and the WTI training all of their lunch and learns that they're getting ready to come out with next year. The plan is for you to do some of the lunch and learns on their format probably in June or July. So everybody needs to look for those. We're also going to be at Vision teaching a Service Advisor class. Service Advisor A to Z. Michael and I are putting the finishing touches on that right now and we'll co teach that.

Chris Cotton [00:06:57]:
So hope to see everybody in sunny Kansas City in March. We'll see how that goes. Usually it's not too sunny for that. And then I'm going to be teaching. I'm actually going to be doing one presentation and two classes for autowares in Grand Rapids, Michigan in February. I think it's the February 8th and 9th. So on Friday I'll be doing like a, like a 50 minute session on service Advisor A to Z and then the next two. One on Saturday is going to be Lean Principles and then Goal setting.

Chris Cotton [00:07:28]:
So a lot of interesting stuff going on. And then of course we don't have to talk about it here. But I just bought another or just bought a shop, which I did want.

Michael Doherty [00:07:37]:
To, I did want to ask you about that. I wanted to ask you about that actually. And I guess starting, you know, and I never really asked you officially, but just kind of your, your origin story, how did auto Fix come about? You know, I never asked that. Was that something that you just kind of conceptualized or fell into? How did that come about?

Chris Cotton [00:07:57]:
I would say that I just fell into it. And so I'll go back a little bit. So we had our shops previously and I hired ATI to help me out and learn what I didn't know. I was in the ATI program for, gosh, I want to say four or five years and then really moved my business forward. And I think when I kind of went to be a full time coach, you know, I moved to Maryland for three months, learned a little bit more about the coaching process and how to do it. But when I, when I, when I went, our shop was number seven or eight out of all ATI shops in gross profit. I think we're 74 in gross profit. So I'll never forget the, the day they showed that to me and I was like, holy cow, we're a small shop, but we also did a lot of tires and we were still able to have a 74% gross profit.

Chris Cotton [00:08:55]:
So it was, you know, we did, we did a great job and did a great job with them. So anyway, I worked with ATI for a couple years and, and nothing like I don't want to, I don't want anybody to think I'm like bashing ATI or anything. But because they did great things for my business, they've done great things for me. Like, I wouldn't be where I am right now without them and without learning what I did. And you know, my coach was great. But it's a big corporate company, right? Like, I was there for two years. Corporate companies, to me, they just move at a glacial pace. And that's one thing I like about Auto Fix is like, we can do things like I'm the one that makes all the decisions, so if somebody needs something, then they can text me.

Chris Cotton [00:09:36]:
I make a decision, boom, we're done. Done and moving on. So I left ATI without a plan. I just knew that I didn't want to be there anymore. I was also working with 75 to 90 clients a week. And that's just a lot of time. And that's for me, I spend a lot of time like Thinking about my shops and how to make them better. Like, if I'm losing sleep at night, it's about one of my shops.

Chris Cotton [00:10:00]:
And that's just way too many to put on your shoulders and carry. And that's why now, you know, all of our coaches have less than 30 clients, and all of them are shop owners. And of course, now I'm a shop owner again. And so I left without a plan. And then a short time after that, a couple of my clients that had been with ati, their contract ended, whatever, they left and they reached out to me and they're like, hey, you know, we've been without coaching for a couple of months, but we loved coaching. We loved you. Would you consider doing this? And then so I always equate it. That's my godfather moment, where the guy's standing there and he goes, every time I try to get out, they pull me back in.

Chris Cotton [00:10:44]:
So I started coaching and was doing it part time, was doing some other stuff part time. And it was really hard getting it going in the beginning. Like, the hardest part is getting people to call you. And as Brian and Kim Walker say, no, like, and trust you. And know, there were times I don't know that Kimberly's going to listen to this, but she'll kill me if she. If she knows I said this. You know, I was working one job. I was coaching clients part time.

Chris Cotton [00:11:17]:
And, you know, I donated plasma on during the week to make sure we had grocery money just to. Just because we had all this stuff going. And so anybody that sits out there and says, oh, my gosh, you know, this person is just successful in everything they do is just magical. That's not the truth. Like, I've failed more times than I've. Than I've won, but I just always keep moving and keep moving up. Right. Like, so everybody has their struggle in the beginning, but you just gotta get past it and move forward.

Chris Cotton [00:11:46]:
And obviously now I don't have to donate plasma anymore to pay for the groceries. So that's good. So.

