Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/467551
22 | Boating Industry | March 2015 [ 17 Strategies of a Service Superhero ] www.BoatingIndustry.com employees need to understand that the emo- tional part of the brain is much more powerful than the logical part. Managers should train their employees on how to start a conversation with a customer that has nothing to do with the service job, said Dantzler, and they should practice on each other regularly in the dealership. Mack enjoys using Dale Carnegie training, which is a human relations and public speaking course. It teaches confi dence with customers and co-workers, how to be more effective in your role, how to become a better leader and more. Owners should keep a training fi le for all ser- vice employees, said Ziebron. This fi le can be an Excel spreadsheet with all of the training and certifi cations within the dealership and who has received them. It also helps owners work with employees on how to grow their career and show them "Here is where you've been, and here is where we would like to grow you." This is particularly signifi cant in regards to employee turnover. The two most popular rea- sons people leave their jobs are a lack of training and bad management, but Dantzler said they are the same reason. "If you don't tell me what I am supposed to be doing and train me on how to do it, and then you're yelling at me because I didn't do it, I think you're a bad manager because you didn't train me," said Dantzler. "Your core ESI or employee satisfaction, particularly in the service depart- ment, leads to employee turnover." 5. Employee satisfaction fuels customer satisfaction Employee satisfaction leads directly into cus- tomer satisfaction, said Dantzler. He discussed this trajectory heavily in his "ESI Fuels CSI" session at the MDCE. Dantzler said improving employee satisfaction is exactly the same as en- gaging a customer in the sales process: Get to know them on a personal level before you talk about why they are there. "Before you ask that tech to go back to the bench and start spinning a wrench, ask him how his wife is doing. Ask him how his kid is doing," said Dantzler. "Make the rounds as a manager and say hi to everyone in the morning before you jump into the work of the day, and that just goes so far." 6. Outline specific job descriptions early Employees can't be satisfi ed if they don't under- stand their job duties, and it breeds ineffi ciency in the service department. "If there's more than one person responsible for anything, nobody is responsible for it," said Rob Brown, owner and general manager of Clark Marine. Employees should be given the job descrip- tion as early as possible – even before the initial interview. "We hire them and train them up, and some- where in the on-boarding process they get a job description, if they get one at all," said Dantlzer. Dantzler suggests asking interviewees to take fi ve minutes to read over the description before the interview to make sure everyone is on the same page. Ask to get them a cup of coffee while you wait. "Get very granular on the job descriptions. Tell [employees] exactly what is involved, not just 'You're going to fi x some boats at an A-level rate,'" said Dantzler. This means every single responsibility of that particular position, right down to cleaning the bathrooms once a month, needs to be included. If you start with only a portion of the required work and pile on later, that employee will feel discouraged quickly. 7. Communicate the company's goals Owners should be communicating what the company's weekly, monthly and quarterly goals are and ask for employees' input, said Ziebron. The employees' job descriptions also need to align directly with those goals so employees can see exactly how their role plays into the overall success of the dealership. 8. Attracting and retaining young service employees Attracting and retaining young employees is an industry-wide issue. The largest factor for being able to retain these young professionals is the exist- ing team players and building a welcoming culture. Over the past 18 months, Brown has hired and retained eight full-time team members with a median age of 26. Prior to these individuals coming on board, the median age of Clark Ma- rine's permanent staff was 49. Now it is 41. "One of my new hires made a statement that he felt he was welcomed into the team just as though he had been here for years. He said he knew he was the low man on the totem pole but he had never been treated like he was. I thought that comment spoke volumes for my team," said Brown. 9. Culture breeds new ideas Service superheroes create a culture within the service department that cultivates new ideas from its employees. "It's the guys on the front line that are out there every day working on the boats, who are actually working within the processes set in the service department. Those are the guys that have the best ideas," said Tim Sather, service manager at Oak Hill Marina. "You have to empower your