Latest / Auto Collabs / Why Customers Don't Trust Mechanics (And How to Fix It) with Curtis Gardner

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Why Customers Don't Trust Mechanics (And How to Fix It) with Curtis Gardner · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  The only reason you two get those hats is 'cause you don't have heads the size of a bowling ball. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. [laughs] That's true. Yeah. You're jealous. They're actually different hats.
• 0:16
  Uh, have you tried the trucker one on? I have the flat brim one. I tried them all on. They don't work for me. It's really fr- Yeah, I, I mean, it, it could go both ways.
• 0:24
  I recently saw a photo of myself in which I ju- I knew it wasn't good perspective, 'cause we were standing on a hill and the photographer was shooting up a hill. [laughs] So with a, a, a quote-unquote- That's, oh...
• 0:35
  normal size head, I look like that character from Beetlejuice that, with the really, like- [laughs]... the really tiny head and big shoulders. [laughs] Oh, my gosh. Like the 3D perspective is all wrong.
• 0:47
  This is already getting sideways. It's getting- Yeah, it, it's probably appropriate that it's sideways, 'cause this is kind of out of the ordinary for us to talk to a technician on this show.
• 0:54
  Is this the first- I think-... technician we've ever had on? I think this is it. This is the first one. Oh, my- Thank you... gola. Oh, my gosh. Great.
• 1:01
  Curtis Gardner is joining us, brave enough to join us as a technician. Um, I don't even know how much he knows about this show, but he's about to find out. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna, we're gonna have a lot of fun.
• 1:12
  Hey, uh, we hope you enjoy this conversation with Curtis, uh, the first technician on Auto Collabs. [upbeat music] Curtis, what's going on today?
• 1:22
  It is so good to be with, like, kind of a fresh face to us and to our audience. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, absolutely. Thank y'all for having me so much.
• 1:29
  You know, uh, Kyle and I say this all the time, but fixed ops is so close to our hearts. And, you know, uh, the industry is, is very sales focused, very finance driven.
• 1:37
  But really, the fixed ops department is the heartbeat of the store, that day in and day out, regardless of what's going on with sales or offers or incentives, people are showing up, and they have issues that dealerships are solving for them.
• 1:50
  So, um, tell us, what got you into fixed ops in general? Uh, well, first of all, I'm a technician. So, uh, straight out of high school, went into being a technician.
• 1:58
  And I've just been riding that wave for the last 15 years. What... Did you, did you, like, tinker as a kid? Like, how did you high school technician? Tell us that story. Uh, I think Legos probably did it for me.
• 2:10
  Uh- Ah... I think a lot of technician- Oh, my kid's gonna be a technician. Yeah, done. [laughs] Yeah.
• 2:15
  Yeah, the Legos d- you know, they got me interested, and then obviously cars, and didn't really have a path after high school, and started doing some oil changes, and just decided that, uh, I wanted to move forward with being a, like, a technician, so that's- Where were you doing oil changes?
• 2:30
  Uh, I did oil changes at a quick car for about a year, and then one of the techs there went to, uh, a school, and then he suggested I go to it. So I went to the same school, uh, UTI, if you guys know about it.
• 2:45
  Yeah, yeah. Sure. And, uh, did that, and got in with a Toyota dealership for a few years, and then somehow ended up at Audi. Aha. What, what, what level did you get to in Toyota?
• 2:57
  Uh, I was master certified at Toyota as well. Just then. And then just one day decided I wanted a bigger challenge. Nice. Audi- [laughs]... Audi's a big challenge. The German manufacturing ain't no joke, that's for sure.
• 3:08
  So, um, you know, o- one of the things that we know about you, and we kinda, like, caught wind of you from some of the content that, that you've been creating online, and, you know, technician content is few and far between, so, so when people are making content and thinking about technicians, it's, it's, it's, uh, easier to find than most, I think.
• 3:26
  But, um, where... Like, where did the turn come for you in just, like, being focused on what you're doing individually and, and your decision to kinda, like, move and go, you know?
• 3:39
  And I think the broader industry needs to hear a different narrative around the technician path.
• 3:46
  Yeah, I think there's a ton of negativity in the, the space, and I've always been one to, to, uh, emit a bunch of positivity.
• 3:54
  And so when, uh, in my technician career in the shop, I realized that I can help people outside of just my own dealership, but all over the, uh, United States and the world about just being a technician, keeping a positive mindset, looking for the brighter side or the brighter things.
• 4:14
  Also, just how to be more efficient. Um, we could all use, you know, some time to be more efficient and do that.
