The Reservationist Role in Retention [E057] - Speak Up! Effective Communication
Remarkable Results Radio Podcast
The Reservationist Role in Retention [E057] - Speak Up! Effective Communication
Remarkable Results Radio Podcast · Aug 25, 2025
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Welcome to another episode of Speak Up Effective Communication, the show on the aftermarket radio
network focused on our communication and leadership skills.
In our episode today, I'm so excited to be able to invite back again for part two of our
conversation on the reservationists.
We have Rui Martins from Evolve AD.
Thanks for joining me, Rui.
Thank you.
How are you, Craig?
I'm doing great.
Hey, it's beautiful summer.
Last time we talked, it was in the dead of winter.
What more could we ask for here?
Now we're in this beautiful weather here at Nova Scotia.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just maybe some cooler weather and some rain, right?
I'm already thinking about tire season.
Oh, it is coming, and that is a big deal.
If you guys don't know about Canada, tire season is a thing to behold your
vehicle inventory.
What triples all of a sudden in November?
Bookings out three or four weeks.
It's ridiculous.
Oh, brother.
Well, hey, folks, today we are doing part two of our conversation.
So if you remember episode 22, we talked about the repair shop role that focuses
on communication, the reservationist.
It is a concept I absolutely love diving into with Rui.
I don't think anybody teaches this concept better.
And, hey, it's going to be pretty profound.
And that's the word of our day today, by the way, is profundity.
And we're going to define that word for you after we hear a brief word from our sponsors
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OK, and we are back.
And the word of the day today is profundity.
That is a noun, my friends.
It is a noun that means deep insight or great depth
of knowledge or thought.
I thought it was an appropriate word today as this is just every conversation
we have, really, I wish, I really wish.
I'm learning the word profundity in there somewhere.
I really think that we do hit some notes of that word as we move into this topic.
We did this and we should probably recap a little bit from episode 22.
We talked on a number of things on that related to the reservationist
job in the shop and that role that we discussed, we discussed it really
in the terms of before and during the visit.
Today, we're going to go a little bit further.
Excellent. Looking forward to that.
The after the visit piece is something that I'm excited about.
Well, yeah, for me, too, I have a class coming up with the Institute.
The Mars marketing intensive is going to be there.
And I talk a lot about staging the next visit with digital inspections.
And I talk about CRM platforms.
And I talk about the human element that must be infused into our retention efforts.
I have several episodes where I dive into this.
I felt like our conversation really is the solution to some of the problems
that we identify and, you know, as well as I do, when we start talking to CRM
on shops, they're usually asking, in my opinion, I've done this, too.
We ask a lot of the wrong questions of ways like, what's the best text
message to send out to our clients or the best email that'll get people to come
back in and it's the one that matters.
Craig, way back, let's say 15 years ago, 20 years ago, before the height
and awareness of texting and emailing and so forth.
We were starting to send out emails.
That was primarily what we were doing back then.
And I remember looking at a few service advisors and saying,
we can't let a client think that we care about what they do
and then turn around and go, I care so much about you
that I'm using a computer to call you and ask you about whether you're happy or not.
You know, like that was my statement back then.
Obviously, things have evolved to a whole other level at this point.
But I truly believe that, you know, when you're talking about CRM,
well, first of all, CRM has to be defined.
Folks that might not have the profundity in CRM
need to understand what CRM actually stands for.
And you use the word retention and CRM is often in the past
been used as client relationship management.
Correct. Oh, you're stealing my thunder.
Oh, I love it.
Take that thunder, throw that rod.
I asked the same question before to a group of shop owners.
I said, what does the CRM acronym mean?
And that's exactly what they said.
Customer retention, marketing.
That is what they called it.
And of course, you were a mentor and colleague
with Bob Greenwood, Bob Greenwood was my coach.
We lost him in 2021, as many of our listeners will know.
But he taught me the difference between a customer and a client.
And so I always say when people ask me what CRM stands for,
it's client relationship management.
Yeah. In that breath, when folks ask, what's the best text?
How should I create campaigns?
I have a metric for that.
I turn around and I say, OK, if you have, let's say, quote,
unquote, six clients coming through your shop yesterday,
then we should be following up,
creating client relationship management around those six clients.
They all have a reason to come back another time.
So each one of those folks, each one of those files, let's say,
quote, unquote, files are a reason to perform client relationship management.
I mean, three of them might be brand new individuals.
They've never been there before.
Really, they have a reason to, sure.
But they also have reasons not to.
And that's why I hear it never happens in shops.
Most of the time I'm talking to shop owners that are looking for CRM type
solutions, which I deal with on a day-to-day basis.
So the auto flow platform, which I work in my professional career,
has CRM components to it and a lot of it can be automated.
And I have had shop owners tell me over and over again,
if it isn't automated, I can't use this.
My team will not do my team won't do my staff won't do.
That's the thing I hear all the time.
And it does sound like a staff problem.
And we've talked about this before with with even taking appointments in.
And this where the reservationist role becomes soaking pen.
I can agree with them.
Yes, enters the reservationist, right?
Enter the reservation.
And enters the reservationist.
Bingo.
I think in the previous conversation we had, you had asked about
how does the ROI look or how does how do you account
for mathematically for that reservation?
