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This podcast is dedicated to changing the automotive industry for the better, one conversation at a time.
Whether you're a technician, vendor, business owner, or car enthusiast, we hope to inspire you to improve for your customers, your careers, your businesses, and your families.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:06]:
Good morning, David.
David Roman [00:00:08]:
I leave all that in, by the way. Listen to clapping and everything.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:11]:
Yeah, we just put it all in.
David Roman [00:00:12]:
So now that he's gone, we can talk about how he's nuts. You can tell how he. I told him. What was it, a year and a half ago?
Lucas Underwood [00:00:20]:
Been more than that.
David Roman [00:00:21]:
Has it been really?
Lucas Underwood [00:00:22]:
And probably close to two years now. We're in Tampa, weren't we?
David Roman [00:00:26]:
No, Tampa.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:27]:
Yeah, we were in Tampa. We were in Tampa.
David Roman [00:00:30]:
Two years.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:31]:
Two years. Institute summit. Because the institute summit's coming up in February and it's a biannual event, so.
David Roman [00:00:37]:
Year and a half then. Cause we're in July.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:40]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Things are starting to run together.
David Roman [00:00:43]:
Anyway, a year and a half ago, I told him he was nuts. He was crazy. And then he told me the secret sauce. How long have you been working for him?
Kyle Buenger [00:00:50]:
I've been working for him for about seven months.
David Roman [00:00:51]:
Okay, so you've been for. Cause you talked about you. Yeah. You tried to leave and quit on him and everything. We can talk about that in a second.
Kasia Thompson [00:00:58]:
I don't think I ever quit.
David Roman [00:00:59]:
In his ice scooch this all the way up.
Kyle Buenger [00:01:03]:
Extended leave of absence.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:04]:
Yes.
David Roman [00:01:05]:
So I found out his secret sauce and then I got mad at him. Cause he had a secret sauce and he was like divulging the secret sauce.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:15]:
And you yelled the entire episode.
David Roman [00:01:18]:
I got mad. I did. Cause it's unconventional what you guys are doing. It's super unconventional.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:25]:
Nobody knows who you're talking about.
David Roman [00:01:28]:
I'll refer to the episode, go back and listen to this other episode. I'll look it up.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:34]:
Introduce yourself.
David Roman [00:01:35]:
Yeah, go ahead.
Kyle Buenger [00:01:36]:
My name is Kyle Binger. I'm a lead tech at Copa Mechanic out in Maricopa, Arizona.
Kasia Thompson [00:01:41]:
Young lady, I am Kasia Thompson and I service advisor, remotely service manager and servicing from Tennessee.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:51]:
From Tennessee.
Kasia Thompson [00:01:52]:
From Tennessee. Working at Maricopa.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:55]:
From Tennessee. I could not imagine that. I mean, like I.
David Roman [00:02:00]:
What part of Tennessee? He's kind of close to Tennessee.
Kasia Thompson [00:02:03]:
Clarksville.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:04]:
I don't know where that's at.
Kasia Thompson [00:02:04]:
Right by the Kentucky border.
David Roman [00:02:06]:
Kentucky. Where in relation to Kentucky?
Lucas Underwood [00:02:09]:
I guess we would be. I guess we would be like.
David Roman [00:02:13]:
Because it's all right there.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:15]:
Right southeast of them.
David Roman [00:02:17]:
Yeah. Okay.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:18]:
I'd have to look on the map.
David Roman [00:02:19]:
Yeah, that's probably really close.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:21]:
Yeah, I'd probably say I remotely service advice sometimes from like here. Now I have to deal with him yelling and screaming and fussing and complaining the entire time. So maybe that distracts me, but I just don't see how this is possible right cause, like, my clients wanna shake my hand this night. I can make estimates from here, but. But y'all gotta explain how this works. Ed explained how it works. But let me be real here.
David Roman [00:02:49]:
Episode 104 episode 104 episode 104 and.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:52]:
I love Ed to death. But here's the thing is, like, I, as an owner, have a very different perspective than my staff. I think my shop's awesome. Sometimes my staff thinks my shop sucks. Right now, Ed is absolutely positive that y'all love it and you think it's awesome. And so I am dying to hear the story. Right. I just have to know because it sounds like it works really well.
Lucas Underwood [00:03:15]:
So how about you start and explain how this works?
Kasia Thompson [00:03:21]:
The time difference is a little off. So my hours are pretty much I'm 2 hours behind on daylight savings, and then an hour, well, it's actually ahead, not behind. So I'm working either from ten to seven my time or nine to six. So I'm a little ahead. So most of the time I could get my stuff done during the morning or in the afternoon when I do have to work stuff, but I clock in. Usually I'm there a little bit earlier. I get to answer the phones and make the appointments, do the scheduling, and then I'm in contact with Kyle or ed in the morning, seeing who showed up, if there's anyone I need to follow up when we should be expecting them. So there's a lot of communication between us going in where I used to check in the vehicles to check the VIN numbers, mileage.
Kasia Thompson [00:04:14]:
I don't get to do that anymore. So I'm kind of dependent on the text to make sure they put that in the inspection or give me the information. So make sure that information is updated in this system. So I'm dependent on them as well as they have to make sure they provide the information for me.
Lucas Underwood [00:04:29]:
Okay.
Kasia Thompson [00:04:30]:
So they do put the license plate and everything on the DVI. So I get that with the mileage, and then we just pretty much communicate throughout the day of the vehicle is done. This is what it needs, and I work up the estimates. I call the customer, I tell them what they need, I get the work approved, I order the parts, and then I'm dependent on the parts actually getting there. So the text do check them in, and if they say, I'm not seeing this part, I follow up. Where's the part? Make sure get an ETA for them and go from there.
David Roman [00:05:08]:
Who's answering the phones?
Kasia Thompson [00:05:10]:
I am.
David Roman [00:05:10]:
So all the calls get routed to you. You're answering and setting appointments. And, hey, where's my car. Can I come in for this? And you're. You're not seeing. Do you have cameras so you can see what's going on in the shop?
Kasia Thompson [00:05:25]:
No, I do not.
Kyle Buenger [00:05:27]:
Well, not at this time.
Kasia Thompson [00:05:28]:
Not at this time.
Kyle Buenger [00:05:29]:
We're working on that.
Kasia Thompson [00:05:30]:
So we're. There's glitches and we're still working stuff out, but we.
David Roman [00:05:34]:
How long have you been doing the remote thing?
Kasia Thompson [00:05:36]:
About a year and a half now.
David Roman [00:05:37]:
Okay.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:38]:
So I guess the first question I have is, like, for me, the check in process is, like a rule. It's like law in the shop. And the reason being is because when that car gets there before anybody touches it, it gets four corner pictures put on the repair rail before anybody moves.
David Roman [00:05:54]:
It in the spot where it got parked in.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:57]:
Right.
David Roman [00:05:57]:
And we do way more than four corners.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:59]:
Right. Well, I mean, I know. Any damage?
David Roman [00:06:01]:
Anything, windshield, front bumper, everything.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:04]:
Well, and so we will do that part in the DVI, and they'll do that when they start. But that goes in auto. Text me. It doesn't go on shopper. What shop management software are you all using? Okay, and so you said that very.
David Roman [00:06:16]:
Quietly, by the way. That's perfect.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:17]:
I know, right? We'll mute that out and put shopware. And so I guess the next question for me is, like, so a while back, I talked to my insurance agent, and he said you would probably have coverage if something went sideways. He said, I'm just telling you that until the client signs a repair order, you do not have liability coverage in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of the insurance company until they sign that agreement.
David Roman [00:06:45]:
Carolina, dear.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:46]:
And it has a. It has the mileage, it has the vin and has all that entered. So it would. It would make me nervous, right? Because my process is, the client comes in, we discuss the repair that we're going to do with them. They sign off on the screen, and then we go out. We've talked about price. We've talked about all that. The mileage, the tag, everything is entered before they sign off on it.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:12]:
And then we put the pictures in before the technician sits down in the vehicle. And then the service advisor is putting the protective equipment, things like that, in the vehicle. Seat covers, floor mats, steering wheel covers, all that. And then we pull the vehicle around because it's like that chain of custody that, hey, we followed a specific process to protect your automobile. If anything happened, you agreed we could drive the vehicle, right? So do you guys. I guess my question is, do you go to her and say, hey, here's all the information. We've got a signature. You can start the ticket.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:42]:
How does that work?
