Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins

Chris Collins
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Service Drive Revolution, the #1 fixed ops podcast, hosted by Chris "Bulldog" Collins since 2013 with 360+ episodes helps Service Advisors, Service Managers, dealership leaders, and independent shop owners build more profitable Service Departments. Service Advisor Training. Service Manager Coaching & Automotive Fixed Ops drawing on 25+ years of experience, Chris shares practical systems for customer communication, technician hiring, retention, leadership, and Service Drive performance. Learn how to improve Effective Labor Rate (ELR), Hours Per Repair Order (HPRO), Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), and customer-pay sales. Explore episodes, interviews & actionable training clips. Chris Collins Inc. offers dealership coaching, books like Millionaire Service Advisor, and SDR Academy: 700+ on-demand videos courses & live classes with Q&A from Automotive Fixed Ops professionals. chriscollinsinc.com Sponsorship inquiries: info@chriscollinsinc.com

  1. 2d ago

    How To Drive More Traffic To Your Service Drive | SDR #379

    Does your Service Department really need more traffic—or are you paying to acquire customers your existing process will lose? In Service Drive Revolution #378, Chris "Bulldog" Collins, Hogi and Adam break down how dealerships and independent repair shops can increase repair-order traffic without relying on ineffective blanket coupons or expensive advertising. The team explains why retention should come before acquisition, especially when many dealerships lose customers after the warranty period. They cover appointment reminders, declined-work follow-up, lost-customer campaigns, social media storytelling, local events, AEO visibility and the strategic role of a properly managed Service BDC. Chris also explains why Service Departments should stop posting generic vehicle content and start telling stories about customers, lifestyles and vehicle ownership. Plus: How to track marketing with dedicated op codes, why BDC employees should be compensated for customers who actually show up and why a great customer experience remains the most powerful traffic strategy. 🔥 KEY TAKEAWAYS Retention Before Acquisition: Keeping an existing customer is easier and less expensive than purchasing another one through advertising. Fix the Experience First: More traffic only exposes a broken phone process, long appointment delays, weak communication or poor customer experience. Use Multiple Reminder Channels: Schedule the next visit before the customer leaves, then use stickers, email, direct mail and phone calls. Recover Lost Opportunities: Call customers with declined work, missed appointments and overdue maintenance. Tell Stories on Social Media: Lifestyle, personality, expertise and real customer stories outperform generic vehicle photos and promotional posts. Prepare for AI Search: AEO helps dealerships and repair shops become visible when customers ask ChatGPT and other AI platforms for recommendations. Use Events to Build Relationships: Car-care clinics and partnerships with complementary local businesses create traffic, loyalty and vehicle-sales opportunities. Turn the BDC Into a Force Multiplier: Compensate BDC representatives for completed shows—not appointments—and use them for outbound campaigns and no-show recovery. Track Every Campaign: Dedicated op codes reveal whether incentives and promotions generated incremental traffic or merely discounted existing customers. Stop Blanket Discounting: A coupon redeemed by someone who already needed a tow did not create the repair order. FAQ Q: How can a dealership increase Service Department traffic? A: Start with retention, reminders, declined-work calls, lost-customer campaigns, social media, local events, AI visibility and a properly managed Service BDC. Q: Why is customer retention better than advertising? A: Acquiring a new service customer can be expensive. If the experience remains poor, the dealership pays for a customer who visits once and leaves again. Q: What customers should a Service BDC contact? A: No-shows, customers with declined work, overdue maintenance customers, lost customers and owners who have not used prepaid services. Q: Should BDC employees be paid for appointments? A: Chris recommends rewarding completed shows. An appointment has little value if the customer never arrives. Q: How should a Service Department use social media? A: Share useful expertise, customer stories, vehicle lifestyles and the people behind the department—not only promotions and delivery photos. Q: What is AEO? A: Answer Engine Optimization helps a business become understandable, verifiable and recommendable when customers search through AI platforms. Q: Why don't generic service coupons work? A: Many are redeemed by customers who were already coming in, meaning the dealership discounts work without generating incremental traffic. Q: What is the best way to increase repair-order count? A: Make service easy, answer the phone, reduce appointment delays, communicate consistently and give customers an experience worth returning to. 0:00 How to Drive More Service Traffic 2:50 Repair-Order Disclaimers and Vehicle Damage 4:53 Why Customer Relationships Beat Being Right 8:02 What Top Dealerships Do Differently 10:01 The Energy of a High-Performing Service Drive 12:15 Broken Windows and Broken Businesses 14:17 Top Dog 2026 Preview 22:14 SDR Academy and Consistent CSI 23:14 Why Service Traffic Is Declining 25:22 Retention vs. Customer Acquisition 26:24 Appointment and Maintenance Reminders 28:02 Declined Work and Lost-Customer Calls 29:04 Social Media for Service Departments 34:14 Tell Stories Instead of Posting Promotions 36:05 SEO, AEO and the Future of AI Search 38:34 Events and Car-Care Clinics 39:12 Fix the Customer Experience First 42:41 Service Advisors vs. the BDC 45:00 Recovering No-Shows 46:21 Turning Monthly Losses Into Daily RO Goals 48:12 BDC Phone Training and Role-Playing 51:30 Tracking Campaigns With Dedicated Op Codes 53:21 Why Blanket Coupons Fail 56:09 The Most Effective Traffic Strategy 59:23 Final Thoughts 📞 GOT A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN? Call 833-3-ASK-SDR—we answer on the show! Get special deals on our books and training at offers.chriscollinsinc.com! #ServiceDriveRevolution #FixedOps #ServiceMarketing #CustomerRetention #DealershipBDC #ServiceManager #ServiceAdvisor #AutomotiveAEO #DealershipTraining #RepairOrder #CustomerExperience #AutomotiveLeadership #ChrisBulldogCollins 🛑 Service Drive Revolution OnDemand Training: https://chriscollinsinc.com/ondemand/ 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best-selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR 🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Grab Chris' Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

