Here’s one of our handy Service Advisor tips. Are your service advisors asking the right questions up front? This is mission critical to avoid having to call customers back when your Technician finds something unexpected with a vehicle and has questions of their own. Don’t risk painting your staff as incompetent. That’s a recipe for wasting time and money. Ask the right questions up front!
Service Advisor Tips – Call Recap
Brian opens up the clip by presenting Step G in the Getting Acquainted / In Person Counter Contact form. This is probably the most important step in the process. All the Service Advisor Tips and voice tricks mean nothing if you are not listening, asking questions, and verifying the customer’s vehicle problem. Remember, at the end of the day, our customers have problems, and it’s our job to solve them.
What do all of our service advisor tips boil down to? We must gather as much information as possible from the customer. Brian confirmed this to be true with our guest Nick, who is an A Tech. When a Service Advisor doesn’t gather enough information and pass it all on to the Technicians, we’ve got big trouble.
Repeating the customer’s problems back to them builds their confidence in us, as well as helping us avoid missing an issue later. Nick verified that he has had many questions for Service Advisors immediately after receiving work orders. For example, he may not know how long a car’s transmission has been slipping. This question should have come up when the Service Advisor initially talked with the customer.
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Does your auto repair shop lack direction? Perhaps your business plan has stalled out, and you need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with Brian? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!
Learn how to document auto repair shop systems the YNR way – using Action Flow Charts! Never again wonder what the steps are to any repair process your team must complete. Brian reviews a sample brake job checklist form to demonstrate how technicians and service advisors can confirm every task is completed. Do you want to download Action Flow Charts that your team can customize for your shop? Get the whole package here!
Action Flow Charts to Document Automotive Systems
Brian starts off by recalling a customer in his former shop. When they brought an error to the staff’s attention, everyone worked together to fix it. After that, they had a customer for life. In fact, that customer’s word of mouth brought a lot more business in. Just one interaction caused an explosion in revenue!
But how? The staff fell back on their systems to resolve the problem. Those systems were meticulously documented using Action Flow Charts. Therefore, everyone knew the chain of command. Everyone in the shop wrote down their tasks, so going back in time to find out what when wrong was easy.
More applications
Moving on, Brian suggested a great way to ingrain Action Flow Charts into your staff’s culture. Do you hold weekly one on one meetings with each staff member? If not, then why not? When your meetings take place, you should add an Action Flow Chart review to your agenda. Pick one from your folder, and make sure your technician or service writer knows it front to back. When you do this, you will have a strong gauge on how knowledgeable they are.
Next, Brian showed an example of the ABS Brake Problem Initial Analysis form. When using this form, technicians will not miss any potential causes of the customer’s brake problems. The YNR group were well versed on the form, and found great success with them. They all use Action Flow Charts every day, and they teach it to their staff.
Ready For The Next Step? Book Your FREE Strategy Session!
Your auto repair shop lacks direction. Maybe your business plan has stalled out? Not meeting your goals? You need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with You Net Results guide Brian Gillis? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!
Gary Gunn quizzes YNR Members on how they define auto repair leadership. Repair Shop Owners need to learn key skills in order to be effective leaders in their automotive businesses.
Auto Repair Leadership Defined
Gary opens by asking the group how they define auto repair leadership. Each of our YNR members contribute valuable takes in this clip.
Joe says a true leader knows the direction that automotive business is going. Pam adds that that leaders set the tone and pace of the business. The owner leads by making sure everyone focuses on the main goals and the team doesn’t go off on tangents.Brian Gillis has mentioned before that every auto shop has a “speed up / slow down” rhythm. The owner must ensure that everyone keeps that pace.
Fred reminds us that leaders must set month to month goals for staff. Owners lead by creating processes. They also have to continually seek ways to improve those processes.
Jerry adds that auto repair leadership means defining a repair shop’s vision. Then it is up to the owner to lead by example.
Gary Recommends Leadership Resources
All of these definitions included aspects of leadership. However, Gary has more to add. Since he is a certified eMyth coach, Gary Gunn has learned leadership methods inside and out from Michael Gerber. John Maxwell also has great leadership training resources, which dig much deeper. Remember, core tenets of the job may never change. However, changing times could mean new problems to solve.
Learn More – Book Your FREE Strategy Session
Does your independent auto repair shop lack direction? Perhaps your business plan has stalled out. So you need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with Brian Gillis? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!
Service Advisor Tips – Call Recap
