Business SENSE: Need More BUSINESS?

Motor,  Nov 2006  by O'Connor, Bob

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Most shops are experiencing lower sales volume this year than in years past. A vast majority combat this shortfall by conducting aggressive advertising campaigns. But we've discovered that, in their quest for more business, they overlook some fundamental business-building tools. Probably the most basic one is their phone system.

One fundamental business tool commonly and significantly underutilized by independent repair shops is the telephone. We know this because we work with hundreds of shops and their staff on their telephone processes and skills every month. Most shop owners take it for granted that their phones will ring with business every day. When they don't ring often enough, panic sets in!

Many shops feel their staff does at least an acceptable job of answering (lie phone and gleaning business from it. Those same shops have told ns that their service advisors do a great job of using their phone selling skills to secure additional business by advising customers o(the shop's diagnostic or inspection findings, with customers ultimately making additional purchases as a result.

The problem with all of these statements made by shops and their staff is that there's no form of measurement to substantiate their claims. Most shops have no formal written telephone utili/ation plan in place.

In shops experiencing a downturn in sales, we've found that there's room lor significant improvement of their telephone processes and skills.

Getting Started

Every shop should have a telephone utilization plan that contains-at a minimum-a list of the phone system's features, a set of written policies and procedures, a set of objectives, a system of measurement for each objective, staff training on how to use the system's features and a method of reviewing system and stall performance.

The first step in implementing a telephone utilization plan is to take a close ook at the phone system itsell. Yon should look not only at the features and benelits the system affords, but also at the processes your staff will follow in an effort to maximize the use of the system.

To begin with, locate your Systems operating manual and go over the entire list of features as well as the instructions for their use. Our observations indicate that many of the feature's that would create efficiency and he quite uselul as sales aids go virtually unused in many shops. Let's look at some common phone system features.

Hold. To the best of our knowledge, every phone system in use today has a "hold" feature. Etiquette surrounding use of the hold feature includes how and when to use it and the proper language that goes along with its use.

On-HoId Messaging. This feature is significantly nnderutilized by many shops. VVe olten encourage our clients to include a "special offer" unique only to the on-bold message to make it easy to track its effectiveness. Our findings indicate that clients' customers prefer to hear messaging about the shop rather than music.

Paging (all or zone), unite often phone systems incorporate a page feature. What rarely gets implemented is zone paging, which enables staff to page to a specific area without disturbing others-for example, page only on the lot, only in the hays, only in the- reception area, etc.

Speed Dialing. Almost all phone systems have a speed dial feature. The main difference among systems may he in how many phone numbers can be speed-dialed. We've noticed that most shops use less than 10% of this feature's capabilities.

Speakerphone. Use of the speakerphone function is somewhat limited. However, many of our clients use it for training purposes, and anytime they want to include other people in the immediate area in a conversation.

Conference Calling. This feature is used when another stuff person is brought in on a discussion with a customer. An example may be to have the technician in the shop conference in with the1 service advisor when communicating with a customer regarding results of diagnostic tests performed by that technician.

Recording. Recording can be useful when you have an upset customer and you want to focus on what he's saying. You could play the recording back later and make notes of all the details. This feature can also be used for training new stall.

Quiet Observation. This feature allows for someone to listen in on phone conversations of others without them knowing the listener is there. This feature also is often used for training purposes.

Muting. Muting is helpful when there's background noise and you're listening instead of speaking. It's also helpful if one has a cold and is constantly coughing or sneezing. Yon simply hit the mute button when you cough and hit it again when done.

Voicemail (transferring, monitoring, etiquette). We are quite taken aback by the severe imdemse of voicemail in today's shops. We advocate that service advisors have dedicated voicemail boxes in which to receive messages from customers when they're unavailable for immediate communication. In addition to void-mail recording, there usually is a button to activate "monitoring," which enables the user to listen to the person leaving a voicemail message in case the staff person wants to pick it up at that moment. Lastly, many systems have the ability to transfer a message from one voicemail box to another in the system.