When dealership teams talk about boosting revenue or improving the customer experience, they often focus on big, complicated strategies. But in most service departments, the biggest gains don’t come from major overhauls—they come from the low hanging fruit in fixed ops.
In Service Drive Revolution #337, the conversation breaks down the simple, immediate actions that SERVICE MANAGERS and SERVICE ADVISORS can take to increase profitability, grow retention, and improve the customer journey without incurring significant expenses or adding new tools. These are the high-leverage moves that work instantly, and any service department can implement them today.
Why Low Hanging Fruit in Fixed Ops Matters
Many shops chase the hardest path first. They try new marketing agencies, new tech stacks, new programs, or new expansions—yet ignore the simple opportunities right in front of them.
The truth is this:
Fixed ops success starts with the easy wins.
Low hanging fruit gives you:
- Quick revenue boosts
- Better customer satisfaction
- Higher technician morale
- Faster operational momentum
- Immediate results without budget increases
Let’s break down the biggest areas of true low hanging fruit in fixed ops.
1. Hiring More Technicians (Your Biggest Leverage Point)
It may sound obvious, but many dealerships overlook it. Even stores booked out two weeks or buried in holdovers fail to see that the easiest, most impactful move is adding technicians.
You sell time.
You profit from time.
Technicians create that time.
Without enough techs, nothing else matters.
Hiring techs is the ultimate low hanging fruit in fixed ops because:
- It reduces bottlenecks
- It increases production
- It boosts CSI
- It allows you to upsell responsibly
- It instantly supports your long-term goals
Many departments treat tech staffing like it’s “high-hanging fruit,” but it’s the simplest lever you have. Start here.
(You may also like:
Top Fixed Ops Performers: What Car Dealership Service Managers and Advisors Do Differently)
2. “Petting the Dog”: Building Real Human Connection
This is the lowest of the low hanging fruit in fixed ops—and the most ignored.
It means simply treating customers like humans.
Listening.
Acknowledging.
Showing empathy.
Giving them your time.
Customers remember how you make them feel more than anything else. And in an industry filled with rushed write-ups and transactional conversations, genuine connection immediately separates your service drive from every other shop in town.
The best part?
It costs nothing.
And it creates lifelong customers.
3. Doing More With the Customers You Already Have
Instead of spending thousands on advertising, use the low hanging fruit in fixed ops already walking through your doors.
The conversation in SDR #337 highlights two areas:
Preventative Maintenance
Customers save money long-term when we guide them properly.
Service departments grow revenue by doing the simple work consistently.
Thorough Inspections
Accurate inspections prevent breakdowns and surprise failures.
Yet many stores skip or rush them.
When you slow down, inspect correctly, and communicate repairs clearly, you:
- Increase same-day sales
- Improve trust
- Strengthen retention
- Build steady ARO growth
It’s simple, fast, and extremely profitable.
4. Intelligent Pricing Strategies
Most stores price their services by “calling around to five competitors.”
That’s not a strategy—it’s a trap.
Smart pricing is one of the most powerful low hanging fruit in fixed ops because:
- You control it immediately
- It requires no budget
- It has huge profit impact
Instead, study pricing psychology.
Understand labor value.
Analyze technician pay structures.
Review parts margins.
Becoming a student of pricing lets you elevate your entire department without any friction.
For more leadership development, see:
Service Department Leadership: How to Survive Bad Bosses, Bias & Broken Systems in Fixed Ops
5. Marketing to the Customers You Already Own
Effective marketing doesn’t require big budgets. In most stores, the lowest hanging fruit in fixed ops is simply reactivating customers who already know, like, and trust your brand.
Powerful examples include:
- 3-email reactivation sequences
- Simple social posts
- Expired service reminders
- Seasonal safety checks
- Personalized “We Miss You” campaigns
These cost almost nothing.
And you can see results the next day in your service drive.
6. Tightening Your Systems (The Ultimate Easy Win)
The fastest path to profitability isn’t new tools.
It’s a stronger process.
Low hanging fruit in fixed ops often includes:
- Consistent walk-arounds
- Daily customer communication
- Standardized repair order flow
- Appointment confirmation
- SERVICE ADVISOR follow-through
- Technician dispatch discipline
None of this requires new software.
