Even before cell phones, tablets, social sites and unlimited web sites that draw you to eye guzzle hours during the day, the service advisor has many distractions that can be very costly, such as loosing a customer. As a service manager when you are helping a dissatisfied customer, how many times has it come down to bad communication? How many times has your customer told you “I asked him to do this but when I picked up the vehicle it didn’t get done?” Its time to realize that in this high speed, high stressed world communication is more important than ever. Active listening is a skill and unfortunately only active hearing is being used. Really what we are telling our customers, we are hearing you but we don’t care enough to understand. Active listening will solve a lot of your problems in your store, there will be happier customers and employees due to less time consuming mistakes being made. Here are a few good tips and exercises that will help you become the Zen master of listening.

Eye contact / Face-to-Face – This one is easy right? Try it, in the next conversation with a customer or co-worker attempt to maintain eye contact during the entire conversation. You will find, especially within a dealership there are many distractions that will cause you to break your gaze into their eye. How many times have you listened why you quickly click from one screen to another? Hint this is a distraction.

Repeat concerns – I know you understood the first time so there is no need to repeat what you understand to be true. Here is a hint, sometimes - well all of the time its not about you. What you are really doing is showing your customer you understand their issue and then in return they feel better that they have had a chance to get their point across. Simply make sure you use some common sense when doing this. If a customer says “I cant afford this” you would reply with “I understand this is not within your budget” for an example.

Be attentive – but not over the top – Breathe, be relaxed, keep an open mind and be attentive. Sometimes everyone is so eager to please you will interrupt to solve the problem. It might be the right solution delivered at the wrong time and then ultimately the wrong decision in the customers mind. How many times have you offered a solution in the heat of the discussion to have the customer rebuff your offers and then later in the discussion you come to the same decision you offered 15 minutes ago. In this case the customer simply wanted to be heard and express their point. Here is a hint, let them vent and all the time make sure you are being attentive and then at the right pause offer your solution.

So for the next week, after a conversation finish with a summary statement. You will clarify each party obligations almost guaranteeing there will be follow through. When you are dealing with a customer and do this it might feel a little awkward but simply explain you are doing this as an exercise. Active listening is a skill and just like shooting a basketball it takes a lot of practice to perfect. Providing a great experience is the goal, it starts with listening and ends with listening. Your customers and co workers will appreciate the extra attention.

Who remembers the last air conditioning change over? Actually I can remember my first conversion from R12 to R134a. I remember the parts department now carrying 2 types of refrigerant and anytime there was a repair made to the air conditioning system the vehicle needed to be retrofitted and the customer questioned this every time. I also remember crystal clear the look on my service managers face when he realized that he needed to buy a new air conditioning recovery machine to handle the new refrigerant. Who remembers in the early nineties a pound of R12 or R134a costing about sixty dollars in Freon alone?

At the shop we vaguely understood the need for change, however our customer did not. Now why do I have to retrofit my vehicle? Was a common question when selling the air conditioning repair and it wasn’t for several months until the mainstream customer understood there is a new refrigerant that is better for our environment.

It seemed last time this change came with no warning. Vehicles were suddenly equipped with the new R134a refrigerant and all the shops had to quickly adjust. In addition the customers were not as aware or understanding as they are now so during this transition our customers will be more knowledgeable.

According to the Mobile Air Conditioning Society (MACS) there are nine vehicles that are currently equipped with this refrigerant with more to come. They are the Cadillac XTS, Chevy Spark EV, Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Honda Fit EV, Jeep Cherokee, Range Rover and range Rover Sport.

Just like on the last change over there will be some service issues such as a vehicle being recharged with the wrong refrigerant and some of the oils will not be compatible. So you will need to look at your product line and determine when you need to be ready to service the product. The new refrigerant R1234yf or “twelve-thirty-four” is not required until 2017 so we have some time to be aware and prepare by buying an additional machine to complete the evacuation and recharge and as our manufactures make the switch over to comply with the new greenhouse gas standards.

Right now we are upon a time within the automotive industry where there is constant change. For instance, try to keep up with the latest recall, are parts available, what models are affected and what is the newest repair procedure. Now imagine being a customer with limited information and a lot of hearsay. In addition to knowing the latest and greatest information an advisor is expected to have the answer to most every automotive question. A service advisor today has to know everything mechanically on the vehicle along with all the electronics and new features and then convey with confidence their knowledge to the customer. In short our customers want to talk to the subject matter expert in all areas of the vehicle. When this expectation is not met there is frustration and confusion that will result in poor customer service satisfaction causing poor customer retention.

