Waiting in line is fun said no one ever. So if we do not like waiting in line ourselves then what makes us think that our service customers like it? Especially if their oil change ended up not being “express,” or under 45 minutes.

In the past year, our customers voiced their dissatisfaction on the overall wait time. Having worked in the cashier's office (and managing it) I vividly recall how busy Saturday’s can be. The line being 4 customers deep, phone ringing, and waiting on the customer whose service advisor forget to take the discount off of their repair order. Taking the heat from the dissatisfied customer.

The customer voiced their concerns, which reflected in our CSI score. The advisors often, too, did not realize the consequences of just leaving their customers standing at the window in line. Now you can imagine why the customer was so upset. They just waited ten minutes in line, and as soon as they get to the window, their repair order is wrong. Guess what? The advisor is already onto the next customer making the upset customer wait even longer.

The concerns and frustrations soon took a voice on social media. A dealer’s worst nightmare. One wait time even caused a Twitter war! Where the customer went back and forth with other twitter uses. Creating another dimension of a “bad” image for our service department.

Customers expect consistency, efficiency, and most importantly they expect their experience to be as quick as possible.

To offer a consistently efficient, and fast experience, it was thought that we would have just hire extra staff. Making sure that the customers were not having to wait too long.

That still, however, did not address the overall satisfaction of the customer. We did not want another Twitter battle! There just had to be a means of offering a more efficient experience!

The solution was to have the customer close their repair order in the service lane with their advisor. This might sound complicated, but in all actuality it resolved several issues.

The biggest improvement was that the customer remained with one person throughout their entire transaction. The advisor is then able to continue building the rapport with their customer. Being the last person to communicate with the customer before their departure. Whereas, the service advisor may have offered an incredible experience. But if the cashier is having a bad morning or the wait time to checkout is too long, the customer leaves on a bad note.

Closing the repair order in the service lane also allows the customer to ask their advisor any questions directly - ensuring that all questions and concerns have been addressed.

Lastly, the advisor will make sure that they have their most current and up to date information in the system, which allows the dealer to continue to market to the customer.

Changing the way we approached the dreaded line changed the way our customers viewed us. In turn, our overall customer satisfaction increased. Surpassing the standards, and most importantly we are bringing in more revenue!

How long is your line? Are you suffering from upset customers?