16 Aug #8: Top 5 Traits of Leading Service Managers
A first step in improving yourself, or improving your company is to look to others who consistently outperform the competition. In football, it’s Super Bowl Champions. For Dealership Service Departments, it’s the Leading Service Managers and Top Automotive Service Advisors. We’ve identified the best of the best in service, and studied them to find the tools and systems you need to become a Top Dog.
In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, Service Consultant & Lead Sales Trainer Mario Pernillo joins us. Mario broke into the Automotive Industry working in service at Longo Toyota. More recently, Mario has been on the front lines working in dealerships around the country as part of the Chris Collins team.
A conversation with Gary about a great car buying experience he just had buying a Honda for his daughter evolves into NFL preseason football talk, and then quickly turns into an unbelievable short list of the common traits the leading service managers all share.
Along the way you’ll hear about what makes Enrique the 37 car salesman special. You’ll hear about the lack of support service managers get in our industry, how some service advisors are set up for failure, and the big question veteran service managers who’ve been in the business 5+ years are afraid to ask.
Shared Traits of Leading Service Managers:
1. Understand the financials
2. A Passion for Customers
3. Hit the Sales Button
4. People Collectors
5. Transcend the Service Department
1. Understand the Financials – Dealer always has the financial statement on their desk. The trouble is, it’s almost never shared with the service manager, but we’re graded on it. Unless we’re teaching them how to read it, we’re all flying blind. If you’re a service manager reading this, we just want to tell you that half of the time the guys who show up for our service manager boot camp, it’s the first time they’ve seen a financial statement, so don’t feel bad. Get in our coaching group, get out to LA, and we’ll teach you. We’ll give you the tools, we’ll help you, because we care. We’ll mentor you and guide you through it. Don’t feel bad about it, it’s not your fault. But don’t feel bad coming, because we’ll teach you how to read the financial and you’ll be better than anybody in your dealership at doing it.
2. A Passion for Customers – Mario came from Longo Toyota, the #1 Toyota store in the country, Chris Collins came from Crevier BMW, the #1 BMW store in the country at the time, and there were and have been a lot of commonalities between Fletcher Jones and all the #1 dealerships in the country. That commonality was the customer. We never want to win an argument with the customer. There’s a reason CSI is the number one priority of the number one dealers. Would you rather be right, or would you rather be rich?
3. Hit the Sales Button – Knowing how to sell. How to sell effective labor rate, how to sell ELR. It’s like a superpower the service managers get when they know how to hit the sales button. As managers the very first thing we have to know is what our advisors are saying, how they are selling. We have to go out there and listen to our advisors and listen to them present, because not every advisor is at the same level. Only then will we know how to guide our service advisors and give them the right tips and tools. Build the foundation first, then grow.
4. People Collectors – Get the good advisors the good techs follow them, get the good techs the good advisors follow them. The best people will follow each other. They want to hang around others who are performing, this in essence almost guarantees that when they move to the next store someone has their back. The best service managers focus on being collectors of great people.
5. Transcend the Service Department – What we mean here is creating a department that is about more than itself. One that affects and helps all departments. One that the sales department doesn’t hate to go to. The leading Service Managers have systems to do this. Problem is, nobody teaches managers how or helps them understand it, and when managers run it like only their department matters it adversely affects the rest of the dealership. All the departments are interconnected and the truly great service managers get this and understand exactly how to manufacture this synergy everywhere they go. At the end of the day, every customer that the sales department sends us is a customer we don’t have to go get.
Nobody cares about service like we do. We bleed service.
If you’re a dealer or service manager out there and you don’t have the training and you’re not surrounded by other winners in our industry get in our coaching group so we can help you. We have some amazing talent, and our training is pretty good, and fun – dare I say, the best training out there. It’s the only of its kind really.
You can still buy tickets to top dog and come as a guest, check it out. There’s no other event like it. It’s the only place where the best managers and advisors come together to hang out, workshop together, and motivate each other. Plus $50,000 will be going to the service manager who showed the biggest year over year increase in CSI, Net to Gross, Effective Labor Rate when combined with their written account of their journey of transformation.
Selected Episode Links
Come hang out the Leading Service Managers at the TOP DOG Event
Service Manager Coaching Group
Book How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
What do the numbers mean? Cholesterol Infographic
Time Stamped Show Notes
[1:55] Gary’s Cholesterol Check
[5:23] Gary Goes to the Dealership, The Car Buying Experience
[10:35] How to Win Friends and Influence People
[12:00] The Difference Is the Experience
[13:10] Chris’ Washington Vacation Revelation
[14:20] Grounds for Termination
[14:40] NFL Preseason Predictions
[18:40] Orange County is Another Country
[20:20] $50,000 Service Manager Challenge Essay
[20:55] The Typical Training and Support Service Managers Get
[22:09] What Really Infuriates Chris Collins
[23:12] 5 Year Scare
[23:42] The 5 Things Leading Service Managers Have in Common
[23:50] Understand the Dealership Financials
[26:00] What Makes Us Look Smarter Than We Are
[26:47] Passion For Customers
[28:50] Would you rather be right or rich?
[30:30] Hit the Sales Button
[32:20] Pricing strategies, you have to know how to price things
[33:45] People Collectors
[34:38] Transcend the Service Department
[37:44] Get Surrounded by Other Winners
[40:15] A Commitment with Permanent Consequences
[43:55] Barking Voices
Transcript download coming soon, please come back.
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