Kyle Buenger [00:07:43]:
So, to my knowledge, what happens is everything's discussed over the phone prior to the vehicle coming in. Okay. We're all paperless. We're all just electronic. So everything is authorized to the customer online.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:54]:
Okay, but that happens before he gets in the car, right?
Kasia Thompson [00:07:58]:
Yes.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:59]:
Okay.
Kasia Thompson [00:07:59]:
So it's either over the phone, so I'll say that it was authorized over the phone or it was online, that actually the customer will authorize it online.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:08]:
Okay. So. And they can. So they can see the terms of service if they authorize online. Do you go over the terms of service if you're doing it over the phone, or do you, like, send it to them before you get them to authorize over the phone?
Kasia Thompson [00:08:17]:
I go over.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:18]:
Okay, got it.
Kasia Thompson [00:08:19]:
The price and everything else that we're going to be working on. Yes.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:22]:
Okay. Got it. And so it gets started. Have you ever noticed a lag or a delay in the, like, workflow? In other words, it takes you a minute to get it approved or whatever? Cause I. I deal with that in my shop. Right, to where I don't get it approved in time, or they come in, they drop off late, or they drop off after hours. And I have to call to try and get the authorization before we start. Because you can get a pre authorization in shopware, but you can't get a authorization from the client to start the job without that pre authorization.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:56]:
Right. In other words, you. They have to pre authorize it if they didn't pre authorize, if you didn't send it to them and then say yes. The problem with that is, is if you put any information in, it clears. But. But still, it works. I guess I'm just saying I don't.
David Roman [00:09:09]:
Do any of that nonsense.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:12]:
But you. You're not exactly.
David Roman [00:09:14]:
That laws are different.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:15]:
I'm just saying you're not like the model example of repair shop ownership.
David Roman [00:09:19]:
Like, you just, we're talking to somebody who works out of Tennessee for a shop in Arizona. Like, what do you think we're doing here? This is unconventional.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:27]:
I like the unconventional of this. This sounds awesome. I was going to see if she wanted to service advice from my shop, too.
David Roman [00:09:32]:
Yeah. Have you thought about leveraging your skills.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:34]:
And doing working five, six shops at a time?
Kasia Thompson [00:09:37]:
Yeah, I actually was helping out another shop in Chandler the last month and a half because they had a family emergency, so I was helping do some service advising.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:46]:
And so Malan Newton, didn't he do remote service advising for a while?
David Roman [00:09:52]:
I don't know if he was doing remote. I know he was going into shops and helping or doing the writing for the. For the shop. So you're having to call. You call every customer.
Kasia Thompson [00:10:01]:
Yes.
David Roman [00:10:02]:
To sell the work.
Kasia Thompson [00:10:02]:
Yes.
David Roman [00:10:03]:
And present the inspection.
Kasia Thompson [00:10:04]:
Yes.
David Roman [00:10:05]:
Yeah. That's a lot of work. How many cars are you doing?
Kasia Thompson [00:10:10]:
Depends. Would you say?
Kyle Buenger [00:10:13]:
Depends? 610 a day.
Kasia Thompson [00:10:14]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:10:15]:
Anywhere from six to ten a day. You're not inflating that, are you?
Kyle Buenger [00:10:19]:
No.
David Roman [00:10:20]:
That seems excessive. That seems like a lot.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:22]:
I mean, I only do three per tech.
David Roman [00:10:24]:
You have a lot of techs, though. You have four, don't you?
Lucas Underwood [00:10:27]:
I'm five techs right now, but, yeah, I do three cars a day per tech.
Kyle Buenger [00:10:30]:
Oh, we kind of run like two and a half. Sometimes when we start getting backed up, Eddie will come back and work on the alignment rack or the flat bay.
Kasia Thompson [00:10:37]:
Or something like that. With the AC services?
David Roman [00:10:41]:
Yeah.
Kasia Thompson [00:10:41]:
Yeah. So if we could get an AC service, we'll be able to get in and we'll be helping out with AC services on the side. So.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:48]:
So here's my thing is I've got a service advisor, I've got a parts person, and we've got a lot more tech. So that makes sense. But. But even with three techs, it was a lot for us to get our estimates done every day. Like, a lot. Now, you not being sitting at the front counter might speed that up because people aren't.
David Roman [00:11:09]:
She's the one who answer the phones.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:10]:
Why?
Kasia Thompson [00:11:11]:
No, I answer the phones. But, like, this week, I came back, I came into the office two days. I was a little behind because I was on Monday, I was traveling, so I was kind of having to work up the estimates for the day before. So it was kind of. But there was more distraction than I am at home.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:28]:
Right.
Kasia Thompson [00:11:28]:
So with being. Yeah, yeah. I don't have the customer walking in and interrupting me or just somebody walking off the street. Because we do share. Our address is pretty much a street long, so it's like sliding down. Sorry. So we have multiple companies that share the same address. So there's other people coming in for different companies.
Kasia Thompson [00:11:53]:
That does slow it down, too, because looking for somebody else, and I'm saying.
David Roman [00:11:56]:
In a more conventional setup, let's say you have just a building. Like we have just a building. We get maybe one person walk in, maybe a day off the street where they're like, it's always at lunchtime. It's always a lunchtime, yeah. Or when Juan has to leave, that's when they show up. Random people walk in. Can you look at my car? No.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:16]:
I bet the look on your face is so.
David Roman [00:12:19]:
It's always annoyance. Like, no, dude, like, call and set an appointment, so. Or you can leave it and we'll look at it in a couple days. Anyway, we did 17 cars last week. That's it. 17 cars. We're down, you know, like thousand, 100, $1200 aros. What are you guys running?
Kasia Thompson [00:12:37]:
Seven to eight ish, sometimes a little higher.
Kyle Buenger [00:12:41]:
But also, how many oil changes a day are you doing?
David Roman [00:12:43]:
Depends.
Kyle Buenger [00:12:44]:
I'm like, we're probably doing two or three a day.
David Roman [00:12:47]:
Yeah, yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:12:48]:
And those are pre scheduled. We usually will schedule those out like a week just to make sure the customers, you know, really wants to get that oil change.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:54]:
Do you do the 300% rule on oil changes too?
Kasia Thompson [00:12:58]:
What do you mean?
Lucas Underwood [00:12:59]:
Like the, the 300% rule is like, hey, we inspect every car, everything gets.
Kasia Thompson [00:13:05]:
A DVI, every car, every car that comes in, and I preschedule. So I'll also preschedule ahead the six months for their maintenance. Okay. And then I will give them the customer call a couple days before just making sure that that time in date still works for them.
Kyle Buenger [00:13:21]:
And then when she does that, she does that for a specific reason, to order the parts ahead of time so they're there. So that doesn't slow the process down.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:28]:
You're either extremely organized or just exceptionally efficient. Because, like, that doesn't work in our shop. No, like, we don't accomplish this. So, like, you're dealing with that many cars.
David Roman [00:13:40]:
I mean, that's how many hulu shows are you going through in a day?
Kasia Thompson [00:13:43]:
I actually can't. I don't have time to watch it because I'd say.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:48]:
Right, like, because I mean, if you're.
David Roman [00:13:50]:
Service advisor doesn't want to loop, I don't like just in the background, even.
Kasia Thompson [00:13:55]:
If I, even if I tried it before, but I can't even get through half of it because it's the interruptions, so.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:03]:
Right.
Kasia Thompson [00:14:04]:
I don't even attempt anymore. Yeah, but before, in the beginning, when I first started, it was more of I was working on average about four to 6 hours a day because I do clock in and clock out. So if it is dead and, or I'm all caught up or I'm waiting on them to finish or try to figure out a diagnostic and I'm caught up, I'm clocked out. And then when I get a call and I always check throughout the time that I'm off to make sure that something didn't get finished or updated, but I'm pretty much on and off. So if I don't have anything to do, I'm not clocked in.
