Service employees work hard, really hard. The service department is a baptism-by-fire style of teaching, especially in busy domestic dealers where there isn’t time to slowly bring new staff along. It’s a matter of getting a new hire to the point of productivity, whether it’s a service tech, a service advisor, a lot attendant, or cashier.

Productive is good – that’s what justifies the wages, working through costly mistakes, and long days of searching through resumes. But if you think that reaching the expectations for your new hire’s position is where it stops, you’re wrong.

Of all the reasons that people quit and move on is job satisfaction, according to The Harris Poll. Second only to low pay, dissatisfaction is the top motivator for the revolving door in some positions like service advisors and technicians. Those are the resumes you’re always filtering through, right?

But what if those employees weren’t unhappy with how their department was managed, or frustrated with being shut out of decision-making, or rubbing elbows with people who wear ties, not tech uniforms? That’s what happens when you start developing employees who want to take the next step on their career path.

Why Develop in the First Place?

Are you worried that one of your senior techs or advisors is going to walk out on you soon? Unsure if you have someone who can slot in if they do? You need someone trained to step up into the gap when the time comes.

But developing staff has a rudimentary role that can mitigate the loss in the first place. Since many of the people who think about leaving are wondering what comes next in their career, dissatisfied with their current status, why not develop them for their next career step?

Yes, that means you could be training your replacement. Hopefully it’s because you’ve stepped up to YOUR next position too, but you shouldn’t shy away from those optics. Developing leaders from your team shows incredible strength as a manager, plus it wipes the thought of leaving, of dissatisfaction, from their mind.

“What if I train them and they leave?”

Yeah. That happens. You put months of investment into them and they get poached by another dealer. At worst, you’re known as someone who trains leaders too well. At best, you’ll have built your network with people who trust you.

How to Develop Leaders from Service

The idea is that you train those who want to move up the ladder for the next rung up. It’s the next-man-up mentality you find in every branch of the military. There are a few steps to take.

Know Who Wants It

The first step is a conversation with each person on your team. Determine who wants to move up the ladder and who is happy where they are. There’s no need to force advancement on an unwilling participant – they’ll resent it and it will damage their view of the workplace.

Give Them a Mentor

One by one, pair up willing employees with a mentor in a position a step above. You are not exempt. As a service manager or fixed ops director, you should be taking on a mentor as well.

This is a small time commitment that nurtures growth, maybe an hour or two a week. When they get together, it should be to discuss skills and education necessary to take the next step.

Give Them Opportunity

When their mentor goes on vacation or a position opens up, you should be glad to give your team member the chance to better themselves. Let them take the plunge if they’re willing. It’s with a mentorship and development opportunities that you’ll take the thought of leaving the dealership out of their mind completely.

It’s been mentioned several times, yet it’s still a valid point. Customers are choosing aftermarket service centers over their selling dealership seven times out of ten, according to the Cox Automotive Maintenance and Repair Study. The top reason customers are choosing another service provider remains the same:

They simply don’t perceive value at the dealership’s service department.

While there’s no question that customers know OEM parts are the right choice and the dealership has knowledgeable, trained staff that know their car best, they don’t think they’ll get fair pricing on after-sales service.

Whether their perception is true or not, it’s real. And even from someone in the automotive industry who can see through it, here’s an honest example.

Off-Target Pricing

The reason many Mitsubishi buyers choose the brand is the old adage, ‘bang for your buck’. The same goes for this guy whose wife owns an Outlander SUV. When going through the debacle of trying to book a service appointment online (a plague rather than a profit for this store), the recommended service pricing stopped me dead in my tracks. I quickly abandoned the online appointment.

Our vehicle is due only for a basic oil and filter change. All else is up to date according to the maintenance guide, and luckily, the online system wasn’t suggesting anything more other than a tire rotation and brake fluid change for towing use only. Up here, we have winter tires that have just been installed, so no need to rotate the tires, and we don’t tow with it. But the $109.95 service B says it’s for a lube, oil, and filter, cabin filter inspection, and a whopping seven-point inspection. And lucky me, the tire rotation is included for free.

So, a Service A would do, but at the same cost as the Service B. So, for $110, I get an oil change and a seven-point inspection. What value.

