SDR #327: Are You Paying Your Techs Enough?
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Release Date: 10/08/2025
Why Top Leaders Set Goals Differently (Lessons from Taylor Swift)
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Service Managers, Fixed Ops Leaders, and Dealership Executives — Why do some people and teams consistently outperform everyone else… while others stay stuck? In this episode of Service Drive Revolution #339, Chris Collins and the team break down what elite leadership actually looks like — and why intentionality, preparation, and standards matter more than talent, location, or luck. Using a surprising leadership case study (yes, even outside the automotive industry), this episode explores why the best performers: - Practice harder than everyone else - Prepare long before results are...
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SDR #338: Why Unapplied Labor Was Made By The Devil
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Service Managers, Fixed Ops Directors, and Controllers — this is one of the most misunderstood numbers in your dealership. Unapplied labor quietly destroys profitability, inflates your cost per hour, and masks the real performance of your service department. Most dealerships don’t even realize how much money they’re losing — because the problem is buried inside the financial statement. In SDR #338, Chris Collins and the team break down why unapplied labor is often joked about as being “made by the devil” — and more importantly, how to fix it the right way. In this episode,...
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SDR #337: Low Hanging Fruit For Quick Fixed Ops Profits!
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
🛑 Book a free 30-min. discovery call for coaching that grows your profits: Service Managers and Fixed Ops leaders — are you overlooking the easiest revenue in your entire service drive? In SDR #337, Chris Collins and Christian break down the LOW-HANGING FRUIT in Fixed Ops that instantly boosts profit, customer experience, and team efficiency — without adding techs, buying software, or spending big money. You’ll learn the exact strategies that dealerships ignore every day, including: ✅ The simplest profit opportunity in every store: technician optimization ✅ The “Petting the...
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SDR #336: Why Service Department Goals Fail!
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Most people will make resolutions, download a new app, join a gym… and quit by January 15th. In this episode of SDR #336, Chris and Christian break down why goals fail — and reveal the intentional goal-setting process they’ve used for years to hit targets in business, leadership, and life. This is the conversation every service leader needs before setting their 2026 goals. Inside this episode, you’ll learn: ✅ The #1 difference between novelty and intentionality — and why it decides who hits goals ✅ The truth about motivation: why most advisors and techs quit early ✅ How...
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SDR #335: The Biggest Problem in Auto Dealerships No One Wants to Fix
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Dealers, Service Managers, and Fixed Ops leaders: Are you frustrated with the direction of our industry? Do you feel like the people responsible for leading automotive into the future are asleep at the wheel? In SDR #335, Chris Collins unleashes one of his most honest, unfiltered rants ever — and it’s the conversation the industry needs but refuses to have. If you've ever wondered why training is weak, why profitability is inconsistent, why NADA never changes, why techs aren’t improving, why customer retention is declining, and why competitors like Tesla are stealing market share… this...
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SDR #334: TOXIC SHOP CULTURE FIX: How to Reset Your Dealership & Win Back Your Technicians
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Service Managers and Fixed Ops leaders: Are you losing control? If you're struggling with inconsistent productivity, low technician morale, and a shop where management has lost authority, you know the stakes are high. Your culture is toxic, and it's killing your business. In this episode of SDR #334, Chris Collins and Christian deliver the essential 6-STEP BLUEPRINT for service managers ready to stop the chaos, regain authority, and rebuild a high-performance team. This process is tough, but it's the ultimate cheat code for leadership success. This episode provides the actionable strategy to...
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SDR #333: Your Fixed Ops Questions Answered: Surviving Bad Bosses, Broken Systems & Service Drive Problems
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
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SDR #332: Top Dog 2025 Roundtable: Fixed Ops Leadership Lessons from the Service Drive
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
What’s really changed in the car dealership service drive—and what hasn’t? In this special roundtable edition of SDR #332, Chris Collins and the team break down decades of experience in Fixed Ops leadership, revealing the timeless lessons every service manager and advisor needs to know. From culture to communication, this episode uncovers why the fundamentals of great leadership haven’t changed—even as technology, customer expectations, and CSI metrics evolve. In this episode, you’ll learn: ✅What’s new (and what’s not) in today’s car dealership service drive ✅Why...
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SDR #331: Service Department Culture Mistakes: What’s Destroying Your Fixed Ops Team (and How to Fix It)
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Your service department’s biggest problem might not be your advisors, your techs, or your customers—it’s your culture. In episode #331 of SDR, Chris Collins and Coach Christian expose the top seven service department culture killers that are quietly destroying dealership performance, morale, and profitability. If you’re a Service Manager or Fixed Ops Director, you’ll learn: Why unclear goals and weak leadership breed chaos How toxic and low performers destroy team morale Why most managers confuse effort with results How to rebuild your dealership culture from the...
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SDR #330: Top 7 Service Advisor Pay Plan Failures
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
In SDR #330, Chris Collins, Christian Lafferty, and Hogi expose the 7 biggest pay-plan mistakes that cost dealerships money, motivation, and top talent. From overcompensating mediocrity to confusing multi-page pay structures, this episode breaks down why most Service Advisor pay plans fail — and how to rebuild yours for higher performance, retention, and CSI. You’ll learn: Why rewarding average performance destroys culture The truth about “socialistic” pooled pay systems How to build pay plans that drive results, not resentment Why changing pay plans too often kills trust The...
info_outlineAre your technicians leaving for $2 more an hour—or is there a deeper reason?
In SDR #327, Chris & Christian break down why tech retention has less to do with pay plans and everything to do with leadership, systems, and culture. Most dealerships ask the wrong question: “Am I paying my techs enough?”
The real question is, “Have I built an environment where great techs want to stay?”
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why weak Service Advisors are the #1 reason techs quit
- How broken systems (lost keys, bad dispatch, weak processes) drive top performers out
- The role Parts Departments play in technician retention
- Why training and mentorship are non-negotiable for long-term success
- How shop culture impacts CSI, retention, and customer-pay hours
- Leadership lessons that prove: he or she who has the most techs, wins If you’re a Service
Manager or Fixed Ops leader worried about turnover, flat ROs, and frustrated technicians, this episode is your blueprint for fixing the real problem—not just raising pay.
🔥 Build systems. Train advisors. Protect culture. That’s how you keep your best techs.