4 Disciplines that Create a Standard of Accountability in the Service Drive

In almost every state across the U.S., dealership service departments were considered essential services and allowed to remain open throughout the COVDID-19 pandemic. With the majority of showrooms closed at some point between the months of March and June, service departments largely became the breadwinners for the dealership. This meant that fixed-ops managers and service advisors had to step up and perform at the highest level. To discuss this topic further, anchor Jim Fitzpatrick spoke via zoom with John Fairchild, retail automotive trainer, and President of Fairchild Automotive Solutions.

In John’s recent article, The Power of 4DX in the Service Department!, he drew inspiration from The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling. John took its base methodology and applied it to service department goals and objectives. The first discipline that John discusses is creating a cadence of accountability, and it involves measuring performance with lead metrics that tell the fixed-ops manager if they are likely to achieve their departments’ goals. These metrics include offering maintenance at write-up, time to inspect, and post-inspection ASR presentations. Other disciplines that John touches on are, creating and maintaining lucrative client relationships and keeping a compelling scoreboard.

Since the age of 15, John Fairchild has held just about every position in the dealership. He has over 39 years of fixed operations management and consulting experience, and is a regular contributor to CBT News, Dealership News, and Driving Sales. Click here to watch more in-depth interviews with John Fairchild. 

Did you enjoy this interview with John Fairchild? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic with host Jim Fitzpatrick at jfitzpatrick@cbtnews.com.