In today’s competitive automotive industry, dealerships are discovering that long-term success depends on far more than just selling vehicles. Leaders in fixed operations like believe the true foundation of dealership growth lies in customer experience, dealership culture, employee development, and service retention. Fixed operations, often referred to as Fixed Ops, has evolved into one of the most important profit centers inside modern dealerships, driving recurring revenue through service, parts, maintenance, and long-term customer relationships.
As the automotive market continues to shift, dealerships are being forced to rethink how they retain customers and employees alike. Vehicle prices remain high, consumers are keeping their vehicles longer, and competition for service business has intensified. In this environment, dealerships that prioritize customer retention strategies, service department culture, and fixed ops leadership are outperforming competitors who continue operating with outdated systems and siloed departments.
One of the most important themes emerging in successful dealership operations is the connection between culture and performance. According to Ruffalo, dealership culture is not about slogans or perks—it’s about creating an environment where employees feel supported, trained, accountable, and motivated to grow. Strong culture directly impacts customer satisfaction, employee retention, and dealership profitability. Customers can immediately sense when a dealership values people, communication, and consistency. That positive atmosphere becomes a major reason they continue returning for service.
Many dealerships invest heavily in physical amenities like lounges, entertainment spaces, and upgraded facilities. While those features can improve convenience, Ruffalo explains that they mean very little if the customer experience inside the service drive fails. Customers remember how they were treated far more than the size of a television or waiting room. This is why top-performing fixed operations departments focus intensely on communication, transparency, and relationship-building throughout the service process.
Customer retention remains one of the biggest challenges facing dealership service departments today. Research consistently shows that many customers leave franchise dealerships after their warranty period ends, often turning to independent repair facilities for routine maintenance like oil changes and tire replacement. Ruffalo believes dealerships unintentionally lose these customers because they fail to establish long-term relationships early in the ownership cycle.
The most successful service retention strategies begin from day one. At leading dealership groups, customers are introduced to the service department immediately after purchasing a vehicle. Their first service appointment is often scheduled before they even leave the dealership. This process creates familiarity, builds trust, and increases the likelihood that the customer will return for future maintenance. Consistent follow-up communication and appointment scheduling are essential to maintaining that relationship over time.
One of the biggest missed opportunities in fixed operations is tire sales. Many customers do not realize that dealerships even offer tire services, despite tires being one of the most common maintenance needs for every vehicle owner. Independent tire retailers have capitalized on this gap for years, attracting customers away from dealerships and creating new long-term relationships. Ruffalo emphasizes that dealerships must do a better job educating consumers about their tire programs, competitive pricing, and ability to handle all vehicle maintenance needs in one place.
Routine services like oil changes, brake repairs, wheel alignments, and tire replacement are critical for dealership profitability and customer retention. These services not only generate immediate revenue but also create repeat visits that lead to additional maintenance opportunities over time. Customers who regularly service their vehicles at a dealership are far more likely to purchase their next vehicle there as well.
Technology and transparency are also reshaping modern fixed operations. Dealerships increasingly rely on video multi-point inspections (MPI) to improve communication and build trust with customers. Video inspections allow customers to visually see recommended repairs, helping them better understand maintenance needs and feel more confident approving work. This level of transparency significantly improves the customer experience while increasing repair order approval rates.
Training and leadership development have become equally important in today’s dealership environment. Ruffalo explains that high-performing dealerships constantly invest in coaching, process improvement, and employee education. Successful service advisors and managers are not simply trained to sell—they are trained to communicate effectively, understand customer needs, and create long-term relationships.
Leadership inside fixed operations has also shifted dramatically. Traditional management styles focused primarily on numbers and productivity metrics. Modern dealership leadership focuses more heavily on mentorship, employee engagement, accountability, and culture-building. Great leaders understand the importance of identifying what motivates each employee individually. Some employees are motivated by financial rewards, while others are driven by growth opportunities, recognition, or the satisfaction of helping customers solve problems.
This personalized leadership approach has become especially important as dealerships face ongoing technician shortages and hiring challenges. The automotive industry continues to struggle with recruiting and retaining qualified service technicians, advisors, and managers. Dealerships with strong culture, clear career paths, and positive leadership are far more likely to attract and retain top talent.
Another major factor driving fixed ops success is process consistency. High-performing dealerships rely on clearly defined workflows, communication standards, and accountability systems across every department. From appointment scheduling and advisor communication to technician inspections and customer follow-up, consistency creates trust and improves operational efficiency. Customers want predictable, reliable experiences every time they visit the dealership.
Dealerships are also placing greater emphasis on internal communication between service advisors, technicians, managers, and support staff. Breakdowns in communication often lead to customer dissatisfaction, delays, and missed opportunities. By improving collaboration across departments, dealerships can operate more efficiently while delivering better customer experiences.
One of the most powerful insights Ruffalo shares is the importance of understanding employees’ “why.” Successful leaders take time to understand what motivates the people on their teams and how those motivations impact performance. Employees who feel connected to a larger purpose tend to be more engaged, motivated, and committed to growth. This people-first mindset creates stronger teams, lower turnover, and better customer experiences.
The future of fixed operations will belong to dealerships that prioritize customer relationships, employee development, communication, and process improvement. Dealerships can no longer rely solely on vehicle sales to sustain profitability. Service departments have become the heartbeat of long-term dealership success, generating recurring revenue while strengthening customer loyalty.
Ultimately, fixed operations is no longer just a support department—it is a strategic growth engine for the entire dealership. Organizations that invest in dealership culture, customer retention, leadership development, and transparent service processes will continue separating themselves from competitors in an increasingly challenging automotive market.