• 4:24
  So the positivity and efficiency has always been a big thing for me, and I just knew it was time to get on social media. Social media's growing.
• 4:33
  Um, the video inspections allowed me to be a lot more comfortable in the space, so talking behind a camera, you know, as you guys know- So you got...
• 4:41
  So you, what, what you're basically saying is that the social media content and being comfortable with that started, or at least got, got a little bit of energy because at your store, video walk arounds became a thing.
• 4:53
  Yeah. Yeah, like the video- Right? Like, you had a start there, and the discomfort of, of that, that actually started to prep you for the social media side, is what you're saying.
• 5:00
  Absolutely, 'cause I've been doing social media for about a year, but then we've done video inspections for about two to three years. Let's talk- Yeah... about video inspections for a second.
• 5:10
  So, um, I think it's one of those things when dealerships do it well and service departments do it well, the results speak very clearly and very quickly, but there's a lot of hesitancy to get started.
• 5:22
  I know there's, like, a lot of technician hesitancy. I know there's a lot of fixed ops directors trying to say, "How do I get my people comfortable with doing a good walk, you know, video walk around?" Um, so how, how...
• 5:33
  What would your advice be to them? 'Cause you, you started from scratch where you, I'm sure you were hesitant in the beginning, right? Yeah. So tell us about that, like when your manager said, "Hey, get your phone out."
• 5:43
  [laughs] Yeah, I mean, definitely they gave us some, uh, like, iPods to vi- to record on, and that was very just not good quality, not good sound.
• 5:53
  And so eventually we were able to use our phones, and I definitely didn't wanna do it at first, uh, but did learn very quickly that customers love it.And it allows the opportunity for me to connect with the customer, which is important.
• 6:05
  Not a lot of technicians wanna connect with their customers, so I just started embracing it after a few months. I started noticing my approval ratings went up, my CSI scores were going up.
• 6:15
  So I was like, "Well, I just wanna focus on this," 'cause it's a new tool for us to use as technicians.
• 6:21
  Uh, it's not in our toolbox, but it's ourselves, and we can use it to communicate with people, and, uh, you have to embrace it. There was incentives along the way, and those kinda helped, but just seeing- Mm-hmm...
• 6:33
  my, honestly, honestly seeing my approval ratings go up and seeing my hours go up, that was a huge thing for me. It... Was that pretty immediate? Like, did you notice that right away?
• 6:40
  Like, week one, were you like, "Huh, everybody's kinda saying yes to all these, you know, upsells"? I w- I wouldn't say week one, uh, 'cause my, my video inspections were very rough at the beginning.
• 6:51
  [laughs] Yeah, 'cause they were terrible. They're like, "I want that diagnostic from my car right now" He was like, "Let me remind you, we shot them on iPods, not on iPhones. These were..."
• 6:58
  [laughs] For all the kids out there, you used to be able to shoot... There was a thing called an iPod, which is basically a phone without being able to call.
• 7:04
  [laughs] Yeah, I w- and they gave us gimbals and this whole thing, and, and they tried really hard to get us going. Uh, I invested in my own microphone. I invested in myself as far as my process goes, and just focused on
• 7:19
  how can my video be, inspection be better for the customer? And what can I learn from me? What do you think customers, what are the customers looking for in a video inspection? They wanna see their car. I mean,
• 7:29
  I, I, I... How many people out there haven't seen the underside of their car? Yeah. Yeah. How many people haven't- It's almost thrilling. It's like, "Whoa, I didn't know" That's mine. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
• 7:39
  And even if you're just showing them everything's good, which you usually start with the good stuff, and just show them the underside of their car is good, um, you talk about their, their oil change service, you talk about their warranty concern, you talk about why ever they're in there, and it feels a little bit more personalized and special to them.
• 7:57
  Yeah. Especially recently, I've started to show my face in the videos at the beginning, so it, it- Yeah.
• 8:03
  Puts more of a- Well, and I think, you know, as I'm thinking about this, you know, my dad when I was growing up, he had, like, his guy, right?
• 8:09
  The technician who's down the street, kind of like a, you know, like potentially shady, but really legit and loyal, uh, technician, like- But it's my guy, right... it's, it's- I know the- It's my guy, right? Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:21
  And I think that a lot of times, you know, the franchise world at least, can kinda feel like the technician's way over there, I never see them, I never understand- There's somebody in the back...
• 8:31
  what they're thinking, why they're thinking. Mm-hmm. Like, I don't have a guy.
• 8:33
  But this, this shortens the gap between, you know, like, you know, that's, that's just, they just fix it and then I get it back, and I don't really know what happens there in the back.