Here are some common traits of the top training programs that help you keep your employee engaged and learning, therefore serving your customer better.

#1 explain the big picture and future direction

A recent study highlighted that a training session based on the “big picture” or showing the future direction of the department helped the employee understand the overall objective and be engaged in assisting accomplishing the goal. A continuous training program helps the employee evolve and when preformed correctly keeps the employee engaged with current issues. The strongest method to get that engagement is to have the employees help design the content for training.

#2 Recognition

Everyone likes to have a sense of accomplishment. Through a well-defined training program you can reward your employee for their accomplishment. Essentially you are able to fill up the emotional bank within the employee that will give them the feeling of accomplishing a hard task that ultimately will reward you for time to come.

#3 Blended learning approach

Every employee learns differently, different topics and types of skill development require different approaches. Training room or online training, management led or instructor led are all variations that will help break up the monotony. Try different approaches and increase the variety.

#4 Senior Leadership Support

This is the most important element and when I say “support” I don’t mean they simply sign off on the training program, they are fully engaged and involved and actively participate. This type of engagement validates the training for all the employees and shows the employees the management team believes in the program.

When it comes to building your fixed ops business there is little doubt that increasing your percentage of customers retained is the number one area to review and improve to determine your long-term success. Notice I used the phrase “long-term” because we all know that we can increase sales or pricing and see an immediate increase, we can sell more widgets or we can implement a production spiff and these techniques will boost the bottom line. In addition, every vendor has a tool that has been designed to “increase retention” and they typically help but I warn you, even the best tool will fail if your staff does not treat the customer with exceptional customer service. 

RELATED: Interview with Jim Roche: The Biggest Mistake Dealers Make When It Comes to Customer Retention

The number one factor that drives a customer back to your service department is a positive past experience.  Your employees drive this and its time to refocus your training efforts back to some basic steps or techniques in how to take care of customers properly.

Show genuine interest

Customers like to have their concern acknowledged and want someone to have an active interest in fixing their concern.  Some easy ways to accomplish this would be acting with urgency or maybe anticipating their needs. A front line staffer that does not take interest in my needs will genuinely miss me on my next service.

Make it personnel

Offer a personalized greeting or use their name regularly.  This is a simple and common skill that has a huge pay off. Make a comment about the sticker on the back of the car, talk about the upcoming trip they are planning on taking or simply make sure they know you are there to take care of all of their needs.

Never quote policy

When a customer is upset the last thing they want to hear is page 5 section 4 sub section 1-2 of your policy manual because quite frankly I’m sure your policy is what created this upset customer. Try telling them what you can do for them and figure a way you can help with the situation. Become a problem solver and determine how you can help the current situation.

Make a commitment and keep it

This is really important in a couple of areas. Follow up communication – If you tell someone you will call him or her with an update, you better call him or her ten minutes before that time. Appointment reservation – if a customer is taking the time to set an appointment you better do everything possible to follow through. For a good laugh look up Seinfeld episode rental car reservation.

Invite the customer back

Just like it says in the classic customer service training video, “The Guest.” Invite your customer back just as if your best friend was leaving your house and you wanted to watch next weeks football game with them as well. In this case your really setting the expectation to the customer that you “want” to help them next time them come in for service.

In your next training do a little role-play in these areas and watch your team become comfortable with these skills. When everyone in your organization is on the same page, you win. Customer retention will soar and customers will become loyal.

When it comes to building your fixed ops business there is little doubt that increasing your percentage of customers retained is the number one area to review and improve to determine your long-term success. Notice I used the phrase “long-term” because we all know that we can increase sales or pricing and see an immediate increase, we can sell more widgets or we can implement a production spiff and these techniques will boost the bottom line. In addition, every vendor has a tool that has been designed to “increase retention” and they typically help but I warn you, even the best tool will fail if your staff does not treat the customer with exceptional customer service. 

RELATED: Interview with Jim Roche: The Biggest Mistake Dealers Make When It Comes to Customer Retention

The number one factor that drives a customer back to your service department is a positive past experience.  Your employees drive this and its time to refocus your training efforts back to some basic steps or techniques in how to take care of customers properly.

Show genuine interest

Customers like to have their concern acknowledged and want someone to have an active interest in fixing their concern.  Some easy ways to accomplish this would be acting with urgency or maybe anticipating their needs. A front line staffer that does not take interest in my needs will genuinely miss me on my next service.

