You’ve spent the past year coaching your team and tweaking your process to reach your year-end goals. Countless one-on-one sessions and opportunities for improvement have been discussed and implemented, some with success and some doomed to failure from the start. With the new year beginning, there’s just one thing left to do: forget it all.

The new year, 2017, is a blank slate. Whatever you accomplished in the past twelve months means nothing once you turn the page on your calendar. The successes you’ve experienced and the shortcomings you’ve made it through are just a distant memory, and you’ll have to start all over again.

Shift Your Focus

Your goal throughout the past year stays right there – in the past. Hopefully, you embraced the opportunity to celebrate your victories, because it’s time to get right back into the thick of things. Your focus needs to be on a year from now, working towards the targets you’ve set for 2017. And if you’ve done things well, your forecast for the next year predicts an increase.

No question, it’s tough to shift from the short game view (the year-end push) into the long game again. Like any situation where you’re starting from scratch, it’s about doing the little things right each and every time. Here are some of the basics you can emphasize for a bunch of your service staff.

Service Advisors

Your service advisors are professionals, but they need a refresher in the basics once in a while. It’s about doing what works with consistency; no cutting corners.

Stress the Importance of Customer Greeting

You’ve heard that nearly 2/3rds of your customers feel it takes too long to be greeted in the service drive. Make this year’s goal to drop that number way down. Have your service advisors monitor the service drive to greet customers within the first minute of arrival.

Emphasize Proper Selling Techniques

RO sales improve when sales techniques are properly used. It’s more than just reciting the maintenance schedule – it’s educating the customer on the benefits of the service. And “no” doesn’t mean not to try again.

Follow-up is Crucial

If your customers aren’t kept informed about their vehicle status, they aren’t satisfied. If they aren’t happy when they leave, you probably won’t see them back in your store. Regular customer contact and follow-up is more important than ever.

Support Staff

The unsung heroes of your service department, the cashiers and other support staff, have a critical function in your success.

Make Every Customer Feel Important

The job gets mundane because you see dozens of people every day. But you are the only person in your role the customer sees, so make them feel special. Look the customer in the eye, smile, and ask if there’s anything more you can do for them.

Last Point of Contact

When the customer is on their way out after their visit, you’re typically the last person they see. The last impression can be as important as the first one, so go out of your way to do your role fully. Book the next service appointment, ask how their visit was, and tell them how important the CSI survey is for your dealership’s success.

Technicians

Be Thorough Every Time

A customer won’t bring their car in for no reason – it’s an inconvenience that they don’t want in their life. Do your best to track down their complaint every time, and ask questions if the advisor doesn’t get enough information the first time around.

Walk the Straight and Narrow

The temptation is to sell the farm on every customer to pad your own wallet. That train only rides the track for a short time until your customers go elsewhere. Abide by the maintenance schedule and only sell the items that are needed immediately. Your customers will keep coming back if you’re consistently honest about it.

Service Manager/Fixed Operations Director

Be Consistent

Throughout your department, you need to enforce the same rules and procedures. What’s good for the goose must be good for the gander, so enforce the rules evenly. The temptation is to take it easy on someone who is pulling in the big dollars, even if their attitude or actions don’t abide by your code of conduct. It sets a bad example for everyone else, and you don’t need that negativity in your store.

They are People, Not Numbers

People have bad days, and people make mistakes. As a manager, your role often involves minimizing the mistakes so the good days outweigh the bad. But when mistakes happen, keep in mind that you’ve been guilty of making poor choices too. Acknowledge the mistake on a personal level, without making it about the money it may have cost your store.

As 2017 starts, there’s a long road ahead. Make the most of it by getting back to the basics and building off your successes from last year.