Latest / The Smoke Break with Adrian The Car Guy / Car Salesman vs. Service Advisor: Who Really Has It Harder?
Transcript
- 0:00Do you think that service advisors overcharge customers
- 0:03Absolutely not
- 0:05You're comparing a dealership, like high-end dealership, and then you're comparing
- 0:09to like a little shop down the street.
- 0:10The sales guy knows how to do more service than I do.
- 0:13Oh, dude, I'm kicking that trade.
- 0:15I'd have to go with a Corvette, bro.
- 0:17Hellcat
- 0:18100%.
- 0:20Sam, Sam the Ham, where you at? Hamster?
- 0:30Hi guys, and welcome back to the Smoke Break Podcast.
- 0:32Today, I am joined with two very special guests: we got Sam.
- 0:36What's up, guys? And we got who do we got here?
- 0:39Mr. Eric, what's up?
- 0:41Eric from service, guys. I'm excited to finally have Eric on board on this podcast.
- 0:46How do you feel, Eric? Good, good. Very good.
- 0:50Happy to be here.
- 0:51How long have you been in the business? How did you even get started in service?
- 0:55I transferred over from Austin. I moved next to a dealership there in Austin.
- 1:00Did a whole career change and applied there, got hired on the spot.
- 1:04Since in Austin, if you know Spanish, it's a big plus.
- 1:06Oh, yeah. And then came back home. And I was like, I don't want to work anywhere
- 1:11else, but for Adrian, the car guy. Ah, that's right.
- 1:14That's right. And he hired me on the spot too.
- 1:16Sam, is Eric your go-to guy when you go to service?
- 1:19Dude, go-to every single time. Eric's the man.
- 1:23We don't just, yeah, anytime my customers come in, I say, hey, go in there to
- 1:27service. Eric will take care of me. I know.
- 1:29I hate when he does that. What? He got too much work because I'm always busy.
- 1:33And then he's like, he's like, hey, Sam sent me.
- 1:35And I'm like, why, though? Why did Sam send you over here?
- 1:38Yeah. What he means to say is, thanks, Sam, for sending me a bunch of money.
- 1:41Yeah. That's exactly what he said.
- 1:43You come from service, and service is always going to have a special place in my
- 1:46heart. We were working alongside back when I was an advisor, and man, man, service
- 1:51has changed a lot, and the process and everything has been.
- 1:55But you always had
- 1:58great customer service. Your customers love you, man.
- 2:01Thank you, thank you. There's literally customers that are like, no, like, I'm only
- 2:04here to deal with Eric. No, Eric is my guy.
- 2:07Yeah, well,
- 2:09I just don't like getting in trouble. I don't like getting anybody upset.
- 2:13So I just try to do whatever it takes to not, you know, upset a customer.
- 2:17Because I hate adversity. I hate confrontation.
- 2:20I like peace and stuff like that. So once there's adversity at work, that's when
- 2:24everything falls apart. I like just keeping everybody kind of happy and stuff like
- 2:27that. Yeah, I know. I can tell you guys that Eric does go above and beyond for his
- 2:30customers. So if you need anything service-related here at Payne Edinburg CDJR, you
- 2:34know who to go to. I do have some burning questions that are like, you know, hot
- 2:39seat questions for both of you guys. So I hope you guys are ready.
- 2:43Eric,
- 2:44I'm going to start with Eric.
- 2:45Have you ever had a salesperson create a problem that you had to, you know, kind of
- 2:49fix? Um, no, I mean, the only time salesmen have ever like caused me stress is where
- 2:54they need something quick. Oh, yeah, and I'm already kind of like tied up,
- 2:57So sometimes you need something quick, and sometimes like 6:50 p.m.
- 3:02And I leave at 7, so it's like, oh man, you know.
- 3:04I'll stay for something like that. I'll stay until 7:30 to wait for an update to be
- 3:09done or something like that.
- 3:10Sam do you think that service advisors overcharge customers
- 3:14Absolutely not um our service advisors
- 3:20our service advisors do a lot uh we have techs we got to pay we got the building we
- 3:25gotta pay for and on top of that you're getting it done right when you come into the
- 3:28dealership that's say you have a Ram a Dodge a Chrysler product or a Jeep we're
- 3:33certified So you're paying
- 3:36you not even really paying extra. I think we charge a pretty fair labor rate here
- 3:39for In the Valley. Yeah. We match market rate.