Comparatively, a local Midas advertises a $29 conventional oil change or a $59 synthetic oil change. In the details, it includes a tire rotation and a “Courtesy Check including visual brake check, battery, air filter, fluids, belts, hoses and more…”

So, the best the dealership can do is tell me I’m paying $50 to $80 more for my service?

Customers are Discerning

I’m a consumer, just like everyone else. I believe that customers can and will do the exact same seven minutes of research to find a better deal. There are two things that need to be addressed at the dealership.

The pricing isn’t appropriate for the market. Clearly, service management hasn’t done a market pricing comparison to position their department as a value.

There’s no indication of value. I’d be willing to bet that 3 of 4 people abandon online service appointments at exactly that same point in the process. Seriously, a seven-point inspection at the dealership? I can rattle off two dozen items that are checked visually that could be mentioned, not just a measly seven. If that’s all the care a customer thinks their car is going to get at the dealership, then why wouldn’t they look at the aftermarket provider instead?

I take comfort knowing that the dealers and managers that read this are striving to improve their customer experience. Still, it’s a good practice to go through your online service promotions and the appointment process to see if there’s good reason for customers to choose your service department over the less-expensive yet less specialized competition.

If you saw the product reveal for the Tesla Cybertruck, you’re aware of the famous flop Elon Musk encountered on stage. Not exactly the glorious moment he was going for as the Cybertruck’s ‘bulletproof’ windows smashed rather easily. And on top of the embarrassing faux pas, their all-electric pickup truck was met with mixed, polarizing reviews.

A boxy, angular shape, albeit with some fancy gadgetry and a cool ‘vault’ truck bed, definitely isn’t the style that will fulfill Musk’s vision of an electric vehicle in every driveway. Instead of bringing a product to market that appeals to a broad audience, Tesla has gone for a niche client.

That’s NOT how you should model your service department.

Doing the Basics Well

Trying to go above and beyond expectations might’ve seemed like a good idea for Musk at the time with a truck that’s unlike any other, but it’s very unlikely to be a model for success. The same goes for your service department. You can offer a unique service experience – a shooting gallery in the back 40, Shiatsu massage in the customer lounge – but it doesn’t have widespread appeal. Solid basics, on the other hand, are always in style.

Just like doing the typical pickup truck just a little better and electric-powered would appeal to a wider audience, your service department’s widespread appeal is due to the basics. A friendly and fast greeting for every customer on each visit, a thorough walkaround, honest service recommendations, transparent pricing, and accurate service and repairs are fundamental to success in the service department.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It takes small improvements at the grassroots level to take your dealership’s service department from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’.

Offer Consistent Experiences in the Service Drive

Absolutely every customer that brings in a vehicle should expect the same process on every visit. That means the appointment, the greeting and handshake, the write-up, transportation options, and pick-up experiences should be consistent for all. Test your team to make sure it’s the case.

A variation from the norm creates confusion for the customer. Confusion or uneasiness is never a good thing in the service industry.

Be Expert Communicators

A long-standing frustration for many customers is due to the lack of communication from the service department. Some customers want to know every detail of their visit while others are less interested. Some engage with emails between service visits while others send those communiques to the junk folder. Always err on the side of communicating too much.

A customer who doesn’t feel they’re getting your attention when they need it WILL defect. There are plenty of places trying to take your business away. The last thing you need is to give your customers a reason to entertain other stores. Establish strong phone, texting, and email skills in your team, as well as marketing strategies for between visits.

Keep the Lot Organized and Clear

A small but important detail that can make a huge difference to the customer experience is simply in how easy it is to navigate your lot. We’re entering the winter months, and it’s challenging to keep the lot lanes clear. It’s frustrating for customers when they can’t find parking or they can’t navigate to the service drive doors easily because the lot is a mess.

Task someone with keeping the lot organized throughout the day and clearing the snow from in front of both overhead and man doors.

Tesla seems to have the idea that customers want an automotive revolution. That’s not the case – they just want the what they know to be made better. That includes the service experience.

Don’t try too hard to make your service department outrageously different. Just step up your game and absolutely nail the basics. Customers will love you for it.   

I have some mind-blowing statistics you need to know if you’re a GM, dealer principal, marketing manager, or service manager.