Read the Transcript
hello everybody out there i’m your host russell hill on another wtf and that’s what the fixed ops and i’m joined today by hello everyone i’m charity your co-host and we’re back with nick Ruffalo. He’s the director of fixed operations at the Roarman Automotive Group. We had him on a few weeks ago and we just didn’t get through all the questions we wanted to ask him. And so he’s back to finish it off for us. Welcome, Nick. Thank you for having me again. It’s a pleasure and I enjoy the conversations and the interest in our automotive group and getting the exposure, not only to talk about it, but at the same time, you can come and see and witness it as well. Yeah, it’s great. I was saying before we actually started recording, people change positions, stuff like that. So we have them back on. But the conversation we had last time, I know a lot of you saw those shorts and made comments And if you didn you need to go back and look at it so you can get brought up to round two because that what this is round two What one belief about fixed ops that you changed in your mind over the years Nick One of the ones I think was really important at the get-go was really changing the mind of the advisors and the team that’s around it. To really go above and beyond for the customer and put yourselves in their shoes and treat them as if they are your family member and take it for real. See a lot of comments there coming back. You can see it in our CSI and our Google reviews. how well the guys actually get to know the customer to where the customer feels confident in the people they’re dealing business with because it’s been one, the longevity and the retention of our employees has gone up. So you get to see the same face. There’s that familiar. So now you know who they are. Now you’re questioning the customers on how their children may be or their last vacation they took before they left and they had the car inspected, this, that, and the other. So getting that mindset change and getting that culture to really deliver that experience to the customer of what we want to do in the room group. Well, that’s what I understand with what I know about the Roarman Automotive Group. You know what? People can sense it too. You can call it an aura. You can call it a vibe. But when you walk into a place or drive into a place and get out of your car you know if it good or if it not You have that sense right That feeling And that means that if you have that feeling that you going to be working with people who really care And ultimately that makes the experience so much better don you think Absolutely. I mean, you know, myself and a lot of our director, staff and our managers, we’ve been in the automotive business for quite some time now. And it’s above and beyond just giving that wow effect with the technology and these elaborate stores and all this cool stuff, the big TVs and our Lexus store that we have a movie theater and a workout facility. That’s great to have all that. But at the same token, what’s the customer’s experience at the time that they pull into the service drive? And if that’s terrible, then it doesn’t matter what amenities you have to offer if the customer is not coming in. The amenities really don’t bring the customers in. It just gives them something to do while they’re sitting waiting for financing to take place or the car to get cleaned up, oil change to get completed. But the interaction with the team really just drives the customers to come back and then even sit there and spend more time. You know, enjoy the amenities that we offer. So true. I curious Do people actually run into the workout room and work out while they getting oil change and stuff They do Yeah A little behind the scenes actually We do have a green room that located at that store as well So I done some one commercials and some fun stuff you know for the group And in the midst of walking from one side to the other, dressed up as a fairy in a pink tutu. No way! Actually, customers have now seen me walk faster dressed like that as they’re, you know, on the elliptical or, you know, on a yoga ball or something like that upstairs. So, yes, I’ve seen our customers up there and I believe, believe me, they’ve seen me walk through there as well. So, yeah, they do use it, though. It’s awesome. It is. It is. Well, tell us, Nick, what are the most important aspects of your role in the dealership? What do you think would fall apart if you weren’t there? It’s a great question. It is. Charity’s got a lot. She’s done a lot of research. Charity’s good at that. Yes, she is. You know, the process and the procedures and making sure that my team, not only myself, am I holding myself accountable to the process and procedures that we have in place, but holding my team and myself accountable to the process and procedures that we’ve developed over the course of time here with the Roarman Group. Not saying so much, would it fall apart? No, because the team is to be able there to hold the team together and the experience. What’s going to end up happening, I wouldn’t say that it was just going to shambles and fall apart, but our conversation is going to be able to do that. customer’s experience is going to drop dramatically. For instance, let’s say one of our processes, we’re big into tech video and greeting into the service drive and being transparent to the customers on before the repair is completed, before they authorize it, what’s really entailed to the repairs. Now, if you’re a consumer that’s been coming in on every oil change, you’ve been doing a business with us for the last few years, and all of a sudden that goes away, what’s the experience now? I used to get a video, now what happened? The other one is I’m big with training and constantly growing our set skill and our knowledge and what we do on a day by day basis, whether it’s the performance aspect of, you know, our selling ability or our communication ability, greeting in the drive or communication from an advisor to a technician, a technician back to the advisor. Their communication is another big one as well. We’re in the customer service business and we communicate to our customers. Internal communication sometimes could get lost, you know, because there’s so many moving pieces and we move fast. And, oh, we forgot to tell so-and-so this. It’s my teammate. And now they not able to do their job the way they supposed to in whatever that situation may be This is huge Fixed operations is a major focal point with large organizations Oh, yeah. I mean, it is huge. I mean, we have done such a poor job over the decades. I’ve never really seen it and heard it like I’m hearing it this year. We have to up our game. And the Ruraling Group is well known for that. However, when performance does dip or drop, what levers do you pull or what do you do to get it back on track? So that’s a great, this is a great topic that we could talk about. And I don’t want to go too far into it because we’re going to go into a part three, which I don’t mind doing. But for a store level, there’s processes that we have in place at a store level. We have performance reporting cards on our advisors. We have it on our sales staff, even on the variable side, on our finance staff. It’s shared in a group-wide shared report. So you can see where you rank as an advisor out of the 100-plus service advisor we have amongst the group over multiple brands that we have and the same in multiple regions, right? So you can compare