David Roman [00:14:42]:
You do that so you can just get up and do whatever you want? Yeah. This is. This is insane to me.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:50]:
I know. I mean, I like it. I think it's a really neat setup, and it's got my. My wheels turning here. I just, like, we have so many people that come in at my shop. I have five or six people that come in a day, maybe more.
David Roman [00:15:01]:
I think Ed was a saint in a previous life.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:04]:
He's. He's found a unicorn, right?
David Roman [00:15:07]:
He's found more than one unicorn deer.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:09]:
Why? No, I mean, well, okay.
David Roman [00:15:11]:
How do you find two unicorns in maricopa, Arizona? Like, get out of here.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:16]:
How did Ed. How did you get connected with Ed in the first place?
Kasia Thompson [00:15:19]:
I was looking for a mechanic to work on my vehicle.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:22]:
Okay.
Kasia Thompson [00:15:22]:
So I was going in to get regular maintenance on a timing belt, water pump replacement, and I got recommendations for Ed. So I went in, and then he was saying that he was shorthanded, and I was actually on debating. I had, my kids were all in school, and I was like, you know, I think it's time for me to actually go into the workforce back again. So when I came back and I was debating for the past, like, month and a half beforehand, and I was like, you know, I think this is, you know, actually, God showing me a direction. And I walked in, I said, here's my resume.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:54]:
Oh, that's kind of cool.
Kasia Thompson [00:15:55]:
So I said, and I started working for him.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:59]:
And so how did the move happen? Like, what did that conversation go? Like, did you go to Ed and say, hey, like, I got a move, I'm sorry. And Ed said, hey, why don't you work remote? Did you propose the idea?
Kasia Thompson [00:16:10]:
No, actually, the process started in about September, and I told me my husband's working, looking for a new job. I was like, I can't guarantee where it's going to be. He's trying to find something local, but if he's. If he ends up moving out of state, then that's where we'll have to be. So I said, and I suggest that, you know, if you start looking, I could train them. Even if you find somebody earlier, then I'll be able to walk away kind of thing, because I didn't want him, leave him stranded, and he didn't say anything. December came, and I found out that my husband actually applied out of state finally. So I said, you know what? He applied the next day.
Kasia Thompson [00:16:50]:
He got a call. He's already going on his second interview, and I'll know a little bit more. They flew him out. And then I was like, most likely we're gonna. If they're flying him out, it's a.
Lucas Underwood [00:17:03]:
Pretty solid deal at that point.
Kasia Thompson [00:17:05]:
So I said. I said, I'll train people. And he did take a couple interviews, but nothing panned out. The house. We weren't sure how fast we sell the house. We put on the market right before Christmas and mid January, we got an offer. February 14, we sold the house. So I told Ed, you know, I could log in, train somebody, and march.
Kasia Thompson [00:17:32]:
He called and he said, you know, he was like, I'm busy, kind of going crazy. And then he said, I said, well, if you want, I could help out a little bit, start working part time. And I thought I was gonna be like, you know, part time here, maybe 10 hours a week trying. And it went from, you know, 1020, and now it's some day, some weeks it's 40. So full time, so that's crazy.
Lucas Underwood [00:17:59]:
And what kind of work is your husband?
Kasia Thompson [00:18:00]:
And if you don't mind me asking, maintenance.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:02]:
Very cool. And so it was just like the best opportunity he found was out of state.
Kasia Thompson [00:18:06]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:07]:
So just ran with it. How does this. You were a tech before this, right? You had worked in a shop that had a conventional advisor, and I've been.
Kyle Buenger [00:18:15]:
Yeah, I've worked for several shops, dealer and independent. That is conventional.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:20]:
Right. What does this, what does this, as far as challenges go, what does it create for you? And in the same respect, what are the wins it creates for you?
Kyle Buenger [00:18:29]:
So the biggest challenges are, is basically, I'm on the phone a lot more than usual, obviously in contact with her, you know, parts of customers not showing up or trying to cash the customer out. But the estimate is still on there, so we got to get it corrected back to what it was when it was approved by the customer. So I'm on the phone with her 2030 times a day, getting all the stuff squared away.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:52]:
Is there a client interaction component for you, or is ed handling the client interaction component?
Kyle Buenger [00:18:58]:
Most of the time it's ed, but then when he's out and about doing stuff, then I take over that role. I've been a manager at shops before, too. I just find it's easier for me in the back.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:06]:
Yeah. Gotcha. And it's just. I don't know, it's crazy. What do you think, David?
David Roman [00:19:16]:
I feel that you've walked into a ridiculous situation, and now there's an immense amount of pressure on you to perform, like, these two. I'm saying this nicely. Freaks of nature. And so, like, how do you deal with that?
Lucas Underwood [00:19:28]:
David never says anything nicely, so for him to say something nicely is a huge honor. Okay. I'm just saying that putting that out.
Kyle Buenger [00:19:35]:
There, it's really not that bad. Again, I think it's easy for me.
David Roman [00:19:39]:
I'm saying that I need you to. I need to put proper context into this.
Kyle Buenger [00:19:43]:
Okay?
David Roman [00:19:43]:
This does not happen ever.
Kyle Buenger [00:19:45]:
No, this is a first for me.
David Roman [00:19:47]:
And. No, I'm saying, like, the situation, how you interacted with him, how you propose. All of that. All of that. This doesn't work. I clock out when I'm not working this. I want to have a heart attack. This is a really.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:02]:
Ed just got really lucky.
David Roman [00:20:04]:
I'm telling you. He was. He was saving baby kittens in a previous life, like, out of burning buildings. He would run in, bring out baby kittens, and then raise them as his own. And then. I don't know. I don't know what he was doing.
Kyle Buenger [00:20:18]:
Can I ask you. So on your shops, are you guys for your technicians, flat rate or hourly?
Lucas Underwood [00:20:24]:
Mine are hourly. With a flat rate, like, bonus structure, compensation bonus. Like a hybridization? Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:20:29]:
Okay. And you? Yeah, same. Okay. So Ed's the same way. Now. I could see if it was a flat rate shop. You know, it would be completely different.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:36]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:20:37]:
It being the same thing as your guys shops are. That's what makes it.
David Roman [00:20:40]:
I thought that it would be that different. A flat rate shop being. Well, I don't think the pay component has anything to do with this. Like, he. When we interviewed him the first time, he's telling us his numbers in the episode. What number was it? I said, was it 104? Yeah, he was paying attention. Thank you. Episode 104.
David Roman [00:21:02]:
We're listening to his numbers, and he's. And I'm like, this is not possible. Like, this is. This is not possible. And he's like, oh, yeah. With one mechanic. And then we found out he had. He was a pure blood.
David Roman [00:21:18]:
What did I say? Pure blood. Mexican. Real Mexican. Mexican. Mexican.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:24]:
There goes that tonal privilege.
David Roman [00:21:25]:
None of that. What's that?
Lucas Underwood [00:21:27]:
There goes that tonal privilege again.
David Roman [00:21:28]:
I got that. No, no. Like, I. That's. That goes against me here.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:33]:
Oh, doesn't it?
David Roman [00:21:34]:
Yes.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:35]:
I don't keep up with that stuff anyway.
David Roman [00:21:38]:
And the guy was a freak of nature. Just the hours that this guy was pumping out in the situation that I got to pull the car, the part tools into the bin and then pull him out. I'm working outside and there's no air conditioning, and they're working on putting on anyway. So this guy's just pumping out work. It's just. It's insane. It's nuts. I'm just telling you.
David Roman [00:22:03]:
I know you worked at a shop. I'm just telling you right now. We've talked to a thousand plus shops at this point. That's insane. The numbers that he was putting out with one guy, he's like, well, I hope no. Shop owners, for the most part, are worthless, okay? They get in the way. They meddle. They only do what they want to do, what they find fun.
