From 2 Stars to 5 Stars: Changing the culture of PDR
In this episode of the show we will talk about the “new school” changes in the culture of PDR. How the “old ways” are disappearing and how to stay with the movement and maximize your relevency and revenue.
Blackplague Glue Pulling Tools are what professionals use
Transcript:
Keith Cosentino: Let’s talk a little bit about hot glue specific for paintless dent removal. What kind are you using? You know, you can get a decent pull from any type of glue, I mean, any. You can go get some stuff from the crafts store, you can get stuff from Walmart. In fact, I used Walmart glue for a long time. Before I really got into the manufacturing side of PDR, Walmart glue was my glue. You know what I thought? All these colored glues are fancy ways to trick me out of money. How much better can they work?
Well, to some degree, I was right. Some of those colors suck and they’re there just to take your money. However, once I opened my eyes and got some of the samples of glues that were the real deal, glues that really did work better, I thought, holy smokes, here I am again doubting the technical progress of our trade. Just because something looks different doesn’t mean it’s not better. It doesn’t mean it’s a scam.
So I started using colored glues. I found two that worked amazingly, green glue and the pink glue and we stock both of them on BlackplaguePDR.com. But I wanted a glue that worked even better than that. Now, can a glue work too good? Yes. Superglue and Liquid Nails work too good. They will take the paint off the car. That’s not what we’re after. It’s a fine line of maximum adhesion but not going over the top and ripping the paint off the car putting us further back than we started in the first place. We wanna leave the paint on the car.
So we need something that doesn’t have maximum adhesion for a hot metal glue. There’s a lot of glues out there that are made for construction and manufacturing that’ll make this glue look like it doesn’t work, hot glues that we use. But we have a specific purpose and we need to find the maximum adhesion we can get out of those conditions. And that’s what we’ve done with our new line of glue Tab Weld.
Tab Weld is the new standard for PDR. You don’t think it can get better because what you’re using works now but if you want to function at the highest level you’ve gotta squeeze the last 2, 3, 5, 10 percent of performance out that everyone else is leaving. It’s just like racing cars. Everything has to be dialed if you wanna go faster than the other guy. And if you wanna do a better repair with less pulls or do a repair that someone else said couldn’t be done, you’ve gotta have the best tools.
And glue is so stinking cheap for how much you use. I did a $600 repair the other day. I was on it for four hours and I used two sticks of Tab Weld the whole time and I glue pulled the whole time. It’s not a lot of money to put in and there’s almost no other expenses in our business. Stop being shortsighted. Buy the glue that’s gonna make your life easier and more profitable. Don’t forget, that’s what I’m all about in this business, making more money. And if you’re using the right tools you’re gonna make more of it, I can promise you that.
You’ve got the right lights, you’ve got the right tools, you’ve got the right tabs and the right glues and you know how to use it all, magic happens. So that’s what I’m trying to tell you about. There’s a glue that works better than what you’re using now and it’s called Tab Weld.
Check out the website TabWeld.com. You can bop yourself onto our mailing list there. We’ve got some exciting stuff coming out with that. You are going to be impressed, I promise you. And if you don’t like it, I’ll buy it back because I use it every single day and I can’t have enough of it. So buy it, enjoy it, make more money, TabWeld.com.
I’m Keith Cosentino, he’s Shane Jacks and this is the PDR College podcast, the place where bad habits come to die. The place where all of the magic in the paintless dent removal business that is living inside of you is coaxed out so you can arrive in a place of greatness and abundance. We enjoy an abundance and we want teach you how to do the same with this special little nichy trade that we have chosen in our life called paintless dent removal. We’re glad you’re here.
We’re gonna share a ton of information, everything we’ve learned, everything that our audience, you guys, has learned all mixed up together in one place and we’re all getting better at the same time. Why do we do it? Why are we on a podcast? Well, to make giant ridiculous deficit-style stacks of cash. Shane, tell these boys why you need so much cash?
Shane Jacks: So I can help my fellow Americans and pay off the deficit.
Keith Cosentino: That’s very philanthropic of you, Mr. Jacks. I will be doing something a little more exciting with my share of that stack. I’m going –
Shane Jacks: It’s only exciting to you.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, I’m going straight down to that salvage boat yard.
Shane Jacks: I knew a yatchet was in there somewhere.
Keith Cosentino: It had to be.
Shane Jacks: Had to be.
Keith Cosentino: Absolutely had to be.
Shane Jacks: You’re right, that is more exciting even to – I mean, we don’t care what the deficit is apparently, so it is more exciting even if it is just for you.
Keith Cosentino: Apparently we do not. But I do know that whatever it is, it will be back no matter when it’s paid off –
Shane Jacks: I don’t know what it is either. It’s in the –
Keith Cosentino: — because America –
Shane Jacks: — hundreds of thousands, I’m fairly certain –
Keith Cosentino: At least –
Shane Jacks: — yeah.
Keith Cosentino: — per person.
Shane Jacks: How was your week?
Keith Cosentino: So my week is awesome because I have caught and passed you again on periscope hearts. What is periscope? Is the live streaming application Shane and I have been broadcasting on throughout the week, so we give you a real cool podcast on Mondays, like when this one’s coming out live. And then during the week as we encounter cool situations or interesting situations with our PDR businesses, we jump on a periscope which enables us to stream video live to anybody for free. And then y’all who are watching can chat on the screen and we can answer your questions via text right in real time.
So Shane and I have been having a blast with that and we are in a race to see who can get the most number of hearts. So when you like the content you tappy tap on the screen and little hearts float up on the side and that’s like the score on periscope. So I was winning by a landslide, then Shane came and clubbed me over the head with some cool content and he was beating me. And then I just complained to my followers enough and they gave me more hearts. Now I –
Shane Jacks: That’s only part of the story. The other part is you had like a 30-minute broadcast where, you know, you’re doing that glue pull and –
Keith Cosentino: Yes, I glue pulled a bodyline on a Mustang and my battery ran out and I didn’t get to finish it but I got to show 95 percent of it. There was still some pits on the line. I didn’t have time to go back and film again. So kinda anticlimactic but a lot of guys jumped off the stream halfway through because that’s a long time with no notice that you’re gonna be online.
But I asked a couple guys who were still on, I said, “Hey, do you guys wanna see this? I’ll keep you guys rolling if you wanna see the entire repair.” And they said, “Yes” so I let it roll. But generally the scopes are two to five minutes I’d say. You say that’s about right?
Shane Jacks: Yeah, yeah, two to five minutes.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, so super fun –
Shane Jacks: Yours tend to be longer.
