AutoFix AdvisorCast

Michael Doherty [00:00:00]:
This is the autofix Advisor Cast powered by worldpac. Hey, welcome to another episode of the autofix Advisor Cast. I'm your host Michael Dougherty and we would like to thank our sponsor WorldPAC and the WorldPAC Training Institute. This podcast is your go to source for service advising and automotive industry insights being be sure to check out worldpac.com for their latest in parts distribution and worldpactraining.com to explore training programs that can and will take your career to the next level. So Service Advisor Nation, hopefully everybody's been doing great and I do apologize. I'm looking down at my phone. The information that I'm going to supply in today's podcast, I didn't really memorize a lot of it, a lot of it's just written down. So I'll be kind of glancing at the phone off to the screen here, but wanted to talk about the upcoming and I say upcoming.

Michael Doherty [00:00:59]:
It's going to be March of 2025. It is the Vision High Tech Training and Expo taking place March 6th through the 9th at the Overland Park Convention center in Kansas City. Chris Cotton from autofix and myself, Michael Dougherty will be co coaching a class called Service Advisor A to Z. And Chris had originally come up with that concept of the A to Z course and had got in touch with me maybe a couple weeks ago and said, hey, put your spin on it, let me know what you think. And I literally took the Alphabet A to Z and for every letter in the Alphabet I kind of wrote down a couple things that I could think of for topics from A to Z and gave that information to Chris. And Chris said, I like your thought process. You literally took it as A to Z. So some of the things that we're going to be discussing during that coaching class and I kind of go down the list here.

Michael Doherty [00:02:09]:
So for a I've got attitude and again this is all geared towards service advisors and you know it's going to be a great class. I'm super excited. It'll be the first one that I'm co coaching and, and just really happy about it. But again for a I've got attitude, accuracy, accountability, appearance, approach, appointments, abilities and the word absolutely. I gotta be honest with you, that word absolutely is something that I often hear from one of my coworkers, actually one of my previous coworkers. Anytime I heard her on the phone talking to a client, she would always, always say, you know, I would hear in the background, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. And you know, just such a positive word and it builds excitement as well you know, confidence behind that. So I really like that word.

Michael Doherty [00:03:03]:
For the letter B, we're going with balance, you know, work life balance. How to better maintain that belief, you know, belief in what you're doing, you know, are you standing behind, are you standing behind where you work? Are you believing where you are and what you're doing is the right thing for the client? Boundaries, boundaries with clients and co workers billing which is often underlooked. If service advisors are doing the billing and I feel that the service advisors are the, that are doing the cradle to grave service advising. You know, if you're setting the service reservation, you know, making the appointment, doing the pre write, welcoming the guest in the door, you know, getting their additional information, all that stuff all the way down to billing. So you know, mentioning that as well. So breaks, you know, often overlooked, taking mini breaks during the day but just talking about breaks. For C, I've got confidence, customers, communication, comprehension, clarity, client check in and check out cores, parts cores and client guided sales for the letter D. We got dedication, we've got decisions, we've got determination, we've got DVI digital vehicle inspections and we've got dispatch.

Michael Doherty [00:04:21]:
I think DVI and dispatch really kind of go hand in hand in those scenarios for service advisors. For E, we got empathy, we've got experiences, excitement, expectations, email and estimates. For F we've got forward thinking, foundation, facility, being the shop and follow up, customer follow up that is also really important. I know sometimes the owners of the shop call clients after they've left a day or two, maybe a week later and do a follow up call. But I do feel that the service advisors should also do a follow up call not too short after the client has left. You know, maybe maybe 24 hours, maybe even less than that depending on what was done. You know, if you've done suspension work to someone's vehicle, if you've done tire work, brake work, you know, calling in maybe a couple hours after, hey, did you realize the difference in what we did for your vehicle? Are you feeling the difference? You know those are all things that you can say that will, you know they're going to feel especially suspension tires and brakes. So again just follow up.

Michael Doherty [00:05:28]:
G, we've got gratitude, we've got guilt, we've got guidance. H we've got honesty, harmony, health. Again, that's mental health, physical health, physical health in the industry and how those things affect us. I've talked about that a lot in the past. Both our mental health and physical health and how we can do better with both of Those habits for I. We've got influence. We've got interactions, inspired instincts, integrity and intent. For Jay.

