Q & A | Mastering Service Advisor Communication

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To your Friday drive by. This is where we answer your questions. We have an expert panel here, Christian and Hoagie.

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What's up?

Remember, the number is 8333 Ask SDR. That's 8333.

Ask SDR if you have a question and we will also send you a swag bag if we play your call on the show. So let's get right to it. What's our question this week in regards.

To the last podcast that I listened to the Exceptional Communication? How does laying the framework up front and having to set an extended expectation affect your ability to upsell preventative maintenance or other work that may not be part of the reason why they're there? It's always been my experience that when you have an extended period of time that the vehicle is going to be there, that you have the ability to upsell the preventative maintenance or work that it's not there for. However, sometimes if someone has an appointment and you already know that they're going to be disgruntled when you mention the fact that you're not going to get their vehicle in until the next day, that pretty much negates your ability to be able to upsell. So what remedy do you have for that?

I mean, I, I think, Mike, that it all comes down to perspective because whether somebody is waiting another day or whether they're going to be disgruntled, the truth of the matter is, is if there's maintenance that they need, and I'm assuming that they really need it, that they're due for it, you are saving them time and money in the long run, avoiding an unforeseen repair.

The.

The other part of it is you're saving them from having to come back again over and over again. If you do as much as you can while it's there, giving them that option, that way, it's their decision to make. Like, hey, while we have it, we're a little backed up. I know we were going to try to get your car in tomorrow, but it's actually going to be the next day and I'm sorry for that, but we will get to it. Also, I notice here I'm seeing that you're due for some maintenance.

Do you want me to take care of some of that while it's here so you don't have to come back? It's just all in the way that you present it. I think there's another variable that was left out there is you don't really want to sell a customer A bunch of maintenance until you know what the actual problem is too. I might plant the seeds, but if they come in for a runability issue in the car, maybe is on the verge of being traded in or more, it's going to need more repairs than it's actually worth. I would hold off and try to really give the customer the best information for them to make a decision that makes sense. You know, just play a long game with them with that.

Yeah, I, I guess I've always had a little bit of a different take on maintenance than a lot of people because I feel like a lot of times we got to coach people into, you know, almost believing in, in maintenance. Right.

So, yeah, my perspective is I believe in it.

Yeah.

So I'm, I feel like I'm doing a disservice if I don't. 100%.

100%. So I think that's one thing to think about with this is like, I believe that everybody. I know for a fact that the vast majority of people don't read their owner's manual for anything, including their car. Like, I don't even know if a car comes with a one anymore. It's probably an app somewhere or something. Right.

Or it's in the.

Yeah.

Or send this info system. Right. So, and, and, but I also know that they, they need maintenance and if me as an advisor is not going to tell them about it, then to use your example that you talk about all the time, we can just have them pull in the back and talk to the text.

Right.

Like that whole position.

Usually the text are terrible at maintaining their own cars.

Exactly.

For sure.

Case in point, save that step.

Yeah. So one, I, you know, I think that's one thing is just having a, having a belief that you owe it to the people on the other side of that counter to tell them the truth. Yeah. Good advisors want to take care of people, but they just do. Like, so if, if that's the case and you want to take care of people, telling them what's, what's wrong with their car. And then like you mentioned, if it's in for a check engine light or fits in for something diagnosis, there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, hey, I took the opportunity to review your history. You do have some maintenance, maintenance items that are due. You have this item and this item. And when I find out about your check engine light, I'm going to circle back to you and, and talk to you about what it is to get all of this taken care of today.

Right.

Like you said, plant the Seeds.

I remember when. When advisors would be sick or they would be on vacation and you would get their customers. And just how.

The difference between customers maintaining their cars and not was on me, not on the customer. Like, you would check. And they'd been coming in for three years, and they'd never done any maintenance. And then you're like, hey, do you know you're due for, you know, 90k or whatever it was at the time? And they're like, oh, yeah.

Like, yeah, what's that?

Oh, how much? You're like, oh, well, it's 1200.

Yeah.

What do they do? Oh, yeah. Can you do it? Like, yeah, just super simple.

The.