Keith Cosentino: Well, yeah, but it’s mostly because you don’t like people and I do so –
Shane Jacks: It’s funny that you say that. When you said that’s mighty philanthropic of you a few minutes ago I said for the most part I’m misanthropic most of the time.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, right.
Shane Jacks: So I don’t dislike people, I just dislike the way they act.
Keith Cosentino: Fair enough. So if you wanna get in on that action, like I said, totally free, download the periscope app to your phone and you gotta follow us though. We are PDRCollegeKeith and PDRCollegeShane. And there’s some glitch where’s there’s two of me in their so just follow them both. One of them does nothing and one of them does everything. You don’t wanna miss me.
Shane Jacks: Yep, really cool app.
Keith Cosentino: And you don’t wanna miss me anymore than you already do.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, whatever. Just watch mine more than his. I need more hearts.
Keith Cosentino: Hey, are we ready to make our big announcement for the seminar, the events skill seminar?
Shane Jacks: I’m not certain about that.
Keith Cosentino: Okay. One more week. Stay tuned.
Shane Jacks: One more week. Stay tuned. Stay on the edge of your chair.
Keith Cosentino: And don’t book your flights yet, how about that?
Shane Jacks: Yeah, there you go. Don’t book your flights yet.
Keith Cosentino: The dates might expand or contract, likely expand –
Shane Jacks: Yes.
Keith Cosentino: — 100 percent expand. They’re not gonna contract but I didn’t wanna give you too much information like I just did.
Shane Jacks: It’s pretty much it.
Keith Cosentino: But details to come as they are solidified. We don’t wanna lead you astray but it’s getting better in the vein of everything PDRCollege which is to get better. Our seminar’s getting way better all the time. So next week, next week. Stay on our periscope. Sometimes we let a little something leak there.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, like hearts. Let the hearts leak on my side. It’s ridiculous.
Keith Cosentino: It’s super close. Like we’re –
Shane Jacks: Is it close? I haven’t checked. I know you said you’re [inaudible] [00:09:27] –
Keith Cosentino: It’s crazy close. Yeah, but by a couple hundred or something.
Shane Jacks: Oh yeah, I can make that up myself.
Keith Cosentino: Hey Ron, give me your phone. Yeah, there’s 58,000 and change for both of us and like 600 to your 400 or something like that so super close, neck-a-neck. Vote for your favorite PDR College Host.
Shane Jacks: You have a 50/50 chance of getting the right one.
Keith Cosentino: You can lock in and out five times. It’s like American Idol. You can call up to 12 times. Regular rates and data charges may apply.
Shane Jacks: — may apply.
Keith Cosentino: I’ll tell you what, regular data charges have definitely been applying for me to stream three hours of video every week.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, for sure.
Keith Cosentino: I never got so many texts from AT&T like, “You have gone over your limit. We think someone has stolen your phone. They’re running the entire country of Guatemala through your data connection.
Shane Jacks: Oh, man. I get them too. How many gigs do you get a month?
Keith Cosentino: All of them.
Shane Jacks: I’m at 15 I think and I go over every month.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, ours is stupid. We never used to go over – we have a shared plan where all the technicians are on one plan and it was pretty good because some guys do nothing online and other guys like me are streaming crap all day for podcasts and everything. But we are pushing it over the limit now because half of my guys are also watching me periscope. So it’s like snaking its own tail there but you’re welcome AT&T. When you guys – when they name a new stadium you can thank me and Shane.
Shane Jacks: Talking about deficit, at the Bulls Eye PDR deficit going on over there.
Keith Cosentino: Yes, we do but things are good. Actually Bulls Eye is having a record year. We are jamming this year.
Shane Jacks: Nice.
Keith Cosentino: And you know what? I will take this opportunity to talk about that for just a second because it is time to grow my company. And then I am no longer excited about training someone from scratch. I don’t have the time or the resources. But I definitely need another technician, possibly two. So if you are in a part of the country and you are tired of your jam and you wanna come live – I’m not kidding about this by the way, Shane – if you wanna come live in northern California and you know dent repair at least to the degree that you can glass a quarter-size dent, from there I have time to teach you the rest. But if you wanna come and do some big things and have some work put in front of you the day after you land, send me an email BullsEyeDent@gmail. If you wanna come work with me, we’ve got an opportunity.
So it’s not gonna be for everyone. I’m extremely picky. I may not choose you but if you’re interested I wanna hear from you. Send me an email and I have to give you a little homework to do this. I want you to make a video of yourself just for a minute or two, tell me who you are and what you’re doing and why you think we’d be a good fit and send that in an email.
This is kind of a little test to see if you are competent with a video and talking to someone and getting that into an email and sending it to me. If you can complete that task then now at least I know you are a regular human who can do things that need to be done at work. So BullsEyeDent just the way it sounds B-U-L-L-S E-Y-E Dent at gmail. That’s my work email. Send it on over. Let’s have a chat. Maybe we’re gonna go into business together.
Shane Jacks: Apparently I don’t do well in front of a camera. He’s already denied my application.
Keith Cosentino: Yep, I said go ahead and see if you can work for some dude named Shane. I heard he’s all right and he may also be hiring. Shane, you’ve needed to hire guys for a long time. You’re sitting on a gold mine over there and you need more people.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, yes, you’re right. You’re right.
Keith Cosentino: I know.
Shane Jacks: We’ve talked about this. Let’s get going with the show before we get into that.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, that’s a whole other show but I needed to get that going earlier than later because it is time to grow and I’m excited to bring a new guy on the team.
Shane Jacks: Excellent.
Keith Cosentino: There’s currently three other techs in addition to myself so you’d be number four.
Shane Jacks: Nice. Very nice.
Keith Cosentino: All right, Shane. Tell me what we’re talking about today. You’re running the show today. I’m just over here. I’m gonna start – if you don’t hear me or you hear chewing, it’s because I’m eating.
Shane Jacks: I’m running the show and you’ve talked for seven solid minutes.
Keith Cosentino: The show had just started.
Shane Jacks: Okay, I gotcha. So that was advertisements, advertisements. We’re going to talk about culture today, Keith, so I’m gonna ask you, Mr. Keith, what does culture mean or what is culture?
Keith Cosentino: So culture to me is the general attitude or atmosphere in a company or a community, like how people treat each other, how other people outside of that company or community perceive the people inside of it.
Shane Jacks: Yep.
Keith Cosentino: That’s kinda culture to me.
