Fixed Ops Journal - April 2022 - F6

FIXED OPS JOURNAL
OTHER VOICES
FIND MIDDLE GROUND
Service departments must embrace old, new practices to excel
I
DAN BEAKEY
GUEST COLUMNIST
n the automotive service
world, there has been
considerable debate about
the dichotomy between the
old-school methods we're
comfortable with and the newschool
practices many of us
predicted are just beyond the
horizon.
By now, most dealerships have
heard proposals to install kiosk
stations in our service departments.
And while many of us either declared
our approval or disdain, most have
remained somewhat ambivalent to
the idea - biding our time as we sit
back and allow others to take on the
perilous test subject role.
As some dealerships still put pen
to paper each day, others are working diligently to ensure future
customer experiences can be conducted in the metaverse.
Th e majority of today's service advisers continue to write repair
orders from a desktop computer, fi lling out their multipoint inspection
sheets on handwritten, carbon-copy paper. Others have fully embraced
the digital world, writing customers up on hand-held tablets and
completing their inspections electronically.
But who's to say which of these methods is correct? And who will
come out on top in this ongoing old school vs. new school battle?
Th e answers we receive may not necessarily be what we are expecting.
And if we fail to land on an unequivocal decision, our biggest failure
may be that we are viewing this question as a binary matter. Th at is, a
question that will eventually force us to choose one method over the
other, disregarding the losing side in favor of the victor.
But what if this isn't a question of right vs. wrong? What if, like many
PAGE 6 APRIL 2022
things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle? What if the gray
area is exactly where we need to be?
We are encountering an entirely diff erent type of customer in our
service drives these days. And it's not because millennials and Gen Z's
are being incorporated into our world. People from all walks of life, of
every age group, are coming to our dealerships daily asking how to use
the numerous technologies and systems available to them in these
impressively modern vehicles that make their lives easier.
People want to embrace technology. Th ey want accessibility. Th ey
want convenience. Th ey want their vehicles to be fun.
And when they arrive at our dealerships, they want to see our
employees exhibit the same level of passion for their gadgets. Th ey don't
want to hear service advisers remark about how they prefer the old days
when vehicles were less complicated and not so over- engineered.
But customers also want to walk in and know they can deal with a real
human being; someone they can actually relate to and with whom they
can have a conversation. Someone they can trust.
You don't need a psychology degree to conclude most people enjoy
having interactions with others. And you don't need a software
engineering degree to know technology will only become more and
more integrated into our daily lives. Th e dealerships that fi nd a way to
embrace both worlds and keep them consistently blended and seamless
will undoubtedly pave the way for the future of fi xed operations.
Customers have been telling us what they want for as long as we have
been in this business. And with the added benefi ts of social media,
online reviews and surveys, we now have more access to their wants
and desires than ever before.
But it's up to us to listen. If we continue to believe the old ways are the
antithesis of the new, ultimately we may not be equipped to respond in
the manner they're hoping. And in the end, it would be the customer
who loses.
Dan Beakey is service manager at Colonial South Chrysler-Jeep-DodgeRam
in Dartmouth, Mass.
Fixed Ops Journal - April 2022

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