- 3:42I think our labor rate's like.
- 3:44High right higher than most, but it's not by a lot.
- 3:48It's like five bucks, ten bucks. Like, yeah, even it's not even that much.
- 3:51Everybody's kind of the same. And then customers ask, like, why is it so high?
- 3:54And it's like, bro, you're comparing a dealership, like high-end dealership, and
- 3:58then you're comparing to like a little shop down the street.
- 4:01Yeah, like mom and pop shop, yeah. Yeah, it's like, come on, it's not the same.
- 4:04Yeah, you're getting warranted work here, quality work.
- 4:07We have like we have so many like resources that are disposable nowadays, like.
- 4:12You know what I mean? We have Stellantis representatives like here every other day
- 4:15guiding us, and uh, field engineers that live down the street, you know, helping us
- 4:20out on vehicles. Like, that's all there's a lot of resources nowadays, so there's a
- 4:24big push to really grow the dealership for sure.
- 4:27Like, I think we have Stellantis rep here right now actually going through tickets
- 4:30to help us improve, um, you know, with like stories and corrections and whatnot.
- 4:36So, yeah, there's a lot of resources, and there's a lot of uh A lot of help
- 4:39externally trying to grow the dealership for sure, which we didn't have.
- 4:42Yeah, we didn't have like back when you and I were working together, like that
- 4:45really wasn't a thing. Yeah, so it's a lot helpful.
- 4:48Like, you know, there's fixes for vehicles that weren't a thing, and now they're
- 4:52like, actually, okay, this dealership had a customer who had a concern, and it gets
- 4:57to Stellantis, and they're actually going to engineer
- 5:01Certain parts for a specific vehicle to fix it.
- 5:03It's crazy. It's crazy nowadays.
- 5:05How do you feel about service coupons? Do you like giving coupons out?
- 5:09What kind of specials do you guys currently have in service?
- 5:12Just the oil change, like the three for $255.
- 5:15That's not bad. That's not bad. So it is taxed.
- 5:18But you get an oil change in your rotation for $100, which is which beats, what,
- 5:23$160, $150 for that? One time. So, like, three services for $100 each is not bad.
- 5:30And then alignments for $99, which is not bad.
- 5:32That was Adrian's idea. Adrian wanted to give out alignments for $100, which is good
- 5:36because. Um alignments nowadays are not easy.
- 5:39They're not. They there's a lot of them take software, a lot of them take like
- 5:42certain little things, you know. Like I think I think only a certain couple of
- 5:47dealers can actually do alignments on like the new Wagoneers and the new.
- 5:51So a hundred bucks is pretty cheap. That is cheap.
- 5:53A hundred bucks guys for an alignment. So come check us out.
- 5:55That's not bad at all.
- 5:58Let's come see Eric. Sam, have you learned anything regarding
- 6:03like vehicle maintenance because of Eric?
- 6:05Of course, yeah. I talk to Eric every day, so he'll talk to me about like what to do
- 6:09to Jeeps.
- 6:11What's something that has surprised you, like you know, that these technicians these
- 6:15technicians are able to do? Uh, bigger, I don't know, I would say more like bigger
- 6:20jobs, like engine repair. Oh, yeah. Like thing, when I see a car just like
- 6:25completely torn apart, yeah, like the chassis and the frame will be on the ground
- 6:29and the whole entire uh cab will be like up above, lifted.
- 6:34I'm like, oh crap, man. They they can literally take it completely apart.
- 6:39Yeah, not just like, oh, I took the wheel off.
- 6:42Like, they take the whole thing apart. So that's cool.
- 6:44I like it. And it's like a young guy doing it too, like a 20-year-old doing it too.
- 6:48No way. D's D's like what 22, 23? And he's like picking apart a whole engine.
- 6:53It's crazy. Like, if it's nothing, how long does he take?
- 6:56It takes a while. It takes like a week and a half.
- 6:58But like most of the holdup is like parts takes a while, but the job itself,
- 7:02probably like less than a week. Yeah. You can probably do it pretty quickly.
- 7:05The guys are great. They're fast. They're efficient.