• 78 percent of male American adults use YouTube, as do 68 percent of adult women in the US.
• 72 percent of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate.
• Email click-through rates are 96 percent higher when the intro has a video.

Yes, we all know that video is an effective strategy for marketing. But who has time for marketing the service department effectively? There’s always a new vehicle hitting the showroom, fires to put out with current customers, and deals to close on the sales floor.

Fact is, growth is what everyone desires and it takes pains to make it happen. Those pains are both mental and financial because it costs time and money to kickstart an effective strategy for growth. And although video marketing is important for every part of the dealership, the service department needs to be a focal point.

Isn’t Customer Retention the Top Priority?

For the record, video isn’t going to be a massive revenue generator in the service department. What it does is keep the customers coming back. The cost of attracting a new customer is five times higher than retaining a current client. If you’re looking solely at retaining a customer through their ownership with the intention of selling them their next car, you have around five years of engagement that needs to happen.

Video engages customers better than any other media. Microsoft research shows that an average attention span is eight seconds. After that, they’re moving on to something else. Aside from a video, there’s very few ways to grip someone’s attention in eight seconds.

How You Can Use Video Well

If you aren’t already keeping in communication with your current service customers with a message specifically from the service department, that’s where you start. It has to be meaningful to the viewer, so no gimmicky or sloppy videos should ever go out. There are two types of video to create:

• Short clips, 15 seconds or less. These short messages are perfect for quick branding messages and special announcements, like a headline on a news story. They’re to capture a viewer’s attention.
• Longer clips, from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Think of these as explainer videos, an opportunity to build value for your customer with more detail about a brand or topic.

Develop a Cache of Content

For the service department, explainer videos are a goldmine. Your service advisors are constantly fielding questions about why certain services and repairs are necessary. Video clips can authoritatively show the why and how behind popular services like fluid flushes, timing belt replacement, tire services, and so on.

This cache can be linked to or embedded when service reminders are sent out. They’re perfect for seasonal service campaigns. They’re excellent for a service advisor to send a customer who has questions during their visit.

Get on Social Media

Your sales team will almost assuredly post new model videos on the dealership’s Facebook page. Your service team should be there too. Your service videos should consistently be posted for engagement with customers. And in every post, give the customers a way to respond if they want to book a service appointment.

Make It Shareable

Videos posted directly to Facebook are much more likely to be shared than from another video source. More than 10 times as likely. That means you should be posting natively to Facebook as well as Youtube. Don’t expect a ton of shares, but the ones you get dramatically increase your reach.

Video for the service department should ideally feature your service team. Some manufacturers have video resources that you can use, but they’re just not as engaging for the customer. Keep the production value high and put out consistent video, and your current customer base should realistically stick around.

Like all industries, customers are heading online more often for automotive service. The 2019 J.D. Power Customer Service Index Study shows a 40 percent increase in online appointment scheduling since 2015, and that pace is increasing. Whether you’re a service manager, BDC staff, or general manager, you know how important it is to offer internet scheduling for a service department… but are you doing it right?

Most dealerships have gaping holes in their service appointment scheduler online.

I’ve had the opportunity to check out dozens of internet appointment schedulers for franchised dealers. Typically, they fall into two camps: over-simplified and overly confusing. There are very few that actually guide a customer to booking their service visit accurately.

Why Accurate Appointments Matter

An online appointment gets customers through the door where a service advisor can properly advise about the visit, so why does accuracy matter online? It’s really simple: Valuing the customer’s time. If your service appointment scheduler is designed as a lead generator rather than a tool to empower customers to book their appointment, it’s failing. The main reason that a customer is booking an appointment online is for convenience, so the experience must continue that way.

Picture booking your service appointment online for an oil change and tire rotation. Then, when you’re in the service drive, the service advisor informs you that your car is due for timing belt replacement, coolant flush, valve adjustment, or some other time-consuming service. Your visit has gone from under an hour to a whole day unexpectedly. Speaking from experience, it’s aggravating and a reason customers choose to avoid dealership service departments altogether.

