Would you ever consider letting a member of your sales team on the floor to sell cars without any training?  Could your sales team sell cars without knowing the features and benefits as well as your process?  Most dealerships spend a lot of time and money consistently training their sales departments with strict guidelines and processes in place.  Yet developing a process and training for your service team is a critical element that most dealerships let fall by the wayside. Your average sales team member is lucky to see 5 potential clients a day while one service advisor can see 30 or more.  Why wouldn’t you make training your service advisors just as high of a priority as training your sales team?  Shouldn't it at least be a 50/50 split?  Let’s face it, with profit margins on new and used car sales diminishing every year it is fair to say that your service department is a big part of your profitability as well as customer retention.  If you have not trained your service team in the past, no problem!  I have created a simple check list to help you get started. 

• Do you have a company mission statement that everyone can quote?   Yes I know, it is on the wall but does everyone know it, believe in it and strive to accomplish it!

• Do you have training resources available for your staff to easily develop or review?  Most service managers do not have the time or the skills to develop a training programs, so a resource to supply material of help with training is just as important to them as it is to your sales managers.

• Does your training program consistently teach your team communication skills along with how to excel in their careers delivering higher hours per RO, effective labor rates, and customer pay?

• Does your service team have weekly meetings, role-plays, incentives, and rewards for outstanding performance?

• Is your shop staffed according to your current levels of production and can they handle getting the work done in a timely manner?

• Do you have leaders and management staff in the right positions to deliver your consistent message, motivate your team, keep your morale up, and develop long term employees?

The service, sales, and parts departments should work together as a team.  Joint teamwork meetings or special events would be another way to accomplish building these relationships.

I see many dealerships that have a “separate department” mentality that feel like they’re working against each other instead of working with each other.  Have you ever thought of having an incentive program that involves both departments?  Be creative and make training fun and interesting.  After a while it will become second nature to you and your team and the results will make it well worth the effort! Service drives need a continuous training program that works. 

SW Service Solutions (Click Here)