- 7:07And they're young guys too. They're learning.
- 7:09They're learning. So
- 7:10That's what I like about the auto group because they want young guys.
- 7:15They want to. You know, instill a new generation to teach them.
- 7:18You know, they're the we send them out, they send them out to training a lot.
- 7:21You know, they send them to Houston so they can learn.
- 7:23Who's the foreman now? I think it's Albert.
- 7:26Albert. Yeah. Well, Albert. Albert Albert.
- 7:28Candelaria? Yeah, he's a shop foreman. He's a shop foreman.
- 7:32And he's working on cars. Wow. Are you kidding?
- 7:35He's working on diesels
- 7:36No. We were going to hire Sam to be shop foreman.
- 7:38Whoa, would you consider it, man? Would you consider?
- 7:40Heck yeah, dude. I already know. Hey, you
- 7:43spent some time with Ellie. How did it, how was it?
- 7:46That was super fun. I actually, so I did those two fuel filters.
- 7:49I did the cabin. You did it.
- 7:51I also replaced the batteries with her, too.
- 7:53That was cool. Yeah, it was a fun time. I had a good time with Ellie.
- 7:56For those of you that don't know, we have a woman in the shop.
- 8:00She's a technician, and it's pretty cool.
- 8:02I never, you know, I was in service. I was doing service for five years, and I never
- 8:07saw a girl. I never saw a woman do that. So, I mean, shout out to Ellie and.
- 8:13I think she's I think she one day she can take over she could be a shop foreman I
- 8:17think she's next service manager service manager let's go that'll be crazy that'd be
- 8:21cool though I didn't know I didn't know Albert was the was the shop foreman now like
- 8:24I'm very happy for him he he's definitely he's been here since the store opened back
- 8:29in five years ago so it's it's it's good stuff
- 8:33How's your communication nowadays with parts department?
- 8:36It's good.
- 8:38I think everybody's really good, you know.
- 8:40I do value customers' time a lot. So, when I look up parts and parts tells me, hey,
- 8:45um, it's gonna take three days to get here.
- 8:47Yeah, then I was like, No, have you guys checked Burns?
- 8:49You need to check all these other dealerships because, I mean, if somebody has it
- 8:52like down the street, like in Corpus, why am I going to wait three days when Corpus
- 8:55can give it to me tomorrow? You know what I mean?
- 8:56So
- 8:58that's what helps out a lot too, is having connections at other dealerships so they
- 9:01can, you know, do you a favor.
- 9:03What's something, Eric, that you think that you're like, oh, sales has it so easy?
- 9:08And then, Sam, what's something that you think like, oh, service has it so easy?
- 9:12That's funny because I don't think sales has it easy.
- 9:14Like, I think being out there, like, you guys work, what, 12 hour shifts like us?
- 9:19But you guys are like out there in the hot sun.
- 9:21Yeah. I don't know how you guys do it. I would never, I don't know.
- 9:24I don't think that's easy at all. But I do think that you guys always deal with the
- 9:27happy customers. You know, like, oh man, getting a new truck.
- 9:29You know, no one can be miserable getting a new vehicle.
- 9:32I think that's, you know.
- 9:33Yeah, that's kind of hard to be, you know, miserable.
- 9:37Unless it's completely broken down and you got to get a new one because your
- 9:39previous is broken down. That's probably stressful,
- 9:41And then, uh, Sam, what do you think? It's something that you think, oh, service
- 9:44has it so easy.
- 9:46I mean, I'm just jealous of that. Like, I like being more at a desk.
- 9:50What did you tell me? What did you tell me?
- 9:52You're like, I hate walking all day, my legs are getting small.
- 9:55Yeah, that's funny. That's the only thing I'm jealous of.
- 9:58I wouldn't even say it's a maybe. That's the easy thing because I think right back
- 10:02to bounce off Eric back at him too. He also has a stressful job.
- 10:06Like they have a lot to deal with. They had to make sure surveys and this, that, the
- 10:08other. Oh, yeah, surveys for sure. You know, I think there's a lot they have to deal
- 10:11with. I wouldn't say it's easy, but something that I wish that I could do.
- 10:15I wish I could be more at the desk instead of like walk the lot and like go back and
- 10:19forth. I still exercise after work. Yeah.