Michael Doherty [00:06:04]:
We've got jovial and journey. The journey and how we got to where we are, what we're doing. The journey and where we're going. The journey and how we're, you know, getting our clients, you know, to the next appointment. Okay, we've got kindness and we've got knowledge. L. We've got leadership. We've got learning.

Michael Doherty [00:06:24]:
We've got listening. We've got loaner vehicles for M. We've got motivation. We've got Mediator. We've got mentor. Marketing again, mental health, maintaining margins, maintenance vehicle maintenance, morning meeting, staff or morning staff meeting. Touching base on Mediator or actually mentor. I apologize.

Michael Doherty [00:06:49]:
Mentor under M. You know, how many of you have had a mentor as service advisors? I mean, there's gotta be somebody along the way in your journey that you have looked up to, you know, that's giving you guidance. And, you know, that could be an external person as well, that's not in the industry. You know, a father figure, a mother figure, an aunt and uncle. Just somebody that's really positive and is a good mentor to you, but also a mentor in the business, you know, guiding you and showing you the right way to do things if you're new to the game and taking that guidance and applying your own spin to it. But again, you know, a mentor. My mentor is actually a gentleman named Bob Johnson. Bob Johnson trained me for about two years when I was new to the game as a service advisor, and I'll never forget him.

Michael Doherty [00:07:37]:
We still keep in great contact. We probably do breakfast maybe once a month. We try to at least, but great mentor. So glad to have that experience with him. N. We got night, drop and nimble for O. We've got optimistic, we've got opportunities, observant and organized. All things that are very key characteristics for service advisors.

Michael Doherty [00:08:01]:
I like the organized part, to be honest. I mean, I am not working or wasn't working at the front desk. I had an office. And I know I'm mentioning organized. There were parts of it that were organized and parts of it that probably weren't too organized, but I knew where everything was if I needed it. But organization, very important for the day. And it doesn't have to pertain to physical organization too. It could be just on the books, on the schedule calendar.

Michael Doherty [00:08:27]:
Is it organized? Is it working the best that it can for you to make things seamless for you and the clients that you're serving that day? P. We've got parts, phone skills, proactive punctuality, precision, patience, perseverance, pictures from the DVI digital vehicle inspection point of sale system, production professionals and profits. A lot of P words there for Q. We've got qualified and we've got questions, you know, questions. Are we asking our clients the right questions when they're making the service reservation for their concerns, you know, with brakes especially, you know, if they're saying, you know, I'm getting a vibration when I'm braking, hey, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, are you feeling that in the seat? Are you feeling it in the steering wheel? What particular speed is this occurring at? City speeds, highway speeds? Again, the more questions you ask and the better information you can get for your technicians is the best case scenario, you know, never guessing, especially with check engine lights, you know, how long has it been on for? How long is or how long has the check engine light been on for? Have you had any work done at another shop in the last 30, 60, 90 days for that check engine light, if it's been on that long and if so, what part or parts were replaced? Again, more information, you know, the right questions for your technician to help minimize maybe overlapping of things, but and also just to be, you know, very just into it, you know, again, people love talking about stuff, so the more questions the better. For R we've got relatable, we've got reliable, we've got resourceful, we've got reviews, ros rental vehicles and responsibilities for reviews.

Michael Doherty [00:10:14]:
And I'm talking about Google reviews, you know, are you asking your clients when you're checking, when they're checking out, you know, if you're at the front desk, you know, doing the billing and if you're not, make it a point to let the client know when they come in to check out. If you're not going to be doing the billing. Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, when you come in, please be sure to ask for me. There's something I want to talk to you about. You know, if they had a great experience, you know, get them to leave you a Google review, really important for your business growth. And also just, you know, people seeing great reviews.

Michael Doherty [00:10:44]:
I mean, people search when they're looking for shops in your area reviews and they read them, you know, there's going to be some not so great ones in there too. But again, you know, the more consistent reviews daily, weekly, monthly helps build your business brand. For us, you know, we've got synergy and we've got safety. Synergy being, you know, just cohesiveness, the team, the Team working together to accomplish the goals. You know, having that morning meeting, talking about what's going on for the day. Time deadlines for vehicles, goal deadlines, but just good synergy communication. The team working together as a unit to take care of the customer. Safety.

