Service Advisor Tips: Increase Shop Profits With Clear Communication

If your customers don’t understand their estimate, their repair order, or the progress of their repair, they may become frustrated or even decide to take their vehicle somewhere else.

But when service advisors communicate effectively with customers, they’ll increase the likelihood that each customer will become a repeat customer who will refer their friends and family to your shop. In other words, clear communication with your guests can exponentially improve your profits.

Everyone at your shop has their own responsibilities, but they all need to be skilled in communicating effectively with each other and with your guests.

Your service advisors in particular need to be great at communicating with your guests because they are the ones who will set the stage for your guests’ experience at your shop.

Here are three service advisor tips for assessing and upgrading communication with your guests.

Tip 1: Create a Streamlined Intake Process

When a guest enters your shop, it’s important that one of your service advisors immediately takes them through the intake process so the necessary repairs can get started as soon as possible.

Some service advisors might jot down key details about a guest and their vehicle, or use a spreadsheet to try to keep track of that information. But these methods can quickly become unorganized as important information gets lost in the mix.

Shop management software can help service advisors speedily move guests through the intake process while remaining organized.

For example, features like Default Inspections will make it even easier for your team to provide the same level of service to every customer, prompting service advisors to gather the same information every time to ensure no stone is left unturned in giving customers amazing care.

Tip 2: Help Guests Prioritize Repairs

Service advisors also help guests prioritize repairs during their courtesy inspection before the estimate. By showing customers what needs to be repaired, why they need it repaired, and what repairs they may be able to hold off on until their next visit, service advisors can put your customers at ease.

Digital vehicle inspections are a great tool that service advisors can use during this stage to explain and show key details, such as which part of the vehicle is experiencing an issue and how severe the issue is.

Guests will be able to see with their own eyes what’s wrong with their vehicles, and as a result, will be more likely to say “yes” to the proposed repairs.

You can even incentivize your service advisors during this stage by making it a friendly competition: the team member who sells the most repair work that month will win a reward, like a gift card to their favorite restaurant.

You can also remind service advisors that the more skilled they become at communicating with guests, the more they’ll be able to grow their careers.

Tip 3: Leverage Technology to Update Guests

As technicians work on vehicles, guests will be waiting, wanting updates on how far along the repair work is so they can get back home (or wherever their next destination might be).

With a cloud-based shop management system, service advisors and technicians can collaborate with ease. Service advisors can get a bird’s-eye view of every stage of the repair process without having to interrupt technicians.

As technicians progress and complete repairs, the software will reflect that. Armed with that information, service advisors can then contact guests to update them.

Shop management software with true two-way texting capabilities enables service advisors to send updates directly to guests’ phones. Service advisors can message guests through the system, and guests will see the messages as text messages.

This approach cuts back on the back-and-forth that often occurs with phone calls, and is an effective way to keep all of your shop’s customer communications in one place rather than on individual service advisors’ phones.

Tekmetric: Level Up Communication With Your Guests 

Tekmetric’s customer profiles, digital vehicle inspections, and true two-way texting enable your service advisors to communicate clearly with your guests.

The results? Repeat business, referrals, and higher profit margins.

When your team puts these service advisor tips in action, your guests will be impressed and will remember your team next time they need repair work, or when their family and friends need repair work.