Latest / Downshift With Tonnika / How Failure Can Lead to Huge Success | Josh Oberlander - Ep 18

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How Failure Can Lead to Huge Success | Josh Oberlander - Ep 18 · Downshift With Tonnika

• Tonnika Haynes [00:00:00]: And not only will these books help you in your business, it helps you in your life, period. If you're in business, your business is your life. I know it sounds harsh, but, Josh, your business is your life. It's your lifeline. It's what you do every day to make sure that you can live the life that you want to. Josh Oberlander [00:00:13]: Welcome to Downshift with Tanika Haynes, the automotive auntie. The thing about Tanika, she gets to know you. She'll laugh and cut up with you, but then she'll hit you with some knowledge that you may not want, but that you need. Tonnika Haynes [00:00:27]: Let's downshift. Eggs and Bakey. Josh Oberlander [00:00:36]: It's 11. It's 11am for me. Tonnika Haynes [00:00:39]: Okay, so it's 12. That's not that bad. Josh Oberlander [00:00:42]: Yeah. You're east coast, right? Tonnika Haynes [00:00:43]: Yeah, it's 12. I've had my tea. I've gone out and talked to the birds. They talked back. Josh Oberlander [00:00:48]: What time do you normally wake up? Tonnika Haynes [00:00:50]: I wake up at no o' clock in the morning. Yeah, three and four. Josh Oberlander [00:00:55]: Okay. I was going to say movies at Tonnika Haynes [00:00:58]: that time or Dateline. Ash Kaplan [00:01:01]: I know, like my day is halfway over. Josh Oberlander [00:01:05]: I'm at the. I'm not. I'm that old. I'm about to turn 31. But I. I am the 8:30pm Bedtime. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:13]: Oh, that's me too. It's the best. Ash Kaplan [00:01:15]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:16]: Just let me get in my bed and my heated blanket and my remote control and a bottle of water. There's nothing wrong with that. You work hard. 31. Ash, how old are you? If you don't mind? Ash Kaplan [00:01:28]: 27. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:29]: 27. Look at all the babies. Yeah, so it's great. So, Josh, tell all the people who you are. For people that live under a rock and don't know who you are, you gotta introduce yourself. Josh Oberlander [00:01:44]: Yeah, yeah. My name is Josh Oberlander. I'm a co founder of Detect Auto and Detect Auto is a software company that helps auto shops become more efficient. Look at that. Let's go. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:58]: It made my head look very small. Josh Oberlander [00:02:01]: Just got a lot of brain up there. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:03]: Yes. Josh Oberlander [00:02:04]: So, yeah, we started probably about a year and a half ago, almost going up on two on this current product line we're doing. And we really help shops sell more maintenance. That's a key product of ours. And we're also launching a new one next week. So I might spill the beans here on this podcast and go into that a little bit with you guys. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:24]: Okay. Beans being spilled. So this is the crazy. Did you have any experience in the industry before that, before you started? Josh Oberlander [00:02:38]: Not really. Kind of Built learned the hard way. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:41]: So Josh Oberlander [00:02:43]: you want an in depth background or you want the short and sweet story? Tonnika Haynes [00:02:46]: Well, I mean, you're 31, you came into an industry, um, and you came in with some AI stuff to a bunch of old grumpy people, like, how did you even think that this looks like something I should do and bring it to the automotive industry? Josh Oberlander [00:03:00]: Whatever sparked that, yeah, I would say wasn't like I popped out of bed one day and it's like I need to build like AI tools for auto shops. Like that is. It's been a trial and error and failure after failure to get here. So I said we've been doing this business for a year and a half, but in reality we've been doing it for almost four years now and just have had two failed businesses prior to that where we built different tools and they didn't work. And we adapted and we adjusted and we learned more, especially in this industry. So like my first company right out of college pretty much was a tree servicing company. This has taken me a little. I was 24 and I was climbing trees. Josh Oberlander [00:03:51]: I was 50ft high in a tree, slinging a chainsaw around. And then kind of similar to like a technician who is highly skilled and then wants to start his own company. Started my own business doing that and quickly learned that just because you're skilled, that running a business is a different animal. Right. So accounting, looking at numbers, I thought, you know, all that stuff so important, but kind of had to learn it along the way. So basically I, I ran that business for a couple of years, was doing really well in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And the hard part with it was it was seasonal. Like, it was like, I'm not, Don't catch me in a tree, you know, 30ft again in the air when it's negative 20 out and my hands aren't working properly. Josh Oberlander [00:04:44]: So I started working with my two co founders now, John and Nate. And these two are some, some brainiacs. I know you guys have met John. I leave, I live with Nate. Actually I leave him chained to his desk so that he continues to work. But I connected with them one winter and these are like two valedictorians of school. Like, they are just insanely smart. And we went through a couple business iterations. Josh Oberlander [00:05:16]: Nate had a really cool idea where he had built this person tracking fan. It was a pedestal fan that would point you wherever you walked and would constantly be blowing air on you. Okay, and long story short with that, basically one of the target audiences was auto shops. They, or at least I thought so you know, me selling this thing is like who wants to buy this? And it was, you know, a technique. Tonnika Haynes [00:05:51]: Yes. Josh Oberlander [00:05:52]: That ended up probably even being a better solution. But one of them, I went door to door selling this prototype fan to auto shops and thought that technicians would love it because they're just one person in the bay. It's hot, they have no ac. And long story short, again, they did not care. They did, they did not want to buy this thing. The owner didn't want to pay for it. Like so. But when I was going to those shops, we learned that a lot of like the, the shop owner had no idea what was happening in the base. Josh Oberlander [00:06:26]: A lot of times they had no like productivity numbers, they had no efficiency metrics on or even just like in general tracking stuff. Was very meticulous of having people clock in, clock out and they didn't even some, some shops had troubles with that. Ash Kaplan [00:06:42]: Right. Josh Oberlander [00:06:43]: I'm sure you guys have heard that story. So we basically pivoted the fan that nobody wanted to a data analytics company that did these productivity and efficiency numbers with some sensors. And long story short, there we learned another hard lesson that you know, data analytics is for, you know, in an auto shop there's not. Some owners really love data analytics analytics but they, the information you still have to act upon it and execute. And so what we learned from that company was technicians and service advisors spend a lot of time on the computer and click clacketing away and they're just, they weren't very efficient. So then we pivoted to what we're doing now. And this is a four year story, five year story here, I'm telling you. But we pivoted to what we're doing now on just making, completing monotonous tasks on the computer and making them more efficient inside their shop management system. Tonnika Haynes [00:07:49]: So that's where like you had no automotive knowledge. Like your dad didn't own a shop and you knew he needed this or it's something like that because that's, I thought that was going to be the story. You told that. Yeah, my uncle Henry, he had a shop and they were having trouble with this and I was like, aha. So you just pulled this not out of the hat, but you just kept thinking, thinking, thinking, what can I do to make a change just in the world? And then you narrowed it down to the automotive industry. Josh Oberlander [00:08:15]: Yes. Tonnika Haynes [00:08:16]: Your kids are so smart. You're so, you're so smart. Josh Oberlander [00:08:20]: Well, also just enjoyed working with auto shop owners. Like they have, you think coming in they have this scary Exterior. But in reality, when I was going around there, they're the best