Michael Doherty [00:11:52]:
Wow. Wow. So basically kind of just focused on the lessons learned over a time period and just continued growth and just being positive and just punching through.

Chris Cotton [00:12:04]:
Yeah. And you know, the other thing is, is, like, we got to the point to where I could support the family with coaching. I was doing it on my own. I hired a couple other guys to help coach. That kind of flamed out, was terrible. And then when that was over, Kimberly's like, we're never hiring anybody to help you again. But I have some really, really great Shop owners that we work with. And I'm going to give a shout out to Coach Bre, Coach Mike, Coach Al.

Chris Cotton [00:12:33]:
They're all, you know, clients, current clients that own their own shops, very successful and they, they coach and they've been great. Auto fix wouldn't be where it is without them. But to back up, Kimberly and I were like, this is never going to happen. But you know, we still had people calling and saying, Chris, we want, you know, we want you or we want auto fix. And it just broke my heart to turn people away because while there are some, some other really great coaching companies out there and most people can help, there are some really stinkers out there too. And so I didn't want to let those people go back out into the pool and find just a stinker of a coach. And so we're still extremely small compared to the other people, but I think we do a great job.

Michael Doherty [00:13:19]:
Now it sounds like you've got a really stellar support system. And I know you keep mentioning your wife Kimberly and I think that's great because my wife has been supportive in my automotive ventures as well. And I'll call it trials and errors and just having that solid support system that you got it. We'll figure it out. I've been there with the, having the PB and J not plasma donation, but there's been some very tight times in my life and I've, you know, looked at her as kind of like, you know, and she's like, just keep going, we'll figure it out. And having somebody that's, you know, I would call it like a, like a ride or die, you know, partner is awesome. So I'm glad that you guys have that relationship with one another. That's, that's, that's super important.

Michael Doherty [00:14:02]:
And how did you, how did you and worldpac kind of connect? Where did that relationship grow from?

Chris Cotton [00:14:10]:
Actually, I was in California. I don't remember why I was in California, but I, I was at a business development group meeting. It wasn't a. Because Napa's known for their BDG meetings, but it wasn't hosted by Napa. It might have been hosted by World Pack. I don't know. This is in Los Angeles of all places. I consider myself a country mouse.

Chris Cotton [00:14:31]:
I like to go to the city, but I don't like to stay a long time. But at the time, to rewind back at the time our family was traveling full time in an RV and so we were staying in California and I had made I think like a one day trip down To Los, Los Angeles. And, and it must have been, it must have been World Pack somehow. I don't know how I got invited to it, but I spoke at this group of worldpac vendors and there was somebody there, his name starts with T. He doesn't work for worldpac anymore. I can't remember his name that saw or listened to me and heard me talking to other shop owners there. And he's like, man, we should really be doing something with you. And I'm like, okay, just let me know.

Chris Cotton [00:15:15]:
And then so he kind of threw my name a couple of levels up from me or you know, up from him in World Pack. And then so I started, I started in person training in 2019 right before COVID And so I, I was doing training for World Pack then. And then Covid happened. I think the last class I taught was in Sacramento, California. And then Covid happened. So we didn't do anything. And then we've, you know, we've kind of involved from there. I've done like an eight hour Blueprint for Success class for shop owners.

Chris Cotton [00:15:56]:
I taught at STX this last year, taught at STX two years before that. As far as I know, I'll be teaching at STX in 2026, which is going to be in Washington D.C. at the Gaylord property there. That's where they were going to do it the COVID year. And so they recycled it back in and my guess is you're probably going to be teaching a couple of things there, so we'll see.

Michael Doherty [00:16:21]:
No, that's, that's awesome.

Chris Cotton [00:16:23]:
Yeah. And then so this last time before stx, World Pack hired me to help organize and structure the training for the management side of stx. I don't help with any of the technical training, but the management classes, you know, they had almost 400 total classes this year. I think we had 83 or 85 management classes. And among those were like service advisor classes and things like that.

Michael Doherty [00:16:48]:
So to sum it up, I mean you, you really live, eat and breathe this business. I mean this is, this is, this isn't like a maybe I'll do it this day or maybe I'll think about, you know what I mean? This is, this is what you do, this is what you like to do. This is what you. Again, you live, eat and breathe this business.

