Auto dealership service advisors - commission?

[Rick]

@Stink Fish Pot

How does the hiring work? Up until a week ago, I assumed that most of the SA’s were former mechanics who were promoted into the SA role. That made the most sense to me, as I would figure they would have to know about the vehicles well enough to answer questions, but they no longer wanted to work on the cars themselves. I assumed (again, it would seem incorrectly) that a mechanic would have two basic career paths. Either continue to work on and service the cars, or become an SA (or I guess a car salesperson). Being an SA requires an ability to deal with the public, not something everyone is good at. So I am not insulting or suggesting that a mechanic who didn’t move into an SA role is incapable. They just decided to stay in the shop.

And to dovetail what TheMightyAltlas said, i bought my first BMW at the same dealership I am going to now 14 years ago. There were no female SA’s (that I recall, anyway). But last week, there was only one male SA. The rest were female, all were very cute and under 30. I remember specifically looking around the circular desk and looking at all of the cute young women buzzing around, talking on the phones and dealing with customers. These women looked like the pharma reps I have worked with. I would bet my next paycheck that none of them were mechanics before becoming SA’s. I would also bet the one man was also not a mechanic before becoming an SA. There was only one woman over 30… She was in her 40’s, and she was in charge of the service department.

Clearly, the hiring model has changed. I never thought about it until reading the TheMightyAtlas post, but it would seem that the strategy of placing a cute female in the SA role has been a conscious, strategic move by the dealership and they have seen an increase in sales as a result. I suspect this trend will continue.

I have never seen a group of service advisors like what you and TheMightyAltlas are describing. Obviously they exist, but I have never seen a dealership like this, and have never heard of it in any of my professional publications. I personally like the idea of a quality female service advisor, they bring a lot to the table in dealing with customers. Most customers don’t feel as threatened by a female SA. The ones I have worked with were car people, and not clothes horses dressed like Pharma reps.
FTR three of the best service managers I have ever met are female, and believe when it comes to working with customers or running a good department sex has nothing to do with it. It is all about competency. These ladies have it in spades.
As far as where SA come from, some come from former technicians, but this is more rare than you might expect. Totally different skill sets. Some people have both sets of skills (I do) but most don’t. Also a lot of techs don’t clean up well. A guy that looks like a gang banger and has a tattoo around his neck that says born to raise hell probably won’t be a moving to a SA position anytime soon. This despite the fact he might be the best tech in the shop. If he makes the customers go :eek: he won’t be moving to the front desk.

Of course I have met Porsche owners. What a strange leap to make. I KNOW 3 Porsche owners. Only one of them can change his own oil.

This question was not to insult your profession, or to label them all crooks. So, please don’t take it personally. If every Porsche owner you have ever dealt with is knuckle deep in his engine every weekend, fine. But if you are telling me every Porsche owner that has purchased a new Porsche in the last 10-15 years has done most of his/her routine maintenance, ok. But that is not my personal experience with these owners. My sample size is significantly smaller than yours, no doubt.

What I meant by that is that if you were to look at the percentage of say Porsche owners that are Doctors, Lawyers, and MBAs that own a Porsche the percentage is likely much higher than say KIA or Fiat owners. People in this arena are savvy. The did not fall of the turnip truck yesterday. Also expressed as a percentage the number of owners that are “into” their cars is going to be higher for Porsche than it will for most other brands.

Not sure what you mean by “losers don’t keep score”. I would assume if a dealership is utilizing a “white board” system, where every SA’s sales are tracked on a daily basis and you can see every SA’s sales against everyone else’s, that would put pressure on a bottom dwelling SA to up his sales. It is a natural reaction to the pressure of not wanting to be the lowest rated SA. When a layoff comes, I am guessing the first ones on the chopping block are the lowest performing… And for SA’s, a significant metric would be the sales they produce for the dealership.

And yes, even “Pops” can stick it to a customer.

In almost any profession the the people at the top of the heap, the best performers keep score. They can tell you their progress toward their goals, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. The lowest performers don’t. Losers don’t keep score. In no field is this more apparent than sales. In sales it is said people only run for two things money and medals. Metals are recognition. Recognition comes many way for a service advisor. Most sales is just one way. Other things that are recognized on a white board or a daily sales sheet are things like Highest percentage of customer pay work, best effective labor rate, highest email capture from customers, most next appointments set, best 1 month and 3 month CSI, most repair orders written. See there are lots of areas to excel. Nobody is going to be #1 in all categories.
As far as bottom dwelling service advisors go, as I think I said before I have never terminated a service advisor for low sales. I have gotten rid of them for low CSI. You seem to be under the impression that Dealerships are a Glengary Glen Ross organization where coffee is for closers. In all of the dealer I have worked in, and all of the dealers I have visited and observed when I worked for the car company I have never seen a dealership run that way. I have seen some dealerships that are super well run, and some that are complete train wrecks, but never on that that modeled Glengary Glen Ross. You can thank two things for that. First is the saying in the service department “Sales sales the first car, service sells the rest” If a customer buys a car and has a horrible experience every time they bring it in for service, do you really think they are going to buy again from that dealer? Or if they have a great experience and are treated like a friend every time they come in, they probably will at least consider buying again from that dealership.
True story, had a husband and wife that both owned Volvos. His was old, hers was new. Her car had some issues from the factory, I worked very hard to get them all resolved. Anyway, one day he brought his car in for something and I mentioned he was about due for a new car. He said he was going to buy a Lexus. OK, I understand as his wife’s car had some issues.
Anyway about a month later he shows up in a brand new Volvo for his first service. WTF? I thought you were going to buy a Lexus? His response “I was actually driving to the Lexus dealer and I realized that nobody would take care of me like you do, so I turned around and came here.”
The second thing you can thank is JD Power. He invented something that never existed and convinced an industry that can’t live without it. The pressure from the car makers and from the dealership owners to be #1 or above average is incredible.
Both of these factors are totally incomparable with a Glengary Glen Ross type of sales management.