Shane Jacks: That’s a very good answer. It’s how everybody relates to one another within the company or within the community, wherever we’re talking about. The things that happen to make those people interact with each other within that community, that’s culture.
So what we’re gonna talk about today is culture in business of course. This is a business-oriented show, PDR business in particular. Excuse me, Keith, sorry about that. And, again, culture within business and within the PDR business so again, culture encompasses the entire workings and the relationships within your business if you have – within your PDR business.
And the culture of PDR today, Keith, I would say over the last few years especially, has been changing just a bit. Would you agree with me?
Keith Cosentino: Oh, for some guys, absolutely. For some guys, not at all. But for the people that you and I are interested in talking about, 100 percent change.
Shane Jacks: Okay. That’s exactly right. And I would maybe challenge you on that, that it is changing in everyone’s – virtually everyone’s business because they’re being either forced to or their culture is changing simply because the culture of all the other businesses around them are changing. And if they’re not, that culture is – the culture – if business is not going well for let’s say Bulls Eye Dent has –
Keith Cosentino: Blasphemy.
Shane Jacks: I’m sorry?
Keith Cosentino: Blasphemy. It’s always going well for us.
Shane Jacks: Now, listen to me. I’m just using you as an example. Let’s say Bulls Eye Dent has had this culture for quite some time that was the culture of the past with PDR when competition was relatively nonexistent and you held onto that culture within the business. What is going to happen to your business? You’re not going to be competitive so the culture’s gonna be forced to change within itself.
Keith Cosentino: Right, exactly.
Shane Jacks: And your attitude is gonna change big time and that’s gonna change the culture of the business. So I believe that pretty much 99 percent of all PDR businesses out there, right now the culture is changing or has changed. And I’m not meaning to pat ourselves on the back, Keith, because there are many others out there who are doing the same thing, but PDR College, we are one of the reasons that that culture is changing for the better. And I believe you would agree with that.
Keith Cosentino: Absolutely or else I wouldn’t be doing this show every week. I feel like we’re doing something great for the community and for technicians all over the place.
Shane Jacks: Right, exactly. So culture can be – culture can be formed deliberately, Keith, okay. And I’m gonna give a couple of examples about that, or it can also be – it can kind of grow by itself without any kind of guided direction, right. And even then it’s still deliberate whether you are being deliberate in putting it forward, right. So you can form a culture with your attitude even if you don’t mean to have the attitude that you have within the business. It’s still deliberate. Your attitude is going to change and affect that culture of your business and form that culture more succinctly there honestly.
Keith Cosentino: Are you trying to stay on the cutting edge of paintless dent removal when it comes to your tools? Well, if so, you need to make sure you have two things in your arsenal. One is the Shane Jacks jack hammer blending hammer. Find it at BlendingHammerPDR.com. If you wanna learn blending we’ve got an awesome tutorial to go along with the hammer right there on the site. You’re gonna love it. You’re gonna learn something and you’re gonna get better and make money.
In addition to the hammer, if you are doing any glue pulling, you need to have the Blackplague crease tabs. It’s a six-piece crease-pulling set. The two largest are absolute monsters. They are gonna pull out collision damage like nothing else you’ve got available. And the smaller sizes are gonna be for the normal every-day kinda door edges and minor, minor collision dents and a dogleg and a bottom of a door.
I’m telling you guys, it is going to change the way you do your repairs when you have the cutting edge tools. And these are two of them. BlackplaguePDR.com, BlendingHammerPDR.com. Check out the sites, guys. Bring yourselves into the 21st century.
Remind me to share a story about this if I forget. I’ve got an awesome example of this in my personal company that happened.
Shane Jacks: Well, go ahead. Why not now?
Keith Cosentino: Okay, cool. So I hinted at this on one of my periscopes that we could probably do a whole show on it and it would be justified. But, you know, there’s a lot of PDR guys, there’s a lot of service guys period. You don’t have to pigeonhole just dent repair guys. But there’s a lot of dent repair guys who run their companies, a small company, one, two, three people, and they have an attitude with their customers because they think they know something the customers don’t, which they do. They think they have capabilities the customers don’t, which they do. But they allow all that to bleed through and they treat people poorly.
And they end up with bad reviews online. Maybe they’re sporadic, maybe they’re overwhelming but they have them. Well, we’ve done what I feel is an excellent job of providing fantastic service as evidenced by our local reviews. They’re overwhelmingly perfect.
At the time of this recording there’s 107 or 108 and 106 of them are five stars. There’s one guy that gave us a three and he never used our company. He thought our prices were too high. There’s another guy who gave us a three because he showed up at a location that we weren’t at and he got mad about that. That guy previously gave us a one but I wrote him a note through Yelp, apologized and asked him what I can do for him to make him whole again, put him back together. And he changed it to a three instead. He was kind of a stroke in the first place. That’s car talk for a guy who’s not gonna do any business. So we still didn’t do any business, but I got the one from a three.
Well, the other day we got a two-star review and companywide we were upset about it. I mean, we have a 107 or whatever, 106 five stars or right in that zone, five or six and then one, two. It doesn’t change our overall five-star rating but it’s there. And it was not just a these-guys-are-jerks two stars. He wrote a couple paragraphs about how we didn’t communicate with him, we didn’t follow up on the phone call. We never got to see the guy’s car. All of our bad reviews are from people who never saw us.
But – which is fine. If you’re gonna get a bad one at least from somebody that never actually saw your repairs. But I don’t want any bad ones so I got this two. And the kicker – well, I’ll let the story unfold but he – my technician was aware of the guy and the guy had like a really narrow window of time because he had a job with brakes. And he said, “I need you to call me back at 1:00.” And my guy said, “Well, I’ll do my best to call you back at 1:00.” And of course it didn’t happen. He called him back at 3:00 or something like that, but left him two voicemails, really tried hard to stay in touch, sent him a text.
And then the guy wrote this review and said, he said he’s call me back and he didn’t. I don’t appreciate having to chase someone down to get their business. I was very disappointed because of the overall overwhelming great reviews I was expecting for this company to knock it out of the park, but it really let me down. And they’ve lost my business forever. And I suggest you call XXX competitor. I called them and immediately got what I need.”
I’m like, “Damn, that sucks, man. A two?” So I was pissed about it but more upset that it’s tarnished my reputation. So a lot of guys around the country would be like, “Hey, it didn’t affect my rating overall, five stars. This guy can get the finger. Screw this guy, right.” You’d hear that from a lot of guys. And a lot of guys would even get on Yelp and make a comment back because you can and argue with the guy there and make a big old scene. You’ve seen that before, right?