Chris Cotton [00:17:05]:
Yeah, absolutely. And so people all the time. And the weird thing is now I've got a shop and I, you know, if you'd asked me, Chris, would you ever own a shop again? Four or five months ago, I'd have been like, no, that's not where. That's not, that's not where my heart and where my passion is. Because I love training others. I love helping others. I love helping shop owners. I love helping you get, you know, I know you've been in this industry forever, but kind of moving you along so that you can get out in front of the masses and share your expertise with everybody, I think that's huge as well.

Chris Cotton [00:17:42]:
And so I'd always said, no, like, I, like my passion is in helping others in this industry. But, you know, the shop we bought, number one, it was great. It was a great buy. We did it right. And I'm, I'm there less than seven hours a week, probably closer to five hours a week. And really what I'm doing at this point is I have a manager in place, I have a team in place. They're doing all the day to day, and I'm just coaching from the background that facility or that shop. So, yeah, that's, that's where we're at with all of that.

Michael Doherty [00:18:18]:
No, that's, that's awesome. Is that, is that. Did you. So when you took over the shop, if I, if I may say so, did you restructure everybody there? There's some people that used to work there that now work there with you, or is it just a fresh new squad of people?

Chris Cotton [00:18:31]:
Hang on just a second. Michael. Somebody. Somebody just tried to call me. When it did, it kicked my headphones out, so I didn't hear you. What did you say?

Michael Doherty [00:18:37]:
Oh, yeah, no worries. No, so I was asking, with the shop that you got now, is it the one in Durango?

Chris Cotton [00:18:44]:
Yeah.

Michael Doherty [00:18:45]:
Okay. So when you took that over and made it your own, were there people that were working there that are currently still working there, or do you just kind of do a refresh? All new people?

Chris Cotton [00:18:57]:
For the, for the most part, we have everybody still there. We had. All the technicians are still there. We hired a store manager to run it for us. We retained a service advisor, but that didn't work out. And then, you know, this is a struggle sometimes with service advisors. They, they, that person didn't work out. We hired a replacement.

Chris Cotton [00:19:19]:
That person didn't work out. And so we're on our third service advisor in the supporting service advisor role right now.

Michael Doherty [00:19:26]:
Really?

Chris Cotton [00:19:26]:
I think, I think Shane's going to, I think he's going to work out. But it, you know, the, the first time it was an issue with technology because they went from, you know, basically I ripped a band aid off and we switched to tech Metric, like day one and they were like handwriting schedules down and doing all this other stuff. So we did a, we did a bunch of technology upgrades really, really quickly and then, you know, kind of, kind of backed out of it and you know, we did, we made a lot of changes and they just, they just weren't up to the changes.

Michael Doherty [00:20:04]:
Gotcha. What about number two? What happened to number two?

Chris Cotton [00:20:06]:
Just out of curiosity, number two couldn't show up to work. Like, oh no, they couldn't be bothered to show up to work on time. They worked for a week and then missed a full week. And then like every other day it was like they couldn't be bothered to show up. So. And I think, I think they could have been really great in the industry. They were really, really young, but just couldn't be bothered to show up to work.

Michael Doherty [00:20:32]:
So I gotcha. I've had that running before with some coworkers where, you know, we would have staggered entry so I would be the opener and we'd have somebody that was a closer. So the shop would open at 8am and I would usually get there about 7 just to do night drops and check emails and pull owner cars around and check the lights outside to make sure that they're still working because it's still kind of nighttime hours or you know, the sunlight hasn't hit yet and things of that nature. And we would have another person stagger to come in at 9:00am and that person would show up at 9:05, 9, 10, somewhere in there. And as soon as they got there they're just discombobulated and trying to run around and it just doesn't work like that. So I have found that definitely in our industry there are, I guess I would call them controllable variables and uncontrollable variables. And you know, with, with co workers especially, it's, it's, it's a mixed bag.

Chris Cotton [00:21:29]:
Yeah. And you know, I tell people all the time. So I started writing service like 30, almost 34 years ago now. And the first job I had, I'll never Forget, I worked 7 to 7 Monday through Friday and 9 to 3 every Saturday. Like it wasn't, we didn't rotate, it wasn't every other. It was like. So those were the hours you worked and a lot of you guys and gals are going to fall out of your chairs. But I was making like $6 an hour was my base pay for that.

