Role Of Service Managers In Automotive Industry

Since the invention of automobiles the automotive industry has grown by leaps and bounds and continues to grow rapidly even today. With more and more models rolling out every day, the progress graph of the automobile industry is climbing up stupendously. Other factors like economic liberalization, easy finance schemes, tax benefit options and increasing per capita income provides added boost to it.

However, with more and more companies growing in this sector, competition has reached new heights, where not only the car designs and ambiance matter, but also the services provided by the companies play a vital role in attracting customers.

Today, many of the car buyers look for the services and options provided by car manufacturers. Buyers research more about the services through news articles and word of mouth publicity, before they go ahead with any decision. Hence, the service manager job in automotive industry calls for efficiency and extensive service manager training, as it affects the company sales in some way or the other.

Those employed in the service manager job need to oversee all the operations carried out by the service department and have to coordinate and supervise that all duties by service staff are in accordance with company policies and applicable international standards and laws. Hence, the service manager has to strike the right kind of balance between keeping customers happy and following procedure. The job involves a lot of mechanical knowledge as well as understanding customer satisfaction and priorities.

Also, the role involves ensuring customer satisfaction and retention by providing repair and service maintenance, and communicating with customers as per their priorities. Since, the automotive service manager directly handles the customer service part, the job requires to identify market reports and ongoing trends and be updated on the service strategy of other car companies in the market. The role of service manager in automotive industry has undergone drastic changes from what it was earlier; it requires a good deal of leadership qualities, management skills, motivation, customer service and counseling skills.

With so many responsibilities and pressure to achieve sales targets, it becomes very difficult for service managers to perform consistently with remarkable results. This is where automotive service consulting comes into picture. The role of a service consultant is more like a lubricant that gives a cooling effect to the engine that has been worn out and overloaded. The service consultant advices and prepares those in the service manager job to perform their tasks in an organized way, which will in return optimize their productivity and bring down their stress level.

Moreover, the service consultant guides the automotive service manager on how to measure the productivity of their subordinates and junior employees and provide them with best practices for better customer service and also provides them with updates and repair descriptions that will help the technicians. Service advisor training is held for people holding a service manager job or a service director job where a positive and systematic approach towards work is inculcated, to combat the ever mounting pressure of this competitive market.