Shane Jacks: Oh, yeah.
Keith Cosentino: Because, listen, I was justified in doing so. We were right but I don’t care who’s right. I just want that good review. I don’t care if he’s justified or not justified. It doesn’t matter to me. That doesn’t change my pocket but the bad review does. That’s gonna sway somebody from reaching out to me. And I miss one call and it could be 500 bucks revenue. So I need to get that fixed.
So of course you don’t have their – I have his contact information and my tech called him a couple more times to try and patch things up, but the guy wouldn’t return the calls. So I messaged him directly through the Yelp environment. And I went on for like a page-and-a-half about how sorry I was to inconvenience him and make his life more challenging. I wanted to help him with his car and we look forward for another opportunity to show him that we are in fact a five-star company. I was just rolling out the red carpet for this dude.
And I even offered to go to his place and do the repair for free if he needed me again, just so that I could show him what we are really capable of. Because this duded was a relatively prolific Yelper so his review is gonna stick. He has like a couple hundred Yelp friends and 50 reviews and his pictures and stuff. Those ones stay forever.
So I’m ready to do whatever I need to make that thing go away because if it stays up it’s gonna cost me money for years. So if I can cut a check in the form of my labor and get it to go away, that’s a good deal. Would you agree, Shane?
Shane Jacks: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Keith Cosentino: All day, but you kinda gotta swallow your pride to do something like that.
Shane Jacks: Yes, not easy to do.
Keith Cosentino: No, it’s not. For some it’s easier than others. Shane.
Shane Jacks: Virtually impossible for me.
Keith Cosentino: Yes. Shane is a proud man with a good reason but he’s got principles and I don’t.
Shane Jacks: I wouldn’t say that.
Keith Cosentino: So I wrote this guy this big long message and he responded to me and said, “You know what? I really appreciate you reaching out to me.” And here’s the kicker. Listen to what happened. Remember the wording that I used from his review? I called XX competitor and got exactly what I needed, right?
Shane Jacks: Um-hum.
Keith Cosentino: It sounds like everything went great. It turns out his dent never even got fixed. The dude has an aluminum hood and he had a dent on the hood. And whoever he called said, “Oh, we can’t fix aluminum. It’s too brittle.” That’s what he got. That’s “got what I needed.” It was just a dig to promote a competitor in our Yelp review. That’s all that was. He never even saw the other competitor. He was just mad. So he lied in the review with this misleading comment.
So he still had the dent which gave me an opportunity to go and fix it, but the guy said, “Listen, I appreciate your offer. I can’t let you do it for free because it costs you money to come out here and all that.” And I said, “Well listen, why don’t I just come out and have a look at it and we’ll take it from there?” Great.
So we made an appointment and I just turned on the charm. I fixed his dent for a quote unquote “wholesale” price which is 100 bucks. It was a high spot in a BMW hood. It was a relatively easy repair to do. He was a car nerd and he was dorking around in his engine compartment and shut the hoot on a plastic cover and put his high spot in it. It wasn’t a hard repair to do, aluminum or not.
But I turned his two into a five. When I was done he was excited and I made sure he was happy. I pulled out all the stops and polished it and waxed it and made sure I kept the underside of the hood clean without marring it up. And he wrote me an awesome review with photos and everything. So I succeeded in this task of taking his crappy review and turning it around to a five, which I thought was a big win for me and for the company.
And it reminded me how important it is to return every call but that’s the kind of culture that you need to have if you want this top public opinion, so people who are bumping around online will find you and call you and give you the monies. That’s what it takes. If you wanna be the proud guy with the I’m right when I’m right and I’m wrong when I’m wrong, which is never, and you wanna argue with people online, you can do it. But that’s not current. That’s not the current trend. That’s not where business is going. The culture, like you’re talking about Shane, is changing and it’s all about the consumers and making them happy and bending over backwards to do it.
And, you know, you could argue that business has always been that way but just now it’s so transparent –
Shane Jacks: Exactly.
Keith Cosentino: — everybody can leave feedback everywhere that you better come around or you’re gonna get hammered.
Shane Jacks: It’s so easy to find now.
Keith Cosentino: It really is. And listen, let me just add one thing before I stop with the story. If you think you’re going to cave eventually and give concessions to a customer, just give them right off the bat and smile. Because if you argue, argue, argue and then cave you’re still a jerk. And you spent the money or the resources or whatever.
So unless you know you’re never gonna cave no matter what, then go ahead and stand your ground. But if you think there’s a chance you’re gonna give this person anything, something, you might as well turn on the charm right at the front and go with that and hope you can turn them. Because sometimes these nasty people will turn into your biggest fans because they just like to be heard, good or bad. They just want their voice heard. So you give them something to be happy about and they’ll do the same shouting and jumping up and down that they would when they were pissed off.
So just know that. I see that all the time in the car business, not necessarily with dent repair but a lot of stuff at the dealers where the customers will come in, they’ll want something stupid, a tank of gas or put this in my car or you guys said I could have this and you didn’t do it. And you hear the managers talk and they’re bitching and moaning and saying how much of a jerk this guy is and they’re grinding him out for an hour, and then they end up caving and giving him the thing. It’s like, dude, if you were gonna give it to them, why don’t you just roll out the carpet and say, “You know what? I’m so glad you came. We have an opportunity to make things right for you. Sorry for the inconvenience. Here’s the thing you wanted plus 5 percent. We love you as a customer.” They leave happy. But when you grind them out for an hour or a week or a month and then give it up, it’s not the same effect.
Shane Jacks: No. And I know people who struggle with this myself but it’s – I do a lot better – I’m honestly way better in it with the business than I used to be.
Keith Cosentino: Are you?
Shane Jacks: Oh, heck yeah, like ten times better. Again, it was a principle thing and quote unquote “I’m busy enough, I don’t need you” was my attitude but I’d do it all the time.
And you were talking about earlier – I’m just gonna switch gears just for a second – you were talking about earlier, you know, attitude with customers because we know things that they don’t.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: I still struggle with this a little bit but I try to take a deep breath and tell myself, well, they don’t understand. We hear this a million times, “I thought it was gonna be $40” or “You can just pop that out.” And it’s kind of – you take it – we take offense to it, or I used to anyway. I took offense, “Oh, you think it just pops out. You’re not appreciating my skill,” okay.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: You take it as an affront to your – but honestly that’s what they think. It’s not that they’re being deliberate and they’re slamming you or your abilities or belittling your abilities. They’re not being deliberate in that. It’s what they – they don’t have any other term for it or they just think that is exactly what happens. Well, it popped in, right?
