You arrive at the dealership in the morning, and you set down to your role. Whether it’s service advisor, cashier, service manager or even the lot attendant, it’s a job or career that’s going to cash in at the end of the pay period. Yet, if that’s your only focus, you’ve missed the bigger picture.

The service department is more than a name. It’s a place where customers bring their vehicles, and in exchange for an excellent job, they fork over fistfuls of cash that, partly, pay that healthy salary of yours. Between paydays, your number one purpose isn’t to show up on time, dress appropriately, take a lunch break, then head home at the end of your shift. It’s to provide expert service for each and every client that comes through your dealership’s door.

I Know, I’ve Been There

From more than a decade of experience behind the service desk, I know how easy it is to lose focus on your purpose. Your dealership promises customers that they’ll be cared for in the best possible way every time they visit. That job is why you have a paycheck coming in, and that promise is supposed to be the purpose.

I’d be a liar and a fool if I told you I had my priorities straight even half the time I worked at the service desk. I worked for myself, earning the fat check that would pay for my next vacation, a bigger TV, or a better car.

The other portion of my tenure as a service advisor, when I was focused on the customer, was the best part of my job overall. There were difficult customers to be certain, but there were many more pleasant or even happy people that I could sincerely help in their day. When I could give my honest advice about how best to complete a repair or what maintenance we could schedule for next month or next visit instead of today, I was the most satisfied as a service team member.

It's All About Service.

You can’t forget about dollars per RO, gross percentages, or CSI scores. But when your focus is on the right thing – the customer first – those other items fall into place. In the service department, it’s all about honest, helpful customer service.

Find the Bullseye Every Morning

In a short 18-month period that I worked on the sales floor, there’s one thing that I think the service department could mimic to stay focused. Saturday mornings always had a sales meeting, a rally to give salespeople an extra pep in their step. In the service department, a morning huddle is one of the greatest things we never did.

Think of it: everyone on the service front line gets together for a three to five-minute meeting every morning before the service drive doors open. The service manager gives a brief overview of the day – which technicians are off, which departments are scheduled heavy, current spiffs, etc. It’s the perfect time to tell team members of known picky customers coming in, and small adjustments that could be made to make the day better.

Aside from arriving five minutes earlier, is there a negative in this plan? Here’s what I see:

• Staff are more prepared for the day’s customers.
• The advisors can adjust sales approaches for upselling.
• The team can give feedback about how small problems could be smoothed out today.
• The customers get a better experience from a well-oiled machine.

Whether it’s a morning meeting every day or another type of interaction, I know from personal experience that employees need to be refocused frequently. When your eye is focused on the bullseye, you hit your mark more frequently. If you’ve lost your focus, looking elsewhere or your gaze is drifting off target, who knows where the dart will end up?