Shane’s Steps to 30k per week
In this Episode Shane teaches the simple things YOU can do AND the things to avoid to streamline your PDR business and replicate his numbers!
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Keith Cosentino: I’m Tom Cruise, he’s Samuel L. Jackson, and this is the PDR college podcast. The only place where I can pretend that I am Tom Cruise, and also, the only place that is dedicated to the paintless dent removal business. This is the only podcast in the universe where we’re gonna be coming at you every week with the information you can use, the information that you need, to take your retail PDR business to the next level and start making some real money. Maybe not Tom Cruise money, but some real money.
Shane Jacks: Keith, where is my [inaudible] [00:00:42]?
Keith Cosentino: I am not Tom Cruise, but he is Samuel L. Jackson. Samuel, it’s great to have you on the podcast. We didn’t know you had such an interesting paintless dent removal.
Shane Jacks: It’s good to be here.
Keith Cosentino: All right. We are so retarded, but we have fun [inaudible].
Shane Jacks: Oh, for sure. We have fun with it.
Keith Cosentino: For those of you that were fooled, we have something for sale for you for $1 million. For those of you who are just questioning what this is all about, I am Keith Cosentino and this is Shane Jacks, and we are doing the PDR college podcast, like we do every Monday morning. Bringing you skills for the dent removal business.
Male Speaker: We may have confused some people. May have fooled a few people, but I do have a plane with snakes on it for sale.
Keith Cosentino: That’s one I never saw.
Shane Jacks: Neither did I. Neither did I, but hey.
Keith Cosentino I think I know what it was about.
Shane Jacks: The plot was thick on that one.
Keith Cosentino: Was it a remake from an old movie?
Shane Jacks: [Inaudible] that old movie, if it was.
Keith Cosentino: I think it was.
Shane Jacks: That’s terrible. Oh. How was your week, Keith?
Keith Cosentino: I had a pretty busy week, actually. I started to knock down – not starting, but this week was a consistent big money repairs back to back to back to back, so I had five days straight deep into four digits, so that was – it was a good week. Worked hard for it, but it was a good week.
Shane Jacks: Nice. Deep into four digits, so that’s like 9,000?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. [Inaudible] [00:02:38] that is because when people say he makes mid six figures, or he makes six figures, there’s a lot of ground between – there’s a whole lot of grown.
Shane Jacks: And seven figures. Like, he makes well into six figures. What is it like, seven, 800,000? No.
Keith Cosentino: It was like 220.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: What is this nonsense?
Shane Jacks: That’s not well into six figures. That’s like saying I almost had $10.00. I’ve got 220.
Keith Cosentino: My – what did I say? Deep into the four figures?
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: Minimum 1250. Best day, 18 something.
Shane Jacks: Nice.
Keith Cosentino: There’s my deep into four figures.
Shane Jacks: That’s awesome. I made that before break just every day.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. I know that. You ate part of your money for breakfast.
Shane Jacks: It doesn’t happen often, though, Keith.
Keith Cosentino: It doesn’t need to.
Shane Jacks: No, sir, but that’s actually kind of what I want to talk about today, Keith, is some of the things that I’ve seen. You go off –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: How much? How much [inaudible] [00:03:50] sucker?
Shane Jacks: A sucker.
Keith Cosentino: Sitting here working on smashed up dents.
Shane Jacks: Yeah. There’s something to be –
Keith Cosentino: While you’re printing money.
Shane Jacks: There’s something to be –
Keith Cosentino: Living in Motel 6.
Shane Jacks: Yeah. I’m at the Ritz.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. The Ritz South Carolina.
Shane Jacks: Me and Samuel L. Jackson staying at the Ritz up in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Keith Cosentino: Just screaming at the poor service ladies in the hotel cleaning your room, asking for your super suit?
Shane Jacks: Woman. Where is my super suit?
Keith Cosentino: We’re talking about the greater good.
Shane Jacks: Oh, we’re idiots.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. Confirmed.
Shane Jacks: Long ago. Oh man, but where I’m working at, I’ve seen some things. When you go off the hail trail for awhile, you forget some of the things that happen and when you go back on it, you sit and go, ah yes. Don’t be that guy, and that’s kind of what I want to talk about today. Things to avoid when you’re doing hail, and some of it, when I say don’t be that guy; I’m not being like mean. I’m just saying don’t go into blind. Don’t go into these things and into these deals and not know what’s going on and not have a plan, because it can backfire and it can make you look kind of stupid.
Keith Cosentino: All right.
Shane Jacks: And it can lose you money, mainly. That’s the big thing.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: [Inaudible] [00:05:32] main thing you’re talking about.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, for sure, so things to avoid and don’t be that guy. One thing is, and again, you can’t –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Now, wait a second. Wait a second.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: What if I’m just a Cali guy and I’ve never done – I’m not doing any hail. I don’t plan on being that guy. I just plan on taking these phone calls that I get and running around to the places that are here in driving distance and doing repairs. Should I – am I chump? Should I be doing hail?
Shane Jacks: What do you mean? I don’t understand your question. What do you mean running around?
Keith Cosentino: Well, you know I’m just doing a local route.
Shane Jacks: Okay.
Keith Cosentino: Should I – am I spinning my wheels here? Should I be on the hail trail? Is that where the real money is?
Shane Jacks: Yes and no. Man, it depends on who you are. Dude, you’re knocking it down. You’re doing great. Man, you’re doing better than some guys are on hail damage. Okay?
Keith Cosentino: Well, I know that’s the case.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: But I’m not doing a fraction of what you’re doing pushing hail, and we both know I’m twice as good as you are.
Shane Jacks: Of course you’re doing a fraction. We can go really low on fractions. We can do 1/32. 1/9,000. I’m not doing a fraction. That’s a stupid statement. No, no, no, no. I – gosh. How do you say this without sounding stupidly arrogant? Insanely arrogant. I’m fast. I’m really fast. I’m working right beside some guys that are only doing 12 to 1500 a day.
Keith Cosentino: Same exact damage. Same exact body shop.
Shane Jacks: Yes. Same. Same thing. Same exact. Not body shop, but retail shop.
Keith Cosentino: That’s ridiculous. Okay, so now, we know why I want to listen the things that you’re just gonna tell us.
Shane Jacks: Right, and some of these things –
Keith Cosentino: If we do it right, there’s – it’s ridiculous to stay at home. If you do it wrong, or average, you can do better at home.
Shane Jacks: Yes. I’ve gotten several messages, since the podcast we do a few weeks ago.
Keith Cosentino: I’m sorry. I’ll stop sending them.
