I hear praise everywhere for frontline workers. You know:  doctors, nurses, public transportation workers and even grocery store clerks have all been lauded in the media for continuing to work through the pandemic, risking their lives—and in some cases, losing their lives—because they were deemed essential workers.

But I don’t hear much praise for the people who work in service departments, and I’m peeved about it. I was at a dealership recently and heard that at the height of the pandemic, one of their technicians died from COVID and two others were sick and had to quarantine at home. One of the technician’s family members died, because the technician brought it home. In another dealership recently, one of the guys mumbled something about “Nobody remembers or cares about us.”

In auto dealerships, nobody was more at risk than the people who work in the parts and service departments. In sales and accounting, it was possible to work remotely or wear masks, socially distance, sanitize and be safe. But when a customer drops off their car to be serviced, someone has to get in that car and breathe in the same air where the customer was just sitting. Someone has to take the key that was just in the customer’s hand. We had no idea then how long the germs stayed on surfaces or in air vents.

Things are getting back to normal now, but the sacrifices that our parts and service employees made should not be forgotten. I still hear people who thank doctors and cab drivers for the work they did through the pandemic, but I have never heard anyone thank their service advisor, technician, lot porter, lube guy, detailers and parts employees. These workers were the ones who made sure that all of those other frontline workers could get to and from work, and that our economy could still function.

So, the next time you go get your car serviced, please express your gratitude to the fixed ops guys and gals, the ones who keep over 250 million vehicles in this country running and on the road.

And I personally would like to say THANK YOU to all of the folks who work in parts and service. You worked through the pandemic, you risked your safety, you risked your own lives and family’s lives. You were deemed essential in a pandemic, but in my book, you are always essential. You are my heroes and I salute you.

Nothing really surprises me anymore. Yet recently, there I was, surprised again. I was visiting a dealership where the parts manager was out for three weeks due to surgery. I asked to speak to whoever was in charge of the parts department, and I ended up speaking to a kid who had literally just turned eighteen. He was initially hired to do oil changes and was still in high school attending classes remotely (while at work, via his cell phone). For some reason this dealer put this kid in charge of the parts department while the parts manager was out.

The kid was ordering parts, handling pricing, handling everything. I asked if he had any inventory management experience. Nope. Yet here he was, in charge of over $200,000 worth of inventory! He told me that occasionally the fixed ops director would come in and help if it got too busy, but other than that, he was all alone.

Honestly, it’s not the first time I’ve seen this. Too frequently I see people in parts departments who aren’t really qualified for the position, and they have no idea how to manage all the ins and outs.

To be clear, knowing how to order a part and sell a part does not make you qualified to run a parts department, even for a little while. When I start asking these “parts managers” about obsolescence, source movement and pack quantities they have no idea what I’m talking about. When was the last time you did a physical inventory and counted every part? In most dealerships today, this happens on a regular basis. But at some dealerships, it rarely happens, which is bad for the bottom line.

Understand I’m not trying to be hard on the kid here, or on others like him. It’s not their fault. But why would a dealer put an untrained, inexperienced person in charge of a major profit center at their dealership?

Dealers and managers, please cross-train employees in every department so they know how to do each other’s jobs, in the event that someone quits or has to take an unexpected leave. Training is easy to obtain. There is training available through NADA, or you can hire an outside consultant to come in and spend time with someone.

When you put someone in a new position, it’s so important to give them guidance. If it’s not possible to hire someone who has experience, you have to figure out how to train the people you have. There is simply too much at stake not to.

You might be wondering, what are the consequences of having an untrained person in charge of your parts department?

You are bleeding profusely. Chances are the factory is managing your inventory for you. If I order special wheels for a customer to jazz up their vehicle, the moment they leave your inventory the factory will automatically re-order more wheels for you. A trained manager will stop that re-order. A trained manager will require pre-payment on special order parts. A trained manager knows how to manage the history of sold parts to make educated decisions on which parts to order going forward. A trained manager knows how many parts to order from the factory, so your dealership stays brand loyal. If you’re not staying brand loyal to the factory it can cost you in many ways; including discounts, warranty claims approvals and parts returns.

Putting an untrained person in charge of parts is like giving a receptionist the job of controller and having that person suddenly be in charge of managing floors plans, payroll and paying off bank loans, without any experience or training. An untrained person is going to mismanage your capital, period. The only question you have to ask yourself is, how much of that capital isn’t important to you?