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: It should pop right back out. So instead of kind of getting a little bit – in getting miffed about it, you don’t have to pop back at them for it to affect your communication with them. It affecting you in any way is going to affect your demeanor. You can try to be as happy as you wanna be but if they’ve kind of offended you in some way then your demeanor’s going to change whether you want it to or not, right. So you’ve kind of gotta change your mind on the way these people are talking to you and what they’re saying. And honestly, well, they’re just ignorant.
And I’m not – ignorant has a negative connotation.
Keith Cosentino: They just don’t know.
Shane Jacks: They just – but ignorant means they just don’t know. And so you kind of treat them like your child and you’ve got to teach them exactly what’s going on there. And instead of going, look bud, they just don’t pop out. Immediately you’re belittling them. They belittled your skill or your ability and now you’re belittling them and immediately the sale has either greatly diminished in its possibility or it’s off. So they don’t mean to do it when they say it.
Keith Cosentino: You know what? It’s almost like that old saying, it ain’t personal, it’s just business, you know.
Shane Jacks: Right. And sometimes –
Keith Cosentino: Don’t take it so personal.
Shane Jacks: Well, sometimes you take it personal because you think, oh, here it is, they just think it’s gonna pop out. They’re saying that because they want it done for ten bucks. No. Sometimes they’ll pay whatever. They just don’t know. So it’s – you’ve gotta be careful in your judgment of what they’re thinking about what we’re doing. So let’s move on a little bit here, Keith, and continue with this culture.
So cultures can be outgrown and outdated. And I think that’s what’s happened with a lot of PDR companies, the culture within their company. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again here, gone are the days where I’m your freaking dent man when you walk in the door. Competition has proven that wrong and we are a service business. It’s time to start treating our businesses like they are service businesses, correct.
Keith Cosentino: Oh, yeah.
Shane Jacks: Service with a smile or whatever you wanna call it. Service with a Keith smile, whatever you want to term it as. We’re not Vincent Van Goghs out here now with no competition. There are people all around who will perform paintless dent repair. And you know what? Whether you like it or not, there are a lot of really good technicians in your area right now most likely.
Keith Cosentino: The new guys are so frigging good right now, Shane.
Shane Jacks: It’s ridiculous, dude. It took me ten years to get to where – and I’m gonna blame it or – yeah, I’m gonna it on the tooling and the lighting, how about that? It took me ten years to get to where a lot of these guys are at two years. I mean, seriously.
Keith Cosentino: I know.
Shane Jacks: And you know what they are? They’re hungry. You know why? Because you’re their competition. You’re the guy that’s entrenched. You’re the bah, humbug moron out there who has the skill and the reputation. So you know what they do to combat that? What are they doing, Keith?
Keith Cosentino: Work ethic.
Shane Jacks: They’re listening to us, they’re listening to the other people out there who are teaching about how to run a quote unquote “service business” and they are turning on the freaking charm. And you know what they’re gonna do to you guys who have been in this forever who think you have all the skills? They’re going to overtake you and overtake you quickly because you haven’t changed your culture. You need to change the culture.
Keith Cosentino: You’re right. And what you’re saying right here, I mean, at first we’re talking about how good they are with dents. But they have stuff like this podcast that you and I never had and they are understanding so much more about the business from day one than we ever did. It took us ten years to figure this stuff out but they’re understanding. And they’re going in there and they’re making personal connections and doing great repairs. And they’re not that busy yet so they’ve got all the time to show up at your account or to be at that customer’s house.
There’s a local competitor that we lose work to once in a while because we just can’t get there fast enough. And he’s there the same day. He’s got time, you know. That’s something that no matter – the busier you get the less of it you have so it’s a distinct advantage for a new guy.
Shane Jacks: And the –
Keith Cosentino: I try to sell against it but it’s hard when he’s there and I’m not.
Shane Jacks: Oh, yeah. And most of the guys that have been in this ten years or more, how many times have we seen “I don’t need to listen to anybody else. I’ve been doing this a long time?”
Keith Cosentino: It’s more often than not that’s what you’ll hear.
Shane Jacks: More often than not. And these guys that have been doing it a short period of time are hungry.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, they’re like, “Let me hear it. I’ll see it, I’ll look at it, I’ll listen, I’ll try it.” They’ll do anything.
Shane Jacks: If it works, it works. If not, not. If not, I’ve tried.
Keith Cosentino: Here’s a great example of that. Almost every new guy who’s online like jamming with PDR trying to learn everything they can, what’s their opinion of Sal’s Dent Dial? It’s useless. No, it’s –
Shane Jacks: No, wait a minute, wait. Did you say the guys that have been in it forever or the guys [inaudible] [00:35:58] –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: No, no, all the new guys.
Shane Jacks: I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was looking at my notes. I apologize. All the new guys, they want it because it’s a possibility.
Keith Cosentino: They’re all over it, right, because they see what Sal can do. They see the smashes that he does and that everyone’s doing with the Dent Dial and they see the feedback. But you and I were around when Sal first – it’s like we first fired up a computer –
Shane Jacks: That’s right.
Keith Cosentino: — and started trying to talk to people who weren’t in his neighborhood. And everybody was like, dude, you don’t know anything about fixing dents. That’s not the way we do it. We do it with these little sharp tools here. And that thing that you’re using is dumb. And you’re doing all this smacking and everything. And it took him a while because he was so confident in what he did because he did it firsthand, but we were the old entrenched guys that were kicking him back out saying, you know what, that’s not how we do it. Get out of here.
And eventually he was persistent enough, thank goodness, that we all made friends and saw the beauty in someone who looks at the same situation with a different set of eyes and it sees different opportunities.
Shane Jacks: Right.
Keith Cosentino: And now we’re not using just Dent Dials but neither is Sal. He’s using hammers and everything else so it’s like everyone’s collaborated and we’re all better because of it.
Shane Jacks: Exactly. And Sal himself was one of those people that was on the other side with glue pulling. I remember it like it was yesterday. That crap don’t work. Okay, whatever. So, I mean, again –
Keith Cosentino: We were all old-school guys.
Shane Jacks: — we were all old-school and set in our ways. And let’s bring this around. Sal is gonna be at the seminar teaching his methods. Let’s go to another guy that is changing the culture and changed it within your company and my company, Keith, and that is Paul, Paul Cordon. And how many of the guys – gosh, I see it – the depth gauges and the other thing. The depth gauge won’t be speaking it in seminar but there will be one there. So the depth gauge is another thing. Depth gauge and Paul Cordon, these things both have to do with price.
