Quick Lube Just Outgrew the Oil Change

Tyreese: Good morning. Welcome in. Coffee's hot, doors are open, let's get the day started right.

Tyreese: Here's the thing happening in our industry right now. This Tuesday, November third, our industry's own trade show moves into a whole new world. The International Fast Lube Expo, iFLEX, debuts at AAPEX in Las Vegas, November third through fifth, at the Venetian Expo. National Oil and Lube News reported it on October twentieth, and here's why it matters to you, sitting in your truck in Philly or wherever you run. For years, our expo lived inside the car wash show. Now it lives inside the biggest automotive aftermarket show in the country, shoulder to shoulder with parts manufacturers, suppliers, technology companies, and the whole aftermarket. The president of PAMA, the Preventive Automotive Maintenance Association, said it plainly: quick lube operators do much more than oil changes now. We have become a larger part of the automotive aftermarket. Look, that's not a slogan. That's the industry telling you where the money is moving.

Tyreese: So here's the tactic, and you can steal this today whether you ever set foot in Vegas or not. Stop selling the oil change. Start selling the visit. The oil change gets you in the driveway. The preventive maintenance check is what keeps the customer, builds the ticket honestly, and keeps you from being the cheapest guy on the block. When I pull up to a customer, I'm not just draining oil. I'm checking the tires, the battery, the fluids, the filters, the lights. I'm looking the car over the way I'd look over my own mother's car, and I'm telling the customer what I see, in plain words, before anything becomes a breakdown. That's the difference between a guy who changes oil and an operator who owns the maintenance relationship. The chains figured this out years ago, and now the whole industry's trade show is built around it. The oil change is the handshake. The inspection is the relationship.

Tyreese: So here's your action for today, and it's small enough to finish before your first job. Pick one preventive check you are going to add to every single job this week. Just one. Battery test, tire pressure and tread look, cabin filter check, coolant level, whatever fits your route. Write it on a card, tape it to your dash, and say it out loud to every customer today: "While I'm here, I'm checking this too, so nothing surprises you this winter." That's it. One check, said out loud, every job. By Friday you'll have a habit, and your customers will have a reason to call you instead of the coupon in their mailbox.

Tyreese: Go take care of your people today. Do the job right, say what you see, and I'll see you tomorrow morning.