Communication disconnect ails service advisers and techs

Auto dealership service advisers and technicians are not communicating well and it costs dealerships money, according to survey data from global research and consulting firm Ducker Carlisle.

Resolving the problem can boost service revenue, the data shows.

"We find this relationship is really, really important," said Harry Hollenberg, managing principal at Ducker Carlisle. "The advisers think [the communication] is fine and the technicians think they are not communicating with the advisers."

Ducker Carlisle conducts surveys of franchised dealership service departments every other year at the behest of auto manufacturers. It surveyed service advisers in 2021 and technicians in 2022.

Dealerships, like many other businesses, are struggling to recruit and retain employees. Turnover for dealership service advisers has been as high as 55 percent. Technician turnover is often 30 percent or higher each year. Without enough service advisers and technicians, the time it takes for vehicles to be repaired and returned to their owners grows and customer satisfaction declines.

Among Ducker Carlisle's findings: Service technicians are really unhappy with their jobs and communication is one big reason.

Ducker Carlisle asked them if they would recommend their job to a friend. The result — known as a Net Promoter Score — was sobering.

"The average score was minus 55," Hollenberg said. "I have never seen anything that low in my life."

Service advisers' Net Promoter Score was minus four.

For comparison, a job with a company people love to work at receives a score in the 90s, Hollenberg said. Companies people don't like to work at average around minus 12.

A disconnect between advisers and technicians was a "huge" driver of technician dissatisfaction, Hollenberg said. The adviser is the go-between, relaying information to the customer and the technician, relaying information to both to have repairs done quickly and correctly.

Only 25 percent of service technicians in the survey said they "strongly agree" the adviser communicates well with them to get the repair done right the first time. Conversely, 60 percent of advisers said they "strongly agree" they communicate well with technicians.

Technicians who say communication with the service adviser is good have higher job satisfaction and are more likely to stay in the job, Hollenberg said. And more satisfied technicians generate incremental revenues of about $34,600 per person, based on the Ducker Carlisle study.

Greater satisfaction can also increase the annual compensation of a technician paid a flat rate by $5,000, based on billable time.

The primary driver of the communication breakdown, technicians say, is a lack of clarity on the repair order because the service adviser doesn't get enough or the correct information from a customer.

The technician isn't making money talking to a customer or adviser so "every time the adviser does a poor job of writing up a [repair order] it costs the tech money," Hollenberg said.

Communication really falters when the vehicle's problem is a "drivability" issue, such as a noise or a light that comes on occasionally, said Todd Caputo, president of Todd Caputo Consulting.

"Those are complicated things," said Caputo, a former service adviser who later owned dealerships.

Technicians working a flat rate are seldom reimbursed, or at least not enough, for time spent diagnosing a problem, he said.

"The more info the service adviser can get from the consumer the better it is for the tech because the tech is flying blind," Caputo said.

It all comes down to training, said Caputo.

"An experienced service adviser knows the right questions to ask. A new service adviser sometimes doesn't know the right questions," he said.

Advisers need detailed information about a problem from the technician to sell services, said Coralee Zueff, a master service adviser and coach whose book, "Five Star Service Advisor," helps service advisers communicate better with technicians and customers to reduce conflict and increase profits.

The service adviser also can send a questionnaire to the customer before they come in to get a good description of the problem, Zueff said.

Technology can play a role, Hollenberg said. For example, a "very well-documented" digital process that includes questions and follow-up things to ask can help service advisers gather the proper information.

Another option is creating a team-based incentive system that measures the adviser and the technician on both what is prepared and the time that it takes, Hollenberg said.

"If the repair order is written up poorly and wastes a tech's time, today it doesn't cost the adviser anything," he said.

Programs can also incentivize technicians for doing diagnostic work, Hollenberg added. While they don't stop the adviser from writing a bad repair order, the tech is at least getting paid for the extra time, he said.

Ducker Carlisle recommends monitoring service advisers to ensure they are offering realistic repair completion times to customers and properly selling recommended repairs and maintenance based off multipoint inspection results.

Caputo goes a step further. He recommends a dealership mystery shop its service department. Also, dealerships should make sure their online service scheduling software is the most up to date. Much of the software is "antiquated," he said. "They have a very low chance of being filled out."

Artificial intelligence may allow smoother adviser-technician communication, Caputo said. "The AI will ask better questions," he said.

But he also recommends a very low-tech solution.

"Make sure the technicians and service advisers eat together," Caputo said. " I did this with my Chevy store and my independent used car stores [and] the techs and advisers got along pretty well."