SDR #373: 5 Things Great Service Managers Do

Great service managers don't simply survive the month—they build stronger teams, improve the customer experience and create consistently profitable service departments.

In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, automotive fixed operations expert Chris Collins reveals five overlooked habits that separate great dealership service managers from average ones.

Great service managers:

1. Reject the status quo and continually improve their processes.

2. Know their numbers and understand how to change them.

3. Become "people collectors" who constantly recruit, develop and retain talented employees.

4. Make the customer experience easy, trustworthy and worth returning for.

5. Find coaches and mentors who challenge them to keep learning.

Chris explains why dealership service departments are closed-loop systems, how tribal knowledge keeps managers trapped in outdated processes and why exceptional performance can actually make a manager's job easier—not harder.

The conversation also examines service department profitability, net-to-gross, unproductive wages, CSI, NPS, technician recruiting, service advisor performance and customer retention. You'll learn why sales scripts and objection handling cannot replace customer trust, why technology such as video multipoint inspections cannot fix a broken process and why successful service managers are always recruiting.

Chris also discusses former CIA intelligence officer Andrew Bustamante and his book Outsmart Everyone: Spy Skills to Gain an Unfair Advantage in Work and Life. The team explores charisma, vulnerability, intentional leadership, parenting and the ability to make genuine connections with people.

This episode is for: Dealer principals General managers Fixed operations directors Service managers Parts managers Service advisors Automotive technicians Dealership and repair-shop leaders.