I recently visited a dealership service department and asked the manager how they have changed the way they do business in the last year. Surprisingly, this dealership had not changed a thing, other than requiring masks. Customers still have to call to make an appointment, drive into the service lane to drop off their vehicle, wait in the waiting room and pay the cashier.

It’s shocking to me there are still dealerships that refuse to change the way they do business. I guess they think one day this Covid-19 thing will be over and things will return to normal. But I have news for you. We live in a new world, and not just because of Covid.

The new normal is a world where people expect to take care of almost every aspect of their lives using technology. All Covid did was accelerate this trend. There is no going back to the old normal. What was normal a year ago is now antiquated.

Even in a post-Covid world, I’m guessing one-third of your customers would prefer to never set foot in your service department again. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to use your services. That means they want you to cater to their needs.

First, they want to make appointments online. Today’s consumers really, really don’t want to call and talk to someone. Look at all the people who book their flights online and use OpenTable for restaurant reservations. It’s so much more convenient to schedule appointments online.

Whether your customers work at an office or from home, most of them are in fact working. Which means they would appreciate a pick-up and delivery service for their vehicles. When I ask dealers why they aren’t providing this service, they say it’s because they’d have to hire someone. Well yes, but there are many entry-level people out there with good driving records, who would not cost a lot of money. At some point you have to ask how much business you’re losing because you’re not providing your customers with options. Hiring an entry-level driver or two isn’t going to break your bank but it may win you everlasting loyalty from your customer base.

If additional work needs to be done on the vehicle, shoot a quick video and text it to the customer. The service advisor can do the exact same presentation as if the customer was standing right there. Texting is much more efficient—and preferable—than playing phone tag.

Last but not least, electronic payments are vital to a modern service experience. Why force someone to go into a service department and pay at a cashier? Additionally, electronic payments allow customers to pick up their vehicles after the service department is closed. It’s a win-win.

I realize that changing the way you do business can be challenging, but I promise you that the pros will outweigh the cons. The service experience I have just described is what many consumers expect but aren’t getting. If you are the one to give it, your customers will be impressed. Every time a customer says wow, it’s like a free advertisement. Word spreads.

You know what I love? I love that I haven’t had a cold this year, when normally I catch at least one cold every year. I might continue to buy things online, avoid handshakes and use hand sanitizer, even when the pandemic is a distant memory. So might a lot of other people.

The bottom line is that Covid has changed the way we live forever. Most businesses have transformed the way they do business to make it easy for their customers to do business with them remotely. This is the new normal in a new world. The way that dealerships service vehicles needs to change too.

Electronic appointment (EA) systems have been around for many years. So, when I visit a dealership’s service department and see a paper appointment pad sitting on a service advisor's desk, I am not shocked.

Unfortunately, the EA system is probably the most underutilized feature in the dealership management system (DMS)’s service module. When I ask service advisors why they don't use it, reasons vary from "I've always done it this way" to "I don't have time to learn the system" to "We're not big enough." But these are just excuses, not reasons. The real reason is they're afraid of giving up control.

I know what many service advisors are thinking: "If we switch to an electronic system, the system will screw things up. The technology isn't going to work. What if we go over capacity? What if it over schedules a technician? What if I don't know what's going on?"

The fact is, EA systems offer more benefits than hurdles. Here are the benefits:

Open scheduling. With an appointment pad, one person is typically in charge of all appointments. With an EA, anyone in the dealership can see and schedule appointments. Many dealerships now train their BDC centers to book service appointments. Customers prefer this because they don't have to wait to speak to one particular person, and it frees up service advisors to focus on other activities.

Reduce walk-ins. When a customer is placed on hold or routed to voicemail, many times, they just hang up. Sometimes they'll try another shop, or they take their chances and walk in. Open scheduling results in more appointments and fewer walk-ins.

Eliminate double data entry. With an appointment pad, you typically write down the customer and service information. When it's time to open the RO, the information has to be entered again. With an EA system, everything is entered ahead of time. When it's time to open the RO, simply click on the "Create RO" button, and you're good to go. This process reduces service transaction times.