Shane Jacks: Since the podcast we did a few weeks ago about the hail and about the money I was making, and yes. I have maintained that level, and at times, surpassed that level that we talked about a few weeks ago. Personally, I surpassed it by a whole lot. My best week, I did myself, barely under 30 in a seven day span, so –
Keith Cosentino: $30.00?
Shane Jacks: Yeah. 30 pesos, so that’s 30k, for you guys who don’t understand.
Keith Cosentino: That’s ridiculous.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, but I’m telling you, man, it’s – and this is just on a personal side note. Another gentleman and myself, another hail guy and myself, who’s a really good hail tech, who makes a good bit of money, he’s in Pennsylvania right now and he’s doing 16 to 18 a week, which is really good for that damage. He’s only working five days a week, by the way, so-
Keith Cosentino: Are you five or six with that figure, by the way?
Shane Jacks: Actually, probably six and a half.
Keith Cosentino: All right. You’re grinding it out.
Shane Jacks: Yes. I am grinding it out, so he’s doing really good for that damage up there in Pennsylvania, but we were talking, and man, when you do that kind of money, what I did – what I’ve been doing at this [inaudible] [00:09:08], you know? Nothing –
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: You get away from this, and then, you go down to, gasp, 2500 a day and you’re like, well, it could be better, and that’s kind of what I – no. I’m being serious. It’s something that has peaked my curiosity in this whole hail world thing is because gosh, I’m doing this by myself. If I – and I know I have the brains to do it, Keith. I know you and I absolutely have the brains to run something really crazy, and really kill it. You know what I’m saying, so it’s got my –
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. I think a lot of guys who run a really stand up retail operation, and have been for years, that’s the kind of brain that you can kill it out where you are, too, because there’s a bunch of numb skulls running around in camo shorts and flip flops doing hail, and if you can bring the professionalism that you’ve honed in years of your retail business, assuming you run a good one, into that world, you could probably blow up.
Shane Jacks: Yes and that’s what’s going through my mind. You know? So anyway, let’s talk about some of these things that I’ve seen in the last few weeks.
Keith Cosentino: All right, so these are things, if I come on the hail trail. If I bring that out to the hail trail tomorrow, these are the things I don’t want to do.
Shane Jacks: Yes. Some of the things you don’t want to do. Some of the things I’m not gonna mention, and Keith, you can bring them up, because they’ll be kind of common sense things. These are things that I’ve kind of noticed. One of the things we’ve talked about.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Super common sense.
Shane Jacks: Yes. Super common sense stuff, I’m really not gonna put in here.
Keith Cosentino: Well then, I’ll start with some of that.
Shane Jacks: Okay. All right.
Keith Cosentino: Don’t bring live chickens to the body shop. I mean that’s common sense right there.
Shane Jacks: That depends. If you’re in the south, you can make really good friends with a body shop owners, because there’s a lot of chicken fighting going – cock fighting going on around here. Coming – and this is not gonna be in any kind of order. Okay, so this isn’t a top ten list, or actually, five. This isn’t a top five list. This is just – these are just some things that I have seen here. Okay? Number one is the management of the deal, and I know if you’re coming on the hail trail, Keith, you come out and work for me next week. Right? You can – guys are gonna say, well, how can I help the management that’s going on there, if I’m not the manager? Well, you can.
Keith Cosentino: That’s not my job.
Shane Jacks: It’s not your job, but if you want to make some freaking money, you better make it your job. Micromanagement and mismanagement, and the two are kind of almost –
Keith Cosentino: Micromanagers. Commence micromanagement. I’m sorry. My kids got the Lego Movie.
Shane Jacks: Your kids what?
Keith Cosentino: They got the Lego movie. Will Ferrell. Have you seen it?
Shane Jacks: No, I haven’t. I thought that was in –
Keith Cosentino: Oh man.
Shane Jacks: Gosh. I thought that was out of Austin Powers, for some reason.
Keith Cosentino: No. Will Ferrell is the evil guy. You want the two minute synopsis of the Lego Movie?
Shane Jacks: Of course I do. From what I hear, it was so terrible. In two minutes, you can tell me all the good parts.
Keith Cosentino: No. It was really good.
Shane Jacks: Really?
Keith Cosentino: It’s cool. Yeah.
Shane Jacks: Oh okay.
Keith Cosentino: No. It’s worth watching. Will Ferrell is – okay. All the Lego guys – you there still? It’s cutting out a little bit. All the Lego guys live in a Lego universe and a lot of them like to go crazy and build whatever they want out of all the parts, like custom little creations, and Will Ferrell is president in the Lego world, and his name is President Business. He’s also Lord Business, and Lord Business, he puts on this big ole super suit. Lord Business wants everybody to act just as they’re supposed to. Like if you’re a construction guy, you need to be in your construction area, and all this kind of stuff.
He’s creating all these systems, to make everybody conform, so all the Lego’s are perfect, and he builds these machines that look like these big old robotic cubes, and they have these like long snake arms. Kind of like a cross between the borg on Star Trek and something from the Matrix.
Shane Jacks: Okay.
Keith Cosentino: And he calls him micromanagers, and they fly out and they take everybody with their long arms and manipulate their parts back into the perfect little scenario. These are the micro – he calls for them all the time. Micromanagers, commence micromanagement.
Shane Jacks: As only Will Ferrell can, by the way.
Keith Cosentino: Yes. It’s a funny movie. You can watch it with your kids. It’s cool.
Shane Jacks: Yeah. No, really. The Lego Movie, and I can watch it with my kids. That’s groundbreaking.
Keith Cosentino: You can enjoy it with your kids, smart aleck.
Shane Jacks: I figured it was like double x, maybe triple. As far as – yeah. Micromanagement. Micromanagement and mismanagement, I’ve – man. There was a case – I’m gonna put these two guys out here. Okay? One, we’re gonna call Brad, because that’s his name.
Keith Cosentino: You tuning in, Brad?
Shane Jacks: The other, we’re gonna call Bob, because –
Keith Cosentino: You’re still working with him.
Shane Jacks: No. We’re gonna – the other one, we’re gonna call Bob, because my brother’s name is Bob, and I hate Bob, also. These two guys, Brad and Bob, okay? Brad is the manager at the Storm. Okay? Bob is –
Keith Cosentino: PDR guy.
Shane Jacks: I’m sorry?
Keith Cosentino: He’s a PDR guy.
Shane Jacks: Yes. He’s a PDR guy. He’s managing – he’s run this shop that I’m at. Okay? Bob is – this is a totally hypothetical situation. Not really. I’ve got this friend, so Bob; this is something that has happened, by the way. So Bob is working at the Storm with me. Brad is the manager of the Storm, and what’s going on here is that something happened last week.