How many times have we seen online when the depth gauge is brought up. Well, the insurance company, they ain’t gonna pay for that.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: Paul Cordon with his pricing gauge, oh, they ain’t gonna pay for that in my area. And I say this with a southern voice because I was that guy, okay, with Keith. It’s we know everything. I’ve been in this for more than ten years. I’ve been in this fifteen years – I’ve been in this twenty years. Whatever amount of years these people – they’re probably not listening to us, Keith, because they know everything.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: So I’ve been doing this for 15 years. You can’t teach me nothing. And then they’re online, if they’re a hail guy, and they’re cool with making a thousand dollars a day and they’re begging for work. You know why? Because they won’t freaking change. And if they’re a door ding guy they’re still making 60 bucks a door ding. That’s just the truth because they –
Keith Cosentino: Yep, because quote unquote “that’s all their market will pay.”
Shane Jacks: That’s all their market will pay. You know why? Because that’s the culture they created within their company within their community period.
Keith Cosentino: Yep, that’s it.
Shane Jacks: And they’ve allowed it to happen. Now, let me – I’m going to – before we leave her, Keith, I wanna throw out a couple of companies that are changing cultures. Google, that’s in your kind of neck of the woods-ish, not exactly but –
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, I can drive there.
Shane Jacks: You can drive there, correct. So Google, what kind of culture do they have within their company? I guess you’ve heard of this, correct, Keith, how Google operates with their employees?
Keith Cosentino: Well, I mean, as much as anybody I guess. Yeah, they’re crazy innovative. They’re gonna listen to all the input from other people and it’s a pretty laid-back atmosphere from what I understand.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, there’s free food, breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Keith Cosentino: Don’t put a hail guy there.
Shane Jacks: For sure. And if you do, make sure there’s free Red Bull or Monster’s.
Keith Cosentino: I can picture some guy with glasses and a tie with all these pages like Sergey. Larry, well, we gotta revisit this free food policy. Ad words brought in $7 billion today but we got these couple hail guys here from Carolina.
Shane Jacks: Why do they have to be from Carolina?
Keith Cosentino: North.
Shane Jacks: Oh, okay, gotcha. North Car. So another thing they do, and I’m not gonna go through all of this. We don’t have the time to go through everything Google does. But another thing they do, they’re completely and totally analytical, Keith, and that kind of reminds me of you. You’re completely analytical with your reviews. One review would not have mattered, all right?
Keith Cosentino: Well, statistically it didn’t matter.
Shane Jacks: Statistically, but they will go through and – so they’re trying to figure out – they’re like, we’re losing too many expectant mothers and new mothers. Okay. They gave them 12 weeks off.
So they changed – this is just one example of what Google did – so they changed – well, when they recruit people, they go crazy with this recruitment. They used to have these tests where they would ask you these kind of brainteaser questions. And your answers were not quite as important – the answers were important but how you got to those answers and how creative you were and how analytical you were in your thinking.
So their interviews were completely off the charts, crazy compared to other companies, even tech companies’ interviews, right. They’re doing these crazy interviews to get the right people. So once they get the right people in there, they wanna retain them. So the ladies were leaving at a higher rate than they wanted them to. So they said, okay, we’re gonna give you –
Keith Cosentino: It sounds like one of my high school parties.
Shane Jacks: Yeah. So the ladies were leaving at a higher rate than they wanted them to. So they changed their plan so that new mothers could get five months paid time off with full pay and full benefits.
Now, I’m bringing this up for a specific reason, Keith. Five months paid time off with full pay and full benefits and they could choose when they wanted it. So up to like a month before they had the child they could take a few days off then to get prepared. So it wasn’t, okay, as soon as you go into labor you can leave and then you’ve got five solid months off. No. If you wanted to take three months to begin with, come back and work for a month and take two months off after that, they would work with you.
Well, their retention –
Keith Cosentino: Could you take it to try and conceive?
Shane Jacks: I don’t think so. I don’t think so because the fellows would just all be going [inaudible] [00:42:26] and then nobody would come in. So the end result was a 50 percent reduction in the attrition rate for new mothers. That is huge.
Now, did it cost them something? Did it cost them something? It cost –
Keith Cosentino: Well, probably overall –
Shane Jacks: — 12 weeks versus five months. Five months is 23 weeks or whatever, right?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: Okay, twenty-two-and-a-half weeks versus twelve weeks. It’s almost twice the amount of time so it cost them a ton of money, correct, but did it? And kind of where I’m going with this is, Keith, the instance you had before with your Yelp guy, did it cost you money to make it right?
Keith Cosentino: No. I’m making money on that deal –
Shane Jacks: There you go.
Keith Cosentino: — or else I wouldn’t have done it.
Shane Jacks: Sometimes you just have to give in just a bit to make the business culture that you’re creating, to keep it consistent, to keep it rolling forward. And that’s what you did with that, Keith. So kudos to you.
Keith Cosentino: Forget – I appreciate that. Forget the fact that I literally made money fixing the car but by taking that scar off my online reputation, we made an infinite amount of money. Because who knows how many customers would not have come to me from that one bad review? And don’t kid yourself. When there’s 100 and some odd or 200 five-star reviews but there’s two threes, which one’s do you read? You read the threes –
Shane Jacks: You’re gonna read all of the threes and –
Keith Cosentino: — and then a couple of the fives.
Shane Jacks: — a couple of the fives. Exactly right.
Keith Cosentino: You go – maybe you look five, five, five, five, five, okay, I get it, they’re great. They’re great.
Shane Jacks: I did that this morning. I did that this morning with the hotel reviews. I swear I did.
Keith Cosentino: Exactly.
Shane Jacks: Yep.
Keith Cosentino: That’s what I do and I know everyone else does it too because, I mean, how many five-star reviews are you gonna read? You just like to see there’s a lot of them. But then when you’re like you see somebody upset you go, oh shoot, what’s he upset about?
Shane Jacks: What was he upset about?
Keith Cosentino: Maybe it’s something I resonate with.
Shane Jacks: Maybe the room was dirty. There was rat crap in it. I mean, I’m being serious. That’s exactly –
Keith Cosentino: I know.
Shane Jacks: — that’s exactly what you’re looking for.
Keith Cosentino: I know so –
Shane Jacks: So believe Keith when he says – don’t believe me because I still have an attitude sometimes. Believe Keith when he says it matters.