It requires consistency.
And consistency prints money.
7. Eliminating Quick Lube Chaos With Lateral Support
If you really want a single move that hits all the low hanging fruit in fixed ops, it’s this:
Replace quick lube with a lateral support system.
Quick lube creates:
- Rushed experiences
- Weak inspections
- Low advisor connection
- Low maintenance sales
- Low technician development
Lateral support fixes all of it.
It boosts customer experience, multiplies productivity, and grows your own pipeline of future technicians.
This is one of the highest-ROI “easy wins” a dealership can implement.
The Ultimate Low Hanging Fruit: Customer Service
If you want to double your department’s net, there’s one move that beats everything else:
Deliver exceptional customer service.
Customers talk.
Customers return.
Customers refer.
Great service drives explosive retention, and retention drives massive profit—which is ultimately the entire point of fixed ops.
Final Thoughts: Start with the Easiest Wins
The big message in SDR 337 is simple:
Service departments don’t need massive reinvention.
They need to pick the low hanging fruit in fixed ops:
- Hire techs
- Build connection
- Do more with existing customers
- Price intelligently
- Market effectively
- Improve systems
- Elevate customer service
These actions require very little effort, but create huge leverage.
Start with what’s easy.
The momentum that follows will transform your entire operation.
FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
SDR 337: Low Hanging Fruit for Service Departments
Welcome to the big show. Today, we are going to talk about how you get the low-hanging fruit, the easy wins that have tons of leverage and increase the customer experience and your profitability almost instantly. Christian’s got a pretty good story about an experience he had. It’s very inspirational, not a joke. That and much, much more coming up on this edition of Service Drive Revolution.
I really want to go to Paris for my birthday in January. It’s a wonderful idea, but I’m torn because the boys have all gone to Tokyo, and they keep talking about how great Tokyo is. How many people? Like three? Also, I’ve always wanted to feel tall. You’d be like a new bowl in Tokyo, I think. Do you think you could play professional basketball over there? Yeah, I mean, it’s assumed for sure.
I feel like if I got into a grade school basketball league, I’d probably average 20 games. Is Tokyo ahead or behind time-wise? I’d have to go that way because I missed my birthday in the air. I don’t know how many routes to Tokyo you have to work with. I’d have to go all the way around the world to miss my birthday. Is it that important? I like it. I just think it’s funny.
Either one, I think romantically, like the Paris thing, I think is an awesome idea. You need to come to that. Tokyo, I think, would be fun. Tokyo, it’s kind of like being in a video game, like the whole thing. It’s very futuristic. I guess I’m worried about getting bored. Paris is Paris. I think I’d be more worried about getting bored in Paris. Tokyo, there’s a lot of stuff going on. You’d have to plan the whole thing out. You can’t just kind of wing it. Paris, you could kind of wing it. I went to Paris, I was there for a week, I saw everything you could possibly see in Paris in a day. That’s what I’m saying. I was very bored by the third day.
It’s funny, every place I’ve ever traveled to, I’m always looking for a gym. I’m always looking for a great restaurant. I’m always looking for a great park. It’s funny, the things that you look for in a city are not the things that you would think about before you go. The most interesting thing to me about any city is usually the people that are living there and how they interact. That’s the most interesting thing to me. You are right. Paris is pretty small, and you could see it all in two days. So, I would have to be very intentional about where I was staying. My favorite thing about Paris, I think, would be the food. Yeah, I think that’s the thing. I think the other thing is it’s just very romantic. Yeah, I think that’s why everybody loves it. It’s just very, very, very romantic.
I think the low-hanging fruit when it comes to service, and Christian had a great experience this weekend, so I’m going to set it up for him. You just bought a car, right? Yep. New car. And the body shop? Well, I bought a used car. The body shop, you took it to the body shop because you did what you do, which is you drive like you drive. I was parked and somebody backed into me. Oh, okay.
So, it was not your fault. No. It was not your fault. That’s shocking. I was waiting in the car, reading, and somebody backed into me. I mean, they took a chunk out of my bumper. Oh, man. They took a chunk out of your bumper. Yeah, I’m just laughing. I’m always laughing when you talk about driving because I’ve never seen anybody as aggressive and as crazy as you on the road.
