u/Mediocre-Leg-0723

Hey all,

I have a little over 4 years advising experience with an independent shop that owns a few locations. I have been successful, my ARO is over $1,000 and my average billed hours per RO is over 3. However, I have been able to achieve this by working after closing hours, pouring my soul into daily operations, and a lot of stress.

Things are getting tense and weird company wide as inflation rises and internal issues and starting to effect daily operations. I am also having some issues with my pay structure but they are running me in a loop. We get a base salary and a small percentage of GP of every ticket we sell. We do not get bonuses AT ALL or raises. Pretty much an advisor is an advisor regardless of your numbers, experience, or how long you have been with the company. Your success is completely dependent on how much you sell. I feel like there is no appreciation for us as a team either, we don’t even do Christmas parties. When I have brought up getting a raise, they say I give myself a raise when I sell more.

I am trying to decide if I would like to switch to the dealer side of things. There is a Chevy dealer and a Ford dealer that I could apply to. Only ever working independent, they make it as if the dealer is the enemy and it sucks to work for them. But following this sub, it seems like advisors at dealers make a lot more money. For those of you that have worked at both, which one would you say is better financially and just day to day?

Hey guys,

I am going to preface this with my experience and what my goal is. I work for an independent shop that currently owns 4 locations. I started off working part time in the lube shop in 2021 not knowing a single thing about vehicles. I didn’t even know how to fill up a tire with air. When I started there was absolutely zero training. The manager showed me how to use the system once and then basically f’d off. It’s safe to say I made lots of mistakes and learned the hard way. Eventually I worked my way up to an advisor. There was no training for this either and I still had very little vehicle knowledge. Now I work in operations and I am a floating advisor (I cover when people go on vacation, call out, or an advisor quits and we haven’t hired a replacement yet.) I have learned so much over the years, and I have improved my knowledge, customer service skills, estimate building skills, and close ratio. But again there were a lot of struggles, embarrassing situations and getting yelled at, even if I had the best intentions but had no guidance.

I have always had issues with this and have wanted to better the company. Now that I work in operations I feel like I can actually make a difference. I want to create an advisor training plan so that new advisors don’t feel thrown to the wolves like I was.

If you guys have any recommendations on advisor training courses I would appreciate it. Or even let me know which ones NOT to try out. I have been looking on google, and see that there are decent amount of options. Thanks!