The In-Dealership Coaching Process

Coaching consists of improving performance by improving work habits. This proven method will generate improvements in many key areas. Although this may be new for many companies it will encompass new ideas and strategies in your department. Coaching will make your staff accountable for their actions and help motivate them to a higher level of self-worth. It will focus on performance in order to execute tasks correctly the first time by eliminating problems at the source.

The objective of coaching is to promote growth in your employee’s development and learning curve. It also plays a major role in retaining them by ensuring they continue to learn and progress. The coaching is done with the Manager being included in the process. During the initial two day coaching session Rafal the Service Manager was part of the process and I will say it was a pleasure working with him and his team.

The two day process includes an observation period to observe the Customer Service Process and evaluate the procedure using key observation criteria.

This is designed to acquaint us with the “Big Picture.” The Process for the Service Department is defined into five areas;

-          The Appointment Process

-          The Consulting Process

-          The Repair Process

-          The Active Service Delivery Process

-          The Follow up Process

There are 6 components to the In Dealership Service Analysis:

1. Quality

• Doing the repairs and maintenance right the first time.
• The quality of the customer experience in dealing with your Service Department

2. Sales

• Number of customers:  This is directly affected by your level of customer retention. The true measure of customer satisfaction is whether or not the customer will come back.
• Sales per customer:  In the past it was measured by hours per repair order; it is more significant to evaluate the maintenance sales penetration.
• Pricing:  There are two formulas that we must always keep in mind when dealing with pricing:
  • The value must be greater than or at least equal to the price that the customer has to pay;
  • The ratio between supply and demand.

3. Productivity

• Technicians: The number of work bays versus the number of technicians.
• Efficiency:  How quickly do our technicians work?
• Hours of operation:  Do we need to consider making any changes?
• Four Tens: Do we need to consider changing the technicians’ hours?

4. Personnel Management

• Recruiting and hiring
• Training and developing
• Performance versus objectives
• Leadership

5. Warranty Management

• Policies and procedures
• Warranty receivable
• Warranty costs

6. Financial Management

• Forecasting
• Expense control
• Measures of control
• Managing for a profit