Make it personnel

Offer a personalized greeting or use their name regularly.  This is a simple and common skill that has a huge pay off. Make a comment about the sticker on the back of the car, talk about the upcoming trip they are planning on taking or simply make sure they know you are there to take care of all of their needs.

Never quote policy

When a customer is upset the last thing they want to hear is page 5 section 4 sub section 1-2 of your policy manual because quite frankly I’m sure your policy is what created this upset customer. Try telling them what you can do for them and figure a way you can help with the situation. Become a problem solver and determine how you can help the current situation.

Make a commitment and keep it

This is really important in a couple of areas. Follow up communication – If you tell someone you will call him or her with an update, you better call him or her ten minutes before that time. Appointment reservation – if a customer is taking the time to set an appointment you better do everything possible to follow through. For a good laugh look up Seinfeld episode rental car reservation.

Invite the customer back

Just like it says in the classic customer service training video, “The Guest.” Invite your customer back just as if your best friend was leaving your house and you wanted to watch next weeks football game with them as well. In this case your really setting the expectation to the customer that you “want” to help them next time them come in for service.

In your next training do a little role-play in these areas and watch your team become comfortable with these skills. When everyone in your organization is on the same page, you win. Customer retention will soar and customers will become loyal.

Are you the low price leader? Do you constantly have a $19.95 oil change special? My question is, why do you feel the need to give away your service and parts profits?

I recently received an advertising piece from a well-established dealer in my area. As I was reviewing their piece, I noticed their oil change price did not seem to be at an extreme discount. Upon further review, I read the reasons why I should choose to do business with them and actually I really liked their message. They acknowledged the fact they are not the low price leader instead they highlighted the “value” to choosing them for service. Items such as using factory original equipment parts, factory trained technicians, many plush amenities, loaner vehicles, proven history of a reputable business history just to name a few.

This left me wondering; what customer demographic will respond best to this message? Does our millennial generation care about those items instead of simply getting a low priced oil change?

I remember a Warren Buffett quote that rings true “Price is what you pay, value is what you get."

All too often in stores this is what I see: we do not sell the “value” of doing business with you right now!!! Take a look from the customer's perspective...does the perceived value out-weigh the price they are paying? In most cases building value costs you nothing – it's simply sales 101 and sell the value of YOU and YOUR product, then provide exceptional service and build a relationship. Your customer will walk away feeling the price they have paid meets their perceived price expectation.

Here are a couple of topics to keep in mind for future sales training.

• Price is a numerical evaluation of how much they value what you are selling
• A simple percent increase in price optimization can increase profits by ten percent
• Those who compete on price typically win the race to the bottom
• Remember, when there is an objection it is most likely an “understanding the value” question and not based upon price.

Are you the low price leader? Do you constantly have a $19.95 oil change special? My question is, why do you feel the need to give away your service and parts profits?

I recently received an advertising piece from a well-established dealer in my area. As I was reviewing their piece, I noticed their oil change price did not seem to be at an extreme discount. Upon further review, I read the reasons why I should choose to do business with them and actually I really liked their message. They acknowledged the fact they are not the low price leader instead they highlighted the “value” to choosing them for service. Items such as using factory original equipment parts, factory trained technicians, many plush amenities, loaner vehicles, proven history of a reputable business history just to name a few.

This left me wondering; what customer demographic will respond best to this message? Does our millennial generation care about those items instead of simply getting a low priced oil change?

I remember a Warren Buffett quote that rings true “Price is what you pay, value is what you get."

All too often in stores this is what I see: we do not sell the “value” of doing business with you right now!!! Take a look from the customer's perspective...does the perceived value out-weigh the price they are paying? In most cases building value costs you nothing – it's simply sales 101 and sell the value of YOU and YOUR product, then provide exceptional service and build a relationship. Your customer will walk away feeling the price they have paid meets their perceived price expectation.

Here are a couple of topics to keep in mind for future sales training.

• Price is a numerical evaluation of how much they value what you are selling
• A simple percent increase in price optimization can increase profits by ten percent
• Those who compete on price typically win the race to the bottom
• Remember, when there is an objection it is most likely an “understanding the value” question and not based upon price.

The digital disruption has already happened and our customers are utilizing our digital tools to interact with our service and parts departments. Specifically our dealerships website. It has been mentioned that close to seventy percent of our customers will do research online before their parts and services purchases. Where we have fallen behind is in the last estimation, less than TWO percent of the overall dealers website content is devoted to parts and services. How come the departments that typically produce over fifty percent of the operating profits has such a poor representation?

