What’s Your Process?

Automotive Service Processes

It is important for service drives to have clear processes that are followed by service managers. The first question we have to ask ourselves is: “do we have a process for this?” If you don’t have a clear process to follow, then your operations will never be as effective and efficient as possible. Industry leaders will always have a process that guides service and gives customers the ability to know what to expect from the business. Processes guide consistency for your people as well as customers. The first step in setting up a good process is communicating it to the people that implement it.

Know the process.

Know the process – The best processes will always be clearly defined and understood by the people that work with the process every day. Knowing the process on a service drive includes writing the process out, having employees sign off on processes to signify that they understand what to do, and then make improvements to the process over time to ensure that it is as effective as possible.

Write it out

Write it out – good processes become written policies that employees can follow. That means every process must be written down and communicated to employees. When discussing the process with employees, they need to be given a written copy and then initial the written copy to ensure that they understand how to implement the process when they are working.

Talk about the process

Talk about the process – Clearly communicating the process means talking with employees and customers about their opinions about the process. Talking about the process increases employees’ understanding of the process and can give you good feedback about how the customers perceive the quality of the process and any opportunities for corrective action to improve the process.

Manage the process

Manage the process – Managing the process means reviewing and improving the process over time. Instructions must be clear in terms of how employees should implement the process. This means employees must also know the expected results and how their actions support the expected results. Every time something new is added to the process, the written process must be changed and communicated to all employees working with the process.