people. They're just trying to improve their business. Like, kind of like my tree servicing business. It's hard to run this thing. And it was pretty easy to connect with them. And I was like, I love this group of. Josh Oberlander [00:08:38]: These group of people. And it made it all the easier. Like, they were very open on what they were struggling on. And I would say I haven't. I'm even still not an expert, obviously, still learning every day, but have a very good grasp on the industry now. But it took, you know, three to four years of continuously learning to figure out what is actually a problem. You think you know what the problem is, but it takes time. Tonnika Haynes [00:09:03]: So who was your first shot? Like, what was the shop that you went to? And they were like, yes, come on in here. I got you. Help me figure this out. Like, I'm going to. Who is your guinea pig shop? Josh Oberlander [00:09:14]: We. So we're from Minneapolis. We had a couple. Like, I had one. They're not even a current customer of mine, but German Auto Works was in a town there that we had data analytics. But really the big one is they're called Colorado Tire and Service. They're in Denver. They've got about eight stores. Josh Oberlander [00:09:37]: And I would fly out to Denver every month working with them, picking their brain. They were the first people that gave us a true, honest shot and just helped us learn and build tools for them. Tonnika Haynes [00:09:49]: I love it. I love it. What did you underestimate? Like, I can't imagine starting a business from scratch. I'm lucky because that started from scratch like 18 million years ago. Like, what. What is the one thing that you underestimated when you were starting a software business in automotive industry? Josh Oberlander [00:10:07]: Um, I would say that's a good question. What did I underestimate? Tonnika Haynes [00:10:14]: You probably did because you guys are smartest. I don't know what. So if you like, nothing. Josh Oberlander [00:10:19]: We know this has been. This is. Every day is new tasks to be solving. I'm trying to think of a. Let's see here. So I might say again, that that industry knowledge just taking time. Like, at this point, even me selling maintenance, I've been doing maintenance for two now, and I work on it every single day. But I have gotten to the point now of where I can actually coach a company. Josh Oberlander [00:10:46]: I can go in there, I can look at their. Their process and like, say, I know confidently what you're doing wrong, what you should improve. But that's me two years in now, working on it every day. Right? It Just, just a breadth of knowledge. Like this is. It's a simple business on the exterior. When you go down into the amount of stuff technicians are working on and that, the capabilities they need to do and the different things, services, there's, it's, it's complex underneath. Like, these roles are doing a lot of different things. Tonnika Haynes [00:11:16]: So do you think it's changed your personality or had given you more respect for the industry? Because, like, I don't think people have respect for the industry unless you're like, really on the inside of it. Like, as a. Before, you were just in trees. Like, I don't know how much respect I have for people that climb trees, but the way that you just said it, you're 50 foot in the air and it's 30 degrees outside and your hands are 20 degrees. You got a chainsaw. I never thought about it that way. It's like, did you change your host perspective of the industry once you got in it and start seeing what we do every day? Josh Oberlander [00:11:49]: Oh, totally. Perspective has changed. Like, if I look at my friends nowadays and I probably, I wouldn't like to put myself in this boat, but I probably was in this boat. People don't know anything about cars. People don't even. They have an oil sticker number up there and they still might miss when they're supposed to do their oil change. Tonnika Haynes [00:12:08]: Right. Josh Oberlander [00:12:09]: The cars have gotten complex. People are worried. There's a trust issue that I know people have talked about a lot. Like I said when I started actually going into them and talking to them and how these people just wanted to learn, improve their business. And as an entrepreneur, like, one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur is networking and learning from other people. And everybody knows how hard it is. So they're just being open with you and want to learn and just giving you genuinely good advice. They're not holding anything back. Josh Oberlander [00:12:46]: And I felt that way here as well. So, like, that it's a hard business to run. And I know these. There's tons of coaching companies like every. It's really hard to just start and succeed. So I totally, totally think this, this industry deserves way more respect. People are when they bring their car in. That's their independence. Josh Oberlander [00:13:12]: That's their. That's like. It changes their life when they don't have their car, but yet they don't put any respect on the person working on it, fixing it and then paying for it when you know it doesn't make any sense to me. Like, you're going to whine and cry, but yeah, I'm So I'm. I'm part of the frustrated party now and, like, feel like I'm on the end, but Tonnika Haynes [00:13:33]: one of my people. Josh Oberlander [00:13:35]: Yeah. Ash Kaplan [00:13:36]: Welcome to the dark side. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:37]: Welcome to the dark side. It's like, I just need an oil change. You don't just need an oil change. We need to service your vehicle. There's things that need to happen. Oil and gas. That's the only thing. All gas in the radio. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:49]: It's the only people. Only thing people worry about. They worry about their tires. Don't worry about the maintenance. Some oil, some gas. My radio is not working in the window. So they can go through the drive through, right? Josh Oberlander [00:14:00]: Yeah. And ac, if AC is not working. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:02]: Right? Like, yeah, your AC is not working. Yes. But, you know, you have this serious oil leak. I'm not worried about that. Ash Kaplan [00:14:10]: You're about to fall apart. But, like, I can't be. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:12]: You know that noise, right? That. That noise that you keep hearing? Those are your wheel bearings. Yeah, but I'm hot. Ash Kaplan [00:14:18]: I'm not about to sweat. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:19]: Yeah. Not gonna sweat. Well, you gonna die. Well, at least I won't be hot. So, like, if somebody right now, like Ash, is starting her business. I think you guys met a year ago. I can't keep up with time. Ash Kaplan [00:14:34]: I can't keep up either. I don't know, Josh. It's been a minute. Josh Oberlander [00:14:38]: My. I mean, I feel like my brain is a pile of mush half the time. So if you're telling me to pick a date when I met you, I'm not sure. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:45]: I know we started it. Ash Kaplan [00:14:48]: It has to have been at least or longer, because last summer, I got to hang out with Nate, and I'd already known you before that. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:57]: Cool. Josh Oberlander [00:14:58]: I met you at a conference also. There's one in Pennsylvania. No, Pennsylvania. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:04]: That was Tools. Josh Oberlander [00:15:05]: Yes. Yes. So I met you at Tools, which would have been Tools coming up. So. Right. A year ago. Ash Kaplan [00:15:12]: I feel like it was even before that, but I don't know. I also feel like golden hour is, like, five years old, and I. 59. And. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:21]: Hey, hey, hey, Easy. What does that mean? What does that mean? Both of y', all, watching out. Ash Kaplan [00:15:26]: So it's like. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:27]: It's like. Ash Kaplan [00:15:28]: It is fresh, but I feel like it. I don't know. This is just my perspective. Right? Like, it ages you in a way that you're not prepared for. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:36]: At least I was not about maturity, not aging. Ash Kaplan [00:15:40]: Thank you. Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:41]: It makes you grow up quick. Ash Kaplan [00:15:42]: Yeah. Like, I shared recently that, like, one of the things I didn't think about and, you know I had the partnership before, so that's something I was going to ask you about, Josh. Going from a partnership to solo entrepreneur has been a completely different game. I thought I knew what entrepreneurship was before. I used to have a candle company a while ago, too. It was nowhere near the scale of Golden Hour. So I was like, oh, I've done this. I've done business ownership. Ash Kaplan [00:16:09]: And then I had partners. I was like, this will be fine. And so then doing it on my own has been so different. And I realized what I was not prepared for was the character development that had to come with it. And it's like, in six months, I have become, night and day, a different person, and I still have a different person to become. And I don't think that's what I was expecting. Josh Oberlander [00:16:31]: I mean, I give you props, like, I have never done. I did the tree business by myself, which was hard, but, like, here I've had two co founders again that I can lean on. So, like, you doing it by yourself, that's. That is. That's got to be hard. That's really gotta be. Ash Kaplan [00:16:49]: Yeah, I mean, I say by myself, right? Like, I have a community, I have mentors, I have a team. But when you're. When you're the sole person responsible for it, I think it's just. It hits a little different. Tonnika Haynes [00:17:01]: Yeah, it's like, so, like we said, Josh Oberlander [00:17:05]: there's so many aspects to a business. There's. Okay, you know, I might be really good at sales, but if I had to build the product, good luck. If I, you know, am I good at making standard operating procedures and building out that? Am I good at hiring people? Am I good at marketing? Like, these are all, like, question marks that you gotta fill, especially by yourself. Ash Kaplan [00:17:23]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:17:24]: So somebody was listening right now, both of you, and they want to start a business, and they were scared. What would you tell them? Would you tell them, like, do it. You'd say, do it Scared? Ash Kaplan [00:17:34]: Yeah, do it scared. Tonnika Haynes [00:17:36]: Well, you've done it. Ash Kaplan [00:17:38]: Just be prepared, like, to. To become a different person. That's all I would say. Tonnika Haynes [00:17:42]: But you're a good different person. Like, no, it is. It's just you. All the leadership skills, delegation, like you said, you don't want to sit there and I listen, I say it every podcast. I hate accounting. I hate it. But you know what? You have to know a little bit about it, because if you don't, then somebody can take your money. But, like, what would you tell them? Do it scared, Josh. Josh Oberlander [00:18:03]: Yeah, I would say the scared feeling. Maybe it sits there for A while and I still have that. But you got to change that mentality a little bit to being excited. You'd be excited about this company you want to start. Like you have a good idea and you're amped up about it and you have a good mentality for it. Really go for it. And my advice with it would be don't, don't build something end to end and then expect to solve a problem. Like take bite size pieces, like build something. Josh Oberlander [00:18:35]: Service industry is a little different, but for me personally, like, don't go, I want to have built my whole product and then, and then gone back. You need to talk with people. You need to learn about what their pain problems are. You need to experiment and give them a bad product so you can learn. You need to be open to taking criticism to your baby. And you know, when people call it ugly, that that's just advice and improvement for you. So I would say the hardest thing is changing your mentality a little bit to being excited right about something. That nervous energy is the same energy. Josh Oberlander [00:19:09]: It's just, it's just framed a different way. Tonnika Haynes [00:19:12]: Right? So have we know that I love leadership coaching. You mentioned something about coaching earlier. Have you ever had a coach in this business, like not in the automotive business, but any kind of business coach to help you along the way? But you do have your partners, but like helping you go through these processes and whatever and helping you see things differently. Do you guys coach each other maybe? Josh Oberlander [00:19:36]: Yes, I have a coach. I have. It took me a little too long to get the coach. I would say, you know, you think you're learning every, every day. You have so much to be working on. But I would say I just got a sales consultant coach and we started doing coaching probably just in the past couple months. And you know, somebody else who, who has gone through that process, who has seen around the corners and already been punched in the mouth, like it's so obvious that you should, you should get a coach. But they're, you know, expensive. Josh Oberlander [00:20:05]: A lot of times you're like, can I afford this? Like for a couple of years there, you know, we weren't making any money. We weren't, you know, I personally wasn't making any money. The business wasn't doing anything. And so, you know, the point where you need it the most is probably where it's, you know, hardest to get. Now that we've gotten here, it's, it's gotten easier and easier and I can get more coaching. But if you can get any type of coaching, it is worth it, it's always worth to pay money to build your knowledge and especially if somebody else has gone through that experience. Tonnika Haynes [00:20:36]: Absolutely. Ash, are you coaching with anybody right now? Ash Kaplan [00:20:40]: I am finding the right one. I have a few people that I have in mind, but yeah, I do need one. Tonnika Haynes [00:20:48]: Yeah. Ash Kaplan [00:20:49]: So I'm excited to find the right one. Tonnika Haynes [00:20:51]: That's good. Because even if people in the audience can't afford a coach just yet, there's so much out there on YouTube, videos from coaches, even like, what's his name? Simon Sinek. Did I say his name right? He's got some great information and it's not industry related, but it will relate to almost any business or any spot that you are in your life. So I do tell people, like, I know you think you know everything, you've got it. But there's so much more that you don't know. Like, you have to think about major sports players. We got Michael Jordan's. I don't even know who the hip guys are now because I'm old and I don't care. Tonnika Haynes [00:21:31]: But you got to think they have coaches. And the funny thing is, like the coach on a team, a basketball team. Let's just think about Carolina. Those guys are so much older than the kids that they're coaching. And I'm pretty sure that they cannot run the drills that they're telling them to run and they cannot make the plays that they're telling them to do, but they can see it from a different angle. I don't even know if all coaches have really been in professional sports. It's the fact that you can see somebody from a different angle and you can help them improve upon it. It's like, you know, we watching a game from the stadium and we're looking down on the field or on the court and we can see it from a different angle, but the coach is seeing that person every day and they know how to help that person adjust. Tonnika Haynes [00:22:17]: And so I think anybody could use a coach, whether if it's in business or not. Ash Kaplan [00:22:21]: That's what I love about it. I'm. I mean, I'm a huge proponent for coaching. I grew up as an athlete, so between running and rugby, like, my coach was everything because he could see things that I didn't see, like even small, like body movements, like, those are things your coach is going to know about your business that you're not going to see. They're going to see things, like you said, from a different perspective. Tonnika Haynes [00:22:42]: Yeah, Yeah. Josh Oberlander [00:22:44]: I would, I would say for me, you touched on two things. There that I constantly am battling. But one is getting stuck in the weeds is what I call it, the day to day. Like I have, my meetings are packed from the whole day to the whole day and you just don't, you don't have a second to take a breath and like look up and look around and it takes a while to get your business to a comfortable spot where you even feel that way. But if you can start adding more and more of that time in there, that high level, take a step back, look at it, it's, you know, I would say that's almost a luxury sometimes. But the other point I want to make here is the coach, like let's say you, you read a lot that, which is great. You're reading all of these self help books, you're reading all of these coaching books, you know, whatever. It's a lot of information to intake and it's very hard to know exactly what piece is applicable because at your exact moment in your business right now, maybe there's one nugget in that book that you should actually be using. Josh Oberlander [00:23:48]: Yeah, there's 50,000 