What’s Wrong with Simple Schedulers

Your basic appointment scheduler offers a list of selectable services – tire rotation, oil change, wheel balancing, coolant flush, alignment, and a few other services. Once the customer ticks off the checkboxes and submits the appointment details, they have an idea in mind of what their service visit looks like.

That idea might be totally wrong.

These basic appointment schedulers miss an invaluable aspect – the manufacturer’s required and recommended maintenance. That authoritative stance informs customers what the manufacturer suggests they need based on their service interval – no more and no less.

The Complex Appointment Scheduler Isn’t Any Better

Unfortunately, many complex scheduling systems are difficult to navigate. And while they offer a more comprehensive listing of services based on mileage and time, they confuse customers. What should I choose – normal or severe service? Do I really need my brake fluid changed? What’s included in the A service?

Complex appointment schedulers often command a ‘safe’ response from the customer, which is the least they can do for their interval.  

What a Good Appointment Scheduler Looks Like

I get it. Some of the appointment schedulers are on manufacturer-designed dealer websites and you don’t have much choice. The best systems, though, offer interval-based appointment suggestions as well as customizable service requests. Remember, you want to make it easy and convenient for the customer to book an appointment with you, not irritate them with hard-to-navigate processes.

What You Can Do

Whether or not you can change your appointment scheduler, there are a couple of things you can implement that will boost your customers’ confidence when booking online.

Add Service Descriptions

What’s included in an oil change? How often is a tire rotation recommended? What does a wheel alignment do? Why does engine coolant need to be changed? Your average customer doesn’t know the ins and outs of auto service. Reduce their skepticism by linking your services in your appointment scheduler to service description pages or popups. Companies like Fixed Ops Digital do a fantastic job of this.

Call Every Appointment

Whether the customer has accurately booked their appointment based on their interval or not, you should be calling to confirm every appointment. First, it confirms that you’ve received their appointment and it’s booked in the DMS. Second, it gives you an opportunity to review any services that are due so the customer can book their day accordingly. And third, it puts a face to the dealership which establishes trust before that customer ever sets foot in the door.

Online appointments are growing in popularity. Make sure your dealership is doing it right to prevent pushing your customers to the aftermarket service providers.

We know that a dealership’s fixed operations departments are the profit center. New and used vehicle sales can fluctuate wildly but vehicle servicing and parts sales are relatively constant. But we also know that service departments could be better.

The Service Industry Study by Cox Automotive last year 70 percent of vehicle owners who purchase from a dealer DID NOT visit the dealership’s service department in the past 12 months. Those cars still need service and repairs, don’t they? It’s telling when 7 out of 10 take their cars somewhere other than the selling dealer for upkeep.

And one of the top reasons for choosing someone other than the selling dealer shouldn’t come as a surprise: the dealership isn’t the most convenient place to service their car.

You Can’t Move the Bricks and Mortar

Obviously, if a customer lives and works outside of your neighborhood, it’s not possible to make travelling to your store more convenient for them. You can’t uproot the service department and move closer to them. It’s realistically only 20 percent of the clientele that fit into this box, though, so why don’t the other 80 percent find your store convenient?

Service departments have used shuttle drivers and loaner cars for decades to make it easier to bring a car in for service. Sadly, even these valuable services aren’t appealing to everyone – they can actually draw out the visit. The customer still needs to bring their car into the service drive then return later on to pick it up. It satisfies many, but there are still those who can’t take the time necessary for a dealership visit when there’s a quick lube shop on the corner.

Can You Bring the Service Department to the Customer?

Manufacturers including Ford and Toyota have been piloting programs to service vehicles through mobile technician programs. It may be just basic services like oil changes and tire rotations or repairs. BMW has taken an opportunity catch up on outstanding recalls with mobile technicians. YourMechanic has been doing mobile repairs since 2012.

Can your dealership go mobile?

There can be plenty to consider when starting out with mobile technicians. Who will go on the road? What types of service and repairs can your store perform on site for the customer? How will you deal with payments, a service vehicle, the tools, parts, fluids, lifting equipment? And who will write the RO or add lines remotely?

There are certainly challenges to overcome for mobile service techs. But consider that after buying a vehicle, you can expect more than two thirds of your customers to disappear after three years. If your store isn’t servicing them, who is? That’s lost service revenue.

