Baseball season has been in full swing since March, and I’ve enjoyed catching a few games here and there. One thing I haven’t seen yet? A batter skipping their first at-bat. Not once. That’s just not how the game is played.
But oddly enough, it is what I continue to see happen on our service drives.
Just last week, I was at a dealership when a customer pulled into the service lane. The advisor barely looked up from their computer, gave a quick wave toward the waiting room, and said, “I’ll come see you in a bit.” That was it. No “Hi,” no “What brings you in today?”—not even a basic acknowledgment of the customer beyond that gesture.
Can you believe that? That advisor had a chance to step up to the plate and get a hit—and instead, they walked away from the batter’s box entirely. Unfortunately, this isn’t a one-off. It’s becoming the norm.
The truth is, many service advisors didn’t end up in the service lane because they love selling maintenance. Some landed there because they couldn’t sell enough cars, and the dealership moved them to the back of the building—what many still see as the “graveyard” of the dealership: the service department.
But if dealerships want to grow in today’s market, they need to shift that mindset.
We need to stop thinking of the front of the building as the only sales floor. The showroom sells cars. The service lane sells trust, retention, and long-term revenue. Both are sales departments—just with different products.
The core of the issue isn’t just poor customer interaction—it’s the lack of preparation behind it. When an advisor doesn’t greet the customer or ask the right questions, it’s often because they don’t know what to recommend. They’re left guessing, using outdated menus or mental checklists that don’t account for time and mileage. That’s why it’s not just an attitude problem—it’s a systems problem. And that’s where smart menus come in.
From Archaic to Adaptive: A Shift in Service Selling
When I first started my career, we were training advisors to use a trifold that listed out the services in packages: 5K, 15K, 30K… This archaic type of selling was all we had at the time. Some of you reading this may be thinking, “We are still doing this.”
That process had its place. But more often than not, it left customers wondering:
“Do I really need this?”
Or:
*”I just did my alignment—did I not need it then?”
Times have changed, and so have customer expectations. If your service department hasn’t adapted, it’s falling behind.
Enter the Digital Menu
We now have what are called smart menus—tools that build service recommendations based on time and mileage and tailor them to each individual vehicle.
If you’re looking to enhance your service department, this is where you start. A smart menu system will immediately:
- Educate your customers – providing a clear and thorough understanding of what their vehicle needs based on actual driving patterns.
- Empower your advisors – equipping them to confidently and efficiently present pricing without handwritten notes or miscalculations.
- Equip your managers – giving them access to performance data so they can identify who’s excelling and who needs more support.
These are the top three reasons why leading dealer groups across the country are investing in digital menus. Are there challenges? Of course. Any change worth making comes with friction.
But if we’re not evolving, we’re falling behind.
Step Up to the Plate
It’s time for dealers to stop watching pitches go by. Every customer who drives into your lane is an opportunity to build trust, loyalty, and long-term revenue. Train your advisors to treat that first at-bat with the same intention and focus as your best salespeople on the showroom floor. Because when your service drive starts swinging, the whole dealership wins.
