As a way to ensure that our Coaching and Training is always being tweaked and grown, we survey our own clients on a continuous basis with a series of questions and requesting written feedback as well.

Obviously, we are proud of our Coaching and Training so would like to offer the results and hightlight some feedback received.

Below are the categories and questions that pertain to each, along with the results.

Did the presenter clearly understand and address your specific question(s) or issue(s)?

• Addressed needs for information – 86.1% Replied with Very Helpful
• Provided practical examples  - 86.2% Replied with Very Helpful
• Gave clear explanations  - 84.4% Replied with Very Helpful
• Clearly answered question(s)  - 87.2% Replied with Very Helpful
• Overall impression of the workshop techniques – 81.3% Replied with Very Helpful

We’d like to have your opinion on the overall presentation experience.

• The workshop was clear and easy to follow. – 77.3% Replied with Strongly Agree
• Enough information presented – 70% Replied with Strongly Agree
• Confident my questions would be answered  - 82.7% Replied with Strongly Agree

Please help us evaluate our trainer’s skills by answering these questions.

• Encouraged questions – 85.5% Replied with Strongly Agree
• Communication style kept me focused – 82.1% Replied with Strongly Agree

Some of the written feedback replies include:

• “The walkaround is simple and the results should be very obvious once we see the numbers in profits”
• “ALL ADVISORS ACCEPTED THE CHALLENGE AND JACK WAS ABLE TO MOTIVATE THE GROUP AS WELL AS THE MANAGERS“
• “Very positive attitude who welcomed and answered questions that were positive or negative towards presentation. Committed to successful implementation of recommendations in our facility.”
• “The actual walk around training and what such a simple process can do to improve our business is fantastic.”
• “An excellent job in presenting. No confrontational, speaks to the level of his audience, keeps everyone involved.”
• “There was no fluff or crap. It was direct, to the point, and i didn’t feel like I was being ‘sold’.”
• “I have a nose for “bull” and did not smell it once while Jack was here helping us. His suggestions and implementations were accepted with open arms because he knows what he is talking about. I truly believe that this process will work and have had to correct my personnel this week in resorting back to the way it was. In the end, this will augment profitability and csi. In order for this to work, it must be monitored and worked on until it becomes natural. Jack was superb in what was accomplished here. Thank you Jack!”

We would certainly like to work with YOUR Organization and achieve similar results – Please Contact Us Today!

Tight, efficient, high-performance teams typically generate 30 percent more revenue than the average, in-house trained team. Can you imagine what your Service Advisor could do with a third more employees who know how to jump in and tackle any given situation, such as how to perform the “walk-around” with customers? Proper walk-around training optimizes vehicle downtime and encourages a “call to action” for customers to address potential problems and repair minor damage, thereby increasing per customer revenue. Once taught, it should only take 3 to 5 minutes to perform, but yields untold amounts of profit.

The Walk-Around: What to Look For

Service Advisor Training teaches how to conduct the walk-around in a systematic, precise order. Not varying from a specific routine actually speeds up the process. Aside from obvious issues like visual damage, every small detail is an upsell opportunity, so check:

• Battery
• Tire wear
• Damaged or leaking struts
• Lost wheel weights or damaged coverings
• Brake dust
• Carbon or exhaust build-up
• Wiper blades, lights, filters, hoses, belts and cables
• Fluid levels
• Expired stickers (inspection, service reminders)

Is Your Facility Getting in the Way?

Some Auto dealerships’ service departments do not have drive-through traffic lanes, but improvise by erecting a large canopy for sheltering customers during the walk-around. If this is impossible, the Service Advisor should still perform the inspection, make notes on his write-up sheet, and go over it with the customer. It’s all in the presentation.

Incomplete, hurried walk-arounds are not only a missed opportunity, but in reality, you are doing a disservice to your customers. Naturally, there is the safety issue, but helping them become aware of real time or potential issues such as bad tires or brakes helps inspire trust. Moreover, service walk-around training helps determine customer needs and will likely lock them in for future scheduling.

You may have decided that a training program falls outside your current marketing budget; you may even think your training practice is adequate, but remember this: cheap training results in cheap work habits, which results in low revenue. Quality service employees need quality training. Look within your organization. Is your staff living up to your mission statement? Service Advisor Training dramatically improves competency. This vastly impacts your yearly bottom line.

