by steve shaw
Fixed Operations Training Books by Steve Shaw
A lifetime of improvement, written down.
FOiS — The Behavior Behind the Numbers
The complete operating system for a modern dealership service department. FOiS is a premium, single-volume field manual covering the three things that run a service department — Leadership, the Sales Approach, and Process — with the formulas, word tracks, glossary, and a self-diagnostic assessment to put it to work in your store.
It is built on one hard-won idea: every number in the service department — effective labor rate, hours per repair order, retention, CSI — is a shadow of a behavior. Chase the number and it slips away; change the behavior underneath it, and the number takes care of itself. That thesis runs through every chapter, from how a leader sets the tone on the drive, to the word tracks that turn a multi-point inspection into a sale a customer trusts, to the daily process discipline that turns a good month into a good year.
Written for service directors, fixed operations managers, and the advisors and technicians who carry the numbers every day, FOiS is the field manual Steve Shaw wished someone had handed him on his first day as a manager — and the same system behind thirty years of dealership training.
The Art of Pass or Fail
Built on the Shaw discipline that “we don’t believe in yellow.” The Art of Pass or Fail makes the case that in today’s fast-paced, customer-centric world, there is no middle ground — an item on the multi-point inspection either passes or it fails, and anything less than a clear, honest answer reads to the customer as something to hide.
Steve Shaw walks through how to overcome objections and manage customer relationships using that same pass-fail clarity: presented consistently, without pressure, and without the vague gray area that erodes trust. The result is a customer who sees the truth about their vehicle, an advisor who never has to talk someone into anything, and a service department where approved work follows naturally from an honest inspection.
It is a persuasion book as much as a sales book — how to overcome objections and maximize outcomes, in the service drive and beyond, by replacing pressure with a standard the customer can see for themselves.
Master of the Waiting Room
The Professional Service Advisor Sales Approach
The customer’s experience doesn’t start at the advisor’s desk — it starts the moment they sit down. Master of the Waiting Room is Steve Shaw’s complete service advisor training program, put down on paper: everything an advisor needs to know to improve repair order performance, documented in detail and proven in real dealerships, not theory.
Inside are the word tracks Steve uses to train advisors nationwide — how to open a service visit, present a multi-point inspection so the customer actually listens, and turn a wait into trust instead of frustration. It is written for the advisor who wants to sell more without sounding like a salesperson, and for the manager who wants an entire team working from the same proven playbook.
Whether you are a brand-new advisor learning the drive for the first time or a veteran consultant looking to sharpen your numbers, this book hands you the exact approach behind some of the best-performing service departments in the country.
Let’s fix your Fixed Ops.
Tell us where your service department is today. We’ll show you where it can be.