yourself as an advisor from one Toyota store to the next So then we do in training And then we also meet quarterly where we rent out locations if need be depending on the region So say for instance over here in Schaumburg, we rent out one of the auditoriums at the local colleges and we bring our team out of the store. So we have their undivided attention. We have this elaborate opening to get the people engaged, to get them sparked, to get them awake, you know, and really get a sense on what this is going to be about. And then we bust into our breakout sessions. And then we individualize, do the training based on the training needed for the people that are in the organization. Currently, right now, that’s actually happening right now as we speak to this minute now. It’s happening. Recharge is happening now in Lafayette, Indiana. And they’ll be down here. Ours is next week then. So we’re going to hit the Chicago land as well. That’s great. If there’s training that’s involved with vendors that are out there, whether it be one of our suppliers or one of the manufacturers, if we could get them out there as well to train, they’re coming out. Tire guys, whether it’s a dealer tire and our tire providers, they come out lacking in tire sales or the ability of knowing tire and tire knowledge. So we do reach out to our partners that are out there. So tell me a little bit more about reaching out to the partners and getting them together What is the purpose of that Well first and foremost Russell the partners that you have you got to make sure they actual partners and there not another company that you paying to help you do some business Within the organization the Roarman are really big on the partnership and who we’re doing business with. One, the tech stack has to all drive together. So the reporting and everything’s communicating. And more importantly, they got to be on the same page of where we’re at and see kind of like the Roarman way and what we’re trying to achieve. And when we lock in with partners like that, like AWN and a couple other big guys that are out there, they come up and now, like for instance, our recharge session that’s coming up in Chicago, it’s I’m bringing the technicians in on this one. The reason why we’re bringing it, why I want to bring the technicians is, is I think they need another recharge, like a refresher course on the importance of following policy and procedures by the manufactured guidelines when it comes to warranty processing and repairs. So I reached out to our partners over at AWN and they’re sending out a team to out to recharge in our breakout sessions. So they can even show us the, we’ll call it the top 10 for warranty compliance, not just in the automotive group in ours, because ours are there to our data, but also throughout the country too. So now we can see against the region or even in countries like branded manufacturers that we have. I think. Great eye opener for the techs on what they’re missing as well. And there’s nothing wrong with bringing them in. I mean, heck, you know, wrong notes, misdiagnostics, copy of a diagnostic test sheet for your failed battery or alternator. That all could get you charged back or potentially not paid. So I want them, you know, to understand the importance of that. And they can hear it also from our third party. I got to ask you a little something more about that before moving on. Sure. So I think that’s great because I do believe there’s vendors and there’s vendor partners. ones that not not only you can hold accountable but they also feel like they can share hey nick this dog doesn’t hunt this isn’t working the ball got dropped etc which is great to wait you would want to know that anyway because that you know everybody do you have multiple vendors there so and because ultimately as a as as a vendor because i am too it’s like all we want is for our client to win. So if there’s some collaboration with another vendor to help make that happen and cut down on the noise or what I call ADDs, which is another damn dashboard to get into, et cetera, when you already have eight or nine open do you do stuff like that Absolutely So we deal with it even not just on the fixed side I know we talking fixed operations but in our group it important that we do it across all departments So yes if it on the variable side whether it using the CRM and we need no attention on CRM or lack of training on the CRM whatever it might be across the board on variable absolutely reach out to those partners not just our vendors And yeah, we surround ourselves with really good partners. And I’m not saying that there’s other vendors out there that are not as good or anything like that, but who’s going to jive and wants to jive to the Roman way and protect the media and change some of their processes to jive to how we want to do business. Exactly. They want to do business. They have to be adaptable and willing. Absolutely. I love it. Thank you for the clarification on that. Yeah. It sounds like you guys hold your own little mini NADA with your group and your people and you invite your vendors. Is that kind of what I’m getting? Mm hmm. So actually, charity, to what you were saying there, you’re 100 percent correct. So we also do our own internal type of 20 group sessions amongst our 20 rooftops. We bring the GMs in, the director teams, and we do our own breakout sessions off of that as well. Outside of the 20 groups that we already in training training is key you know and always you know you looking for the talent that out there That you know they may have a high skill set which is great but do they have the will to continue to increase that skill set And that something I like to look at an individual as well If I was narrow myself and thought I had all the answers and yeah I good at what I do, but can I get good to great? Well, I’m going to have to learn more. And you got to have that open mindset. Yeah, I could learn more. I’m not the best of the best, but how do I get there? And increase my skill set. You know, it’s not the will to learn. Yeah. That’s a tough one because a lot of people aren’t willing to do what they need to do. Maybe, let me put it this way. They don’t understand the difference of being comfortable versus change and what that actually does because that fires you up. It gets you excited. And yeah, it’s uncomfortable, but what’s on the other side, you don’t know until you go through that. What is on the other side, I can tell you from experience, because I live in uncomfortableness, is the most amazing people and things that you get to experience that you don’t experience in your comfort zone. Yes. You know, it’s a solid point that you made. In one of our recharge sessions, Ryan Worman actually did his own opener and wanted to go over some items. And one of the things that was one of my big takeaways, I don’t know if you’re into like kayaking or whitewater rafting this that and the other Well let me think about that No I not but go ahead Me neither but the analogy was there and i know he into it um when you do that type of sport and you into that uh staying in the calmer waters is a lot safe and a lot easier right so his thing at the end of the um his presentation was basically you know you stay in the rough waters you’re staying in the rougher waters yeah it’s going to get a little challenging but what do you get out of it you know and i thought that was a solid takeaway you know it’s kind of like you kind of Here’s some of the guys, you