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Shane Jacks: So the change of culture. Another company before we leave – I just wanted to throw this out there – another company that is changing the culture within our – not within our industry but within an industry that’s related is Tesla. They’re in the car industry. And Tesla is changing the culture of car companies big time. And they’re in trouble for it.
The big three are suing them for their – the way their dealerships in the U.S. – I don’t remember the entire story, Keith, you may. I should’ve looked it up honestly, but there’s something about there is a law that you have to have a dealership with X amount of whatever. And the big three are challenging that.
Keith Cosentino: I think it’s in Michigan only.
Shane Jacks: Are you sure about that?
Keith Cosentino: No, but I think I remember reading –
Shane Jacks: No, I know New Jersey also. They’re being sued in New Jersey I’m 99 percent sure.
Keith Cosentino: Maybe that’s the state I was thinking of. We probably should’ve done some research before talking about this.
Shane Jacks: But anyway, let’s go beyond that. They’re changing in every single conceivable way. And the big three absolutely hate them, right.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, but whatever they’re doing stuff, yeah.
Shane Jacks: Why?
Keith Cosentino: Because they’re shaking it up.
Shane Jacks: Let me tell you why. GM has been known – or they’ve been called – and I should’ve – I actually tried to do the research on this – I read an article ten or fifteen years ago where it talked about GM. And I couldn’t find the article. I’ll look for it. I was sitting in a dentist office. I remember it like it was yesterday, okay. And GM was called a quote, “it was either a health care company that builds cars” or “a retirement community that builds cars.”
I couldn’t remember which one it was but basically it talked about their cost for building cars is insanely high compared to let’s say Tesla now because their costs of their retirees is outrageous based on the unions that bargain for these people and everything. And they could build a car basically for a half to a quarter of what they do now because of their costs after these people have retired.
Dude, back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s they were freaking killing it and they could afford it. Now they can’t. So people like Tesla and anybody else that chooses to come on, they’re changing the culture of the automotive industry and it’s really hurting the bottom line for the big three. And you know what these big three are saying? Just the way we’ve always done it.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: They’re not going to change –
Keith Cosentino: And the market speaks –
Shane Jacks: — because they still are doing quote unquote “okay.”
Keith Cosentino: Customers love it.
Shane Jacks: Yep.
Keith Cosentino: I mean, Tesla is a tough comparison to make for the automotive market because it’s so specialized and so high end, but they’re gaining a lot of traction and it doesn’t look like they’re going away. Crazier things have happened in the car business because it takes so much money to run these manufacturers but I would bet that they are sticking around at this point anyways.
Shane Jacks: Yes.
Keith Cosentino: And I’ve never met somebody who’s like, “Ah, those Teslas, junk, don’t want one.
Shane Jacks: Who was the owner of Tesla? Elon Musk. Not the owner but the –
Keith Cosentino: — brainchild.
Shane Jacks: — brainchild of Tesla is Elon Musk. And he was in 2014 –
Keith Cosentino: I guess that’s not the right way to say that, right. Tesla is his brainchild.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: That’s the way you’re supposed to say it.
Shane Jacks: Tesla is his – yes, correct. So he gained I believe it was $2.4 billion last year himself, his personal wealth. The guy’s absolutely killing it so it’s –
Keith Cosentino: Well, I don’t mind being personal but I can tell you he beat me.
Shane Jacks: Really? That’s kind of a shock.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. I did sell a lot of glue tabs.
Shane Jacks: But anyway the culture change, guys, if you wanna see, if you wanna experience some of this culture change, if you want to be a part of it and start implementing some of this, honestly, I’m not joking here, go to MTE and specifically come to our seminar. You had someone on. I wasn’t able to come on the show that day, Keith, and because of that it became one of the most downloaded shows yet. I think because I wasn’t on it and it kinda hurts my feelings a little bit, but that’s okay.
When we had Mr. Derek Reed on and he said what about the seminar, the people he met and the skills he met there he’s making – I can’t remember what the percentage was. And he’s doing it in a shorter period of time. You know why? Because he’s changing the culture of his business down there in Hotlanta.
Keith Cosentino: He sure is and he’s a Dent Wizard. If anybody’s locked into or thinks they’re locked into something as status quo it’s a Dent Wizard guy. They work for this giant company and they don’t think they have any latitude, but guess what? Derek has proven something that I’ve known true in business, that you bring in the money, the company will make concessions.
My younger sister works for MAC Cosmetics. She’s a manager for them. And they’ve beaten her over the head for so many years about this is the system, this is the corporation, this is the process for everything, that they’ve boxed her in. And I try to tell her, listen, just make more money come through the front door. They’ll give you what you need and what you want. Just have your numbers and show them what you can do.
She’s like, “No, it just doesn’t work like that here.” She’s like “I wanna hire this person but they have to go through the right hoops.” I go, “Listen, if you’re beating everyone in the region and you go in there and say, ‘Okay, I’m beating everyone in the region and I can do even better. I need this person,’ what do you think they’re gonna say to you? Your whole purpose there is to make them money. If you can make more of it and you tell the right person they will grant you the access to that resource.”
And that’s what Derek has done. I’m sure there’s Den Wizard guys saying, “No, I gotta do just the way Dent Wizard says. But Derek shook the whole thing upside down and is making stupid money for him and for the company and everybody’s happy. But it’s because he chose to change the culture.
Shane Jacks: Yep.
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Shane Jacks: So change your culture, fellas. Change the culture within – and this is something I’m constantly working on, Keith, and I’m sure you are too.
Keith Cosentino: Of course.
Shane Jacks: You know, it’s to grow and to just be better, to get better. So –
Keith Cosentino: And quite honestly, a lot of you guys listening are already in this mindset. That’s why you’re listening to a podcast on dent repair. But let’s talk about, before we split, Shane, maybe like three or five concrete things that you can do to change your culture. Because maybe you like this idea but you don’t quite know where to start. Like I’m just one guy working on cars. I’m already as nice to everybody as I can be. I do kinda what Keith’s talking about with the reviews. What else can I do? I’m online. I want my culture to be fantastic here at my little company, and maybe it grows, maybe it stays the same, but I want people to perceive it as amazing. What can I do? So what are five things you would say somebody could do, actual action items?
Shane Jacks: Oh wow, that’s a good question. I wasn’t prepared for that. Your attitude is huge, but you already said that.
Keith Cosentino: But that’s one because not everybody’s attitude is great.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, your attitude, I guess that would be number one. Number two would be your image, dirty shirts, dirty shoes, whatever, your personal image. Your online image would be another.