So, oh, you know, it's coming.
You say another role in the shop.
Another staff member.
That's cost.
Right.
For me, that's exactly.
Well, it's not a cost because people don't cost you money.
They make you money.
So the staffing individual, the reservationist that comes into the mix
in a metrics type scenario gets added to the service advisor.
So if you have two service advisors, you now have three service advisors
and the thinking and the thought process has to change
from advisor, reservationist, it's support staff, right?
So support staff in the shop.
So if you have one service advisor and one reservationist, you have two support
staff and the reservationist, the mathematics are always what is the cost
of your service advisor, the salary of that advisor in relationship to sales.
That's the metric that we're looking at.
Well, now you have what is the cost of your two support staff to your sales?
Why would we look at it that way?
Well, because it has to make sense, return on investment has to exist
and your sales should increase and multiply by the fact that you are now
having a reservationist on board and a CRM person on board.
So the reservationist, if you look at the clues to where did they sit,
they're responsible for getting people into your building through a
reservation format and they're expected then to work the other side.
The 360 degree piece is to get them back for a reservationist.
So the day of the visit is the advisor, the reservationist spends her time
outside of the day of the visit, making sure the client returns.
Bingo. All right.
Well, let's recap a little bit about the before and during piece.
And our previous conversation, you talked about the origin of the reservationist.
This really like 20 years ago, just because of something we've already
identified, service advisors didn't grow on trees as back then as now.
And that's still the case today.
So that's pretty obvious that, all right, this person is going to be there
to help with items that are really a waste of time for an advisor to help
with things that the advisor legitimately consumption of time.
Yeah, it consumes time.
The advisor probably in many cases truly does not have, if we're
being honest about the staff workloads that we've presented them with.
Yeah, agreed in preparation for today, as well as thinking about
what we were going to discuss in that role of the of the reservations
coming in the door, I think if I was to rattle off or list the things
that that reservationist needs to collect, what are her processes?
What are her steps per him that need to collect the information?
I think people would be surprised by the amount of data processing
required to get a proper, quote, unquote, proper reservation bill.
I mean, you and I can do Martin's three o'clock on a piece of paper
pad pretty quick. We can do that pretty quick.
And it hurts me to see that lots of folks out there are still doing that.
They're still using Martin's three o'clock as their booking system.
Well, sometimes I even got the year-making model for the vehicle
that was coming in at three o'clock. It was impressive that happened.
But, you know, looking at do parts need to be ordered for this vehicle or not?
What is the transportation method for the client?
Do we need to get them a shuttle?
If so, what time are they coming in and where are they heading?
Are we in a big city, little city?
What's the logistics going to look like of getting a person?
I did much work in the Calgary market.
And at three o'clock in the afternoon, it was a one and a half hour drive
to pick people up, one person, right?
So that's important.
Is the SMS work order already built?
Is it been approved by the client?
Like, do we have approval on the dollars that we already have
on the work order coming in the door?
Or are we just going to surprise them with that later?
Work info, like, who is the advisor that is going to look after this client
when they arrive?
Who's the technician that's going to look after it?
All those things are logistics that if we don't take care of ahead of time,
we'll create challenges during the day of the appointment.
And problems in efficiency are created through the lack
of that proper setup through the reservationist.
So that's the day of stuff, right?
That's the journey.
That's day of stuff using a lot of information from the day before
when they were here is what it sounds like.
This is for a repeat client.
And this is where I feel like it's immediately people are confused
by what we're supposed to be doing this role.
They're like, how are we supposed to know any of these things
prior to that vehicle coming in?
And we do our initial assessments on this.
And as well, after you've done initial assessments,
a repeat client should have already had a relatively comprehensive,
I hope, inspection on that vehicle.
And that comprehensive inspection is one of those things
that I think is really important.
Like you have some documents of truth from the previous visit.
You have a reservationist who's gathering all sorts of good details on the car.
There was eight things that you mentioned in our previous episode,
very specifically that a reservationist needed to make sure
was on there, collecting the correct phone number,
spelling names correctly, offering directions to the facility,
documenting the proper odometer, the common missed items.
I've looked at a shop the other day, really about half of the vehicles
never had an odometer reading at all in the history of the visit.
Unbelievable.
Right. And then collecting email addresses.
I love that you mentioned that.
I did a whole episode on why email is not dead.
And I do recommend people still do emails and collect that stuff.
And then you also wanted to make sure that you know
what the client is waiting or leaving the vehicle if they need
alternate transportation.
And the last thing was what you called T times.
I made a made a mean joke about that sounding British.
I'm sorry. No, you meant T like golf.
Yes. You like golf.
Yes, absolutely. T double E. T double E.
Yep. T times. Serious thing.
Otherwise, you're not going to get to go golf in that day.
And we need to treat our time with our advisors is that important.
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So all right, visit is done.
We've invoiced a client out.
This is where the retention efforts are really going to become
pretty important now.
Truly retention efforts and I talk about this in the course
I'll be delivering to retention efforts begin at the actual
beginning of the visit when it all starts, the inspection
being an integral document for this.
And that's been true for your use of a reservationist
and retention as well.
They're really calling upon the digital inspection
or an inspection in general, combined with what was done
in the visit. Is that correct?