know, back in the day, even maybe even today, you know, it’s like how things are going. Oh, my God, I’m swimming up a river. Well, not all fish can. And the ones that can, they’re just stronger fish. Okay. Stay in their rough water. Swim up the river because I promise you it’s going to get easier. You’re going to get stronger in what you’re doing. So I kind of took a little what Ryan said and a little bit of my love of fishing. I put it together. That’s a great analogy. I mean, I think it’s a decent analogy, but it’s like it’s simplified. I mean, if you really understand it, it’s like, yeah, they can swim up the river. and not all of them can, you know? So where do you want to be? That’s true. Yeah. And there’s a benefit too for any new people coming in to not be so set in their ways, but also to learn how you guys have done things and what’s worked and what hasn’t and kind of adapt kind of parts of what they know to what you already do to make a good mix. Absolutely. whether it’s an advisor, a tech, a porter, a cashier, with their first time coming in, however they were trained, is really what they know. If they weren’t trained at a high level, well, they might not produce at that. You know, now you just got to overcome that and explain to them the why. Why are we going to do it this way? Yes, we might have trained you this way, your skill set’s here, but we do it this way, you know, X, Y, and Z. Here’s what the award looks like at the end. Now let’s try to get there. But a lot of those one-on-ones, it doesn’t matter what business you’re in, to be honest with you, whether you’re selling car service, boat, shoes, vacuum cleaners, you got to understand the why. But the person that’s performing that for you really knows the why for them as well. It’s all about the why. I hope everybody focuses in on this. It is really all about the why because that why keeps you excited and motivated, which creates a tremendous amount of enthusiasm that gets you into action, right? Which produces results. Okay. But if you forget the why enthusiasm wanes and the excitement motivation dwindle the action doesn seem to follow suit and the results aren what they were And we wonder why Because you took your eye off the line You 100 correct Yes I love it That why I guess I all excited now This is, I mean, it’s like, okay, in any industry that you mentioned, there’s 5%ers and there’s 95%ers. And I just believe that 95% of the population gets their information from the same 95% of the population that has what they have or less than what they have. And they wonder why the hell they don’t have anymore. That’s because you need to be a part of like what Nick is all about and the Roarman Automotive, that culture that they have. You’re probably at the top 1% of the 5%. I see it. I struggle with it. You do too. It’s like they’re not doing the things that are necessary because they don’t understand their why and how to communicate that. Yeah. Yes. Some are going to adapt a little bit differently, but you got to also figure out the person, the subordinate that’s underneath you, the guy that reports, the guy that reports to you, what’s their why? So they have one. Right. But you got to know what their why is. You know I mean why do you love what you do Why do you do what you do Why did you choose this position Why did you choose to fill out the application and sit across this desk with me to tell me that you want a job here Just wondering why And then now what drives you And as a good leader if you could figure out what your people are, because not every single one of your advisors, not every single one of your techs, or your salespeople, your sales manager, finance manager, all have that same why. Some are driven by a pat on the back. Some are driven by the money. Some are driven by the growth. You know what I mean? Some are driven by the time that it takes maybe to overcome a consumer that’s not happy, you know, and having that situation. Those are my why’s. I love stuff like that. I can tell. That customer, you know what I’m saying? Let me try to make it right. Cause you know what I did? I owned a customer for life and they’ll call you to this day. That’s the, that’s the fun part for me. You know, that’s my why. And then why? It’s a defining moment. Like if you go to a nice restaurant and they ask you how things were and you tell them It really wasn’t. That is a defining moment that will either make or break that experience. Hey, stuff happens. Get it, right? But if you’re not happy and you let them know, they say, oh, well, sorry. You know, I mean, no, you’re going to have to do a little bit. I mean, in my head, I’m thinking that like, OK, I’m not coming back here. But you love that kind of stuff Yes Give me the opportunity Let me let me sit down with you and we talk Yeah Yeah Right I sorry Yeah. That’s good. Whenever we talk about that, I’m always reminded of this scene as a joke in my head from the office. Do you remember the office? And the boss was asking Stanley, what is it that you want? And he kept saying money. He’s like, what is it that’s in your life? He’s like money. I think I’m going over and over and I just thought that was so funny. Some people are just in it for the money, but some people, you know, they have other goals. Well, they do. What would you do with that money if you got it? That’s what I would want to know. Right. So then, okay. So now you’re in. Why for the money? Why are you trying to get on a vacation? You’re looking to buy another house. I mean, why? Reclare it early. Why? Let’s talk. You know, buy a new car. You got a sick hobby like me where I can’t stop buying fishing supplies and rods and reels. And I have too many of them. It’s amazing when you get people to really open up and to tell you. The older they are, the harder it is to be vulnerable because, you know, who knows what kind of upbringing or what people told them, like, you can’t do that. I tried that or that won’t work. So they’re reluctant to share it only to no avail to hear that again. But that’s not how it works with you guys? Well, basically, if you said, no, it can’t be done that way or whatever, I mean, that’s how it was. I’d rather have someone come back basically in easy terms like, okay, challenge accepted. How are we going to change this? Let’s sit down. Let’s game plan this one. No difference than when a team leaves a locker room. Let me ask you, Nick, what fixed ops KPIs do dealers track incorrectly or put too much faith then? This could be a challenging answer because I mean, I can’t speak on behalf of other dealers and that and the other, right? But I would say that a lot of them are tracking your customer retention. Okay. I feel that that’s an important one to track. Hours per hour row is something to look at, but it’s a smokable number. Okay. We all know that, especially you got an advisor, you know, commit to manipulate the numbers. Instead of looking at something like that, I would definitely look at the effective labor rate because that can’t lie. If you got an extreme high effective labor rate, your hours per row might be a little less or vice versa. But it’s something you can look into. Effective labor also justifies what we’re doing with our coupons. Are we using the set op codes? And then looking at your operating profits and your overall growth over last year when it comes down to our roll value I think those are very important It hard to how are you going to goal set on a dollars and hours per RO if your hours I