Chris Cotton [00:22:01]:
And so, you know, time and a half I was making, ooh, nine bucks an hour for all that extra overtime. I was Pulling in. But to go back to what you were saying earlier, you know, we hustled and I'm a pretty good problem solver. It seems to be lacking in people nowadays. Like, there's a, there's a lot of things that happen. And even when I'm auditing phone calls for my shop and looking at repair orders, I hear, you know, oh, I don't know how to do that. I don't know what to do. How do we do that? Let me get you the manager.

Chris Cotton [00:22:38]:
And one thing that I'm trying to coach is that everybody can make decisions to make the customers happy in the shop. You're empowered to make the decisions in the shop. Now, it may not be the way I would have done it. However, as long as the customer is taken care of first, then we can move on from there and figure out maybe a different way to coach you through that situation. But it, you know, one of the other things that I did is the shop I worked for, we sold tires. So I spent every spare minute of time learning the products, learning mileage warranties, what this tread design does. And it seems like it's really, really hard to get some people to do that nowadays, but it's, it's a work in progress. But I will also say the tire industry shifted.

Chris Cotton [00:23:26]:
Like, back then, you had to talk people through tires and teach them about those things. Now most people just walk in the door and be like, hey, I did four hours worth of research on the Internet and this is the exact thing that I want. So I will say, you know, as a, as an old dog in a younger industry at this point, or a younger leaning industry, you know, I've got to be willing to bend a little bit. But still, you know, knowledge is power, right?

Michael Doherty [00:23:56]:
Absolutely. And it's, it's, it was really interesting what you're just saying about. To me especially, it kind of hits home with some of the coworkers I've had in the past in service advisor roles where you had mentioned about, you know, they, they don't know or they're not willing to find the answer, or for a better lack of word, kind of like it's, it's not my problem.

Chris Cotton [00:24:17]:
Right.

Michael Doherty [00:24:18]:
And with the amount of resources that are available just in the building, and I'm not talking about, you know, Google and all that, but just, you know, the brain power between the technicians, the managers, the front end staff, everybody, we can find that answer, you know.

Chris Cotton [00:24:35]:
Right.

Michael Doherty [00:24:36]:
So. And I think some of that comes from maybe they had a, we're working in a Past place where they didn't have the confidence or like you said, the power to make the decision. And they're so used to saying, you know, to themselves, I don't know and I don't care or I don't know and I'm not, I'm not interested in finding out because it's not going to benefit me. But like said, the product knowledge part of it, knowing the products, knowing what's going on, being able to answer those questions intelligently and telling the customer, advising them that if you don't know, you'd be happy to do some research and find them the answer. Not just kind of saying, yeah, I don't know and turning them away. I mean, that's kind of a turn off. But I found especially in this role, service advisor role, that confidence, just self confidence plays a very vital role. It's a key factor in what you're doing.

Michael Doherty [00:25:26]:
And if you don't have that self confidence, if you don't believe in yourself, it's hard to believe in the products or services that you're advising to somebody, client guided sales to somebody else.

Chris Cotton [00:25:37]:
So, you know, I was sitting there thinking about while you were talking that, you know, you go back 33 years ago. This was before Google, right? Like we, like we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have Google, we didn't have any of that. And when I started in the industry, I went from somebody that doesn't on cars, doesn't know about cars, to going from leaving college, going to work. And the only way I was able to learn anything was to ask questions, listen to other people, listen to people on the phone. I think that's a big thing that people have. Like that's a lost art. Now we have, we can text you an estimate, we can text you an inspection, we can email it. And I think a lot of service advisors rely on that heavily.

Chris Cotton [00:26:27]:
And not so much the phone, which is fine. I get. People want to be communicated with in a certain way. However, if somebody sees your inspection and clicks on seven out of the 10 items, you know, you need to be able to call that person up and talk them through those other three items. Or say you're doing a timing belt, water pump and some things like that, and then you've got a coolant flush on there to go with it and they approve all of it with the coolant flush. You need to be able to get on there and explain to that customer, hey, this one really wasn't it. It's really not an option. If you, if you're doing the rest of that and explain those things to people.

Chris Cotton [00:27:08]:
And I think, I think that's a lost art that we all need to get back into being able to present and sell over the phone.

