Front of house is the hardest job in your garage, and it decides your workshop efficiency

When we talk about efficiency, everyone tends to think about the workshop. The techs. How many hours they’re selling.

That’s half the story. The bigger story is what happens in reception. Are we prepared enough? Do we collect enough information? Are the parts and tools ready for the techs?

For me, reception is the most difficult job in the garage. And it’s where most efficiency problems begin.

Why front of house is the hardest job

Your front of house team deal with customers in person and on the phone. At the same time, they have to keep on top of everything that’s going on in the workshop.

And the majority of people on the front desk don’t have a technical background. That doesn’t make them bad people. It just means they may not have the skill level needed to qualify a call properly and build a job card with the right specification for the workshop.

There’s no school for it, either. You can’t go and learn to be a service advisor. You get thrown in and you learn the hard way. Sometimes the hard way takes a long, long time, and the whole garage feels it.

A vague job card is a hurdle for your techs

When the job card isn’t clear, what you’ve got is half a job. It’s ambiguous. Muddy waters.

So what do you expect the techs to do? We’ve already put a hurdle in front of them before they’ve started. And that’s what decides how good or how poor we are on overall efficiency.

Every time a technician leaves the ramp, it costs you. They go to front of house to find information that should have been on the job card. Something wasn’t put in. They’re waiting for a part. Whatever the reason, it comes straight off the garage’s profitability.

My standard: they never leave the ramp

In my garage the direction was very clear. Everything the technician needs goes on that job card, so they don’t have to leave the ramp.

We had a very clear focus and a foundation that we capture as much information as we can and we prepare as much as we can before the customer actually arrives. That’s the key.

Andy Savva

Whether the job card is on a tablet now or on paper, the aim is the same. The technician picks it up and knows exactly what they’re doing to that vehicle.

Support the people doing it

None of this is about blaming reception. It’s about giving the people who take on these roles the foundations they need, constantly, and making them aware of what the workshop needs from them.

Get front of house right and you get two wins at once: customers who feel looked after, and technicians who can get on with the job.

What to do this week

1. Pull five job cards from last week and read them as a technician would. Could they start work without asking a single question?
2. Ask your techs how often they leave the ramp for information or parts, and why.
3. Agree with front of house what every job card must include before a car goes into the workshop.
4. Have parts and information ready before the customer arrives for every pre-booked job.