Keith Cosentino: Let me talk about attitude just for a second because you can think your attitude is great but you’ve gotta make it happen at the moment for someone else. So your opinion about your attitude is different than your actual responses. So if you have a great attitude and then someone quote unquote “pisses you off,” go back to square one and start over again because that means when we say your attitude what we mean is the way people perceive your attitude. It doesn’t matter what’s actually going on in your mind.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, right, exactly.
Keith Cosentino: It’s what comes out.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, yeah. With that guy with your review, that’s kind of a – his perception of your attitude was that you didn’t care about him, the guy with the two-star review when in all actuality it couldn’t have been further from the truth and you proved that wrong, you know. So –
Keith Cosentino: Well yeah, that perception of my attitude wasn’t correct and to be quite honest, neither was the one I gave him because –
Shane Jacks: For sure.
Keith Cosentino: — I didn’t like that guy that much for lying in his review about us and about my competitor and naming somebody who didn’t even show up to his house and gave him bogus information. I would’ve loved – if I was a drinking man we probably would’ve had a different conversation. But, you know what? It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what he thinks, right?
Shane Jacks: Yeah, for sure.
Keith Cosentino: He can affect my paycheck so he gets to see what he needs to see. And that’s what I’m saying. I mean, if you’re a jerk and you know you’re kind of a jerk, if you wanna make more money, stuff it and be happy while you’re at work [inaudible] [00:55:55] –
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Can I put one more thing out there before we go, Keith?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: And that is – and this is – I’m not sure that – this would be kind of changing the culture. I had a gentleman reach out to me this past week and I spent about an hour-and-a-half on the – about an hour to an hour-and-a-half, I can’t remember exactly, on the phone with him. He said he was having trouble closing wholesale accounts and what can I do?
So I’m like, well, how do you approach them when you go in there? He says, well, I try to have a good attitude, and I’m like, check. He says, I have a card with me. Check. And then he says, I go in there and I’ve already walked the lot and I found five or ten cars out there that still have dents on them and I go in and I kind of tell them who I am and tell them they have some damage out there on the lot and ask them if they’re happy with their guy and that I can fix that stuff.
And immediately I’m – and he’s like, I’m having bad reception with that. And I’m like, okay, let’s see. So I start thinking about that because, I mean, this is all stuff that guys have done. Well, you’ve got a problem out there. You’ve got dents on your cars. But I’m thinking, that’s probably not the best way to go in there. So basically you’re going in there telling them, you’ve got dents on your cars outside. You’re not doing your job, Mr. Used Car Manager.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: You know, that’s not the best way to approach it. So I told him, I said, try to change that a little bit. Go in there and introduce yourself with your upbeat attitude and then say, “Hey, is there anything you would like to see different within what’s going on with your recon?” And put the ball in his court. Instead of saying, “You’re doing this wrong,” put it in his court. That’s kind of changing a culture too being – instead of going in there and telling them what their problems are and tell them you can solve those problems, ask them what their problems are and then be the solution to their perceived quote unquote “problems,” even if it’s not the ones you foresee them to be. Does that make sense?
Keith Cosentino: That’s a great tip. That’s a great tip, Shane.
Shane Jacks: So be the – put it in their court and let them tell you what’s wrong and what they wanna change. If they say they want it cheaper, you know what, don’t go – don’t do what I’ve done in the past and what I wanna do and go, dude, I’m the most expensive in town as far as wholesale and retail is concerned. Don’t say that. Listen to him and then go out there and look and then say, “Okay, well, let’s see what we can do about that price.”
Go out there and if it’s a smash dent and then they go, oh yeah, well, you can’t fix that, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I may not be – and that’s when you can bring up the price. I may not be the cheapest in the world on these smaller dents. I may be ten bucks a panel higher than your guy but I can fix that right there. What’s it costing you at the body shop? What’s it costing you in time? What’s it costing you in lost revenue because that car is sitting at a body shop for a week-and-a-half? Then you can start talking about saving them money. I know I ran through that really quick like but –
Keith Cosentino: No, that’s fantastic. That’s a great tip. Probably you could just listen to that and skip the rest of the show and make some more money.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, for sure. So be the solution to their problem, not to the problem that you perceive that they have.
Keith Cosentino: So let me add a couple things for the culture, a couple action items to yours. One thing if you haven’t already is to be completely open and neutral when you’re presented with a new technique, whether it’s for a sale or for fixing a car or something in between. Be completely open to that and try to learn and listen before you condemn it.
Secondly is to do the same thing when it comes to software and tools to run your business. Stop staying stuck where you are and be open to things new. Ask questions and be receptive to the answers. And just zip your lip and listen and take what’s good and add it to your company. There’s too many opportunities popping up with the internet and the magic of computer programming that can make everything you do better, but you gotta be open to it.
So to change your culture you gotta change what you’re doing so keep your eyes open and ears open for change and adopt it as soon as you can.
And I would say lastly, keep the level of communication between you and your customers and prospects at all time high priority all the time. I mean, you could perceive that you’re “off” quote unquote in the evening and the weekends and somebody sends you some random email or text. You could wait until Monday to respond to it but you and I both know everyone’s tapping away on their phone for other stuff. Take 40 seconds and write a quick email and say, “Hey, I appreciate the email. I’m out of the office until Monday. I look forward to speaking to you Monday morning.”
It takes you five seconds to do and you can hook that customer, that prospect into waiting for you. But it’s that kind of appreciation for the fact that these people are reaching out to you to try to give you money instead of, these customers are so dumb, customers bug me. That attitude is cancer.
Shane Jacks: Yes, it is. Yes, it is. [Inaudible] [01:00:43] in the past.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Okay, fellas. Yeah, we all have at some point. Well, maybe not all of us but a lot of us. Shane, thank you for bringing up that topic of culture. It was interesting. When you first told me I wasn’t sure how deep we could go, but sure enough here we are with an entire show about it and some really great stuff you guys can do to change your business tomorrow.
We look forward to seeing you guys at the seminar. A lot of you have reached out to me personally and said, “Hey, I need a spot. Give me a spot.” No spots are for sale yet. It is – this show’s coming out Monday the – what is the date on that, the 14th? And we still have not released the seminar spots for sale so do not panic. You have not been passed up. There are gonna be a limited amount of seats so you’re gonna wanna jump up as soon as you see that email but no one’s got a seat yet. So be patient because we are putting some more magic into the pot and making sure it comes out. Until next time –
Shane Jacks: — get better.
[End of Audio]Duration: 62 minutes
