AutoFix AdvisorCast

Michael Doherty [00:00:00]:
Hey, Service Advisor Nation. Welcome back to another episode of the autofix Advisor Cast with your host, Michael Dougherty. Hopefully everyone's doing well. Hopefully everyone's in good health and. Yeah, and all that good stuff. So today I wanted to talk about kind of offense and defense for service advisors, for vehicle check ins and also, you know, them, service advisors, you know, sharing some of this information with technicians as well.

Michael Doherty [00:00:40]:
I've obviously been more try to be more proactive than reactive in my career as a service advisor. And again, you know, I want to talk about offense and defense for a couple of things with vehicles especially. So I think first and foremost and again, we only have so much time in the day to do what we need to do. There's a lot of stuff that we're doing constantly, you know, phones ringing, customers coming in, customers checking out, talking to technicians, checking in, vehicles checking out vehicles, test driving vehicles, ordering parts. Again, all of it, it's continuous, right? It's non stop. But in that moment, especially when you're doing the vehicle check in process, you know, slow it down, slow it down and spend more time doing the vehicle check in process. And what I say by that is this. So typically if I got a client that dropped off a vehicle and they're either hanging out in the lounge or they've, you know, dropped it off and they got some picking up, or they took a loaner car, we got them a shuttle somewhere, you know, going out there, I'm snapping a pick of the vin, snapping the pick of the instrument cluster with a car running, going around the car, taking various photos, you know, wheels, body panels, dense things, et cetera.

Michael Doherty [00:01:52]:
But I think really important also is for cars and I definitely encourage this, I've talked about this in the past, get as many clients as you can to do night drops. I think it's really important because it maximizes your time with the vehicle for the next business day. From an efficiency standpoint, again, the car's already cooled down, there's not a rush. It's there, right? And you get there, you get it checked in. But coming from the offense side of things, you know, when you're getting it checked in, especially that night drop, you know, listen to it, you know, was there an extended crank? Was there a slow crank when you're starting that car up, was there a, you know, a squeal from under the hood? You know, when you crank that car up on a cold start, when you move that car in the parking lot, you Know, cold start braking, was there squeaks from the brakes? Was it front, was it rear, was it, was the suspension creaky? I mean, all things to, you know, really kind of take in kind of note, you know, and most CRMs these days, we were using not Shop Genie, it was shopware. And there was a tab where we could just put, you know, comments in the upper right hand corner for things. And I would share those notes with the technician. But, you know, if there was something, especially if I cranked up a car on cold start from a night drop and, and there's a Good, you know, 20, 30 seconds squeal from under the hood, you know, I'm going to take my phone out, I'm going to record that video of that noise and I'm going to post it, you know, to that RO on that CRM.

Michael Doherty [00:03:24]:
Because you have the availability, you have the ability to do that now, which is really cool. And again, likely something the client's already aware of, but maybe they forgot to tell you about it. But it's a good bringing up point, right? And reason I say about that on the offensive is because it prepares you for the defensive. You know, we've oftentimes in the industry we've worked on somebody's car and you know, you get the call back, you know, hey, ever since you did my X, Y and Z, now my car is doing this, or ever since you touched this, now the car is doing that. And a lot of the times it really has no relation, but, you know, trying to again explain that to somebody. But, you know, we've had people, I've had people, you know, we do a window, we do a window regulator on a vehicle, the mechanical portion, not the motor, just the window regulator. Right. The mechanical portion on a European car reset the adaptations for the auto down, you know, one and up.

Michael Doherty [00:04:17]:
And the next day we get a phone call saying, you know, hey, my sunroof, you know, my sunroof isn't opening. It won't tilt. You know, totally unrelated. But in their mind, hey, you were just working on their car. So again, kind of, you know, again, just preparation for how to be, you know, more. You don't have to deal with the defensive, right? But again, on the cold starts, especially listen for noise from under the hood. Anything that just sounds odd, you know, take note of it. Really don't just crank it up, hop in the car, move it to the back of the parking lot, get out of it and you know, start writing up the RO and putting the information and like, again, spend a Little bit of time, you know, the H Vac, right? I mean, whether a car has done a night drop or they've dropped off the morning of, you know, with that H Vac on, most, most cars want to get in the H Vacs on, you know, play with the fan speeds a little bit, you know, turn it up, volume, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Michael Doherty [00:05:10]:
And, and listen, right? Just listen. And you know, a lot of times what I'll hear is it sounds like debris. Debris somewhere in the blower motor housing, like a leaf or a twig or just something that's caught in there. Kind of like a, almost like a, a playing card, you know, like a, like a king of spades or whatever. Just a play, you know, ace of spades, a king, a queen stuck in a bicycle spoke. You know, as a kid, you put those, you know, on your bicycle spokes, you know, going down the road and kind of make that, you know, noise. So again, you know, just awareness, you know, again, you know, on the offensive, you know, hey, I heard that. I wanted to make you aware of that, Mr.

