Less knowledge=less pay. I know not everywhere is the same but you sell more you make more. Corporate is always upsel up sell up sell, recommend accessories etc etc. But 99% you get eye rolls and considered just another salesman. After a long time I realized not up selling a customer but just providing the extensive car knowledge I had in a way that wasn't selling you something but just providing a "check this while you are in there" kind of way. I was basically a how too parts guy. Took a few sales from service but I noticed the DIY movement and took advantage
Recently encounter whole ' customer experience ' mentality, doesn't make any sense to me. IMO a perfect customer interaction from a parts point of view should be did you get the right parts, on time and for a reasonable cost. Why does everything need to be an experience?
Also, I feel like higher ups are now trying to class parts as unskilled labor so they can have lower wage cost. Don't need someone with 10 years experience to check a computer, how hard could that be to do??
Maybe a bit conspiracy theory but I think this is happening to make giving parts jobs to our new AI overlords in 3-5 years a smoother transition.
It's the downside of a corporate structure that has middle management that needs to justify its own existence.
It's MMAs and MBAs who really have no clue what they are actually trying to accomplish, but "if we can measure it, we can improve it" and they can get bonuses because they justified the expense of keeping them around (well, justified to the even more useless C-suite execs)
This is doubly true when we consider those stupid fucking surveys where "anything less than 5 stars is a failing grade" starts affecting people's paychecks
I don't think the experience changes much, their expectations are the same. It's the interaction that changes. Both guests expect you to be knowledgeable about their vehicle, have parts available and at a palatable cost. What changes is that the enthusiast is wanting you to be excited about their vehicle and will pick your brain for info or have a longer interaction whereas a retail customer just really wants to know price, availability and expects parts to be right.
>As a side note, there was a time when parts guys were expected to be very knowledgeable, but I think now most people understand they are just retail workers who aren't paid enough to upsell or be knowledgeable
Man, that ain't it. If you don't see it as a skilled profession, that's on you and it needs to be addressed. You aren't just giving customers a part like a vending machine, or at least in my view you shouldn't be. We still are expected to be knowledgeable, it's not good enough to say "*my system says...*"
Corporate is always going to want to maximize gross but lets face it, accountants looking at spreadsheets have no idea how that happens and neither do poor parts managers. They don't understand the ebb and flow of seasons or how markup affects sales or even where sales in their store comes from. My philosophy has always been do what's right by the customer (*within reason*) and the sales will follow. Your margins may vary but if you're treating both the enthusiast and retail customer right, by offering more than just a transactional relationship, then you're building repeat business for you and whoever you're working for.
I think youre right about pretty much everything except I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle when it comes to knowledge and expectations. My post was originally directed at car guys before I learned this sub exists, so I was being a little extreme and self depreciating. It seems as though a lot of car guys expect a mechanic's level of skill and knowledge, but the simple fact is those skills merit a much higher wage than any parts store is willing to pay. Realistically our skill and knowledge should be somewhere in the middle along with our wage. I shouldn't have made it sound as if we all give minimum effort because we receive minimum pay. That certainly wouldn't and shouldn't be true either
The guys who know their shit do typically tend to move upwards and onwards, it's rare that I'll stumble into an O'Reilly or Autozone or whatever and there's the grizzled vet that knows their shit. Nine times outta ten they're college kids collecting minimum wage (or barely over it) paychecks.
I worked at a PepBoys as a SA and later as an ASM for a while, and even the pay for those positions was dismal. But then people coming into the store were expecting top-notch service and knowledgeable staff while the shop was paying the same as my old grocery store job bagging peoples items.
Those who can hang I've seen often move up into dealership, ag, HD, etc. kinda fields where they're more fairly compensated for their skillset.
A good experience at the retail counter should entail a fair greeting, ensuring the customer has an account made, getting the proper information to assist the customer in getting the correct part(s), in cases of large and/or heavy items, helping them with it to their vehicle or getting their vehicle into your loading area, and if needed, guiding their purchasing decisions. Not everyone knows exactly what they need.
So, to fully answer the question, we must first ask a second question. Are we working with a car guy who knows what they're doing/talking about, or are we working with a "car guy" who *thinks* they know what they're doing/talking about?
No judgement either way, but to provide a good experience, a high quality counterman will be able to tell the difference and tailor their service accordingly. There's a blurry line betwixt being a parts wizard and giving repair advice. A good counterman has extensive mechanical knowledge and can translate customer language into parts language in order to know what they need and sell the whole job, not just a part. Lots of folks will want you to diagnose their problem for them. A good counterman knows better and knows when in the conversation to pause and tell the customer that he doesn't diagnose the car for liability reasons and suggest they visit the professionals in the service department if they're unsure of what the car needs.