I don’t know if I am misreading your tone, but there is no need to get defensive. The OP wasn’t to impugn you personally or your profession.

I know people on the internet are often wrong (and no, I don’t find that hard to believe). That is why proper research is vital. But people on the internet are also often right. It is up to the person doing the researching to do their work, and as you suggest, ask questions.

I’m not getting defensive but you seem to be complaining about a system you know little to nothing about.
As far as internet searches goes if I had a dollar for every time a customer came to me with incorrect information they found on the internet that they were taking as fact, well I couldn’t retire, but I could buy both you and me one hell of a dinner.
My favorite internet research story: Guy comes in with his new Volvo. He wants the a particular engine software upgrade. He has the part number from his research on the interwebs. He is adamant that I have to do the upgrade (BTW this isn’t how it works, per the warranty policy software is upgraded to fix a particular issue the customer has not just because). I didn’t recognize the number so I went to do a bit of research. It turns out not only did software not apply, it would not even load into his car. Here is exactly what I told him “Sir I just went and looked up this part number you brought in. Here is the parts bulletin. This software is to correct a cold start condition on a two liter diesel motor sold in the Italy. Do you want me to try and load it?”

I agree also on the idea that with all the cars out there, especially with BMW’s being mass produced in the past decade at a level that is turning them into GM, trying to have a vehicle for every market segment, instead of focusing on making their ultimate driving machines, they are bound to have problems. As I said, the oil leak I heard two SA’s tell their customers over the phone was the same one I have. And it is a well-known problem with these cars.

Wait, wait…

Before you said

While I was paying my bill, I heard no less that two SA’s (different than my SA) on the phone tell their customers that they had the exact same oil leak that I had. Coincidence? Sure, maybe. But it seemed like a bit of an epidemic considering I was in there for less than 5-7 minutes to pay my bill and get my paperwork.

this read by itself makes it sound like you think the dealership is campaigning these oil leaks and everyone that brings in this model is going to get sold this repair regardless of need. Now you say

And it is a well-known problem with these cars.

Sow which is it? Is it a well known problem which should not surprising, or are you shocked to find a service advisor telling a customer what their car needs? For all we know based on what you have posted here, those other two customer brought their car in for that exact same oil leak leaving stains on their driveway. You really are coming across as a bit Claude Rains.

In my case, what they told me lined up with what I knew (or suspected) going in.

And yes, the SA is only relaying the news from the technician who inspected the car. I wasn’t implying the SA made things up on the fly. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

Again you seem to be complaining about a system you know little to nothing about.

One last thing When daylate said that at their shop the service adviors were paid salary you said

Where are you located? Because you might be worth the trip… Literally! i’ll be interested to hear back what you’ve learned.

You seem ready for a road trip based on this one statement alone.
You own a BMW, which is either the most or next to most technologically complex mass produced car sold. (you and the benz owner and argue that one out in a different thread)
Instead of asking if they work on BMWs, instead of asking if they have factory level scan tools and can reprogram control units as needed, instead of asking if any of their technicians know how to work on BMWs, instead of asking if they have the requisite special tools for a BMW, you are ready to drive cross country based on how they pay their service advisors.
IMHO this is totally nuts. While I am sure that daylate’s shop is an excellent shop, I would never take a BMW (or any car) there without finding out if they know something about the car and work on them regularly.
For example, you own a late model BMW and you take it to Bob’s Bug works that only works on air cooled VWs. Your car needs a battery. Perhaps the simplest repair that can be done. Bob installs one but can’t get all the various warning turned off on the dash. That is because Bob doesn’t have a scan tool that will communicate with a late model BMW to reset the various systems. Oops. :smack:
Or you own a older Lincoln that has air ride suspension. You take it to a shop for a brake job, and when you get it back the car is slammed on the ground because the shop didn’t turn off the self leveling suspension via the switch in the glovebox before lifting the car. Again oops.
If how service advisors are paid is really that important, save yourself a trip, I think Jiffy lube guys are hourly.