That's correct because the inspection is the proof
in the pudding.
The estimate piece is also required.
Right. We call that deferred work.
So deferred work from the inspection deferred work
from the estimate should be a combined package.
So the reservations piece should include the reservationist
looking after deferred work.
When you talk about it at interesting how you talked
about it at the beginning, if I'm talking about deferred
work that isn't completed, let's say we've
contacted the client in three weeks, just call and say,
hello, wanted to touch base on that ball joint.
We noticed was a problem a few weeks ago.
Have you thought any more about it?
What can we do to help make it happen?
Is there a price point issue?
Is there a time of appointment issue?
Is there something we can help get through?
That lays to rest.
Once that lays to rest, when that client returns
back for another appointment, the reservationist
should be aware that that deferred work is sitting
on the table.
We should most likely have a discussion of that
during an appointment booking.
Guess where the problem starts?
We don't have scheduling systems that allow us to look
at deferred work from the previous visit nice and clean
during the booking process.
We only think about that later.
And in many cases, miss it altogether.
The client comes in, we do some tires
because it's tire season.
We do an oil change.
They're ready for the winter and we forgot to mention
that the last time we noticed a ball joint.
And it's getting that data in front of people too.
Everybody wants data immediately.
I've been reading a lot of C.S. Lewis lately
and his screw tape letters.
And one of the things that I've started to realize
is that convenience is coping mechanism
for very busy people especially.
And that busyness is generally one of the things
that muddle us.
But convenience is not a solution to the problem.
It's our mechanisms for trying to cope
with the problem itself.
And the problem as I am starting to see it
is we don't have an owner for these tasks.
We don't have a person in most repair shops
who are actually focused on this
as their primary function.
And that's where I get really excited into this topic here
because this individual, this reservationist
while they're engaged in other elements of this,
their real best function is to make sure they're using
the data that we've accumulated during the day
and with a human touch are actively, proactively
going after it.
It is not a waiting game for the reservationist to engage.
They are actively hunting.
It's a huge piece of when you look
at client relationship management,
there's functions for the AI
and there's functions for the automatic texting.
So I'll pull that off the table for a second
because I don't believe that we should be moving those
off the table altogether.
Necessary but insufficient by themselves
is the language that I've been using.
Perfect way to look at it.
That reservationist needs to do quote unquote
a research project on that file
before the contact goes out to the client.
So if I'm making contact and I'm saying,
Mr. Client, Mrs. Client, this is why I'm calling.
You're due for an oil change.
I noticed that in the last three years
your pattern is you do an oil change
every approximately six months
then we should have that data
to be able to communicate properly.
And oh, by the way, I noticed that two seasons ago
you were needing snow tires
and we're now two seasons later or a season later
and you need snow tires.
So I'm gonna give you a quote for that also.
So all those pieces, oh, and by the way
I just noticed that as we're doing this
I looked over and your waste cars due
for an oil change in the same timeframe
in about a week.
So should we combine those visits together
get you a car for a couple of days?
So that's client relationship management
as opposed to campaign and text management.
Campaigns and texts.
Yes, this is the thing I constantly, constantly hear
and I've been trying one at a time
trying to coach people out of this mindset
but they are looking for a campaign
that throws the best message against the wall
and sticks the best to the most.
And every time I have to have this conversation
it's the same things.
Like, well, wouldn't the better message
be the one that's targeted specifically
towards a person's actual needs for a vehicle
and the vehicle's actual state of health?
I think that's relevant.
I mean, in an archaic kind of statement
it's shotgun hunting versus sniper rifle hunting, right?
So, and then the return on investment comes along
because people say, oh my goodness
if I was gonna look at each and every one of my clients
that goes through the building
and spend that kind of time doing a project
a research project to get it right
before I make the phone call out
that would take a tremendous amount of time
and I don't have that kind of time.
Well, you have the time to send out text marketing
and campaign marketing that gives you a three
or 4% return but if we create the time
around a reservation is then set up
at 80% retention rate or a 90% retention rate
then we're just talking drastically different returns
on investment.
So, at that point, should we consider a reservationist
as being the person who is in control of my client base?
I had a client just the other day say to me
that he has been focusing for the last 18, 19 months
on getting that old un-properly in his building
and he has now come to the conclusion
that he would in his mind
if he had to replace a service advisor
he'd prefer that over having to look
at another reservation.
He said that person is integral
to what is going on in the building
and he would soon rather see an advisor come and go
than the reservationist piece
that is in control of everything
and some of these reservations
that have become really good at what they're doing
I've even gotten to the role
of actually dispatching work also.
They're in the middle of dispatching work
so they brought the work in the building
they are already assessed who the technician's going to be
so now the next natural move is to do that too
and that's shops that can handle that
and people who can handle that, right?
Yeah, it's load balancing
and then what you've mentioned in our previous episode
is the reservationist develops a lot of intuition
around what the vehicle inventory needs
to look like for the shop
and so they're going to be doing these retention efforts
with a firm awareness
of what their vehicle inventory looks like
and probably what some of the best opportunities look like
to address a shortcoming in their vehicle inventory
or if there's a pressing need for someone
that it can wait until another spot
they're really ironing out those peaks
and valleys in our scheduling.