  2. Oct 5

    Best Service Advisor Training Has... | SDR Live #378

    In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, Chris "Bulldog" Collins, Hogi, and Adam expose why traditional sales-heavy coaching fails, and prove why our proven approach defines the gold standard for Service Advisor Training. Discover why treating advisors like high-pressure retail salespeople alienates customers, and learn how true Service Advisor Training focuses on consumer psychology, building lifelong trust, and treating your desk as a business inside of a business. The team also breaks down the brutal realities of making the jump from advisor to manager, major industry shifts like Amazon's entry into new car sales, and what it really takes to master fixed operations leadership. 🔥 KEY TAKEAWAYS - True Service Advisor Training proves that service advisors are not traditional salespeople; their real power lies in building trust, making friends, and collecting long-term "key throwers". - Conventional, sales-heavy Service Advisor Training that forces heavy-handed closing techniques and objection-handling creates an adversarial relationship that drives customers away. - The absolute best Service Advisor Training must be backed by an operational system designed to support advisors without overwhelming shop capacity and workflow. - Moving from an advisor to a service manager is not an easier path, it demands entirely different leadership skills, high mental bandwidth, and a toolbox built for team motivation. - New managers must avoid the trap of working harder themselves instead of coaching, inspiring, and scaling performance across their entire team. - The ultimate measures of a successful service department under top-tier Service Advisor Training are sustained profitability and a world-class customer experience. FAQ Q: What makes our approach the gold standard for Service Advisor Training? A: Our Service Advisor Training focuses on customer psychology, long-term retention, and building a business inside of a business, rather than pushing aggressive, outdated sales tactics. Q: Why do most third-party Service Advisor Training programs fail? A: Most programs fail because they are designed by generic sales trainers who have never written an RO, and they are implemented without adjusting the underlying shop workflow or capacity. Q: Is transitioning from a service advisor to a service manager a good career move? A: It is a massive shift that requires deep leadership and operational oversight. Effective Service Advisor Training helps bridge the gap, but management brings heavy responsibilities as a mentor, therapist, and problem-solver. Q: What are the primary focus areas of elite Service Advisor Training? A: Elite Service Advisor Training prioritizes seamless start-to-finish customer care, transparent communication, and symbiotic technician relations to maximize net profit and customer trust. #ServiceAdvisorTraining #ServiceDriveRevolution #FixedOps #ServiceManager #AutomotiveManagement #ChrisBulldogCollins 📞 GOT A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN? Call 833-3-ASK-SDR—we answer on the show! 🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/?=sdrpod 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR 🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Chris' Top-Selling Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