Keith Cosentino: You had to pick two B’s. I’m getting mixed up already.
Shane Jacks: It’s all right. You want me to change it?
Keith Cosentino: Make the names –
Shane Jacks: All right.
Keith Cosentino: One could’ve been Clevis.
Shane Jacks: How about Brad and Chad? Is that better?
Keith Cosentino: You’re such an idiot.
Shane Jacks: Confirmed. We’ve already been through this. So Brad and Bob – there are a lot of things going on in this – we don’t – you don’t know the parameters all the time of what you can do and what you can’t do, and on certain cars. Okay? Now, you can micromanage, and you can come over and tell guys, do hoods, first. Then, trunks. Then, you need to do roofs. Then, move on to the rails, or you can say start on the rails, first, because if you pull paint, then, we’ll have time to blah, blah, blah. Right? So you can micromanage things. Okay? Then, you can also mismanage them by not giving enough information, and giving out different information on each car.
Does this – and I’ll clear this up a little bit. Had a car the other day, last week, where the rear door had been painted on the car, and it depended on what car had come in there, the age of the car, who the customer was, whether we could actually do any drilling, or not, on the car in a inconspicuous area. Right? So these corner panel and door had been painted, and it was terrible paint work. Horrible body work, so he’s kind of confused. There’s too much going on there. People coming in and out. The manager couldn’t really take the time, or didn’t really take the time, to explain everything.
Dude pulls the paint on the rear door. Pulls the pain clear off. Okay? Because it’s a horrible paint job, and he had to glue pull the top of the door, and the manager’s pissed, because he didn’t drill a hole. I understand. It was an older car, and it had paint work on it, and it was horrible paint work, body work, and I understand his side, but then, I understand the dent guy’s side. I understand Bob’s side, also, because Bob didn’t know. You know what I mean?
Keith Cosentino: Didn’t know what?
Shane Jacks: Didn’t know whether he could drill or not. It was –
Keith Cosentino: Oh and he couldn’t ask a question first?
Shane Jacks: Again, there’s – you’ll get different answers on different things at Storms, and that’s kind of what I’m saying here. There’s mismanagement, micromanagement. Sometimes, you’re not the – the manager, or the broker, or whoever you’re working for, is just not going to be there. You know and you don’t know what to do. Well, what is acceptable in this situation?
Keith Cosentino: That seems like common sense, to me, there.
Shane Jacks: What’s that?
Keith Cosentino: I don’t – not to glue pull this crappy old paint job.
Shane Jacks: Well, I mean on some, and again, we’re out here in the – on the hail trail. Okay? In some cases, they go, yank it. If it pulls, we’ll supplement it and paint the rail. You know what I’m saying? And then, on others, they come out and go, why the flip did you pull the paint? That car’s got to go in three hours, so it’s danged if you do, danged if you don’t type situation, if you don’t understand – if it’s micromanaged or mismanaged. Okay, so don’t be the guy that gets stuck in that. Understand that when you come in – you know ask questions. Wholesale deals are that way, also. Can you drill, blah, blah, blah? What happens if I pull paint?
I was at a wholesale deal last year where I pulled paint on a rental car. It was a Fiat. I literally pulled a half dollar size hunk of red clear everything, all the way down to primer, out of this Fiat. I had no idea it had been painted. I wasn’t paying close enough attention, actually.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: And pulled a half dollar sized hunk of paint out of the rail. You know that warm feeling you get on your body when you’re leaning back in a chair and you almost fall? That’s kind of what happened to me, in that situation, so I’m like, oh. This is like the third car I did at this – at that deal. I call the dent guy who was running the show. Man, I pulled the paint on this thing. He looked down and he said, “That’s what we make touch up paint for.” Game changed. Things changed considerably after that, quality wise and everything else, so know what you’re getting into. All right?
Keith Cosentino: You poured out of bottle of touch up paint on this thing?
Shane Jacks: I didn’t do anything. He said, “I will take care of it.” My guess is is nothing ever got done to that thing. That would be my guess.
Keith Cosentino: Wow.
Shane Jacks: So –
Keith Cosentino: Man, you got me a new Fiat logo, too. That looks awesome. I don’t know if I would put it right there, but –
Shane Jacks: And it doesn’t really say Fiat. Looked more like an ink blot test. That looks like a duck. All right, so what do you want to do to prevent that above? Communicate. You know communicate with the manager, or whoever’s running the storm. The owner, whatever’s going on. Communicate, so you won’t be that guy. All right.
Keith Cosentino: Let me ask you this. From – you’re a high producing technician. What advice can you give guys, right now, who are going to manage jobs to help guys be as productive as you are? Tell them what they should stop doing. What have guys tried to do with, or to you, that is detrimental to progress, to money?
Shane Jacks: Fixing dents to 100 percent. Hey. That’s an honest answer. What do you – guys doing stuff – man, something that I see.
Keith Cosentino: Like earlier, when you were saying do the rails, first, and then, the hood, and all that kind of stuff. That’s micromanagement.
Shane Jacks: Right. You talking about just speeding up? Just getting faster?
Keith Cosentino: What can managers do to facilitate high production levels?
Shane Jacks: Let you know the parameters right off the bat. Give you good working conditions, enough room to work, but really, letting you know right off the bat what’s going on, having the estimates ready, right there in front of you, and if it needs a supplement – you know when they pull the car in, have the estimate in the car. Here you go. This is what this is. This, this, and this, so the rest of it really is – are gonna be time – are gonna be hacks that are gonna help you. You know what I’m saying?
As far as the managers helping you, just having the paperwork in order, and the parameters, as far as what you have to do for the storm, or for that individual situation, set out in front of you, and have air conditioning. That helps.
Keith Cosentino: You know, obviously, I don’t push hail, so I’m not in that world, but I think most people are familiar with the 80 20 rule, and if you’re not, that means like if you have 100 percent of your revenue, 80 percent of it comes from 20 percent of your customers, and it’s true like all over the place, in every different scenario in life, not just for business. It’s interesting, but the same goes with your producers, or your technicians that you have working for you. 20 percent of them, the Shane’s, are gonna make 80 percent of the revenue.
30k in a week, so when you are out and dealing with your technicians and you’re trying to, quote unquote, manage them, you need to find the guys that are doing the 80 percent, not the 20 percent. You need to find the 20 percent guys, like Shane, that are doing 80 percent of the work and just ask them what they need to be even more successful, because if you can bring those guys up 10 percent, that’s already the equivalent of some other guys complete week.
Shane Jacks: Right.