Michael Doherty [00:05:47]:
Customer. Is that something you'd like us to check into? It could definitely affect, you know, your H Vac system, you know, your fan speed's not working or worse, you know, you know, it could do damage to one of the components, you know. So again, awareness, bringing things up like that. Suspension squeaks again, cold start, you know, braking in the parking lot. Just anything that you're going to hear from that night, drop, check in and you know, document. Also, what I was big believer in and still do is if I know I've got somebody coming in for an interior job, right, if we're going to be doing a heater core, if we're going to be doing a winter regulator, if we're going to be doing, you know, a fuel pump, not the high pressure fuel pump at the engine, but the one that's usually under the seat of a vehicle, the rear seat. You know, I'm taking pictures of the interior before we start working on that vehicle again, you know, on the offensive, you know, on offense. And you know, I'm taking a picture of that door panel, you know, is it.

Michael Doherty [00:06:44]:
Is, is it cracked? Is it loose? Is there a marring? Is there nicks on the pull handle? Is there? I mean, again, you want to paint the picture of that. That stuff was pre existing because a lot of times, again, people will come in and they just don't know and they're going to say, hey, you just had this off and this is broken, or that is Broken. So again, you know, you know, again, we're trying to, you know, play more offense than defense. You know, again, take pictures. One thing that's really good, too, that I'd recommend is if you're not in the business of detailing cars, when clients cars are there, if you're just doing like a quick wash or something like that, that's great. But, you know, buy some detailing supplies. You know, there is a company online, it's just Chemical Guys, Chemical Guys dot com. They're always running specials.

Michael Doherty [00:07:31]:
A lot of their products too, believe it or not, are in Walmart. And you can pick up, you know, it's pretty cost effective, especially with the discounts they have and the deals on their website. But, you know, get an interior pack, you know, so microfiber towels, interior wipes, dashboard wipes. Because, you know, again, you know, just cleaning the area and that the vehicle was worked on, you know, inside is really important. And I mentioned that from a service advisor's perspective, because you're kind of the last line of defense before that car leaves. You know, it's your responsibility to go out there to that car before the client picks up. Hopefully you're getting and documenting ending mileage. You're just doing kind of a quick scan around, you know, was the service light reset? Did I fill out the service booklet? But again, you know, making sure, especially if interior work was done, you know, no, no.

Michael Doherty [00:08:19]:
You know, grease prints, you know, oil prints, stains, you know, just make sure that it's a clean area and having the proper supplies to do that. You know, again, invest in some detailing supplies, your company that you work with her for, and just get those on hand to take care of those, you know, little things so that they don't become, like I said, where you've got to be on the defensive, you know, just take care of stuff. And one thing that I found out recently, I took my wife's vehicle in to Jiffy Lube. It was on a Sunday. I just needed a regular state inspection on her Acura. And while I was there, they were doing the state inspection. And they said, would you like us to do a vacuum of the interior and just wipe down the windows for you? And I said, oh, I didn't know you guys offered that service. How much is that? They said, nothing, we don't charge for that.

Michael Doherty [00:09:05]:
I was like, wow, Jiffy Lube is doing interior vacuums and wiping down windows. You know, again, value, right? So, you know, is your shop vacuuming interiors for clients? Are you wiping down windows? I mean, if Jiffy Lube's doing that. My gosh. We need to. We need to get on it, people. You know, that kind of took me back. And to be honest, shame on me. I haven't been to a Jiffy Lube in a long time.

Michael Doherty [00:09:27]:
But the place that I used to work at, we didn't do in house state inspections. And a place I usually go to to get them done was not open on the weekends. So I just went to a local Jiffy Lube. But I had no idea, no idea that they did interior vacuum courtesy and window cleaning courtesy. So, you know, again, something to consider in your morning meeting. Hey, are we doing that if. No, we need to be doing that again, providing value also too. You know, talk with the technicians, you know, get them in the habit.

Michael Doherty [00:09:55]:
Try and get them in the habit. And again, everybody's got to be on the same page where we're trying to take care of the customer. Now we're trying to take care of the customer. We need to take care of the customer. This who is providing us paycheck. This is who's taking care of our families in a monetary sense. Right? We're serving. We need to help them.

Michael Doherty [00:10:14]:
So if again, technicians doing an interior repair or something with an airbag connector, driver's seat is out, the driver's seat is out. You're going to find a whole bunch of stuff under there. And again, this is not necessary for the service advisor, but for the technician. But again, for the service advisors to relate to the technicians, you know, take the time, do a quick vacuum. You know, you're probably going to find some change under there. Maybe a stylist, you know, from a tablet or an iPad or something. Pens, pencils. I've had technicians come up to me saying, hey, here's some, you know, here's some jewelry.

Michael Doherty [00:10:51]:
I found a necklace. I found, you know, a diamond ring. Yes, that did happen to me once. I had a technician come up and he had a ring in his hand, and it wasn't a huge rock, but it was a diamond ring. And I called that client and I said, hey, you know, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, just to let you know, our technician had the driver's seat out doing repair for your airbag connector, and he found a ring. And the lady was just blown away with the honesty, transparency.