You know, in conversation we had
you had asked about what is the metric
that measures that reservations role
and you just said it, vehicle inventory is one of them.
We've noticed such a lack of proper structure
and proper process in the scheduling process
that we actually developed our own scheduler
that has the process built in.
So one of those things is to have a clear view daily, weekly,
monthly of how much of that vehicle inventory
is booked for that day.
Not how many hours we have on the scheduler
but how many vehicles are required
to achieve the results we need to do.
So maybe another topic, another day
we can have a conversation around scheduler
but scheduling is broken in our industry
on how it's handled, very broken.
Oh, yes it is.
Yep, I see some silly requests on this.
I have some people that want to schedule by bay.
We talked about this in episode 22 a little bit
like bay scheduling that like I actually was talking
to a shop in Canada earlier this week
by the way I mentioned you
and told them to listen to episode 22
and then we'll talk again.
And what they were running into
is they were moving their appointments around
and they were using a protractor
for their shop management system.
They're moving the appointments around
to reflect when the technician is gonna be able to start
that and they needed to not have a text message
go out from auto flow every time they moved
the appointment, which is a new appointment
and thus like, oh, you're changing your appointment?
Should we tell the customer?
Of course we're looking to do that.
Oh my gosh, it was a mess.
But I said, number one,
stop moving your appointments around
to try to reflect when a technician
is gonna get to it, you don't know.
Well, you don't know if the appointment
is for the advisor to see the client,
then the client did come in at eight o'clock
in the morning to see the advisor.
That's the big thing, yep.
That appointment shouldn't be moved.
What you're looking for is the separation
between appointment reservation
and tech flow, shop flow, shop organization.
That's a totally dispatching
is a totally different concept.
It really is.
One does not work with the other.
And you know what that question, Greg,
is across the board,
one of the single big questions I find.
Yeah, we've all been burned by the client coming in
at a time where not ready to actually
start working on the car
and their expectations were that they come in,
car gets worked on.
Straight into a bag.
Yep, and there's speed of service shops
that maybe can do that, tire stores maybe,
but not necessarily in a full service facility.
So, all right, reservationist in retention.
Let's take it like this.
Let's try to visualize this for our listeners here.
Like, let's say we did everything right during the visit.
Everything went right.
Everything from the appointment was good.
We did a perfect inspection form.
They authorized some work from the inspection.
We took good care of it during the visit.
Everything went well.
We're closing them out.
We discuss a few of the outstanding items.
They can't take care of them right away.
This is really right away
when our retention efforts begin.
And you talk about exit scheduling
as a number one first attempt, really.
Exit scheduling as the next,
booking the next appointment, right?
Like for the client,
that could be as simple as we realize
that you're gonna need your tires changed mid-September.
So why don't we book that right now today?
But then there's, starts the process of,
should we reach out in a couple of days?
Two or three days?
Yeah, when is that threshold to reach out to this guy
on the outstanding items?
What are the severity levels that dictate this?
Yeah, forget this outstanding work.
In two to three days,
I should be reaching out to this individual and saying,
just reaching out to find out,
if everything went well with the last visit,
were you happy with the visit?
The things we repair,
are they in line with what you expected it to be?
Sort of a thank you for coming in.
No sales call, just a thank you.
But you're not just talking
a text message or an email in this context.
You're talking an actual phone call.
In this case, it could start by a text,
follow up by a,
but no, for me the highest level of delivery is a phone call.
So a phone call to the client saying,
are you happy?
Are you not?
The amount of data we can process in a phone call
is nothing like emails back and forth.
If I make the phone call,
the client doesn't respond or didn't answer
or was at work or whatever.
Then I might follow up with a text,
letting them know what that was all about.
Two different texts, two different phone calls,
one based on repeat business you had asked earlier.
The other one, if it's a first time client,
hey, just wondering,
you came to our shop for the first time,
wondering how that compared to the last shop
you were working with.
Did we meet your expectation?
Was it the reason you changed shops?
Like let's have a conversation around
the fact that it was your first visit
and did we meet what you wanted to accomplish
by coming here instead of somewhere else?
I came for convenience.
I came for, because I moved into town
and I was looking for a shop.
All those different conversations could matter
and how we establish a relationship
with that particular client.
I agree and with a reservation
as someone who's an employee of this organization,
this is a much more personal touch.
Now, really, have you seen this?
I've seen a little bit more of this lately.
There's a lot of people that'll outsource that job.
They'll hire an organization to do this sort of call for,
do you have any opinions on that versus the reservationist?
We actually use some of that
if the client can't have a reservation.
We have some shops that are so limited by space
that they can't have another person working inside that building.
So now we have somebody who does it remote.
My preference, absolutely in the building,
I think that person listens to conversations
that are going on around them,
understands the vibe and the flow of the shop.
So when they're talking to the client,
it's very personal.
It can be done professionally,
but if a client calls and says
I'm having trouble with this or that,
we have to have a very smooth transition system.
It has to be, bear with me,
I'm gonna get you an advisor who spoke to you
and we'll get you talking to that person immediately.
So the transitions and how we do the transfers
have to be very good.
It can't be a scenario where we're like,
oh, thank you for your feedback.