It is believed that the costs associated with acquiring new clients is five times greater than keeping an existing one. Regular clients spend three times more than new clients, on average. Knowing how to handle any customer service-related issues beforehand inevitably builds customer retention. Even with the best employees in the automotive business, problems will crop up; there’s no getting around them. However, properly trained customer service teams have the tools to know how to handle any issue. Moreover, they will learn how to view it as an opportunity to establish an even better relationship with your client, inspire loyalty and keep them from running straight to your competition.

As important as customer retainage is, profitability is always going to be the bottom line; you still need to attract new customers in order to keep that competitive advantage. Automotive Service Advisor Training teaches your team how to

• Set pre-sale/post sale appointments, via in person, telephone or the Internet.
• How to up sell and promote products is an invaluable tool in their customer service arsenal.
• Learn how to be intuitive regarding what service will best meet your client’s needs, thereby fostering your credibility and cementing the customer’s devotion to your business.

Customers believe you have only their interests at heart if your Automotive Service Advisor’s customer service skills are set on target.

Even in the best economy, you can be sure that your automotive competitor friends are doing whatever they can to gain and retain s new business. During a recession, however, it’s more crucial than ever that your automotive service team’s skills are solid, mastered and flawless.

You’ve spent money, time and effort to build your client base. You may believe you have long-lasting customer relationships, but remember: you’re only as good as the last experience your client had with your automotive customer service reps. Trust that your competitors remember.

Only the objectives should change in an economic decline, focusing instead on improving the business acumen, rather than the employees’ interpersonal skills. Automotive Service Manager Training Business Acumen focuses squarely on the valuation and financial outcome, as well as the measurement of that outcome. Additionally, it develops and supports the company’s infrastructure and identifies what motivates an employee and addresses innovation.

Automotive Business Acumen Training: What to Expect

Leadership agility is addressed according to personality type, assessing each level of acumen. It uncovers financial behaviors, their beliefs and increases their economic core values. It teaches automotive finance techniques, how to greet customers and how to sell and close deals. It exposes the leadership potential of the service managers and gives provides the necessary tools needed to create and desire capital.

With the emergence of these tools, the Automotive Service Manager Training often comes into play in atypical situations. This is because there is now a high-impact level of effectiveness on service management participants as their mindset begins to shift. They think “capital creation” and “survival,” as opposed to merely doing their job. It’s transformational.

From gigantic companies to the smallest family-owned business, owners gave all the credit to acumen training, citing it directly responsible for the huge impact on their service manager’s effectiveness. They reported an immediate, notable financial increase from the majority of their Automotive Service Managers.

Let’s face it. It has never been more critical for automotive businesses to be on top of their game. Management can make or break the company. Even if there is already a regular training course in place, business acumen training is an invaluable technique.

Once the two levels of Service Management are on the same page, the easier it will be to align forces, while simultaneously involving the lower-level employees in setting personal goals for themselves. Developing and sharing these goals with he or she will also provide you with the unique opportunity to tap into unknown talents of which you may not have previously been aware. Setting goals will ultimately reap substantial cost-saving rewards, productivity and performance.

Set Goals to Involve, Motivate, and Promote Pro-activity

Obviously, Service Managers do not have to involve employees in every aspect of the business, but when workers feel they are involved in the goal-setting process, the more likely they will be stimulated to achieve your business objectives and future financial aspirations. The satisfied Automotive Service Manager is invariably a high performer.

Consider this: If your Automotive Service Advisor does not know what the organization is seeking to accomplish he cannot possibly know what his individual role is. Pre-determined goals arm them with the ability to focus on how to react to any foreseeable potential problems that may crop up. For example, one beneficial goal you may like to work with he or she toward is setting aside one day a week for each department to participate in reactionary training, thereby circumventing such issues. Your targeted goals should meet with your business’s mission, as well as:

• Be easy to comprehend
• Have a precise beginning and ending
• Have a measurable process
• Be time-specific
• Be recognized and accepted as important enough to implement
• Be challenging, but feasible and attainable

Regarding the last important point, reachable goals give your Automotive Service Advisor something to strive towards; unrealistic goals are doomed from the onset. Your goals should not be dependent upon a multitude of circumstances beyond his control.

The absence of goals can literally determine whether a dealership and its staff perform brilliantly or simply stay afloat. Without them, seemingly viable, profitable automotive businesses remain in debt, or worse, go into extinction. However, if they are thoroughly researched and reasonable, solid goals are a powerful weapon.

1. The Service Manager setting sales goals, both individually and the department as a whole.
2. Providing the Service Management with coaching techniques.
3. Setting up proper appointments and collecting important information while on the phone.
4. Implementing Service Advisor “walk-arounds” with the customer.
5. Proper presentation of Menu and Inspection prior to vehicle going in to the shop.
6. Educating the customer on the importance of the “Service Inspection”.
7. Educate and remind customers about the importance of routine maintenance.
8. Pointing out savings or special deals.
9. Educating the customer of potential or important safety issues.
10. Providing a 10-12-2 status updates of customer’s vehicle to improve customer satisfaction.

