There is nothing better than hitting your financial goals in the service department! Especially considering that fixed-op's is the dealerships money maker. But to hit your financial goals - as a department - there are fundamental processes that need to be in place!

That is the following:

Limit Daily RO’s per Advisor - Less is More $$$

NADA statistics offer than an advisor should not be handling any more than 20-25 RO’s per day. Managing too many RO’s leaves room for “underselling” as s/he is trying their best to push everyone through the lane. Leaving hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars in the lane.

The best way to combat this issue is to a) make sure you are staffed correctly by reviewing your average daily appointments, which is most likely a *small* percentage of your business and daily average walk-ins. Track your *busy* times making sure you have your “A” team in place. In doing so, your advisors will not only make more money BUT - you will hit your goals!

Focus on an Exclusive Monthly Offer

I am confident that the parts department might have an overstocked item, and depending on your OEM many do not have a “buy-back” program for unsold stock. That said, have contests in the lane for the unsold stock. Paying the advisors a flat bonus per item.

For example, if you have a surplus of one brand of a tire - sell it! Try adding an additional special. The buy three and get the 4th for a dollar is the *oldest* trick in the book. Customers are not as easily fooled. Besides, when you break down the pricing - the tire cost is hidden in the other three, right? The markup isn’t that great.

Review the Weekly Appointments

This sure does sound tedious. I get that. But what if the advisor (depending on how your store’s scheduler works) were to review their upcoming appointments. Looking to see what s/he is coming in for? This is *huge* not only does it give the advisor the chance to see what's coming up, but it affords them the ability to plan ahead on what they need to focus on!

This also assists the advisor in understanding when their *busy* times are. Making sure that the lane is staffed accordingly. If the lane is not staffed, then you are absolutely leaving money on the table.

Shuttle Service

If you do not already have a shuttle service. Get one. If you offer to take the customer to work - or wherever within reason - s/he will not be sitting in the service lounge bored. Instead, when you call to offer them the recommended services s/he might be more inclined to take the recommended service. However, it is crucial that when you are “upselling” to focus on the “discount.” Namely, explain to the customer “Mr. Customer, everything is going very smooth - btw, we noticed that the windshield wipers were a bit cracked. It is common with the weather we’ve experienced. But the good news is we are running a special of $15 off! Not to mention, these guys will keep your windshield clean!”

Discuss Dollars Per RO

Going back to how many RO’s the advisor should handle daily - is also reviewing how much s/he is averaging per RO. If you don’t know what your average per RO is then you might not be as motivated to focus efforts on upselling. Not to mention, when reviewing average dollars per RO you might be shocked at just how much money you are leaving on the table. This is the selling tactic to the advisor when they argue that they need 50+ a day!

It is best practice to have a quick pow-wow in the morning with the service advisors to discuss what the stores average is and strategize a plan for each advisor. For example, you have 45 appointments for the day. Calculate the percentage of the appointments that should have one or more upsells. And at the end of the day tally the results. Going over them the next morning. This will help increase average dollars per RO, and build up the momentum in the lane!

When is the last time you had a morning meeting with your advisors? How many RO's do your Advisors handle on a daily basis?