Joe: Sally Whitesell has spent over two decades providing service advisor training in service departments across the country. Her professional training products have been utilized at dealerships by individuals, service teams, managers and at the corporate level.  She is the founder and…

~by Sally Whitesell for Auto Success Magazine

These days you cannot walk into a supermarket or fast food restaurant without getting asked to fill out a survey. “You might even win a prize!” However, most of us do not take the time to fill out surveys unless we have had a bad experience or someone has really “wowed” us with excellent service; which brings me to my…

I recently spoke at a conference in Orlando. After my presentation, I noticed a workshop on the schedule: “How to recruit and keep your technicians.” I ran down the hall to a room packed like sardines. The conference-goers were anxious to attend because someone was finally going to share the magic bullet! A woman approached the podium. We awaited her message with anxious…

Why should we focus on women? The facts may shock you!

There has been a lot written about the importance of catering to your female clientele. Unfortunately many dealerships don’t completely understand why this is so crucial to current, and more importantly, future business.

I’m a woman who has been working on service drives and developing…

Click photo to play video.

Joe: It’s a pleasure to have on once again to CBT News, Sally Whitesell. She’s the founder and CEO of sw Service Solutions, and a recent speaker at the Women in Automotive Conference. Sally, we appreciate you taking the time. We know you are busy, you’re always on the road…

Which do you have on your staff?

Every department has its standouts and its under-achievers, but have you ever considered what makes them so different? Both work in the same environment, with the same guests, and the same pay plan; but their productions levels and customer satisfaction scores are worlds apart.

We might assume our top-performers simply…

Click photo to play video.

Joe: It’s a pleasure to welcome to CBT news for the first time, Sally Whitesell, founder and CEO of SW Service Solutions. Sally, thank you for taking time with us today.

Sally: Well thank you for having me, it’s a pleasure.…

Most dealers are used to focusing most of their time and attention on their sales team and profits from the front end. Unfortunately the profits made on each sale is dwindling and new car sales are down. Lost revenue on your front end makes everyone want to tighten their belts. The question is: Where do we make the cuts? Should we pull from advertising, personnel,…

As published in Fixed Ops Magazine~

Have you ever put a price tag on each of your service advisor’s chairs?  Well, you should! It’s probably worth much more than you realize. This chair has the potential to be the most valuable seat in your dealership. Just think about it. The person in this chair gets more selling…

Women are more emotional. Yes, I said it!

Emotions play a big part in most women’s purchasing decisions. Yes, I said it! It doesn’t mean we are less informed. It means we use a combination of facts and feelings to make buying decisions. In case you don’t believe me - gentlemen, when was the last time you spent an entire day looking for the perfect outfit for one…

“Playoffs? We can barely make it to practice!”

Pretty much any coach has made this statement during a losing streak, but imagine you and your favorite team getting ready for a new season. You pull out your favorite jersey and call your friends while the chicken wings are frying because you are pumped! You just know this year they are going to go…

Today’s customer will scrutinize every aspect of their customer service experience in your store. We don’t just make buying decisions based on necessity; we buy things that make us feel and look good. We buy things our friends have had a good experience with or that have high ratings and reviews. We want the best service and products we can afford and we want…

Terminating someone is never pleasant and not to be taken lightly. As a former service manager I only had to fire one service advisor -and I did not make that decision lightly. However, in most cases it is the employee’s choice to get fired. What do I mean? Certainly it’s the manager’s responsibility to train employees and develop processes. But anyone with experience…

Recession-Proof Your Dealership

Who on our team is the best, and how do we get the rest of our group to reach their level?

This is a question you may have heard or even asked when planning training events or making business projections. While this is a good place to start, you have to take this conversation to the next level. Is your top performer really good enough to set the…

Have you stopped and considered how much money people are spending on their cars outside of the dealership? What if we could capture even a fraction of that number?

There’s a race going on between manufacturers to create the lowest maintenance vehicles. While this is great for customers, it’s…

Customer service surveys are becoming more difficult to get our customers to fill out, and therefore, more difficult for us to receive. Let's face it; we’re all over-surveyed these days. We’re usually not interested in wasting our time unless we are extremely irritated or extremely impressed. In an effort to increase the return rate, service…

The moment a woman enters your dealership, she is looking for signals. Signals you may not even realize you are sending. What is your demeanor? What are your intentions? Do you take her seriously?

Why should we care about what signals we’re sending to women in our dealership? Because statistics show that women are a major economic force.…

Enjoy one of our fun animations from our Advanced Phone Training about the importance of asking if it's a good time to talk!

Watch video here: …

The glaring mistakes of a well-intentioned sales team.

I was excited about buying a nice new car, but like many of your clients, I was dreading the process. As a service advisor trainer who specializes in teaching the differences between selling to women vs. men, I’m in car dealerships all the time. However, since I have…