• Determine which days and hours are the busiest for your service department and designate a
qualified staff member as a greeter during these periods. At minimum, the greeter should
determine whether the customer has an appointment, obtain the customer’s name, and record
basic information regarding the vehicle.
• Service Advisors should be prepared to greet customers and initiate the consultation process
soon after the customers arrive. Do not let the customer wait for more than 5 minutes before the consultation process to begins.
• Acknowledge arriving customers immediately. The Service Advisor (or greeter) should
acknowledge the arrival of customers immediately, no matter how busy he/she is. At a minimum, the Service Advisor should make eye contact and wave and ideally should briefly let the arriving customers know how quickly they will be with them.
• Use an “all hands on deck” approach during peak times. For example, the Service Manager,
Warranty Administrator, Shop Foreman, and Cashier can be utilized to help to speed the write-up and make customers feel comfortable and addressed.
• Ensure that the Service Advisor can be identified quickly. Use uniforms, nametags, or even
pictures. Pictures can significantly be displayed in the Service area. These techniques will make it easy for customers to distinguish Service Advisors from other customers and employees. The
Service Advisor should offer refreshments and use of the service waiting area to customers who
will have to wait.
• Acknowledge early arrivals. The first Service Department employee to be active should
acknowledge and focus immediately on customers who are already there.
• At the beginning of each day, provide each Service Advisor with a listing of that day’s
appointments along with the customers’ names and service needs. Service Advisors should then
greet these customers by name and be knowledgeable of the reason behind the customers’ visit.
