Unless you are living under a rock, you are likely aware of the significant breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) that have occurred over the past few years. Terms like “Large Language Model,” “Inference,” “Chat GPT,” “Gemini,” and many other new phrases are being thrown around everywhere it seems. As is the case in any large technology transition, the noise and frenzy can be confusing and make it difficult to assess what is important and what is hype.
The jury is still out on the full impact that these breakthroughs in artificial intelligence will have on our world. In the meantime, I wanted to share some practical ways that our team at Oilstop have found to leverage the new AI tools to help in the quick lube industry.
Before we begin, what is an LLM? A “large language model” is a computer program that uses machine learning to understand and generate human language. Or even more simply, the many new “search engines” of the AI wave. Think about it like Google but smarter. Instead of “Googling” it and getting back a list of 10 links that might be useful to read and answer your question, you can ask an LLM, and it will analyze and respond with the most likely answer to your question. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Anthropic are all examples of different LLM’s. For most use cases, which one you use doesn’t matter all too much.
How can an LLM help you run your quick lube business?
First, whether it be training manuals, marketing promotions, process documentation, a job description, or even a team email, an LLM can be helpful in drafting content. Gone is the writer's block that keeps you from getting started or figuring out what to say first.
Instead, just ask a question or prompt the LLM with a simple request such as: “write a holiday marketing email promotion for a quick lube offering $10 off to current guests.” The model will then draft one (or several, if asked) ideas of marketing promotions. While the LLM’s output may not be perfect, it will help get your creative juices going. Edit the response, paste it into an email, and send it out to grow your car count! You can also ask an LLM for help with updating your training manual or operational process documentation. I’ve even asked ChatGPT draft an end-of-year email to send out to our team and just promoted it with a few highlights from our year to mention.
Another way to leverage LLMs to help you operate or grow your oil change business is to leverage it for analysis. If you are a paid subscriber to an LLM, you can upload reports, financial statements, or other key business information to the model. Then you can ask questions and have the model analyze the materials for you. For example, our finance team puts together a monthly financial package for our leadership team at the close of every month. Once I receive it, I will upload it to ChatGPT and then can ask questions about trends, how the results compared to the prior year, and to identify areas where we are improving or areas we are declining. I ask the LLM to compare our different service centers and highlight areas where costs are out of line.
Recently, ChatGPT analyzed that we had a few service centers that were spending too much on their trash pickups, and we were able to reduce the scheduled pickups with the trash company. That was real savings we found from using an LLM.
There is a lot of excitement and a lot of fear in the news about AI. Some writers will tell you that it’s going to change the world for the better, and others complain it’s going to take all of our jobs. The answer is likely neither. But what AI can do is help you make your job more efficient, allow you to get more done with the limited time you have, and make you a more effective leader in your business. So rather than getting overwhelmed or tuning out, lean in and find a few ways that AI can help you run your business. I’d love to hear from you about other ways that you have found AI can help run your business! Reach out at [email protected].