How Much Does a Service Advisor Make in 2020?

This next question comes from YouTube. Chris, I know it's annoying, but in.

2020, how much is a good service.

Advisor making on average?

Please.

Thanks for your kind words, man.

Thanks.

As much as they are worth.

Good answer.

Most advisors are making between 300 and $500,000.

Okay.

I'm sorry, That's like the funniest joke I've heard all day.

Easy. I take offense to that.

3. Well, you see, he didn't even have to work for it. Christian, come on. I know you put a lot of time and effort into it. He's naturally gifted, that's for sure. Three to five hundred thousand. There's some service managers that would like that paycheck.

Yeah, right. That's a hard question to, to answer because like Jeremy said, you, you're, you're gonna get paid exactly what you're worth. And that isn't just on your performance. It's also, you know, the place you choose to work and what their pay plan is. So back to kind of what Jeremy was, was pointing out earlier is if you're an advisor and you're out looking for a job, the first thing you want to do is ask to see the pay plan because you know, and also ask how often they change the pay plan. It'd be a question.

They should have their numbers ready. Like you know when you talked last week about knowing net to gross, knowing what your numbers are. As an advisor you should know what your effective labor rate you can carry. What's your closing ratio? How do you excel selling the fourth labor type of diagnostic services? What can you bring to the table to separate yourself from the average, average service advisor that's going to collect a paycheck? You know, it's a hard question to answer. I think today you've got a shift coming. Service departments and owners are looking at the human capital of a high priced service advisor and technology and can our processes start to replace some of the higher priced advisors. So the high priced service advisor, if you're not keeping up with the time and changing and shifting and bringing more value, remember your paycheck is a number that the department heads are going to be looking at and it could become a pain point. So regardless of what you think you should be making, you got to go out there and earn it every single day. And I got news for you. You got to reinvent yourself in the next six months because those that do should be able to make well into the six figures every single year. A healthy six figure income is what I believe service advisors are worth if they Bring it to the table and execute on it every day.

I think to be prepared for that too is not only should you be able to make a great six figure income is you have to be really aware what your return on investment is for the, for the owner. Right. So what are you doing for the dealership? Are you taking care of the clients, which I think is a huge part of what we do as a service advisor. And then are you putting money on the books and taking great care and collecting customers as you go forward? So that way if there's a talk about making the staff go down, you can say, here's what I bring to the table. Here's the benefit to you of having me on your service drive. So part of knowing the numbers, as Jeremy is saying, is being aware of what your ROI is.

My last year as a service Advisor I was 23 and I made 120,000 and change as an advisor and then I got 1099 for like 15 grand for, from was it prestige products where we sold the wheels, the Vogue wheels and tires and all that. So that's like almost 140, no, 23.

And that was in the early mid-90s.

But I'll tell you, the job I had right before that as an advisor, I was making 60. So I more than doubled by going to a different store with a better pay plan.

But also like I, you know, I put up some huge numbers.

So you know, can I, can I vent real quick just because I think our industry needs to hear this and I think your numbers are just dead on. Kris. Average advisors make between 50 to 60,000 a year. Your high performers do get into that hundred thousand dollar range. And with what Christian just said, that inspired me to really want to help advisors create a career path and understand Chris talks about this all the time. Stay in one place, build your clientele. So if you're just a gunslinger running out there trying to get the biggest payday and you move around every two or three years, that's a big red flag. Let's build better businesses, let's build better clientele, let's help our customers take better care of their car and get that circle of trust going where the customers feel like the service department is an integral part of, of the dealership. And it's natural if that customer's on a four or five year cycle for cars that you capture every dollar that customer is going to spend in the dealership, but you then become part of the fabric of that dealership. I think, you know, putting pay, it is very important but the guys and gals that earn high dollar amounts as a service advisor, well over six years, they earn it because they typically have been at a dealership a long time. They've invested, They've, you know, planted the seeds, and now they're reaping the rewards of it. So it's harder to go in and just, you know, go to a new place, make those numbers right away. You need to stay put. And I think you've got to bring a lot to the table. There's a ton of value that we can bring as advisors to earn that kind of income.

Yeah, good. Thanks, God.

You are welcome. God has me all fired up today. I'm, like, ready to go.

Thank you so much for watching this clip of Service Drive Revolution. Now you can catch the full episode on YouTube, iTunes, or Spotify or wherever you consume your podcast. If you have any questions, go ahead and post them in the comments below. Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're notified when we post new episodes. I'm Chris Collins, and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Chris Bulldog Collins. And I'll see you again on the next episode.