    Best Service Advisor Training Has... | SDR Live #378

  3. Sep 21

    You Don't Need Advisor Training | SDR #377

    In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, Chris "Bulldog" Collins, Hogi and Adam explain why training advisors before fixing the operating system can make a service drive worse. If advisors sell more work but the shop cannot complete it, repair orders stall, promise times slip, customers become frustrated and advisors quickly stop presenting additional work. Why won't service advisor training fix an underperforming dealership service department? Because weak sales, poor communication, low CSI and declining profitability are often symptoms of broken processes, insufficient shop capacity and inconsistent workflow—not a lack of sales technique. The team breaks down what dealership owners, general managers, fixed operations directors and service managers should examine first: appointment spacing, advisor-to-technician ratios, shop loading, declined work, customer communication, technician efficiency, compensation, financial visibility and one standardized process from appointment through vehicle delivery. 🔥 KEY TAKEAWAYS • Diagnose the system before blaming or retraining the service advisors. • Many "declined" services were never clearly presented, were not understood or were offered after the customer arrived to collect the vehicle. • Additional sales create bigger problems when technician capacity and workflow cannot absorb the work. • Six advisors should not be operating six different service processes. • A successful advisor cannot overcome a broken appointment, dispatch or communication system. • Service department performance should be measured by customer trust and a healthy, profitable net—not gross sales alone. • Service managers need access to financial statements and net-to-gross performance to manage the business effectively. • Standardized processes protect customers and employees from daily chaos and inconsistent expectations. FAQ Q: Does service advisor training increase hours per repair order? A: It can improve sales technique and hours per RO, but that gain may not improve net profit or customer experience if the shop lacks capacity, workflow discipline or a consistent operating process. Q: Why are service advisors not selling recommended work? A: Advisors may be unable to reach customers, may present work too late, or may know the shop cannot complete additional repairs within the promised time. The cause is often operational rather than motivational. Q: What should a dealership fix before training service advisors? A: Review appointment spacing, shop capacity, technician staffing, advisor-to-technician ratios, dispatch, communication, declined-work follow-up and the complete customer process from arrival through delivery. Q: Why can advisor training make a service department worse? A: Better selling creates more work. If the shop cannot process that work, delays and broken promises increase. Advisors then abandon the training because using it repeatedly creates unhappy customers. Q: What should fixed operations leaders prioritize? A: Build a repeatable process that produces two outcomes: customers who trust the dealership and want to return, and a service department that is consistently profitable. Q: Should service managers receive dealership financial statements? A: Yes. Service managers need financial visibility to understand whether labor gross is creating a healthy net profit and whether spending is eroding department performance. CHAPTERS 0:00 Why You Don't Need Service Advisor Training 1:40 Chicago Bears, Football and Fan Loyalty 7:19 The Seattle Homeless Story 9:34 Chaos During the Los Angeles Boot Camp 13:36 Andrew Bustamante and the Top Dog Event 15:01 Tesla Self-Driving and the Future of Commuting 21:06 Can Legacy Automakers Compete With Tesla and BYD? 28:10 What Will Fully Autonomous Cars Look Like? 32:14 Why Service Advisor Training Is Usually the Wrong Fix 35:27 What Declined Service Work Really Means 38:25 Customer Experience and Service Department Profitability 38:59 Shop Capacity, Loading and Technician Efficiency 40:06 Paying Advisors on Warranty and Internal Work 42:50 Systems First, People Second 44:34 Why Profitability Must Come Before Training 48:27 Does Your Service Drive Have a Standardized Process? 50:05 Six Advisors Shouldn't Have Six Different Processes 51:18 The Fundamentals That Actually Increase Service Sales 53:53 Why Service Managers Need Financial Visibility 56:35 Final Thoughts and Closing 📞 GOT A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN? Call 833-3-ASK-SDR—we answer on the show! 🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/?=sdrpod 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/  🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Chris' Top-Selling Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

