The Gearbox Podcast

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
Welcome to the Gearbox Podcast, where we dive deep into the dynamic world of automotive repair and ownership. I'm your host, Jimmy Purdy, an experienced technician turned shop owner with a passion for sharing insights, stories and conversations with industry leaders. This is the Gearbox podcast.

David Boyd [00:00:33]:
I can hear myself.

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:34]:
I don't want to go too Antique Roadshow on you. You can hear that background?

David Boyd [00:00:38]:
Totally.

Parker Branch [00:00:38]:
Yeah, absolutely. Should we hold our hands over the room?

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:43]:
That's a little better. Like there. Wrong.

David Boyd [00:00:45]:
That sounds good. If you get in real close, right?

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:47]:
Yeah. I'm gonna turn the gain down. Look, I can slowly make the people just disappear. I wish I could do that every day.

David Boyd [00:00:56]:
The people in your head.

Jimmy Purdy [00:00:57]:
Yeah, exactly. Okay. I can just make them quiet. Just with a turn of a switch like that. Let's have to talk. Turn it up real loud and post production.

David Boyd [00:01:05]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:05]:
As long as you can hear me.

David Boyd [00:01:07]:
I can hear you.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:07]:
Okay, good. All right. This is rad on.

David Boyd [00:01:10]:
I don't want to get too far.

Parker Branch [00:01:10]:
Away into the Gearbox.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:12]:
That's right.

David Boyd [00:01:12]:
Should I be in really close or is out here? Okay. That's about the same.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:15]:
That sounds good. Yeah. The Antique Roadshow. Man, that's fantastic. What do you have next that you're gonna display?

David Boyd [00:01:25]:
That's right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:27]:
You know what? Leanne's got a friend that she came into town and. Or had a friend that was selling something out of town to that guy and I guess they had like. I guess he's kind of a dick. I don't know. She's all excited and had this like relic and he's like, this isn't worth anything.

Parker Branch [00:01:44]:
Ooh, that sounds like a little off camera moment.

David Boyd [00:01:47]:
Wow.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:48]:
Yeah. I didn't want anything to do with her, so she was pretty upset about it. But anyway, enough about the Antique Roadshow.

David Boyd [00:01:54]:
Yeah. Enough about the antique Road Show.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:55]:
Let's talk about Apex 2024.

David Boyd [00:01:57]:
Welcome to Apex.

Jimmy Purdy [00:01:58]:
This is rad, huh?

Parker Branch [00:01:59]:
Pretty cool place.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:00]:
Yeah. I appreciate you guys coming in.

Parker Branch [00:02:02]:
Absolutely. Glad to be here.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:04]:
Day number one. So you're all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Parker Branch [00:02:08]:
Well, we've already walked around a couple hours, so I'm disoriented and confused. But it's pretty exciting.

David Boyd [00:02:14]:
Somehow I can see how many steps I've had and I'm sure that it is many, many times my normal day already. It's 4:00.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:22]:
It's enough, huh? It's enough. We can take a seat.

David Boyd [00:02:24]:
All right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:25]:
A couple frequents. I guess we'll call now. So David Boyd and Parker.

Parker Branch [00:02:30]:
Parker Branch.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:31]:
Yes. Out of mind there for a second. It Happens. So one of the things I want to talk about was you are now a coach. I don't think we talked about that last time we were at Mars.

Parker Branch [00:02:43]:
No, I don't think we did.

Jimmy Purdy [00:02:45]:
Were you facilitating then or was that on the table?

Parker Branch [00:02:49]:
I believe, yeah. By the time I was at Mars, I did actually have some one on one coaching clients for the institute. Let Cecil know towards the end of last year that I was thinking that might be a path later on for me and they immediately jumped on and said, well, let's get it doing now. And I was a little bit of whoa. But yeah, so I got a chance to shadow Cecil for quite a few months the end of last year and start sharing some of what they taught me and what I've learned from him as well.

Jimmy Purdy [00:03:22]:
Yeah, that's cool. I mean one of the big things like with communication, right Dave, is like we talk about this when we talk was like coaching and how important it is and, and not so much that, but all the different aspects. And I think that's kind of one of the lost things with a lot of shop owners is like it's just one thing you do and that fixes everything, right. And it's like all the different episodes that I've had on the show here is like it just kind of encapsulates like all the different aspects that it takes and like how you have to really like what's your take on coaching?

David Boyd [00:03:50]:
Well, I think it's always happening. Coaching is ongoing, constantly being teachable, whether you're an owner, an advisor, a technician, constantly being teachable is super important. It's a mindset that's important. I think people that have that, that mind they've made up in their mind, I'm going to be looking for something to learn. Those are the coachable people. So then those that seek out coaching and training are going to continue to get better and those who don't, you know, ultimately wind up being left behind in some way. So consistency is the key to any type of coaching, whether it's advisor training or if it's, you know, personal development, business coaching, maybe. I'm a shop owner and I'm participating.

David Boyd [00:04:31]:
So consistency in being involved is super important. For advisor training. Consistency of training is super important. Maybe it's the things that I touch, which has a lot to do with the phone calls and if it's just one, you know, sit down every six months that turns into more of a beating than it does a meeting. So it's important to have consistency built in around that. So that everybody understands, hey, you know, we're signing up to be accountable to this. We're going to focus on this for a moment of time. We're going to learn something.

David Boyd [00:05:02]:
We're going to move on and do better.

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:04]:
You think coaching for automotive does. Do you think it needs to be specifically for automotive or do you think a lot of owners need just like life coaching, you know what I mean? Like, the one thing I've really been thinking about.

David Boyd [00:05:17]:
Great question, you know what I mean?

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:18]:
Like, does it really need to be automotive specific or does it like you just need therapy?

David Boyd [00:05:23]:
Man, the therapist is in right now.

Parker Branch [00:05:28]:
I'm starting to wonder who my next therapist is going to be.

David Boyd [00:05:31]:
There we go. You ask a great question. It's a challenging question. And I don't. The answer I have is I don't think it needs to be automotive specific in all facets. You need to have industry specific training. But can I give an example of a book?

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:46]:
Absolutely.

David Boyd [00:05:46]:
All right. So I read a book that it wasn't even really a business book. It was never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. Have you guys read this book?

Parker Branch [00:05:54]:
No.

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:55]:
I know who Chris Voss is, though.

David Boyd [00:05:56]:
Yeah. So former FBI negotiator.

Jimmy Purdy [00:05:59]:
I watched his masterclass, so perfect. Same.