• 8:46
  Have you had people that have started to come back and tell the advisor, like, "I want Curtis to work on my car now"? Yeah, and, um, yeah, I've had that for a couple years now.
• 8:57
  I've actually had some customers show just a significant appreciation to meet their technician, to talk to their technician. Mm.
• 9:04
  They come back and ask for me, and as video inspections evolve, technicians are becoming the face of the dealership, because people are seeing their techs, their- Two, three times. Yeah. Wow.
• 9:15
  And they're, they're coming back to me or they're asking for me, which feels great to hear too, because I'm like, "Oh, that person wants to work with me and not the n- the guy next to me." Is that, is that starting...
• 9:26
  Has that caused problems, right? Like, people are willing to wait longer. It's almost like you have, like, a salon, and like, "No, no, no, no, no, that's my hairdresser." [laughs] "Right?
• 9:34
  It's my barber, and I have to wait three weeks to see my barber, but I can see another one, like, this week." Is that starting to happen?
• 9:41
  Uh, I haven't had it congested to that point, but luckily the dealership I'm at has, uh, loan cars, so we're u- they usually stay on top of keeping customers happy while they wait for their cars. Got it.
• 9:52
  So you mentioned- All right. No. Go ahead, yeah. So just, I have to ask, because some of the social media stuff that you're doing is, like, completely against the grain.
• 10:01
  I saw as, as, as I was, like, you know, getting ready to hang out with you, I saw you sitting inside the hood of a car. Where do you- [laughs] Indians-... these ideas?
• 10:12
  You go, like, criss-cross applesauce, doing the whole zen thing. Yeah, I saw that one too. [laughs] So unfortunately, I'm having to do a lot of my content out of my garage.
• 10:22
  Um, but my wife and I both drive Audis, uh, s- through the dealership, so- So it works out, yeah... so I'm able to film a good amount of content through, uh, you know, my garage. And so I was just able to kinda... It...
• 10:34
  Sometimes I have to use some creativity to get that going, but I was able to just relate to technicians, but then turn it into a positive sense, 'cause it's, it's so easy to get wrapped up in flat rate.
• 10:47
  It's so easy to get wrapped up in the negativity around dealerships, and I'm trying my best to be, you know, the, the light in the dark on the positivity around being a technician. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
• 10:58
  Okay, I wanna go back to something you said. Um, you were talking just about the, the self-leadership needed to, like, be motivated, to get in the right head space.
• 11:10
  You didn't say self-leadership, but I wrote down self-leadership, because I feel like the technician specifically, there is a very high necessity for self-leadership, because when you get a job, take the car back to your bay, right, whatever day you're having, whatever it may be, a difficult to diagnose issue, maybe a difficult customer, whatever, there's...
• 11:30
  It's kind of like a, like a track meet.
• 11:32
  You have your other people to lean on and ask questions to, but, like, when you get in that game, it's, like, you on the track, and you have to decide how you're gonna push, how you're gonna keep yourself going.
• 11:41
  You feel like self-leadership is a critical element to being a great service tech? Yeah. I mean, that or discipline. Um, being able to go back, work on the car, stay off your phone, focus on what you're doing. Mm.
• 11:54
  Uh, you have to push yourself sometimes, you know, when you've got three or four cars lined up, everyone's got a promised time, everyone needs their cars worked on or something looked at.
• 12:03
  I mean-You gotta dig deep sometimes to, to get yourself going if you're having a bad day or you've had a bad week, um, you know, 'cause work can pick up in a millisecond, so you just gotta...
• 12:14
  You said self-leadership is a great way to look at it, and I think the guys around me, uh, also f- focus on what I'm doing.
• 12:21
  So if I'm picking it up and g- moving forward, then they see that and like, "Whoa, I gotta do that, too." Well, you said dig deep. What does that mean for you? What is digging deep?
• 12:30
  How do you- Uh, I mean, just looking inside... give us a look inside. Give us a look under the hood. Yeah. [laughs] Well, uh, some, some days are very hard.
• 12:39
  Like, it's been very slow for us this year, and there'll be weeks where my hours will be down, and then one day I'll just have a bunch of work, and then it's like it's so easy to fall into that rut of being slow and being complacent.
• 12:53
  So sometimes, uh, I'll walk around the dealership or, uh, a song or some music that gets me going, and just gets me back on track 'cause those cars need to get fini- uh, fixed and worked on. Mm-hmm.