David Roman [00:22:25]:
They don't admit it. Not all of them do. And I'm not saying the Ed's entirely like this, but 99% of them will only kind of meddle with what they find fun and interesting, and they don't want to do the, like, grunt work. Like, I don't want to do a tire rotation. I will, but trust me, I bitching the entire time I'm doing it. And it's only because we are ridiculously behind. And somehow I got caught in the shop.
Lucas Underwood [00:22:49]:
I feel personally attacked.
David Roman [00:22:52]:
Yeah, you only do what you find fun, and you come in and you meddle, and there's. We're all seagull managers. We all are, okay? We come in, we just knock away. We shit everywhere, and then we leave. That's what we do. That's every shop owner. So he's like, no, you don't. No, you don't.
David Roman [00:23:07]:
This guy's doing all the work. This is your. He's your unicorn. He's your secret sauce. Like this guy that you found, right? Lorenzo is. That's the name, right? Lorenzo. You're Lorenzo.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:15]:
No, this is Kyle.
David Roman [00:23:17]:
Yeah. I'm saying that's. I'm talking about Lorenzo.
Kyle Buenger [00:23:19]:
No, no.
David Roman [00:23:20]:
What's the other guy?
Kyle Buenger [00:23:20]:
Lorenzo's not the unicorn.
David Roman [00:23:22]:
Who's the other guy?
Kyle Buenger [00:23:23]:
That would be me.
David Roman [00:23:23]:
No, this was. This was a year and a half ago, dear. Oh, no, this was a year and a half ago.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:27]:
He had another attack.
David Roman [00:23:28]:
Oh, he left.
Kyle Buenger [00:23:31]:
That was Daniel, right?
Kasia Thompson [00:23:32]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:32]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:23:33]:
What happened to Daniel? Daniel was the mexican guy.
Kyle Buenger [00:23:36]:
No, no, he was kind of.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:38]:
I don't know.
David Roman [00:23:39]:
No, he told me. I know Mexican.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:41]:
Well, Lorenzo is super mexican.
David Roman [00:23:43]:
Like, mexican Mexican.
Kyle Buenger [00:23:44]:
That's Lorenzo.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:45]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:23:45]:
Yeah, but he's not.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:46]:
He's.
David Roman [00:23:47]:
I knew the name.
Kyle Buenger [00:23:48]:
He's a decent tech, but he's not super tech.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:49]:
Yeah, he does. He's not more. Ed was doing all the diagnostics back.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:53]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:23:53]:
And Lorenzo doesn't have to work. Yeah, that's how you hire me, was it? I'm just telling you right now.
Kasia Thompson [00:23:58]:
The unicorn's ed.
David Roman [00:24:00]:
No, that's not. He was.
Kasia Thompson [00:24:03]:
He was doing before.
David Roman [00:24:05]:
You know why it said? Because he keeps finding these people. That's what it is.
Lucas Underwood [00:24:08]:
Yeah, that's why he's a unicorn. Or well being. It's awesome.
David Roman [00:24:11]:
How many hours are you putting out? Being on the phone? 2030 times a day.
Kyle Buenger [00:24:14]:
It definitely does slow the productivity down, but typically, I'm usually about 105% efficient, and I've gone up before that. So last period, I think that was 109 hours for an 80 hours pay period.
David Roman [00:24:25]:
109 hours in an 80 hours pay period and then doing 20. Is he doubling the times?
Kyle Buenger [00:24:34]:
Well, I can be a labor matrix. He's a function times.
Lucas Underwood [00:24:38]:
Right, but, I mean, are you running a labor matrix?
David Roman [00:24:40]:
Hold on. You can't do. I'm not trying to disparage this kill. Okay. I just hear this all the time, and it's just like, I've been in a shop for a long time. I'm just telling you right now, between pulling the car in, racking it, inspecting it, pulling it back down, pulling it back out, pulling the next car in, grabbing the parts, sorting the parts, figure out what you need to do, looking at the ticket, and you start on the work. Either you're working on one line, and you're doing 4.3 hours timing belt water pump jobs on Honda Accords or Honda Accords. I'm not talking about.
David Roman [00:25:13]:
I just dated myself onto Odyssey.
Kyle Buenger [00:25:15]:
Yeah. I'm, like, in an hour and a half. Yeah, actually, we did. We had one the other day. It was a 20.
David Roman [00:25:20]:
And that's all you do? That's all. I'm not saying that you have one or two or three. I'm talking. That's all you do in that situation, then, yeah, you're gonna be like you. You know, pumping out the work, and you're gonna be, like, ridiculously efficient, but you're gonna run into cars that you're like, I've never seen this before. Yep.
Kyle Buenger [00:25:39]:
Absolutely.
David Roman [00:25:40]:
And in those weeks, your productivity is gonna tank. So you're not gonna do. You're gonna do 32 hours in a.
Kyle Buenger [00:25:46]:
40 hours week, but then the next week, then you do 60 and mix it up.
David Roman [00:25:50]:
Maybe, but that's cause the stars aligned.
Kyle Buenger [00:25:53]:
Well, I guess we get pretty lucky.
David Roman [00:25:56]:
Oh, you realized it. People think this is normal.
Lucas Underwood [00:26:03]:
I'm just saying it would. I don't think you guys understand how difficult this would be.
Kasia Thompson [00:26:08]:
It is difficult. It gets difficult.
Lucas Underwood [00:26:11]:
Well, I'm sure. But I mean, like, I don't know that any other shop could pull this off.
Kyle Buenger [00:26:16]:
You have to have the right crew. Cause you gotta trust each other. Crew members that can do multi jobs. So if you got one guy that's just a tech that doesn't know how to write or interact with customers, it's not gonna work. You gotta have a team that is fluent in everything.
David Roman [00:26:28]:
The problem, those you're dropping, what you're doing, you're stopping.
Kyle Buenger [00:26:31]:
Correct.
David Roman [00:26:32]:
Okay. And you got to get on the phone with her because the parts didn't show up.
Kyle Buenger [00:26:36]:
We have earbuds, so I can multitask. So I'm talking to her while I'm doing something.
David Roman [00:26:42]:
The whole of science says multitasking is not a thing, and the only ones that can do it effectively are women. That's it. And that's only a sum, because you're gonna. Look, it's if I have to be on the phone, and I've done it. I was a one man shop for a few months until I was about. It doesn't work anyway. You're on the phone, you get distracted, or you're dismissive on the phone. Either you're putting 100% of your attention on the phone, or you're putting 100% attention on the job that you're doing when you start to split, like, I'm sorry.
David Roman [00:27:16]:
You think you're doing both well, but you're not. Like, you're swinging one way or the other. And so when I would go back, I'd have to go, okay, what was I doing? And it takes, what is it, the number? 15 minutes. It takes 15 minutes to get in from an interruption, to get back into your task. Every interruption. 15 minutes to mentally get yourself back engaged. Now, you might be a freak. You joined all these other freaks, and you're like, I'm a freak too.
David Roman [00:27:44]:
Let's all do this, like, ridiculous freak show, and maybe. Maybe you're just an anomaly, and God bless you for that. I'm just saying that if you are, I cannot. I just. It will make me angry.
Lucas Underwood [00:27:58]:
Is it that our shops are such shows that it makes, like, them being able to pull this off make us feel bad?
David Roman [00:28:05]:
So we're like, I mean, this is mostly jealousy. I'm just telling you right now, this is mostly jealousy. But I'm just saying it's 15 minutes to get back into the task. And as much as I like, oh, I can multitask, you just can't. You have to go back and go. Okay, I tighten, tighten, tighten, tighten. It's doing a timing chain. It's got 85 bolts on a cover.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:26]:
I mean, if you did, what was it, nextel all those years ago that had the push to talk? And, like, there's new ones of those that are, like, push. Whoa.
David Roman [00:28:34]:
I remember that.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:35]:
Yeah. I mean, like, something like that could potentially improve it, because we use radios in my shop. Right. And so the service advisors aren't going into the back that often, but they do go in the back, and. And, like, it's beneficial for. For them to be able to walk back and see so they can explain what it is that we're seeing to communicate that to the client and convey that. I I guess my biggest fear for you guys is, can it scale? Not. Not necessarily.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:01]:
Like, can you take this, multiply this?