David Boyd [00:06:01]:
Yeah, because his masterclass was basically his book. So each, each of his 10 or 12 classes was a chapter of the book.

Jimmy Purdy [00:06:07]:
Yeah, the mirroring was something I really took a lot and like, I cling on to that. So I don't know if you pick up a lot, but I, I do, I like them to the mirroring exercise because it freaking works. And if you don't know the mirroring exercises, go check it out. Go check out Chris Foss or read that book because it's like, I haven't read the book, but the masterclass was fantastic.

David Boyd [00:06:25]:
So that I think is one example that comes to mind when you ask that question. Does it have to be industry specific? No, because there are so many different things for business development, personal development, interpersonal communication that aren't just tied to our industry, they're tied to life. And there are a lot of really, really talented people out there that have great things to teach, but they're not automotive. So if we're not looking outside of our sphere of automotive, we may never find those things.

Parker Branch [00:06:54]:
Yeah, it seems like the more personal growth we have, whatever capacity that's in even, you know, the book you're talking about, the lessons that are in there, helping us be better people helps us participate in our industry and with our employees and our customers and People in our daily lives. Absolutely.

Jimmy Purdy [00:07:15]:
Yeah. So with your journey, moving from running your shop, now you're teaching what you've been taught. What lessons have you been learned for yourself? Right. I feel like that's a big one. Right. Like you start learning more on your own when you start. Because when you got to teach something, you really got to know what you're talking about.

Parker Branch [00:07:31]:
No question. And it makes you step back. It's helped me look at myself and my business and my journey and maybe understand better. Jesus. This is where I was, you know, a lot of the people that I'll be working with, I reflect back to my journey when it was at a place consistent with where they're at now. And I love to share, hey, these are some of the things that, you know, I maybe felt those same challenges. And here are some of the things I might have done right. And here are some of the things I might have done wrong that helped me to grow and move on and share those things.

Parker Branch [00:08:07]:
And that's real rewarding.

Jimmy Purdy [00:08:09]:
What's your, your take or what? What path do you like to really focus on? Because I know not all coaches are gonna coach the same thing. Right. And my take on it is hopefully they're taking the time to be selective with the clients they take on. Right. Instead of just trying to fix anybody, like, because not everyone's gonna mesh with your personality. Right. What is it you find yourself more, I guess, excited about when it comes to coaching? The numbers, the culture, the management, Is it kind of all encapsulating?

Parker Branch [00:08:36]:
Certainly a little bit of all of it. I like to see what the strength is of the client and help them embrace that maybe and figure out, you.

Jimmy Purdy [00:08:47]:
Know, a lot of find a win for them first.

Parker Branch [00:08:49]:
Sure. You know, a lot of, a lot of technicians turn shop owner. Their biggest strength is in the shop. And maybe they have, you know, might have a client to their wife as a service advisor and as a team, they're doing fairly well and they know they need some growth and they reach out to get some help, start coaching. And before you can start just adding, you know, you might point out, hey, I think this is. Your strength is in the shop. So you need to be there for a little bit. And your wife's strength is up front or, you know, whatever it is, vice versa.

Parker Branch [00:09:21]:
We need to take advantage of that to keep the business going so we have some revenue and then identify here, you know, hire a tech, hire a lower level guy that you can teach and, and bring along and grow and maybe you get a little bit More volume and you have a little bit more capacity to afford another technician, then try to hire a little bit stronger tech to help your production. And same thing up front. If you have a strong advisor, like, you know, one of the spouses up front running the front, let's hire somebody that you can start training to take on that position to allow you some freedom to start working on the business.

Jimmy Purdy [00:09:57]:
So one of the big, I mean, you touched on one of the big ones was finding people to help, right? Like, so we're all going through that. We all need, we all need staff, right? Like all of us. Is there a trend or something that you've noticed since you've taken on this role with shop owners, like one glaring mistake or one thing that you're constantly having to reinforce with your coaching clients? Is there anything in particular that you.

Parker Branch [00:10:19]:
Found real important is setting expectations, okay. So that employees or even customers, equally important when you're communicating with them, setting expectations so they understand how to do the job, what is the job, defining it, Setting standard operating procedures, SOPs so that they can communicate with those people, hey, this is what's going to make us great. This is what's going to make the customer feel well taken care of and want to come back and spread the word. So the communication of all that is just, it's paramount.

Jimmy Purdy [00:10:55]:
Yeah, that's a huge and all encompassing, I mean, communication, right? That's like, we talk about that a lot, right?

Parker Branch [00:11:01]:
I know a guy and then, and.

Jimmy Purdy [00:11:02]:
Then setting, setting expectations, that's like, I think that touches home, right? Because that's, that's the big one that I think I feel like I missed a lot, right? And I still do every day. And even though we say and we talk about it, you know, I don't know if you have that problem where it's like, you say it, then you go back home and you're like, oh, I should probably do practice what I preach, right?

Parker Branch [00:11:19]:
Absolutely, a little bit.

Jimmy Purdy [00:11:21]:
But it's really tough, right? Because it's like, well, every day is different. So like how in the automotive industry can we set an expectation or a standard when the next day there's a new car, a new problem or new something coming out, you know?

Parker Branch [00:11:33]:
Well, you said something earlier about an aha moment or you know, that whole deal. And I think a few years ago I kind of had one where I realized I was trying to travel and hit some different trainings and trade shows and get it, gain information and knowledge with the thought, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna gain all this experience and ideas. And then I'm gonna go back to my team and I'm gonna let them know what I learned. And eventually I realized the value of getting training and experiences for the employees themselves. Putting them in peer groups and, you know, training situations was so much more valuable for their growth than me trying to come back home and share it with them.

Jimmy Purdy [00:12:18]:
Yeah. Without you. Yeah. You can't share the excitement. Like, when you're here and you're involved in the. And what we're all doing and the connections we're all making, like, we. We just can't explain that. We can't, like, go back and say, oh, I met all these really cool people and we're gonna do all these new things.

Jimmy Purdy [00:12:33]:
And everyone's like, oh, you guys, were you gone for a week? So we're trying to play catch up. And then you want to get back and make all these changes, like, what the hell's going on around.

Parker Branch [00:12:41]:
Yeah, watch out. Here he comes with the whole books.

Jimmy Purdy [00:12:44]:
You know, and they. I heard that so many times when I come to these events, I'm like, no, I'm never gonna be that guy. It just slowly happens, though. It's like all of a sudden, you're like, oh, I'm that guy all of a sudden.

Parker Branch [00:12:54]:
No doubt.

David Boyd [00:12:55]:
Welcome to adulthood, Jimmy.

