Educating Service Advisors And Estimators
by Roberto Michel, Editor In the struggle to deliver automotive service in today's customer-driven, computerized age, multi-talented service advisors and collision estimators are in demand.
Automotive service business owners have often filled these critical positions with people whom they educate in-house, but some shop owners say this is increasingly hard to do. The need for estimators is strong, especially with collision repair, where direct repair programs (DRPs) and larger shop operations have led to increased estimating and claims handling responsibilities.
"It's not only difficult to find good estimators, it's almost impossible," said Gale Westerlund, a past chairman of the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and a collision repair business owner in Blaine, Minn., a Minneapolis suburb.
Mechanical shop owners may disagree on the level of technical knowledge a service writer needs, but there is little debate that the position requires a high degree of customer service skills. With collision estimating, technical knowledge is definitely needed to correctly appraise damage, and sales and organizational skills are also central to the job.
"What makes it so hard is that estimators have to have a combination of skills. They need enough technical knowledge to be able to write estimates, they need to be good sales people and they have to have the organizational skills to handle all the files and documentation for the repair once the estimate is closed," said Westerlund.
Not every shop looking for service writers or estimators will be able to bring on an experienced person. Education, then, can be a key part of developing an entry-level service writer or estimator. Perhaps because of the dual skills involved with these positions, educational resources are scattered between organizations or consultants offering management education and the vocational-education (vo-tech) system. Collison estimating is also getting attention from industry groups involved in technical education.
Education for these positions does fall into a gray area. But there is good news here. Pertinent seminars for these professions are offered by the Automotive Service Association Management Institute (ASAMI); some vo-tech schools offer coursework in service advising and estimating; and at least one national school offers education for collision estimators.
Service Writers
The view of Greg Kelly, a mechanical service business owner in El Cajon, Calif., about the need for service writers is typical of many shop owners: the more technical knowledge an entry-level service advisor has, the better, but it's not a requirement."I usually try to grow my own advisors," said Kelly, who has earned ASAMI's Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation. "My experience has been that the more mechanical knowledge a candidate has, the quicker his or her education will go."
Phil Fournier, a shop owner in Hemet, Calif., concurs that a high degree of technical knowledge is not necessary for a beginning service writer, though some is preferable. "What we have done is hire people out of the parts houses and sent them to training classes by these various management educators. This has worked extremely well for us," said Fournier, an AAM.
For Rick White, owner of Tremont Street Garage in Melrose, Mass., a recent hire of an entry-level service writer with little technical knowledge has worked out well. This employee has excellent telephone and interpersonal skills, and is able to correctly relay the symptoms of vehicle problems when she writes repair orders, says White.
"I think that having little tech experience is helpful here because she is very careful to document a customer complaint description rather than trying to diagnose it," said White.
At Mid-Cities Service, a mechanical repair business in Euless, Texas, owner Bob Parra has recently hired Tom Smith as service advisor. Smith has 12 years experience in service writing, having worked at dealerships and a mass merchandiser outlet.
Smith says he started out with little technical knowledge, but has learned a great deal in his years in the industry. Smith says service writers who can combine people skills with extensive technical knowledge have an edge in performing their job.
"Service writing comes down to narrowing things down for the technician, so you need to know how to bring specific information out of the customer. Also, if you talk about the technical aspects of a car with your customer and you don't know what you're talking about, you can lose a customer's confidence real fast, " said Smith.
For those service writers already in the business, ASAMI offers a variety of sales and customer service courses at ASA national events and at seminars held nationwide. ASAMI also offers a course specifically called "Service Advisor Skills." These courses may be sponsored anywhere by any interested group. Various management educators and consultants are also available to the industry, and parts company program distribution groups may offer service advisor education.
Post-secondary automotive technology programs may also offer a course in service advising or customer relations. However, these courses are typically intended to give those studying to be technicians a glimpse of what service writing entails, rather than churn out entry-level service writers, says Ken Kempfer, an automotive instructor with Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wis.
Kempfer said that his school offers "Customer Relations," an 18-week course that is held one night per week. The course teaches the basics of customer service, repair order (RO) writing and the general front-office service process.