Sell more labor hours. EA systems make it easy to maximize shop capacity. When a service manager views the weekly or monthly schedule, the system tells them how many hours are booked, which days are open, and which technicians are busy. That allows them to set priorities and more accurately predict and report on shop capacity status.

Create pre-work orders. A pre-work order is an identical copy of what the RO will be. At the end of each day, printing out pre-work orders for the next day is a huge time saver, especially during those busy morning hours, when 15 to 20 customers are dropping off cars.

Instead of opening ROs for each customer as they arrive, service advisors can just pull the printed pre-work order from the pile, review service requests, write down the mileage, and have the customer sign off on it. Then, after the rush has died down, they can turn the work order into the actual RO.

Reduce no shows. An EA system can be configured to send email reminders to customers for their upcoming appointments, increasing show rates. Additionally, EA systems make it easy to run a "no show" report at the end of each day so you can follow up to re-schedule appointments.

Eliminate service bloopers. Keeping appointment information on a pad can create "gotcha" moments when a surprise pops up in the system. Let's say a customer arrives for a scheduled service. The service advisor opens a RO, and the system notifies him or her that the vehicle has an open recall, or the warranty has expired, or they don't have a part in stock. At that point, it's a little late to notify the customer, who isn’t going to be happy about paying more or leaving their car for longer than they had planned. And what if they need a loaner car? Do you have one available? An EA system eliminates service bloopers by notifying you ahead of time if there are open recalls, OEM recommendations, or warranty issues.

Sell more parts. Paper appointment pads don't tell you if a customer’s special-order part has been sitting on your shelf for six months. Again, if you wait until the last minute to open the RO, the customer may not want to take the additional time to have you install the part. When you type a customer's name into an EA system, it will instantly notify you of the status of their parts — whether a part is still on order or backorder, or if they have a special part that's been waiting for them for months.

Increase customer satisfaction. Most DMS providers have online scheduling integrated into their EA system. When customers schedule their appointments online, it frees up hours for dealership personnel to do other things. These customers report higher satisfaction levels because now they're in control. They can set appointments instantly, view recommendations, and they feel like they have more participation in their vehicle's maintenance.

THE ART OF SURRENDER

Are you ready to throw away your appointment pads yet? If not, ask yourself: "What's the worst that could happen?" If a mistake does happen, fix it. Then learn how to prevent it from happening again.

Sometimes switching to an EA system may take a directive — and an incentive — from the powers that be. Make sure service advisors know how it will benefit them. The core message is simple: more efficient scheduling + increased sales = maximizing pay plans. In my experience, switching to an EA system can increase service advisor productivity by 30% to 50%.

Additionally, I recommend training. Technology is so much easier to embrace when you know how to use it. Contact your DMS or service software vendor and tell them you want help setting up the system.

I have trained many service advisors on how to use their EA system. Once they make the change, they never go back to paper appointment pads. The benefits are quickly realized, and they appreciate having extra time to focus on other activities.

Dealers, do you know how much of your dealership’s capital is tied up in parts inventory? Do you know how much of that inventory is obsolete? I have visited dealerships with hundreds of thousands of dollars in obsolete parts. Yes, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of the biggest reasons for parts obsolescence is special order parts. A service advisor or technician orders a part for a customer, either for a job or at the customer’s request. But when the part comes in, the customer never returns to the shop to pick it up.

This is an easy problem to fix. All you have to do is require prepayment for every special part that is not factory warranty. But hardly any dealers do this. I recently reviewed a report from a list of our dealerships that are converting to our new parts program. There’s a column in the spreadsheet that says “Collects deposits” (on special order parts), with a Yes/No option. I’m not kidding you, at least 90% of dealerships do NOT collect deposits on special order parts. This is insanity!

In every other industry, companies require deposits to order anything. I recently purchased a recliner. Because the store did not have the model I wanted in stock, they had to order it. Guess what, I had to put down a 50% deposit. You can’t even reserve a hotel room any more without paying a deposit!

I don’t know why dealerships do not require a deposit on special order parts. I suppose some service advisors or technicians are afraid to ask the customer for a deposit, or maybe it’s just not policy so they don’t even think about it.

Why invest capital in parts for customers who may never come back? If someone pays a deposit up front, they’ve got skin in the game. There’s a high likelihood that person will be back to pick up the part or have service install it.