Michael Doherty [00:27:16]:
Absolutely. And I think a lot of people these days, they prefer the quick method on the client side, you know, the text approval, the email approval. But from the service advisor standpoint, and I had mentioned to you earlier, before I think we started the podcast about, you know, there's the communication part of it, but there's also the. Are they retain. Are they understanding the comprehension part? Are they understanding what your talking to them about the reasons behind why it's recommended and taking the time, you know, making that phone call and saying, hey, you know, do you have a moment? And if they do, going down the items with them and letting them know exactly what's going on with the vehicle so they can make the best decision. Because if they're just looking at the DVI and they're just checking off a couple things, they may not know the importance of some of our things that fall in line with that. And as you had mentioned about, you know, the timing belt service and secondary service as a coolant service and letting them know that those really go hand in hand. I've had a lot of people over the years that we quote, suspension work, bushings, strut, shocks, whatever, and then we have a separate line for an alignment and they hit the client on that.

Michael Doherty [00:28:26]:
And then I get on the phone and let them know that, hey, this, these really go hand in hand. We have to do them together and here's why. So it's, it's educating the client as well. And for the ones that we do the phone calls with, it's more of a. I find more people wanting to participate in your services and do work because you're taking the time to really go over it with them and they see that. And some people, they don't want to be called, they just want to check the boxes and roll on and you get those from here to there. But I really, like you said, it's a lost art. So just that connection that.

Michael Doherty [00:28:57]:
And you can't really convey the urgency or the why in the text and when they're clicking the boxes. So you know, hearing somebody's voice explaining, you know, and talking them through why it's important and they should really consider doing that job. Or I've had the flip side where somebody's wanted to do some service and maintenance and it's a couple hundred bucks. But that oil leak is more important and letting them know that, you know, let's really take that money that you're willing to spend on these other services and let's fix that issue first. That's a really important issue. So it doesn't affect other things going bad on your vehicle. And you know, had I have just gone, okay, cool, they want to do three or four maintenance jobs, let's do that. But I know they're, you know, they're not going to do the oil leak fix and, oh well, it's up to them.

Michael Doherty [00:29:42]:
It's their car notes. You're there. You're the professional. You're the professional. You're there to guide them. You're there to let them, you know, explain why it's important. And I have no problem telling people I treat everyone like it's my mom's car, like it's my sister's car. That's how I go into the mentality of talking to them about their vehicle.

Michael Doherty [00:30:00]:
Like, that's the importance to me so that they understand what I'm saying. That like, this is my mom's car. Mom, you would have needed tires yesterday. Mom ordered these bushings tomorrow, you know, two weeks ago. This is why. And when you start talking like that to people and it's genuine and they really see or hear the inflection in your voice, they kind of know you're serious. Like, this is really should be done. So the talking part is something that I do agree is lost and needs to get reconnected.

Chris Cotton [00:30:27]:
Well, the, you know, the big thing is, is you have to understand if you're just talking to somebody on the phone now, hopefully you've sent them an inspection with a picture on it so you can actually show them a picture. But when we're talking about selling over the phone, we're talking about how, what's your ability to paint a picture over the phone and explain to something, explain something to somebody in real world, day to day knowledge and not technical speak that you can explain something to. And I always tell people, you know, if you're trying to tell somebody why their steering wheel or their brake pedal vibrates when they break, then, you know, you go into explaining like, hey, have you ever thrown a Frisbee before? And they're like, yeah. And you're like, hey, when you throw it, does it always go straight and true every time? Or sometimes when you throw it, it goes through there and it's just wobbling like that. And they're like, oh, yeah, I do it most of the time. And it's wobbling like that. And it's like, well, because whatever happened to your rotors, your rotors are wobbling and it's causing, you know, it's causing this vibration through the rest of your vehicle and you're feeling in your pedal or the steering wheel. And so you have to figure out a way to equate that to something that people know and understand in everyday language and stay.

Chris Cotton [00:31:46]:
Instead of saying, hey, the tech, the technician miked your rotors. It's got a bunch of hotspots that we're not going to be able to turn out. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, I have ADD ADHD. If you don't tell me something in the first 15 seconds, you've lost me. And so most people don't understand any of that stuff. And so there's no need even talking to people about it, like, explain it in the best terms. Paint them a picture that they understand and then go forward.