"This course is intended to promote team building in those studying to be technicians by instructing them in the process of service writing and customer service," said Kempfer.
Numerous post-secondary schools are offering at least one course in customer service or service writing, as are some high school vo-tech programs. Programs such as these are bound to help increase the number of entry-level people who are educated in the basics of service advising.
Educating Estimators
DRP programs, which allow shops to write estimates without an adjuster being sent to the shop, have increased the estimating responsibility of shop personnel, says Joe Sanders, owner of two collision repair businesses and ASA Collision Division director.Sanders also notes that estimates done in a DRP environment tend to be time consuming. The damage appraisal needs to be conducted and put in an automated format, the vehicle identification number (VIN) needs to be verified and video imaging may need to be done. After the estimate is closed and a repair is underway, the estimator is also often responsible for keeping documentation in order and handling customer calls about the repair. All of these factors contribute to a need for well-prepared estimators, said Sanders.
"When you consider the impact an estimator can have on productivity, CSI and the relationship your business has with insurers, it can easily be worth it to send someone to a school or a class," said Sanders.
Few schools specialize in teaching estimating. Tech-Cor, a subsidiary of Allstate, used to educate non-Allstate personnel, but no longer does. ASAMI offers an intensive one-day seminar on estimating, but this course is intended for polishing the skills of in-service estimators or shop managers, not for developing entry-level people. One school that does offer multilevel estimating education is Vale National, with locations in Arlington, Texas; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; and Fresno, Calif.
About 15 percent of the 1,200 students educated in collision estimating annually at Vale National are from the collision repair industry, according to Steve LeClaire, president of Vale National. About 80 percent are insurance industry estimators and about 5 percent fall in the "other" category, such as employees of rental car companies.
Students at Vale study the technical aspects of vehicles and work with actual collision-damaged vehicles, but the education goes beyond understanding parts or vehicle construction, said LeClaire.
"The students we get from the collision repair side often understand the technical aspects of damage analysis, but they also need to learn how to turn that technical knowledge into a finished estimate," said LeClaire.
Public educators may also offer education for estimators. Some two-year, post-secondary collision repair technology programs are beginning to "block schedule" collision estimating courses as continuing education for people already in the repair industry.
At Fox Valley Technical College, the school has offered a nine-day course in estimating and file handling for about six years, said Kempfer. Students in the course include collision repair shop personnel as well as people from the insurance industry, and hands-on instruction in repairs is part of the course.
At Amarillo Technical Center in Amarillo, Texas, Keith Schieffer, chairman of the Automotive Collision Technology program says his school is planning to block schedule their estimating course.
"So many people from the industry have called here about estimating, we've decided to open up a course to the industry," said Schieffer, who is also an Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) instructor.
Schieffer says that since proper estimating is crucial to a good repair, it's logical to include estimating in a vo-tech program. Schieffer is not alone in this belief. The I-CAR Education Foundation has made estimating coursework part of its ADVANCE-TECH model curriculum for schools. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) has recognized the importance of collision estimating by developing the ASE Damage Analysis and Estimating Test. The exam will debut at the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE) Nov. 9.
"I think education for damage appraisers is crucial," says Schieffer. "Trying to properly repair a collision damaged vehicle without a good damage report is like trying to construct a building without a blueprint."
Doing It All
As repair facilities increase in size, it's hard for the shop owner to handle all the management tasks plus all the customer service, estimating and service writing, say shop owners and educators.Sanders and Westerlund point out that once an estimator is generating more than $80,000 to $100,000 in closed estimate volume per month, it becomes extremely difficult to handle more and do complete, accurate estimates and handle all the files involved properly.
With all the management decisions, bookkeeping and regulatory compliance tasks a shop owner has to deal with, it's difficult for the owner of even a modest-sized service facility to also handle all the customer service, said Kempfer.
Automotive service business owners will undoubtedly feel an increased need for service advisors and estimators. Meeting the need will be a challenge, but given the trend toward management seminars and increased education at the vo-tech level in customer service and estimating, it's not a need that has to be met alone.
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 9, September 1996