This has been a crazy year because of the pandemic. Cash flow is tight, and most dealers are looking for ways to cut unnecessary expenses. Well, here’s one of them. If I were a dealer I would not waste one more dime on special order parts destined to collect dust on a shelf.

If you decide to enact this very simple, money-saving policy, here’s another tip. Don’t allow your parts department to order a special part for anyone—especially colleagues, and yes, that includes friends and family of the dealer—without a deposit, even if the requestor is a good buddy and asking “as a huge favor.”

Maybe a few of your customers won’t like this new policy. Trust me, if they aren’t willing to pay a deposit for a special order part, they don’t really want it that bad and there’s a good chance they won’t come back anyway. You can be nice about it. “I realize we never used to charge up front, but these are unprecedented times.” Who can argue with that? This can be yet another policy change you can blame on COVID-19.

Parts obsolescence is a huge problem in many dealerships. This is one of the easiest, no-brainer policies to implement that will solve a large part of the problem. If you’re not requiring deposit for special order parts, you’re flushing good money down the drain.

Does your dealership have a process for tracking dirty cores? If you don’t, or even if you do but your employees aren’t following that process, you could be losing out on a lot of money.

For the non-parts people out there, a dirty core is a used part that can be refurbished and used again. When a factory sells a dealership certain parts, they add a core charge, which the dealership then passes onto their customers. When a car is serviced and the dealership replaces an old part with a new part, the old part that comes out is referred to as a ‘dirty core’ because it’s well, dirty. Literally—black, oily and nasty.

The core charge exists because the manufacturers want to refurbish the old parts. To encourage dealerships to send the old parts back, the OEM reimburses the original core charge when a dirty part is returned. All that’s required is for the dealership to fill out a claims form and ship the part back to the factory.

The problem occurs when the parts employees get busy or just don’t care enough to send back the parts, because they don’t view the dirty cores as real money. Instead, the parts just get piled up somewhere in the back of the parts department. When I visit dealerships I frequently see anywhere from $500 to $5,000 worth of dirty cores lying around.

Perhaps you’re not worried because eventually they’ll all be returned and you get your money, right? Well, maybe, maybe not. If you don’t have a process to track them, what’s to stop some of your dirty parts from disappearing? After all, they’re just old, dirty parts that nobody wants, right? That’s the justification.

Many dealers don’t have a process in place to track their dirty cores, and that’s a mistake that costs them money.

However, if you have an efficient parts manager they know exactly how many cores you have, they process the returns on a weekly basis and they know exactly how much money was received for those cores. Unfortunately, in my experience, this is not the norm.

In most dealerships this process is rarely documented and poorly monitored. One of the first things I do when I visit parts departments is to find the stash of dirty cores and get the managers involved to assign a value to them.

Sometimes I’ve seen where the parts department do return the parts and get credited for the cores. But the accounting department has no idea where to post these credits because they’re not tied to anything, so sometimes they’re posted to the wrong category. One option to fix this is to use a process where the dirty cores get tracked on a parts invoice, so when they’re paid the accounting office knows what to do.

Your DMS should also have a way to track your dirty cores. Whenever a new part with a core charge is sold, the DMS should automatically calculate and add the correct core charge amount to the customer’s invoice. When a dirty core is returned, you add that part back to your inventory so that it can be easily tracked in a report. Once a week the parts manager runs the “dirty core” report which lists all the parts to send back for reimbursement. Now you have a process.

When your dirty core charges are paid by the OEM, the credits are posted directly to parts inventory so it’s clear to accounting how to post the credits.

More than likely your dealership already has this functionality in your DMS, and the process is very easy to do once it’s set up. All it needs is one person to monitor and hold someone else accountable, to make sure they do what they’re supposed to be doing. In most dealerships, this isn’t being done. Why not?

Dealers I challenge you to go and take a look at your parts department, and see how many dirty cores you have lying around. How much money are you missing out on? You’ll never know until a process is established and employees are held accountable for following it.

The definition of service means “the occupation or function of serving.” Therefore, a service advisor’s job is to serve the customer and advise them on how to maintain the second biggest investment in their life.

But sometimes when I visit service departments, I don’t get the feeling that the customer is always the first priority. Often times the service advisors are engrossed in what they’re doing, or they’re running around doing something else while customers are waiting.

I get that you’re busy and that whatever you’re doing is important. But if what you’re doing is not directly related to taking care of a customer, it’s not the most important thing at that moment.