Keith Cosentino: So make sure they have everything they need and ask them what can I do to speed you up? What can I do to help you be more productive? Those are the guys you have to spend your time with. I was just at a dealership. One of my – like the only dealership I personally do anymore, because I’ve been there for 14 years, and I’m buddy’s with all the guys, and one of the guys that I’m buddy’s with is one of their top level sales guys. This guy’s a machine. He’s always working. If there are no people at the dealership, he’s on the phone, or on the computer, following up.
He has like a giant book of repeat customers, past customers, and prospects that he follows up with, sends cards, and all this stuff you need to do to be successful selling cars. I was walking through the dealership and he’s in the – he’s on a bench in the front of the dealership sitting down playing Candy Crush. I’m like, “Dude. Why you sitting on a bench?” I was kind of busting his chops a little bit. I’m like, “Don’t you have like 50 people to follow up with on the computer, on the phone?” And he looked at me. He’s like, “Yes. I do.” He’s like, “But the new management wants me here, just in case somebody drives into the dealership, so I can help them out.”
I’m like, “What do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense.” I’m like, “Isn’t there like” – they have a bunch of new guys at this place, too. I’m like, “Isn’t there some guy that’s been here for two weeks that can sit on this bench? Like all you want to do is sell 1,000 cars this month and you want to do it on the computer right now, but they’re saying you can’t?” He’s like, “Yeah. I have all these follow ups to do on the computer and I have to sit here on this bench, and I’m leaving at 4:00.” He’s usually there like all night until his – so this is the opposite of what you need to do as a manager.
Find the guys who are producing and ask them what conditions do you need, to do even better? And then, provide those conditions to them and watch magical things happen.
Shane Jacks: Right and a part of those conditions is having them in the right shop slash situation. Try to slash situation right side by side.
Keith Cosentino: Slash situation.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, but you speak a lot slower than I do, so that was unfair.
Keith Cosentino: So in South Carolina, slower is another word for cleaner.
Shane Jacks: You’re so funny.
Keith Cosentino: Yes.
Shane Jacks: Yes, so you – I lost my train of thought. Oh, anyway, putting him in the correct situation.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: If they’re the producers and they can do the cleanest work, and do the more damage, bigger dents, and you’ve got a retail shop, and you’ve got body shops that you’re doing work in, which guy are you gonna put in the retail shop? The slow guy that can’t do all the dents, or the guy that produces and can do anything? Of course, you’re gonna put that guy in your retail shop, the guy that can produce anything, and put your slower guys in the body shops and load them up with two of them, if you have to.
Putting them in a right situation, you are exactly right, Keith. That is the correct way to manage guys, to manage techs, is to put them in the situation where they’re going to make the most money themselves, and then, they will benefit you the most, when they’re in those good situations.
Keith Cosentino: And I guess you might need to see them work for a week, before you realize where their strengths are.
Shane Jacks: Right. If you don’t know them already, of course. Yeah. For sure.
Keith Cosentino: Well then, let me ask you this, from like a devil’s advocate point of view. If you’re the technician and you know you’re not in the right place, and you start asking questions. Then, you’re a whiner and a prima donna, right? Hey man, I would be much better in your retail shop with the air conditioning doing those smaller damage. I’d make a lot more money. That’s where – I’m gonna go over there for you.
Shane Jacks: Okay and Keith, I think you’re baiting me just a little bit here.
Keith Cosentino: No I’m not.
Shane Jacks: You’re not, really?
Keith Cosentino: No. No.
Shane Jacks: Okay, because it comes down to –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: If I’m the tech and the guy’s like, no. I got you where I want you, and I said, “Well, actually, Shane’s doing 30k a week over there, so I’m thinking that’s probably a better shop for me.” That’s where I’m really gonna shine, so let’s go ahead and move me over there.
Shane Jacks: Well, you’ve – I thought you were baiting me with that question, actually, or that statement, because honestly, it comes down to your salesmanship, to the guy you’re working for, a lot of it. If you’re sitting at a body shop and you’re doing – and you’re fixing everything they have, you’re knocking off at 3:00 in the afternoon, and there’s another shop across town that is backed up, and the guy’s over there, and he’s not producing what he needs to be producing, or they’re in his – the guy’s in their retail shop. Just be honest about it. I’m not gonna throw guys under the bus.
I’m not gonna say Bob doesn’t need to be in your retail shop. Shane needs to be in your retail shop. That’s not how I’m gonna do it. I’m just – I’m gonna sell them that I’m going to make them more money at their retail shop. You’ve got to put in their court and make them see their side of the story instead of your side. I mean it’s simple math, at that point, to me.
Keith Cosentino: All right, so you got to sell it to Brad, or Chad.
Shane Jacks: It’s Brad.
Keith Cosentino: Brad, picture this. You show up at work, but the door won’t open. Why? There’s too much damn money in there. Who made that money? I did.
Shane Jacks: I had no idea where you were going with that. Maybe you should stick to acting, Tom. Number – another one that – we’ve went over this one before is sitting still, or building a glue cart while there are 400 cars sitting outside. That sounds specific –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Is this a real story?
Shane Jacks: Because it is.
Keith Cosentino: Tell me this story, now.
Shane Jacks: Okay. At a storm and this gentleman with me, and we’ve got –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Wait a second. Let’s set the stage here.
Shane Jacks: All right.
Keith Cosentino: This is not just any storm, right?
Shane Jacks: No. This is a storm with a ton of money. Something that I’m turning well over three grand a day. Okay?
Keith Cosentino: Okay.
Shane Jacks: Cars sitting everywhere. There are 10 approved. All right? I come in one morning and I must say this, the gentleman always beat me there. I would stay really late. He would get there more early than I would and leave a little bit earlier, typically, so anyway, and produce about a third of what I produced. But anyway –
Keith Cosentino: A turd?
Shane Jacks: I think I said a third, didn’t I?
Keith Cosentino: No. It’s a turd, though, if that’s what it is.
Shane Jacks: You’re right. A turd of what I produced, so – and again, I’m not patting myself on the back here as much. You’re gonna hear – as – I’m getting on to guys that don’t live up to their full potential. I’ve got two stories. One is at this glue cart. I come in. I get there 9:30 and – no, it’s about 8:45. He’s there and he’s messing with this cart, and I’m like, what is he doing? Okay. He’s doing some maintenance. That’s what’s going through my mind. I start working on a car. It’s 11:00 and he’s walking in and out of the doors and he’s got these bolts, and screwdrivers, and ratchets, and wrenches, and lions, and tigers, and bears, and he’s building this glue cart from scratch, basically.