mean if your repair orders are dwindling down you know like that would be an eye opener. If your retention is high, but your RO volume is going down, like, wait a minute, now what’s really happening over here, right? Maybe the RO volume is high in warranty because customers are coming back, but why are we not getting under customer pay now? So if they’re not happy with the warranty level, right? Because you’re basically, if you have the mindset, like I have a three-year stage right now with a customer, right? You do. So let’s just call it a three-year stage. That’s right. How well am I performing on stage for that consumer when they bring the vehicle in for their services that we’re really not paying for? They may come because they’re not paying, but what happens when they don’t have to pay? Are they going to come and see you? Because that car is going to be serviced. It has to be serviced. Absolutely. It’s going to be serviced. How long average is it on the road now? Yeah. Yes. Ice motors, they’re going to be serviced. The question is when, right? But where? Are you the where? You could almost control the when with the right follow skills and the right marketing You know what I saying Setting the next service appointment There a lot you can do on the when You got to control the wear from day one It is key because you got them for that three years Yes And do they keep coming to you after or are they defecting Because that’s been an age old problem because the vast majority of them are going to, we’ve created billionaires for these independents that surround everyone over franchise dealers because they know They’re salivating. They’re lying in wait because they know. So they better build their places around another dealership or automotive group because it ain’t happening. It ain’t going to happen by ours. There’s no room for you, especially the fact that research and studies show that the independents have grown over 20% already. So where do you think most dealerships unintentionally lose repeat service? A lot of it can do with the process, right? from the get-go. So for setting up appointments and we’re telling the customer, whether it’s a BDC or the service advisor or what have you, that your service is gonna take X and we go past that. Now we’re not meeting the promises that we’re making. So unfortunately, right, we’re over promising an unearneed deliver, right? That’s not gonna be a good one. And how tight is the process on your follow skills and setting the next service appointment Even if they defer something not everyone can buy everything all at one time Yeah there companies that are out there You could take advantage of the finance aspects this and the other It just a tool that we have to use and offer. It’s not guaranteed that they’re going to do it. So if they don’t do it, what are we doing to assure that they’re going to come back after, say, for instance, they came in for service, they had the experience that they wanted, we surpassed all that. they left they had good i mean shook hands hugs the whole nine yards but we didn’t ask for them to come back i mean you know i’m going to use this and this is really what happened i went to the dentist and i’m walking to the chair because i had a cavity right i’m in my 40s haven’t had a cavity now i finally got one i’m scared i hate that can i tell you some story anyway her Her analogy to me was, she didn’t know I was in the car business. I wasn’t wearing warming gear or nothing. It was on a Saturday. And she’s like, well, it’s kind of like taking your car in for service. Don’t you set your next appointment after your first oil change or your oil change, something like that. She said, I looked at her, guys, I’m telling you right now, my jaw hit the floor. I think I got an extra cavity because of that. And I was like, what? She turned around. I told her what I do, my role, what I’ve been doing. And I’m like, and I use the dentist as an analogy. She goes, I’ve been using the car business this. Our customers are used to making the next appointments. We have a problem of communicating just asking for it because we think they’re going to come back because they’re here now. We’re Nissan. We’re Voltron. They’re going to come here. They go anywhere they want. Routine maintenance costs a lot less than major repairs. So every three or four months or six months, you’re going in for a cleaning. You know when you’re going in because they set that appointment before you leave for that next appointment. Now it can shift or I get it. This is, man, this is, that’s not happening. So on that three-year thing, this is not part of the question. This is my own little thing because I use this a lot. There’s a lot of defection points of why people choose not to keep coming back, particularly after the warranty period. But I’ve narrowed it down to the two biggest defection points. And yes, there are many contributing factors, are tires and oil changes, because that’s the single largest purchase they’re going to make. And if you don’t do a good job while you have them captive and they’re not set up properly, where do you think they going and what do you think they telling them when they get there Well it pretty simple In our area here which we roughly call it 30 miles west of Chicago Okay Where most of the stores are at Okay. Even to where I live, which is another 20 miles out. I have a bell tire and a discount tire in the same exact parking lot with a little side road of the parking lot that divides the two buildings. Now, think about that for just a second. For everyone that’s listening to this podcast right now. There are two tire companies sitting next to each other in the same parking lot. And both of those two companies, the only thing they do is sell tires. Eye opener. 70% of the consumers that drive up and down our roads, past our dealerships, guys, don’t know we even sell tires. I just recently read 33% of the population in the United States doesn’t even know your franchise dealership sells. That is bad. Yes. So we try to do as much as we can with the marketing, with the tires, right? Research and studies also show that roughly 70% of the consumers or a consumer that’s told they need tires from that person at the first time, they’ll buy the tires. So it starts from day one right It starts from day one I think a solid intro from sales to service is let elaborate what our service department can do outside of just your routine oil changes and your warranty repairs because your Bluetooth radio isn’t working or what have you, right? Not only that, we’re your one-stop shop. We take photos of your vehicle every time you come in for service. We keep track of all your maintenance needs and history of what you have and haven’t done. We are a source of all the information that you need for your vehicle, even the condition from videos and photos. On top of this, we offer tires at a competitive price. You know what I’m saying? I mean, hell, we all get our tires from the same place, even them. Yeah. Yeah. So this is like… So I think we need to do collectively a job as a whole because there’s no silos in the Roarman group. We’ve gone away from that multiple years ago, sales versus service, service in part. No, we’re one store. And I think sending that message to the customer from the time of purchase, even if it’s their fourth Toyota they bought from us and they bought all their tires from us, we still give them the same treatment out where the stuff is at and what we