Four steps to improving your shop’s front desk service

We have all witnessed increases and decreases in our average repair orders over the years. Selling is not like riding a bicycle! Customer service and selling are greatly affected by a person’s emotional state of mind and them sticking to procedures consistently. Let’s listen to ATI Performance Coach Mike Haley share with you how he teaches these skills so our shop owner members can manage their front desk service folks.
 

Have you ever read or watched stories on top athletes and wondered what makes them the best? There is obviously their God-given features and talents. Some of us will never dunk a basketball no matter how hard we train. But when you compare similar body structures and talent, what is it that separates the good from the great? Putting the sheer willingness to be the best aside, I believe what separates the good from the great is the amount of preparation.  
 

I am a football fan. I played up until my abilities were no longer appreciated (community college) and knew playing in the pros was never going to happen. I felt I had the physical features and mentality to play at that level, but I was missing something the pros had. They knew all the little nuances of the game, where I was ignorant of those finer points. I grew up like most of us, playing in the backyard or in the street with the neighborhood kids. Then I joined a local recreational league with my friends. The coaches were volunteers who also enjoyed the game and played high school ball. Are you picturing Al Bundy and the four-touchdown game yet? If you were lucky enough, your Dad was the assistant coach which made for some good dinner talk and memories.  

Then high school came and there was more emphasis put on the game and your play. You were not guaranteed playing time and or the ability to play the position you wanted. You had to earn your spot and playing time which meant getting into the weight room and working out with your quarterback if you were a receiver, or center if you were a kicker. But after practice we had plenty of distractions and other things to occupy our time. No one explained to me that if I wanted to be the best I would need to put in the extra time and effort to learn all there is to my position. I thought I was doing all that was required from me. I went to practice, did the required weightlifting, and I was at the film study on Monday after the game. What I realize now is that I met the minimum requirement and was only doing what everyone else was doing. I did nothing to separate myself from everyone else. I needed to practice more and hone my skills. 

In the NFL the games are sixty minutes. Four quarters, fifteen minutes each. But the actual play time of the game itself is eleven minutes. By position the actual play time is somewhere between four to six minutes. So how much time do the pros spend practicing for their four to six minutes of play time? The typical NFL team spends 44 hours a week with scheduled practices. The players will then spend additional hours with film study and physical therapy. So it’s safe to say the typical pro football player spends over 50 hours a week on his craft to play four to six minutes a week. With that I want to ask you a question. How much do you and your team practice at the service desk in preparation for your game day? How do we expect our service desk to be the best when we give them virtually no practice or film time to hone their skills? 

So how do we accomplish this? We do not have 50 hours a week to train and we don’t work four to six minutes a week. We do, however, have precious minutes in our week to train, practice, and provide feedback to our employees. If we follow a few simple steps I believe we can drastically improve our performance at the service desk. 
 

Step 1. Set the expectations. The employees need to know your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). From the greeting to the good-bye, and everything in between in the correct order. If you have multiple employees doing it the way they want to do it, you are guaranteed inconsistency in your performance. Think about McDonald’s and the Big Mac. Is it an accident that the Big Mac at my local McDonald’s looks and tastes exactly like the Big Mac made at your local McDonald’s? Of course not! — McDonald’s knows the importance of having a procedure to ensure a consistent product. The same goes for how we greet, estimate, and sell services to our customers. 
 

Step 2. Practice together with employees. Have morning huddles prior to opening, or weekly meetings with your staff. Take a few minutes to practice with your team to help them become more comfortable and fluid interacting with customers.  
 

I know from experience that most customers are going to ask two questions: how much and how long? I am always amazed how these questions will still catch employees by surprise and they are not able to respond immediately and confidently. I think of this scenario like driving a car. Remember the first time you drove a car? How acutely aware you were of every detail? You steered the car neatly between the lines, making sure you drove the speed limit, and kept a safe distance from other cars. Now you do not even pay attention to the route you took home. It’s committed to memory and does not require the same amount of attention that it once did. Take time to role-play and practice overcoming common objections, and know selling features and benefits to help improve your employees’ conversion rate and improve their CSI. 
 

Step 3. Study the experts. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to sales techniques for your shop. There are just shy of three million YouTube videos on “how to sell.” These are quick two-to eight-minute videos on how to become a better salesperson from some of the top salespeople in their industry. How many nuggets could be gained by watching these videos. Also sending your employees to vendor-sponsored class to learn more about the features and benefits of what they are selling. ATI’s CEO Chris “Chubby” Frederick Sr. used to hold a sales training class every Monday for shop owner members when he was involved in running the day-to-day of the company. They benefited greatly, and now most are among of the top shops in the nation. 
 

Step 4. Perform observations. Just as football players have stats to track and evaluate performance, you should do the same when observing service desk performance. To do this, I recommend you use my Sales Management Checklist. Doing so would help ensure that service desk employees are following your shop’s procedures as intended. You can also provide instant feedback if needed to improve.  
 

I always tried to perform two observations a week per service writer. We would always have a discovery that would change our process, change our policy, or introduce technology. These improvements made us better at our job and at providing better service for our customers. It also puts the manager and owner at ease that the desk is running the same, whether they were physically at the service desk or not. It is also rewarding to see the confidence level of the employees continue to grow.  
 

Recognize that most people want to be the best at what they do, and it’s your job to provide them with the knowledge and tools to become just that. Remember, the keys to achieving greatness and peak performance is to set expectations, practice often, study the experts, and observe results. To help them stay on track, increase sales, and stay the best shop in their area, we have shop owners follow the ATI Sales Management Checklist. To receive your own copy of the checklist to use live in your shop simply go to www.ationlinetraining.com/2020-09 for a limited time.