  4. Sep 14

    Avoiding Socialsm in the Service Drive | SDR #376

    Socialism in the service drive starts the same way every time: top performers get capped, weak performers get carried, and the whole shop drifts toward the middle. In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, Chris Collins, Adam Krey, and Hogi break down how to spot it early and what to do strategically to keep your service department on the capitalist side of the coin. This is the follow-up to last week's episode, which sparked a huge conversation in the comments — so this one is a live Q&A. Questions from dealers, service managers, and advisors get answered on air. What is "socialism in the service drive"? It's when pay, work distribution, and recognition get flattened so that effort and results no longer determine outcome. Hours get spread evenly instead of earned. Underperformers are protected. Your best advisors and techs subsidize everyone else — and eventually they leave. Why does it matter? Your top 20% drive the majority of your gross. The moment they realize their production is being redistributed, you lose them to the store down the street. Fixed operations lives or dies on retaining high performers. What you'll learn in this episode: - The warning signs that your service drive is drifting toward a socialist structure - How pay plans quietly reward mediocrity and punish production - Why "fairness" and "equality" are not the same thing on a service drive - Strategic moves to protect your top performers and your gross - Live answers to viewer questions from the Q&A Who this is for: Service managers, fixed operations directors, dealer principals, service advisors, and technicians at franchised dealerships in the US and Canada. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 — Welcome to Service Drive Revolution + today's topic 02:22 — Why we banned Kindles (you don't actually own the book) 06:14 — Adam finally joins the Apple ecosystem 09:14 — Forgotten towns: Cairo, Illinois and the Rust Belt 11:25 — Why aren't factories going where people want to work? 14:11 — No housing, no retail, no comeback 17:35 — The Bentonville blueprint for reviving a town 18:19 — The redevelopment playbook: retail first, then apartments 21:27 — Marketing lesson: go young to sell the older buyer 24:46 — Manufacturing is skipping the towns that need it most 25:31 — Q&A: Technician minimum standards with too many techs 26:19 — Guarantee opportunity, not pay 27:29 — Pay plans that reward mediocrity 27:51 — The 80% warranty / 20% customer pay trap 28:15 — Warranty reimbursement laws and why techs want hourly 30:11 — Is your advisor pay plan too complicated? 31:00 — "How many techs will follow you?" — the best interview question 32:31 — Why only 2 or 3 of 12 techs are high performers 34:07 — Q&A: Are dealers pushing for socialism? 35:18 — Why the car business runs on self-agency 36:30 — Career path: the #1 reason techs quit early 38:34 — The ASR closing percentage trap 40:29 — Chasing metrics that look good vs. make money 41:14 — Hire disciplined: look for assassins, not resumes 42:25 — Techs can already name their price 43:59 — The vocational school gap 46:43 — Dealers recruiting straight out of high schools 49:02 — Dealerships as the fabric of the community 49:46 — Older techs vs. younger techs in the shop 52:00 — The industry has to evolve or get left behind 🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/?=sdrpod 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR 🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Chris' Top-Selling Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