David Roman [00:29:04]:
Like, it was doing, like, half a million or $600,000 with Lorenzo, and now he's got this other freak shows up, and he's pumping out. What'd you say? 109 hours or whatever nonsense like that.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:17]:
Don't take David offensively. He's just offensive.
David Roman [00:29:19]:
Right?
Lucas Underwood [00:29:20]:
Like, so you don't have. When he says freak, it's. David is really the freak. Okay. And so.
David Roman [00:29:26]:
I'm sorry. It takes 15 minutes. It's 15 minutes. He's doing 109 hours in an eight hour work week.
Kasia Thompson [00:29:34]:
Why not some of the jobs she.
David Roman [00:29:36]:
Clocks out when she's not working?
Kasia Thompson [00:29:40]:
I told him, if it's something that you need concentration, that you can't. I'm like, just don't answer the phone and just call me back. So there's certain times where, like, he was doing the cylinder heads because I can't be interrupted in this.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:50]:
Yeah, for sure.
Kasia Thompson [00:29:51]:
So there's certain jobs that I'm, you know, I'll wait. And there's a time, like, when I'm talking, speaking with the customer. The customer wants an answer. I said, I'll get back to you probably maybe in the next hour or two, because I work remotely, and I do have to get in contact with Kyle or. And so it does take a little bit. Some time to get back to a customer. So it does put some delay in getting back, and it does. It's a longer process, even working up some estimates.
Kasia Thompson [00:30:15]:
It does take longer because I'm not actually physically, because I used to love going out in the shop and seeing what's going on and how far they're getting along with the car, because now I have to say, oh, how's Lorenzo doing? So I would ask Kyle, how's Lorenzo doing? Because we do have a language barrier there, because Lorenzo doesn't speak English, right?
David Roman [00:30:36]:
Do you speak Spanish?
Kyle Buenger [00:30:37]:
No.
David Roman [00:30:38]:
No. Oh, that's fun. Do you do a lot of Google Translate?
Kyle Buenger [00:30:41]:
No, we just do a lot of pointing.
Kasia Thompson [00:30:44]:
I will do Google Translate with Lorenzo. So we'll Google and text back.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:49]:
If you've seen the new app that, like, you can open it on your phone, and it translates as they talk. And so that. That works really well. When him and Juan are talking shit about me, I can, like, open it on my phone and see what they're saying.
David Roman [00:31:02]:
Why is it you always think we're talking shit? Trust me, I talk shit to you in English to your face. Why would I need to, like, say it in Spanish? Juan, it's here.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:14]:
It's because all you do is talk shit to me. So it was just. I wanted to hear what you were talking shit. Okay. Just pointing that out. This is a really, really cool concept.
David Roman [00:31:28]:
Did you find that you were just exceptional at your other jobs, and you're like, I work around heathens, and I need to get out of here. And so you needed to find a group of unicorns so you could go frolic in the meadows together.
Kyle Buenger [00:31:42]:
I just found it very difficult working for corporations. That was the biggest thing. The last job I was at, I was with the company four and a half years, and it was just. You're just a number to them. So no matter what you're trying to contribute, as far as making things better, it just goes right underneath the table. And nothing happened. So finally had enough and decided to move and decide to move on. And the way I found Ed is actually my old apprentice I had at the dealer.
Kyle Buenger [00:32:09]:
Works for the other company in the building, and hate said, hey, man, this guy's looking for tech. Gave me the heads up. I came in that night, gave him my resume, and that day, hired on the spot and put my two weeks in and then came to work for him.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:24]:
So something else.
David Roman [00:32:26]:
The dealership didn't come back. Was it dealer, or was it, like, a chain?
Kyle Buenger [00:32:29]:
It was a independent, big chain company, worldwide chain.
David Roman [00:32:36]:
Worldwide.
Kyle Buenger [00:32:36]:
I don't want to throw a name, but, yeah, they're worldwide.
David Roman [00:32:39]:
Oh, we talk crap on everybody.
Kyle Buenger [00:32:40]:
I'm sure you do, but I don't.
David Roman [00:32:41]:
Want to get all sorts of angry comments. And you guys hate dealer Tex, the.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:46]:
Dude that owned all those midas stores that I told you about a long time ago from Minneapolis. I think it was Midas. His wife came in, they brought their mini in, and I was talking to her. He was a super nice guy, really smart, like, not your typical corporate store owner. Like, really nice guy really cared about his people, really cared about the business, you know? And so his wife came in, and I asked how he was, and she just, like, all of a sudden, her face just melted, and she just, like, her tears started pouring out. And she said, he is dead. And I said, what? She said, he went to the doctor. The doctor said, hey, I'm really concerned about this.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:25]:
You need to go get this checked. Went to an oncologist. He was diagnosed with cancer two days later. The oncologist said, I think you should go down to Florida. There's this place in Florida. Really great doctor. Really knows how to handle this. Go see that doctor.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:39]:
And the doctor said, I'm really sorry, but you might have three to four days to live. And he died five days later. And this happened all within a week and a half.
David Roman [00:33:49]:
The doctor said, three. How do you. How can you tell somebody?
Lucas Underwood [00:33:51]:
Evidently the cancer had grown into something, or had, like. And he was like, this is. This is.
David Roman [00:33:58]:
Why wouldn't you just say, like, I don't know how long you have?
Lucas Underwood [00:34:01]:
It could happen. She said, she. She said, the doctor said to him, this is gonna be days, not weeks, not months. You need to go home. You need to be with your family. And so whatever the doctor saw, there was something that the doctor saw that was.
David Roman [00:34:13]:
Kills you that fast? That's crazy.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:15]:
I think it was where it was. I think it had grown into something or something like that. And it had, like, maybe an artery or something, you know, that happened to Shannon, that worked for me. That happened to his mom. She had lung cancer, and it was in an artery in there, in her lungs. And they did not know that she went to the hospital. She had a coughing fit, and so they took her to the hospital. They were going to do, like, a breathing treatment to help make things better.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:38]:
And it ruptured while she was in the hospital, and she bled out and died. And it was really early after the diagnosis, but.
David Roman [00:34:48]:
Sorry, we got dark there for a moment.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:50]:
My bad. Sorry, guys.
David Roman [00:34:53]:
Get yourself checked out.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:55]:
Gotta go to the doctor, you know? So one of the other things that's very unique about Ed shop is it's outdoors, right?
Kyle Buenger [00:35:02]:
Yes.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:02]:
Now, listen, I live in the mountains now. The humidity is very different. Like, I can walk around in this, and it really doesn't bother me that. Too bad, princess. Here, he cries the whole time. But.
David Roman [00:35:12]:
But this is a. That's a outside things, Arizona thing. In California, too, they got outside shops.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:19]:
Well, I get that, but I'm just saying, like, it's 70 degrees, and my technicians are like, it's hot. Can we turn the air conditioner to 65? Right. Like, they get really.
David Roman [00:35:29]:
They get really mine at 60. I just let it run. Yeah, it never gets that cold, but I just let it run.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:34]:
Well, I'm just saying, like, is that not a challenge? Does it not?
David Roman [00:35:39]:
We had this conversation before you showed up. Had you been here on time? I'm sorry. You're hot blooded. Go ahead.
Kyle Buenger [00:35:44]:
Yes. I've been here since 85, so I'm kind of acclimated. But there are things that we do to keep cool. Like, I have an ice vest that has pockets in it, so I'll put that on in the afternoon. That helps cool me down a little bit more.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:57]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:35:58]:
We have three swamp coolers, one protect bay, and then we've got another one that's blowing into our cube, where our computers and information for, you know, identifix and stuff like that. Yeah, we got popsicles and waters and stuff like that. Try to stay as hydrated as possible.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:14]:
For sure.
Kyle Buenger [00:36:14]:
Combat it.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:15]:
And, I mean, that was one of the things that I thought about when we first talked to Ed, is it's especially the cube or the shipping container where everything is. Right.