offer. You have to The silos unfortunately they still exist out there in a big way but you don know this But for 16 years I was in retail A lot of those years I worked for Van Tile and they all about process Of course Berkshire Hathaway owns them now, but it was every single person that bought a car got introduced to somebody in the service department, period. And their first appointment was set. Whether it was time or not, at least it was set. And you did the handoff. They felt comfortable what they’re driving into and the people are getting, is that critical or what? It’s absolutely critical. I’m so glad you brought this up because within our DMS, we also have a centralized service, BDC, that facilitates 16 out of 20 of our rooftops located in Illinois. So they’re covering Illinois. Sales and service? Well, we have one for service, only service, and then we have another one for sales. I love it. So they focus strictly on that. The next step was you do have a sales service intro, Sometimes maybe service isn’t there. You know what I’m saying? If the deal goes late, I mean, heck, I’ve been in the business. I signed for cards past nine o’clock at night, right? But now we have it set up within our DMS at the time of finance, right when they book the deal, a little message pops up with a window and you can set their first service appointment with the calendar. So now that pushes into a scheduler. So now that’s a separate scheduler that our BDC follows up with to continue. Stay in touch with Russ that your oil change or your first service is due. Did everybody out there just hear what he just said? If not, back up and replay that one. It’s absolutely critical. Yeah, rewind and play that, guys. We track our first appointment set from our finance managers, from the finance side. It tracks them by their user name and profile so we could track it. And then we also have the ability to track our next service appointment from the advisors as well. So if they’re falling a little behind, you know what I mean, or not doing it, that’s the manager’s responsibility to sit down and coach them up and explain the purpose why. And plus, you’re a service advisor. You want to have that relation with the customer. You want that customer to come back and ask for you. You know, it’s almost like a salesperson. They want the repeat in the referrals to come back, do the same thing in service. It’s not more experience. They sell a car or sell a tiny parts. Yeah. They have more experience at selling and customer relationships than even the sales team does. They have so many more opportunities. And now take a massive, now just take advantage of it and use it to your advantage. Yeah. Well, that’s what Roarman shines at, right? Yes, we do. Absolutely I love it Those are some great customer retention thoughts that you given us And so I had a bunch of questions about retention So we’ll just skip them since we really covered a lot about retention. But what about employees? What separates, for example, a high performing service manager from an average one and any job title for that matter? So at that point, that’s where we’re going to, I wouldn’t say so much isolated down, But now we’ll be able to look at what that manager is doing based on everything that we track. So, Mr. Manager, Mrs. Manager, are we following the company policy and procedures and our minimal standards for our finance manager, minimal standards for our advisors, minimal standards on our technicians? We have minimal standards for an employee throughout the group. If they’re not hitting minimal standards, why? And they are very minimal, like minimal to where it’s like, if you can’t hit these and we can’t get your skill set there, let’s just be honest with you. Is this the right seat for you on the bus? Right? Well, let’s try to get you up to minimal standards. Identifying from one high performing manager to the next, it’s going to be that skill set. And unfortunately in my role, there’s, there’s, there’s, man, there’s a tremendous amount of people that are out there that probably mean very very well and have a passion on getting into that position but how well they know that position and hold themselves accountable to the bad days that you going to have to the good days you going to have Right And you know it like to use analogy It almost like NASCAR It not where you start. It’s how you finish. You know what I mean? So you could be dead last in the poll as an underperforming manager. Right. But asking the right questions and reaching out to the support that the Romans offer across the board will be able to get you there. I promise. There’s a time that you just got to let that guard down and say, okay, I need a little assistance here. And why am I missing it? What am I doing wrong? Or what can I do better at? If you have a manager that’s engaged like that, you could probably change the performance level. That goes back to will and skill. I want to say narrow-minded, but if it’s, listen, guys, we’re all competitive in this business. I mean, a lot of us are. I’m a very competitive person. I’m probably, I beat myself up the worst overall of it when I don’t hit a certain metric or a goal that I have sitting inside my head. I didn’t even share what’s on. I just want to see if I can do it. But if the blinders were on and I didn’t want to listen to what was happening on the outside from the voices that say, try this, it’s not going to work. So I think it still goes back to the will and skill, to be honest with you. Yeah, I agree. What automotive, not only what it’s done for my life and my career when the odds initially were so stacked against me that I just but it was like the great equalizer And it that way for fiction It that way for variable If you have the right attitude and mindset and you are under the wing of somebody like Nick, you can write your own ticket. Is that true? Absolutely. But are you willing to do it and understand that there might be things that you’re trying to achieve that’s not going to happen in the first couple of days or the first 30 days, but let’s target mark these certain items, whatever you mean, X, Y, Z, it doesn’t matter. Instead of hitting it with a shotgun and pepper spraying it, why don’t we just really dial it in as a sniper, knock that little post-it note off the wall, move over to the next one. At the same time, go to the left, make sure we’re not missing it. You know what I’m saying? And go to the next. If we’re trying to do it all at one time, especially if you’re dealing with, and I’ve learned from this, I made these mistakes where, one, I talk fast. We’re from Chicago and Sometimes people don’t understand because I’m going, I’m all in man ADHD. Hey, come home, baby. Let’s go. And then I could go down a rabbit hole in a certain area while we’re talking about one topic and go right back to that first topic. And they’re like, wait, what just happened? So a lot of it, just the same structure on it. You know what I mean? And you know, my, my thing is whether it’s a manager and advisor, even matter what role I was in, if we’re, Having a conversation about something, whether it be a performance aspect or how to use a tool or a new doohickey that we have. My question to you is like, OK, you got it. Are you fully aware of what we’re doing? Is there any questions? If you can’t say no, I mean, if you can’t say yes, but still walk out, we wasted each other’s time. You know, I’m big on if you don’t get it, that’s fine. Ask me the questions. Don’t