Service Advisor Best Practices: Training a Winning Team
Car dealerships today cannot rely solely on selling cars to be profitable and competitive in the increasingly pressured auto retail industry. Effective dealership owners and managers know that pursuing other paths to profit is key to overall success. One of the most important additional business units that needs to be optimized aggressively is your service department, which is often an untapped opportunity for many dealerships.
A critical part of running an effective and optimized service department is a well-trained service advisor team. Your service advisors need to be committed to professionalism, customer service, and growing your business by offering the right services at the right time. Getting this done requires an effective management process. Below are 7 key processes dealership managers can implement for their service advisors to be as effective as possible.
1. Active Walkaround. All of your service advisors should conduct an active walkaround for every customer that comes in, to learn the customer’s concerns and also to suggest additional relevant work. For example, during the walkaround the advisor may notice body damage that can be suggested as an additional work item. Consistent walkarounds for every vehicle is a simple and critical process to get the most from each customer visit.
2. Building Rapport. Customers make decisions on where to bring their vehicles for service based on many factors, but one of the most important is the relationship they have with your service team. You must train your service advisors to think and act not only like mechanics but also as customer service representatives. Conduct ongoing training to help your advisors with common customer service tips like good eye contact, and make sure that customers are always acknowledged immediately on pulling into the service drive.
3. Be Prepared for Each Customer. Service advisors should always be prepared in advance of each appointment including knowing the customer’s name and their vehicle history. It’s important for customers to feel that your team cares about their issues, and knowing the vehicle history will ensure the service advisor knows what services are due and additional services to suggest.
4. OpCode for Declined Service. Service managers must create an OpCode for Declined Services and service advisors should record declined services on a separate line of the repair order. This allows your business development team to reconnect with customers on declined services and schedule these services for the next visit. Just because someone said no once doesn’t mean they’ll never need the service!
5. Contacting the Customer. While the car is on the lift your service team must be contacting the customer to offer any needed repair or maintenance. It’s key that customer communication be consistent and timed correctly.
6. Active Delivery. When the customer comes to collect their car, service advisors should meet the customer and review all the work that was completed. This will help to solidify the relationship with the customer and increase confidence in the work.
7. Menu Selling. It’s important to inform your customers of the services available at your dealership and to market your different services. One effective strategy is to develop point-of-sale items for customers to review while they are pulling up to meet your service advisor. Good point-of-sale offerings include a detail menu, new car specials, and accessories.
These concepts are just a few starting points for ensuring that your service advisors are well trained and equipped to provide great customer service and great value for your dealership. If you’re serious about optimizing your service department and overall dealership, Max Zanan can help you build the automotive retail business of the future. Contact Max today for an expert consultation.