• 13:05
  You mentioned something, uh, kind of in, in our chats before about the fact that so much of the industry is talking about a technician shortage, but you feel like there's, like, a few easy ways to start tackling this, like, perceived shortage, both in training and developing people that are already in the industry, but also bringing people into the industry.
• 13:28
  Give us a bit of the thesis on, on where you see, like, the technician growth plan or career planning or even getting people young into, um, a job opportunity in auto tech.
• 13:41
  Um, how, uh, uh, after being in it for a long time and kind of, you know, almost stumbling into it out of high school, how, how do you perceive that, that shift happening so that we can not have to, like, continue to talk about a, quote unquote, technician shortage?
• 13:54
  Mm. Yeah, I think the technician shortage is, is a lot of perception, but for young techs, they usually start working on cars because they love cars. And they get started at a dealership.
• 14:08
  Um, it's easy to make a lot of money if you know what you're doing and you're good at what you're doing. Uh, keeping the training, uh, evolving 'cause cars are changing every year, but also challenging technicians.
• 14:20
  Um, 'cause when you get to be master certified, those classes go away.
• 14:24
  The training kind of fizzles out, and there's not a significant challenge to reach a master's level or to reach a certain amount of status at the dealership as a technician.
• 14:34
  So having a plan for young technicians to grow, uh, whether it's, you know, up through the management or up through the shop, and making that path very clear because when you do get to the top, it gets a lot harder to keep people engaged,
• 14:48
  myself included. I mean, you know, focusing on what I'm doing and challenging myself outside of what the dealership challenges me to do. Hmm. So what is...
• 14:59
  what are the things that you're looking at moving over the horizon and down the line? You, you have a passion for helping technicians. You have a passion for encouraging them, leading them, maybe best practices.
• 15:10
  What is your goal in the next 12 to 24 months? What would you like to be doing? Yeah, I think I want to be coaching technicians on how to be more efficient, how to keep a positive mindset. Uh, I do love working on cars.
• 15:22
  Uh, I just don't know if that's something that I wanna continue doing for the rest of my life 'cause it is very physically tolling, but helping people do what I do and stay positive and keep the right mindset, uh, how can they keep their process efficient,
• 15:38
  that's something that I- is really important to me.
• 15:41
  I would love to have my own shop at some point, but I think in the 24 months, realistically helping technicians just focus on themselves and not worry about all the negativity by the guys next to them or,
• 15:55
  or the, the dealership life, because there is a lot of that as well. Yeah. Any management aspirations? Um, eh. [laughs] Uh, maybe not- He said mentor, not manager. You're like, "Actually, that's a great manager."
• 16:10
  [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, I think there's, there's a problem, if I'm just being very, uh, honest, there's a...
• 16:16
  if, if you get to master level and you're flagging a certain amount of hours, uh, moving up to a management position can sometimes be a significant pay cut. Mm-hmm.
• 16:25
  And, and sometimes technicians are not exactly people people. They're not people people, if that makes sense. They're not well with people, uh, managing people.
• 16:34
  So not everyone's meant out or cut out to be a, a manager who manages other technicians, and whether- I mean, but, but if you're gonna own your own shop.
• 16:43
  Well, I think there's a difference between owning your own shop, managing a couple technicians, and then moving into a management position in an already established dealership where- Yeah...
• 16:53
  the dealership has its rules and regulations that it wants you to abide by. I see. I see where you're going. He's got the entrepreneur bug. He's got that entrepreneur- There's-... itch, yeah. Yeah, yeah...
• 17:01
  there's a better way to bu- build this mousetrap, yeah. [laughs] But tell, tell us about what does the ideal service shop... Like, what does the ideal shop look like? What's the experience? How is it run?
• 17:11
  I, I think bringing technicians to a s- a bigger light with customers.
• 17:15
  Uh, I think advisors play a significant role, but also including technicians in that customer experience with the videos, uh, bringing your technician up to speak with customers or bringing some, you know, safety reasons, not necessarily bringing the customer back to speak to the technician, but just a very honest approach, very trustworthy approach.
• 17:36
  I mean, technicians and mechanics get a very, very bad rep. I mean- Mm... industry needs to be turned around. We need to turn this around for technicians because
• 17:46
  people don't trust us, but we fix potentially the second most expensive thing in their life, is a car. Yeah. And- Mm-hmm... I wanna build that trust with customers for everyone.
• 17:58
  Yeah, I think that the technician, um, it's, it's mainly a lack of trust because of a lack of connection, right?
• 18:06
  When, when we don't have that connection, when we're not, w- when we're not able to see that person, you know, understand what makes them tick.
