front counter

People In Overdrive

on November 5, 2024

Today’s WOIT Topic: Building confidence for the front counter staff through information and education.

Link
Embed
Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.
This week’s WOIT:

Let’s discuss managing workflow. What processes need to be managed at the front counter?

Service Advisor Tips – Asking the Right Questions Up Front

on February 15, 2023

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.

Learn More – Get Your FREE Strategy Session

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!

Front Counter Workshop Clip: Professional Obligation

on December 28, 2022

Let’s talk about auto repair ethics. Picture this: you’re an auto repair service advisor. You present a necessary service to a customer. They tell you that they can’t afford it. Do you let them go without fixing the issue, potentially risking more harm to their vehicle? What about the other issues you haven’t gotten to writing up for them yet?

Automotive Service Writers have a professional obligation to tell customers about needed repairs, just like doctors are obligated to tell patients about illnesses they may not know about. In this video, Brian talks with shop owners in our You Net Results group about that obligation. Don’t let your worries about your client’s money troubles get in the way of your ethics. Word gets around!

Auto repair ethics and professionalism are key for all service writers and service advisors.

What Are Your Auto Repair Ethics?

Brian started this clip by stressing the importance of personal integrity. Professional behavior is important to any auto repair employee, since you want to keep your prospects open with other shops. Nobody wants to hire a Technician or Service Writer with a bad reputation from other shops.

Karen defines auto repair ethics as being 100% honest with customers. When we practice this, we win their loyalty for life.

Bryce adds that all staff members, especially mechanics, should only use polite language. Whether you realize it or not, your customers are listening.

Jared’s bottom line on auto repair ethics? We should always provide our clients with safe, reliable vehicles.

Brian then brought the discussion home. He reminded us of our obligation to share all vehicle problems with customers. Even when clients mention money problems, we still need to let them know what is wrong. A doctor would not withhold their test results from patients, so we must be thorough, too.

Learn More – Get Your FREE Strategy Session

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!