Good afternoon, everyone Brandon artisan president champion strategies for another edition of artisans tips.
We do this because we want you the consumer, to get the best knowledge from the best people that are out there.
So we had someone from F and I give you her perspective.
We had one of the best on the other side of the Mississippi when it comes to doing walk-around.
Last week we had an opportunity to tune into someone from Alexandria, Louisiana who’s been in the sales business over 20 years, and he told you what he does to make sure his guests have the best experience that are out there.
So this week we’re very honored to have a gentleman I’ve been knowing for about eight years.
Any time I went around the country to dealerships.
I would even ask hey.
If I hear something about service, would you be comfortable to call the person back? It may be an opportunity to do something and we’ve been friends ever since, and we’ve had a chance to work together on numerous occasions.
But let me introduce to you John Fairchild, president of Fairchild automotive, but he is one of the best and I can count them on my hands and, as you see, there’s only five he’s one of the best in the nation when it comes to service at an Automotive dealership so welcome John.
Could you just give a quick little briefing about who you are why you do it just so, the folks out there could hear yes, sir.
Yes, sir, thank you very much Brandon for the opportunity to talk to you today and yeah.
I appreciate the relationship that you I’ve had going going way back, but going even way back her.
I have been in the car business myself for 40 years spent 20 years in retail, starting at the young age of 15, and I’ve had another 20 now as a consultant, coach and trainer, and what I do for dealers is to help them to maximize their retail Growth and to be able to sustain that going forward through service advisor and service management training, so I’m very excited to be with you today and you know just talk about some of what are the Hardison’s tips that can help us get to the next level.
Oh Roberta, John, so since both of us are training – and we only have a few minutes so we can get back to some of our people that were training – let’s just get right to it.
So we know that kovat is here, and you know that from the service side, since they opened first, is there anything that you would recommend that to make the guests easy and comfortable when they come into the service area, for example, do many dealers take temperature? Do they have mass? What are you seeing from and hearing from your people? Are we trying to make the guests feel as comfortable as possible during this virus? Well, certainly, I think that it’s a it’s.
It’s not a cookie cutter.
One solution fits all dealerships answer to your question for sure, but I do see at least trying to pen occur, Suri best foot forward approach to make sure that the customer is comfortable, make sure that they feel like they’re protected, and you know I’ve got I’m in A dealership today that has got mandatory masks with all facing employees.
I do think that’s a very good idea, because the customers are at a different level of comfort, each and every one of them so yeah.
We do have to really lean on what our relationship skills are with that customer to ensure that we’re making them feel comfortable comfortable to their level of comfort.
Personal thing for customers and the the main thing is, is to not you know, invade and overwhelm them with something that make makes them feel uncomfortable, excellent, excellent.
So from your experience, just the last part of that, do you see that service, BD, C’s or service teams? Are they just doing it by appointment, only are ours it just open to the public.
All of the above you know, I deal with a lot of different types of dealerships, and I am I am one that is very reservation minded for sure, and I think that we can control the experience of that.
The customer gets a way better experience with a reservation, but I still do have dealerships that sometimes mandated by certain manufacturers have to take walk-ins as as an express as an express service scenario.
So that can really throw a wrench.
So to speak in in how you’re dealing with each of these customers, because if you’ve got a very defined reservation process and that you’re trying to take the customers through and spend a little bit of extra care with them makes them feel comfortable.
And now we’ve introduced a lot of a walk-in customers into that.
Then it can certainly create confusion.
So you know my best tip.
I guess for customers is, let’s examine your appointment process and make sure that where we’ve got the shop flow in mind, not just the incoming in mind, so that you don’t have too many customers clogging up the system, and it is a very good time to reassess How you’re doing that and to put some of the the best practices in place to make sure that we don’t have too many overlapping too many overlapping customers and whether that be from a pent-up demand standpoint? I do see strong demand in the service department, so we do have to take a proactive approach to make sure that we’re not getting too much confusion and people on top of each other for sure yeah yeah.
Now, since you’re out there – and I know you’re – also an expert with articles and putting your year tips out there, this came up from a customer that hit on me a little while ago.
Are you seeing technology like the kiosk in the service area where you set the appointment? Is that a big thing going on now or not not that big? You know I really not seen that and, and I you know, I feel like that.
The like, I said that the customer demand is so strong.
You know that that people are just trying to do with what they have to to make it comfortable for the date for the customer um.
I don’t see a lot of the proliferation of key awesome in some some pretty metro areas, a lot of the time too, but I’m also in small and midsize stores that that I just don’t see a proliferation of that.
Yet I think a lot of that kind of progression, if you will has almost been put on hold for a lot of dealers to make sure that they’ve got the thing that the landscape is profitable with them for the for the media future.
