Managing Your Service Department: Definition of Success – Owners vs Technicians

Why do many owners work 60-80 hours a week? There are lots of reasons, but they’re all rooted in the American dream. The bottom line is that he or she, has a vested interest in making the company successful. If the owner works really hard, the reward is twofold. First, the owner has a tremendous feeling of satisfaction. He or she has built something from scratch that perhaps no one else thought they could. Secondly, if he or she does a great job, there is a reward at the end of the rainbow … they makes a lot of money that can be invested, spent, used to put kids through college, or given away.

Now let’s look at things from the technician’s point of view. Many techs are secretly thinking to themselves, “My boss wants me to work really hard so he can get rich. That’s not fair. I do all the work and he makes all the money!” When the owner works hard he gets to enjoy the fruits of his labor. The tech is thinking “What’s in it for me?”

Techs need a vested interest to work hard, just like the owner does. What is their incentive? That is where the owner and/or service manager comes into play. The owner or manager needs to set specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the technician to work toward.

Next there needs to be a rewards program for meeting, or exceeding, those KPIs. Now the tech has an incentive, just like the owner. If he or she works hard and achieves the stated goals, they will have that great feeling of satisfaction, just like the owner. Also, like the owner, there will be a momentary reward he can enjoy for his hard work.

Everyone needs to have some sort of vested interest in what they do in order to work to their full potential. That applies to technicians as well as owners.