The difference was asking. It wasn't. And the other thing was getting to know people, like, asking them like, hey, so I see you've been cheating on me going somewhere else. Where are you going? Do you mind if I call them and see what they've done? So I don't recommend something, you know, just really being curious about why and how and that sort of thing. And then the other one was like, I would have. Because I. When I first started writing service, I worked next to a university, and there were poor college kids that would come in with Subarus and Volkswagens. I mean, that's the college car, the Volkswagen, right? Especially girls, like, they would have old GTIs and Jettas and the whole thing. And these things would be rust buckets from the. From the, you know, south Midwest. And I remember the. The text would be like, well, I'm gonna. I'm gonna need more time because these bolts are going to be rusted and they're going to break or whatever, and there's no way they're going to buy it. And I would, you know, tell the. The girl college kid like, hey, you know, your car needs 3, $200 worth of stuff, and you really should do this. It's leaking, you know, down the front or whatever. And then they would cry and it was uncomfortable. And then dad would call with the credit card, and I would explain to dad what we found. And then, you know, most of the time they did the work. But even if they didn't, I still felt like, well, they know. At least they know. Sin is like, I wouldn't want a daughter halfway across the country in a car.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know. I just. I feel like.

It'S an odd thing to not want to tell the truth when you know something is real.

Right?

You know what I mean? Like, yeah. I mean, there is the. Would you tell your best friend that his wife is cheating on him.

Yeah.

You would.

Yeah, yeah.

Hoagie wouldn't. Because he hesitated.

Well, I was just trying to see where you're headed with it, but now I see where you're headed with it.

That's a way harder thing than. Hey, you're, you're. Looks like your CV boot is leaking.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, it's not. That's the job is to, to advise people and let them have a clear idea of where they're at with their maintenance and repair of their vehicle. That's the job. That's what it is.

There's, there's also the world too, where if a car is there for extended time, it's usually repair. And I would suggest that there's no better time to sell preventative maintenance than.

When the car is broken because there's also always overlap.

Yeah. And you can actually get it done for cheap.

The brake fluid's already out, whatever's already out. Right. The coolant is drained.

Right.

Want us to put the old coolant back in?

Yeah. So there's two things there. One is that knowing that that's the case, and I always put it like this, like I've never seen, I've seen a lot of cars in my day come in at like 300 or 350,000 miles or 400,000 miles and you look at their service history and they didn't miss a beat. Like that is what we owe the customers, that there's a possibility that that's what ownership can be like and they do all their maintenance and then they can keep the car forever. And then the second part of that is, is that when we're saying we're worried because the customer is going to get upset and it's because you didn't meet their expectation with communication and the bar is already pretty low, they think that they're going to drop their car off, it's going to fall into an abyss. They're not going to hear from you for a month. But like when you blow that out of the water and like you make, you know, you decide when there's going to be good contact and everything like that. The truth is if you, if you over deliver on what you promise for communication, they'll buy maintenance from you just because they're happy that you did the thing. So like there's a little bit of a reciprocation in there. So there's, I think that having a car down is a great time to self preventative maintenance, but it's all in the mindset. It can go the other way, too. But there's a bunch of reasons I.

Would, I would contend if it goes the other way in the sense that the customer is not wanting to do it or feels upset, it's on them. It's not on you. You told them the truth. The truth is still the truth.

Yeah. The yes or no is irrelevant. It's the exchange of the information.

They know now they know. So you know.

Thanks, Mike, for the question. We'll get you a swag bag.

Remember the numbers 8333 ask str. That's 8333 ask str.

And we'll see you next time on Service Driver Volusion.

Thanks for watching this week's Drive By. I hope we gave you something to think about over the weekend. We're uploading new stuff every day, so make sure you subscribe and click the bell icon so you don't miss out. If you have a question you'd like us to answer, answer on the show. Call 8333 Ask SDR and we'll answer your question on the show. That's 8333 Ask SDR. For special deals on our books and training, head over to offers.chriscollinsinc.com now that's offers.chriscollinsInc.com I'm Chris Collins and I'll see you in the next video.

Sam.