But perhaps they put some of those ideas on hold for the moment? Okay, now you said for for the moment so when, when we get to a point where we’ll find out what normalizations about people always say that technology is, is the new thing that’s coming, so in your experience over the 40 years, can you see where key haces Are going to replace service advisors? I think that’s the $ 20 question.
I can see a place for a kiosk, but nothing really just maybe as an express tool to get or a night drop tool to get the vehicles written up.
To begin with, the things I do like about those automated systems and the kiosks being one of them is that it automatically will present the additional needed services where sometimes your your physical person will circumvent that um.
So I didn’t think there’s advantages, but you know I think it’s a tool.
That’s not going to replace a service advisor anytime really soon that it could enhance the amount of service advisors that we need or amount of customers that we can, that we can handle and perhaps more efficiently and perhaps with a better foot forward to offering our legitimately Needed services, but I I really can’t see a time when, when it would replace a a service advisor okay now, I’m gon na switch switch gears on you, because these are just some questions that people have asked me about.
One person asked about a dealerships certified pre-owned process.
They understood that the manufacturer acquired the technician to go through a certain amount of point inspection, but they could not understand why it took so long.
So it sounded to me like they found a vehicle and it wasn’t certified.
But they said that come back in a few days, because we don’t want to certify on demand and go against the manufacturer.
But it’s that, like it, took a little bit of time to turn that vehicle in the back, so just based on your experience, even if the vehicle is going to be certified and get to the front line, if we go through a manager.
Em, excuse me a manufacturer’s any manufacturer’s process.
What do you think the average time to get that vehicle through the CPO process get the technician to sign off on it and get it to the front line? What what what what time frame should we be looking yeah? I mean not, including you know, all in including detail and everything I think you still need to be looking at a three-day cycle time, regardless of the of the recon that is involved on there.
I think your whole recon process should be shooting, for you know less than three days as a benchmark, if you, if you think about I’m terribly aware of how it can affect the used car turn in your store and how we can mess up the inventory.
Control of the youth car department, if we let that stuff lay too far along in our in our shop and what ends up happening, is the cars get sold before they’re even touched? Let’s face it.
If you got a car that a customer wants and the salesman, that is a gung-ho salesman, this want to get that metal busting bugs they’re gon na pull it from the back and they’re gon na sell it and there’s there’s not going to be a way to Circumvent that and then what you’ve got is a problem child that’s gon na come back in it.
It dissatisfied customer.
Perhaps if things haven’t been addressed on that vehicle before they took possession of it.
So I think that in general terms, a less than three day turn is it’s both realistic and ambitious enough to keep us on our toes and in our inventory, control properly.
Excellent.
Thank you for that and last one dealing with certified pre-owned, because here was another question.
They said that they were presented, the form from the manufacturers stating what the technician went through whatever points, and then there was a place for the signature for the technician, the service manager and, naturally, the used-car manager on there.
Now here was their question.
If the technician really feels that this vehicle is not certifiable based on what they’re looking for and they refused to sign, can that dealership still override that technician and still sell the vehicle certified or does that technician signature hold the weight? No, if your process in tact, that’s that technician signature does have to hold the way it.
It’s really not certifiable, unless it’s certifiable here right, if the technician is fuck, is following the guidelines and he can’t sign off on it and that’s it.
That’s a piece that yep did sell as a nun certified piece or you have to wholesale it.
That’s in my in my eyes.
That’s a that’s a pretty black-and-white question! Brandon! It’s really about ethics, and you know, there’s a dirty word out there and it’s called fraud.
Oh yeah, but I also responded back by letting them know that the reason why the manufacturer does, that is because the technician is really the linchpin in the whole thing.
If he or she is a technician says, this is not certifiable, I’m not gon.
Na put my John Henry on this, I don’t feel comfortable doing it, we’re not good of us so but here’s the other thing.
What is your feeling about having accompanying paperwork affixed to that form of what they did to get it up to certification for that manufacture? You know, I think, it’s very important.
I actually purchased a certified vehicle with the help of funds from that.
My daughter had saved for her 16th birthday and a couple years ago and guess what we were able to look at all the the reconditioning of aspects that they did on that car and it was impressive man.
They spent like eighteen hundred dollars to get it up to snuff for the certification process and that alone really pushed us over the edge as to feel and rest assured that this was a vehicle that would take her for the long run.
She wants to be able to drive that clear through college, so you know we’re talking about several years now that she’s gon na own that vehicle, but I think that’s critically important Brandon excellent excellent.
No! No! Thank you now.