Michael Doherty [00:11:25]:
Yeah, safety. I mean, you know, when we're getting in clients, vehicles, you know, using, you know, making sure there's any sharp objects, I mean, I'll be honest, there's a couple times where I've sat on something in a seat that I guess I should have saw beforehand and I didn't and you know, it hurt. So safety T, we've got technicians, we've got teamwork, we've got training and we've got texting. So training. I think that falls into the vision high tech, you know, training and expo again taking place March 6th through the 9th at the Overland Park Convention center in Kansas City. Texting. So yeah, I mean texting clients, most point of sale systems these days allow you to do a text, a text estimate or a bill. So you know, you can text those options to clients now, which is great.

Michael Doherty [00:12:16]:
And some people actually prefer a text over an email or phone call over a text. So finding out also, you know, what's the client's preferred communication method, you know, finding that out early on and most, I would say most of the people these days are doing text. So it's great. If you're sending the DVI or texting it to them, ask them to review it and then also please, please, please don't forget, ask them to call you with any questions about that DVI or if you saw that they have viewed the DVI in your point of sale system. If the system allows you to see that they have viewed the dvi, give it a couple of minutes and then call them and ask them if they have any questions, go over it with them together because I'm sure there's going to be information on there that they really need to hear from. The inflection in your voice that's, you know, serious enough to get done today or in the, you know, the near future. But again, you know, the texting part of it is really cool these days for you. We've got unique, we've got understanding, we've got updates, client updates and unhappy customers.

Michael Doherty [00:13:18]:
You know, how do we navigate unhappy customers? And you know, also defining why they were unhappy, you know, being honest with it, the accountability part of it. You know, was it something that you, the advisor or the shop cause is that why they're unhappy? And how to navigate that and how to make that right. Or is it just an unhappy customer? You know, they're coming in, they're you know, grumpy Gary or you know, grumpy Gretchen. So you know, how can you get them to not be grumpy? You know, how can we do a better job of eliminating those unhappy customer experiences? For V we've got variables. Value verify voicemail vehicle symptoms for client concerns. So for I would say out of that, you know, value, you know, building value in what you're recommending to your clients, using your client guided sales and letting them know, you know, hey, if you decide to do this work, we've got you covered for, you know, mention your warranty. Most shops these days do a three year warranty, 36,000 miles, parts and labor. Some shops are doing 440, some do a nationwide warranty.

Michael Doherty [00:14:27]:
But again, depending on, you know, your policies and procedures, again, building value, letting them know, you know, you're going to be here, you've got them covered. Here's our warranty. Our techs are ASE certified. Here's what we have to offer you. You know, the value for w we've got worldpac. Worldpac's been a huge asset to a lot of independent shops. And I'm finding out some dealerships, some dealerships do buy World Pack parts, but mostly it's independent shops. And again in the area that I worked in in Cary, North Carolina we would get probably, I think it was six to seven deliveries a day.

Michael Doherty [00:15:04]:
It was great. And the warehouse, honestly the warehouse that was close to us was only probably about five miles away. So when you hit order on that screen, on that worldpac screen, it came really fast to us. It was dropped off in a very efficient time frame. So again, worldpack, we appreciate you and your sponsorship. Walk around, walk around of vehicles, warranties, shop and third party workflow and waiters. So you know, warranties. I'm sure most shops these days do work with third party warranty companies.

Michael Doherty [00:15:39]:
One thing that's optional because I will be honest with you, Service Advisor Nation, dealing with an extended warranty company at times is a time suck. And you know, just being honest, you know, from making that initial phone call, being on hold for potentially five to 10 minutes, then speaking to somebody, going over what is going on with the vehicle, supplying that warranty person, that third party warranty person, the parts, the labor, waiting for an authorization, I mean when that phone call alone can be a half hour, sometimes, you know, maybe even 40 minutes depending on the time of day, you know, anytime you call them, it always says, you know, high call volume. You know, your wait time could be X and it's usually 10 to 15 minutes before somebody picks up. And you know, the post part of that, you know, calling the client back, letting them know if their extended warranty company authorized work and up to what amount and having that great conversation of your warranty company only, you know, your bill is $3,000 or the invoice amount would be $3,000, your warranty company is going to cover $2,500. And out of that, here's what they're covering. And then having the conversation with the client of letting them know that they would be responsible for the residual $500 out of that 3,000 and again, that the warranty company is only picking up 2,500. I'm of course using an example. And then the client asking you, well, I don't understand.