Jimmy Purdy [00:12:56]:
Yeah. How did that just happen to Arrives. Welcome to. Welcome to the first part of your midlife. Right?

David Boyd [00:13:04]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:13:04]:
This is going to happen to everybody. Yeah. I mean, one of the things was, like, we talked about earlier was, like, changing, you know, the different systems you bring into your shop, and you're trying to help people, and you see the changes and you see the power of moving forward, but it almost feels like one step forward and two steps back a lot of the time, you know? And one of the things, like, with what you're saying, David, about coaching was like, with your employees and, like, you're. So you don't run an automotive shop. Right. But you're very automotive specific with what you do.

David Boyd [00:13:33]:
Correct?

Jimmy Purdy [00:13:34]:
Right. But you understand the value of coaching, so that's one of those things. It's like the aha moment as well is like, well, wait a second here. You understand that, but you don't really necessarily need to be automotive specific, but you have employees that you, you know, you need to coach and you need to lead. So, I mean, that's. That's one of the examples there. It's like.

David Boyd [00:13:51]:
And I also practice what I preach.

Jimmy Purdy [00:13:52]:
So.

Parker Branch [00:13:52]:
Who's your coach, David?

David Boyd [00:13:54]:
I have a coach. I have a business coach. And There are actually a number of people from the industry that I lean on heavily as mentors. So I go to them when I have a challenge. I've got a business issue, I've got an employee challenge. I mean, challenges abound, right? So for guidance and direction, I have mentors that I call on and then I have a business coach who's my coach. And the things that I've learned because of the industry that I serve, I apply in my business. So I do call reviews, I do call coaching.

David Boyd [00:14:32]:
I really run a service and technology organization. But I've seen it work. And because I've seen it work, I realize there's an opportunity to apply what works so well in the automotive industry. Among the independent, really the high performing independent automotive repair shop owners that I work with, I can apply that in my business. So there's a way to go about doing that. And one thing as you were talking Parker, I think understanding any type of training or coaching we're doing is do we have a good understanding of our end game? What are we going to try to accomplish in this? And what you realized is you got to send your person there, like you can't go and then bring back the excitement and give them a download in 15 minutes, right? They gotta go sit in the four hour workshop. They gotta experience, they gotta experience it. So showing up is super important.

David Boyd [00:15:25]:
And with that comes this realization that in order to be effective in the coaching and the learning and that training process, we need to show up. We need to understand what we're going to want to, you know, try to accomplish through this process and then track and measure against that. And I see that consistently in the industry that there are, there are these measurements that we're, we call them different things. KPI is a common term that's used key performance indicators. How are we tracking? But where do we start? What is, what is current state? Where am I today? Where am I today as an owner? Where are my people today as employees, whether they're advisors or technicians, managers? And then so what's the current state? And then how are we measuring? So where do we want to go? And then how are we going to get there? So we're going to do, we're going to do call reviews and listen to phone calls and do call coaching. We're going to go to these training sessions and they abound across the country. And at the end of the year we're going to be in a better place than we were at the beginning of the year. And this is what that looks like.

David Boyd [00:16:28]:
So knowledge and skill both develop. Capability, confidence and competence both develop. And you have to measure it. You can measure it. Yep. And then. So what does it mean? What's in it for me? The paycheck? Because we use the analogy, you know, all ships rise with the tide. Right.

David Boyd [00:16:46]:
So as everybody participates in this and everybody's doing their part and everybody's doing better, the water level is going to rise, and all ships that are in the harbor are going up with that. So how do we get to participate? Well, we.

Parker Branch [00:16:57]:
We get to, you know, help everybody we can.

David Boyd [00:17:01]:
Right? Exactly.

Jimmy Purdy [00:17:02]:
Yeah.

Parker Branch [00:17:02]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:17:03]:
And there's. And there's a little bit of, like, the, like, drinking the Kool Aid in that. Right? Like. Right. Like some, like, you kind of got to buy into the process, even if there's nothing really in it for you. Right. And I think that's the nuance between, like, us coming here and being absorbed in the process and then, like, going back and trying to force the Kool Aid down their throat. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:17:22]:
Like, you can't. Like, there's a nuance there. And a little bit of. Is, like. Right. Like a little bit. Like a little bit of that nuance that we just can't put our finger on exactly why we're doing it with this company or with that. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:17:36]:
And one of the things, like, when it comes to coaching is that, right, like, a lot of the industry coaches, like, that's what it kind of is. It comes down to, like, did you drink enough of the Kool Aid to be, like, involved in the process? I know that probably comes across a little rash, but, I mean, it is. And I hear it a lot in, like, the Facebook groups. What. Why should I involve myself in a coaching process? Right. And a lot of it is, like, the camaraderie. And I've heard from other, you know, shop owners that I've talked to, it's like they just don't have anybody. Like, they don't have anybody to talk to, but their wife.

Jimmy Purdy [00:18:10]:
And their wife's sick of hearing about the shop.

Parker Branch [00:18:12]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:18:12]:
And so sometimes they just need to be in part involved with someone with the same problems that they have. Right. And it's like, but is that all there is to it? And it's like, it's, like, really difficult when people, when I hear these things, like, why would I spend X amount of dollars every month in a coaching program? Right. Like, what am I getting out of it? And you thought, well, they're going to go over your numbers and they're going to do this, that, and the other thing, well, I can just have a, you know, an accountant do that for me. Sure. So there's like. There's like. I don't know, it's tough to put your finger on, but I want to get your take on, like, what you think that might be to involve.

Jimmy Purdy [00:18:42]:
Get someone involved in that process.

Parker Branch [00:18:44]:
Absolutely. I know in this last year, one of the. Another thing that kind of came to light working my manager, Daniel at Branch Automotive, he. We were talking about, you know, when we're looking at the performance of an employee or if there's an issue in a process or, you know, some kind of breakdown, something that we want to see improvement on, and we're looking at our KPIs and measuring things, and, gosh, this just isn't going the way I want it to, and this person needs to be doing this or that. And we realize one of the neatest things is that when we come into those situations, we now automatically stop and look at ourselves. How have I, you know, helped this individual achieve? Like, have I communicated their expectations, goals, why this is important, how it's going to benefit them and the company and the customer? And we really have challenged ourselves to look within. How can we lift our employees up and help them do a better job through expectations and communication and so forth? And that's just kind of like what David said. When you help everybody to rise up, everybody wins in that situation.

