With the demand to trim expenses, more and more Dealerships are looking to the Service Advisors to Cashier their own Repair Orders. Assuming the Cashier isn’t doing many other duties, such as filing, warranty processing, etc., then here are four reasons to consider changing the way you’ve done it in the past:
- Free up Personnel Expense for another commissioned Service Advisor.
- Increase Customer Retention and Improve CSI.
- As a bi-product of #2 you’ll increase your sales and profitability.
- If the Advisors have to speak to the Customers to finish the transactions this will force Service Advisors to perform some variation of an “Active Delivery” (A term we use to loosely describe how the serviced vehicle is returned back to the Customer—similar to the Vehicle Sales Department delivering a New or Used Vehicle). The Sales Department DOES NOT RELY on the Title Clerk to review the paperwork with the Customer, so the Service Department should not rely on the Cashier to review the Repair Order, Multipoint Inspection, and Manufacturer’s Survey with the Customer, either.
If you think your Service Advisors are doing a good job on the telephone reviewing the work done to the vehicle, and that alone is a sufficient Active Delivery, stand by the Cashier from 4 P.M. to 6 P.M. and listen to the Customers’ questions.
If the Cashier is paging your Service Advisors to explain what was done to the vehicles; or worse, attempting to explain the repairs him or herself, then you first need to train the Service Advisors on how to do an Active Delivery. Please call us at 877.316.7418 if you want a written process.
Your Service Advisors need to perfect the Active Delivery Process before you make a change. If you have a good CSI score, this will make it better! It will also make a bad CSI score worse. Please don’t punish the Customer because you want to cut some Personnel Expense. This is your opportunity to put your Service Advisors in charge of their Customers from start to finish.
To begin, each Service Advisor will need his or her own credit card machine. There aren’t many cash transactions in the Service Department, so there can be a centralized cash drawer, perhaps at the parts counter or somewhere secure.
Managers need to check the Exception Report (CDK: REX, R&R: 3619), if available on their DMS, every day, looking for changes to invoices. As a final safeguard, any changes made to an invoice after it is finalized should ONLY be done by the Manager. The Customer needs to be there when the change is done!
When done properly, eliminating the Cashier position and training your Service Advisors will improve your Net Profit, your CSI and improve the Advisors’ Client retention. It’s a win-win-win for you, your Advisors and the Customers!