Michael Doherty [00:17:02]:
I bought this warranty company and I should only have to pay my deductible. That's what they told me. And then having that conversation and then letting them know that if they have any questions, they can call their warranty company and, you know, going around Robin, back and forth and ultimately landing on, you know, we need the authorization. So also with extended warranty companies, if an extended warranty company offer or authorizes a repair for the client's vehicles in the shop, do not, I repeat, do not start that repair until you have re spoken to your client and gotten their authorization to do the work on that vehicle. Very important, you know, so all parties are, are being transparent with one another. So again, I repeat, if a warranty company, extended warranty company authorizes repairs on a client's vehicle that is there, do not, please do not start those repairs until you have reached out to the client to let them know that the extended warranty company has authorized that work and that you want to make sure that they authorize that work to be performed because it is their vehicle. Very, very important. That has caught me off guard early in my career and just want to put that out there.

Michael Doherty [00:18:10]:
So again, we talked about worldpac X. That was an interesting one. Couldn't find too much about X. But we came up with Xenodoco. It is spelled X E N O D O C H I A L Xena Dokel, which means very friendly or hospitable. So obviously, you know, being friendly and hospitable to everybody that comes into the shop. You know, vendors, co workers, whoever, you know, let's, let's do the right thing, be friendly, hospitable why? You know, we got. Yes, and we've got you.

Michael Doherty [00:18:43]:
You guys, the service advisors. Be yourself. You know, it's. Some places ask you, especially with booking service, reservations and certain things, you know, read from a script. You know, they tell you read from a script. People can tell if you're reading from a script because it sounds, you know, when you're reading from that script, it sounds very automated, you know, and that's gonna lose credibility with you and the client in my personal, you know, assessment, you know, so be yourself, you know, apply the information that is relevant to the situation or the concern. But, you know, don't read from a script. I mean, put your own spin on it.

Michael Doherty [00:19:26]:
Be original. And that's what's going to gain you trust with the client right off the bat. Z, we've got zealous, showing great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective. That was a really powerful one. So again, Z, we got zealous, showing great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective. And that can be applied to the shop that you're working in, the clients that you're working with. I mean, you know, cool stuff. So again, a lot of things we didn't talk about specifically, but that will be, I believe.

Michael Doherty [00:20:02]:
And Chris is going to have, you know, Chris from again, Auto Fix is going to have some things to put in as well. But that was my A to Z list and I was very excited to kind of put that together and help, you know, co coach this class. Coming up again at the Vision High Tech Training and Expo, March 6th through 9th at the Overland Park Convention center in Kansas City. Service Advisor Nation, hope to see y'all there. And I hope everybody's doing well. Honestly, from a health standpoint, physically, mentally, we're winding down the year and I hope it was a great 2024 for you guys and gals and just, yeah. What are your, what are your goals for next year? What are, you know, what are you aspiring to do? What are you wanting to do? You know, goals being, you know, financial, you know, abundance, personal, maybe a vacation or a trip, you know, just what are your goals for 2025 and whatever there. I'm sure they're great.

Michael Doherty [00:21:02]:
So, Service Advisor Nation, thank you for tuning in to another episode of the autofix Advisor Cast. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate y'all. Also, Chris with Auto Fix, thank you for putting together the podcast with me for me and our production team, Braxton. Braxton, appreciate you, brother. Doing all the edits and stuff. For the team and all the projects you've got with everybody's various podcasts throughout the universe. So tune into another episode. And again, Service Advisor Nation, this is Michael Dougherty signing out.

Michael Doherty [00:21:33]:
Have a great day evening and take care of yourself. Hey, thanks for listening to the autofix Advisor Cast. If you're ready to take your shop to the next level, check out our sponsor WorldPAC and the WorldPAC Training Institute WTI. Big thanks to them for their sponsorship. Follow the podcast on social media for more insights and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Oh, and tell your friends we want to help the industry grow and help Advisors love their jobs again. See you on the next autofix Advisor Cast.