Jimmy Purdy [00:20:09]:
So that's the frustrating part. And this might strike a chord with some listening. You know, you pay someone for a job, so the expectation for you is the boss, right? Or the owner is that you're just gonna do the job. Right? And it's like, we came from a part, a spot of being a technician and turned into a shop. And we did all this work and there was no pat on the back. Right. Like, we did it all for us. And so it's.

Jimmy Purdy [00:20:32]:
It's a little frustrating when you have, say, technicians or advisors or whoever's working for you just not want to do the job that they're paid to do. And then you got to take a step back and be like, well, hold on a second. How do I help you? Right? Like, other than the paycheck. Right. And I get it. Like, I'm totally for having the right culture fit and making sure that you give them their whatever, participation trophies and all that kind of stuff. Like, I'm not, like, against it. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:20:56]:
It's a jokeable. Like, we can have a good laugh over it. But, like, honestly, I do want to make sure that we're taking guys out to dinner and we're taking care of their wife. Like, hey, you know, here's a spa package for you and your wife to go out on the weekend. Like, I love doing stuff like that for the guys there, but it's frustrating in the day to day process when you're in the middle of everything and you gotta like just how you just calmly said, we just gotta take a step back and look at us like, I can't do that.

Parker Branch [00:21:19]:
Yeah, there's not, there's not a whole lot of people that are wired like some of us are that, you know, put the job in front of me and I know I'm gonna make some money for doing it. And that's all I needed to hear right there. You know, people get their value or their bucket filled from different ways and we can't pull motivation out of them. We have to learn even our employees and how to communicate with them and make them understand that we appreciate them and want them to succeed so that everything else falls in line.

David Boyd [00:21:49]:
Yeah, these are some of the things that can be gleaned from the coaching process as well. Right. Personal development. So. And you know that the, you were asking the question about really kind of the why maybe one of your listeners hasn't done coaching is wondering what's the value? What's in it for me? Why would I bother doing something like that? Well, fundamentally, in an effective coaching environment, you're interacting with a coach and probably others and peers who have been through most all circumstances before. So if I don't have anybody that I can call on that's in the industry or well versed in the industry or peers of mine, then I'm 100% by myself and everything and anything that I deal with. But if I have people that I can go and whether it's commiseration or just learning. Right.

David Boyd [00:22:37]:
And talking about our businesses, I begin to understand they've been through stuff before. They've been through tax issues, they've been through employment issues, they've been through feast and famine when it comes to recruiting. All of these things, different technologies. So other people have had these experiences and it doesn't mean that it's identical, but it's similar. So now we can draw this parallel and I don't have to learn it 100% by myself for the first time.

Parker Branch [00:23:02]:
Yeah, that's huge. I mean, for me being I'm still a client and a gear performance group at the institute and you know, there's 15 other shop owners in my group that none of us feel like we're any different than the other, regardless of what our sales volume or, you know, we just, we come together knowing that we've all faced the same struggles at one time or another. So you have a group of peers that really understand anything and everything you're experiencing in the automotive business. And everybody's had their different experiences that they can share. So you may come across a challenge that you're having and there's four other people in that group that have tried four different approaches to that same challenge. And there's a good chance you're gonna find some alignment with one of those people and it's going to help you have some ideas how to solve your challenge and move forward. And I think that camaraderie and resource of other shop owners to share with is one of the biggest values in that type of coaching.

David Boyd [00:24:13]:
And then over time that begins to change. You. You've probably been able to participate or experience that I've seen many, many other. I have experienced that the way that I've changed the way that I deal with challenges, the way that I deal with frustration or issues, taking that step back first. But that happens over time. So as you go through this process and you learn and develop it's growth. You're taking a lot initially, I think as you're developing and then the trust begins and you understand the value. And now I begin to change because I realize that my, you know, in a lot of cases my best effort gets me to the place I am in life.

David Boyd [00:24:47]:
So if I can lean on somebody else and glean from their experience, now I have a different perspective. Perspective. So I begin to change some of the way that I, that I deal with employees, the way that I deal with customers, the way that I deal with people in my, in my daily.

Parker Branch [00:25:03]:
And you feel so good about that learning and overcoming some of those challenges, the success that you might have just mentally over some of that stuff, that it feels good to then share it or be available to your peers that you're working with. So again, the, you know, being in a coaching situation, whether it's with a one on one or a group of people. Yeah, a lot of good stuff.

Jimmy Purdy [00:25:28]:
I think one of the things too is like the vetting process. Right. And this is another one that kind of tripped me up a little bit. So there's a lot of ill advice, right. The you go on Google, you go on Facebook or Tick Tock or Instagram or whatever. Right. Like we've all seen that we've all seen, oh my God. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:25:45]:
And so. But then. So you're like, well, this is just some random on Facebook, right? So I think the important thing is to learn who the people are, you know, learn the shop they have, and then you can decide whether you want to take their advice or not. Right. But my point is the difference between those people on the Facebook forum and a quote unquote coach. Well, it's just because a company assigned someone as a coach, it's really no different than just some random on Facebook, right? Like if you take a step back and look and say, well, who's. Who's this company that's assigning this facilitator, Right? Because there's plenty of companies out there that have facilitators that really are no better than that guy that's on some Facebook forum. You see what I'm saying?

Parker Branch [00:26:23]:
So they would have some decent level of.

Jimmy Purdy [00:26:26]:
You would hope so. But it's still. It's still like one of those things that's in the air. So you got to really take your time and make sure it aligns with who you are. And one of the things I see a lot, and you've probably read it too, is like, who should I use? And it's like such like a. Like what? I don't know.

David Boyd [00:26:40]:
Yeah, and we were just having.

Jimmy Purdy [00:26:41]:
We were just having that conversation before we got on here, Right? Like, sometimes you just need to kind of fill around and see who else you can find and if those values fit with your core. But if you don't even have somewhere to start. Because that's the thing about ill advice. Like, if you don't know, you don't know. Right? And so if you're taking advice from someone and someone says, oh, you had an employee show up five minutes late for work. Fire em.

David Boyd [00:27:00]:
Fire em.

Jimmy Purdy [00:27:00]:
Fire em right away right now. Like, that's bullshit. But, like, I'm okay with that. Like, if you need to show up a few minutes later every once in a while, like, you got. Dude, that's fine.

David Boyd [00:27:07]:
I read that same post.

Parker Branch [00:27:08]:
Yeah, exact.

Jimmy Purdy [00:27:10]:
You know what I mean, though?

David Boyd [00:27:11]:
So it's like.

Jimmy Purdy [00:27:12]:
And if you're. If you're just an ignorant, you know, for lack of better terms, shop owner, you're just going to take that verbatim, right. And run with it. But if you can deal with someone with a little bit of experience, right. Parker's gonna be like, hey, wait a second here. This guy's probably got something going on with his family. Maybe you should have a conversation with him first.