I would say you are a product of your environment. You live in a very aggressive environment, and you’re always trying to get where you’re going, and I don’t know, it’s just very funny. I’m always watching you drive. The thing that I’m setting up for Christian is he had an incredible experience at the body shop. I mean, not that he got in a wreck, but the experience of dealing with it was incredible. Yes, very, very impressed. So, you had a customer experience that was five-star. Over the top.
So, that’s what we want to talk about. The low-hanging fruit in the service drive is to give the customer a five-star experience, and that starts with the phone call. It starts with the phone, It starts with the appointment, It starts with the text, It starts with the follow-up. It’s just all of it. So, you walk in and they do what? So, I walk in, and I’ve already called them, and they were very friendly on the phone, answered all my questions, told me what they would need. They were very specific.
I show up. They already know my name, which is a big deal. I don’t know how they did that, but they knew my name. They were very friendly, They were very professional, They were very quick, They didn’t waste my time. They were very respectful, they said, “Hey, we’re going to take a look at it. We’ll give you a call.” They called me an hour later. They said, “Hey, we took a look at it. It’s going to be this much. It’s going to take this long. Do you want to do it?” I said, “Yes, I do.” They said, “Great. We’ll call you when it’s done.”
They called me two days later. They said, “It’s done. Come and get it.” I went and got it. It was exactly what they said it was going to be. It was exactly the price they said it was going to be. They cleaned my car, They detailed it, they gave me a little gift bag. They gave me a little pen, They gave me a little magnet, They were just over the top.
I will tell you the one little downside to all of that. They did miss a couple spots when they were detailing the car, but it was just so over the top that I don’t even care. Yeah, I just kind of cleaned it up myself. It was fine. Yeah, I think the other thing is that you have a higher expectation than most people do. Yeah, I do. They were very intentional. The whole process was intentional. The whole process was focused on the customer, The whole process was focused on making it as easy as possible. They didn’t waste my time, didn’t talk over me. They didn’t tell me what I needed to do, They asked me what I wanted to do. It was just a great experience. It’s what we preach all the time. what we preach all the time, and it’s so rare in our industry.
It’s so rare that when it happens, you’re like, “Wow, I’m going to tell everybody about this.” That’s the low-hanging fruit. The low-hanging fruit is to give the customer an experience that they’re going to tell everybody about. That’s free marketing. That’s free advertising, That’s free everything. And it’s so simple. It’s so simple to do. It just requires intentionality. So, the low-hanging fruit is that you have to be intentional about the customer experience. You have to be intentional about the phone call, You have to be intentional about the text, You have to be intentional about the follow-up, You have to be intentional about the little things. It’s the little things that matter. It’s the little things that make the difference. That’s the low-hanging fruit.
The other thing that I would say is the low-hanging fruit is the internal customer, the technicians. If you have a good relationship with your technicians, and they trust you, and they like you, and they respect you, they’re going to do a better job for your customers. They’re going to care more. They’re going to go the extra mile. They’re going to do the things that the customer wants them to do. That’s the low-hanging fruit. The low-hanging fruit is to build a culture of excellence. The low-hanging fruit is to build a culture of intentionality. The low-hanging fruit is to build a culture of caring.
The other thing is, and this is probably the most controversial thing, is that you have to be intentional about your pricing. You have to be intentional about your menu, You have to be intentional about your effective labor rate. You have to be intentional about your cost of parts, You have to be intentional about your pricing strategy. That’s the low-hanging fruit. You don’t have to be the cheapest, but you have to be the best, you have to be the most transparent, you have to be the most professional., you have to be the most respectful, You have to be the most intentional.
So, I would say there are three things. The customer experience, the internal customer, and the pricing strategy. Those are the three low-hanging fruits that are going to increase your net profitability almost instantly. You’ll see an immediate increase in your CSI, an immediate increase in your net profit, and an immediate increase in your customer retention. It’s so simple, but it’s rarely executed.
I think the biggest issue with managers is that they think it’s complicated. They think they need to do some sort of crazy, fancy thing, they think they need to buy some sort of expensive software, they think they need to hire some sort of expensive consultant, They think they need to do something that’s complicated and difficult. It’s not, It’s the simple things, the blocking and tackling, It’s the intentionality the caring, the respect. it’s the professionalism. That’s the low-hanging fruit.