- 10:22But my legs feel destroyed. Oh, yeah, definitely.
- 10:26Destroyed after work.
- 10:27I think that the pressure is always there.
- 10:29Like I think there's pressure in sales and there's pressure in service.
- 10:33It's about how you get it's about how you manage it.
- 10:35Cause when I had that transition from service to sales, I was like, wow.
- 10:39There's so many pros and cons to both positions.
- 10:41We should do like one of these days like Eric will be in sales I'll wear a red shirt
- 10:45and then Sam is in service swap and then just for a day see what happens both
- 10:50departments will fall apart what do you think do you think Sam can handle it in the
- 10:53service I think he'll get overwhelmed with all these key
- 10:54I think he'll be great I mean I think he'll be great as soon as as long as you learn
- 10:59and you're competent and you remember Stuff, you know, be organized.
- 11:02You'll be you'll be fine. We've been trying to get him in service, but AJ's like,
- 11:07you're not going anywhere. What do you think?
- 11:09You think you could do the service advisor job?
- 11:11Yeah, I've uh asked Eric on his day-to-day like what his day looks like, what it's
- 11:16you know, what he does and stuff like that.
- 11:18I'm not saying it's easy, it's not, but I think I would enjoy it.
- 11:22Like, there's lots of just like there's tasks in front of you, like do this, this,
- 11:25this, this.
- 11:26But I think you'll be great at like staying busy because there's always something to
- 11:29do in service. That's what I like. I like when there's like just.
- 11:32The works right there in front of you, like, get this done, get this done, get this
- 11:35done. Yeah, it would keep me on my toes.
- 11:37Sometimes in sales, you kind of got to be working on creating your own traffic.
- 11:41And if you're not doing that, then you're kind of waiting for ups and stuff like
- 11:44that. So there could be a lot of waiting in sales.
- 11:46That's something that is different. Like, there's a lot of waiting in sales.
- 11:50You got to wait for the customer to fill out the credit.
- 11:52If there's, is there if there's waiting in service, like probably an hour and that's
- 11:55about it, then you get snapped again real quick.
- 11:58Because you'll get the next customer and the next customer.
- 12:00In sales, you do have to keep that rapport and keep building that trust.
- 12:05And so that way, the customer continues to come with you.
- 12:07But I had some, I had, I had a some good uh service customers.
- 12:11There was, you also get to build trust that way with your customers.
- 12:14I had customers that would repeatedly come with me or you know, go with you.
- 12:17Yeah, you have your regulars. Yeah, they only ask for you or something like that.
- 12:21Yeah, and then you'll see an appointment there and we're like, oh, snap, I remember
- 12:24him. And then he says your name in the bottom.
- 12:26It's like, it's cool. It feels good like when a customer selects you online and
- 12:29stuff like that. Because they know. Yeah.
- 12:32Yeah. It's pretty cool. It's a cool feeling, you know what I mean?
- 12:34And then, of course, those are the ones that like you know, they come back.
- 12:37And then if they ever need need anything from sales, I'm like, Sam, Sam the Ham,
- 12:41where you at? Hamster? Like,
- 12:45hey, Hamster, I got some for you. So
- 12:48someone called you Sam the Ham. Right, I think it was Adrian.
- 12:51Oh, no, and then I was just like, hamster.
- 12:53I don't know why
- 12:56you called me one day to go to the lunch, like Walk-On's, yeah.
- 12:59And you were like, yo, hamster, let's go to Walk-On's.
- 13:02And it stuck after that. It was like, boom.
- 13:05You're like, what do you call me? And I'm like, hamster.
- 13:07Like,
- 13:08every time, bro, I laugh so hard, bro. It's just, that's, that's funny.
- 13:12And then we go to Walk-On's, and then it's like, it's like, the girl's like, where's
- 13:16your friend? Or like, talk to you guys again.
- 13:18It's like, yeah. Yeah, you guys are buddy buddies.
- 13:21Of course. Eric, would you trust Sam to diagnose your car?
- 13:25Um, yeah, no, I would. You know why? Because Sam can do brakes and stuff like that.
- 13:30I don't even know how to do that. Yeah. Yeah, so I actually used to operate a brake
- 13:33pad repair business. I was the owner operator of it.
