In every dealership I’ve worked for – and several others I’ve had the pleasure of visiting – the customer experience in the service department was always emphasized. How a customer perceives your department is invaluable if you plan to develop long-standing relationships with your customers. But there’s a factor I’ve personally seen that creates a dissonance for the customers, and it had nothing to do with the service department.

Rather, not the service department alone.

One scenario I’ve been witness to. A salesperson approached the internal service advisor with their customer in tow, scheduling their delivery. The salesperson wanted an unachievable target and the service advisor scoffed at the salesperson. Now, in a busy service drive, the salesperson and internal advisor tee off on each other in a heated argument. And yes, the sales customer was present as well as several service customers.

Who was right and who was wrong in this scenario? Is it the salesperson to blame or the internal service advisor? Both.

The Image You Project

Disagreements happen in the dealership environment. You spend more conscious hours at the dealership than you do at home with family. Getting on each other’s nerves is bound to happen. But it’s not about the disagreement at all, but how it’s dealt with.

A customer should never witness a dispute between dealership staff. In my opinion, it should result in disciplinary action to parties involved in the argument. The damage that happens is so much more severe than the momentary anger that’s displayed and the customer’s discomfort at that point in time.

Think about that new sales customer, following their salesperson to the internal service advisor. Will they be comfortable coming to a service department where they’ve witnessed hostility between coworkers? Will they refer their family and friends? What do they now think about their salesperson after seeing their darker side?

And what about other witnesses? The service customers who saw it – will they feel like it’s a stable place to bring their car? Is there an angry tech in the back, throwing wrenches at cars? Are they the next person to be yelled at?

An argument must never, never, ever be in front of your clientele. It’s extremely damaging to the positive image you’re trying to project.

A Deeper Problem

What we all know is that interdepartmental relations at dealerships are commonly strained, to put it mildly. Sales hates on service, service bashes sales, and the parts department is everyone’s whipping horse. And let’s not even mention collision repairs – no one ever talks about the body shop.

The fluffy, feel-good message is this: we all have to work together as a team. It’s easier said than done, and that we know is true from our personal and professional lives. Yet, in the dealership environment, it’s so easy to develop a culture where each department believes it’s superior to the others.

However, customers don’t view a dealership as a mall – several small businesses in one location. They view it as one entity and rightly so. For that purpose, there can’t be anger, dissonant messages, or even staff talking badly about each other.

How to Deal with Disputes

There’s a biblical model for dealing with disputes in a community, and it’s extremely applicable here.

The first step is for a one-on-one meeting between the two. When one person offends the other, it’s not appropriate to tell everyone around you how horrible the other person is, how deeply you’re hurt, or repress the problem. The correct response is to seek out an opportunity for a conversation alone so you can both carry on with nothing between you. That’s the adult thing to do anyway, wouldn’t you say?

If that’s not successful, assisted peacemaking should be sought. What that means isn’t running to tattle on the other person. It’s inviting one or two other trusted people into the conversation as mediators. They can help guide the conversation and point out when there are flaws in an argument. This could be a co-worker, team leader, or a manager with the ability to be neutral.

It’s only after those methods have failed that management needs to be brought into the equation. Lay out the problem for them. At this point, it’s out of your hands. It’s like a judgement in court – abide with whatever the decision is from them.

The point isn’t to find someone at fault but to work harmoniously together. It’s easier to go to work in the morning when you aren’t afraid to look someone in the eye. Work goes smoother when you don’t have to be concerned about your customers witnessing blow-ups around you.

 Customers take notice of positive environments too. That’s where they want to do business – wouldn’t you?