Employee Keepers

So, I am reading this report that has Service Advisors/Consultants making $54,000 per year (NADA average). A U.S. government site says $35,000 to /$53,000 and another site says $39,000 to $58,000. Today’s question for you is this: Are these agencies in the ball park as far as income range?
One thing I know for sure, it is a growing industry segment. Crazy, eh? All we hear is gloom and doom in the automotive industry, yet some areas are growing. That same report said that by 2013 we will be short about 5,000 people to do the job.
If we do the math, cars are lasting longer and there are fewer dealers to repair them than ever. There is no question that this job description has a solid looking future. And, just like any growing industry…the cream will raise to the top. Keep trained in all phases of your job and watch your income grow.
Let us know what you think and have a great weekend.

We just got back from two days of seminars with the good folks of upper Michigan. I can tell you that the service business is alive and well around the 45th Parallel. We held the meetings at BJ’s restaurant and catering in beautiful Gaylord Michigan Kudos to BJ’s, great food, service, meeting facilities…just everything!!!! We enjoyed great support from the General Motors region as well. We extend a special thank you to Jack, Ken and Duane. I will post some practical nuggets when the notes are all filtered. That will be as early as tomorrow afternoon.
Until then, Rock On!!!

Hey I was in a meeting last week in Hawaii…..that’s kinda why no articles last week. One service manager,Bobby, Servco Auto Windward in the group had a good tip for walk-arounds in the service drive. He has a quick lube tech in the drive doing the walk arounds while the customer is working with the service consultant. It speeds the process, keeps the customer involved and gives the appearance of a professional looking over the vehicle.
This is not just fluff, Bobby’s department has the highest hours per R.O. in the meeting. Great tip Bobby. Mahalo
Until next time,

Curt

Tell them… they will forget
Show them….the will remember
Let them….they will understand

Think about how this applies in Sales, demo drive. Service, walking the vehicle at write up. Leadership, everything you do with your team.
Are we “letting” often enough. Are we on the look out for new opportunitiew to “let”.
All three have to do with leadership if you think about it.
What do you think.
Let us hear from you.

Until next time

Curt

Well, the good folks at the Mystic Lake Casino have done it again. The convention center an all of the restaurants were outstanding as usual.
Speaking of as usual, I was in the company of some outstanding service professionals again. I am coming to expect great interaction and quality contributions when I am in Minnesota.
One theme that we adopted for the course was professionalism. We had great contributions from our General Motors representatives as well. We had some great ideas about how to present ourselves professionally. We talked of how it is as much attitude as it is actions. In fact the attitudes dictate the quality of the actions.
I was able to see my good friend and colleague Jim Leslie of the Wipfli Accounting organization. Jim is an outstanding consultant in the retail automotive industry. he and I spent the morning talking about leadership in the retail automotive industry. We shared some thoughts worth publishing in future articles.

see you soon.

Curt

Was in the Marriott Airport in Pittsburgh. Kudos to the staff…outstanding job. Specail thank you to Craig in catering. Representation in the seminar was geogrphically and brand…wide ranging. We had representatives from Pa. as well as Ohio and Long Island, New York. I want to extend my thanks and best wishes to Gary over at Cassel GMC Truck GET WELL SOON, BIG GUY. Special thanks to the Generl Motors representation at the class as well. I really appreciate your participation and great insights.

Couple of best practices:

Follow up. The higher up the empowerment ladder the follow up call comes the more impact it has. Some stores the dealer calls after service!!!

Presenting Additional Work: Make sure you tell the customer all that you have completed up to that point before asking for additonal labor and or parts. It really helps the closing ratio and customer satisfaction levels.

Awareness. Dirk made a great presentation that brought awareness to all about the total value of a customer in the service department to the total dealership. The case in point was a customer that represented $5 million in vehicle sales alone. This versus the cost of a loaner vehicle for a day or two. Thank you Dirk.

Special thanks to Rob from Sun Buick Pontiac GMC for all of his fine presentation work.

Until next time, Curt.

