By Bob Cooper of Elite Worldwide
Most service advisors go over their technicians’ recommendations and categorize the repairs. They’ll put all the brake-related recommendations into one group, all the drivetrain recommendations into another group, etc. Sound familiar? There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but where they’re missing the mark, especially during these tough economic times, is by not understanding how to properly prioritize their service recommendations. When it comes to prioritizing recommendations, you need to make sure your customers know that you understand their concerns, and that you have their best interest in mind. Obviously when you have a long list of repairs and services that need to be done, you’ll always need to start with what the customer brought their vehicle in for. But where do you go from there? There are three categories you need to consider …
The first and most important category is the safety of the customer. This includes items such as brakes, tires, suspension, etc. The second category is the safety of others. Items such as exhaust pipes that may fall off on a busy road, broken rearview mirrors, and defective brake lights would all fall into this category. And lastly, we have the safety of their vehicle. This category includes cooling systems, air conditioning, maintenance, etc. The beauty of this three-category approach is that it puts the customer’s safety first, and focuses on the safety of others as well. If you do as I recommend, your customers will begin to associate maintenance with their personal safety, the safety of others, and the safety of their vehicles. No matter how much money their car is worth, one thing is for certain: they’ll want themselves, other drivers, and their investment in their vehicle … to be safe.
The proper way of prioritizing service recommendations is one of the many sales strategies taught in the Elite Masters Program – A sales course for the industry’s top service advisors. To learn more about the upcoming Masters Course, or to find out if your service advisor qualifies, visit the Elite Masters Program Web Page.