Then, later on that day, he’s like, “Man, I didn’t get my car done. I’m gonna be on this car for three days,” and I said, “Technically, two and a half, because you spent a half a day building a glue cart.” Be prepared. If you’re not prepared, get that way. You know holy cow. There’s –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: There’s a $1,000.00 glue cart.
Shane Jacks: That’s what I told him. I told him it was a $1,000.00 – I said, “How’s that $1,000.00 glue cart,” and he just kind of giggled. “I know. I shouldn’t be using shop time,” and that was another thing that he – it’s not shop time. Yes. It is shop time. It’s your time. Dude, you can make money at this time. Don’t think of it as you’re stealing from the guys you’re working for. You’re stealing from yourself.
Keith Cosentino: Right.
Shane Jacks: You’re stealing from your family. You’re just throwing it down the drain. You know?
Keith Cosentino: The guy you’re working for is making a lot less than you are.
Shane Jacks: Correct. He’s making 30. 25, 30, whatever. You’re making the 70, 75, and it just makes no sense, so don’t sit still. Move at a fast pace. You know what? If you’re a fat lard hail guy like Keith thinks that all of us are, then, lose a little bit of weight and start moving. Okay? Your arms will look –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Do you need a lot of –
Shane Jacks: Your arms will –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: You need a lot of girth.
Shane Jacks: And those affliction shirt will actually look bigger, if you lose some of the belly, so move. All right? Number three, don’t go in blind. All right? And when I say don’t go in blind, know the parameters of the deal. We talked about the parameters of what you can and can’t do on some of the things. You know? Number one, know the price.
Keith Cosentino: Wait a second. What did we talk about what you can and can’t do?
Shane Jacks: I’m talking about with the glue point, the parameters of each car.
Keith Cosentino: Oh, you’re saying talk to the manager.
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Can you glue pull this car? Yeah. The micromanagement, mismanagement thing. Don’t go in blind. Know the price. Wholesale deals, know what’s going on. Know the price of the cars you’re going in on. Okay? These things are –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Who would do that without?
Shane Jacks: Dude, it happens freaking constantly. There’s one company out there that changes the price at the end of the deal. A big company. You know what? Guys constantly work for them. You know why? Because they’re a big company and they’re, quote unquote, always keep me busy. It’s absolute utter nonsense.
Keith Cosentino: Who would take a job that you don’t know how much it pays?
Shane Jacks: Oh, they do it all the time, Keith. Constantly.
Keith Cosentino: Equivalent of our retail guys just saying to the customer, all right. Well, let me see what I can do out here, and then, just handing the bill at the end. Well, here it is.
Shane Jacks: No. See, it’s worse than that. It’s not even handing them a bill at the end. It’s asking the customer, well, how much do you want to give me for it? I’m serious. It is, because you don’t make – when they’re at these wholesale deals, and again, this is one of the bigger hail companies out there, and they’ll change it. They’ll tell you it’s gonna be $800.00 a car-ish, maybe. Come in and at the end it’s 700, or 600, or whatever. I’ve heard it, and this isn’t just a rumor, because I’ve heard it from way too many guys that have worked the deals. Okay?
They’ll change it at the end, and even if it’s just $25.00 a car on a wholesale deal, if you did 50 cars, that’s $1,250.00. I know it’s not a great deal of money, but it’s still your money.
Keith Cosentino: But if somebody told you, yeah. You can work here. You just got cut me a $1,250.00 check before you start.
Shane Jacks: That is a great way of looking at it, Keith.
Keith Cosentino: You probably wouldn’t take that deal.
Shane Jacks: No. Not at all, but guys – but, well, they keep me busy all year long. All year long equals six months.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. I’ll keep you busy out here, if that’s how you want to work. I’ve got lots of work.
Shane Jacks: Keith has plenty of work.
Keith Cosentino: I need some guys out here.
Shane Jacks: So.
Keith Cosentino: I can’t find anybody.
Shane Jacks: I’ll be out there next week, Keith. Know what? I’ll – what was your best day last week?
Keith Cosentino: 18 something.
Shane Jacks: Yeah. I’ll double that.
Keith Cosentino: This is just doing PDR, though, and not male prostitution.
Shane Jacks: No. Okay. Never mind, so know the price. Know the quality. Especially, on wholesale. Really, any deal. Know the quality that you have to achieve to make it work, to satisfy who you’re working for, because wholesale deals are – I mean even on brand new cars, man, I think I’ve said this before. A lot of guys, 80 percent is as good as – 90 percent of guys 100 percent. That’s a lot of percentages. 60 percent of the time it works every time.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. That was the dumbest way to say that ever.
Shane Jacks: What’s that?
Keith Cosentino: The 80 percent is 90 percent of the 10 percent.
Shane Jacks: I was just spitting it out, so you say it better. Go ahead. You don’t even understand what I said, did you?
Keith Cosentino: Shane’s 80 percent is as good as some guys can get it under perfect conditions.
Shane Jacks: I didn’t say mine. I said a lot of guys – some guys, so but yeah. That’s what I’m saying, so understand what the quality needs to be on each car, so that you can make money. That’s what we’re in this for. Keith, you preach it. I preach it.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: I’m in it for the artistry.
Shane Jacks: You’re in it for the artistry.
Keith Cosentino: And my reputation.
Shane Jacks: Whatever.
Keith Cosentino: And quality.
Shane Jacks: Whatever. Good for you. I’ll see you on my yacht. I’ll be seeing – you’ll be seeing me from the shore, by the way.
Keith Cosentino: I was gonna say, you won’t be seeing him on your yacht.
Shane Jacks: You’ll be waving at me from the dock holding a rope in your hand. By Mr. Jack.
Keith Cosentino: Do the work to the situation, and that’s true in retail, too. You know my world. You don’t have to make everything perfect. You have to make everybody happy. I mean I did one just last week, too, that was –it was terrible, honestly. I mean I had no business working on it, but they said, “Listen. It’s our kid’s car. A friend – you know our friends, their kid backed into it, smashed the fender in the door. The door won’t open anymore. We just want the door to open and if you can make the fender look better, that’d be great.”
So in my mind, I think I’m – I’m really gonna fix it, but I told them, you know what? I can accomplish what you’re looking for, and when I got there, I have – I don’t work on too many Nissan’s, but it was a little Nissan Sentra and the back of the fender where it meets the door, what is usually super flimsy on a Toyota, or Lexus, or Honda, it’s pretty stout on a Sentra. There’s another enter bracing structure in the fender, so most of them it’s just a sheet metal with a bolt. This thing was stout, so I couldn’t move it without glue pulling it, because it was so big and so deep, and there were two pieces were smashed together.