I'll let the owner know when we hang up.
That's not, it has to be an instant transfer
to an advisor.
Yeah, and use of data seems to be the challenge
if it's not somebody on a part of our core team
having access to the same exact data
that we've been accumulating the whole time.
That's the only area and not that this,
you've talked about it with Karm on one of his episodes
on remarkable results of this,
how this can be a remote role.
I do believe there's plenty of opportunity for that.
And what I'm hearing from you too is like anything
that hits on the human level in a phone call type
of a relationship is gonna be better
than just automated stuff attempting to.
Absolutely.
Again, it can be done remotely.
The CRM in essence, 80% of what you're doing
is touching base with the client, letting them know you care.
Maybe you don't even have communication with them.
All you've done is back and forth.
They haven't responded.
You've sent a message saying thank you for your visit.
People read those messages
and they understand that you sent them
even though they might not have responded.
So a lot of that can happen
independent of the client actually touching base.
But those who need to speak to you,
those who want to confirm
that the vehicle's not doing the same thing
or is doing the same thing,
those people need to speak to somebody
and then our transitions to the advisor
need to be very professional and smooth.
There is a huge differentiator out there.
Like if I call a shop
and the shop can handle my complaint, my conversation
and get me to a service advisor very smoothly, I stand out.
I'm not in the same boat as 80% of the others.
It's a differentiator.
Yeah, I've mentioned it before in a episode
on client relating capability.
One or two businesses in any market, any industry
will stand out from the others.
And this is a clear area
where your client relating capability
can be enhanced by someone in this role.
That's really good.
So okay, they're reaching out
and there's some outstanding needs.
Their goal is of course twofold.
One, just connect with the client,
make sure that we know they care
and then try to identify any barriers
that they may have to coming into the shop
and get them to come back into the shop.
This seems simple,
but there's some tools that go along with this
because one of the things I see is like,
well, there's a lot of data
and a lot of clients and a lot of shops
that it's hard to sift through some of these things
to find where the shop would consider
the good opportunity.
But the opportunity isn't really the thing
that determines this sort of a follow-up.
This is something that gets done, period,
for every single client.
Absolutely.
Like you mentioned Bob Greenwood earlier,
we also had lots of conversations around the fact
that customers through process can become clients.
Bingo, yes.
So, yes, absolutely everybody.
That's what I meant by the 100% rule.
So 10 people, six people come through my shop.
We have to address those 10 people.
We can't pick and choose,
oh, two of them are really good
because they spent a thousand bucks.
So let's say hi to them.
The other eight might have had all kinds of reasons
why they didn't and they could still become clients
long-term.
So it's retention management,
client relationship management means having a view
on every single person that comes through my shop.
I've been focused on that for 10 years.
We had the VIM system in the past.
We have a new system now.
And all those systems were based on
if I'm looking at my follow-ups
and I'm following up six months from today
at the very minimum.
If I had 22 appointments on that day six months ago
I should have 22 people on my list of to-dos today.
Minimal, that's not the count
all the people that are outside of that
eating tires and eating this and eating that.
So that job becomes very crucial.
And people say, well, I don't know
if I can keep that individual busy
for a whole day doing that.
My goodness, if you can't keep a reservation as busy
doing reservations and CRM, we've got trouble.
We can keep that person busy with five appointments a day.
Yeah, because sometimes these are long conversations.
We talked about this briefly.
This would be an interesting metric to know.
I don't even know if there's reporting
probably with some new, if you're using inbound calls
one of the sponsors of this show
they have a lot of great AI reporting
on how phone call conversations go
and if certain touching points are brought in.
I'm curious how long the typical
reservationist check and call actually goes.
Do you have any gut instinct on this or?
No, it's not gut.
It's six to six and a half minutes.
Beautiful.
Yeah, people listen to that and they go,
well, that's not too bad.
That's not that long,
but six and a half minutes is a considerable conversation.
It really is.
Yeah, most appointments that we were doing in the past
were in the 42nd range, 42nd, 45 second range.
So six minutes is a tremendous amount of time.
And then how does it look?
Because in a lot of cases we do a two step process.
We collect the information.
We get everything we can upfront.
Then we go do what you call a research project.
So we go in and we find out what's the deferred work look like?
What's the rental car availability?
When can we bring them in?
And then we call back with a built work order
to approve the work that they're coming in for.
So all that is done in a two step process.
So by the time you're done adding the second conversation
in you're closer to a 10 minute call
to do one proper reservation.
Now this is something you could not do
unless you were doing comprehensive inspections
is something I'm hearing in there.
With the clients that I coach DVI is a must.
Like if somebody came to me and said,
could you coach me in my shop?
But I have no interest in going down the years.
But not just DVI.
I'm talking like a difference
between a courtesy level quick check
and an actual comprehensive inspection.
Which is something I learned back when Bob was coaching me.
Like there's some quick inspections,
touch up inspections that you can do.
But if a client has not ever had a comprehensive inspection
that's one of the primary goals
that we're working towards during the visit.
Yes, that's exactly right.
And that'll guide a great deal of the information
that we're counting on this in this research project.
And I think this is where a lot of the shops
that I work with are initially kind of fuddled
and confused and I've been there.
