Re-Adjusting Service Department Goals During the Pandemic – Daniel Korte, Serra Traverse City

Many service directors are faced with the difficult task of eliminating positions as the pandemic continues, but one service director has been able to turn things around for some of his staff by promoting and reassigning them to other areas. Here to talk more about some of the best practices he has implemented in his service department during the pandemic is Daniel Korte, Service Director for Serra Traverse City in Michigan.

While the state of Michigan allowed service departments to remain open as essential businesses, Daniel said that Serra Traverse City still felt the stings of COVID-19. In fact, Daniel said he had to reevaluate their objectives and decided to transfer the express service drive and redirect those customer to the what Daniel calls the transportation department. This way instead of eliminating auto tech positions, they were transitioned into new or different roles. Daniel also tries to run his department more like a partnership rather than an employer-employee relationship. That includes a tier system pay plan, and a positive department culture.

Serra Traverse City has eight locations across the state of Michigan representing seven brands including Audi, Cadillac, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.