Customer service: Driving your business or dragging it down?

Right now, with supply chain issues and the diminished ability for consumers to replace their cars and light trucks, the average age of vehicles coming into shops is 12.2 years, an all-time high. For the automotive repair industry, it almost sounds like an opportunity waiting to happen, but somehow, we remain at the top of the list of consumer complaints and dissatisfaction. At a time when consumers are anxious to hold on to their cars, looking to us to keep them safe and reliable, we are missing opportunities to shine and show our value, sowing seeds of dissatisfaction among our customers. In the automotive repair world, service is king! 

Once again automotive sales and repairs are the number one category of complaints made to local and state consumer agencies in 2021, according to an annual survey conducted by Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

The Consumer Federation of America's top-10 complaint categories

1. Auto sales and repair 
2. Landlord tenant
3. Home improvement repairs and contractors
4. Retail purchase issues
5. Consumer debt and credit
6. Frauds and scams
7. Utilities
8. (TIE) Healthcare/wellness and robocalls/telemarketing
9. Professional services
10. Travel and recreation

CFA conducts an annual survey of city, county, and state consumer agencies across the country to ask about the complaints they received in the previous year. For this year's survey, 23 agencies from across the country participated, which provides a snapshot of the most common, fastest-growing, worst, and newest problems consumers reported in 2021. 

There is unimaginable technology and software out there that allow us to manage everything from shop flow to technician productivity and marketing, but with all of this, I wonder why consumers in the U.S. rate automotive service right up there with a trip to the dentist?

For those of you lucky enough to have a highly motivated, highly skilled service advisor, there is not an awful lot I can say that would convince you how critical he or she is to our having a successful shop. You likely already know, but for those of us not so blessed, I would take a moment or two here to highlight what that person could do for your business, and for you, the business owner.

As owners, we often like to see ourselves as the center of the shop universe, but in real and very practical terms, that service advisor is or should be, central to all that we are doing or would want to do. That includes everything from marketing, to increasing tech productivity, and assuring the quality of our customer service. There is no one else in the organization who interacts with our customers, our technicians, and our various systems as our service advisor routinely does, and no one who can impact those areas like the service advisor.

More than anything else, the service advisor is the face of our business, and as such, he or she must have great communications skills, have great empathy for our customers, be fearless in making recommendations, and be a true believer in what we do as an automotive repair shop. I hope you notice that knowledge and automotive experience are missing from that list of skills. It is not that automotive knowledge is unimportant in a service advisor, it is just not as important as these other attributes.

A great service advisor will take the observations and recommendations made by the technician and translate them into terms that the customer can understand. In doing this, he or she will identify the need and urgency for the customer, hopefully communicating her care and concern in the process. 

How do we measure a service advisor, and how do we get from good to great? In looking at a service advisor, I look at three main areas:

1. The dollar value of their estimates and repair orders. This tells me if we are not only making recommendations for the things that the customer came in for but also tells me if we are checking service history, scrutinizing the vehicle inspections we are doing, and whether we are selling factory scheduled maintenance services. Any service advisor who cares at all for what he or she is doing will sell the broad spectrum of repairs and services that are out there for the simple reason that those are the things that are required to keep our customer’s cars safe and reliable.
2. Customer satisfaction index (CSI) results. CSI (a bit out of vogue these days) is a metric that reflects the overall customer satisfaction with a company in terms of product quality, customer service, and value. Are there patterns there and are we taking care of or angering our customers? A great service advisor will be the frequent recipient of praise. 
3. The profit margin of the tickets he or she sells. If your service advisor is building value into the estimates he or she is writing, the profit will be there. Customers hate paying high prices but want value. Rather than apologizing for a large repair bill, a great service advisor will go to great lengths to make the customer see and appreciate the work that has been done. Customers want to know that spending that money was a good decision. Great service advisors rightfully feel good about the important service they provide customers. Less capable service advisors discount and apologize for the work they have recommended or have done. 

That our service advisors are not rude or disrespectful is not enough; I would expect that anywhere I went. To get me to come back would require something extraordinary, like being attentive to my needs and at least pretending they were glad I was there. Customer service is of such poor quality out there today that those who can deliver great service will not only have a lot of cars on their lot but will also have happy willing customers lined up and willing to wait for us to do the things we do and maybe even recommend us to their friends. 

Customers can go anywhere to be treated like poorly. If your customers were surveyed on their service experience at your shop, what do you think they would say?