But even more than service revenue, your losing a source for vehicle sales. If your dealership doesn’t find a way to service the customer’s car conveniently, your chances of selling them their next vehicle are slashed from 74 percent to 35 percent. They won’t buy their next vehicle at your store, and you’ll lose them as a source of referrals and valuable reviews.

Mobile servicing isn’t for every dealership. But if there’s a possibility that it can work for your store with just one technician on the road, it’s worth exploring. Perform a cost analysis to determine if it’s either a  break-even proposition or a money-maker. If it is, you’ll be giving your customers a reason to continue being loyal.

Three extensions to the service department, three voice mails. Booking an appointment to purchase winter tires and rims, a $1400 touch before taxes, and I have to leave a message? After speaking with a couple of friends, they echoed the experience in varying degrees. And after speaking with colleagues, they honestly didn’t think there was a real problem.

Training and coaching in the automotive service industry have focused on new ways to contact and communicate with the customer. But is the old standard, the telephone, falling to the wayside?

Some Context

Someone I know recently purchased a new vehicle and had a fantastic sales experience, albeit without a service introduction at delivery. Now they need winter tires for their new vehicle and asked me to help source them and make the appointment. The parts department was very helpful, pricing out the set of tires and rims and including the installation costs as well. And then I was transferred to a service advisor’s line to book the appointment.

No answer. After five rings, voice mail. Thinking, “They must be busy, I’ll try again in a minute,” I called back shortly. Same thing. That’s a little annoying. And once more, about a half-hour later yet. Finally, I left a message around 8:30 am.

When I still hadn’t heard anything by 11 am, I called once more. This time, after holding for the receptionist for about two minutes, a service advisor FINALLY picked up. The appointment was hastily booked like an order-taker, and it was over in less than a minute.

Here’s the cherry on top: around 1 pm, assumedly when she returned from her lunch hour, I received a call back from my earlier voice mail message. Yes, more than four hours later.

I’m betting I’m not the only one who sees a problem here.

Standards in Dealing with Phone Calls

I know that this type of response to service phone calls isn’t the norm, but it’s prevalent enough that two friends I spoke with had similar experiences at other dealers within the past year or so. It’s just not good business. When customers don’t think you’re trying to serve them or you’re too busy, they’re not going to wait for you. They’ll go elsewhere. Chris Riley, owner of AutoWise.com, reports that shoppers who don’t receive a response to an inquiry within 10 minutes will continue searching for another service provider.

• Phone calls should always be answered within two rings if at all humanly possible. That means an idle shuttle driver or service tech should be able to pick up the phone and ask the caller to hold at a bare minimum. Ideally, it would be the service advisor, service cashier, warranty administrator, or service management that would take the initiative.
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• Every caller should feel like they’re getting your full attention as if they were a customer in person. Don’t rush them off the call or accept interruptions. Demonstrate that you value their business.
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• Return phone messages in a timely manner. While that’s up for interpretation, it isn’t acceptable to return a call more than four hours later, or even two hours. What if that caller’s vehicle was in the shop, or it was a response to a quote you’ve given a customer? You’ve just delayed their repair by half a day. Strive for less than 30-minute callbacks.
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• Hold times in all departments should be under a minute. Affiliated Communications says that customers start to get angry after holding for 60 seconds, and every additional second affects their opinion of your store.

Service managers, you know your service advisors are busy. But if you’re going to improve your retention rate, phone calls are a great place to start. Audit your team as they answer calls to see how they’re doing. Encourage them to maintain strong phone call skills by reminding them of why it’s so important.

The average time it takes to recondition a used car is 10 days. A vehicle depreciates approximately $10 per day. I’ve personally seen the process take as long as 42 days, and on more than one occasion. The faster a car can be reconditioned and put on the used car lot, the better it is to turn a profit.

And while most readers will think that used car reconditioning is an excellent reason to have a service tech dedicated to sales department work, I think it starts well ahead of used car preparation.

It starts with the trade-in appraisal.

Edmunds reports that in 2017, 43 percent of car deals involved a trade-in. Yet, nearly every one of those deals is to replace a current vehicle. Around half of your car buyers aren’t trading in their car, and it’s more often than not due to the trade-in value.

