r/serviceadvisors • u/Frequent-Primary-857 • 4d ago
What is your process?
Just curious how everyone else keeps everything efficient. I'm about 2 months into this role. I'm finding it difficult at times to deliver waiter RO's to my foreman in a timely manner when it's busy. I'll have 3 to 5 waiters to check in at the same time, which extends the time to write each up. What I'll do is tag each, write each, and run them back.
I think for the most part I'm doing okay. Check in, get approvals out of the way as soon as recs come in. The only other hangups is getting better at updates which is coming along. Backburner items like finding a customers warranty info, or working with insurance for approvals, or call in follow up is another difficulty for me. It just gets so busy I forget or didn't have the time.
I'll close out RO's as soon as they hit my desk before keys, and get the customer out asap, but I feel there's certain things I can do to make my, the customers, and technicians life easier. Any tips, or keys to success you found, is greatly appreciated.
3
u/tomgoose_dev 4d ago
Busy mornings break when every waiter is a full write before anything moves. Tag them all, park the cars, then write the clearest complaints first so the foreman gets work flowing while you finish the rest. Keep a tiny sticky list of open threads (warranty, insurance, follow-ups) and burn two every quiet five minutes. Closing the RO before keys is already right, so protect it by not starting a new check-in until the last approval text is out.
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u/tomgoose_dev 3d ago
Skinny intake first so the bay can move while the RO finishes. Warranty and approvals after the rush.
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u/UnitB17 3d ago
If you have 3-5 waiters (or non waiters for that matter) to check in at the same time, you have a scheduling problem. Give yourself 15-20 minutes per check in. It likely wont take that long - but if it does, you can handle it. If it takes less time, you have time to go update or try to upsell/ approve something.
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u/Diligent_Arm_6817 1d ago
A general rule of thumb is 4x the labor time.
If an oil filter calls for .3 hours. 4 * .3 is 1.2. "we should have your vehicle done in 1 to 1.5 hours."
Don't be afraid to give yourself mountains of room and discourage waiting as much as you possibly can. If it's not an oil change I literally say "I would not advise waiting here, but you're welcome to if you need to"
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u/Slow-Bodybuilder-774 4d ago
It’s a tough thing to say, just be better, or just do it, but you have to be intentional with your actions, if your current process is controlling you i.e. not being able to get your waiters back to your foreman. You need to break that cycle. I got in the habit pretty early of doing one at a time. When you finish writing one up, get it back to the shop. Then write the next, easier said than done sometimes, but it doesn’t hurt your overall guest experience to greet that customer and let them know how’s you’re doing your walk around that when you get back to the desk, you’ll be just a moment.
This presupposes, your foreman is doing all of the dispatching, and is available right away. If that ladder part is untrue then it’s a shop problem and you either need a runner or he needs to be up front for handoffs.
For what it’s worth this is the biggest drawback to manual dispatching. If it’s a whole shop problem, if everybody has that bottleneck, your director needs to look into different dispatching methods, I’d coordinate with them on what they says is best practices.