Like being a transmission specialist,
we were laser, laser focused on transmission powertrain.
Transmission powertrain, I didn't even care
about breaks or tires for the longest time.
Because we had friends that did all that stuff nearby.
They sent us all the transmission work.
We farmed out all the general pair work.
Lots of things have changed in the industry in 20 years.
And yet a lot has not.
And I am still seeing a tremendous inconsistency
in the depth and degree of which we are getting the buy-in
from technicians to perform that inspection.
But what they're doing is providing vertical data
to keep the shop full and themselves busy.
They see it as something to interrupt them
from their job of getting cars out the door.
But they're actually robbing themselves
of the data that is critical
to getting that car back in the door for the right reasons.
Yeah. And you know what?
I put that on the owner.
I do.
The owner needs to sit with that technician
and they need to understand.
This isn't a rules and regulations game
where we say, this is how you need to do it.
This is how it gets done.
That doesn't build culture.
Culture gets built by understanding why we do what we do
and believing in the fact that what we're doing
is the right way to do business.
That's when culture changes.
And once the owner has been able to change culture,
the rest of it becomes a process
that just develops as you go.
Yeah. And I wouldn't want to sound like
it's a condemnation on anything either
or if anyone feels convicted by this.
Believe me, I've been there.
Really, you've been there too.
And getting that culture change,
that mind shift on there
is what really does equip the rest of it.
That culture of taking care of your clients.
How can you do that unless you're inspecting every car
that comes in your bay thoroughly?
I mean, Craig, the other side of that,
like you're looking at the mechanical repair,
the aspect of the vehicle as the game
that needs to be understood
before we can engage with the client.
But there's outside factors.
I'm about to lose my job.
I'm about to leave the country for three months.
I go down south six months of the year.
All those different factors that are human factors,
they make a difference in our conversations
on how we go about handling a client, my budget.
I'm on paycheck to paycheck.
I need to do things $200 at a time.
That's an important piece of the conversation
for us to understand how we want to look after your vehicle.
I have three vehicles.
One of them, I spend 6,000 kilometers a month.
I'm in Canada, so it's kilometers.
So it's 6,000 kilometers a month.
Yes, yes.
Doing sales calls,
but my other vehicle is a farm truck
that I have on the farm, never leaves the farm.
So when I bring that vehicle in, I have to look,
technician needs to look at that vehicle differently
than they look at the vehicle
that's on the road for 6,000 kilometers from a sales call.
They might not require the same high level parts.
They might not require the same warranties.
They may not be interested
in certain pieces being repaired.
So those, again, conversations need to happen
at the CRM level in a lot of cases.
Yeah, no, that's good.
And you talked about the old downer
before we talked about an episode 22.
We talked about the beginning of this episode,
getting that proper reading.
Episode 41, I was with Hunt Demerist.
He was talking to a shop from a purely accounting standpoint.
They were seeing a dip in sales
when and correlating the number of clients
coming in as well.
The advice from Hunt was, call your clients,
find out what's up.
And they didn't, they just start finding
all the reasons why people are driving less.
Remote work was setting in around COVID, you name it.
There's all sorts of reasons people drive more or less
and that changes their needs.
And they will tell you what those things are
and that can start to inform how you do things next.
Absolutely.
Interesting stuff.
So all right, Rui.
So a reservationist is going after these people
with care, curiosity.
They've done the research.
They're trying to get them to come back
in for the appointment.
Oftentimes they know
because they've done a comprehensive inspection
and these are fresh quotes that were made.
So maybe the quote is current and up to date.
Obviously you're checking all those things,
gaining approval and getting an appointment.
Is that something that goes into this?
Absolutely.
Through the CRM piece?
Absolutely.
If we're contacting a boat,
let's say we're contacting two weeks out
because I don't know, I'm gonna use an example of brakes.
Brakes are at three mils in the reading.
Dangerous enough or close enough
to measurement that could be done today.
But a little old lady going to the grocery store
20 kilometers a week could probably have that
sit around for another month or two.
Whatever the reason could be budget
that they can't do it right away.
So that one is quote unquote critical.
We're reaching out two weeks after
we're saying, what about the brakes?
What can we do?
Well, you know what?
I wanna do them, but I don't have the $800.
You know, what can we do?
Well, we quote out the proper warranty related parts.
We call premium.
We could go down in the quality of the part
that we're putting out.
It's not that they're garbage parts.
It's just that they don't carry the same warranty.
Things like that.
Maybe there's a conversation around that.
But yeah, we're trying to book an appointment
at the next step.
So let's get the brakes booked in.
Let's get that done.
Or if it's front end back,
let's get the fronts done this time around.
Let's get the back ones done in a couple of months.
So we'll keep track of that.
I'll set up a reminder in my system
and I'll keep you reminded of it.
If it's straight up, you know what?
I just can't do that right now.
I'm gonna let it sit until it goes metal to metal
or I'm just not gonna think about it.
Those conversations happen also.
Okay, fantastic.
I'm looking here at my scheduler
and it looks like your oil change is due in January.
So you won't hear from me till then.
Talk to you then.
And we're setting up that expectation
that I am going to be giving you a touch point
in January related to the oil change.
So that when I do do that,
you're not surprised.
It doesn't come across as all these guys must be slow.