Kyle Buenger [00:36:24]:
Yeah, we have two of them. One for tools and shop equipment, the other one for keeping the part supplies are in stock stuff, and then we have the two computers.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:36]:
Those suckers got to be hot. Yeah, they got to be hot. And so it's just. Look, I just don't know that you guys know how unique you are and how impressive this is, because nobody else could pull this off. Right. Especially you, because, like, you're handling a ton of workload, and it's not like you're not there to be able to put your hand physically on the paper and to solve the problem and to call the parts place and to deal with the thing. Right.
Kasia Thompson [00:37:02]:
Well, Eddie will scan invoices for me. So I get them in my email, and I check and I receive everything. So I'm still hoping that the vendor sent the right part.
David Roman [00:37:14]:
Are you checking them off when they come in? Are you going? Yeah, that's correct. Correct, correct.
Kyle Buenger [00:37:17]:
So most of the vendors require signature, so I will check, make sure that the part numbers match before signing it. Some vendors just drop and run.
David Roman [00:37:24]:
And you're still doing this and putting out hours, though?
Kyle Buenger [00:37:28]:
Yeah, I could probably put up more, but more with where we're at now. I'm waiting for. So I don't know if Ed told you, but we just got new concrete poured. We're working on the awning. We got one more rack sitting in the corner. We're going to order another rack. We're getting another scissor rack. So we are expanding that way again.
Kyle Buenger [00:37:45]:
You know, pull a car and diagnose it. Like, for brake job. Pull the brakes off, pull the calipers off. Check everything out. Okay. Well, might be a couple hours to sell the job. So what do you got to do? Gotta put the car back together.
David Roman [00:37:55]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:37:55]:
Get it off the rack, get the next one in. So by getting those extra racks in there, I can have one torn apart, one working. That's gonna speed up productivity.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:03]:
You know, Ed is. Ed is a super good guy. Right. And he really takes care of his people.
Kyle Buenger [00:38:08]:
Yes.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:08]:
And so do you think this would work if he didn't care as much as he did? Right. In other words, if he was like some of the other shop owners that we've all experienced and seen, do you think this would work for you guys if he wasn't.
Kasia Thompson [00:38:20]:
No.
Kyle Buenger [00:38:20]:
No.
Kasia Thompson [00:38:20]:
He's amazing.
Kyle Buenger [00:38:21]:
No, he's really involved. A lot of the other owners just come in, grab their money, and leave. It would not work with the skeleton crew that we run.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:30]:
Right? I don't see how it could either. You gonna switch to a remote service?
David Roman [00:38:35]:
This is a me thing. Is this what the problem? Am I the problem? I come in and run. I don't have any money to grab, so I just show up and go. Did we make any money, guys? No. Okay. I'll see you guys tomorrow. I'll check again.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:51]:
This is definitely an us problem. We are the problems in our shops. There's no doubt.
David Roman [00:38:55]:
You know, I need to have ed come out and, like, you know, figure what the hell I'm doing wrong.
Lucas Underwood [00:39:02]:
Did you know that Kansas City is cooler than Arizona? And it's closer, one less time zone? And so if y'all talked to Ed into buying done with care auto repair, I don't.
David Roman [00:39:14]:
He's. I don't know that he would. Well, first off, he's more than welcome to just take it. I don't need to. I don't need any money. I just need to sign the debt over. Here's what you owe. And then I need to walk away, and then I'm done.
David Roman [00:39:30]:
I'm done. I'm out. You know, he would probably whip it into shape.
Lucas Underwood [00:39:36]:
I'll be honest with you. We've spent a lot of time together, and I've watched your shop. I think just about anybody could whip it into shape. Like, if they actually did anything right? Like, anything at all. Like, if they just worked for maybe 30 minutes a day.
David Roman [00:39:51]:
Does that work a lot?
Kyle Buenger [00:39:52]:
Yes. And actually, I was gonna say a story. Was it march that he went to the Mars conference?
Kasia Thompson [00:39:57]:
Yes.
Kyle Buenger [00:39:58]:
Yeah. So he went to the Mars conference in March for two days.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:01]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:40:01]:
Right. Won't say everything fell apart, but it definitely chaos ensued. Correct. Yeah. He is such, you know, the sprocket.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:10]:
Yeah, yeah. From the owner's perspective, though, that's dangerous, and it's dangerous for him, and it's dangerous for you.
David Roman [00:40:18]:
That's what he know. What's wrong with that?
Lucas Underwood [00:40:21]:
I think it's dangerous. No, it's nothing, because if something happens to Ed, it can leave them exposed.
David Roman [00:40:28]:
Okay.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:28]:
I'm sure they would.
David Roman [00:40:29]:
But also, if he loses her, he's got a problem. If he loses him, he's got a problem. He loses Lorenzo, he's got a problem.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:37]:
I mean, that's just business ownership, though. But building the business around himself in.
David Roman [00:40:41]:
That way, I don't think it's that he's building the business around himself. I think he has to. It's such a unique situation. He's got to find the holes, and he's got to go, I got to fill this hole. Got to fill this hole. And, you know, that's why a lot of shop owners do that. Please.
Kasia Thompson [00:40:59]:
He's taken a step back, and he's kind of pushing it on us now, because before he was. Customers want to come in. They only want to speak to Ed. There's still some customers that say, I only want to speak to Ed. And I'm like, well, I can help you. I'm like, well, let me see if I can help you first, and then if I can't help you, then we'll definitely get Ed back. But if you wanted to speak to Ed, he's working on a vehicle.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:19]:
He's, you know, it'll be a little bit.
Kasia Thompson [00:41:21]:
It'll be a little bit. And sometimes I get those customers that will tell me, and I'll answer the question right on the spot. Other times, nope. I just want to talk to Ed. Uh, we had a customer that came in and was sat in the office for, I think, 2 hours waiting for ed.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:33]:
Oh, my God.
Kyle Buenger [00:41:34]:
I think he was in Phoenix getting parts for.
Kasia Thompson [00:41:36]:
Yeah, he was. He went out to Phoenix to get parts, I think, the ac machine, right? It was.
Kyle Buenger [00:41:40]:
Yeah, he bought that ac machine.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:42]:
Yeah.
Kasia Thompson [00:41:42]:
So.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:43]:
So. But I guess my point is, is, like, with Ed being the hub, because. And the reason I say that is because this week, the shop, my shop, performed really well, and it even performed well on Thursday. And Thursday was a carryover day from what we've lined up and how we had planned things and how we had set things up. For me, being out of town. Right. But then Friday was chaos because I wasn't there. And it's because in a lot of ways, I've built myself as the hub.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:09]:
Now we're losing a service advisor, and they've kind of, like, decided, hey, just going to cruise, and it's going to be okay. And I don't mean that in a negative way. It's not a negative situation. It's just that it means that there's a lot of pressure on you guys if something happens to Ed. You know what I mean? There was a shop in North Carolina.
David Roman [00:42:32]:
He can hire somebody, though. In other words, what he needs to do is find a tech for this poor guy to go in and. And do his job. His job.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:40]:
He can manage.
David Roman [00:42:41]:
Well, no, the technician side of your job. And then you can step into what Ed does and essentially fill the holes up and just essentially coordinate with you and manage. That's all he needs to do.
Kyle Buenger [00:42:53]:
That would be good. But the problem is not to toot my own horn, but there's not many.
David Roman [00:42:57]:
Techs like you hire two then, is it what I'm saying? I'm not. I'm not. I'm not trying to be facetious. Like, that's what you do is like. Yeah, like, it's the numbers that you're saying are insane. And I, you know, we've met a few texts that are just, like. They're just freaks, right?
Lucas Underwood [00:43:13]:
So your Ron Pollock, your Jeff Comptons, you're, you know, I don't know about them.
David Roman [00:43:19]:
Canadian New Yorkers. Now you gotta go further south. You gotta go further south. That's where you find a good work ethic. Anyway, so I'm saying, I'm just. They're just jokes. People don't come at me anyway. They're just jokes.