Michael Doherty [00:32:17]:
Yeah, absolutely. I've had really good success with that. Breaking it down to something that they'll understand. Especially in the summertime with cabin filters, you know, people really just don't understand the importance of cabin filters or they've gone through a season and, you know, asking them, hey, the house that you live at or the apartment that you live at your residence, you know those shelters that you change out in your ceiling every couple months, it's the same thing, but for your car, you know, people kind of. And people kind of go, you know, you see or hear the light bulb go off, you know, with suspension. I've referred to people in the past, you know, like, you know, hold up your arm, picture your arm as a piece of aluminum, you know, your elbow at the ball joint, ball up your fist at the bushing, and try to explain to them about, you know, bushing being torn. So again, you know, as I'm describing this to them, I can tell that they're actually putting their, you know, putting their arm up and feeling that. So you're getting them involved.

Michael Doherty [00:33:05]:
They're. They're getting a sense of what you're talking about. So I think that's really important, conveying something that makes sense to them. Absolutely.

Chris Cotton [00:33:13]:
Right. Well, and fuel induction service be like, hey, have you ever had trouble breathing? Yes. Okay, so have you ever had a family member that's in the hospital and had to get a breathing treatment? Well, fuel induction service is a breathing treatment for your car. Like, it helps it breathe. Either, you know, you're. You're removing carbon, you're doing these other Things it helps get rid of the restrictions for the airflow, like you could go through. And this is a lot of time. What I talk with people like, you should go through all these services and have like a 20 second elevator pitch for what you're doing, why you're doing it.

Chris Cotton [00:33:50]:
And in common terms, same thing. If somebody calls up the shop and says, hey, I need a brake inspection, instead of saying, yeah, we do break inspections, we can get you in tomorrow at whatever I tell shop owners and service advisors, you need to have a 30 second speech about what you're going to do on that inspection, what the value is and why you're different from the other 17 shops that those people called and said, I need a brake inspection. Like, you can't, we can't just get on the phone and just puke out stuff at people. Like, instead of saying, yes, we do a brake inspection, then you need to say something like, absolutely, we can do that for you, what we do, or what's included in our brake inspection. So whenever you come in, we'll have you fill out the brake symptom sheet. We're going to give that sheet to the technician. The technician's then going to do a digital vehicle inspection along with the brake inspection. We're going to remove the tire and wheel assemblies, we're going to do run out, we're going to inspect the parking brake and the parking system.

Chris Cotton [00:34:49]:
We're also going to check the condition of your brake fluid. And then once we're done with that, we're going to give you an exact to the penny estimate on everything that's wrong with your vehicle. But we'll pay first attention to the things that you did on your brake symptom sheet and what those are. And so I just built a hell of a lot more value in what I was doing than somebody that said, yeah, we can do a brake inspection on Thursday. Because a lot of people think that you're just going to be like, yep, you need brakes and move on. They don't realize what all it takes. And you can do the same thing for an alignment, you can do the same thing for diagnostic testing, you can do the same thing for a cooling system pressure test. Like everything you do for that, you can, you can come up with that 30 second speech to be able to justify it over the phone on what you're going to do, why you're going to do it, how you're going to do it.

Michael Doherty [00:35:37]:
I really like what you just said about that, about the, about the building value part of it. And that is, that is something that's paramount, especially. And I totally agree. You know, one shop's break inspection is going to be vastly different from the other five or six shops. Break inspection. And this is why you have made the right choice, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, to come to our shop and do a service reservation.

Michael Doherty [00:35:59]:
Here's what we're going to do for you. I mean, I totally agree with that. I mean, you're, you're essentially, I mean, you're creating the opportunity, you know, I mean, the other shop is not, is likely not going to be as descriptive as you just were in mentioning what they're going to do for the money they're spending, for the value that they're getting. I mean, that's really important to convey. So I totally agree.

Chris Cotton [00:36:21]:
And so here's the caveat for that. Because when I was doing repair order audits and I listened to part of your episode the other day about service advisor audits, I go back through and look at every ticket that comes through the shop and I catch mistakes. Some of them are small. But the statement I just made about a brake inspection, the one thing you have to do is if you say you're going to do it, you have to do it like there's no, there's no selling it on the phone and then coming into the shop and not doing it. So during, during my repair order audits the other day, we did a brake inspection and we have this big paragraph on there. We talk about the brake inspection and then we talk about the rest of it. You know, this is what a DVI is. We're doing this as part of it.

Chris Cotton [00:37:08]:
We're going to look at everything on your car. We're going to share this inspection with you. And during my audit, we didn't do an inspection on that vehicle. Like, we didn't, we didn't take any pictures. We didn't write up anything else. And that. That's included in the brake inspection. Like, we charge a premium price for our brake inspection and we failed the customer on that.

