Service Drive Live

Service Drive Live was a literal knowledge fest yesterday! Shawn Armorer, 😇🚐☎️ Wendy Reeves, Darryl Terrell Jr, Robert Charbeneau and T.C Coleman were just some of the folks who contributed absolute fire on the first few steps of the Service Drive Process! The appointment, the meet and greet and the walk around were torn down and reconstructed with actionable and specific steps for Monday morning implementation. DM Joe Chambers to get on the program next week when we tackle the middle steps of the most important process needed for the success of your #servicedepartment. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

The Appointment, Hello and Walk Around This week on Service Drive Live we are starting a series of shows based on the familiar, but overlooked and rarely utilized Service Drive Process. On Sunday, July 14th, the #SDLNation is starting at the beginning, focusing on the appointment, meet and greet, and the walk around. It takes a village as they say, but in this case it’s all hands on deck to make sure the service experience starts off well. Get on this call and help hammer out the processes used in the ultimate retention tool. We want to hear from you, we want you to contribute to the community. And most importantly, we want to learn from you all. DM Joe Chambers for a link to a true community that only cares about one thing…learning, listening and sharing. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

Watch Out Wednesday...from Service Drive Live! Join us on our journey over the next few weeks, exploring the Service Drive Process, all it's steps, and how each department affects the success of the customer journey. From techs to advisors to managers to variable to vendors...and even parts - they all play a role. #SDL is on Sunday mornings at 7:00am CST. there simply is no better place to hear from real people in real stores talking about real successes. DM Joe Chambers for a link for this Sunday's show! Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

Selling Maintenance The main purpose of a service department is to maintain our customer’s vehicles. Yet, it is the single biggest defection point in our business. We don’t do a good job, as an industry, of presenting, selling and performing maintenance repairs in a quick, efficient and friendly fashion. As a matter of fact, advisors run away from oil changes as if they were radioactive. In their minds, it’s just an oil change. It will hurt their ELR or HPRO. Maybe they believe that they can’t make any money off of it. Maybe it’s a pain because oil changes take too long to get through the shop. But oil changes are just one part of the maintenance defections points. Do managers work with their advisors to actually understand the maintenance schedule? Do they arm them with information about the value of doing maintenance at a franchised dealership? And are they making it a priority to get the maintenance jobs that aren’t 30k’s through the shop? If not, they are failing their employees and customers. If you ask an advisor or manager to mystery shop the competition, do they quickly reference the other Chevy or Honda store in the market? Or do they understand that there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of competitors within a 10 mile radius? Does the BDC understand the importance? Are they trained and educated on factory maintenance? Do they use the right terminology or are they calling service intervals “oil changes”? Are you transparent in your menus or are they littered with non-essentials but labeled as “required” and does you BDC know how to schedule them? Join us on Service Drive Live this Sunday, July 7th, at 7:00am CST as we talk maintenance - the sale and education of this crucial service to our customers and employees. Share your best practices, thoughts and yes, even failures, on the show where real people talk about real solutions. Text or DM Joe Chambers for a link to the show and start your week off with a win. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

Watchout Wednesday…from Service Drive Live!! As you all recover from CDK, let’s get a little basic and talk about maintenance and commodity sales this weekend on #SDL. How? Are you two hbv you r team? What’s the presentation for maintenance? What’s the advantage of non-factory recommended? Is there one? Advisors, coaches and trainers - need you on this one. DM Joe Chambers for a link to the show this Sunday, July 7th! For now, enjoy the 4th of July! Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

Welcome to the Show...on Service Drive Live! We got into the successes of proactive dealerships during the ongoing CDK crisis yesterday on Service Drive Live! It was inspiring to see the normally very competitive industry set aside the norms and truly help out, contributing to the cause instead of a pitch. Those who were part of solution will be sought after. Those who just complained about the woes in their lives will be forgotten. Contact Joe Chambers for more info and a link to next weeks show. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

Let’s talk… CDK Global - I’m inviting you to a small little show on Sunday morning, Service Drive Live I believe you have had a lousy hand dealt to you - overall. Not saying mistakes weren’t made, but let’s talk about the impact on the individuals. Let’s talk about #fixedops and the impact. Let’s go…let’s talk. Service Drive Live this Sunday @ 7:00am CST. DM Joe Chambers for an invite. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.

When Disaster Strikes The CDK crisis is a pivotable, but unique, moment in our industry. We have come to grinding halts before, with events such as 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2008. People have suffered through disastrous destruction due to severe weather events, like Katrina and Ian. And everyone has experienced some sort of power outage, some which lasted days, knocking out dealership systems. But this was different. There were no tragedies, economic or otherwise on the horizon followed by a sudden snap of infrastructure. The sun was shining, traffic had been good and the summer season was in full swing. People were going to work as if it were another day. And then it wasn’t. I won’t get into the specifics of the attack, those that are public anyhow, but the simple fact is that dealerships were shut down. Information about the reason for the downed systems was non-existent and when available, it was merely a trickle. Service. Sales. Parts. HR and yes, payroll. All shut down. Inconvenience soon turned into panic and then morphed into anger. Some dealerships went so far as to temporarily close their doors. Others stopped taking appointments, paralyzed by the loss of data.  Still others took rash initiative and made moves that they didn’t think through only to scramble days later to figure out where their cars or parts were. It was – actually, is - a mess. But some people did it right. Some people came together quickly and recognized the need for a plan. Different facets of the business pulled together to assist. Spreadsheets were shared, plans were laid out and records were being kept manually. Stores continued to write service. Showrooms spotted cars, some of them breaking records for single day sales. Many stores paid their commissioned people on past averages. It got figured out. It wasn’t easy, and still isn’t. The catch-up work will be exhausting and brutal, but it will be done because people acted quickly with intention. It makes you think – what’s your plan for the next time? Will you wallow in indecision, or will you move business forward? This week on Service Drive Live, Sunday, June 30th at 7:00am CST, we will be talking with people that made a difference in their stores. Leaders that put plans together and adapted quickly. They will share tips with all of us on how to prepare for the next time – and there will be a next time. Do you have a plan? Get on the show and listen to warriors like Lamont Harris, Ray Hernandez and others for survival tips. DM #SDL host Joe Chambers for a link – Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But be ready either way. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.      

Watch Out Wednesday…from Service Drive Live!!! The DMS is down, what do you do? It’s happening now, as everyone is aware. But some stores are closing their doors, severely limiting appointments or not taking anything in higher than and oil change. And that’s just on the Fixed side. What to do? Get on the call this Sunday and find out what some proactive people have been doing - because it will happen again. Ray Hernandez, 🔧 Brad Paschal ⚙️ and Lamont Harris are some of the folks who have been driving business forward through this mess and they will be talking on #SDL! DM Joe Chambers for a link to the show this Sunday, June 30th at 7:00am CST. Get better. Get real. Get on #SDL.

Another great Sunday on Service Drive Live! DM Joe Chambers for the link to next week's show. Get Better. Get Real. Get on #SDL.