At one time or another, every service manager has to deal with a technician wanting more money. The service manager is faced with a difficult situation when senior management resists. When I was a service manager in California, the dealer I worked for would let a technician leave when a $.10 per hour raise would have kept them with the company. As a service manager, it was very frustrating, and to combat that, I sat down and worked at computing what it costs to hire and train a technician. Every service manager should work through this exercise.

Cost of Hiring

Recruiting Cost

The first cost associated with hiring a replacement is the cost of recruiting. This would include the cost of advertising, using an outside recruiter, and the cost of the manager’s time to review resumes and interview applicants. Research shows that this cost can run from $2,000 to $5,000 dollars or more. To be conservative, we will use a cost of $2,500.

Onboarding Cost

After selecting a candidate, the...

On my first day working for a new employer, my manager was outlining what he expected from me in my new position.  I was starting my career as a District Service Manager for a major copier manufacturer.

 The mangers goal was for me to spend two days when visiting each dealer.  I was okay with that until it was explained that my bonus was based on the cost of a dealer visit and the number of dealer visits.  Now I am reasonably quick with math, and this was pretty simple; more dealer visits and less cost per dealer visit was how I maximized my bonus.

I told him he was paying me for one-day visits, and he said he wanted two-day visits.  I suggested that he change the bonus structure, and he said no.  For the entire time I worked for him, I did one-day visits and sometimes two in a single day.  I did what he paid me to, not what he wanted.

I challenge you to think about your business. Do you pay people to do something different from what...

In the last article, we discussed the cost of replacing technicians. Part of the cost we included was the cost of “bad hires.” The term bad hire would apply to any technicians that leave the company for any reason before they have generated enough profit to pay for the cost of hiring them. In the last article, we estimated it costs $40,900 to hire and train a technician. Let us discuss ways to improve the quality and probability of success in your hiring process.

Pre-Recruiting Process

One of the first questions to ask is, what kind of candidate are you looking for? Do you want to hire someone experienced? Or do you want to start from scratch? Another option is to promote from within. Each of these strategies has advantages and disadvantages. Depending on how urgently you need to fill the vacancy, the type of candidate you want will vary.

Starting from Scratch

The advantage of starting from scratch is that you can train the new technician to do the job according to your...

In our last two articles, we discussed the value of a technician and steps you can take to improve the success of your new hires.  For this discussion, we are going to assume that you have a new hire coming into your department today. What are you going to have him do?  What is the plan to get him up and functional as a technician as quickly as possible?

Too many times, a new technician is brought back to the service manager’s office and they visit it for a while.  Then because the service manager does not have a specific plan, and there are three people lined up to see the service manager, he calls a technician in and has that technician take the new employee with him for the day.

This pattern may continue until the new technician goes to school.  The result is a waste of the new technician’s time, the service manager’s time, and a less than optimum outcome.

Make a Plan

The first step in solving the issue is to develop a new hire...

When someone gets promoted to a supervisory or managerial role, they might think they automatically become a leader.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  They may have become the boss, but that doesn't make them a leader, and acting like a boss can damage team morale.

What does it take to be a leader?

Definition of leadership

Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others towards the achievement of a goal.  We will consider three separate points in that statement.

First, leadership is a process of social influence.  Leadership does not relate to a title or position.  A leader can be anyone that can influence others.

Second, a leader maximizes the efforts of others.  Because they have influence, other individuals are willing to be led by them, and they listen to them.

Third, a leader is heading toward some goal.  People won't follow someone who is wandering around and not going to a specific place or goal.

...