points in there. There's one nugget you need to know to pull from it and then put the other stuff away and we're going to work on this thing and the coach hopefully can help you identify that specific nugget because a lot of the time you get into this paralysis. If I need to do all of these things and you don't, you really need to focus on like one priority. Tonnika Haynes [00:24:11]: Yeah, that happens when people come from S. Wells and things like that and they want, they have all the notes and they forgot all the ideas and they come back into the shop and they're just like, yeah, we're going to do all of this and then nothing happens. So I don't remember where I got it from, but there was someone that told me, you know, focus, focus is focus on one course until successful one thing. And like if you have the notebook from that training, you went to just highlight one thing and if you're really, really good, like I said yesterday in lipstick report, maybe do two. But if you try to change like everything about you all of a sudden, then you're going to burn yourself out and nothing's going to get done at 100. It's anything like diet and exercise. Oh, I'm gonna New Year's Eve, I'm gonna eat healthy, I'm gonna exercise, I'm gonna do that. You're not, you're gonna do it for two days and you're Gonna burn out. Tonnika Haynes [00:24:54]: But if you decide, okay, right now, I'm going to eliminate sugars from my diet, and I'm going to work on that for a while. Then the next thing you're deciding, hey, I'm going to eat better, more vegetables. And then you work on that, and then it becomes a habit. So, yeah, I agree with you on that one. You guys are so much smarter than the people give the youth credit for. Josh Oberlander [00:25:12]: But it makes me so happy. That's a path, and people know the path. People know that's what they should be doing, but we all know that's hard. Yeah, consistency is. I want to focus on this one thing. I want to eat better, you know, whatever it is. But then on day, even day five or six, can you wake up and do that again and again and stay focused? You know, my ADHD brain is like, I want to switch it up after, like, three hours. Like, yeah, where are the gummy bears at? Tonnika Haynes [00:25:42]: Where am I going? Squirrel. So, hey, I have to give him a shout out. So I don't know, maybe. Josh's class that we took at Frog Pond was a month ago, but I haven't said anything to him. A couple of weeks ago. It's more than a couple of weeks. I want to give it a month. I want to give a month. Tonnika Haynes [00:25:59]: I'm going to figure it out. But my son Santana releases probably a month. He has made up his bed every morning since that leadership. And I've noticed that. And I think that's one thing. He has a lot of stuff on his wall. He's the type of person that will write on his wall. His workout routine is on the ceiling. Tonnika Haynes [00:26:19]: The room makes me crazy, but I know it's my room, but it's his room, and he has been doing that. His room is clean and it's been going on. And he made a lot of conscious decisions during that leadership training that I'm so impressed with. But the fact that it's his bed is the thing that he chose to start doing, like, every day. Because I said, don't you just make up your bed? Like, there's a. You make that boy make up his bed. As a parent, there's things that you just stay on, but there's some things you're just like, I'm not going to fuss at this child about this every day. I've been fussing about it for 21 years. Tonnika Haynes [00:26:55]: And in 21st year, he decides, maybe Mommy was right. I'm going to make up my bed every day. So it's the little Things like that that can make a huge impact. Like, he says one thing at the time. Such one thing at a time. Josh Oberlander [00:27:08]: There's a speech by. I love motivational speeches. I don't know, I. But I watch them all the time. There's one by William H. McRaven. He's like a general in. In the Marines or something like that. Josh Oberlander [00:27:19]: And that is his first piece of advice. Yeah, it's on YouTube. Just. I would probably just type in make your bed. Yeah, McRaven or something. And he talks about that starting with a completed task for the day, waking up and just doing something so simple and you feel better and you come back to. At the end of the day, even if you had a bad day, come back to a made bed and you feel good. You know, your room. Ash Kaplan [00:27:47]: I wasn't always good at it. Not going to lie. Because of adhd. I'm like, get up, roll out of bed. Oh, I've got a million phone call, like text or answer. But I like being in control of things and there's so much not in my control these days. So it's like, well, that's one thing I can do, one thing I can check off that. I'm like, at least I got something done today. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:09]: Josh. I just pulled that book up and, you know, I think I gave him that book about three or four years ago. I think I. Josh Oberlander [00:28:15]: It just takes that long to really implement. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:18]: But hey, I think I've been. I've always given him, like with you, like what you said. I love motivational speakers. Ash Kaplan [00:28:25]: Me too. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:26]: I have always listened to them since I was a kid because my grandmother also loves them and her favorite was Les Brown. And so I grew up listening to him like my whole life. So it's like natural to me. And so I always try to get my boys motivational books and things like that. And I would always listen to them when they were in the car, hoping that it would just rub off. And I'm sure it has, but when I didn't recognize until I saw it pull up that that is one of the books that I did buy him. So I'm going to go look at his nightstand to see if it's there. See if there. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:55]: See if the. The book is having wrinkles or anything in it. Josh Oberlander [00:28:59]: I've got. I've got some books right here. Let me see if I can. Ash Kaplan [00:29:03]: I love me a good book reader. I love reading. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:06]: And if you don't like reading audience. Ash Kaplan [00:29:08]: Oh, yeah, I haven't read it yet. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:10]: So yeah, you should share those people don't understand that. I love reading. I have a lot of books, but I don't have the time that I used to have to read. I do now do again. But I love audible. Ash Kaplan [00:29:23]: Yeah, I pivoted to that. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:25]: And you can actually listen to the same book more than once. Josh Oberlander [00:29:29]: You should. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:30]: You should, because you're gonna get. Ash Kaplan [00:29:32]: I was gonna say that. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:33]: It's like watching a movie. Okay, so you watch. My movie is Friday. That's my generation Friday. Ice Cube. Right. Ash Kaplan [00:29:39]: Oh, my gosh. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:40]: I can watch that movie every day and see something different. Like there's little things that I can point you like. I never saw that. I was like, yeah. So if you watch your favorite movie, Lord of the Rings. Watch it again. Forrest Gump. Watch it again. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:52]: Same thing with a book. Listen to it again. Listen to that audio book again. Actually, that's how I feel about the trainings. The training as well. Ash Kaplan [00:30:01]: Yeah. Telling Josh Parnell that. Because he kind of, like, jokingly made a comment. Because I go to each one and it's similar material, Right. And he's like, I was going to go to his third one in May, and he asked me why, and I said, because I'm in a different season of my life each time I go. Tonnika Haynes [00:30:17]: That is so true. Ash Kaplan [00:30:17]: I picked up something in December that helped me in December, and then in February, I was in a completely different season and needed something else, same material. You told me this in December, but it didn't click for me until I needed it at that time. So I love rereading books. There's a lot of books that I have that I have read three, four, five times. Tonnika Haynes [00:30:39]: And not only will these books help you in your business, it helps you in your life, period. I mean, you're. If you're in business, your business is your life. I know it sounds harsh, but, Josh, your business is your life. It's your lifeline. It's what you do every day to make sure that you can live the life that you want to. So it's going to help you in all aspects, in my opinion. Josh Oberlander [00:30:58]: Yeah. I mean, and it takes that, too. Like, it takes my, you know, past three years, my grandma, you know, again, 31 here. My grandma's coming to me. Like, josh, where's the girls at? Like, where. What are you doing with your life? You know, it's like, you know, Grandma, we. We got some priorities here for a little bit. Like this. Josh Oberlander [00:31:15]: This is my focus. Just hired three employees. Like, if I told. If I went on a date with a girl, it'd be like, hey, Nice. Nice meeting you. I'll see you in like a, you know, month or two. Ash Kaplan [00:31:25]: Here's the scheduling link. Josh Oberlander [00:31:27]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:28]: Here's my calendar. Josh Oberlander [00:31:29]: I like that. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:31]: No, you're pro. You gotta choose your priorities. Jordan's like that. My youngest son is like that. He's like, mom. I'm like, where's the girls? Grandma wants a great grandbaby. That's what that is. Yeah, but where are the girls? She's like, mom, I don't have time for that. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:42]: I don't have time for that right now. I've got friends. Oh, okay. Well, that and then. That's smart. So proud, so smart. Because people sometimes will get distracted by the girlfriend or the boyfriend and they will derail your whole plan. You can't do that with all the autisms and the ADHDs and all the things. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:01]: Because I got like 10 of them. No, sometimes you just got to get yourself together, get your stuff together, get your dreams together, and then you can go be a better person for a spouse. If you want one, you have to Josh Oberlander [00:32:14]: have one, but eats at you all the time. For me, it's like, I gotta eventually do that. Like, I can make time, you know, I can't just be, you know, in five years, I'm gonna be balded and ugly and fat. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:26]: It's so crazy how you kids think that 40 is old. It is not. Ash Kaplan [00:32:30]: That's when you start living 30. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:32]: I keep telling you, until about 7 o' clock in the morning, your knees hurt. Actually, I just start feeling that at about 49. So it just takes me a little bit to warm up. Got a stretch. But after that, you can't hold me down until about 7:32pm and I'm out. So tell me what you don't. Ash Kaplan [00:32:53]: Go ahead. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:54]: No, go. Ash Kaplan [00:32:56]: I don't know. Generationally speaking, I only know Josh and I's generation because it's all I've ever lived. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:01]: Right. Ash Kaplan [00:33:02]: I think there was a lot of pressure for your early twenties to settle. Okay. Go to college, meet somebody, settle down, have kids, start a family. Like, and I'm guilty of that. Like, I, I did that very early. And it's just a different. Like you don't. There is no rush. Ash Kaplan [00:33:19]: Like, there's no real clock ticking other Tonnika Haynes [00:33:22]: than the women have a clock with the clock doesn't. It's like 40. Ash Kaplan [00:33:28]: I mean, but think about it. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:30]: If you decided to have right now, in your situations, you decided to have a child, do you think you'll be able to give them the attention that you really need? Because you're building a baby, which is your business. No, but I go get a job with someone yesterday, and he. What was he, 47 and his kids were 5, 7, 5, 7 and 8 or 9. Ash Kaplan [00:33:54]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:54]: And he gets to pick him up from school and drop them off. He just show up at every game, all of that good stuff. Ash Kaplan [00:34:00]: Because he's able to be present. Tonnika Haynes [00:34:01]: Yeah, you can be present. Instead of the kid being a task and, oh, I've got to get him to school. I've got to do this. I've got to do homework. You get to do the homework. You get to take them to practice. It's a different conversation. So my. Ash Kaplan [00:34:14]: But you also took your kids to work and they came out amazing and Tonnika Haynes [00:34:19]: something wrong with them. Both of them were a little crazy, but that is not the norm. Everybody doesn't get to take their kids to work. But I got to the point in the business when I was by myself and dad was gone that I couldn't take them to practice and pick them up from school and be at the game. So what I did is I designed. I was lucky enough that I was able to design my business and my hours to and let my customers know, hey, I got to get this football game. I've got to get here. I've got to get there. Tonnika Haynes [00:34:52]: And they respected and understood it. But at the age that you guys are now in the business, your business is so young, nobody's going to respect that yet. It's going to happen. So, yes, my kids spent. We spent a lot of times. And I made a point to do. Like I was telling you the other day, we would go on staycation. I would literally go to the double tree a mile away from the house because they had an indoor pool, outdoor pool, and I had everything. Tonnika Haynes [00:35:16]: And I made a mini vacation. We called it staycation. To make sure I intentionally spent that time with my kids. But they did see Mommy work. They saw me work, and they understood that this was their legacy because they had been around their whole life. But kids do not have to understand that. We shouldn't force them to understand that, and we shouldn't have to make them be sacrificed for the sake of the business. Sometimes that does have to happen, but if doesn't, then I would tell people, don't do it because they grow up way, way, way too fast. Tonnika Haynes [00:35:49]: Like the fact that Santana is 21 and Jordan lives in Jacksonville, six hours from me. It kills me every day to walk by that boy's room, but I'm very proud of my business that I know that I've got every flight scheduled to go see him. I've only ever missed one of Santana's college football games, and that's because he told me not to come. But I was able to make time and I was blessed with that. But everybody isn't. And if you're not, don't sacrifice the relationship with kids because you're going to regret it. Like I said, you sing in a cat's in a cradle. Josh Oberlander [00:36:22]: I think that's a wonderful point. Like, I, I don't, I just said I don't even have time to go on a date with a girl. If I had a kid right now, oh my gosh, my life would totally change. My business would totally change. And like you're saying you with the businesses being young, like for me, it's like I gotta get it to a developed point where I can, you know, go and know that it's okay. Like, I'm just getting to that point. I went on a two week long road trip for work and I came back and the house was still setting and I was like, this is, you know, but the whole time you're nervous about it and, but you know, you've built up your team and they can execute. And I love my team very. Josh Oberlander [00:37:05]: We're building something very fun. But like, it takes a while to get. Tonnika Haynes [00:37:07]: It takes a while to get there. Josh Oberlander [00:37:08]: You can look away. Tonnika Haynes [00:37:10]: Yeah. So I encourage you guys to not let social media tell you that at 25, you're supposed to be married with a cat, two dogs, a 3,000 square foot house and 2.5 kids. Ash Kaplan [00:37:22]: Are you talking to me right now or are you talking to somebody else? Tonnika Haynes [00:37:25]: If the shoe fit around, that's anybody. Because even with the dog, like people tell me now, oh, go get a dog, go get a dog. I can't get a dog. Because then I wouldn't be able to give him the attention that he needed. Because I'm traveling right now, I like what I'm doing now. I like going to the conferences and going wherever the heck I want to go. And then what's the point of me having a dog and leaving him at home in a kennel? That's not fair. Even in the backyard, if I decided to fence it in, that's still not fair. Tonnika Haynes [00:37:53]: So similar with kids. And I'm probably going to get some slack for this, but I'm a mom. I got two been there, done that. I'm glad of the time I got to spend with them. I wish there was a little bit more. Everybody wishes they had more Time. But yeah, don't do stuff you're not prepared for just for the sake of social media and grandma Josh Oberlander [00:38:14]: and just peer, peer pressure too. Tonnika Haynes [00:38:17]: Everybody else is doing it. Josh Oberlander [00:38:18]: Everybody else is doing it. I just