Fixed Ops Journal - December 2017 - 37

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

CALLS

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Report cards
Service department employees need coaching and practice to develop rapport with callers, says Michael Markette, president of CallRevu, a suburban Baltimore calling and customer service consultant that works with
3,300 U.S. dealerships.
Markette says his company provides
e-learning systems, webinars and tutorials
tailored to service department workers. It also
provides a report card that evaluates how they
handle service calls.
"Employees can log in and see the last 40
calls, see what they do well and what they
don't," says Markette. Managers can use the
data to review workers' performance as well,
he says.

Don't trash-talk techs
Your story about the technician strike in
Chicago ("Chi-Town Showdown," October)
quoted fixed ops consultant Rob Gehring as
saying: "I wouldn't be a technician." People
like him help drive the poor technician
attitude.
I have been in the automotive industry for
16 years, the past eight leading a service
department. I know firsthand the struggles
that service managers have to overcome to
find technicians. I have spent many hours at
community colleges and job fairs selling to
young men and women the solid career path
and bright future they can have as a tech.
Becoming a tech can lead you to many

Advisers such as Honda of Gainesville's Nancy Voss give customers detailed responses that
other employees can't provide, analysts say.

Consultants also urge dealerships to make
greater use of text messaging to communicate
with service customers. A J.D. Power survey
this year noted that just 3 percent of customers reported getting service-related texts, even
though younger and premium-brand customers tended to say texting was their preferred means of contact.
Texting allows service employees to send
customers videos or photos of their repairs.
Text communication also adds the dealership
to a customer's cellphone contacts.
"Beginning a relationship is more effective via
a live call," Stuker says, but adds that "time can
be saved and respected by both parties by implementing simple and efficient technology." 

LETTERS
Fixed Ops Journal welcomes letters from our
readers. Send your letters intended for
publication to foj@autonews.com; please
include your name, address, daytime phone
number and title (if any). Letters may be
edited for length and clarity.
other opportunities, such as shop foreman,
parts and service manager, general manager,
or even dealer. We don't need people
discouraging millennials from entering the
auto industry.

"If a lot of calls end up
off-site, where they can't
answer detailed questions,
you end up having them
transferred back to the
dealership. That leaves a
lot of room for long holds
and dropped calls."

or provided by a vendor such as ELEAD1ONE.
But Moore warns that service advisers still
need to handle follow-up calls and those that
require technical expertise.
"If a lot of calls end up off-site, where they
can't answer detailed questions, you end up
having them transferred back to the dealership," Moore says. "That leaves a lot of room
for long holds and dropped calls."
However a dealership answers the phone,
Marchex's Muilenburg warns that long hold
times will repel customers.
"People are likely to hold for 30 seconds to a
minute before they start dropping off,"
Muilenburg says. Such drop-offs, he adds, are
most likely to occur when service departments are busiest - in early morning and late
afternoon.

TOM MOORE, Morgan Auto Group

We do need more tuition incentives, tool
purchase programs and similar initiatives.
Manufacturers need to come up with more
solutions for dealers and faster ways to get
technicians certified.
Working for Tesla is not the only glamorous
job left. Show me another industry where you
can make more than $60,000 a year without a
bachelor's degree. Being a technician is a career
that techs should be proud of. They should
wear their uniform as a badge of honor.
GINA ALLEN
Director of Fixed Operations
Santa Margarita Auto Group
Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

DECEMBER 2017

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - December 2017