More on Automotive Service Advisor Training can be viewed at http://dealerserviceacademy.com/. If you want to see how you can increase your bottom line by implementing these policies, please try our Profit Improvement Calculator at http://dealerserviceacademy.com/about/profit-improvement-calculator/

I have discussed types of training for the Service Advisor, like the “Interactive Walk Around” and how Volvo profited from its implementation. I have also discussed when to do the training without impacting productivity or profits with our “Real Time Service Advisor Training”

However, if you have had any type of sales training, everyone is fired up, you will hear “best training I ever had”, but after a couple of weeks most people go back to doing what they did before! So how do you make new training last and profit from the investment?

Training The Trainer

If you have ever been through dog training, they do not train the dog they train the owner. The same principal applies with Service Advisor training, you need to train the Service Manager to the new policies and teach them how they can manage and coach the Service Advisor. We spend 75% of the timing training the Service Manager and 25% with the Service Advisor. We teach goal setting, accountability and coaching techniques. We follow up weeks and months after the training is complete to assure that the new policies are still being used and work with Fixed Operations to see the profit!

Automotive Service Advisor Training

It is pretty obvious that service advisors need to know quite a bit about how automobiles work, so they can appear to know what they are talking about when informing customers what kind of work needs to be performed. The thing is that most people who know a lot about mechanical issues are not as polished when it comes to dealing with people. This program puts a lot of focus on how to properly assist customers and make them feel comfortable with what the service advisor is telling them through an “interactive walk-around”. Many customers are weary of service department personnel because the customers believe that the employees are trying to use their expert knowledge to take advantage of the customer. This program essentially serves as an agenda of things that the service advisor needs to inform the customer about, and this will develop a solid relationship between the advisor and customer. Dealerships will definitely see an increase in profits by using this training program, so it is well worth the minimal investment. The best news is that the service advisor will never have to be away from customers, so it is essentially like paid training for the employee and the dealership.

Real-time auto service advisor training is the perfect answer for any dealership. Dealerships will find that this type of training is ideal because the advisor will never have to leave the dealership, which would cut the dealership’s profits temporarily. This program will turn average service advisors into true professionals, and the dealership will make even more money through the service department.

Chris Dauerer, a vice president with Volvo, states that the Automotive Service Advisor Training program provides a “defined process for the dealer” that in addition to the initial assessment, also has an ongoing follow-up process. He states that the process helps the customer become more aware of things that need repair or replacement such as brakes and tires. It also helps to determine the customer’s needs and wants that may later aid in scheduling repairs.

The Automotive Service Advisor Training costs each dealership $8,000 to participate in the program but has shown to increase the gross profit by $32.50 per repair. This is based on increasing the revenue in service by about $30 and parts by $20. The training is done at the dealership where the trainer can observe the service process and then train personnel on the new method. Based on the average number of repairs done in a year at a typical Volvo dealership, a dealership could see an annual increase in profits around $100,000.

Once a Volvo dealership has operated under the new program for six months, a review is held to determine the success of the new program. If the dealership is following the program adequately, half of the $8,000 is reimbursed. The dealership can recoup the remaining investment after 123 repairs are made.

The Lovering Volvo dealership in Nashua, N.H. has used the Automotive Service Advisor Training at its establishment for one year and has seen service revenues increase by about $2,000 to $3,000 per month. The dealership has seen better organization, more customer involvement and increased upsells on things such as tires, wheel alignment and windshield wipers. The program also helps the service department stay on top of recalls and preparing for upcoming service calls.

The program has also shown an increase in overall customer service scores for Lovering Volvo. In 2010, they received their second-ever Volvo President’s Club award that goes to the top 10 percent of nationwide Volvo dealers.

In an article in AOL Autos titled ”The Ultimate Insider’s Guide To Finding The Best Auto Repair Shop” http://autos.aol.com/article/finding-the-best-auto-repair-shop discusses how to look for the best auto repair shop. How does your auto service area stack up to what industry is suggesting?

Training and coaching is a key ingredient in improving productivity the auto service department and profit of the dealership! Please visit http://dealerserviceacademy.com/about/profit-improvement-calculator and find our free profit calculator. This calculator will tell you exactly how much profit can be gained by improving the productivity and efficiently of the Service Advisor who deals directly with customers.