    Avoiding Socialsm in the Service Drive | SDR #376

  5. Sep 7

    Socialism In The Service Drive | SDR #375

    Is socialism coming to your service drive? In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, Chris Collins, Chris Hogland, and Adam Krey dig into one of the biggest conversations building inside fixed operations: technician pay, flat rate vs. hourly, student debt, apprenticeship programs, entitlement, leadership, and why dealerships have to stop ignoring the people who actually produce the labor. The team also answers a live fixed ops question about labor gross percentage, posted labor rate, and Effective Labor Rate. Chris explains why posted labor rate is one of the least important numbers in the service department, why ELR is the number that actually matters, and how smart dealerships separate labor into categories like competitive labor, maintenance labor, repair labor, diagnosis, diesel, and heavy-duty labor. If you are a service manager, fixed ops director, dealer principal, general manager, technician, or advisor, this episode is about the future of your service department. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Welcome to Service Drive Revolution 01:05 SDR Live Academy and weekly live training 03:00 Top Dog 2026 and transcending the service drive 09:30 Why service managers should think bigger 13:20 Listener question: labor gross, door rate, and ELR 16:45 Why posted labor rate does not matter as much as ELR 21:00 Competitive labor, maintenance labor, repair labor, and diagnosis 25:30 How smart pricing strategy increases ELR 30:00 Is socialism coming to the service drive? 35:30 Student debt, college, trades, and workforce problems 42:00 Why the technician shortage is bigger than pay 47:00 Flat rate vs. hourly technician pay 52:30 Heavy-truck shops, car dealerships, and productivity gaps 58:00 Technician frustration and the future of fixed ops 1:05:00 Why dealerships need better systems for technicians 1:10:00 Final thoughts and SDR Live Academy invitation KEY FIXED OPS LESSON: Your service department does not make money because your posted labor rate looks good on the wall. It makes money when your advisors, technicians, managers, pricing strategy, inspection process, and leadership system work together. Effective Labor Rate, Hours Per RO, technician productivity, advisor communication, customer trust, and shop flow are all connected. FAQ: What is Effective Labor Rate?  Effective Labor Rate, or ELR, is the actual labor revenue your service department collects per flagged technician hour. It is different from the posted labor rate because it reflects the real money collected after maintenance pricing, repair pricing, warranty, internal labor, discounts, and labor mix. Why does Chris Collins say posted labor rate does not matter?  The posted labor rate is only one number. Customers care more about the outcome, the repair, the trust, and the experience. A dealership can have a high posted rate and still have weak ELR if the pricing strategy, advisor process, and labor mix are broken. How can a dealership improve ELR? A dealership can improve ELR by separating labor categories, improving advisor communication, reducing unnecessary discounting, selling maintenance consistently, inspecting every vehicle properly, tracking labor mix, and holding the team accountable to the right KPIs. Is flat rate good or bad for technicians? Flat rate can be powerful for productive technicians because it gives them more control over their income. But if the shop is poorly dispatched, badly managed, under-supplied, or unfair with warranty time, flat rate can feel broken. The pay plan is only as good as the system around it. Why are technicians leaving the automotive industry? Technicians often leave because of workflow problems, pay frustration, lack of respect, poor leadership, warranty time issues, weak career paths, and shop cultures that treat technicians as an afterthought. What is SDR Live Academy? SDR Live Academy is the live fixed ops training community from Chris Collins Inc., built for service managers, advisors, fixed ops leaders, and operators who want real-time coaching, practical systems, and ongoing training. Ready to train your service drive? Join SDR Live Academy and get access to live fixed ops training, Service Advisor training, Service Manager University, technician recruiting systems, BDC training, OnDemand courses, and the Top Dog Underground   🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/?=sdrpod 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR 🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Chris' Top-Selling Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