Trade Valuations Can Hurt

Naturally, a customer who buys a vehicle despite dealing with their old vehicle on their own sees like a victory, and every rolled unit is a success. But if they haven’t taken the opportunity to have their trade appraised by the dealership, it’s likely they have the perspective that the dealership won’t give them a fair trade valuation. That’s not a good place to be.

And when they are getting an appraisal, it’s common that the sales manager is looking for a way to steal the trade – or that’s how the buyer feels.

Be Transparent with Appraisals

If you could give a car shopper a clear reason to trust the trade process, wouldn’t you be more apt to close deals, and wouldn’t you have access to more used cars for the lot? The answer is a resounding yes.

Here’s what could work. Picture a vehicle lift that’s dedicated to the sales department. When the salesperson is asking whether a trade is involved, they mention that they can do a comprehensive appraisal that aims to get them the best trade value possible. It needs to be clear that they’re working for the customer at this point.

When the trade appraisal is happening, a service tech dedicated to the sales team puts the car on the lift and performs a thorough inspection. Having the owner present is huge at this stage and offers multiple opportunities to build the relationship. “Wow, you’ve taken great care of your car!” “It looks really nice, and the undercoating you’ve had applied will really help build value for the next owner.”

Not only does this build value for the customer, but the dealership knows exactly what they’re getting into. It eliminates the guesswork in an appraisal where you’re building in a contingency for the unexpected. You can be more confident in the cars you’re buying, plus you can bump up trade appraisals for customers without getting stuck with a turd.

Why a Dedicated Tech?

Couldn’t you just have a service tech do an appraisal though? On a slow day in service, yes. But if it’s busy, it’s impossible to find an open hoist to have a trade-in checked out or a tech free to do it. And anyone who’s been around for a while knows that when sales is busy, service usually is too.

It’s an investment to have a dedicated sales hoist and technician, although they could also be your accessories installer. Every store is different and the devil is in the details. However, the benefit of higher, more accurate trade appraisals is certain to build trust with customers and boost new and used car revenues.

A large local construction company truck pulls into the service drive. The lone occupant hops out of the driver’s seat, already scrolling through their phone, replying to messages and calling a client back before even meeting the service advisor’s eye. It’s a fleet customer rolling through for a truck service and there’s one thing the advisor already knows: it’s going to be a bare-bones RO, probably a one-liner.

Unless a fleet customer’s vehicle has high mileage or a big problem, there’s a good chance the recommended preventative maintenance – aside from the oil change, that is – will go to the wayside. That’s from firsthand experience in multiple stores, by the way. It’s not because they don’t care about their vehicle’s condition either. In fact, quite the opposite. Their trucks need to be reliable so they don’t miss site visits, client meetings, and the debrief in the office at the end of the day.

The reason for fleet customers stripping service down to the absolute minimum is in the timing.

You Can’t Get Time Back

In discussion with a major construction company’s VP, I learned that the thing topping their list for dealership frustrations is that their time isn’t respected. He mentioned to me that he’s often gone to the dealership and has been told the service would be less than 30 minutes. An hour later, he requests the shuttle. And more often than not, it’s another hour or two before his truck is ready.

Everyone is in the same boat when it comes to the hour, minute, and second hands ticking away. You can’t get that time back. But for fleet customers, their lost productivity has the butterfly effect on business. They can’t make it to a meeting with a prospective client, lose the bid, they lay off employees, and their business struggles. Obviously that’s not the case every time, but lost productivity for many fleet customers is costlier than just the hour’s wages while they wait at the dealership.

The other consequence when fleet customers don’t feel their time is respected at the dealership is personal. You won’t get their referrals or personal business because there’s already a bad taste in their mouth. So, it costs your dealership big bucks in the long run too.

What to Do Differently

My conversation turned to what could be done differently to serve the needs of a fleet better.

