Breaking news for today’s edition of “customers are gonna customer”: Female service advisor = ‘receptionist’ and male service advisor = ‘mechanic’.
Obviously I’m being facetious about the “breaking news” part; but the myth of gender being representative of a service advisor’s ability is still going strong - sigh. January will mark my 14th anniversary as a service advisor. I am a female.
I work indie with one other (male) advisor. He’s experienced, knowledgeable, and awesome. We value each other and work great together. We’ve reached the point of communicating almost telepathically and have a “script” for nearly every situation. And, while we each have different strengths (classics, diesels, Asian imports, basic American, trucks, turbos, driveline, etc.), we both giggle a bit when a customer tells ME that they want to speak to someone that’s more experienced while looking directly and almost aggressively at HIM.
He immediately tells the customer that I’m the most experienced advisor on staff. Sometimes they change their tune but, most times, those customers still want the MAN to help them. No problem. He does the talking and I do the rest (dispatch the work, build the ticket, source the parts, etc.). Then he makes the call, sells the job, and the tech gets it done.
I’ve put in the time and paid my dues; and doing such has allowed me to find a home in a shop that doesn’t pit advisors against each-other. Everyone does their part and everyone eats (gotta love a good shop owner!). So long as the techs are turning and earning, everyone is paid and happy.
If you made it this far, thanks for being on the listening side of my end-of-week vent session. Shout out to my fellow females in the industry and high-fives to the industry males that rock with us because talent is talent and money has no gender.
In conclusion, let us all say our daily mantra:
I didn’t build it, buy it, or break it; your failure to plan is not my emergency; customers are gonna customer, and waiters are gonna wait.