got done going through all my friends. You know, I went to, you know, know nine weddings over the past two years or something like that. Right. And yeah, there's, there's social pressure on that for sure. Tonnika Haynes [00:38:30]: For sure. Ash Kaplan [00:38:31]: But don't worry about. Tonnika Haynes [00:38:32]: Aunt Nick said, no, it's fine. You have to worry about that. We'll have a wedding when you're 70. It'd be just as cute. Josh Oberlander [00:38:40]: So I'll be able to have a wedding. There'll be like starships up there. I'll have like, we'll be hovering over the planet. Tonnika Haynes [00:38:46]: Exactly. Josh Oberlander [00:38:47]: I'll have the best wedding. Tonnika Haynes [00:38:48]: Yeah. So Josh, what does the tech auto look five years from now if it keeps going the way you want to go? Josh Oberlander [00:38:57]: I, I, it's so interesting. Things are moving so fast right now. Like is, you know, I work with engineers all the time and with this, I know this buzzword, this AI stuff going on, like one person in software engineering is getting ramped up to some of the capabilities that two or three used to have in the past. And people are able to make products so fast. Like in our industry, you're seeing them pop up. I feel like I see a new company pop up every month or maybe even faster than that. Like it's, it's crazy. And I was just in an auto shop last week. Josh Oberlander [00:39:35]: The shop itself is having two people make their own tools. Right. So now that would be hard to, I was giving them advice and hard to transition into like a full blown company. But the fact is like the shop made its own tools. Ash Kaplan [00:39:47]: Right. Josh Oberlander [00:39:48]: And you know, I say that I can look like two years down the road, maybe a year. Like it's so, things are just adapting so fast. But I would say, you know, hopefully in five years we're having a full, I'm not even sure. I don't even really know. The full five year plan is maybe a year plan, to be honest. Tonnika Haynes [00:40:13]: One year at a time. Focus on one year until successful. So, Ash, do you think the AI is going to get rid of the service advisors jobs? Ash Kaplan [00:40:21]: No. Tonnika Haynes [00:40:22]: Like with the tools that Josh and all the smart kids are using right now? Ash Kaplan [00:40:26]: No. So just like to reframe that. Service advisors. No. The tasks they shouldn't be doing anyways. Yes. Tonnika Haynes [00:40:34]: Okay. Ash Kaplan [00:40:35]: The service advisor should be caring for customers. The service advisor should be educating customers. The service advisor should be Dispatching work and managing workflow not bogged down because, you know, that was the whole philosophy for Golden. If they're doing all the other million things, that customer in front of them is no longer a priority. So no, I think we have a really cool opportunity in the industry with all the AI, with all the things that are going to make their job easier. It's so they can focus on the customer. Because humans are going to crave human connection more now than ever because all they get to do is talk to computers all day long. Tonnika Haynes [00:41:18]: Right. Ash Kaplan [00:41:19]: So now I'm excited for it. Tonnika Haynes [00:41:21]: Let's say you, Josh. Josh Oberlander [00:41:22]: Yeah, I'll piggyback on that for sure. I think one, the job is definitely going to be there. Now, the word efficiency that gets tossed around all the time means that one person will be able to perform more work. So like, I wouldn't, I would be lying to you if like one person couldn't do the job of two in maybe a couple years. But I think the role is necessary. Right. Like, I personally am a salesman. Like, if, you know, that means my job would also be gone across like industries too. Josh Oberlander [00:41:51]: Like, not the whole role is just going to shift a little bit into what Ash was saying, like building relationships with people, learning more about their life, their specific car, how we can better help them. Like building relationships. And then the sell, the selling I don't think is going away for, for quite a while. Ash Kaplan [00:42:12]: That's what excites me because that's what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a relationship building business. But in order, because you know, you know the numbers, like in order to get everything done, you have to put a lot on that front, on that front line. Tonnika Haynes [00:42:26]: Yeah. Ash Kaplan [00:42:28]: So no, it's very exciting. Tonnika Haynes [00:42:29]: It's very exciting because it's like what you get, the golden hour is what you talk about that time that the customer drops off the car to the next time that we make a contact with them. It's crucial. And so with the tools that you have, it saves a lot of time on the front end. And then they can work on building their relationships and they can work on selling the actual service instead of looking up the parts, looking up the repair history and all those good things. Ash Kaplan [00:42:55]: Josh, you shared that, that statistic at ignite. For every hour past that first hour, you lose 10% more of close ratio. Josh Oberlander [00:43:05]: Yeah. I mean your conversion rate definitely drops the longer it takes you to get your estimate back to the customer. And then another point on what we're talking about, like from that presentation I had is like trust. Again, trust is I wouldn't say like for a problem for all shops, but in the industry wide, like a customer trusting mechanics is just a unfortunate thing right now where if we had more time to build relationship with, with them, spend time on each person, like, hopefully that, that trust factor goes away and we can educate these customers on what is actually needed on their car so they, they are willing to take care of their car, you know, better and for longer. And then instead of them going to buy a new car because they had lifetime fluid in there and it was in lifetime fluid or whatever, you know, we can, we can chisel that like trust that non trust factor away. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:05]: Yeah. Building relationships, that's how you build businesses. People buy from who people that they know love and trust. Ash Kaplan [00:44:13]: Like, and trust. Yep. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:14]: Yes. So, Josh, we're going to take this last little bit for you to do your salesperson thing. I'm excited to say that you guys are sponsoring my podcast. I'm tickled. Josh Oberlander [00:44:28]: I'm very excited for this. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:30]: Yeah, I'm very excited for this. And I feel like that I'm a part of the history of Detect Auto. I wish I knew the exact day that I started, but it's been a while. I remember when I first met you guys, I was like, this is so cool. And you're so young. I'm so proud. Sign me up. I did the same thing with Ash. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:47]: This is so cool. Sign me up. I love it. I love the energy that you guys bring. So tell the people that don't know exactly what you do in a couple minutes, do your commercial shoot. Josh Oberlander [00:44:57]: Okay. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:58]: What you got? Josh Oberlander [00:44:58]: I will do my commercial. But also before I do that, I do want to definitely say I'm so excited for your podcast here and one, your support from, from me from the early days. I bet I could look up when you joined. But yeah, my question, like, your energy is intoxicating and my question to you is like, how have you always been that way? Or like, I know this thing is Tonnika Haynes [00:45:18]: people are going, no, no, no, no. I am, I'm a very introverted person and I know people are like, she's lying. I am. Ash will tell you that I will turn out. I go to conferences and I am miss Tanika all day and I love it. And I love, I really love watching you kids grow in the industry. And I keep saying kids, but respectfully, young people, because I watch my young people, like Jordan, he's in school with Mercedes right now. It makes me so happy that at this age that you're doing all the great things, despite of what the news and the social media and the Internet says. Tonnika Haynes [00:45:51]: So kudos to you. But what I have been told is I have a voice that needs to be heard. So when people tell you something, josh, you're doing a great job, if you would say, Tanika, you're doing a great job, I'm naturally going to say, oh, it's nothing. But I'm learning to not do that. I'm learning to be who I wish I had in the industry 15, 20 years ago. I need to be present for people like you and Ash so that, I don't know, what do you call an automotive auntie? I need to do that for you because I wish I had someone to do that for me. I need to be there for females. I need to be there for black people. Tonnika Haynes [00:46:26]: I need to be there for, for younger people. That's just what God has me assigned to do, whether I want to do it or not. And so I decided, well, open your mouth and speak. People do like you tan. I never didn't think people like me, but dude, I sound like cornbread and I'm not eloquent with my speaking, but I do have Ash. Ash Kaplan [00:46:46]: What if nobody listens to this podcast? Tonnika Haynes [00:46:47]: Yeah, like, what if nobody listens to it? Then maybe crazy what I say to myself. I still think that I look at the numbers like nobody's looking. They are looking. So I have not always been like this. I'm, I've always been. I'm fuddy. My family's a funny group of people. I do like to talk. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:03]: But if you come to me, 10 years ago, you asked me for an opinion on something or advice, I'd be like, girl, I don't know. But I would have all these things that I wanted to say, I just wouldn't say because I never thought it was my place. Now I'm old enough to know that's my place, that's my gift and I'm going to use it because can't nobody shit me up anymore. Josh Oberlander [00:47:24]: Well, I'll just say I love it. I love your energy. I know this podcast is going to succeed. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:29]: Thank you great people. Josh Oberlander [00:47:30]: So, yeah, as for, as for Detect Auto, just my sales pitch, my sales pitchy, let's say not pitchy. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:39]: Tell us what you do. Josh Oberlander [00:47:40]: Yeah, now we, we are, I would say a co pilot, but a add on to your shop management system. So if you use tech metric shopware, you know, some of these shop management systems we have, you download an extension and can be used right inside your shop management system. So it's like your little assistant on the side, your little clippy on the side. And we do have a website you guys can go to. But the really cool aspect about that is your team doesn't need to go to a different website to use our tools. They can use them right inside the place that they're in every day. And the first tool we built was a tool that looked up the maintenance on the vehicle and then looked through all of your history in the shop and carfax. So it's basically combing through what the vehicle has previously done and then comparing it to a maintenance interval that you get to build. Josh Oberlander [00:48:39]: So it could be your shop specific standards, it could be your VG fluid warranty standards, it could be your, it could be oem, it could be kind of whatever you want and we can build that out for you. And it is taking that five to ten minute task of looking through. Oh, they did Spark plugs at 84,300 miles. It's now car's at 1, 150,000. Is the Spark plugs due? Like trying to figure that out on every single item you want to track. And what we did is just put a button right inside of your shop management system and it'll pull up a full report. Here's what's overdue on the car, here's what's due soon, and here's what is has been completed by the customer or is not due yet. So really just trying to help one, increase the maintenance sales in that shop, get more gravy, work in the door for the technicians and make the shops more consistent. Josh Oberlander [00:49:34]: Like if you're just working off of repair work, maybe big repair and then you're kind of on this roller coaster ride. And I think maintenance really creates some consistency in the shop. So that's the first thing. Thoughts on that? Ash Kaplan [00:49:50]: We got a bunch of things passionate I am about maintenance. I love me some maintenance. But it's for shops to like if they're, if they can start adding that I think they get overwhelmed with, oh my God. Now the estimate is huge. But the goal isn't to sell it all today. The goal isn't for them to do it all today, it's for them to leave knowing what their car needs, do what they can and then okay, they get paid in two weeks, okay maybe four weeks after, you know, rent and then the next paycheck they can come do their flush. And so it's like you said, it's creating that consistency so you don't know what your books are Going to look like in four weeks you can have a slow day. Where that transmission flush you recommended a month ago, they're coming in to do today because you didn't skip that step. Tonnika Haynes [00:50:38]: Yeah, I think people skip the step because they don't want to hear the no. But then shop owners and service advisors need to understand that might just be a no for now. Like you said, I might need to wait for my next paycheck or I might drop it off when I'm going on vacation for three days so I can keep my car with me now. So present the work. It's not your car. I need to know what's going on with my car and I get to decide once you inform me yes or no and when I'm going to get it done. So know for now is a thing also. Josh Oberlander [00:51:06]: Yeah, I mean that's what I've been training tons of people on. You're right. For a while there, everybody's come back with feedback of, you know, I feel like I'm tossing the kitchen sink at people and it's overwhelming my customers. And there, if you weren't previously selling a lot of maintenance, there is a shift that your business has to go to. If people were just buying oil changes and now you're selling them a bunch of work that's hard and maybe you're getting rid of some customers you might not be servicing. Tonnika Haynes [00:51:35]: Yeah, exactly. Ash Kaplan [00:51:36]: I have a hard time. Josh Oberlander [00:51:37]: But the huge thing, Ash Kaplan [00:51:41]: it is not overwhelming the customer. You are overwhelming the customer because you have not learned how to present it. Tonnika Haynes [00:51:49]: She said it. You have to learn to present it. Ash Kaplan [00:51:52]: How to present it. But that's another story for another day. Tonnika Haynes [00:51:55]: For the low, low price of I too can coach you on how to present large tickets. Ash Kaplan [00:52:01]: Yeah, no, it is, it's a game plan. Tonnika Haynes [00:52:03]: It's. Josh Oberlander [00:52:03]: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that's what my next thing was. It's, it's creating a plan with them. You know, you have, hey, on this 15 year old car, you got 10 items. Here's probably the most important one I would start on. If we can do that next time, like let's really focus on that and work on with them, you know, figuring out that relationship building, what kind of budget we got, how, what do we, what's our plan with this car and how can we start to cross these things off? Like you have to show them. If you don't, if you didn't show them the list, then the next time you came in and you did show the list and then they're like, wait, this was an all due last time. Again, it's a trust thing. Josh Oberlander [00:52:41]: It just needs to be consistent. You don't have to sell them every one of those items, but you do need to tell them about it. Tonnika Haynes [00:52:48]: Yeah, right. I had a customer come in with a flat tire, and he's like, I want to get four tires in alignment. Got the tires ordered. He brings the car in, and he'd never been there before. We do our DVR process, and we're like, dude, you need more than some tires radiators leaking. He needed control arms. He needed a lot of work. And he was frustrated, but not with us. Tonnika Haynes [00:53:08]: He was frustrated to see all of that, knowing that he had literally just got an oil change somewhere else and they didn't tell him anything. And the thing is, you will. If you're not properly trained, that service advisor will be afraid to tell that customer, dude, you need all of this stuff. But that comes with training. That comes with conversation, that comes with relationship building. But we've gained a customer cost of the dvi. Now, there's going to be instances that we're going to lose a customer because of the dvi because they don't want to believe that their car is a piece of crap. All I want is an oil change. Tonnika Haynes [00:53:40]: Well, you won't get mad at me at the next shop when they tell you your radiator is leaking. I'd rather you be mad at me for giving you all of the information that you don't want to hear. It's like me stepping on the scale backwards at the doctor. Like, I want to get on this damn scale. But, ma', am, we need to put you on the scale and check your blood pressure and your cholesterol and let you know that you're not a spring chicken anymore. But if they didn't do it and if they didn't keep the records and something happened to me, you know whose fault that is? Ash Kaplan [00:54:10]: They're liable. Tonnika Haynes [00:54:11]: The nurse. They're liable, and so are we. And that's. That's the bottom line. That's our responsibility. Josh Oberlander [00:54:18]: I totally agree. And me going into shops all the time, maintenance, sales is the hardest sale. Ash Kaplan [00:54:25]: Right. Josh Oberlander [00:54:26]: I think it's it. And it takes that training that you're saying you. Tonnika Haynes [00:54:29]: Because you can't see it, you can't feel it. Josh Oberlander [00:54:32]: Yeah. If you don't know. If the service advisor doesn't know what a fuel induction service does, how can they properly explain that to the customer so that they educate them and they get the why, like, why this is important. Right. It's. It's a very hard sale if your own service advisor doesn't know how to educate the customer. So it is training. Ash Kaplan [00:54:53]: You know where I want to go with that, Tanika? Oh, no, just service advisors need some type of certification. There needs to be, like, better standardized training. That's it. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:05]: I think people say that about the text. They say about everybody. Standardized standard training certificates and this, that, whatever. And that is going to be the conversation over the next two years. Yeah, well, I've got my advisors in coaching. Ash Kaplan [00:55:19]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:20]: For these things. But whether they need to go to Raleigh and take a test with the state, I don't agree. Ash Kaplan [00:55:27]: But it's just that. And it's also, like. I try not to, like, dog on the owner for that. Y' all are busy. It's busy. Where are you gonna find time to pause and train? It's hard. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:37]: You gotta be. No, some people are just busy being busy, and they don't even know all the cracks and that things are falling through at their shop and all the aha moments you have at a training. Training does cost money, but it pays in return. Ash Kaplan [00:55:51]: Oh, yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:52]: Oh, it really does. Ash Kaplan [00:55:53]: That's what I love about bg. I'll sing their praises till the sun comes up. Like, yeah, their. Their training is great. Their product is great. And then the test strips. Cause you talked about, you know, maintenance. You can't see it or touch it, but when you can test the fluid improve, it sells itself. Tonnika Haynes [00:56:09]: Sells itself. Ash Kaplan [00:56:10]: Yeah. I could go on. We could do five hours of maintenance Tonnika Haynes [00:56:13]: because we will not do that. Ash Kaplan [00:56:14]: That's my thing. But, Josh, I want to hear more. Tell them about the other awesome stuff you. That detect does. Josh Oberlander [00:56:19]: Yeah. We've got four other tools, but we've got five minutes here. So I'm going to. Tonnika Haynes [00:56:25]: I want to hear about the intake tool, because that's an easy one. And people really. I think that works a lot in the front office. Josh Oberlander [00:56:31]: We'll talk that, and then I want to talk about the new one really quick. Tonnika Haynes [00:56:34]: Oh, do it. Go, go, go. Josh Oberlander [00:56:36]: Okay. So customer intake, customer concerns. Basically, that's a. A very simple tool. But what. What comes in. The customer's coming in, they're having some dyad complaint. Ash Kaplan [00:56:49]: Right. Josh Oberlander [00:56:50]: And maybe you have a really good salesperson upfront. It's. Maybe they came from a different industry, and they don't. They aren't very technical. What they do is the customer says, I have a noise complaint. You know, and if that went to the technician, they'd be like, there's three noises here. Which noise are you talking about now? They got to go back and figure out more questions from the customer. And what this tool does is they just type in noise and a series of questions pop up immediately on great follow up questions for them to ask. Josh Oberlander [00:57:18]: This could be, you know, where's the noise coming from? What type of noise is it? How long have you been hearing it? And then they just either click on certain answers or type in unique ones and then it'll write up a whole story for them so that it is a nice concise summary of everything they said. Tonnika Haynes [00:57:35]: So I love it. Josh Oberlander [00:57:36]: Yeah, very good tool, especially for a young or a new, new advisor or again if you just have a really good salesperson up front but they don't know those good follow up questions. Really impactful tool there. Tonnika Haynes [00:57:49]: What's the new thing? Josh Oberlander [00:57:50]: The new thing is we are just launching an inspection app next week. So envision this like you got your 50 point, 75 point, 100 point inspection that the technician is completing on the car, right? They're going through and completing them. All technicians taking photos. You guys all know, know this. They're on their iPad taking a photo and they're clicking on the iPad, trying to type. They're quick tech notes, you know, and that's already hard and slow. Or they're going back to their computer, they're typing it up at the end. Maybe they forgot something, maybe they're going back and forth, whatever. Josh Oberlander [00:58:26]: What envision this now where you hit play on your phone or on your iPad and maybe you have headphones in or you can just talk to it but you are going to walk around the car saying check engine light on, take a photo and then you're on the next cabin air filter is dirty with debris in it. Take a photo. Brakes are at 6 millimeter, they're good, you know, shocks are looking rusty. Whatever it is, you're just walking around the car talking and when you hit done your inspection will have everything that you said will be color coordinated to whether it's a problem or not. You know, green, yellow, red. You'll have a full description that has been cleaned for all all grammar and all text and will be have educational reasons on why the things are important that that is customer facing and then the correct pictures will be attached to the correct spot. So you just hit send and then it will push over. At this point we're starting with techmetric so sorry for some of the other shop management system but they just hit send and it will auto fill in and complete the entire inspection in techmetric. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:33]: That is awesome. Ash Kaplan [00:59:35]: That's Amazing. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:36]: That's going to save a ton of time and a ton of really bad grammar trying to fix that stuff. That is awesome. Ash Kaplan [00:59:43]: What about language barriers? Tonnika Haynes [00:59:45]: Language barriers? That's going to. Josh Oberlander [00:59:47]: Oh, yeah. So that's a great one. Nice thing is, I know a lot of tools have come out with that, but one of the really easy things for AI now is changing languages, so definitely will be able to. It will. If you say something in a different language, its default is to just convert it all to English so you could talk the entire time in a different language and it'll convert to English. Tonnika Haynes [01:00:06]: I'm in the wrong industry. That's amazing. That is good stuff. Josh, I so appreciate you spending the time with us today. Josh Oberlander [01:00:13]: Yeah, it was awesome. I'm honored. Tonnika Haynes [01:00:16]: I'm really looking forward to everything that you guys are going to do. I kind of feel like, I tell you guys, my little nieces and nephews out there, taking over the world. Just take over the world. All right, well, we thank you. And if someone wants to get in touch with you, how do they do that? Josh Oberlander [01:00:34]: Yeah, I would just say go to our website. It's just detectauto.com, you know, you can. We have a 30 day free trial on all of our tools and we are so. And look for that inspection app to launch next week. We've been beta testing it for the past like month and a half and got this thing already really dialed in. Is pretty exciting. So, yeah, websites, detectauto.com you can sign up for that 30 day free trial on, try out any and all of our tools. Tonnika Haynes [01:00:59]: All right, guys, this has been great. We will talk to you soon. Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations. Hosted by myself, second generation shop owner, Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy mindset, and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts. You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians, and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time. This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.