Parker Branch [00:27:27]:
Yeah. Before you react you ought to do a little investigating. And it's a great example.

David Boyd [00:27:31]:
You know, I, I had an issue come up once and it really, really made me angry. I was ready to. You cause problems, right? And I asked one of my mentors that, one of the guys that I call on and he said, okay, well, you have one opportunity. I mean, this is a very specific example, right? But he said, you have one opportunity to ask this guy what he's thinking before you lay into him. Like, hey, just help me understand what you were thinking when you made this decision. I have one opportunity to do that. If I start in, you know, did it and this is how it impacts and all of this type of stuff, it completely shuts that down. That's the value of a coach.

David Boyd [00:28:10]:
That's somebody who's credible for me and trusted. So back to the question or really the observation you had is how do I find that coach? Instead of going out to the, to the social media environment and saying, who should I use for coaching? Maybe the question is what questions should I ask a coach that I'm interviewing? Because we always, we always, it's, this is a principle of marketing. We always want people to be like us. So Parker, use a particular coach. You want everybody to use that coach, right? I mean, it's just kind of human nature, like, oh, use this one. Right. I know them and whatever, but that, that might not be a good mesh for everybody. So what questions should I ask my coach if I'm considering coaching? What questions should I ask them? Not who should I use, but what questions should I ask them and then go ask different coaches in different organizations because there are different philosophies.

Parker Branch [00:28:59]:
Oh, sure.

David Boyd [00:29:00]:
Ideally they're going to be based, the facilitators are going to be based in credible experience and we want to vet that out. Like, what is your experience? Right. This is a question I want to ask my facilitator. I want to ask my coaching organization or my coach. Right. So what are these questions that I want to ask? Is an important part of it not who should I use?

Parker Branch [00:29:19]:
Yeah, it'd be nice if you saw a little bit more of that and those types of posts, like, hey, I'm having this issue and I think I need some help, or you know, instead of somebody saying, yeah, fire em, you know, maybe they should say, hey, you know, sounds like you could use some help in these types of situations. Get some coaching. There's multiple companies around the country here that we're all aware of that all have their different, you know, values and different Styles of delivery of coaching and teaching and learning. It really doesn't matter where you go. And you know, what matters is you find a fit somebody that, you know, a coaching company or coach that you enjoy how that interaction goes, that you see value, feel value and how their processes work. And sometimes you gotta do some test driving.

Jimmy Purdy [00:30:08]:
Yeah, I find a lot to. Not a lot, but frequently they'll get stuck in a situation and it's like being in a bad relationship, right? And it's like, dude, you just need to leave her, man. And he's like, well, you know, she's got all my CDs in my truck, so I can't. Right? So it's like they find these really weird issues to latch on to. Whatever, whatever, you know, whoever they decide to go with, right. And it's kind of unfortunate, right? In the process of all that stuff, like, well, how do you pull out of that without like hurting anybody's feelings, right? And you don't know what you don't know. So. And I find that with a lot of shop owners, they just get stuck in that rut and they're.

Jimmy Purdy [00:30:44]:
They just like right there and just like, well, that's who I use. And like you said, David's like, well, this is who I. This is my experience. So this is the best fit because they work fantastic for me and they want to scream it from the top of a building until things go sideways. And then all of a sudden it's like one star reviews on Yelp, right? And it's like, it's so polarizing. But it's such a wise statement that you said, like, it should always be about the personal experience of the, of the person or the client, not like a relationship based. Because it's a business transaction and we're going to hook you up with this person because that's the best that you know, it's great questions. And it's like, what are those questions though, right? Like, is there any advice that you could give someone that if they're looking for a life coach or an auto shop coach, like, what are some things that we can direct people to, to make sure they're asking the right questions in that.

Jimmy Purdy [00:31:31]:
In that. That was a bad. That was a bad. So you guys can see that was a back and forth. Back and forth.

David Boyd [00:31:38]:
That was.

Parker Branch [00:31:38]:
David and I were looking at each other.

David Boyd [00:31:40]:
Are you first or. Maya, I'll jump in. I. So, you know, some of the questions and kind of look at. At. Let's look at life. Because I think that's important. If if we don't, if, you know, I, I feel like this for myself.

David Boyd [00:31:52]:
If I'm not grounded in, in my life and what, what I'm doing, what I want to accomplish, then the, the professional part, the work part of my life doesn't particularly matter anymore. So in, you know, for dealing with a, with a coach, like, say, a life coach, for example, and life and business coach close to one another, it's that, again, my opinion. Take it for what it's worth. When I'm looking at, like, life coaching, which overlaps business, of course, you know, what, what, what can you help me accomplish in the sense of, like, I, I don't know, maybe where I'm at right now. How would you help me find out what is my current baseline? So I know that what I'm building from. How would you help me figure out where I'm at today? I just feel like I wake up, I go through the grind, my wheels are spinning, and I don't, I don't feel like I got a sense of direction or purpose. How would you help me figure that out? What exercises would, Would you conduct that we would at least know where I'm at today? And then how would you help me build a vision for the future? Vision. Casting is paramount that it's, It's a reality.

David Boyd [00:33:00]:
Some people do that well, some people don't. So how would you help me build a vision? I think these are two important parts. Take that from personal development to business development. Ask those same two questions to a business coach versus a life coach, and you're beginning that foundation now of interviewing. What's this person's credibility? What is their experience? How are they going to relate to me? And I'm going to learn a lot by asking these two things. Right. How do you help me baseline where I'm at right now? And how do you help me build a vision of where I want to go?

Parker Branch [00:33:34]:
Yeah, I think that resonates with me a lot. And.

Jimmy Purdy [00:33:38]:
Right, Right in the chest, huh?

Parker Branch [00:33:39]:
Oh, totally. And if I start talking with a client, maybe a new coaching client or even just a peer or friends, you know, or somebody that I'm in the same group with, getting to know each other, and I'll start off by, you know, offering to tell my story, my growth through the years of, you know, going from being a technician to a shop owner and a father and a husband and all the things, you know, related to that and what I learned along the way or think I've learned or am still learning and that, like, let them know that I'm excited to continue to learn and continue to grow and then ask them to do the same. Like, hey, Jimmy, tell me about. Tell me about how you started. How'd you get into this industry? You know, what was your. What was the fire? And. And, you know, what have you accomplished? Or, you know, how's it been going? And where do you want to get to? Where do you want to be? And we can relate because we're in the same industry, obviously. Well, we can relate as humans, too, of the same, you know, mistakes we've made and growth we've had and experiences and that.