- 13:37I left that out before we did the last video on mechanic stuff.
- 13:40But yeah, no, yeah, I know how to work, like work on cars a little bit.
- 13:44What kind of jobs did you use to do just brakes?
- 13:46Mostly brakes. Yeah, I had some people request oil changes, but I would put up signs
- 13:50and advertise a little bit, and then people would call me.
- 13:53You own the shop? I didn't own a shop. I owned just a mobile like service.
- 13:57So I had a vehicle. It was like a Transit.
- 13:59Wow. Yeah, yeah. It was like a year and a half when I was in Utah.
- 14:04I think it was probably like 2019 or something like that.
- 14:08COVID killed my business. So I'm like, no.
- 14:11Yeah, it was tough. But I know, yeah, I used to do it for I would do parts plus $100
- 14:17and just show up to people's work, houses, job, whatever they wanted, and just zip
- 14:21them on, zip them off. And then. Um, or zip them off, zip them on.
- 14:25Yeah, it was easy. It was fun. I liked it.
- 14:27So you could do brakes. Can you do an oil change?
- 14:30Yeah, for sure. Flushes, can you do all those?
- 14:33So probably oil changes and then I don't know, like replace the battery.
- 14:38Just like very like minimal mechanic stuff.
- 14:41I don't even know what the
- 14:43just the battery. That's about it. Damn. The battery, yeah.
- 14:46Battery cabin. And engines about it. The filters.
- 14:50So, like, the sales guy knows how to do more service than I do.
- 14:53Well, that being said, Sam, would you trust Eric to negotiate a good deal for you?
- 14:56Oh, absolutely. Eric freaking knows how to freaking
- 15:00throw around the negotiation skills, baby.
- 15:03I actually wanted to try it out, but I just can't be out in the sun for long periods
- 15:07of time. I just can't. I don't know how y'all do it, man.
- 15:09It's rough, dude. You guys are top-notch.
- 15:12Okay.
- 15:12Who do you out of you guys who would survive the longest without their manager?
- 15:19Eric, for sure. I think so, yeah.
- 15:21Eric's like a master of his craft. I'm like six, seven months into sales.
- 15:26So for me, I'm constantly like at the moment something goes wrong in a car deal,
- 15:32I'll try to fix it. But usually I'm on it.
- 15:34Like, if I'm working a used car deal with Joe, I'll be like, oh, Joe, can you come
- 15:39talk to the customer with me? You know, I feel like Eric, he knows his craft way too
- 15:44well. Like,
- 15:45he can survive without a manager.
- 15:47Yeah, I'll know what to do for sure. You know what to do?
- 15:49I mean, you've been at it a lot longer than Sam has.
- 15:53Yeah, I think so. So that's why I think
- 15:56Sam can, you know, in time, I'm sure he'll be just great too.
- 15:59You've seen so many cars come and go out of the shop.
- 16:02Do you really think that sometimes customers are better off trading their vehicles
- 16:06than repairing their cars?
- 16:07I would say rarely. There are those instances when it's like you know, like when a
- 16:11DPF goes out.
- 16:12Now I feel bad too, but it's like I can't really do anything on my side, you know.
- 16:17No, I can't warranty nothing. You know, simple as that.
- 16:19You know, you gotta pay for it. And then when they pay, you know, 15 grand to 20
- 16:23grand for it or whatever, just the part alone is seven grand.
- 16:26And then you're just like, bro, just trade out of it.
- 16:28But even then, it's not easy to get out of that, right?
- 16:30Sometimes, sometimes it's not.
- 16:32What do you think, Samuel? Let's say that your car is in the shop.
- 16:35It needs an out-of-pocket expense and it's going to be 15 G's.
- 16:38Would you fix your car or get a new one? Oh, dude, I'm kicking that trade.
- 16:43I'm like, yeah, it depends. It depends on my situation, but
- 16:4815K.
- 16:50What if it's on your dream car? What if it's on your McLaren?
- 16:53Okay, okay. Uh, stay tuned, by the way. That might be happening next year.
- 16:57Yeah, a little surprise, surprise.
