Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins
Service Drive Revolution with Chris Collins

SDR #365: How Owning A Dealership Changed Me

June 26, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

How Owning a Dealership Changed Chris Collins’ Approach to Fixed Ops

Chris Collins started as a lot attendant and worked his way up to owning a dealership. That journey—from the humiliation of a church offering taken for his school clothes to pitching over a hundred banks for a loan—fundamentally reshaped how he thinks about fixed operations. The central argument of this episode is that running a dealership gives you a perspective you simply cannot get from inside a service department. When you own the whole business, you see how every department connects, and that changes everything about how you run fixed ops.

The Circle of Life: Why Fixed Ops Is the Engine of Retention

The first and most important shift Collins describes is what he calls the “circle of life.” When you own the dealership, you see clearly that the sales department hands the vehicle to parts and service, and the customer’s experience in fixed ops determines whether they come back to buy again. A bad experience in service carries over to sales. An indifferent experience carries over too. And if a customer feels indifferent about their service visit, they won’t be loyal when it’s time to buy their next car.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:42) **Opening & Setting the Stage** - Chris Collins introduces the episode from Indiana, explaining the topic: how owning a dealership changed his approach to fixed ops.
  • 2 (16:00) **The Origin Story: From Lot Attendant to Dealer** - Chris shares his background, starting as a lot attendant and working his way up to owning a dealership.
  • 3 (25:30) **Influences and Learning from Other Dealers** - Chris describes the two buckets of dealers he worked for and who influenced him most.
  • 4 (30:20) **The Power of Financials Over Excuses** - Chris explains why he looks at financials before visiting a store, and how owners often think their business is "different."
  • 5 (33:00) **The Hardest Part: Raising Capital and Getting Rejected** - Chris details the year-long struggle to close on a dealership, including visiting over 100 banks.
  • 6 (38:08) **The Circle of Life: Sales and Fixed Ops Are One Business** - Chris explains how owning a dealership made him see the interconnectedness of sales and service.
  • 7 (43:10) **Marketing and Retention: Fixed Ops' Hidden Role** - Chris explains how owning a dealership changed his view on marketing and the value of retention.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Chris Collins

Show Notes

In this episode of Service Drive Revolution #365, Chris, Hogi, and Adam take the show on the road to beautiful Indiana! Broadcasting completely LIVE, Chris shares a deeply personal origin story, from the childhood humiliation that fueled his entrepreneurial drive to the grueling process of pitching over 100 banks just to buy his first store.

The team breaks down how transitioning from a Fixed Ops operator to a full Dealership Owner permanently altered Chris's approach to the service drive. We dive into the "Circle of Life" in a dealership, why standard industry departmental silos are destroying the customer experience, and how to weaponize vehicle personalization and accessories to drive massive profitability.

Plus: The crew discusses why poor dealership processes chew up good employees, and why a bad user interface in a rental Ford Expedition got them thinking about subconscious customer trust.

🔥 KEY TAKEAWAYS

- The Dealership Circle of Life: How understanding the 10,000-foot view reveals that customer retention in Fixed Ops directly dictates sales floor volume.

- The Sunday Evening Turn: The defining childhood moment of humiliation that set Chris on a path to completely reject poverty and trust his own entrepreneurial vision.

- Pitching 100+ Banks: The brutal reality of educating traditional lenders on automotive margins and raising capital as a self-made operator with no mentor. -

 Breaking the Silos: Why separating parts, service, sales, and finance into isolated businesses ruins the customer experience, and how "Client Advisors" will replace traditional roles.

- The Lifestyle Goldmine: Why the most enthusiastic customers want to accessorize their vehicles, and how Fixed Ops leaders can break down barriers to capture that revenue in-house.

- Managing Personality Types: The massive difference between motivating extroverted front-end sales teams versus introverted, analytical Fixed Ops teams.

🛑 SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/

🛑 Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min

🛑 Best Selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/

🛑 Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR

🛑 Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/

🛑 Grab Chris' New Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com

 

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