Michael Doherty [00:11:20]:
Wow. I can't believe you guys found that and you're telling me about it. I mean, she was just. I don't know if it's a family heirloom or it was really important to her, obviously, but just, you know, the joy in her hearing. Oh, my gosh, you guys found that. So don't ignore what's under there. You know, catalog it, put it in a bag, something. But let the client know, hey, it's your stuff, right? And again, vacuum it out.

Michael Doherty [00:11:38]:
Vacuum it out. Don't leave it all yuck. Just, you know, help the client out. It goes a long way. And, you know, show them when they pick up, hey, we. We vacuumed your car, we wiped your windows down, we clean the inside. I mean, just something. It has to be more than, you know, just the connect.

Michael Doherty [00:11:54]:
The connection of, you know, they're coming in to fix their car. It's beyond that, right? We know that when that phone rings, they need something. We want to get them in again, the answer is, yes, we can help you. We want to help you get them in, but it's got to go further than just working on their car. They've got to remember you. They've got to feel your value. You have to do something different to get their attention, to separate yourself from the other shops. So again, when I, you know, I found out that Jiffy Lube is doing vacuums and interior window cleaning, my mindset went, wow, we weren't even doing that at the place that I worked at.

Michael Doherty [00:12:26]:
We weren't. We had a gentleman that was coming after school. He was doing exterior cleanings for people's cars and some of our loaner cars, but, you know, for client cars, you know, us, you know, I guess it was. It was a fail on our part, you know, and again, the. The methodology of, like, why weren't we doing that? You know, I think at a time we were, but we just kind of got away from it. But again, you know, when a client's paying for a big repair and they can't see the things that you've done, I mean, do something. You know, vacuum it out, wash it, do something. But again, just, you know, coming from the offense, right? Pictures, documentation.

Michael Doherty [00:13:05]:
Again, awareness. Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, I cranked up your car on the cold start this morning, and there's a really loud squeal from under the hood. I'm sure you've heard that before, right? You know, bring it up to them. You know, we'd love to check that out for you because, you know, it shouldn't sound like that. And typically, when someone brings in a car and it's already warmed up, that noise isn't going to be there. So, you know, again, just awareness, trying to help out.

Michael Doherty [00:13:28]:
Trying to, you know, you know, make mention of what you Heard. So you can explain it to them. Documenting it, right? Documenting it in the work order somewhere in the notes section of whatever CRM you've got. So it lives in there. So it's a reminder if the next person that works or is a service advisor on the car, they can go to the note section or the technician can see the note section. But again, just work together as a team, you know, take care of the client. That's ultimately the right thing to do, the best thing to do. And, you know, a couple things too.

Michael Doherty [00:13:57]:
You know, I don't think it would be a bad idea just to have trim clips on hand, especially for interior parts. There's a lot of places that just offer like a huge assortment, like a 40, 50 piece assortment of interior trim clips. Because I'll be honest, you know, a lot of these cars, the plastic isn't great and things do break, but again, if you can have those things on hand to minimize downtime and obviously use the right tools, you know, I mean, there are certain tools for certain jobs. You know, don't stick a screwdriver in there and try and wedge it. I mean, they've got, you know, plastic. I think they're called bones. From what I've heard from technicians before, hey, I got to get a plastic bone or a separator. And also, you know, again, for service advisors, when you're talking to the technicians about the interior stuff, you know, you know, ask them, you know, hey, could you wear gloves? Right? Could you wear gloves? We don't want to, you know, get, you know, stains and, and grease prints on the inside of this car for obvious reasons.

Michael Doherty [00:14:50]:
And some technicians, you know, they don't like to wear gloves. I get it. But if not, let's really make sure that their hands are clean. And again, as a service advisor, you know, you're kind of the last line of defense when that car picks up. So, you know, if you knew the area of the car that was worked on, especially inside, do a really good visual inspection and again, get some detailing supplies, some interior detailing supplies, microfiber, interior wipes, window wipes, things of that nature just can take care of the client's car. Think of it like if it was your mom's car, if it was your sister's car. Well, maybe not if they don't keep their car, their cars clean. Whoever keeps their car clean, you know, it's Jay Leno's car, it's Jerry Seinfeld's car.

Michael Doherty [00:15:29]:
It's, you know, chemical guys owns this car. You know, let's let's take care of it. But, you know, team effort across the front. But again, you know, coming from. More trying to talk about the offense, right? What can we do proactively? How can we be on the offense, you know, marching down the field toward the finish line, toward the touchdown, toward, you know, just taking care of the client in all fronts and instead of having to worry about, be on the defense, you know, so you can just think about those things. But Service Advisor Nation. Another episode of Autofix Advisor Cast. I appreciate you tune in next week and I hope you keep your bays full.

Michael Doherty [00:16:04]:
I hope you're taking care of your teams and yourselves getting those clarity breaks and keep kicking butt. Do your thing, be original, take care of the client and love what you do. All right, thanks again. 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.

Michael Doherty [00:16:38]:
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.