Questions worth asking

Before You Hire a Fixed-Ops Consultant, Read This

Bringing in a fixed-operations consultant is one of the biggest decisions a dealer makes. The wrong one costs more than a fee — it costs your people’s belief in change itself. Here are the questions worth asking before you sign anything. Ask us the same ones. Our answers are below.

Most consultants left the service drive years ago. We never did.

There’s no shortage of people who will hand you a binder and a slide deck. The real question is whether they can still do the job they’re teaching your people to do — today, on your drive, in front of your customers. Everything we teach comes back to one idea: it isn’t what you say, it’s what the customer hears, and how you make them feel. That’s the behavior behind the numbers.

30 +years

On the service drive, and still delivering dealership results

1,000+ rooftops

Trained on-site, virtual, by seminar and webinar, and online courses

200–300%

Growth in Service Lane sales by our lane tech and RO approach

55,000+

Fixed-ops leaders hear the Fixed Ops Focus podcast every week

The questions to ask

Interview your next consultant like it matters — because it does. Here is each question worth asking, and exactly how Shaw answers it.

When did you last stand on the service drive — talk with a customer, write a repair order, close a job, present a multi-point inspection, or run a technician meeting?

Today. Right now, either I or one of my trainers is standing on a service drive — talking with customers, presenting inspections, and coaching advisors and technicians in real time. After more than 30 years, I never left the drive. If the consultant you're interviewing can't say “today,” ask them when — and listen closely to the answer.

Do you contract with the manufacturer? If you do, where's your loyalty — the brand's standards, or my profitability?

I work for the dealer principal. Period. My loyalty is to you, not a manufacturer — and I'm not out here pitching a product on the side. I spend my life researching customer behavior so your advisor can get in sync with the customer and create the need honestly. Everything I believe is in print, in my books, and all of it points at one thing: your profitability and your customer retention.

Do you require a contract?

We shake hands and get to work, day by day. We don't lock you in with paper — results earn next month by what happened this month. If someone wants you signed for a year before they've proven a week, ask yourself why. Longer engagements happen when a dealer wants one — that's always your call, never a lock-in.

What if I'm not sure who to hire?

Call me 424.237.4973. We'll talk about where you're headed and what you're weighing — even if you're considering someone else. I'm glad to help you think it through, and there's never a charge for a conversation.

A consultant wants to charge you just to evaluate your store?

Walk away. If someone has to bill you simply to look at your organization, keep going — that's a diagnostic charge. Anyone worth his salt will spend time on your store and your people before a dollar changes hands.

How do you actually train my people?

On the job, standing next to them — advisors and technicians both. We observe, we coach, and we follow the Shaw approach: tell, show, do, review. Sometimes we review first, then discuss, then demonstrate, and the cycle starts again. Real change happens on the drive, in the moment — not in a conference room — and it holds because your people learn it doing it, live, with today's tools: the digital inspection, the video walk-around, and the language that reveals the need.

Who trained the trainers?

Ask that of anyone you interview. When you ask us, the answer is a long list. People come to Shaw to start their careers — and more than a few of the trainers working dealerships today got their start with Steve Shaw Training. We even trained the people now behind our biggest competitor. Steve holds a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership, hosts the Fixed Ops Focus podcast heard by 55,000+ fixed-ops leaders every week, and wrote the field manual the industry trains on: FOiS — The Behavior Behind the Numbers, along with Master of the Waiting Room and The Art of Pass or Fail. We're not another trainer with a deck. We're the ones others learned it from.

Why should I spend money on Shaw Training?

Because it works, and because it holds. Shaw Dealer Training Group has proven fifteen years of documented results since 2012 — built on Steve's thirty years on the service drive — more than 1,000 rooftops trained on-site, virtual, by seminar and webinar, and testimonials we're proud of. Most dealers stay for the long term, step away when they need to, and come back when the need is present. You're not paying for a binder. You're paying for change that stays on your floor after we leave.

Can I find a cheaper consultant?

Absolutely. But value has to exceed cost for any deal to be worth doing. Years ago we measured a 0.3-hour lift per repair order; today it's often 0.5, and many individual advisors have added more than a full hour. With Service Lane Tech we see 200–300% growth in commodity sales. And with One Advisor, One Million — our RO Marketing approach — we've watched a single advisor add more than a million dollars in repair-order performance in under a year. Bring us your numbers and we'll show you the return.

The real cost of the wrong choice

The biggest cost of hiring the wrong consultant isn’t the fee. It’s your people’s loyalty. When training fails, it leaves a bad taste — and good people start resisting the very change they need most.
-Steve Shaw

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