“You can find all the work you want in a car but if you don’t have someone at that front counter who can connect and assist a client, you don’t have a shot,” Rick White told the crowd at AAPEX on Tuesday.
White, the president of 180Biz, a business consultancy for automotive shops, went on to say that he believes the service advisor has the toughest job in the shop.
“They have to be an advocate for the client, maintain profit, take care of the techs and deliver what the owner’s looking for. So it’s a juggling act for sure.”
In his session titled "Service Advisors — The Key to Business Success", White stress the importance of automotive shop owners understanding the value that their service advisors can provide. He offered the following tips for getting the most out of service advisors at your shop.
1. Provide clarity
Shop owners need to really spell out the expectations they have from their services advisors from the get-go.
“After you hire somebody, you need to be sure to show them how you do things. Otherwise, you will end up with an advisor who runs your shop like their last shop,” Rick said. “Be clear about where you want to go, why you want to get there, and show them how they help us as an owner, and how we get there.”
2. Explain the shop’s value proposition
More than anyone else, service advisors need to have a solid understanding of why customers should do business with your shop over others. Too many advisors out there just don’t understand what makes a shop unique and special, and that needs to change.
“We are now in the experience economy. It’s no longer a differentiation that you will fix a car right; it’s an expectation,” White said. “It’s not about what you do, it’s about how you make them feel when you’re doing it.”
3. Lead by example
The biggest training tool the owner has is his own example, White explained to the crowd. For example, when the service advisor sees the owner take a client call at night because there’s a problem, that goes a long way.
“People are going to be watching really closely the actions of the owner, and, ultimately, that’s what they’re going to mimic,” he said. “People are watching all the time.”
4. Build relationships
It’s important for service advisors (and shop owners, too) to “see the person, not the invoice.” Make the time to get to know the customer and understand their wants and needs.
“We have to understand what their goals are for the vehicle and then be able to show them we are going to make these recommendations, and I am going to tie every one of those recommendations to a goal that they have for the vehicle,” White said. “Then they will feel like I am never doing anything just to line my pockets, which is an issue in our industry today.”
5. Provide excellent customer service
Advisors should strive to delight their customers and be energetic, enthusiastic, and attuned to the customer’s needs every day on the job. Things like tone and wording can have a real impact.
“Recently, I was listening to an advisor saying, ‘I can email this document over to you.’ That seems fine but what if the advisor said, ‘It would be my pleasure to get this over to you,’? White said. “These little things make such a difference in the perception of how we do business.”
