How to find quality service advisors

Nov. 15, 2018
Consider hiring the right personality and teach them the rest. These people are out there, and you do not need to be a tech to sell service and give customers a great experience.

What is a great one worth? Before we can put a value on this we need to define what a good or great service advisor is. Why? Because I promise you, there are far more mediocre and even bad service advisors out there than good or great. How can this be? Because hiring and terminating employees is a hard thing to do and it is easier to keep who you already have at the counter. I’d like you to listen to a former multi-store operator and ATI coach, Paul Marsh, offer you some suggestions on this topic.

Personality vs. technical ability

I am going to get this out of the way first: personality is far more important than experience. I can teach a layperson most everything you would need to know to be a successful service advisor within 60 to 90 days on the job, tops. What I can never teach, and no one can, is the right personality to be successful as a service advisor. What does the right personality look and sound like?

  • This is an oldie but a truth you cannot dispute: you can hear them smiling over the phone. Their tone, energy and voice inflection make the caller feel like their call is important and their business would be appreciated, rather than feeling that the call is an unwelcome interruption.
  • They are social butterflies! The kind of person you can take to a party where they do not know a soul and they are comfortable and happy to meet new people.
  • They have a high need for recognition which drives them to high performance.
  • A high sense of urgency. They can’t wait to do it all!
  • Empathic — they can relate to the level of concern of others and make them feel at ease.
  • MONEY MOTIVATED! They thrive in a pay-for-performance position and are focused on what it takes to maximize their income.
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Exceptional Customer Service Checklist
A great way to make sure your shop is providing the best experience to your customers, is to use the Exceptional Customer Service Checklist. To use the checklist go to www.ationlinetraining.com/2018-11 for a limited time.

None of the above is an earth-shattering revelation, right? But if you are being honest, out of the six characteristics I listed, how many can you say this one describes your advisor? I have literally had owners tell me when I bring up a concern about their advisor things like “He is not a people person” and “Once you get to know him he is a good person.” WHAT? A phone call lasts minutes at best, so how can a customer “get to know him” enough to feel like your shop is the place to go? Indifference from the person a consumer deals with is still by far one of the biggest reasons customers quit a business.

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Frequency reports

In a recent coaches’ meeting we were reviewing “frequency reports.” This is an invaluable tool to track the frequency of your customer visits and show how many are one-time, two-time, etc., returning customers. I was astonished to see that at a very successful shop, 53 percent of their customers came to the shop only once. This shop spends good money on their website, search engine optimization and ad words, A LOT of money! But they are clearly NOT giving their customers a compelling reason to return. Their four- and five-time return customers accounted for over half their sales with hundreds of dollars more in ARO but only single-digit percentages of their overall car count. If they could double their four- and five-time return rate they would never need to spend a dime on ad words or social media. They would be rolling in the dough!

I cannot speak to this shop’s advisors or customer experience, but I sure do question them. How do you lose over half of your first-time customers and not think that something is wrong? What impact does a good service advisor have on return rates? I would say they have almost complete control over it except for the percentage of people who move, visitors to the area and other reasons that customers may not return.

It starts with the call prior to visiting (yes, people still call and check prices and ask for appointments). I cannot tell you how many times in my many years running multiple stores and districts that I have seen car count climb substantially within days of changing a store manager. We did not pick the store up and move it and we did not increase advertising. The new manager answered the phone clearly and professionally, spoke with a smile, showed interest, invited the customer in, made it clear their call was important and their business would be appreciated and all in all, gave the customer a compelling reason to come in. The former manager would say the phone is not ringing, we are priced too high, no one is buying, bad area, etc.

A great service advisor greets the customer as soon as they walk in and shows warmth and professionalism that puts the customer at ease right away. The write-up process includes questions that clearly define the customer’s concerns; and the customer feels a connection to the service advisor based on their urgency, professionalism and personality. A great service advisor is a great people person and great people persons find commonality quickly and make others feel comfortable. You can NOT teach this.

Great service advisors

A great service advisor has a process when contacting the customer about their vehicle that includes the customer in the conversations, paints visuals for the customer to understand, listens to the customer and gives options and advice to the customer on the vehicle’s health. A great process they use starts with what is right with the vehicle, then the concern the customer brought the vehicle in for and other concerns or suggestions.

A great service advisor understands the importance of the “goodbye kiss.” They take the time to go over all repairs and services and, when applicable, declined work. They answer any and all questions and make sure in words and in action that the customer knows their business is appreciated.

As I stated early in the article, I hire personality above experience. When we run an ad the early resumes we see are almost exclusively not who we hoped to hire. The underperformers and job hoppers are looking for work and the great employees are being taken care of. We need a service advisor and we often settle for or cherish experience, as it is easier than training someone. STOP! Bad hires cost you as much as three times their pay in lost or unrealized revenue.

Consider hiring the right personality and teach them the rest. These people are out there, and you do NOT need to be a tech to sell service and give customers a great experience. You do NOT! I am living proof of this. You can pay these people less to start, then help them grow into a great career and become a great long-term employee. They do not know at first whether a customer who came in for an oil change should or should not be expected to want to maintain their vehicle. You show, train and tell them what to do and they just do it. There are countless videos and resources to teach anyone the fundamentals of how an automobile works.

What is a great service advisor worth? Every penny they earn!

Exceptional service advisor checklist

A great way to make sure your shop is providing the best experience to your customers, is to use the Exceptional Customer Service Checklist. The function of the checklist is to make sure that we give the same “wow!” experience every time to every customer. You can use it to grade your service advisor and help them grow.

If you would like our Exceptional Customer Service Checklist, you can get it by going to www.ationlinetraining.com/2018-11 for a limited time.

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