In a recent study performed by Google they mentioned that when a customer is performing their research the majority utilize a search engine search and other tire and auto websites. In fact…

63% - searched tire and auto websites

59% - searched tire brand websites

Unfortunately only 31% mentioned they went to your dealerships website…

Considering the lack of content on our dealerships websites, I am really surprised that 31% utilized this as a resource during their shopping experience.

Some things to consider when performing a review of your website I would ask yourself the following questions:

Does your website...

• Provide a seamless experience?
• Have sufficient information about service and parts?
• Offer online scheduling?
• Ability to sell your parts inventory?
• Have parts specials?
• Have landing page templates for brakes, batteries, tires, rental cars, express maintenance?
• Do you have updated service specials that are consistent to your offline offerings in your other marketing campaigns?
• How to videos of routine maintenance intervals?
• Mobile optimized?

Most of these are simply the basic steps to creating a service and parts presence, but a majority of dealers do not utilize the digital tools out there that can help your customers’ digital exposure to your store and also drive traffic to your front door.

The digital disruption has already happened and our customers are utilizing our digital tools to interact with our service and parts departments. Specifically our dealerships website. It has been mentioned that close to seventy percent of our customers will do research online before their parts and services purchases. Where we have fallen behind is in the last estimation, less than TWO percent of the overall dealers website content is devoted to parts and services. How come the departments that typically produce over fifty percent of the operating profits has such a poor representation?

In a recent study performed by Google they mentioned that when a customer is performing their research the majority utilize a search engine search and other tire and auto websites. In fact…

63% - searched tire and auto websites

59% - searched tire brand websites

Unfortunately only 31% mentioned they went to your dealerships website…

Considering the lack of content on our dealerships websites, I am really surprised that 31% utilized this as a resource during their shopping experience.

Some things to consider when performing a review of your website I would ask yourself the following questions:

Does your website...

• Provide a seamless experience?
• Have sufficient information about service and parts?
• Offer online scheduling?
• Ability to sell your parts inventory?
• Have parts specials?
• Have landing page templates for brakes, batteries, tires, rental cars, express maintenance?
• Do you have updated service specials that are consistent to your offline offerings in your other marketing campaigns?
• How to videos of routine maintenance intervals?
• Mobile optimized?

Most of these are simply the basic steps to creating a service and parts presence, but a majority of dealers do not utilize the digital tools out there that can help your customers’ digital exposure to your store and also drive traffic to your front door.

Transparency is key – This is the hardest one in our business since we have a history of doing just the opposite and our customer’s guard is up. In order to accomplish this, you need to make certain that you are doing everything possible to allow the customer to relax their guard. Empower your customer and engage your customer early during the repair process by offering choices and listening and asking clarifying questions. Do not be afraid of transparency and simply embrace it. Both customers and employees enjoy transparency

Remember that customers are people – This is one I hear on the service drive every day. We associate customers with their vehicles and then naturally when it comes time to discuss needed repairs we are thinking of the vehicle instead of locking in and listening to the customer. The challenge would be to remember your customer by name by remembering a fact about them instead of the model and color of their vehicle. This type of name recognition will help you build a relationship with the customer instead of their vehicle.

Use humor to help lighten the mood – In no means do I intend you to suddenly become a stand-up comedian when dealing with a customer, actually that type of behavior could cause the adverse effect and our customers will see right through it. Nothing is more upsetting than asking for a product and having a clerk or owner be rude. In contrast poking fun at yourself will help the customer feel more comfortable so that he or she can better open up to you about their need.

Treat others the way you would like to be treated – Ok this is one that has been taught to us since we were old enough to remember and understand so why is this simple behavior so easily forgotten? Put yourself in the customers’ shoes and provide the same level of service and respect you would want. This classic lesson is a simple task that will help create trust.

Use open body language – Get out from behind the counter, smile, engage in open conversations, make eye contact; our customers can tell consciously and sub-consciously how you feel being around them. Simply be yourself, every customer interaction is unique and should be treated that way, keep it simple and don’t overthink it.

Relationships take significant time and effort to build, but can fall apart quickly. Do not take the relationship for granted, appear apathetic and the rapport will fall apart faster than you built it, guaranteed. Use these simple steps to avoid the pitfalls and start cashing in on the currency of trust in your service drive.