Eight in the morning, a queue at the desk and the phone ringing
The first hour in a dealership service department is the busiest. Customers drop off cars, advisors walk round them, confirm the work, note the mileage and hand out courtesy car keys. The phone rings all the way through. Some calls are people wanting to book a service. Others are yesterday's customers asking if their car is ready.
The advisors cannot answer without leaving the customer in front of them. The call goes to voicemail, which fills up, or rings out. Some callers try again later. Some book with an independent garage instead.
Most calls fall into a handful of types
When you look at what service desk calls are about, most fall into a small number of types, and many do not need an advisor.
- Booking a service, MOT or repair.
- Asking whether their car is ready or what is happening with it.
- Changing or cancelling a booking.
- Questions about work found during the service.
The first three can be handled without the advisor if the customer has another way to do them. The last one genuinely needs a person, and those are the calls advisors should be answering.
The cost of a phone nobody answers
A lost booking call is lost workshop revenue, and it may also be a lost customer relationship. Franchised dealers depend on keeping customers coming back after the warranty period, and a caller who cannot get through is a likely candidate to leave.
Missed calls about car status cost differently. The customer rings again, and again, and eventually turns up at the desk, adding to the queue.
Advisors feel it too. Working with a constantly ringing phone is stressful, and service advisor roles are not easy to fill.
How we take the load off the phone
- Online service booking on your website, showing real available slots from your DMS or workshop diary where it has an API, and your menu of services by model.
- Existing bookings can be changed or cancelled from a link in the confirmation, without calling.
- Car status messages go out automatically by text when the car is checked in, when work is found, and when it is ready, so customers do not need to ring.
- Missed calls are captured through your phone system's API, such as a cloud telephony provider, and placed in a call-back queue with the caller's number matched to their customer record.
- An advisor or a colleague elsewhere in the building works through the queue when the desk is quiet, oldest first.
- A daily view shows missed calls, call-backs made and how many bookings came in online, so you can see whether the phones are under control.
| Call type | Now handled by |
|---|---|
| Book a service | Online booking |
| Is my car ready? | Automatic status text |
| Change a booking | Link in the confirmation |
| Question about work found | Advisor, from call-back queue |
Customers who want to talk to a person can still call. The aim is that the calls you do answer are the ones that need an advisor.
A calmer service desk
Advisors spend the busy hour on the customers in front of them, and the phone rings less. Missed calls are no longer lost; they are a list with names and numbers. Customers book at ten at night if that suits them, and the booking is in the diary in the morning.
Is your service desk like this?
- The phone rings out during drop-off and collection times.
- Voicemail fills up and is checked late.
- Many calls are 'is my car ready?'.
- Customers cannot book a service online against real slots.
- You do not know how many calls you miss.