I fired my service writer

[WrenchWorks]

So about 3 weeks ago, I fired my service writer. Shop profitability was suffering due to too much discounting. He would let too much diagnostic time go uncharged. He was also of the mentality "well I wouldn't pay this much for this part" so he would discount the parts to a more "reasonable" level. After stressing the importance of hitting needed margin numbers, they were coming up slowly, but not fast enough. I finally had enough and let him go.

 

I replaced him with a tech I was training. He had most of his previous experience in sales, selling both cars and electronics, so I figured he would be a better fit at the front counter. So far, parts margins are up well over 10% (total, not an increase of), and more hours are on the books.

 

Best decision I've made yet in my business.

 

By the way, the previous service writer was me.

 

Margins still have a bit to go, but part of that is me still interjecting at times. I need to remove myself completely from the RO.

 

Moral of the story: If you're too much of a nice guy to charge what needs to be charged, get the hell off the front counter so you can make some money.

[Shopcat]

Classic story. Good job getting a service advisor. In my experience shop owners are the worst on the counter. It seems like customers try to work the owner for discounts. You will love having that firewall at the front counter.

[mspecperformance]

I kick some serious as a service writer (lol) but I would love to have a firewall!!!!

[alfredauto]

I'm a pretty good Service writer thanks to Mitchell's parts matrix. I'm the owner but I don't give away parts or labor, for free I can do other things that don't involve working. Normally YTD parts margins need to be around 50% after discounts.

 

The best thing I did for my business was set up direct deposit pay for myself, I earn a weekly salary. My wife earns a weekly salary. My savings account gets a weekly contribution. Before doing that I gave a lot of money away and just lived off of what was left, if any. By paying myself and my wife what we would make working for someone else really opened my eyes to the high cost of undercharging.

[Joe Marconi]

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[xrac]

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[John Pearson]

I had to do the same thing.

[Hands On]

I am working on my service writer. I am going to start a new topic, but I will ask here also.

 

I am working on training a new service writer. He was our shop helper at first, comming in half a day here and there to clean up and help with easy tasks, pick up drop off customers, ect. He was smart and had a good work ethic, so his days got longer and longer and he eventually became a full time assistant. He would do oil changes and tires, write some estimates and still keep things clean ect. He is not perfect, he does sometimes forget things. He is young, he is only 18. I feel like he has a lot of potential, and he enjoys the job. I like his work ethic and the majority of the customers like him.

 

I am looking for advice on how to get him fully trained up. I know that everyone has to start somewhere and I am taking on a big task, but I tried one experienced service writer in the past and did not like how set in his ways he was. My current guy is and open book, and absorbs my policies with out question.

 

What training do you guys suggest. Is there a class I should send him to? Online training courses? A book I can buy for him? Where do I start?

 

I have been training him on the RO software and he is picking that up. He knows how to build the estimates, research parts online, and has sold a few jobs when I was not around.

 

He mentioned that he wants to work on his confidence talking to the customers. When I sell to a customer, I know how to work on cars, and so when they throw me a curve ball I know the answers or know how to find them. How does a service writer with very little tech experience handle techy questions?

 

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

[phynny]

Great article and so very very true. people that don't really have much to lose seem to not care what the price is and you end up making more in the end. Seems as though owners are so afraid of overcharging/not getting the work they undercharge.

[Tires Too]

AVI has some training videos from George Witt that are good. Elite has some inexpensive training on their website. World Pac offer some training classes for SA. RLO'Connor recently did a 2 day SA class in our area.

[stowintegrity]

I don't write estimates much anymore, but I still look over some of the larger estimates when they ask. Our training begins and ends with the simple truth that no matter how "nice" you want to be to someone, if we don't make a profit (margin) on the work we offer, then we won't be in business long enough to be of service to ANYONE.

 

I set the margins in the beginning, and then as I added service staff, I taught them the process as I had been executing it. The service advisors know how far they can go to be "nice" to someone, but they also know that our first step toward being OF service to others is to OFFER service. We build in value anytime we have a tough estimate that needs to be sold. That way, we protect our margins, and leave the customer skipping away happy because they see first hand how eager we are to offer over-the-top customer service.

[Hands On]

I am still looking for a competent service writer. I interviewed a woman yesterday and hired her on the spot. She did not show up this morning. I called another candidate, he was already hired by an alignment parts sales company. He is getting 50k a year to sell allignment parts!! He would have to increase my sales by 10k a month if I was going to match that paying him 7% of gross sales. I can not find a tech to save my life either. Is there a pay shift going on? do we need to raise prices another 20% to be able to pay peole a competitive salary? The fracking and oil companies take the techs and sales companys are taking the writers. I am getting ready to throw in the towel.

[skm]

I started off doing all my own estimates, then we got a service writer who has been there for the last 20 years now. I have noticed that he tends to be a liaison for the customer. He tends not to charge enough for diagnostics and sometimes repairs , such as not adding in the little .2 or .3 where p/s or something may interfere. I noticed that with a/c jobs never seems to put in a diagnostics, same with TPMS sensor diagnostic, replacement, and programming . He was charging the same amount as replacing a old rubber valve stem. When he goes on vacation I do my own sales, I found that most customers don't even question things especially if you include the diagnostics in with the labor they don't know which is diagnostics and which is labor and don't seem to care. I had a customer that I replaced his Tires sensor sold by the service writer, He came back in with another sensor bad about 5 months later our service writer was on vacation so I worked up an estimate and when I called him he asked me why it was 45.00 more than the last one he had installed. I went back in the history and looked and sure enough. So I explained that a mistake was made and the diagnostics and programming was not charged last time. Of course he was not happy. I explained why we need to charge these things and if he was not happy he was welcome to call around and see what others would charge him. He called me back in about 45 minutes and said go ahead and change it we were still far less than the dealer wanted to replace it and less than the surrounding shops. He even offered to pay the difference of the last time the other sensor was replaced (one of my good customers of 24 years) , or course I told him no.Basically what I have found is don't sell your self short on a job, most people will do it don't be scared of numbers you never know what people have to spend and most are willing to pay to know that their car is fixed and fixed correctly. Just be fair and honest !

[mspecperformance]

I am still looking for a competent service writer. I interviewed a woman yesterday and hired her on the spot. She did not show up this morning. I called another candidate, he was already hired by an alignment parts sales company. He is getting 50k a year to sell allignment parts!! He would have to increase my sales by 10k a month if I was going to match that paying him 7% of gross sales. I can not find a tech to save my life either. Is there a pay shift going on? do we need to raise prices another 20% to be able to pay peole a competitive salary? The fracking and oil companies take the techs and sales companys are taking the writers. I am getting ready to throw in the towel.

 

 

I believe your problem may not be that everyone else is paying their service advisors more but rather you should be making more to be able to compensate competitively.

 

 

You may find it valuable to seek some business coaching or join a peer group. It did wonders for me.

Edited September 2, 2015 by mspecperformance