Parker Branch [00:34:42]:
So really, that's all those experiences. Gosh, that's a lot of it.

Jimmy Purdy [00:34:47]:
Yeah. And it's one of those things, like we said earlier, like, for me, it's like just. You just kept your head down, right? And you just, like, did the grind, did the grind, did the grind. And you didn't realize there was, like, Apex was here, SEMA was here. Like, you didn't realize, like, there were so many people that were willing to help. You just thought you were in your isolated little box. Right. And on the point of, like, finding the why, I think that's the hardest thing in the world.

Jimmy Purdy [00:35:06]:
It's for me. And I think most can probably resonate to that because of all the coaching clients that I've been around, that's, like, one of the big things when it comes to, like, finding the why or, like, putting your vision or putting your mission statement together. My what?

Parker Branch [00:35:20]:
Yeah, I don't know.

Jimmy Purdy [00:35:22]:
I just show up and nobody ever.

David Boyd [00:35:23]:
Asked me that question.

Jimmy Purdy [00:35:24]:
I fix cars and I go home. Like, that's my why. But it's so much deeper than that. And it's so difficult to, like, get that out of somebody. Right, right. And so, like, asking that, it was like, someone who's going to facilitate you as, like, a coach is like, man, that's putting a lot of pressure on.

Parker Branch [00:35:39]:
Yeah, we might come into this industry because that's where we started. We were good at it. We made a paycheck and could survive. And then we get driven to go. You know, we're so worried about where we're headed and how we're going to succeed and grow and everything else. And that was a big one for me, you know, in this last year or so, is to come back to from one of our meetings and share with the team, hey, you know, we're going to pay more attention to how much we love fixing trucks. And, like, let's be present here enjoying ourselves, having a good time and Enjoying each other's company. And, you know, we joke around some and, you know, have great meetings and, you know, I'll break out the charcoal grill and cook steaks for everybody after we have a great week or, you know, whatever it is.

Parker Branch [00:36:25]:
And just like, let's slow down and be present and enjoy the day to day, because that's how we got started here and not be just so worried about, oh, my gosh, ten years from now, I have to have this amount of money saved up and this person to take over and, you know, these people coming in, going from the business, like, let's be present and have a good time, enjoy ourselves. And that creates a great culture. And when everybody's happy and having fun, doing what we're doing, everybody, including our customers, benefit.

Jimmy Purdy [00:36:55]:
Yeah. I think that just struck a chord with me because one of the. And. And over the last two years, I am not the same person that I was before I went through my coaching journey. Right. Like, it's night and day different, but I feel like a lot of the time you get trapped into, like, this numbers process.

Parker Branch [00:37:09]:
Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:10]:
Where, like, no one's paying attention to, like, was everyone at the shop, like, happy?

Parker Branch [00:37:14]:
Is the customer happy?

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:16]:
Right. Like, oh, we know we increased our sales 40%. Right. And our net's not negative anymore. So cool. But is everyone happy, though? And it's like not having that check in and say, hey, man, is everyone good there? Well, no. We've had 15 different employees in the last, you know, like, I don't think we're doing the right thing somewhere. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:35]:
Like, we have too much turnover and there's all these other things going on, and it's like, so hyper focused on the percentages and that. I get it, like, 100%. That's where the money comes from. But you also come to a point like, well, there's more to this business thing than just putting money in the bank account.

Parker Branch [00:37:54]:
Totally.

Jimmy Purdy [00:37:55]:
And I think you get. And I think you nailed it there with, like, well, why are we all showing up every day? Well, for one, we all want to have a good time, I think.

Parker Branch [00:38:01]:
Yeah. I mean, certainly we need to make a living, but let's not be so driven to, oh, my gosh, we got to have this kind of growth and this KPI here and that one there. And, you know, just like, yeah, slow down, slow down.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:15]:
That's a good takeaway there because that's. And you know, that's the other way. You come into a lot of these terms like KPI, right?

Parker Branch [00:38:21]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:22]:
I'm glad you Brought that up because I wanted to bring that up again. Key performance, like indicators. And it's like, that is so overwhelming for so most that are, like, getting into it. That's like, one more thing I need to learn that I don't really care about. But then you realize it's really not like that big, big of a deal as, like, what it sounds like, because all you're really looking for is just something that's measurable. Right. Is that the idea behind a key performance indicator? Like, you're just looking for something that measures. Like, if you went out and did.

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:48]:
I'm gonna use an example, like, you do a goodwill on your city and all of a sudden it brings a lot of business in. Would you consider that a KPI?

Parker Branch [00:38:56]:
Yeah. How do you measure that?

Jimmy Purdy [00:38:57]:
Yeah, but. But I mean, as far as, like, doing one action and then having an outcome out of that. Right. That's basically all it is. I guess I'm trying to, like, dumb it down a little bit so it's just like, anyone listening, it's not like it doesn't have to be this thing that you're scared of and you stay away from because one of the things we try to do was stay away from all that shit we didn't know.

Parker Branch [00:39:16]:
It's gauges.

Jimmy Purdy [00:39:17]:
Big words, right?

Parker Branch [00:39:17]:
It's gauges.

Jimmy Purdy [00:39:18]:
Yeah.

Parker Branch [00:39:19]:
That's all the KPRs are. They're gauges.

Jimmy Purdy [00:39:21]:
Yeah.

Parker Branch [00:39:21]:
And. And really, it's to kind of help you be able to look at the different areas and identify where maybe you have something that need, you know, a knob that needs a little bit of adjusting. You don't have to live to achieve a KPI. It's. It's. That's not what it's about. It's about using those as tools to help you tune your processes and ultimately be able to not worry about those things. And just.

Parker Branch [00:39:47]:
Just.

Jimmy Purdy [00:39:48]:
What would be. What would be a really simple example that you could give as far as when you first start. Like when you start taking a client and you're mentoring them, what would be like a really simple one you could share right now that would help someone understand what that is like.

Parker Branch [00:40:02]:
Gosh, it's a tough decision, worse way to go. But a lot of times we'll talk about labor, gross profit.

Jimmy Purdy [00:40:08]:
Okay. I was gonna say parts profit, but.

Parker Branch [00:40:10]:
Yeah, and that's a very common one, too. But I say labor, gross profit. That's the one that comes to my mind because there's so many shops that maybe have hourly employees, so they're paying them, you know, by the clock hour. And maybe they're producing five or six hours a day, but the owners paying them eight hours a day to be there. So it affects your, you know, it affects your gross profit on labor if they're billing five and you're paying them eight and so forth. So. But just that's, you know, the parts, too. It's a big deal, obviously, what you're buying the part for, what your margin is on that part and what the benchmarks in the industry are as far as the profit on selling that part.

