Dealership Insights Forum July Recap: Improving Service Back-End Processes

Dealers convened again this month for the Dealership Insights Forum. Following last month’s discussion about starting service off on the right foot, this month dealers shared best practices for improving service back-end processes.

 

Here are some key insights from this month’s discussion.

 

What can dealers do to ensure customer satisfaction at every point?

“Consistent communication between all departments. Ensuring you’re having regular meetings to keep up on how the business is flowing.”

 

“Have the service writer walk with the customer at drop-off and put orange tape where all issues are so they can pinpoint where in the trailer they are.”

 

“We do schedule all pick-ups and have a service writer do a final walk-through.”

 

“We look at how the customer had to wait and then make sure we don’t charge on the finished side until after the same amount. We rarely have an issue.”

 

What can you do to help your technicians be more efficient?

“Make good notes on the WO and use tape to show where [the unit] is broken. Add pics to the WO.”

 

“Track daily efficiency numbers, not just monthly.”

 

What have you done at your dealership that helped improve RECT?

“If it’s a fairly specific issue with the boat that we can pinpoint with videos and pictures from the customer, we preorder parts and schedule the boat to come through when the parts are in the dealership.”

 

“The most important part is getting as much information as possible so your technician isn’t wasting time trying to figure out the simple stuff that should be known before the unit gets in there.”

 

“We record on video all our check-ins with the customer. While the service writers walk through the unit with the customers, they can see that cabinet doors are out of adjustment, this light doesn’t work, and it’s all on video. Really helps when we have to go back in.”

 

About the Dealership Insights Forum

The Dealership Insights Forum is a monthly meeting with fellow dealers to discuss market trends, share best practices, and gain insight into how other dealers are running their day-to-day operations.

 

See when our next meeting is here.