• 18:12
  You know, I talked to so many technicians that-The, their biggest fear is letting a car out of the service drive that isn't safe to drive, right? Mm.
• 18:22
  Like, "No, no, no, you need to get that done because if you don't get it done, it's not gonna be safe for your family," is a thing that I've heard so many technicians say.
• 18:31
  And, and it's not just about like, "Can I flag these hours?"
• 18:34
  It's like, "No, I don't want to let this thing off the lift until it's fixed so that it goes out right for you to take your family or get to, you know, back and forth to work."
• 18:44
  And I can hear that passion kind of in, like, in the back of your mind, um, and that's where that customer connection comes really into play. I wanna d- dial in on one last thing because I think it's, it's super cool.
• 18:56
  You've, you've, like, created a system for how to organize your tools even so that you can, so that you can be more efficient. Where did that come from? Like, why... You know.
• 19:06
  I- Most technicians are like, "Throw it in the thing," you know? Like, where did you, where did you g- where did you decide to come up with this, like, tool system?
• 19:14
  Uh, I've just designed it on my computer, it's 3D printed, and it was just something that I came up with. You know, I see all these pre-designed, uh, tool organization systems.
• 19:25
  I see all these, uh, big boxes that house the wrenches or house the sockets, and I just thought, "Why don't we have something that the technicians can use that fits exactly how they wanna use it?"
• 19:36
  With minimal space, they can fit more tools in one drawer, or, or they can just have it, I mean, as simple as the way it looks with the color 'cause it, you can choose whatever color you want. Mm-hmm.
• 19:47
  So it just allows technicians to customize their d- drawer space in a way that's efficient for them with minimizing clutter. So cool. That's so cool. That's a simple value prop right there.
• 19:56
  Super easy and, and totally changes, you know, makes you feel great as a person. Like, I've got my tools the way I want them to be with the colors, all that type of stuff.
• 20:04
  I know that technicians care a lot about their boxes. It's a big deal to- Oh, yeah. I love it... yeah, to get their boxes. Well, Curtis, uh, it has been a actual absolute pleasure. I'm, I'm excited about your passion.
• 20:13
  I can't wait to see, uh, your next video of you sitting inside the hood- Yeah... of, of, of a car, uh, with your zen moment.
• 20:20
  It's super fun, and I'm glad you're challenging, uh, the status quo of what being a technician looks like in our industry, [upbeat music] and thanks for joining us here on Auto Collabs. Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:29
  Thanks for giving me, uh, giving me the opportunity, and thanks for having me. [upbeat music] Can you say video inspections enough times in the industry for people to finally understand that it works? Look.
• 20:42
  [laughs] I, I, I don't know how many times I can tell an operator that
• 20:51
  all you gotta do is get your whole team doing video inspections, and your EOR goes up 40%, and your dollars per RO can go up, up s- like, 70 to 100%, and all it takes is, like, one simple process change.
• 21:07
  And Curtis has it nailed. And then, you know, he lops on, like, a little bit of personality and, and some social prowess, and he's off to the races. Yeah.
• 21:16
  That's Okay, but I mean, like, we gotta talk about that for a minute because as technology advances,
• 21:21
  as we get deeper into the AI of everything, and, you know, automated this and automated that, what you just said, Kyle, I think is, is such a powerful point because sooner or later, what we're gonna crave the most is the th- the things that we've actually been shouting from the rooftops all along, which is human connection, personality, soft skills, experience- Yep.
• 21:46
  Regardless of where you are in the business. Regardless of where you are. Doesn't matter. And in a very real way, technicians and the fixed, uh, operations being a very critical pivot point to all of that happening.
• 21:59
  Yeah. I think you just have to remember, like, people want to know their tech. They wanna know their technician, right?
• 22:06
  That's why we have all these side technicians, and, you know, "Your dad knew a guy," and all that type of stuff. And it's like, why don't you bring that right into the service lane?
• 22:16
  Like, now I get to know, I get a little bit of insight to who's working on my car back there.
• 22:21
  And, and I agree, it, it totally changes what that skill, what that, what that technician's role is within the company, what their value is, um, and, and gives them, like, an elevated career because they have a, a, a new skill- That's right...
• 22:37
  that they learned. And the speed to yes on the sale side is way faster. Oh, way faster. Way faster. Yep. Well, look, we hope you had a good time. Enjoying the first technician ever. Won't be the last on Auto Collabs.
• 22:48
  On behalf of Kyle Mountainseer, Michael Cirillo, and myself, thanks for listening.
• 22:51
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• 23:05
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 23:13
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.