So they're just trying to bug me.
Because we do a lot of that stuff in the industry.
We do a lot of turning it on and turning it off.
So if we're very, very busy, CRM stops happening.
Well, one thing too you mentioned,
all right, we're gonna follow up with you then.
Where are you noting this
so that we know our task has been completed?
How is this being documented in your case?
Yeah, so we built a scheduler system,
a CRM scheduler system for exactly that reason
for tracking those things.
So we have a client dashboard in front of us.
We're building the next contact point.
We've got automations that say this client is going to,
as soon as they're done,
you asked earlier what happens
with our first point of contact?
Well, three days later, we're gonna say hello,
how you doing is everything okay.
Two months later, we're gonna reach out
on any deferred work we might have.
Six months later, we're gonna reach out
on the regular maintenance
that needs to be done on the vehicle.
So those automations are set up in the system.
And one can overlap with the other,
but every time I reach out to the client,
I'm seeing all my automations on the screen.
Oh, I see here that you're due for an oil change.
And like they're calling,
let's say that those set of breaks
that we just use as an example, they let it go.
But then all of a sudden in five months,
they call back and they say,
you know what, I can hear them squealing now.
I need to bring it in.
So let's get that done.
Fantastic.
I'm also noticing that your oil change
is due in three weeks.
Can we add that to this visit
or do you wanna break those visits up into two pieces?
All that data has to be in front of you.
All the scheduling has to be in front of you.
So yeah, we noticed a massive gap in the industry in that.
We built our own system to make that happen.
Is that available now, really?
Or is that available soon?
It's available now.
What's it called?
We call it garage growth scheduler.
What was that again?
Garage growth schedule.
Okay.
And you know what?
When we came up with the name,
I said to my IT partner,
garage, why do we have to use that word?
That's where Bob would have turned over.
You know, upset about garage growth being used.
And he looked at me and he said,
yeah, but it's the evolution of a garage.
That's what we do in our industry, right?
So we want to move it away from garage.
I said, like it.
Okay, let's go.
So yeah, it's called garage growth scheduler.
So we call it garage here.
Garage?
Yeah.
That's why you didn't understand garage?
That's why I didn't understand initially.
Yeah, yeah.
Initially I was like, oh man.
All right.
Touche, let's play that game over the next three podcasts.
That's what it's all about.
Scheduler.
It's beautiful.
If you ever wanna take a peek at it, let me know.
Nice.
I do.
And we will.
I think that's right up my alley actually solving
some of the things that I have people use in spreadsheets
because there are, there's gaps in any CRM platform today
that make this very challenging for teams to stay on task.
Know if they're climbing over top of another staff member
who may have already made some updates
to something else somewhere else.
It's that use of information again.
And the use of information has to be readily accessible.
This is all logged, right?
It's all logged inside that system.
Everybody can go, anybody can touch point on that client
and see what all the communication has been.
The beauty of it is that it can be assigned too.
So if a reservationist is doing a reach out call,
the advisor says, you know what I was speaking to Mikey
and Mikey was gonna get me a quote
on a set of tires in September.
So just remind him to do that, don't let him forget.
We can go into that system and we can set up a task
for Mikey to reach out and do that call in September.
So Mikey then gets a notification
that he needs to do that on September 13th or 12th
or whatever that means.
Yeah, we do stuff like that a little bit with autoflow
where you can set internal reminders
but people don't always set their little reminders.
Yeah, and that can be detached from a client profile.
So yeah, this is interesting stuff for really plenty
of food for thought on this subject,
still ahead, my goodness.
But the reservationist role,
I think it's very clear I need a person,
a staff member that is a human being
engaged in this process.
And that is the thing I'm hearing all the way through.
In this age of AI and technology, really,
I mean, I see a lot of overlap here
where there's some data elements AI is gonna be good at.
They may even get good at emulating some of these things
and who knows, maybe you'll have an AI reservationist
someday, my soul breaks a little bit,
my heart breaks a little bit when I think of that
sort of thing, cause I still think
that human component is just so valuable.
You have any thoughts on that?
How about the AI component is an aid to the human?
Perfect, that's exactly what I wanna see.
Like help me organize the data
and reset these reminders, perfect.
Yeah, bring all that information to me
so that I can use my brain to make a phone call.
Yeah, let me do the relating.
That's what we're here for.
It means more coming from a real person in my opinion.
Yeah, it's not a relationship otherwise.
Absolutely, and you know what?
I gotta tell you, the things we need to do
in this industry right now,
to be differentiated from the rest,
to be above and beyond what the world does
is not that complicated and it includes human being contact.
You do that properly, you're ahead of the game.
You're miles ahead of the game.
Man, price yourself right, staff yourself right.
You've got an enterprise, beautiful stuff.
Rui, any other final comments
on the role of the reservationist
or advice you'd like to give?
No, they need to be trained properly.
They need to be given time to be trained properly.
You gotta remember that role.
In many, many shops, the role doesn't exist.
So finding that individual to fit that role,
I have an EHR program
that actually does some profiling on that individual.
Like you send out a profile type document
and we're looking for certain characteristics
of what that individual does right or wrong,
what they like in life, what they like doing.
Are they a people pleaser or are they not?
