So you've landed a job as a service writer/advisor, now what? Even if you're pretty knowledgeable about vehicle repair, there are a million things specific to this job that can catch you off guard if you aren't prepared. The aim of this blurb is to highlight just a few of the main issues I ran into when I first began my career as an advisor, so you may be more prepared than I was when they arose.
1) Always Look up Parts by VIN!
- Sometimes it can be really easy to be lazy and just ask the customer for the year, make, and model of the vehicle so you don't have to walk outside and grab either the VIN or license plate but do NOT fall into this habit! At least half of the time I have found ordering the part by the YMM is not accurate. The VIN is ALWAYS the way to go.
2) Always Ask the Customer Questions and Leave LOTS of Notes for The Technician.
-There is NOTHING more annoying than having to call the customer back and forth playing the telephone game between them and the technician. If you get as much detail as possible when the customer is first written up and then relay that to the mechanic, it saves everyone a lot of time and hassle. It may also ensure that no money or time is wasted simply trying to "parts change" to eliminate a problem.
3) ALWAYS Make Sure Not to Rush Your Technicians and Treat Them With Respect.
- One of the biggest problems that you will run into the most frequently as an advisor is the wait time issue. Customers HATE to wait for a single second longer than is necessary and in a way, can you blame them? One of the easiest hassles to avoid is the "spiteful technician" who will: Take longer than necessary on purpose; skip your tickets; or even improperly do a job just to spite you because of the way you treat them. Don't rush them, let them do their job, and that will help you to do yours much more easily.
4) Check With Your Technician to Insure the Part That Arrived is Correct, BEFORE You Allow the Parts Person to Leave.
- Too often it will happen that your mechanic is working on multiple jobs at once, and when the parts driver brings a part for one of them it simply gets signed for and laid out on the parts table. Two hours later, when the mechanic moves on to this job, OH NO! IT'S NOT THE RIGHT PART; And at this point, the vehicle has been here for three hours total already. Now you have to start all over trying to locate and order the part when a simple thirty second check could have prevented the whole situation.
5) Give Your Customers REALISTIC Wait Times, Even if it Loses the Sale.
- The wait time on any particular job is the bane of the existence of both the customer and the advisor. Multiple corporate shops I have worked at have advised me to tell the customer standard wait times, regardless of what they were getting done or how busy we were. DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP. It will only cause a headache for you in addition to not being fair to the customer. You may lose that one sale for that particular day, but you'll more than likely keep the customer as opposed to losing them forever by lying to them.
Being a service advisor can be a hectic, albeit lucrative (depending where you work, at least) position. I am hoping these tips may help those of you out there who are in this position and just starting out to get a leg up on your new career. Thanks for reading, and I hope to continue to post more like this article soon!