feel embarrassed that you didn’t catch it or you don’t want to have to stay behind for class. You know, I mean, that was me going through school. I would have to go back and like, all right, I wasn’t paying attention. I was joking around. What was the assignment again? Like, can you explain it one more time? It’s like, don’t fail. Well, if you have that mindset in your job, I don’t care what it is. You know, like I tell my kids the same thing, you know, it’s just go back and ask. Because if not, you’re going to leave there saying, yes, I’m fully aware of what our process is. I’m fully aware of what my, your expectations of me as an employee underneath you. Great. But if you’re not, we’re going to be having a conversation again, you know? So we understand each other. You know what I mean? Like if you have a question and you’re unclear, you know, ask some. But it may take some people. Some people think if I do, then I’ve just cut my own throat. No you cut your own throat by not speaking up because if we going to have this conversation again it means you really didn You were saying yes to something you weren really clear on So here we are again This wastes everybody time And then how bad decisions you be made off of a communication that wasn fully understood too I love it. Well, what’s your go-to for finding great employees for your store? That’s a good one. Yeah, that’s awesome. So I love interviewing. I don’t mind asking the person that’s sitting across the table from me. If there’s anybody else that you may know that it’s in the same business as you. I like taking more of like a green level. We’ll stick on an advisor for it, for instance, right? I like taking advisors maybe more from the medical side, like home care. They understand that they have to put a smile on their face every single day that they go to take care of someone that can be ill, may only have a little bit of time left. Hospice. you know, my grandparents went through it and I noticed that right off the bat. The lady and the guys that were coming in, you know, from my grandparents over the course of the last 10 or 15 years, it didn’t matter what mood. They were always in a good mood. They were cheerful. I don’t know if they had a bad day on the way in, what’s going on in their personal life. They never brought that type of temperature if you would into the household where for instance grandfather passing away right And I think if someone interested in moving into that kind of role I strongly would suggest sitting down and working with them because they’re going to be more involved and engaged to that customer, to their needs, I think, more so than the sale. And the sale is just going to follow right after that because they’re going to learn that trust. And the customer’s sitting across from like, this person really cares. Like, making sure that I’m okay with this vehicle. I understand my full needs of this or where the bill is going to be and what the expense or what should I do first and put on. You know what I mean? Like if there’s more to it. And sometimes and I was guilty at a time, you know, especially in an advisor, we’re moving fast and we’re about to sail to sail to sail to sail. I got a manager harpooning me over and over like, oh, bro, oh, bro. This is your pen. You got a pen, pen, pen, pen, pen. Well, but you want me to learn the customer? Like which one do you want me to do first? And I guess when you start developing that skill set as you get a little bit more involved with it. And if you are that type of person that’s looking for the advancement, take a little thing out of Ruffles Bible for just a second and rip that page out and get to know your customers and the money will follow afterwards. It really will. People, I think you said this last time or I hear a lot. People don care how much you know how much you care And when you have somebody like that a specialized home hospice a stranger basically coming in during something that extremely emotional and traumatic like that to be able to whip them over real quickly, it takes a special person that knows how to develop. And you know, they’re sincere. You know, they’re sincere. They care. And you even tell them when you ask, Russ, when you ask their why, why do you do the medical? Why are you in hospice? And when you, I’ve done it. I’ve interviewed with them. There’s some that are working for us now. I’m not just saying I only go to hospice or hospitals. I’m just saying, but in that type of industry where they’re still dealing with a customer or a patient of some sort. Yeah. It’s crazy when you’re listening to the person you’re interviewing across from you. And then your next interview comes in as a well-groomed advisor with the best numbers across the board. They’re a little bit different, you know? Yeah. I’ve interviewed teachers that don’t want to be teachers no more, you know? And they’re like, oh, I can’t deal with the stress. Well, let’s talk about stress in the car biz. Ready? You know what I mean? Customer just bought a brand new car and it’s getting towed in. There’s some stress coming at you. Yeah. The fun, happy moment and the pictures all over the media and the ribbon on the car. That was all great. You know, now the car stalled or died out or what happened. It changes, right? But a good manager, director, even an advisor, guys. We’d be able to, they should identify it and put that next hat on, you know? So do we treat everybody equally? No, we treat everybody fairly, but there’s, there’s a chameleon in you that you need to adapt to. Cause one may not want to be spoken to the same way as the, as the last, for instance, like the customer bought the car versus the guy that just normally comes in for oil changes. Yeah. They’re two different. Yeah. So you need to be able to identify that. And that comes with coaching training that comes with our team over at Banyan and our recharge sessions and so forth. So yeah. A lot of role plays that we do. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, speaking of leadership, what leadership principle has mattered more as the organization has scaled larger and larger? We’re big into culture. So we’re watching tightly on, I mean, we’re even coaching now how to properly host, say, a huddle meeting. Okay. So we’re getting that engaged to where that’s what we’re looking for. Again, like I can’t teach someone to be kind, courteous, and smile. I can’t. You have it or you don’t. If you do, you have to understand it. It’s important to use it. All right. We’re in the customer service business. That’s right. If it all about you as a leader it going to be very hard for you to adapt to what the Romans are looking for And that what we may look at It like you may not be a culturally fit person So culture or performance high A off the charts performance culture CD We’ll go back to the person that’s high in culture and we can teach the skill set and how to properly run or perform as a person here or employee in the room group, rather it’s a porter from a director all the way up. So looking for that is key for us. understanding the fact that your employees, if you look as your employees are your customers, you want to treat your customers to the fullest, you treat your employees the same way. Your employees are going to come to work happy. I know people listen to this call right now. You’ve heard this multiple times. Folks, I’m telling you right now, it works. We’re at our highest retention, employee retention in the organization