A customer arriving in your service lane is always the most important priority. Your job is to meet and greet customers, preferably at their vehicle so you can start an MPI.

When you greet customers, don’t resent the interruption. You should greet every customer the same way you greet a good friend who’s arriving at your home. Be genuinely happy to see them.

I know that when you’re busy, it’s natural to feel cranky and stressed. It’s okay if you feel this way but as a professional, you should never, ever convey these feelings to a customer.

If you’re having a bad day, or you had a fight with your wife or husband, or you have a health issue you’re dealing with, leave it at the door when you go into work, at least as far as the customer is concerned. The only thing the customer should know about you is that you’re thrilled to see them.

Also, never make a customer wait while you’re having a conversation with another employee, unless the issue is directly related to that customer.

I’ve also noticed that sometimes, service department employees will leave the service area empty. Recently I was working at a dealership and a customer showed up in front of me. I looked around and there wasn’t one service advisor in the room. This was at a dealership with 7 service advisors! Here’s the rule: if you need to leave the service area, even if it’s just for a minute, you need to look around and see if someone else is in the room. If there’s nobody else in that room, you aren’t allowed to leave. Period.

When you first greet the customer, confirm the reason they came in. It should be written on the RO. Verify and update their contact information, including name, address, phone and email. Review all charges and estimates. Give the customer a pickup time and make sure that the customer’s expectation for the repair is aligned with your own.

Try to insist, nicely, the customer should stay while you do the multi-point inspection (MPI). At least start it while they’re there. Tell them why it’s so important. Note imperfections on the vehicle. Lift the hood, check fluids and inspect the belts and battery terminals. Make sure you have a tire gauge and check the tread depth on every tire.

This is your customer’s vehicle, so they should be interested in what you’re doing and what you find.

The rule that you don’t keep customers waiting also applies to customers calling on the phone. Phones should be answered within two rings. Service advisors should not be allowed to answer phones during busy drop-off and pick-up periods. Many service departments I visit have phone problems. There aren’t enough staff who can answer the phone, take care of the customer, answer questions, give quotes and schedule appointments.

If your service department is having trouble achieving 100% service absorption, the problem might be because you’re missing a lot of phone calls. Try a BDC or hiring and training a couple of employees to answer the phones in your service department.

If you’re in the service business, your number one priority is always serving and taking care of customers. It’s a job to be proud of and if you do your job well, your customers will keep returning for more service.

It’s no secret there’s a big service technician shortage, but do you know why? It’s not because young people aren’t interested in becoming technicians. The problem is that most service technicians say they wouldn’t recommend their job to a friend or relative, and one-quarter of technicians say they plan to leave their jobs in the next few years.

These findings were revealed earlier this year in the latest Technician Survey by Carlisle & Co. Overall, the survey revealed deep job dissatisfaction among technicians. Their biggest complaints were flat-rate pay plans and poor communications with service advisors.

Unfortunately, I’m not the least bit surprised by the survey results. In my current position I see first-hand what happens in service departments. In most dealerships, being a service technician is a thankless job.

Let's break down the reasons why and what can be done to change the situation.

Pay Plans

Undoubtedly, flat-rate pay hurts technicians. First of all, the amount of pay that a technician gets for a job is determined by a service advisor. If you have at least one service advisor who is weak or incompetent (or both), they routinely sell jobs for less than the flat-rate pay. So, instead of getting paid 2.5 hours for a 2.5-hour job, the technician only gets paid 1.8 hours. Essentially, they’re forced to work for free.

The worst part is that nobody cares or addresses the problem, which is usually the fault of a service advisor or manager and not the technician.

This friction probably contributes to the "poor communications with service advisors" cited in the survey. Let's face it, the average parts department manager is stubborn about discounting prices for parts. So, for the service advisor who desperately wants to sell a job, the only thing left to do is discount the labor—and the technician gets shafted.

To add insult to injury, technicians don’t get paid enough. The Carlisle & Co. survey cited the average annual pay for a technician as $61,000. Wow, that is nothing for a job that requires a high level of skill, long hours and requires years of education and experience. These days you can barely live on $60,000 and it's impossible to raise a family on that amount. In my opinion, technicians are worth at least $100,000.