1. Under-promise and over-deliver. That’s the best course of action all the time, but especially when you’re dealing with a fleet customer. If the shop is busy, don’t think you’ll have a service done in 30 minutes when your average customer is still taking an hour and a half. Tell the customer a reasonable time frame and deal with it from there.
2. Be prepared before they arrive. If you know a fleet customer is coming in, reserve a courtesy vehicle. Use your own loaner cars if you can so there’s no need to tour the countryside for a rental agency. If you use rentals, make sure you’ve teed up the rental agent with a comparable vehicle.
3. Keep them informed. More than any other client, fleet customers need to know right away when their vehicles are ready. If you’re going to upsell, do it early enough that they can account for the time factor in their day. Texting is a huge benefit for many busy fleet customers.
4. Drop off and pick up. Show you value a company’s business and their time by arranging for drop-offs and pick-ups. Again, use your loaner vehicles to make the exchange. When they don’t have to visit your dealership’s service department personally, you’ll save them an hour or more in their day. They appreciate it more than you know, especially when you review the benefit with them. “Kevin, I know you’re busy. Would it save you some time for tomorrow’s appointment if we come to you and exchange vehicles until yours is ready?”

Ticking off your fleet customers is a big reason they pare down their servicing to nil, and why you don’t see them after warranty expires. Treat them according to their needs by understanding their needs, then reap the rewards.

Like all industries, there is often an ‘us versus them’ mentality between management and front-line staff. My guess is that your experience is similar in the service department. Service advisors feel like their always being admonished and corrected by management, and managers always feel like service advisors are trying to get away with something. In many instances, it’s true.

A service advisor has a tough job. I’d say it’s probably the hardest position in the dealership aside from the GM and dealer principal positions. They can sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor and parts monthly and at higher margins than any car sale. They speak to more customers in a day than almost anyone else, and there’s a ton of pressure for perfection in customer service.

What makes a service advisor’s job so much easier is when they have the full support of their manager. Here are five things service managers can do to support their advisors and help them succeed and thrive.

Forgive Mistakes

There’s a saying that goes:

“If you work a lot you make a lot of mistakes. But if you don’t work a lot you only make a few mistakes. And if you don’t work at all you don’t make any mistakes!”

The more responsibility a service advisor takes on, the more you’re bound to see errors. It could be mathematical, errors in judgment, or even mistakes in serving customers. As someone who’s been there, it’s important for an advisor to know that their actions that it’s okay to make mistakes.

It seems that once someone becomes a manager, they default to expecting perfection from their team. It’s unrealistic, obviously, since no one is. And we aren’t talking about ignoring mistakes either. It’s simply acknowledging humanity in falling short.

“Yes, it probably would have gone better if it was handled differently. I appreciate that you took action with the situation, even if it wasn’t necessarily right this time. Don’t worry about it – as long as you learned from it. What would you do differently next time?”

Unless actions are egregious, punitive action is rarely required.

Work Side by Side

Management has its own tasks to perform, no doubt. However, the strength of a team is dependent on a leader knowing what their team members are experiencing. A service manager should be equipped to step in and work beside a service advisor when the need arises. That may not mean writing ROs, although it could if the manager is capable. But it could be parking cars, greeting customers, and just being present along with the staff.

Being Decisive          

While no one likes making the wrong call, stagnation is worse. A great leader is decisive and shows that they are willing to take action when the situation demands it. Even when the decision someone makes is wrong or doesn’t work out positively, it reflects well on a leader when they make a decision and stick with it.

Now, we all know someone who won’t give up on a decision they’ve made. That’s not what is meant here. You’re free to change your mind if the action isn’t working out, but sitting around, humming and hawing about what to do, isn’t a quality that team members admire.

Always Keep Your Word

If you make a promise, keep your word. I can think of several scenarios form my career where a manager has promised a promotion, reward, or action that never came to fruition. There’s nothing more detrimental to relationships with your team members – or anyone in life, actually – than not fulfilling what you’ve promised. And don’t look for loopholes to get out of something either.

Managing People, Not Numbers

I get it. Everyone has a DOC to review, month-end targets to meet. It can become quite obvious where there’s a chink in your team’s armor. And if your solution is to go by the numbers to decide who is dedicated to the team, or who should stay or go, I truly believe you’re doing it wrong.

Someone might have a down month because one of their clients required hours of their time to solve a real problem. There may be someone who is dedicated to completely serving the customer rather than meeting sales targets. And everyone has struggles at home sometimes – a meddling mother-in-law, a medical emergency with a child, a financial crisis, divorce, and so on. Understand their situation to qualify their numbers.