If I can go back to the service advisors again – and I will happen to be at the same dealership that I’m today yesterday and we watched as they were going through it, I know we can teach and I know we can coach, but it’s up to the Individual to still do it, but based on your opinion, because you see it a lot more than I, how many service advisors actually meet the customer on the drive and do a walk-around um about three point: seven percent Brandon, I think I’m being facetious in one one Aspect but probably generous in the other, but what I would say is you know as a service advisor in a hectic situation a lot of times and it’s been exacerbated lately because of short staff, etc.
That what you want to keep in mind is you, may not be able to get at that customer on the drive and the dealership I’m at today is actually got a couple of greeters that do a good shot, buffering that, but the one thing I want to Emphasize there is that it’s still a very valid and important function and that what I would say is don’t make it wonky or a big deal out of it, but just if the, if the customer makes it inside the building or you know out of their car, Just take them back to the car and do your proper walk-around.
I think the proper walk-around has got three main functions in it.
Number one is greeting, like you said, there’s there’s never a second chance to make a first impression.
Number two is building rapport and that’s one of the prime reasons we do a walk-around is to build rapport with that customer make a connection to personally know what the condition of the vehicle is with.
The customer present is a powerful tool that we can use later, and number three is is, is really actually to make a legitimate service advising offer and to offer them something in the drive at ride up.
That will make their quality of experience on their ownership to an optimal level, so yeah, whether whether you’re you know not greeting your customer, a hundred percent of the time and it’s less than 50 % for sure take them back out to the car.
That’s my message: gotcha gotcha, and if we to me, if we did that consistently – and I do take respect of what you said going through the situation now with some steps of being at a skeleton situation here with that, so we may not be doing it all.
The time, but if we did do that, it would seem like when the guest comes back to the area of operation of the service advisor that time of getting that repair order, finished signs, so we can move.
The process forward would be shortened down and here’s where I’m going, I watched the service advisor yesterday, who didn’t do a walk-around and at the desk, where the adviser and the customer was that was 12 minutes is 12 minutes and normal time.
Of course, not.
No, no and you know, as service management, we got to get out there at peak times with our people and coach and lead by example, and really show them what is appropriate, and so, if nobody’s watching that from a service management level that that’s the first point Of attack there that you bet we got to take like that almost there because you got to go and I have to go active deliveries.
We we’ve done the right thing.
I guess up front now, it’s time to deal with the consumer as far as an active delivery, anything different, anything that you’re saying as far as advisors when it comes to giving a good customer experiences on the act of delivery.
Absolutely I think one of the most important aspects that we lea leave to chance during active delivery is setting the murrs next appointment with a statement, not a question.
So you’ve got PC that will follow up with your customers to ensure that they show up it’s.
The most powerful thing that you can do is set that next appointment reminder with a statement, not a question.
Let me explain, if I say Brandon: can we go ahead and set up your next service appointment? It’s a very opening, a question: that’s going to lead to various amount of pushback from your customer because they realistically don’t know.
But if you follow the lead from your dentist and just go ahead and schedule an appropriate appointment for the timeframe needed, it can be a reminder, and so if you just make a statement to say, hey Brandon, I went and set up your next appointment reminder I’ll.
Give you a card with that information on it and the date and time someone will be calling you back to actually confirm that, and we can.
We can certainly reschedule as necessary, so that right there with an active delivery, is the one step.
I see people missing big time and I wanted to.
I know we have limited time if we can go into many facets of an active delivery that are very, very important, but that is the one.
That’s gon na bring them back to you and when I say back to you, it should be back to you personally.
If you got a personal relationship with that customer, not just back to the dealership that you’re working at that makes sense.
That makes complete sense, John and yeah.
We we will get you back and we can just drill down and just talk talk about that but yeah.
I agree my lunch break here.
I’m not like you said I’m at a dealership, so I appreciate you.
Let me have a few minutes here to talk with you.
Okay say me: have got anything you got going on coming up anything you want to let the folks know about yeah.
Well, I appreciate that um, you know I will be sponsoring.
The fix tops roundtable September 24th, I’m not sure if it’s virtual or live yet, because we’ve had all this kovat, but there will be information coming soon and at social media that I’ll share with everybody.
So, thank you for the thank you for letting me plug that, and, and certainly if anybody needs me, they can always reach me via social media.
I’m glad to help anybody.
My passion really is helping people and that’s what I’ve made my career at, and I really love what I do.
So, if I can help you, please let me know John Fairchild.
Once again we do thank you.
You get back to what you do best, so I can get back to what I do best everybody out there.
We thank you for watching another edition of partisans tips and, as always in parting, you go out and make it a champion back.
Thank you, sir.
I appreciate you very much: .