Chris Cotton [00:37:29]:
So I had to have a talk with the technician about it, had to have a talk with the service advisor about it. Like, hey, if you put this out there and it comes back with nothing on it, you need to send it back out there.

Michael Doherty [00:37:38]:
Yeah, absolutely. That's interesting.

Chris Cotton [00:37:41]:
And then this particular customer, we did a brake inspection. There was nothing wrong. Like the brake, the brakes, the brake system was perfect. There were no issues with it. I forgot why she brought it in. But we failed the customer because we didn't do the rest of our job and what we said we were going to do. And that leads me into this statement. I hope that everybody's goal out there is to be the best auto repair shop in town.

Chris Cotton [00:38:05]:
And when I go back and talk to the service advisor and the technician, I don't yell at them and scream at them for not doing the job. My question to them is, if we're all trying to be the best auto repair shop in town, is this something that the best auto repair shop in town would do? And obviously the answer is no, because they, they would do what they said they were going to do and then go on from there. So if, if you're out there and you're listening or watching and your goal is to be the best repair shop in town, don't let the stuff slide by like that. Like you are not doing what the best repair shop in town would do.

Michael Doherty [00:38:42]:
I like that very much. I saw something the other day that actually pertains just to what you're talking about. And the quote was, the size of the group doesn't matter. The teamwork does.

Chris Cotton [00:38:55]:
Oh, nice.

Michael Doherty [00:38:56]:
And I think what that equates to and what you were just talking about is having accountability for one another, you know, as a team goal. You know, if it slides by the technician. But the service advisor knows it shouldn't have been like that. Like you said, go back and have the conversation. Hey, I need you to post these pics. This is how we do it. This is how we. This is how we.

Michael Doherty [00:39:15]:
This is, this is how we work as a team. You know, it's not a me or you. It's. It's a team effort, pass or fail. But that, again, that kind of stuck in my brain. The size of the group doesn't matter. The teamwork does. And having that team mentality, it'll, It'll.

Michael Doherty [00:39:28]:
It'll make or break the week.

Chris Cotton [00:39:30]:
Right. Well, and then two, like, it's one thing to hold everybody else accountable, but, you know, what do you do when nobody's watching? Like, you have to, you have to hold yourself accountable. Am. Am I being the best service advisor at the best repair shop in town? And if your answer is no on either one of those, then why not? Like, that's, that's the job you're being paid to do. That's the job you're trained to do, hopefully. Anyway, it's so easy.

Michael Doherty [00:39:58]:
It's so easy to. When nobody's looking to skip over something.

Chris Cotton [00:40:05]:
Right?

Michael Doherty [00:40:06]:
And I've never approached it like that. There's a. I call It So when I'm building an estimate for somebody or I'm making a service reservation for somebody and putting on the Google Calendar, I'm doing it to the best that I can so that if I'm not there that day or something happens to me that day, if I'm absent a team member is able to look at that Google Doc or that appointment reservation or the RO or the estimate, it makes sense to them and they can carry it through. But what I found is a lot of the building the estimates, that's the practice, right? So it's like, that's like a football team, you know. What you see on Sunday is the result of all the hard work, all the practices, the championship, the super bowl, whatever you want to call it, what you don't see usually is all the practices, all the blood, sweat and tears, all the work that goes before that victory. And we get to practice so much every day as service advisors to hone our own skills and again building those estimates. And yeah, there's canned jobs and things like that. I personally, I never liked canned jobs because I felt it was stripping me of knowledge, you know, to a degree.

Michael Doherty [00:41:21]:
And I have found that the computers or some of the software systems that we use don't always retain the can job information. So if your inventory is off with what it should be, you know, there might be a part missing. So again, really going into that and looking and making sure you've got the right stuff before you send it out to the client. But the practice part of it, I think that's what I thrive on is. And that's where I've built the product knowledge. And just the, you know, what you mentioned about when nobody's looking, are you doing the right thing? I mean, the answer there is yes, absolutely. And I think that's integrity, right?

Chris Cotton [00:41:57]:
I think I'm going to start trying to wind us down a little bit because I think we've given them a lot to think about and talk about. But if you. The one thing that I would want everybody to understand, if you'll notice, like, how I began My journey was 34 years ago. I started out as a service advisor with zero knowledge in the industry and now I've owned three repair shops. I had a long run as a service advisor, store manager before I became an owner. And then, you know, now the coaching. So if you're a service advisor out there, if you're willing to put in the work, the sky's the limit. Like if you want to own a shop in three to five years there's probably a path for that, but you need to learn everything there is to know about your business.