Do they enjoy collecting data
and talking to customers on the phone?
Those types of things are collected.
So you can find the right individual,
but remember when that individual
comes into your building,
there's some ground here that needs to be,
you need to be patient with how that settles out
because that is a huge interference in how we do business.
Your service advisor is used to answering the phone.
Now all of a sudden,
somebody's answering the phone for them.
Your service advisor wants to be in control
of the outgoing conversations.
Now somebody's doing that for them.
So there's a big gelling process that happens here.
So patience with the training process
is what I'm getting at.
Yeah, the quality of life for advisors
is going up that tremendously.
I think that that's an attractive goal for any shop.
Absolutely, being given some time back
to actually speak with the client about the vehicle,
about the condition it's in,
about the things that are required
and the things that are recommended.
Absolutely, those times are given back to you.
Those conversations being rushed
or not being fully present for that conversation
is so destructive.
Everyone feels when somebody's stressed or too busy
in order to be present with them.
And it feels bad.
Well, hey, this felt good.
And I think we did.
We scratched that profundity here today really, as always.
And I look forward to further conversations
with these dashboard and scheduler items
that you've been developing.
I think the way you see things
for where this industry is going once again,
I can't thank you enough for continuing to be
truly the living embodiment of what I learned
from Bob Greenwood.
It's just so great still having a voice in the industry
that I can share these ideas with.
So thanks for being that.
Fantastic.
Absolutely.
Thank you for your existence.
Hey, thank you also to our listeners
and our sponsors who make the show possible.
Rui, if anyone wants to reach out to you,
what's the best way to reach you?
Well, Rui at EvolveAD.ca.
So EVOLVAD.ca.
I guess phone number two, 902-225-1360.
Beautiful, thanks Rui.
And hey, if you're looking to reach out
to speak up on something here on the show
or want to hear something spoken about on the show,
reach up to me at speakup at kregoneal.net.
And we do appreciate hearing from you
on anything that helps.
Any questions you have on recent episodes
or just topics you want to hear discussed,
remember also listen up to the other shows
on the aftermarket radio network,
remarkable results radio with Carm Capriato,
diagnosing the aftermarket A through Z
with Matt Fonzlo, business by the numbers
with Hunt Demerist and the auto repair marketing podcast
with Brian and Kim Walker.
And then there's the weekly Blitz with Coach Chris Cotton.
Once again, thank you so much to our sponsors.
Thank you for joining us today.
Thank you Rui for joining me today.
Thank you.
Now everyone get out there, listen up, speak up
and hire a reservationist.
What are you waiting for?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Thanks Rui.
All right, Greg, thank you.
Take care.
You've been listening to Speak Up,
effective communication with Craig O'Neill
on the aftermarket radio network.
Follow Craig on your favorite podcast listening app
and on his YouTube channel.
Let him know what you'd like him to speak up about.
Craig is all for advancing the automotive service
aftermarket.
About this episode
Rui Martins returns for a deep dive into the crucial role of reservationists in automotive shops, focusing on their impact on client retention and communication. The conversation emphasizes the importance of personalized follow-ups and the need for comprehensive inspections to inform customer interactions. Rui shares insights on how a well-trained reservationist can enhance service efficiency, improve client relationships, and ultimately drive sales. The episode also discusses the integration of technology and human touch in client management, highlighting the necessity of a dedicated reservationist in modern auto repair shops.
Original notes
Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express
In our Episode Today:
I’ve invited my friend Rui Martins to return for Part Two of our conversation on the repair shop role focused on communication.
We discussed this topic in episode 22 - and I point just about every repair shop I work with to the concept of creating a reservationist position in their staff. I was introduced to this concept first with my former coach, Bob Greenwood, whom we lost in 2021 to an unexpected heart attack.
I met Rui Martins when he was working with a shop that onboarded Autoflow. In the process - we quickly realized we were speaking a similar language, and shared many concepts and ideas.
Today - we continue our conversation on many of those concepts as we discuss the role of a reservationist in the retention process.
I highly encourage shops who value cultivating authentic, strong, and purpose filled relationships with their clients to listen to this as well as:
Episode 022 on Speak Up - follow up with this episode.
RRR Episode 922 - “The Role of the Reservationist in Auto Repair.”
The Word of the Day:
Profundity
noun: Deep insight, great depth of knowledge or thought.
Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, AutoLeap, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express:
The Institute at WeAreTheInstitute.com. "Stop stressing over your business, you deserve a good night's sleep. The Institute’s coaching helps you achieve success and financial peace.
AutoFlow at AutoFlow.com. Your partner in technology, Autoflow consolidates your client interactions - before, during and after the visit to a single thread. Learn more at Autoflow.com
Shop Dog Marketing at Shop Dog Marketing.com. "Want to see your auto repair shop thrive? Let Shop Dog Marketing be your guide. Our customer-first approach, combined with AI-driven creative content, ensures top rankings.
In-Bound at CallInBound.com. Cover your communication needs and revolutionize your auto repair business with AI-driven call analytics from InBound.
Express by Facepay myexpress.io. Keep your existing merchant processor and software at your service counter. Express is integrated into your workflow to make the experience better.
Contact Information
- Email Craig O'Neill: [email protected]
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