Service Advisor Talk | Awesome Is Not Enough

The other day I went to a local trade show. As I wandered the stalls, I thought of a game: ask every approach why I should do business with them. A good seventy percent said the same thing:

“Because I’m awesome.”

It always floors me when the first thing people say is that they are awesome. At what? Are you only awesome at saying you are awesome? Why can you not name a specific example?

Don’t sell yourself short

If my shop can do it, we are professional specialists. If you want tires, we are tire specialists. If you want exhaust work, we are specialists at that too! Don’t even get me started on oil changes. I have more oil change guys than Quickie Zippy Skippy Lube and they do a much better job.

In fact, if you come in for an oil change and our healthy car check shows your car needs additional service, we don’t send you to another specialist as Quickie does. All of that can be done in house for your convenience.

The same is true for you, personally, inside your shop. This is the “why should I hire you” interview answer. Why should you hire me? Because I’m awesome… and someone with an actual answer just got the job.

When I started at my most recent shop I had a strong background in tires so I was the tire specialist. Now, there are a number of tire specialists.

My awesome has moved on in other ways: I came from a tire shop where I had a 56% average gross profit over my last quarter. Now, I have made my ability to squeeze blood from the bottom line, my awesome.

Tomorrow, my awesome might be my ability to leverage technology to streamline operations on the front end. Whatever presents itself, my awesome is to build a new habit and stack it on top of my other successful habits.

Confidence is the key

On stage (in front of customers) is not the time to figure out the answer behind your being awesome. You should lead with your left hook specifically and use every other opportunity to drive that point home.

I know customers have a hard time finding a quality diesel technician. Any time I find a customer with a diesel issue, I lead the conversation by saying I have three diesel techs on staff. If they have a tire question, I lead with my own background in tires.

In other words, I pump them so full of experience they become comfortable that whatever presents itself, my guys and I can handle it. We are a one-stop shop.

Last words

Your customers want to have confidence in you and your abilities. They want to rest assured their time and money is well spent and being vague and cagey isn’t going to get them there.

At the end of the day, everyone should have at least one thing they do well. I don’t care if everyone else can say that they do the exact same thing. Say it anyway. Being awesome is just not enough.

Talk is cheap and service is expensive. If you can’t do the cheap thing right how can you expect a customer to trust you with the expensive part?

Author’s Bio

JJ is a Service Advisor in a full-service shop. He brings a solid understanding of complex systems down to earth for customers who are shy about dealing with the automotive industry.

A teacher at heart, he believes that customers are most satisfied when they understand the issue and the path forward. This results in customers making purchasing decisions from a position of power instead of fear and reluctance. He also enjoys quiet activities like non-traditional board games, reading, YouTube, sarcasm and collecting pre-loved cars the rest of us call ugly junk.