Service advisors historically have among the lowest satisfaction and highest turnover rate of all motor vehicle dealership personnel. Leveraging results from both Carlisle’s Service Advisor Survey along with service advisor focus groups, this session will explore some of the key drivers behind this, and how two years of pandemic-influenced dealer operations have impacted these drivers.  Why do service advisors choose their careers?  What do they like, dislike?  What causes them to leave change careers?  And what can OEMs and dealers do to influence this? 

We will delve into the growing use of technology – especially with respect to the increase in “virtual” customer interaction.  What works/doesn’t work?  How do these technologies impact customer service/efficiency/job retention?  What recommendations do service advisors have to improving adoption and effectiveness of these tools?

Along with looking at advisors on their own, we will also investigate the relationship between service advisors and technicians.  Previous surveys have indicated this relationship to be a significant driver of technician retention.  How do service advisor view this relationship?  Where do they see the breakdowns, and where are the opportunities to strengthen these relationships.  What can OEMs do to improve this relationship – be it training, technology, or process/programs.

Attendees of this session will obtain a better understanding of the challenges to (and enablers of) improving service advisor retention, and what the OEM can do to support their dealers in reducing job turnover.

Initial findings from our automotive service advisor survey show us that over 40% of service advisors feel that this remote interaction detracts from their job satisfaction.  On the other hand, virtual relations with customers have forced dealerships to increase their use of technology, such as the use of videos, when communicating with the customers.  On the same survey, advisors report extremely high satisfaction for this technology and believe it significantly improves their ability to sell additional services to customers.  For a position that relies heavily on commission, we should expect to see an increase in job satisfaction from this technology. Taken together, the future is a bit murky. 

This session will delve more deeply into the topic, perhaps aided by some service advisor focus groups to get to the source of the issue.  Attendees of this session will obtain a better understanding of the challenges to (and enablers of) improving service advisor retention, and what the OEM can do to support their dealers in reducing job turnover.