Job satisfaction for service advisers worsens the longer they spend in a role, with those working for prestige marques less enthusiastic about their career prospects than counterparts at volume brand dealerships.

The reason for the prestige/volume discrepancy is that advisers working in volume dealerships see promotion to a prestige franchise as a step up; however, once they get that promotion, there are few other career available to them.

The findings, released by Castrol Professional in its third phase of research into the role of service advisers, emphasise this a lack of career progression. 

A quarter of advisers working for volume brands are unhappy about their career prospects, compared to almost one third working at prestige franchises.

However, experienced staff are far more valuable to the business as they spend more of their time upselling additional work. 

And those with more than three years’ experience are more likely to feel empowered to resolve customer issues – 61% versus 44% for those with up to three years.

“The industry is failing to nurture its most valuable staff,” said Adrian Brabazon, Castrol OEM and workshop marketing manager, UK and Ireland. 

He believes the current climate is all about offering added-value services to customers. Staff can only provide this service if they are properly trained.

“Owners must  address whether staff are focused on upsell and genuine, lucrative business opportunities,” he added.

“The selling element is not now the only issue. Multi-tasking has become absolutely essential, along with training, service advice, answerphone compatability and awareness of ongoing opportunities.”

Brabazon claims dealers do not concentrate enough on converting work into genuine and lucrative profit opportunities. “If work is deferred then it is absolutely essential that, even if it is not carried out immediately, it is still done later and this can only be done by follow-ups,” he said. “There must be total customer interest and duty of care.”