David Roman [00:43:32]:
Everything. They're just jokes. Okay. So I'm just saying. Yeah, you find people like that occasionally, but that also makes it more dangerous, because if something happens to you, I lose 109 hours in two weeks. I can't lose 109 hours. That'll cripple my business. Right.
David Roman [00:43:54]:
So what do I do now? Well, I can find two techs that can do 30 hours each a week, and then between that, in two weeks, that's 120 hours. That's easier to find a 30 hours a week guy. So that's what I would do, is I would find two guys to take over your workload. Technician, workload and then you can help with Diag, you can help with.
Kyle Buenger [00:44:17]:
So the problem is we only have two racks at our shop.
David Roman [00:44:20]:
Well, that's why you need the racks.
Kyle Buenger [00:44:22]:
Why are you to take over for one? Because you don't. They're not going to split around, you're going to stack. Correct. So that's why when we expand, I'm sure we're going to hire another tech. I'm like, just the amount of racks that we're going to have at that point, it would be pointless. I'm like, I could use three. I used to use three at the dealership. But you could see that the productivity going from two to three, it just doesn't climb up as high as going from one to two.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:44]:
There's always been a big argument for having a tech that had two or three base, right. And the problem with that is that you have to turn the hours that you're talking about to make that work. Because if you don't, right, that that bay is worth what? That bay is worth a day, right. And so if you get to the point that one bay is 8 hours and one base, 3 hours turned a day, because you have it on the guy, you just threw yourself under the bus. Right. So you decreased your revenue. And you know, I think that the biggest challenge I would see to this is that when you guys grow, if he has to hire another service advisor and you have to interface with the other service advisor, I think that adds a layer of complexity because it changes the process so drastically, so quickly. Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:31]:
And now the call, are the calls going to you or the calls going to them? How do we split the calls? Is it that it just rings over after so many rings? You see what I'm saying? Like that ring all.
David Roman [00:45:41]:
I mean, that's how it is in my shop. It goes to like five different phones and hey, grab the phone, somebody.
Kasia Thompson [00:45:49]:
Well, at first we were doing, because Ed sent me, actually the business phone. He mailed the ups for me. The UPs driver goes, here you go. I'm tired of it ringing all day because he never turned it off. So I got the phone, but at first it would ring to me if I don't pick it up, it would transfer over to his phone with that. I didn't get the voicemail, I didn't get the missed call. I didn't know if he answered or got back to the customer. So that was that issue of we're dropping our customers.
Kasia Thompson [00:46:19]:
So I said, just have it only come to me. And if I can't get it get back to them. They leave me a voice message or I'll call the customer right back, which that's what I've been doing. If I have doctor's appointment during the day and I'm not going to be there, or I have something with the kids, then I'll say, ed, I'm forwarding the calls to you. So I'll just do call for it and everything will go to his cell phone.
Lucas Underwood [00:46:42]:
So the way that my phones are set up is everybody has a soft phone on their cell phone, right? And then we all have desk phones, we all have individual extensions, but they're all set up in like a call queue. So I can take people in and out of the call queue as I need to. I can set priorities for the call queue. So like, hey, it rings here first and then here second if it needs to. And I can move, move that around and distribute that. The cool thing about that is, is that all the voicemails go to an email and that email is spread across the entire shop. So then if there's a missed call.
David Roman [00:47:16]:
If a missed call pops and we get an email saying, hey, you missed this call. Yeah, yeah. So we know. Everybody knows.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:22]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:47:23]:
That makes it easier for sure. So he needs two texts and a service advisor to just to manage what you got going right. Now.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:33]:
Let me ask this, if there was anything about it that you could change, what would you change?
Kasia Thompson [00:47:43]:
It gets difficult working, not seeing everything.
David Roman [00:47:47]:
Cameras.
Kasia Thompson [00:47:48]:
Camera, yeah, correct.
Kyle Buenger [00:47:49]:
Cameras.
Kasia Thompson [00:47:50]:
I was thinking, because at first we talked about we could put cameras and so I could kind of look at. We have really bad Internet out in.
Kyle Buenger [00:47:56]:
The middle of nowhere. So we were relying on like Verizon, the hotspot. Not the hotspot, but whatever that little Verizon mobile intervenes and it's still very slow.
Kasia Thompson [00:48:06]:
So I remember when I was in the office, Internet was slow, but it wasn't that bad. This, when I came back this way, I'm like sitting there and computer screening, circling. I'm like, this is going to take a lot longer to get the estimates done. Like at home, I have my laptop and then I have my computer with two screens. So I'm kind of doing using three different screens to function. So I'm moving a lot faster. We're just working on laptop. It slows down with the Internet.
Kasia Thompson [00:48:36]:
It's horrible. But one of the things that would help is having a camera on the text, seeing exactly what the process is and how far they're coming with the car, if they're pulling it in, if they have another car in. I think that would be the, yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:48:51]:
That was a big one. Especially when I was in three bass. Right. Because I could watch the base very closely now that I'm in ten base. Like ten cameras straddled throughout the whole shop is difficult to, like, keep your eyes on and see where everybody's at. But with three bays, I could watch it and I could say, okay, here's where we are. Here's what we've got going on that cars coming out. Why is he still on that car? Why are we doing this? You know what I'm saying? So I can step in and say something about it.
David Roman [00:49:16]:
You guys are far away out enough that they won't run cable or fiber.
Kyle Buenger [00:49:22]:
We use a.
Kasia Thompson [00:49:22]:
Well, yeah, he did a, did end up getting a hot spot on Wednesday. Wednesday. So he went out and actually came back with a hot spot.
Kyle Buenger [00:49:34]:
Estimates for me, it doesn't work. It works great in the office in the back of the shop. It doesn't work back there. So I had to go end up going back to the old system.
David Roman [00:49:44]:
They've got, they've got setups, though, for. And they have satellite.
Kyle Buenger [00:49:50]:
How are we having satellite now?
David Roman [00:49:52]:
Is Starlink or do you have some.
Kasia Thompson [00:49:54]:
We're using Verizon.
Kyle Buenger [00:49:57]:
Well, we just got the Verizon. But what was the old system on the top?
Kasia Thompson [00:50:01]:
No, it wasn't. Well, the other company has the Starlink. We don't. I don't think it has.
David Roman [00:50:08]:
How far does, how fast is Starlink? Starling's pretty fast.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:11]:
It can be in some cases.
Kasia Thompson [00:50:12]:
Sometimes it's nothing, not depending.
Kyle Buenger [00:50:14]:
So the other thing, too is it gets quite cloudy, especially this time of the year on a monsoon. So if it's satellite and the clouds are in the way, it doesn't work.
Kasia Thompson [00:50:22]:
At all because previously, when I was at the office, there was three mechanic shops at that time there, and they were using the starlink. And then when it was cloudy, or that would drop off, too. So either way there would be, it's something.
Kyle Buenger [00:50:36]:
There's still a workaround. What we would have to do is we would just take pictures on our phone and then we would have, have to text to her.
Kasia Thompson [00:50:42]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:50:42]:
Then she's got uploaded on there. So that's just more steps for everybody. Slows it down, but it's still a process that we can get around.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:49]:
What would, what would you change about it if you had something to change.
Kyle Buenger [00:50:53]:
As far as the way the shop is, the cameras, for sure. I mean, that would be her biggest thing because then that would definitely cut down on the phone calls coming in, it's like, hey, where we're at? Where are we at?
Lucas Underwood [00:51:02]:
Yeah, stuff like that.
Kyle Buenger [00:51:03]:
She had the camera. She could definitely going on.
Kasia Thompson [00:51:05]:
Even when I have a customer I could see, I would be. We have a buzzer, so they're supposed to ring the buzzer, but not everyone.
Kyle Buenger [00:51:11]:
Yeah. Ed forgets to charge it, so it's good for like five days and over the weekend, and Monday comes in, they're hitting the button, the thing's dead. So we don't hear anything.
Kasia Thompson [00:51:18]:
So I'll have a customer call and let me know that they're in the office, and I'll give Kyle a call, you know, kind of apologize to them. But so that even having a camera in the office, seeing what's going on, we were talking. We mentioned something about doing like, a terminal that will be able to face kind of FaceTime with me when they do call in.