Maybe you believe that technicians aren't worth more than $60,000 a year. To me, you are like the person who goes to a steak house and orders a hamburger, then complains because the hamburger doesn't taste like prime steak.

If you're worried that paying technicians what they're worth will cut into your profits, don't be. There are plenty of ways to increase fixed ops profitability. Just ask me, I'll give you a long list of strategies. Skimping on pay should never be one of them.

In my opinion, it's time to get rid of flat-rate pay plans and pay your technicians what they're worth, or at least guarantee them a minimum 40 hours per week.

Second-Class Citizens

The other issue I have seen is that in some dealerships, technicians are treated like second-class citizens. On weekends, lunch is often brought in for the sales team. Nobody thinks of bringing lunch in for the technicians.

Yet, technicians are responsible for generating 49 percent of the average dealership's gross profits, which is basically the same as the sales team.

Technicians are highly educated, highly skilled workers. It takes a lot of time, money and effort to learn the trade and then even more money to buy a set of tools. Additionally, techs are doing more diagnostic work and research in order to repair a car, which the factory doesn't even recognize them for.

No wonder technicians get discouraged, want out of the business and wouldn't recommend their job to a friend.  In most dealerships, they do not get the respect they deserve.

I know this is not the case in every dealership. Some dealers get it. They are changing pay plans, improving work conditions and investing in training and tools because they realize that the more money their technicians make, the more technicians they'll attract and retain, and the more money they, the dealer, will ultimately make.

The secret to keeping techs happy is simple. Treat them with respect. Ask them if they're happy, and if they're not, ask they why. Go to bat for them. Change their pay plans and encourage them to take their paid vacations.

Take the time to identify service advisors who routinely discount labor rates. Offer these advisors additional training and revise their incentives until they stop this behavior.

I'm guessing that most technicians love what they do, they just don't love where they're doing it or what they're getting paid for it. But a little respect may go a long way towards improving their job satisfaction.

Whenever I visit dealerships, I often see technicians standing around at the parts counter or waiting to talk with service advisors. This is a waste of your technicians’ time and billable hours.

I’m not blaming the technicians. I’m blaming managers and directors who aren’t enforcing the use of an electronic dispatch process.

I don’t care if it’s manual dispatch or auto dispatch. A dispatch process typically involves three steps. More than likely, you currently have the tools and technology in place to implement this dispatch process, but you’re not doing it because (insert excuse here).

First, let’s take a look at the current dispatch situation in most dealerships.

A car comes in for an oil change. Upon inspection, it’s discovered a new drive belt is needed. The tech walks over to the parts department to find out if the part is in stock, and what the price is. Once the tech gets the information, they go find the service advisor. If the advisor is busy, the tech usually waits because he doesn’t want to come back later.

When the advisor is free, the tech tells him the car needs a belt, the part’s in stock and gives him the price. Now the advisor has to stop what he’s doing and get hold of the customer to get them to approve the belt.

The customer’s approval may take a while (hopefully the advisor texts the customer instead of playing phone tag). The tech might wait for a few minutes, then walk back to his bay. Upon approval, the service advisor walks over to the tech to let him know, then the tech goes back to the parts department and has them pull the part. While the tech waits for the part, he chats with other techs or the cashier.

When the part is pulled, the tech goes back to the car and starts the job. The walking around and waiting has cost anywhere from 8 to 25 minutes. If that happens on 5 cars a day, that adds up to 2 to 3 hours of productivity. That’s one tech, one day.

How much more revenue would you make if every tech gave you 2 more billable hours a day—without forcing them to work 2 more hours a day?

This outdated process is unacceptable, but in most dealerships it’s the way it’s always been done so the attitude is why change it? Did I not mention the extra 2 billable hours per tech every day?

If that sounds appealing to you, here’s a better way to dispatch.

More than likely, your dealership management system (DMS) has the following features, which you’re paying for but hardly ever use.

-Service merchandising

-Service Pricing Guides (SPGs)

-Internal chat or texting feature

It’s time to learn how to use these features. Here's your new dispatch process:

A vehicle comes in for an oil change. Upon inspection, it’s discovered a drive belt is needed.

The tech opens up the vehicle estimate in the DMS and finds a button that says SPG, short for “Service Pricing Guides.” If you can’t find a button, ask your DMS provider how to find this information. Click on the button to open the SPG.

