What was the biggest problem in 2010? There are not enough people to take care of the Clients! This is the biggest problem I see at dealerships today. In 2010, I visited dealerships from Kentucky to Virginia, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, Wisconsin and Florida. All but one have the same problem in common: there are not enough people to “hug” the Clients. Since 2008, almost all companies have reduced their staff. Makes sense. The future was uncertain; Businesses needed to remain profitable, and the logical place to start was the biggest expense all non-manufacturing businesses have: personnel costs. Several positive aspects emerged from this. Dealers were able to get rid of outrageous, “dead weight” warranties and were forced to improve and streamline processes. But if dealers want to prosper in the years to come now that the economy has bottomed out (March 2009), they must be prepared to grow their parts and service business by being able to run the business professionally and properly. .

The problem seems to be that dealers are now “addicted” to very high net win and net win to gross win ratios. What I’m talking about is adding directly commissioned service advisors and technicians to the staff, not “fat” overheads. This will increase both gross profit and net profit. New Vehicle Sales will not “bounce back” to previous levels for years; It’s called “the new normal.” The “gold” is in Used, Service and Parts. Get ready for “the new normal” we have been and will be in for years to come by staffing your departments with the right number of employees to serve your customers and prospects. In the Service Department, in order to have enough time to serve Customers, your Service Advisors should NOT be serving more than 15 Customers per day on average (12 if you are a highline Distributor). And if your service advisors have taken over the cashier duties or warranty coding, the number of customers they need to serve should be less. Here is a simple exercise; for the month, take the number of Customer Payment and Warranty Repair Orders and add them up. Add internal repair orders IF your service advisors also write them. Then divide the RO totals by the number of service advisors. If your answer exceeds 325, you need more advisors.

If you’re thinking, “Our advisors can currently handle our clients, we don’t need to add anyone else.” Think about this: As of 2009, the average customer-paid vehicle at most service departments had more than 70,000 miles; do you think it just needs an oil change? Combine that with the fact that their service advisors see customers maybe twice a year due to expanded maintenance requirements and improved product quality. That doesn’t give them/you much opportunity to build a relationship or take good care of the Customer’s vehicle. To do both, your advisors need TIME! Your service advisors may be forced to “shortcut” crucial steps when handling too many clients. Advisors will do what it takes to keep up with the day’s work, but are you doing what it takes to grow your business and theirs when they don’t have time? Advisors write to the Client, obtain expense approval for the Client’s request, and close the ticket. It is expected that they personally deliver the vehicle to the Customer through the Active Delivery process to KEEP that Customer. But to grow their service business and increase sales per repair order, they need to do more.

Here are 10 processes that could fall by the wayside on a daily basis if you’re short on staff:
1. Take a GOOD advance reservation, including the request for miles.

2. Review the history of the Customer’s vehicle, looking for previously missed or needed maintenance and postponed repairs to present to the Customer.

3. Make a GOOD tour with the Client when he arrives.

4. Present the appropriate maintenance menu after the tour.

5. Correctly introduce permission-based Multipoint Inspection.

6. Technicians performing a quality Multipoint Inspection, with digital photographs.

7. The Assessors then contact the Customer and request the sale of the items found during the Technicians’ Multi-Point Inspection (if you think this is already happening, ask the Technicians, not the Assessors).

8. Provide BETTER, Better, good options to close more Sales.

9. Request a good follow-up date for the unsold work and register it in an electronic reminder system such as Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.

10. Make in-person Active Deliveries where Consultants set the next Service Appointment and request any other vehicles at home that you might keep for the Customer.

When any of those processes are skipped, you are wasting your “Service Ups”. When you have enough trained staff to follow the processes that are designed to take care of your Customers, everyone wins. My Service Drive Process works best when all the steps are followed and you need enough people to do it. Your Customers depend on your Dealer to take care of their vehicles. To do this, your Advisors must consult the mileage and history of the vehicle; then recommend what is needed to keep a Customer’s vehicle safe and worry-free. By inviting the Customer to his Dealer, he has assumed the responsibility of taking care of the Customer’s vehicle. That means selling recommended repairs and necessary maintenance, not just accepting what the Customer wanted.

You not only need enough service advisors, but also enough technicians with the time to do the work the vehicles need. Your technicians become more efficient when they don’t bounce from vehicle to vehicle. Few things are more frustrating for a technician than starting a job and then being told, “Wait a minute, could you take a quick look at this vehicle?” or “Could you knock out this waiter’s oil change before I finish that?” Running around in chaos to take care of Customer vehicles in any way because we have too few Technicians is inefficient and wastes your Technician’s time. Your technicians will NOT perform a multi-point quality inspection until they know the consultants are going to sell the job and they know they will have the opportunity to perform the job on a vehicle that is already on their stand. Otherwise it’s all checkmarks or an approved approach. If you say, you can’t find good people; Try Craigslist.com, “The National Electronic Bulletin Board.” Every dealership I’ve been to has had amazing results when they post an ad on Craigslist. Just last week in Macclenny, Florida (where do you wonder, right?), the Service Department needed to add more Techs. Within 24 hours of posting the announcement, the Service Manager was interviewing and hired a GM Master Tech, and another GM and Ford Master Tech arrived the next day. There is no good excuse for not having the right amount of staff. The only way your staff can handle your customers properly is to have enough people to “hug” your customers. This then optimizes your Customer’s visit, your facility, and the dollars spent on training and advertising. Take care of your Customers and they will take care of you by coming back and spending money vs. defecting to the 100s of options everyone has that are closer to home or closer to work. For more ideas like these or information on Management Training and Development for Dealership Operations, please contact Lloyd Schiller at [email protected].