This was a repaint, so I couldn’t glue pull it, so there was big like golf ball size wallop that I couldn’t even put a tool on, and I used up their time already with the number I gave them was relatively low for what we were doing, but just make the door open and make it look better, which I accomplished. I was like, oh man, this looks bad. I brought them out there, and she’s like, “This is perfect. Exactly what we needed,” and then, the guy even wrote me an email later saying, “Hey, thanks for taking care of that. That looks fantastic.”
Shane Jacks: That is so awesome.
Keith Cosentino: I mean, I felt bad when I left, but then, I got the email, I felt better. I mean I did exactly what I told them I would do, and I down played it, thinking I was gonna go over the top like I always do anyways, but I left the bar real low, just in case, and I needed it low that time. I just fell down over that hurtle.
Shane Jacks: The problem is is you’re probably a lot like I am, Keith, is you set the bar low and you always try to do double what the bar is on that stuff.
Keith Cosentino: Right. You try to make it perfect anyways.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: But they were happy, and that’s what that job needed. If you thought you had to make that one perfect, you’d be there five more hours. You’d still be working on that car.
Shane Jacks: For sure. To go with that quality thing, need to know whether you can drill holes, whether you can cut and buff, all that stuff. I don’t need to go through all that. We don’t need to expand on all this stuff, Keith, but just know whether you can do these things. If it’s on a car by car basis, ask –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: [Inaudible] [00:39:56] not polish. Sand and polish.
Shane Jacks: If you’re working for a guy out of San Francisco, you can’t do it. I was hoping you’d ask me that. Okay. Let me rephrase it. Know whether you can sand all the way to the E-coat or not. It’s never happened to me before, by the way.
Keith Cosentino: No.
Shane Jacks: I don’t know what those little grey marks look like.
Keith Cosentino: It’s never happened to me on a 2000 Honda Civic silver right rear door either. When I was brand new. I was like, I don’t know, six months in and we had a retail shop, and the owner who was training me took off. He had to take care of some body shop, and this retail guy came in and I was getting pretty confident. Said, “Yeah. I can fix this for you.” It was a little like – probably, a three inch crease horizontal underneath the molding on the rear door of this little silver Civic, and I wasn’t – I had no business working on this car, so I missed the entire bottom of this dent, but I’m like hey. Just sand it down. Just get it flat. As I sand it.
Shane Jacks: You’ve – one note and you were through the clear coat on a Honda.
Keith Cosentino: I wipe off the – you know the water and everything, and that feeling you were talking about when you’re falling back in your chair.
Shane Jacks: I actually kind of feel like that all the time.
Keith Cosentino: Oh my gosh. Hey, boss.
Shane Jacks: We’ve got some touch up back there?
Keith Cosentino: He was a pretty good salesman, too. He was able to send the guy on his way with some touchup paint and a discount.
Shane Jacks: Wow. Nice.
Keith Cosentino: It’s a good thing we didn’t have the internet.
Shane Jacks: In 2000? You didn’t have the internet?
Keith Cosentino: No.
Shane Jacks: You all are farther behind than we are.
Keith Cosentino: It wasn’t popular. Like some businesses had a website.
Shane Jacks: Yeah, so understand whether you – what you can do and what you can’t. What you can do and what you can’t do. Another thing on going in blind. Understand whether – what the billing situation is. How often you need to bill. Do you need to do it every single car, every single day, turn it in once a week, what kind of billing system they’re using. Understand that. If you come in – I saw a guy post on Facebook the other day. He was complaining about a system, an automated – or a tablet type system that put the billing – to do billing, and he said, “I’ll never get used to this.”
He’s going to quit the deal, probably, because of the billing system. Pretty sad. He just can’t get a hang of it.
Keith Cosentino: Sad because nobody showed him how to do it properly, or sad because he can’t figure it out?
Shane Jacks: Well, there’s no one there, apparently, to show him how to do it. You know, so understand – I guess that’s another one is know is the owner, the broker, or whoever’s running the deal gonna be there to help you out? Are you gonna be going – are you gonna be doing it by yourself? That’s one where you can get some more percentage. I mean if you’re doing everything, there’s no need that broker taking 30 percent off of you. If he’s over at XYZ body shop, he’s helping the 10 guys over there, and he’s got you in ABC body shop and you’re doing everything, you shouldn’t be getting the same percentage. You should be getting more than the guys in the other shop.
Keith Cosentino: If they’re just pushing and you’re managing.
Shane Jacks: Right.
Keith Cosentino: The shop.
Shane Jacks: Another one is payment schedule. When are they going – when is the guy that I’m working for gonna pay me? Gentleman text me the other day. He’s working for a company. He said, “Man, they owe me 40 grand,” and that’s okay, if you’re turning 20 to 30 grand a week. You know you can expect that, but if you’re turning 10 grand a week, or less, and they owe you 40 grand, that means you’re four weeks out, and things can start to get tight at home.
Keith Cosentino: Is there kind of an industry average, or a number that you think is appropriate for how often you should get paid on a storm?
Shane Jacks: It depends on – if you want to talk about appropriate. If it’s one of the bigger companies, I’d say, heck. They should pay you every week, starting two weeks in. They’ve got the capitol to do so. If it’s a local guy, man, it could be a month and a half, two months before you get paid, but just understand going in. You know what I mean? Just understand that what’s gonna happen, so I can’t tell you whether there’s an industry standard, Keith, because there isn’t one, and I change that based on what’s going on, what the situation is.
If it’s a local guy, a door ding guy, and you’re doing a dealership deal for him, and he gets paid on the 15th of the month and you started on the 1st of the month, you’re not gonna get paid for 45 days. He’s not gonna get paid for 45 days, so I don’t expect payment for 45 days. You know? Some guys can’t do that. Some guys don’t feel comfortable doing that. I guess it depends on each situation.
Keith Cosentino: If you’re that local guy and your area gets hit and you’re bringing guys in, is there anything you can do? Can you take a credit line out and pay these guys early, or give them something to support themselves while they’re working for you for those two weeks?
Shane Jacks: Yeah. I mean you can take out a credit line, but man. I think it’s kind of understood in the hail business. Look, don’t come in dead broke and expect me to pay you in a week. You know, so I don’t expect it. I never have.
Keith Cosentino: That’s kind of sketchy, coming in for a local guy; because a lot of them aren’t all that successful, and you’re gonna assume that this guy can now suddenly manage money.
Shane Jacks: I know. It’s – like I said, it depends on the situation. You know?
Keith Cosentino: You’re trying to read him top to bottom. You’re looking at his truck, his clothes, everything.