  6. Aug 31

    SDR #374: Fixed Ops Should Carry Dealerships

    Why isn't Fixed Ops saving dealerships while vehicle sales and front-end gross are falling? In Service Drive Revolution #374, Chris, Hogi and Adam examine why service and parts departments are remaining flat when they should be carrying dealership overhead. Customers are keeping vehicles longer and driving more, yet many stores are booked out for weeks, losing customer-pay work and allowing independent shops to capture market share. The team identifies technician capacity as the primary constraint. When warranty repair orders begin matching or exceeding customer-pay ROs, it may reveal that customers who have a choice are going elsewhere. Chris explains why dealers must add technicians before the shop feels ready, price labor correctly and stop waiting for the mythical "unicorn" tech. They also challenge leaders to mystery-shop their own appointment process, reinvest in customer experience and replace systems that have barely evolved in a century. Plus: Is the AI bubble finally popping? The crew discusses failed AI phone systems, advisor kiosks and why AI works best as a tool that amplifies expertise—not as a replacement for human relationships. KEY TAKEAWAYS * Fixed Ops Should Carry the Store: When sales decline, service and parts should protect dealership profitability. * Capacity Is the Constraint: Being booked out sends urgent customer-pay work to competitors. * Watch the RO Mix: Warranty ROs exceeding customer-pay ROs can reveal technician shortages and lost retention. * Hire Before It Feels Comfortable: More technicians can improve work distribution, efficiency and available capacity. * Price Labor for Reality: Labor rates should reflect technician compensation, demand and the cost of timely service. * AI Should Amplify Talent: It can accelerate research, coding & internal systems, but cannot replace customer connection.  * Mystery-Shop the Process: Leaders often don't know how difficult their own BDC & appointment experience has become. FAQ Q: Why isn't Fixed Ops saving struggling dealerships? A: Many departments lack technician capacity, lose customer-pay work, use outdated systems and underinvest in retention and customer experience. Q: What does it mean when warranty ROs exceed customer-pay ROs? A: Warranty customers must return to the brand, while customer-pay clients can leave. A rising warranty mix may mean customers with choices are defecting. Q: Should a dealership hire technicians before its current techs are fully efficient? A: Yes. Additional capacity can improve workflow and efficiency while allowing the dealership to capture more work. Q: Should higher technician pay reduce service gross? A: It does not have to. Labor rates can be adjusted to reflect technician wages, market demand and the cost of timely service. Q: Can AI replace Service Advisors or the BDC? A: The team says current AI is better used as support. Advisors create trust, validation and relationships that automation cannot reproduce. Chapters 0:00 Live From Indiana 1:45 Why Isn't Fixed Ops Saving Dealerships? 2:35 Summer, Boats and Power-Sports Dealers 8:30 Buying Without a Test Drive 9:25 The Power-Sports Technician Shortage 1 0:20 Seasonal Service and Motorcycle Storage 17:55 Power-Sports Absorption 19:20 Parts and Service Between Two Flames 22:35 Is the AI Bubble Popping? 24:00 Tablets, Kiosks and Digital Inspection Hype 26:35 Why AI Phone Systems Are Failing 27:20 Where AI Actually Saves Time 30:40 AI vs. Human Customer Service 33:20 Use AI to Amplify Expertise 36:50 AI Is Changing Search 37:50 Why Fixed Ops Historically Carried Dealerships 40:55 Falling Sales and Flat Fixed Ops 44:00 Technician Capacity Is the First Problem 44:30 Warranty vs. Customer-Pay ROs 46:00 Add Capacity Before the Constraint 47:00 Why Independents Are Gaining Market Share 48:40 Mystery-Shop Your Dealership 50:40 Paying More for Technicians 53:25 Antiquated Dealership Systems 54:00 Consolidation and Customer Experience 57:20 Fixed Ops as a Force Multiplier 59:00 Dealership Leadership Needs Fixed Ops Experience 1:00:40 Final Thoughts 📞 GOT A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN? Call 833-3-ASK-SDR — we answer on the show! 🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/ 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best-selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR 🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Grab Chris' New Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

    SDR #374: Fixed Ops Should Carry Dealerships

  7. Aug 24

    SDR #373: 5 Things Great Service Managers Do

    Great service managers don't simply survive the month—they build stronger teams, improve the customer experience and create consistently profitable service departments. In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, automotive fixed operations expert Chris Collins reveals five overlooked habits that separate great dealership service managers from average ones. Great service managers: 1. Reject the status quo and continually improve their processes. 2. Know their numbers and understand how to change them. 3. Become "people collectors" who constantly recruit, develop and retain talented employees. 4. Make the customer experience easy, trustworthy and worth returning for. 5. Find coaches and mentors who challenge them to keep learning. Chris explains why dealership service departments are closed-loop systems, how tribal knowledge keeps managers trapped in outdated processes and why exceptional performance can actually make a manager's job easier—not harder. The conversation also examines service department profitability, net-to-gross, unproductive wages, CSI, NPS, technician recruiting, service advisor performance and customer retention. You'll learn why sales scripts and objection handling cannot replace customer trust, why technology such as video multipoint inspections cannot fix a broken process and why successful service managers are always recruiting. Chris also discusses former CIA intelligence officer Andrew Bustamante and his book Outsmart Everyone: Spy Skills to Gain an Unfair Advantage in Work and Life. The team explores charisma, vulnerability, intentional leadership, parenting and the ability to make genuine connections with people. This episode is for: Dealer principals General managers Fixed operations directors Service managers Parts managers Service advisors Automotive technicians Dealership and repair-shop leaders. If you want a healthier, more profitable automotive service operation, this episode provides a practical leadership framework you can immediately apply. 🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/?=sdrpod 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR 🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Chris' Top-Selling Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com Chapters: 0:00 Introduction — Five Things Great Service Managers Do 1:02 Andrew Bustamante's New Book and CIA Wisdom 7:35 The Jason Kelce Lookalike Story 14:06 Team Travel and the Airbnb Debate 18:00 Credit Card Roulette 21:38 The Five Traits Great Service Managers Share 22:17 #1: They Reject the Status Quo 28:18 #2: They Know Their Numbers 30:20 #3: They're People Collectors 34:09 #4: They Make the Customer Experience Easy 40:57 #5: They Have Coaches and Mentors 46:10 Real Dealership Results and Momentum 50:23 Recap: All Five Traits 51:02 SDR Academy and Closing