Parker Branch [00:40:54]:
Those are two fairly easy areas to take a look at and have huge impact on your profitability. Sure.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:02]:
Yeah. The labor one's going to. The labor one's really going to twist a lot of technicians that are listening right now. Right.

Parker Branch [00:41:07]:
Yeah. That's not meant to be a dig at all. It's just.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:10]:
No, it's not. But that's the thing. We're coming from a completely different angle. A lot of that stuff is like rubbing salt into a wound. Right. Because it's the. The shop is so mismanaged. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:22]:
It's so poorly managed. Right.

Parker Branch [00:41:24]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:25]:
And I'm taking a jig at all. Yeah. I'm taking a dig at the owners, Right. Like they have there. And they just take that one easy fix and say you're only billing six hours a day and I'm paying you for eight. And they just latch onto that and run with it. Meanwhile, where's the part shelf? Where's the parts intake? Where's the service advisor who's answering the phones? Who's dispatched, like. Right.

Parker Branch [00:41:45]:
Like, you know, why is the technician. Why is their time being wasted by the processes in that building?

Jimmy Purdy [00:41:51]:
Why is your buddy pulling up in the bay in the middle of the day and you guys are chatting right in the middle of the aisle. Right. And the owner's out there chatting with his buddy and he's like the technician trying to pull a car. And so there's obviously a lot more than that. And so I think that's where it comes off as a dig. And a lot of people listening like, oh, of course, of course. Here we go again with. Here we go again with the technicians just not doing their job.

Jimmy Purdy [00:42:10]:
Like. But we look at it differently because we're. We're trying to run that efficient shop. Right. Or I am sure you are too. Right. And we're looking at trying to break away from all the inefficiencies. And when you have.

Jimmy Purdy [00:42:23]:
I wouldn't say dialed. I'm not. I'm definitely not dialed in but when I work really hard to keep the everything clear so guys can do the job and then they're still only producing five or six hours when there's eight hours of work like on a silver platter, that's where that comes up, right? That's a little different. But in this day and age too, I'm having a really hard time And I think 99% or 95% of the shops out there, no matter what you do, it's just in this day and age with the cars the way they are, you're just never going to see that 100% production out of an A level technician. Right. And is that a pattern that you've seen as well?

Parker Branch [00:42:58]:
Oh, definitely. Hours, hours are down and that. And again that's not a capability problem of the technicians and so forth, but things are just so much more complex and time consuming that it's, it's hard to measure that way, would you say?

Jimmy Purdy [00:43:13]:
So one of the thoughts I was having in the last couple months was having B or C level technicians, right? And so in general they're not going to be paid as much as say your A level tech. And I hate using the abc, but I'm going to use it just because everyone can agree upon what we're talking about here. So they're going to be paid a little bit less if you can get them to produce 100% production by paying an A level technician on a non production basis. How is your thought? What's your thought about that? So if you have a guy that's getting say paid 45 or $50 an hour, that's maybe 30 or 40% productive, but he's just laying on grenades all day long, right? He's taking all that, all the diags, he's making sure that the work that goes to the line techs is like simple. You're just hanging parts.

Parker Branch [00:43:58]:
Sounds like you've been to my shop lately.

Jimmy Purdy [00:44:01]:
Is that the secret? I found the secret, didn't I?

Parker Branch [00:44:03]:
I don't know that it's the secret, but we, we have been trying that. So I had a guy that was ready to kind of slow down a little bit, but man, he's a walking dictionary. I mean he just, he has so much knowledge and experience and with the problems and stuff like that. And so you know, he didn't want to keep being in a production role and we thought, gosh, we got to try to figure out a way to keep him here and keep his knowledge and his ability and all that. The jumping on the grenades and the Taken the terrible, you know, stuff that might be there for days, and helping the younger techs with diagnosis and just problem solving. And so we transitioned them to a partial salary, partial commission based on total shop hours. Because by being available to all the techs, whether it's help with diagnosis, quality control, other things like that, communication, resources, our goal is to have him help us be better overall by assisting everybody and help him succeed some by lifting up the shop rather than trying to carry it on his back.

Jimmy Purdy [00:45:13]:
Have you seen an improvement for the rest of the technicians in the shop?

Parker Branch [00:45:16]:
Absolutely. Our production is definitely. It's not like, you know, earthquake or anything like that, but we're seeing improvement and we're definitely seeing that it's taken care of. The quality control side is just invaluable. Making sure that our final product to our customers, you know, a lot of us technicians are perfectionists. We want everything to be perfect. We want the customer to be super happy and thrilled. This thing's running awesome, better than it has in a long time, all that kind of stuff.

Parker Branch [00:45:45]:
We don't want fingerprints and, you know, etcetera, so forth. And we want to check that work over. Well, he's doing all those things for us, so it's helping us make sure that our product is great and that our customers are happy. And so we've definitely seen a reduction and, you know, comebacks and little quirky things that.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:03]:
And those. Those are the nuances, right? Like, yeah, those are the beyond, the KPIs. Those are beyond, like the numbers. Right.

Parker Branch [00:46:11]:
It's tough because you can't really measure his performance.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:14]:
Right.

Parker Branch [00:46:15]:
You know, so it's. That's a mental roadblock for. It was. For me, and it was funny, my manager, he said, you know, let's do a. Let's. Let's create a dvi, a digital vehicle inspection for the quality control process. Just a small dvi. And as we're talking about, I said, you just created a way for us to measure what he's doing.

David Boyd [00:46:40]:
That's amazing.

Parker Branch [00:46:41]:
And so we created just a small inspection for him to do on all his quality control work so that we could kind of follow what's going on. Now we probably need to circle around and follow that a little bit better on our side. But, you know, time is challenging.

Jimmy Purdy [00:46:56]:
Yeah. To say the least. Right. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things, too, is when you talk about the mental side of it and keeping everyone engaged. So another thing, when it comes to slow times. Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:47:09]:
There's a question I wanted to ask you was, as it comes to the slow times. The one thing we all want to do is hit the panic button. Right. We want to start like, start giving out oil changes. Right. Like whatever it takes, like, you know, and not that dramatic, but you get what I'm saying, right?

Parker Branch [00:47:22]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:47:22]:
And I, and I, and I found or what I'm thinking is having the text be have something to do for less is better than them just standing around waiting for that next high level, high end job. What's kind of does that make sense? What's your take on something like that? So even if you were like to give them just nothing but oil changes.