Shane Jacks: Everything. Yeah. Heck, talk to the dealerships that he does work for. You know? What kind of –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: How long’s it been since Chad got over his drug problem?
Shane Jacks: Oh man, a long time. It’s been a good six weeks.
Keith Cosentino: Been solid for 18 months, man. We’ve seen real changes in him.
Shane Jacks: And you’re gonna see him change right back within the next six weeks when he gets all this hail money, when he gets this 30 percent in. Yeah. Okay. Situation I’m in right now or I was in. I had worked for these guys before, so I trusted them. Okay? I didn’t ask for a check for – they actually, two weeks in, hey man, you want a check? And I said, “I know you all got a lot of checks coming in. Just wait another week.” “Oh, that’s cool of you, man.” You know you can see it in their eyes, they’re like, we have the money, but holy crap. It’s coming in, it’s going out. You know, so I got my first check three weeks in, and then, but the last time –
Keith Cosentino: Is it one of those big golf course checks?
Shane Jacks: It was pretty big. It was pretty big, not literally. The amount was fairly large. Yeah. I looked like Happy Gilmore walking out of a hail storm. I got my eight golf tournament checks underneath my arm. They’re all made out to The.
Keith Cosentino: Oh man, that is the best visual for me. All the other guys have like a normal size check and they give you this giant tournament check.
Shane Jacks: So know the payment schedule. Oh, I didn’t get to finish the story, because you come in with some stupidity. I knew these guys from before. The first time I worked for them, three years ago, I wanted a check the first two weeks. You know two weeks into it. I was like, I need a check, and then, after that, I kind of slacked off. Once I saw that I could trust them, so you’ve either got to read them, know them, or know somebody that has worked for them before, and a lot of times, in these local situations, you’re just not going to know that.
Keith Cosentino: So that first time you worked for them, you didn’t need a check, because you needed money. You wanted them to produce a check to make sure that they could.
Shane Jacks: Correct. I mean I was okay, money wise, but I just wanted to make sure that I was gonna get paid.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: And to see how they handled it. Did I go in there to get paid and they had papers everywhere, and I had to go over it line by line with me? No. It was really crisp and clean, so those guys do a really good job with their paperwork.
Keith Cosentino: You want to give them a shout out, then? No, you don’t, because when it storms again –
Shane Jacks: Yeah. For sure. I don’t want anybody to know where I’m at. Are you crazy?
Keith Cosentino: That’s the other side of the hail business. Nobody tells anybody anything.
Shane Jacks: Nope. Not if it’s a good deal.
Keith Cosentino: Location disabled.
Shane Jacks: If you had a really bad deal three years ago. Hey man. I know this guy that needs help. His name is – can I do good there? Oh. I’ll see you Wednesday.
Keith Cosentino: Hundreds of dollars a day there, bro.
Shane Jacks: Thousands, possibly hundreds of dollars a day. Find out the length of the deal.
Keith Cosentino: How do you even know that, though?
Shane Jacks: You can figure it out by if it’s – if you’re doing – if you’re going into a body shop, or something, if the town only has 1,000 people in it, you’re gonna understand it’s not gonna be that long. Even if it’s a big town, right around town. Go to the Wal-Mart. Look at and see what percentage of the cars are damaged sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Okay?
Keith Cosentino: And you know how many [inaudible] [00:50:11] got hit.
Shane Jacks: But you’ll know – you know what I’m saying? You can pick out if it’s a town of 30,000 people and you go to the Wal-Mart and half the cars are damaged. Then, chances are you’ve got a lot of work there.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. That makes sense.
Shane Jacks: So if it’s a dealership deal, this is a big one. If it’s a dealership deal, or a manufacturing type deal, kind of feel out how many guys you bring in, how many can be done a day by one tech, how many cars are there that are available, and then, you can nail it down, pretty much. I’m gonna be there 30 to 35 days. You know what I’m saying? So weight that out before you –
Keith Cosentino: And one or two weeks in, you’re already looking for your next home. Right? Because it takes a couple weeks sometimes to get some of these deals setup.
Shane Jacks: For sure. Yeah. The best hail guys – and I’m not one of them, because I have this retail thing back at home, Keith. I kind of wait on the good deals to happen. You know what I’m saying? Because I don’t have to go out. The best hail guys that are really chasing it and really killing it, and knocking it down, I understand this. I just don’t do it. They know what’s coming up, once it’s settled down, and they’re kind of working that out before they leave the deal that they’re at. It’s a game. A lot of it’s a game, man, and you’ve got to play it well.
Keith Cosentino: Strategy.
Shane Jacks: Yeah and this one, the last one that I have, Keith, sounds a little bit strange. It’s gonna sound a little bit strange. Is staying uber loyal to one company, or one broker. Okay. If you can’t – and I have no problem with staying to them, if they treat you well. No problem at all, but man, how are you – it would be like doing – it’s hard to transfer it to the retail door ding side of things.
Keith Cosentino: Be like being married to the same girl forever. That’s horrible.
Shane Jacks: You’re not gonna get your name out there. You’re not gonna meet new people. If you’re running with the same group of guys constantly, you know –
Keith Cosentino: Here’s how you translate that to retail. It’s like you open a retail biz, but you’ve never networked with any other guys. You have no idea what other guys are charging. You have no idea what other guys are capable of repairing, and you think you’re gonna be the most effective company in town, until you start talking to other guys and realizing this is a level of repairs that people are doing and mine are either above or below that. This is the size of the repairs people are doing and I’m either above or below that, and here’s what most people are charging, and I’m choosing to be at, above, or below that.
Otherwise, you’re just blind, so you would never know any of that stuff, if you didn’t get out a little bit. Same thing with hail.
Shane Jacks: Okay. That’s a good – that’s a pretty good analogy, so get out there. Work for different guys. Work for different companies, different brokers. What’s the – okay. If you get on a, quote unquote, bad deal and you’re making $1,000.00 a day, and – at least you met some new guys. You know what I’m saying? Now, if there’s a $2,500.00 a day deal out there with a guy you’ve been working for, for the last – the same company or broker you’ve been working for, for the last five years, by all means, but don’t be afraid to take a little bit of chance. I actually want to, eventually, work for every major hail company out there. I just want to do it, just to say I’ve done it, and see how they all operate.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah.
Shane Jacks: Money is important, but I also want to have that experience, and I’m not going to $1,000.00 a day deal. I saw somebody post that the other day. It said, “What’s a bad deal?” and the guy goes, “Anything less than $1,000.00 a day,” and that made me physically ill to my stomach. That’s just, in my opinion, unless you’re a fairly new dent guy, $1,000.00 a day on a hail trail. That’s not gonna do it for me. I can tell you that.