    SDR #373: 5 Things Great Service Managers Do

  8. Aug 17

    SDR #372: BDC: AI or Humans - What's Better?

    Should your dealership replace its human BDC with AI? Not so fast. In SDR #372, Chris Collins, Hogi, and Adam break down what AI phone systems can—and still can't—do inside a dealership service department. Drawing on experience inside hundreds of dealerships, the team compares AI and human BDCs based on the outcome that actually matters: loading the shop, retaining customers, and creating a better service experience. AI can be a useful tool, but it doesn't know when a technician calls out, when a repair becomes a holdover, when the shop runs out of work, or when a customer's situation requires judgment and empathy. A trained BDC employee can react in real time, build relationships, recover missed opportunities, and become part of your dealership's future advisor bench. In this episode: • Why dealerships are rushing into AI-powered BDCs • The customer-service failures that expose AI's limitations • How one dealership chatbot reportedly agreed to sell a Tahoe for $1 • Why your BDC must understand what is happening inside the shop • How outbound calls recover declined work, no-shows, and lost customers • Why a human BDC can improve retention and manufacturer maintenance utilization  • How the BDC develops your next generation of service advisors • Where AI belongs today—and why dealerships shouldn't go all-in yet The question isn't simply whether AI costs less. The real question is whether you're trying to save a nickel today or build a stronger, more profitable customer base for the future. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to Service Drive Revolution 01:00 AI or humans: Which BDC is better? 02:11 Driverless cars and the limits of automation 05:25 Bill Nye and Books That Changed My Life 11:49 A $600 customer-service nightmare 16:38 When airline AI can't solve the problem 22:01 The chatbot that sold a Tahoe for $1 23:00 Why AI still requires human oversight 28:19 Companies bring human employees back 33:14 The dealership BDC debate begins 34:15 Why AI phone vendors are everywhere 35:25 Are you saving money or making money? 36:46 Customers still want a real person 37:06 What a service BDC should actually accomplish 38:53 Outbound calls, retention, and declined work 40:26 The advantage of an in-house human BDC 41:26 Your BDC is your future service-advisor bench 43:40 The verdict: Is AI ready to replace your BDC? 47:09 Join the SDR Academy #ServiceDriveRevolution #AutomotiveBDC #FixedOperations 🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/?=sdrpod 🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min 🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ 🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR  🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ 🛑 Chris' Top-Selling Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

    SDR #372: BDC: AI or Humans - What's Better?
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Service Drive Revolution, the #1 fixed ops podcast, hosted by Chris "Bulldog" Collins since 2013 with 360+ episodes helps Service Advisors, Service Managers, dealership leaders, and independent shop owners build more profitable Service Departments. Service Advisor Training. Service Manager Coaching & Automotive Fixed Ops drawing on 25+ years of experience, Chris shares practical systems for customer communication, technician hiring, retention, leadership, and Service Drive performance. Learn how to improve Effective Labor Rate (ELR), Hours Per Repair Order (HPRO), Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), and customer-pay sales. Explore episodes, interviews & actionable training clips. Chris Collins Inc. offers dealership coaching, books like Millionaire Service Advisor, and SDR Academy: 700+ on-demand videos courses & live classes with Q&A from Automotive Fixed Ops professionals. chriscollinsinc.com Sponsorship inquiries: info@chriscollinsinc.com

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