Parker Branch [00:47:41]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:47:41]:
Just to keep them busy and keep them engaged.

Parker Branch [00:47:43]:
Are you talking in terms of trying to bring some work in? Customers, making a deal with a customer to try to keep your guys busy? Because we have a couple, you know, ways that we look at that. One is we have slow day action plans. So when it does slow down, and we all know in this industry, if you've been in it for any period of time, there are ups and downs that are almost like clockwork. Back to school time, tax time, election right now, it's going to affect your traffic coming in the shop. And so we'll have a slow day action plan where our service advisors will go back through recommendations that were made on their specific customers. And we really try to make sure that they've had a relationship with those customers. They have time to spend building that relationship as they're helping them decide what they are or are not going to repair on their vehicle. They'll go back through and look at those recommendations and they may say, oh, look here, Jimmy Purdy, I remember him.

Parker Branch [00:48:38]:
He's a great guy. We have a, a good rapport. And there was a couple of items that he decided, you know, wasn't the right time, whether it was financially or whatever to take care of it. But I have a good rapport with him. I'm going to call him up and the owner has given me the green light to give him a call and say, hey, Jimmy, we're unusually slow right now. And in the interest of keeping the guys busy, if you'll schedule with us in the next seven days, you know, the owner is willing to offer you 10% off up to, you know, 250 or, you know, something like that, to try to, you know, and be honest about it. Hey, we're kind of caught up and we'd rather have some work and offer you a deal if you'll come in within a time frame. And that would help us out.

Parker Branch [00:49:19]:
And we'll help you out some. So we do a bit of that. Not necessarily offering to give away oil changes or $12 oil changes.

Jimmy Purdy [00:49:27]:
How about a free diagnosis?

Parker Branch [00:49:29]:
Yeah, you know, we don't do any free diags, but we will do a courtesy scan for you.

Jimmy Purdy [00:49:36]:
That's. I think that's huge. And you kind of rolled right past it. But, like, that whole pulling the egotistical away from it, Right. Like to just blatantly say, hey, we're slow.

Parker Branch [00:49:48]:
Yeah, we're human. We need some help.

Jimmy Purdy [00:49:50]:
Does that not, like, resonate like David? Like, could you imagine, like, the shop owners that you work with, could you imagine the majority of them just being like, oh, I'm actually, I'm going to call my customers and tell them that I suck and we're slow? Because doesn't that feel like. That's what it sounds like? Like, oh, my God, who's a little.

David Boyd [00:50:05]:
Bird sitting on the shoulder chirping that in my ear? Right.

Jimmy Purdy [00:50:08]:
But if you got a call from the place you have your vehicle service and they're like, hey, I'm unusually slow, how do you feel about that? Like, how does that. What is your first response of that shop calling you and telling you that?

David Boyd [00:50:19]:
What. What's interesting, because I'm on the consumer side of the equation, right. So I'm not a technician. I work in the industry, but I'm not. I'm not like you guys in the industry. Right. So I respect that as a consumer. And the first thought that I have to answer your question is I really appreciate you thinking about me.

David Boyd [00:50:39]:
So it tells me that I'm not just a customer number and I'm not just a ticket from the time three months ago that I was in. They've gone into their system, they've taken the time. David needs some help with whatever on whatever was deferred.

Parker Branch [00:50:57]:
Yeah. They remembered the details of your relationship, the things that you spoke about when you were there, and it has a lot to do with your inflection. I mean, we, we genuinely. Yeah, we want to have some work, but we understand you'd be doing us a favor and we want to offer to do you a favor to help us.

David Boyd [00:51:16]:
The next thing that strikes me, if I get, if I were to get that phone call, is I'm going to get that extra bit of attention. So I'm special. I'm doing them a favor. They're doing me a favor. Now we have this thing going on together, and I'm going to get that extra attention. I'm going to feel like that much that much more important in this service process. Right. So, sure, I had some deferred service.

David Boyd [00:51:37]:
Whatever the reason was, they reached out, said, we have this capacity, and, you know, we're aware of what our conversation was before. We knew that this needed to be done, we'll make a deal, and this kind of thing. So now I'm feeling like, okay, I appreciate you thinking about me. And I also feel like I'm going to have that special attention that every consumer, no matter what, everybody that sits on the customer side of the kiosk, every customer always feels like, what is this experience like? And how do I feel special walking out of here? So now we've advanced that, and I feel special going in because they know me, they know my issue, they know my vehicle. We're partnering on caring for this thing. I'm getting a deal out of this. Yeah.

Parker Branch [00:52:22]:
You walk in the door and we're going to be like, david, thank you so much for coming down and helping us out and the whole transaction. Like, your relationship is probably going to be better if that customer decides to come in and you really show them the appreciation. You just elevated the level. And I don't think I've ever had looked back on one of those deals and felt that it was the wrong move, nor had that customer tried to take advantage of that later on.

Jimmy Purdy [00:52:49]:
Yeah, it's just the egotistical. Like, we're never slow. Right? Like, yeah, right. Like every. Like these shops. Like, I'm never slow. Oh, man, you're slow. I am.

Jimmy Purdy [00:52:57]:
Book three weeks out. Like, what's your thought?

Parker Branch [00:53:00]:
What is wrong with me? Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:01]:
What's the first thing that comes in your head when someone says they're always three weeks out? Right. You need to charge more.

David Boyd [00:53:06]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:08]:
Raise your rates. 20, 24. Oh, I. I made it almost to the whole damn episode without saying, raise your rate.

Parker Branch [00:53:14]:
Oh, don't do it.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:16]:
I said it. I dropped the ball.

David Boyd [00:53:17]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:20]:
Oh, this is a lot of stuff. Yeah, we went all. I mean, all over the place.

David Boyd [00:53:23]:
It was all over. It was good, though. Covered a lot of ground.

Parker Branch [00:53:26]:
Yeah.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:26]:
I think you answered the question very well, though, I hope for my cheap oil change.

Parker Branch [00:53:31]:
Sorry. I was all over the place.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:32]:
No, that was like, you, like. Yeah. You took my question and, like, just drug it into the mud. Like, cheap oil changes. Watch this.

Parker Branch [00:53:42]:
No.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:43]:
Well, appreciate you both for coming on, man. This is a great experience.

Parker Branch [00:53:45]:
This is great, Jimmy. And good to be here with you, too, David.

Jimmy Purdy [00:53:48]:
Yep.

David Boyd [00:53:48]:
Likewise. Six guys.