Keith Cosentino: Well, because on the surface, a lot of people say hey, that’s a lot of money. You know? Especially, if you’re gonna work six days a week. You know you can be doing 25 grand in a month, however, you got a bunch of travel expenses, and you’re still paying for your home back home.
Shane Jacks: It’s more than what you think it is. In your mind, you’re going, well, I can get a hotel for $60.00 a night. I can eat for $10.00 a day. That’s not true. Maybe you can, but it’s just not –
Keith Cosentino: After one week of working 10 hour, 12 hour days, you’re gonna start buying some more nice stuff.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: Get you that new set of Bluetooth headphones you wanted, put the down payment on the Camaro. It isn’t the – one of the reasons it isn’t as good money as you think is because you can do that at home pretty easy.
Shane Jacks: Right.
Keith Cosentino: If you run a decent business. You don’t have to go to a hotel. You can sleep at night with your family at home, you know?
Shane Jacks: Yeah. For sure. Well, Keith, that is what I had. Again, that’s not comprehensive, but we’re closing in on our hour here. You got anything you want to add, or ask?
Keith Cosentino: Yes, I do. Do not forget to use Recon Pro for your invoicing needs for the PDR business. A lot of guys use it in the hail world. I don’t, because I don’t do hail, but there’s a lot of guys who do, and they’ve tweaked that system to be really, really efficient and profitable for hail, and especially, managing more than one technician, and RNI guys, and all that stuff you need to do together, so automobiletechnologies.com. Recon Pro is the software that you’ve got to be on, if you are serious about the dent removal business, and I want to remind everybody that we’ve got a new episode coming out every week, Monday morning, and we’d love for you guys to get on, as soon as they pop out, and if you like them, do something for us.
We make these shows for you, do something for us. What is the something? Go into iTunes, or Stitcher. We prefer iTunes, and leave us a review. Give us a five star review and tell the world how much you enjoy this show. It helps us grow it, and ultimately, turn it into something that’s better for everybody. Thank you in advance for that. Remember to check for a new episode every Monday morning, and remember to subscribe, so you don’t have to check. It pops right into your mobile device, and if there are a lot of you who are listening on the website and don’t know that you can have a podcast in your phone, download it already, so you can listen when and wherever you want.
That it is super easy to do. You just have to go into the appropriate application and tell it to subscribe, and if you don’t know how to do that, we’ve got a help section on the website. You can click that and it’ll walk you through step by step, the like three steps you need to take, to get the app on your phone. Find the podcast and subscribe to it, so it’s super cool. That’s what I do for all the podcasts I listen to, not just this one, and I don’t listen to the radio anymore. I work. If I want to hear something other than the people around me, it’s a podcast, and they’re all hanging out in my phone. Super cool technology.
It’s really easy to use, so if you’re not on that train, you should get on it. This is the best podcast you’ll ever hear in your entire lifetime, but there are some that are also worth listening to.
Shane Jacks: For sure.
Keith Cosentino: From other famous people.
Shane Jacks: Other famous people, like Samuel L. Jackson and who are you today?
Keith Cosentino: Tom Cruise.
Shane Jacks: Mr. Tom Cruise. As far as a tool, Keith, I want to do a quick tool review here.
Keith Cosentino: Oh, I love it.
Shane Jacks: Before we leave you guys. The Ultra Hail Rod. There’s a – and I’m looking for it right now, and I can’t find it on their website. They have the big breakdown hail rod, like a lot of the other companies have, but theirs – I used theirs last week, for the first time, and man, I really like that thing, because it’s a bigger diameter than the other hail rods out there. A little bit. I’ve got decently large – I mean not huge hands, but I’ve got larger hands, and I – that thing really feels good in your hand, and it doesn’t – it has some set screws it. One of the problems with those tools, if you turn it – if you turn the tool to the right and you’re pushing left, it’ll unscrew itself. Does that make sense?
Keith Cosentino: Oh yeah.
Shane Jacks: And this thing, it won’t unscrew, so that’s a plus, and it is stiff as it can be, and I like that. I don’t like the flex that a lot of the hail rods have in them out there. Flex is a complete waste of energy, and this thing has zero flex in it, because it is so large in diameter, so stiff, and it – there’s no – in the rod itself, there’s no play, because of the set screws. Really like their hail rod. Again, I’m looking for it on here and I cannot find it, Keith.
Keith Cosentino: So the top points about it that you like are its girth, how stiff it is, and how well it fits in your giant hands.
Shane Jacks: Yes.
Keith Cosentino: Great.
Shane Jacks: Way to make that completely, completely –
Keith Cosentino: I’m talking about a hail rod.
Shane Jacks: Way out of what I wanted it to be, but hey.
Keith Cosentino: Well, you did it.
Shane Jacks: You go for it, big fella.
Keith Cosentino: Keep talking about the girth.
Shane Jacks: Oh boy.
Keith Cosentino: So you don’t even know what it’s called?
Shane Jacks: No, I don’t. If I had to knock Ultra for one thing, it would be navigating their website.
Keith Cosentino: It is tough, man.
Shane Jacks: It is tough.
Keith Cosentino: It looks really slick, but –
Shane Jacks: It does.
Keith Cosentino: You get into it, it’s tough to find everything, and it’s tough to complete a purchase.
Shane Jacks: Very hard to complete a purchase, so I –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: Constructive criticism, because the tools are –
Shane Jacks: Not knocking them. They’ve got – constructive criticism. That is correct. Yeah. The tools are great, so –
Keith Cosentino: And the customer service is really good, too.
Shane Jacks: Yes.
Keith Cosentino: But that website is tough to get through.
Shane Jacks: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: It’s an improvement over the old one, looks wise, but it is tough to use.
Shane Jacks: For sure. Well man, that’s all I’ve got for today.
Keith Cosentino: For today. We’ve got a lot more to talk about, of course, but try to keep it to manageable one hour chunks.
Shane Jacks: From two chumps.
Keith Cosentino: And let’s not forget that our tools are still available for anyone who’d like to purchase them. The black plague dabs are at deadrattabs.com and, of course, Shane’s blending hammer, the jackhammer, is at blendinghammerpdr.com, and of course, with the hammer, we have Shane’s blending tutorial there that you can buy either separately, or as a package at a discount, so don’t forget to check out either of those, if you’re interested in the black plague tabs for glue pulling creases, or the jackhammer, the best blending hammer you could possibly get your hands on right now. Until next time –
Shane Jacks: Get better.
[End of Audio]Duration: 63 minutes
