Why this person has the most important job in your shop

The service advisor is the first person a customer sees when they walk into your shop and typically the last person they deal with on their way out.

The role of the service advisor is to the be face and voice of the company, said Bryan Stasch, vice president of product and content development at the Automotive Training Institute. They are wearing multiple hats, taking on various roles. And that makes them the most important person in your shop.

“You are the face and voice of that company. You are the first person they either meet or hear when they [enter or] call your shop. Your attitude, your character, your emotional state is going to have a huge impact on the result at the end of the day, week, month or year,” he said at the Midwest Auto Care Alliance’s Vision Hi-Tech Training & Expo near Kansas City.

Bryan Stasch speaks at the Midwest Auto Care Alliance’s Vision Hi-Tech Training & Expo 2022.

“You are a problem solver. You have customers coming to you with problems and concerns. Technicians coming to you with problems and concerns. Your business owner is coming to you with problems and concerns. You are a problem solver,” he added during his presentation Master the Chaos — Art and Science of a Successful Service Advisor.

Stasch told shop owners that it is not them who are most responsible for the financial success of the business. It’s the service advisor. “Service advisors have more control over sales and profitability and the bottom line of that business than you ever do.”

A service advisor should view their role as being a business manager. They manage workflow, car count, scheduling and profit margins. “If you’re the one that builds estimates, sells tickets and/or controls an effective labour rate, you’re a business manager,” Stasch said.

And the service advisor is a salesperson. “How many of you answer the phone? How many of you invite customers in? How many of you schedule for technicians? How many of you build estimates? How many of you sell estimates? I many of you ‘kiss’ that customer goodbye?” he listed as jobs service advisors should be doing.

Furthermore, if a shop owner wants to know how to have their business run better, they should turn to their service advisor. They know what “good” looks like in the shop, what the average repair work should be and what gross profit dollars need to look like for the shop to be profitable.

“You guys are salespeople and you are directly responsible for sales making those sales profitable, keeping your customers happy and coming back for return visits,” Stasch said.