Finding the Right Service Advisor Can be a Real Nightmare

Posted on April 25, 2019 by RLO Training in Training

If you’re like most shop owners, you’re always on the lookout for quality talent and you’ve probably tried a number of things to attract the right person.

Have you considered your Service Advisor pay plan? We can help with that.

Think about these:

  • Writing a Great Advertisement
  • Pay Plans
  • Training
  • Mentoring
  • Performance Reviews

Before getting to work on subjects, ask yourself some hard questions:

  • What makes a Service Advisor want to come to work for you? Why would you want to work here?
  • What makes a Service Advisor want to stay in your employ? Why does your current staff choose to stay in your employ?
  • What is the average tenure of your technical staff? What is your average length of employment for Service Advisors and to what do you attribute that longevity or lack of longevity?
  • What elements of pay and other compensation and benefits seem to meet with the most positive long term response among your staff?
  • What other elements of your business and work environment are most conducive to attracting and retaining top talent?
  • What best describes the optimum employment package and environment to attract you if you are a Service Advisor, and to assist you in the process if you are an employer?
  • What doesn’t work in your opinion?
  • What really works well in your opinion?
  • What innovations have you used that have improved your ability to attract and retain top talent?

Now consider these things:

Advertising

  • Sell your business to the applicants.
  • Promote what you can offer that others can’t (5-day work week, lower stress, well-managed professional shop, etc.).
  • On-going training and professional development
  • Performance-based pay

Pay Plans

  • Performance-based
  • Base salary plus bonus
  • Bonus based on sold hours per RO and maintaining ratios and Gross Profit %

Training

  • On the job
  • RLO or other Service Advisor training workshops
  • Online training
  • Personal development
  • Technical (automotive systems) if required
  • Computer skills as required

Mentoring

  • Showing the trainee how to do things, not telling them how
  • Transferring your experience and skills to trainee
  • Positive enforcement and recognition

Performance Reviews

  • An evaluation scheduled on a regular basis
  • Evaluation based on a set list of required skills and time frame
  • Established achievable goals, and setting new goals as required

By having an established set of onboarding processes it makes it easier to recruit and develop a stronger, better equipped Service Advisor and a stronger and more consistent client base and business.

Do you already have a good Service Advisor? Do you want them to be a GREAT Service Advisor? Enroll them now in our upcoming Service Advisor Skills class.

Through Service Advisor Skills, your Service Advisors will:

  • Polish listening and customer-handling skills and techniques
  • Better solve customer complaints
  • Boost telephone selling
  • Improve customer write-up and follow-through
  • Write more profitable repair orders
  • Sell diagnostic labor profitably

Service Advisor Skills is a 12-hour course, offered online over the course of 6 weeks.

Don’t miss out – Service Advisor Skills begins May 22nd.

Call us at 800-755-0988 or click here to enroll today!

Written by RLO Training