Yeah, I think the simplicity of it is what makes it so elusive for most people. Yeah, because they’re looking for the complicated. They’re looking for the magic pill. They’re looking for the silver bullet. There isn’t one. There’s not one. It’s just the hard work, it’s the intentionality, It’s the caring, It’s the respect, It’s the professionalism.
The other thing is what you just said: you have to be intentional about the internal customer. That means that you’re hiring the right people. You’re training the right people, You’re coaching the right people, You’re mentoring the right people, You’re holding the right people accountable. That’s the low-hanging fruit, That’s the easy win, That’s the thing that’s going to make the biggest difference.
I would also contend that the best hire you can make, the best technician you can hire, is one that you grow. I agree. That’s the biggest return on investment. I’m a big proponent of finding a couple kids that have a lot of potential and growing them in your shop. Now, they’re not going to leave. They’re going to be loyal, They’re going to be the best, They’re going to be intentional, They’re going to be professional, They’re going to be respectful. That’s the low-hanging fruit.
Yeah, I agree. So, what would you do if you were trying to find low-hanging fruit, and you were a service manager? What would be the number one thing you would do? The number one thing I would do is I would look at my pricing strategy. I would look at my effective labor rate. I would look at my cost of parts. I would look at my menu. I would look at everything that has to do with money. Because if you get that right, everything else falls into place. If you’re not making money, you can’t invest in your people. You can’t invest in your training. You can’t invest in your culture. You can’t invest in anything. So, the number one thing I would do is I would look at my pricing strategy.
But that’s my problem. I want to look at the person first. I want to look at the people. I want to look at the culture. I want to look at the internal customer. I want to look at the customer experience. Because if you get that right, the money will follow. So, if I was a service manager, the number one thing I would do is I would go to the technicians. I would ask them what they need.
I would ask them what their challenges are. I would ask them what their frustrations are. I would ask them what their goals are. I would ask them what their dreams are. I would get in their world. I would be intentional about them. I would be professional about them. I would be respectful about them. That’s the number one thing I would do. Because if you get that right, the money will follow.
I think the number one thing I would do would be the internal customer. Because if you get that right, then the technicians are going to be happy. They’re going to be intentional. They’re going to be professional. They’re going to be respectful. Then the external customer will come into that. Techs would come into that. The plus side of that, I’d be growing my own techs. That’s what I would do. Did I answer your question, right? I asked for one. No, the one thing gets you all those things.
I would also contend, and it kind of goes back to the story to start, that if you really want to double your net, get great at customer service. The body shop, if anyone has an accident, where am I telling them to go? That body shop. I know at least four people. Most of them drive like me, so there’s probably going to be a lot of business going to that body shop. Nobody drives like you. That’s such a lie. Name one. Not four. Name one person that drives like you. Coach Hogy kind of drives like me.
No. I know. Not even close. He would tell you that he’s the best-kept secret. But customer service is contagious. Everybody thinks you’re just chasing a CSI score. I’m just chasing net with customer service. You don’t see a lot of people at the holiday seasons coming out at Tiffany’s with a blue box and a frown. Good point. Thank you, sir. I think we’ll leave it there. Let it marinate. Let it soak.
We’ll see you next time on Service Drive Revolution!
Thanks so much for watching this episode of Service Drive Revolution. We’re uploading new stuff every day, so make sure you subscribe and click the bell icon so you don’t miss out. If you have a question you’d like us to answer on the show, call 833-ASK-SDR, and we’ll answer your question on the show. That’s 833-ASK-SDR. For special deals on our books and training, head over to offers.chriscollinsinc.com. I’m Chris Collins, and I’ll see you in the next video.
đź”— Related Resources
- Top Fixed Ops Performers: What Car Dealership Service Managers and Advisors Do Differently
- Service Department Leadership: How to Survive Bad Bosses, Bias & Broken Systems in Fixed Ops
- The Real Reason Service Managers Get Fired!
Feel free to explore the linked articles above for deeper insights into each strategy. If you have any further questions or need additional resources, don’t hesitate to ask!
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