David Roman [00:51:38]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:38]:
Because I've seen that before. In other words, like, there's video call terminals that you can, like if you're watching the camera or whatever, or you can have a sign up and they walk up to, like, a screen and they can talk to you, and it's just like you're there, except you're not able to shake their hand or something. Right. But in the medical field, I have seen terminals that they have like that. And so it's got one screen for the video.
David Roman [00:52:01]:
Expensive.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:02]:
They are, but then the other screen has, like, where you can sign off and approve repair orders or whatever it is, you know, on the other side. So, I mean, there's all kinds of.
David Roman [00:52:11]:
Roll them into them.
Kasia Thompson [00:52:11]:
That's what he was saying. He was thinking about getting a kiosk even for, like, dropping off keys and picking up black boxes for.
David Roman [00:52:18]:
I just got one of those. Juan loves it. He says he's so happy. He mentions it every single time he talks to me. He's like, oh, I heard he mentioned it yesterday. Yeah, yeah. He's like, oh, don't worry, though. I'll just drop the keys in this new lockbox I have.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:31]:
The, the other thing that I would think is maybe because they have that new, like, push to talk now, right, those little radios you can buy. And I would say that, that because, like, they make a huge difference for us and we just use regular two way radios in the shop. But, like, being able to not have to have a phone conversation and answer the phone, right. Push the button, answer the phone, have the conversation, hang up, then you have another question. Have to call right back.
Kyle Buenger [00:52:55]:
It's really not that bad. I usually wear the earpods, so it just comes in, and all I have to say is, yes. You want to answer yes? Bam, she's on. So my hands don't even have to come out of the engine bay. And then when I'm done, she hangs up. So when she hangs up, it hangs up the call, and then it goes back to the music in my earpods.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:09]:
I just learned so much. My wife always tells me, she's like, you need to be the one to hang up. And I'm like, what are you talking about? You answered the phone. How can. Why do I need to be the one to hang up? She's like, you just need to be the one to hang up. I'm like, but my phone's over there and I'm, you know, and obviously I've got the button on the steering wheel, but still, I realize now that she's just saying yes to answer the call.
David Roman [00:53:32]:
And she doesn't want to get off.
Kyle Buenger [00:53:35]:
Oh, she probably doesn't have her phone on her.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:38]:
Yeah.
Kyle Buenger [00:53:39]:
And I'm the same way. I keep my phone in my toolbox because I learned the other day that we leave it up on top. It's too hot. And my phone shut off on me the other day. So I taking it and putting it in my fridge, and I'm going back to work, and then she's calling me. And if I walk, like, to the other side of the other bay, then that's the 30 foot for the phone. So it starts getting garbly, right? And I say, yeah, sorry, phone overheated. Had to throw it in the fridge.
Kyle Buenger [00:54:00]:
Hold on a second, let me walk back 10ft over.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:02]:
So just out of curiosity, if you say ignore, does it, like, just ignore the call?
Kyle Buenger [00:54:08]:
It says, kasia's calling. Do you want to answer? And if you just say nothing, it'll ring four times and then it'll dump her into my voicemail.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:15]:
David needs what he can say ignore to, because, like, David needs to verbalize how much he hates the person on the other end of the phone.
David Roman [00:54:21]:
I don't answer the phones here. I just don't answer the likes.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:26]:
Your clients are so lucky. Because of that, this dude will absolutely dad voice every client that calls him. And so if he. If he has to answer the phone for the shop while he's here, like, oh, my goodness, I'm waiting to turn.
David Roman [00:54:37]:
Off the phone once when I'm here, when I leave, like, I go out of town, I just don't have turn me off. I don't want to deal with it? I'll get distracted. The phone will just, just constantly drives me nuts.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:53]:
So when mine rings through, if it rings and somebody dials my extension, it comes through the soft phone. I'm not paying attention. Like I'm in a car. I'll hit the answer button and I won't realize that it's like a client calling.
David Roman [00:55:07]:
So mine prompts you and says, hit one to accept. So that's how I know it's a, it's a shop call.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:14]:
Yeah, I took that off of mine. I think I'll add it back.
David Roman [00:55:17]:
Yeah. Why would you take it off? Otherwise you're like, depressing.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:20]:
So depressing. I really don't want to talk to you right now.
David Roman [00:55:24]:
So stupid.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:25]:
All right, then.
David Roman [00:55:26]:
You guys are nuts. I'm just telling. You guys are nuts. That's crazy, y'all.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:30]:
Unicorns is what you are.
David Roman [00:55:32]:
What's that?
Lucas Underwood [00:55:33]:
Yeah, I just, I don't see, I don't understand.
Kasia Thompson [00:55:37]:
And my lunch break is like, it's whenever I take it. So it's during their lunch. I'm answering the phones because that's when everyone's calling. Because everyone's on their lunch, so they want to talk to somebody. So their lunch is my 02:00 so I'm working through that, but I'm clocked out another time.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:56]:
That's extremely convenient. That is extremely.
David Roman [00:56:00]:
One works through lunche, but then he takes it. What's that? Well, I mean, he'll eat sometimes he'll eat sometimes. It. He'll eat at his desk, he's whatever. But then he'll take off to go get his kids or whatever, and he's gone.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:12]:
I was thinking about this last night because, you know, you were talking about.
David Roman [00:56:17]:
Tell me, you take a lunch right.
Kyle Buenger [00:56:18]:
Before lunch, like 1 hour, we shut the shop down. Twelve to one, everybody leaves. Yeah. I'm like, we've been a talk about off splitting because we do have clients come in at like 1215, 1230. Nobody's there. They have to wait. So we've been in talks about me going maybe eleven to twelve so that the other two guys are there. And then I come back at twelve and then Ed leaves.
Kyle Buenger [00:56:34]:
And then at least I'm still there to, you know, greet the customers or cash them out or something like that. But we haven't implemented anything.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:40]:
What sucks about that is then like. Cause we like to go to lunch together sometimes.
David Roman [00:56:44]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:44]:
So if we split it, how you.
David Roman [00:56:45]:
Gonna go eat five?
Kyle Buenger [00:56:46]:
Well, so, yeah. And we always have our Friday work meeting, so the three of us will go to lunch, put her on speaker, and then go over you everything for the week. What we need to fix, what the numbers were.
David Roman [00:56:57]:
And next week, we stop meetings. We just don't do. We watch. We watch Netflix.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:05]:
I am curious, though. So, like, is it that I don't.
David Roman [00:57:08]:
Run it as a business? Is it just a hangout?
Lucas Underwood [00:57:10]:
Yeah, it is. But I'm just really curious because you were giving me so much hard time about. So much of a hard time about, like, losing an advisor the other day. What happens if Juan quits?
David Roman [00:57:22]:
I told you. I told you this yesterday. I'll just shut the shop down. I'm not going back to that nonsense. You know what I'll do? I'll call his brother. He's a nice guy, too.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:35]:
Is he?
David Roman [00:57:36]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:37]:
Very interesting.
David Roman [00:57:37]:
He's an H vac tech.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:40]:
You think you could pull off being an advisor? I mean, Juan is a. Juan is a unicorn, too.
David Roman [00:57:44]:
Yeah. Yeah, he is. You know why?
Lucas Underwood [00:57:48]:
Why?
David Roman [00:57:49]:
Mexican born? Mexican telling you makes all the difference.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:54]:
What happened to you?
David Roman [00:57:55]:
I'm not Mexican at all. In any way, shape or form. 0.00% Mexican.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:02]:
Done a DNA test, I bet. Hey, listen, listen. If you. If you send it into the. What's the one that does the dog DNA test, I'm sure it would come back with something you don't need to do. The human one. Right?
David Roman [00:58:17]:
Come back. Mutt.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:19]:
No, it's super mutt. Right?
David Roman [00:58:20]:
It's super.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:21]:
They call it super mud. It's got just a list of all the dogs you would be. I guarantee you they'd give you an answer. I bet money. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. I want to see what it says.