now. And that’s something to be proud of. Because I know the Romans want our customers to keep dealing and doing business with the same people they’ve been doing business with. It stands a lot for the group and the people around us and people who do business with, whether it be a partner, a vendor, a consumer, they see it. That is important for us. You nailed it. It’s all about culture. That’s exactly what it is. That’s why you have the people you have You create phenomenal leaders or people that start out as managers because I have a different plot Managers manage you know from underneath Leaders inspire people from within to go to understanding the why and help them get to find out what it is to help them get to the next level And so when leaders evolve like yourself in the organization, is there a place for them to go to continue to excel as well? Sure. So we have programs out there with emerging leaders. So we get recognized or we not so much we get recognized, but we’re looking we try to we’re looking at individuals that we recognize and maybe that next form of leadership. And they can now go through a program. So now when it’s coming out, you have a better scope of dealing with customers, the Romans way of doing things, our culture. You know what I’m saying? It’s not taught by myself. It’s not taught by one of the Romans. We have someone that does it for us. And then we get into the actual business aspect. if we’re recognizing you to potentially come into that next leader or director or manager, right? That’s because your skill set’s there and we see something in you. Now we want to take that talent skill and get it to the next level, you know? So you’re not just stagnant in that same way of looking at business, if you would, right? Absolutely. Well said. Here we are again. I mean, what the heck right We done it again we did good guys i love it though I mean I truly do I truly love what I do And I think that from the rest of the director teams that the Romans and Ryan has put together, he sees what our passion is at. And it’s, it’s hard to slow down my passion. And I love seeing it in the, in the, in the folks underneath me too. I mean, we’re, we’re breaking records and advisors are high-fiving each other. And there’s a lot of positive energy that’s moving right now. And the one thing you never want to do is rip the rug underneath from that energy. Yeah. Feed into it. I’m in so many different conversations with so many different people in Zoom calls. And it’s like some people just keep rehashing the same stuff over and over again. That like when I started selling cars in 1985, the average person sold 10 and 2026 is 9.7. Now, not under somebody’s watch like the leadership with Nick at the Rorman Group, but they keep doing the same thing, expecting different results, and it’s just not going to work. If you want to go to the next level, you’ve got a culture and an onboarding process and an opportunity for anybody that is willing to, hey, step out and take charge of your life. This is a place to do that. You’re in. Your excitement, your enthusiasm is like contagious, Nick. Man, that’s just how I am, man. It is. And Claire, you take advantage of that too whenever you do what you do, okay? Because I know you’re listening. No, she’s awesome. Go ahead, Sherry. Are there any final thoughts for us, Nick, before we wrap up this episode? Oh, my goodness. I mean, I could keep going. Guys, listen to this call. Get to know your people. whether they’ve been with you for 20 years. We always say we never want to be treated like a number. There’s sometimes that you may be doing it and not even knowing it you’re doing it. Break down and have your little huddles. Get to know them a little bit more on the personal side. Like I said, whether they’ve been there with you for 20 years or you think you know them all the way, there’s always something just by asking some open-ended questions and get a little conversation going. So this way they got a different trust into you. And the main thing is, I always look at it, I even tell the managers too We all know that there north of 160 technician shortage right now Why do they want to work for you The Roarman group is the Roarman group I could tell you all the best reasons in the world to come work for us all day long. We have multiple casts on this. Now they get into the group and they’re working for a manager, whether it be a sales manager, general manager, finance manager, you know what I’m saying, service parts manager. Why are they coming to work for you? What are you doing that they want to work for you? We all know that people leave jobs because of management or no sense of direction for their career. They don’t know where they’re going. If you execute those two, why else are they coming to work for you? I mean, we should nail those two all day long. They should have a path. They should know where we’re going. They should know where they have the potential to go to the whole nine yards. But after all said and done and the honeymoon is over, their first 30, 60, 90 days, they continue coming or maybe Maybe they put their line out in the water one more time. Why are they coming to you? Make it fun for them Make it work their way Make them understand that you the guy that they want to work for Yeah no that Win comes when you send your technicians or advisors to manufacture training I love that man when the techs would come back or advisors and so forth and the techs would come back, say, hey, man, I was at school, and this guy that’s working in this other store, we were just talking. He wants to come talk to you. He’s looking to make a move now. That’s a win. That’s your people talking for you. No difference than your customer that just hit service. They got a five-star rating. Maybe you don’t get it on your CSI because it’s expected, but they’re telling the people. yeah enthusiasm and excitement is very negative you don’t want to hear the way we don’t know what the negative is going right but if those positives share with them you don’t they’re doing on your own you really killed it you didn’t ask them to do that you’re doing it yeah so who are you i’m nick ruffalo with the rohrman automotive group and i’m on this awesome podcast what the fix is going on look while you listen you might think that was even staged it wasn’t because normally we don’t even close out that way but I’ll tell you what your enthusiasm your excitement is contagious I know there so many different shorts from this that are going to be phenomenal and resonate And you know like him love him share him reach out to him asking questions reach out to us You want to find out more? This is why, I mean, listen, this guy is unstoppable. That organization is unstoppable. And I’m sure if you want to be a part of it, just because of what you heard here and like in the back of your mind, that’s somebody that you wanted to work with and work for and be a part of is going to the next level because you got a big why. Just let them know. And I bet they find a home for you, too. Other than that, Charity, thank you for all that you do and putting this together and the guests and the questions and the excuse. This is this is. Hey, this is another successful WTF. And that’s what the fig stops all of you out there. We love you all like them, love them. Just, just have fun with it. That’s all I’m going to say. Yeah. Thank you so much, Nick. We really enjoyed you again.
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