Thank you for signing up for the series that is designed to improve your income and professionalism, while making your job easier. Now! If you would be a professional, have that status and the income, you would do the things the “pros” do.
One thing that we constantly hear about professionals that excell in their fields is continuing eduacation and practice. You have already taken a step in continuing your education. Now, let’s practice!
The first is the most basic, but it is the one that is often missed by non-professionals all of the time. A professional greeting when you answer the telephone.
You remember how we practiced it when I was there. Practice it out loud, in your vehicle, have your boss call you name it, but make it a reflex. Part of what makes what we went over when I was there word to make your job easier is practice. If you practice, after time, what you practice becomes a reflex. You do not have to think about things that are reflex, they just happen. If they just happen, would you agree, they are easier for you?
A couple of tips:
The first thing out of your mouth should be a thank you. Let the customer know that they have called the right place. Use the entire dealership name along with “service”. Identify yourself, remember they cannot see you. Ask “How can I help you today?”
It might sound like this:
Thank you for calling ABC Motors Service. This is Curt speaking, how may I help you today?
Now all you have to do… is do it.
More to come.

Thank you for reading the series that is designed to improve your income and professionalism, while making your job easier.  Now!  If you would be a professional, have that status and the income, you would do the things the “pros” do. 

One thing that we constantly hear about professionals that excell in their fields is continuing eduacation and practice.  You have already taken a step in continuing your education. Now, let’s practice!

The first is the most basic, but it is the one that is often missed by non-professionals all of the time.  A professional greeting when you answer the telephone.

You remember how we practiced it when I was there.  Practice it out loud, in your vehicle, have your boss call you name it, but make it a reflex.  Part of what makes what we went over when I was there word to make your job easier is practice.  If you practice, after time, what you practice becomes a reflex.  You do not have to think about things that are reflex, they just happen.  If they just happen, would you agree, they are easier for you?

A couple of tips:

The first thing out of your mouth should be a thank you.
Let the customer know that they have called the right place
Use the entire dealership name along with “service”
Identify yourself, remember they cannot see you.
Ask “How can I help you today?”

It might sound like this:

Thank you for calling ABC Motors Service.  This is Curt speaking, how may I help you today?

Now all you have to do… is do it. 

More to come.

It’s unwise to pay too much. But it is worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can’t be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
There is hardly anything in the world that someone can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper … and people who consider price alone are this man’s lawful prey.
John Ruskin1819-1900

Wow, just back from two service consultant seminars in the title cities. I had not been to either city before. Both were outstanding. It was not very suprising to me that we often come to the conclusion that in the process of selling needed services on our customers’ vehicles that we satisfy them as well.

Why no suprise? I mean let’s face it we are always hearing or reading about people being taken advantage of in service facilities.

But, let’s analyze what a customer really is looking for when they do buisness with any facility.

1) Someone who cares about them and their vehicle.

2) Someone they can trust.

3) Someone who is knowledgeable.

4) Someone who takes the three above and gives them the best advice on how to spend their time and money.

If we take a look at the last point above, maybe how to budget their time and money would be more accurate. I have never met someone that had so much of either that they did not have to make choices.

Here is a good example that should bring what I am talking about into focus.

My service consultant recommended that we rotate my tires last June. This was not unusual, but the reason was. He said that it looked like the tires on the front wheels were a little worse off than the other two. We would put those in the back and then when winter got here we would take the replace the worst two tires and put the new ones on the drive wheels for the winter.

Wow, I thought. This guy really carse about my vehicle and my money and my time. Of course, guess what time it is? You betcha. Time to buy my two new tires. And guess who as a real easy tire sale? Right again, that service consultant who showed he cares. What really was important to me was that I did not have to think about caring for my tires or the rest of the car for that matter. The biggest benifit of how he takes care of my vehicle is that I do not need to spend anything other than time to take it in and the money to have that work done.

For old Curt that is a huge benefit of doing business with that dealership. Thought free car care.

Think about yourself and what your loyalty factor would be if someone cared for you in any aspect of your life to the point where you would just have to show up and pay the bill. When you think about it, those are the easy parts of doing buisness if the rest is something that you can trust to an expert. Be a professional consultant and watch your life change.