Chris Cotton [00:42:45]:
But it starts with knowing your service advisor job in and out and being able to do that. So that would be my advice for service advisors out there listening. I don't know how many shop owners we have listening at this point, but the other thing is, a shop owner, you should be willing to teach all your people how to replace you. Like, you know, you might have somebody that wants to buy your shop out in three to five years. Teach them. Teach them what an income statement is. Teach them why our margins have to be the way they do. Teach them how to teach others and coach and hold people accountable.

Chris Cotton [00:43:21]:
Because it starts at all levels.

Michael Doherty [00:43:23]:
I like that. I like that a lot. And I know you said winding it down, but I think when I did my podcast with Brian and Kim Walker from Sharp Marketing Pros, you know, they were asking me about, you know, things that I'd like to see different in the industry. And one of the things that I mentioned them was for shop owners, you know, if you're an owner, be an active owner. And if you're not able to be, designate somebody in the business to take care of the things that need to be taken care of on a daily basis. And if you're going to be there, you know, be a leader. Be a leader. I think there's been a real change in the way people work with or for people.

Michael Doherty [00:44:01]:
And the boss mentality is kind of dead, you know, especially in this industry. I mean, if, you know, be a leader, show, get in there with me. Show me what's going on. Show me how to do it. Show me that you're there. I mean, that's how you gain the loyalty, especially from co workers and clients and things like that is just being in the trenches and not just saying just do it, because I said do it, but showing, proving. I mean, that's really important. So the shift from boss to leader, and I think a lot of places these days are gravitating more toward, like the leadership part of it.

Michael Doherty [00:44:31]:
So that's just my take on it.

Chris Cotton [00:44:32]:
But no, I think that's a great. I think that's a great place to end it, you know, for. We obviously have these two podcasts. I'm actually working on the third podcast. For whatever reason. What's that going to be about? It's going to be about technology in auto repair. So it's going to be like shop management system, CRMs, marketing. We'll probably get into some technical stuff.

Chris Cotton [00:45:01]:
With like scan tools and things like that. So as far as I know, there's not a technology podcast out there specifically for auto repair shops. So we're going to start one and have it out hopefully at the beginning of the year. So we're still working on names and everything like that, but we're probably going to keep it simple. Something like the auto fix technology cast or something, I don't know. But that'll be out there soon. I hope everybody keeps listening to you and what you have to share with them. If you want to learn more about auto fix, you can go to autoshopcoaching.com obviously you can go to the YouTube channel, autofix auto shop coaching and see all of my podcasts, all of Michael's podcasts.

Chris Cotton [00:45:44]:
And then you can listen to all of us anywhere. You can do Apple, Spotify or anything like that. Or again, catch us on the WorldPAC Training Institute somewhere online or in person. And then for anybody that's part of the Autowares program, we'll see you guys in Grand Rapids in February.

Michael Doherty [00:46:02]:
Now that's. That's awesome, man. And Chris, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for listening to the podcast I did with Brian and Kim with Shop Auto Pros and connecting with Brian to want to get in touch with me. And you've been so humble and helpful and I hope I'm living up to what you wanted me to do and be. And I have so much more to learn and 2025 is just going to be amazing. I can already just feel it. Like the excitement is just.

Michael Doherty [00:46:29]:
I feel like every day is like. It's like Christmas, man. So, you know, and for those of you don't know, Chris recently had a birthday. I think he turned 30. I think he turned 36. Again, not even close.

Chris Cotton [00:46:40]:
Not double, not double the big five two.

Michael Doherty [00:46:45]:
But happy, happy belated birthday to you, Chris.

Chris Cotton [00:46:49]:
Thank you so much and thanks for having me. Michael, you're doing an awesome job. Just keep up the great work.

Michael Doherty [00:46:53]:
Appreciate it. Service Advisor Nation. Thank you so much for tuning in and hope you have a great week. Keep the base full and where it helps. So thank you so much. Have a great day. 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.

Michael Doherty [00:47:17]:
Big thanks to them for their sponsorship. Follow the podcast on social media for more insights and subscribe so you never miss an episode. 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.