- 16:59Like a dream car, oh, for sure. But then I'm gonna try and see what type of, I don't
- 17:03know, like if it's a regular car, I'm thinking of like if I put 15 grand into this
- 17:07car right now and something goes wrong again, then I'm digging more and more into it
- 17:12to a deep hole. Yeah.
- 17:13But yeah, like if it was like my next car I'm gonna get, oh I'd be severely
- 17:19disappointed, but I would do it.
- 17:20Well, what about for you? If it's your dream car, what's your dream car?
- 17:23100%. We had one here recently, like a month and a half ago.
- 17:26It was a red eye, Hellcat Red Eye.
- 17:27Your dad had one, right? Yeah, my dad had one, it was crazy, bro.
- 17:31That's why I knew how to drive it. I knew how to like
- 17:34control it and stuff like that. You gotta know how to control it because I think it
- 17:37will slide easily. That's crazy. Most people do not know how to drive those cars,
- 17:42they're too much horsepower, and the average individual that doesn't know how to do
- 17:45it is gonna wreck
- 17:47I mean, but what would you pick, Sam? Like a Corvette or
- 17:51Hellcat Corvettes. If it's between those two.
- 17:54What do you think? I already know what you're going to say.
- 17:57I'd have to go with a Corvette, bro.
- 18:00I already know you. Corvette's more my like, so I've changed styles throughout my
- 18:04years. I used to be like more of like, I would have went just as fast as possible,
- 18:09Hellcat. But I love, love, like between those two, I love the look of the Corvettes
- 18:15a lot. And they're nice. Yeah, it's just more my style.
- 18:19Like the way I dress, the way I. Try and like that that matches how I want, yeah.
- 18:25Like, that would vibe with
- 18:27it. I will love Hellcats too, but the Corvette's more of my choice, yeah, for sure.
- 18:32Eric knew well, what about for you? Hellcat
- 18:36100%. I just love the way the Challenger looks, you know.
- 18:39Like, at first, when they brought it back in the day, like the muscle car look, I
- 18:43just to me, it's like peak. Yeah, I mean, I think uh, if Chevrolet did something
- 18:47like that, like brought back a muscle car-looking vehicle, it'd be super.
- 18:50Cool. Yeah. Now that I think about it, you guys are like on the opposite spectrums.
- 18:53Like you're such a golden retriever and you're such like a black cat kind of person.
- 18:58But somehow you guys, somehow you guys are best friends.
- 19:00Yeah, like definitely Sam wears like, you know, real dressed up out of his Corvette
- 19:05and me out come out with joggers. Yeah, yeah.
- 19:07Like a hoodie, you know what I mean? Like, dude, chilling.
- 19:10Actually fun fact about Eric. He has like basketball player leg muscles, bro.
- 19:15Like, he's got like big legs. Not as big as Sam's own.
- 19:18No, man. He's got big legs. Sam mogs me in the size for sure.
- 19:25I mean, you play basketball a lot. Like, do you think.
- 19:28Sam, do you think you can beat him at basketball?
- 19:30No, no, not right now. Like, you're not good at basketball, Sam?
- 19:33I'm okay at it. I'm okay, but like, what sport do you think you're like?
- 19:39What sports did you play? Do you play football?
- 19:41Yeah, I played football. You're like football player.
- 19:43This guy's like, for sure, like, tight end
- 19:46or
- 19:47like or like what linebacker? I mean, I did.
- 19:51I was a running back and then I did outfield it for baseball.
- 19:55I was wrong. Oh, you did baseball? Yeah, I did baseball.
- 19:58I don't know. I feel like Eric's fast. Like, I feel like he runs fast.
- 20:01Yeah, Eric is fast. I love to run. I love to run.
- 20:03Next time we're going to do a race and let's see who wins out of you.
- 20:06And Adrian's going to participate. I don't know, dude.
- 20:08Adrian, too. Yeah, Adrian will do it. Adrian would love that.
- 20:11All righty guys, so there's definitely there's there's got to be a part two with you
- 20:15guys.
- 20:15But I know you guys are busy and we all got to get back to work.
- 20:17Come see us off the side of the freeway if you need any service done.
- 20:20Come see Eric the man, Eric the man.
- 20:24Three oil changes for $255 plus tax, alignments $99.95,
- 20:27Thank you guys for being part of the Smoke Break podcast.
- 20:30We'll see you guys on the next one.