The tech searches the SPG system for drive belts for the make/model of the vehicle. The SPG lets the tech know if the part’s in stock and what the price is.

If the SPG indicates the part is not in stock, the tech knows they won’t be performing that repair today. Save the estimate and move on to the next job.  Notify the service advisor by sending a chat or text with the customer name and the word “estimate.” The service advisor is notified there’s an estimate needing review. When he opens the estimate, the advisor sees the part isn’t in stock. He reaches out for customer approval so they can order the part.

If the SPG indicates the part is in stock, the responsibility of verifying there’s a part physically in stock falls on the advisor. The advisor has the parts number right in front of him because it’s on the service estimate. He chats or texts the parts department to confirm whether the part is in stock and confirms the price. He then reaches out to the customer for approval.

Upon customer approval, the advisor opens up the customer estimate, turns it into an RO, adds the line and sends a chat to the tech with the customer name and “OK to do the job.”

The tech is notified, opens up the RO and clicks on a button that says “Parts request.” He types into the box, “Please pull this part.”

A really good parts department delivers the part to the tech, so the tech doesn’t have to leave his bay. A not-so-good parts department will pull the part and leave it on the counter for the tech to pick up.

Notice how the tech hasn’t left his bay one time with this dispatch process?

If this sounds complicated, it honestly isn’t. It’s the easiest thing in the world and eliminates so much waiting time. We always think it’s easier to do things the same old way, but it’s really not. It’s far more efficient to use the technology you already have to improve your results.

If you follow this process, your techs will work more hours without ridiculous amounts of overtime. Less loitering and more doing is good for your bottom line.

Here's what I've noticed in dealerships: the problem isn't just a lack of training, it's the general lack of a thought process that any training is needed.

At dealerships, we often take people who do their jobs well and make them a manager. The problem is, we don't teach them how to manage. The job of service manager requires an entirely different skill set than the job of service advisor or technician.

Of course, these skills can be learned, but it requires training. When you're promoted to a management position, you're not supposed to do your previous job any more. As a manager, your job is to teach the people reporting to you how to do their jobs well.

You're also supposed to figure out how to keep your department profitable. Again, this wasn't your job in your previous position, but now it is. In order to learn this new skill, you need training.

Factory classes teach advisors and technicians what they need to do for the factory, but that's only a small fraction of everything that's required to do the entire job of advisor or technician.

Here's the problem with lack of training. A new employee comes to work on day one. The boss shows him or her around, then gives that employee a list of tasks they're responsible for.

The new employee has no clue how to do half of what's on the list, and the boss looks really busy, so they ask a fellow employee how to do it.

The employee has half an idea how to do the task, because they had to figure it out themselves a while ago. The old employee teaches the new employee. The untrained is training the untrained.

Now the new employee knows how to get the task done, but probably not in the most efficient manner. They also don't have any context on why the task needs to be done, or how that task affects customers or other employees.

This sad story is repeated every day in dealerships across the U.S. You take a perfectly good new employee, who was as promising as a blank canvas in Picasso's studio. They were willing and eager to learn, and learn they did—all the wrong things and all the bad habits.

Then three months later you blame the employee for ineptitude or lack of productivity.

I always like to draw comparisons between the service department and sales departments. In sales, training is part of the culture. Sales meetings are held every day. Bagels are brought in by the bucket load. Here are ten different ways you can sell a car, how to get a test drive, how to overcome an objection, how to connect with customers.

The same thing should be happening in service, with service advisors and even the cashier. They need to know more than how to do a list of tasks. There are a hundred nuances to these positions that can make the difference between just doing a job, doing a job well and knocking it out of the park.

If you want your employees to knock it out of the park, train them. And train your managers how to manage.

The next time you're tempted to blame an employee or a manager for poor results, ask yourself—do you have a right to blame them, when you never taught them how to get the results you want?

If you’re in a leadership position, it's your job to make sure your employees learn how to do their jobs in the most efficient way possible. It's your job to instill passion, dedication and desire to do that job well. It's your job to check on them, mentor them, answer any questions and most of all, train them. If you don't have the time, and nobody else has the time, hire an outside trainer. Truly, it's worth the investment.

Finally, when you do train your employees, don't just train them for today. Train them for next week, next month and ten years from now. Train them like the future success of your dealership depends on it, because it does.