Service facilitators cut customers' wait time

A special role of service facilitator is helping Sellers Auto Group trim customer wait times and boost vehicle sales.

The Farmington Hills, Mich., dealership group employs three service facilitators at its Sellers Subaru and Sellers Buick-GMC stores after launching the position in 2012. Their No. 1 job: Make sure customers don't have to wait when they arrive at the service drive, especially during peak hours. That's a common constraint many dealerships battle.

In addition to greeting the customer and aiding communication with service advisers, the facilitators offer to appraise customers' vehicles, said Sam Slaughter, president of the dealership group. Those appraisals can lead to customers trading in their car and buying a replacement vehicle. The facilitator position has contributed to lower service department turnover and better customer retention, which helps improve sales and profitability.

"The facilitators have helped maintain positive reputation and consistent customer traffic in the service drive, and that's helped our organization grow," Slaughter said. "We have sold about 12 to 15 cars extra per month from people who came into the service drive, with repeat customers telling us they buy Buicks and GMCs because of our service department."

Even when service customers don't intend to buy a car, he said, they sometimes end up doing so after learning their vehicles are worth enough to trade in for something that's newer or that better fits their needs without costing much more.

Pat Hogan, general manager at Sellers Buick-GMC, of Farmington Hills, said average service employee turnover at his store has decreased to less than 10 percent in recent years. Service employees have an average tenure of 15 years. Since the facilitator role was added, the amount of time a customer waits to be processed during peak hours in the service lane has dropped from an average of 2.5 minutes to one minute.

Sellers Auto Group retails about 300 new and 150 used vehicles per month.

For Slaughter, a successful facilitator is someone who takes the stance of "How can I help you?" vs. "How can I sell you something?" When hiring for the position, Slaughter scouts internally for enthusiastic employees who have demonstrated they can make a comfortable connection with customers and who know a lot about the product lineup.

Chris Cook, a former detail manager at the Buick-GMC store and an 18-year veteran at Sellers, said he didn't hesitate to ask for the service facilitator role when the position became available. After 12 years as a detail manager, Cook has now held the service facilitator position for the last six years.

"With my passion for vehicles, there's no better place in the world to work than a dealership," Cook said. "Sellers provides so many opportunities for its employees, and Sam does a remarkable job promoting within. Getting a job here was the best thing I've ever done because I love what I do here."

Employees who are promoted to be facilitators must go through a gauntlet of training — to hone interpersonal skills and learn how to appraise a vehicle, Hogan said. The training focuses on building customer loyalty, maintaining relationships and understanding how the service drive operates so the facilitator can steer customers through their visits efficiently.

"It's a soft approach of helping customers first, navigating them through the service department and then educating them on the equity of their vehicles," Hogan said. "We receive customer response cards on a daily basis, and there's not a day that goes by where there's not a comment that states how they were greeted by a friendly person in our service drive or how it was a smooth operation and they were directed and helped right away."