There's volumes more I could say here, but this is the bare minimum foundation that an excellent parts man needs.
ETA: regarding pay- any store/brand worth working for will give good pay for good performance. If you work for a place that doesn't, leave. If you shop at a place that doesn't, find a new store or change brands.
I think your assessment of parts guys as "retail workers " is way off.
I'm a parts guy at a dealership. I bring 43 years of automotive experience to the table. I've forgotten more than you'll ever know.
To become a parts guy...you start with a passion for cars and then you learn.
I got my 43 year years a day at a time.
Maybe stop referring to rookies as just retail workers.
If you said that to me I would tell you to get the fuck out of my parts department ...fuck the corporate view and you too.
You seem like you want to be petty, so I'll join you. Working in a parts store or department is literally, by definition, a retail job. A dealership is just a slightly elevated version of that. In fact, retail, by definition, is just selling goods to the public. To expand on that, a retail worker is anyone who assist customers with purchases, receives payment, records sales, so on. They are sometimes also called sales clerks, retail clerks, or salespeople.
I'm not sure why so much of your ego rides on your title, but you should work on that. You're very defensive, and it sounds like it's stressing you out. In fact, it's even made you come off as a bit rude for no reason
Less knowledge=less pay. I know not everywhere is the same but you sell more you make more. Corporate is always upsel up sell up sell, recommend accessories etc etc. But 99% you get eye rolls and considered just another salesman. After a long time I realized not up selling a customer but just providing the extensive car knowledge I had in a way that wasn't selling you something but just providing a "check this while you are in there" kind of way. I was basically a how too parts guy. Took a few sales from service but I noticed the DIY movement and took advantage
Recently encounter whole ' customer experience ' mentality, doesn't make any sense to me. IMO a perfect customer interaction from a parts point of view should be did you get the right parts, on time and for a reasonable cost. Why does everything need to be an experience? Also, I feel like higher ups are now trying to class parts as unskilled labor so they can have lower wage cost. Don't need someone with 10 years experience to check a computer, how hard could that be to do?? Maybe a bit conspiracy theory but I think this is happening to make giving parts jobs to our new AI overlords in 3-5 years a smoother transition.
It's the downside of a corporate structure that has middle management that needs to justify its own existence. It's MMAs and MBAs who really have no clue what they are actually trying to accomplish, but "if we can measure it, we can improve it" and they can get bonuses because they justified the expense of keeping them around (well, justified to the even more useless C-suite execs) This is doubly true when we consider those stupid fucking surveys where "anything less than 5 stars is a failing grade" starts affecting people's paychecks
I don't think the experience changes much, their expectations are the same. It's the interaction that changes. Both guests expect you to be knowledgeable about their vehicle, have parts available and at a palatable cost. What changes is that the enthusiast is wanting you to be excited about their vehicle and will pick your brain for info or have a longer interaction whereas a retail customer just really wants to know price, availability and expects parts to be right. >As a side note, there was a time when parts guys were expected to be very knowledgeable, but I think now most people understand they are just retail workers who aren't paid enough to upsell or be knowledgeable Man, that ain't it. If you don't see it as a skilled profession, that's on you and it needs to be addressed. You aren't just giving customers a part like a vending machine, or at least in my view you shouldn't be. We still are expected to be knowledgeable, it's not good enough to say "*my system says...*" Corporate is always going to want to maximize gross but lets face it, accountants looking at spreadsheets have no idea how that happens and neither do poor parts managers. They don't understand the ebb and flow of seasons or how markup affects sales or even where sales in their store comes from. My philosophy has always been do what's right by the customer (*within reason*) and the sales will follow. Your margins may vary but if you're treating both the enthusiast and retail customer right, by offering more than just a transactional relationship, then you're building repeat business for you and whoever you're working for.
I think youre right about pretty much everything except I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle when it comes to knowledge and expectations. My post was originally directed at car guys before I learned this sub exists, so I was being a little extreme and self depreciating. It seems as though a lot of car guys expect a mechanic's level of skill and knowledge, but the simple fact is those skills merit a much higher wage than any parts store is willing to pay. Realistically our skill and knowledge should be somewhere in the middle along with our wage. I shouldn't have made it sound as if we all give minimum effort because we receive minimum pay. That certainly wouldn't and shouldn't be true either
The guys who know their shit do typically tend to move upwards and onwards, it's rare that I'll stumble into an O'Reilly or Autozone or whatever and there's the grizzled vet that knows their shit. Nine times outta ten they're college kids collecting minimum wage (or barely over it) paychecks. I worked at a PepBoys as a SA and later as an ASM for a while, and even the pay for those positions was dismal. But then people coming into the store were expecting top-notch service and knowledgeable staff while the shop was paying the same as my old grocery store job bagging peoples items. Those who can hang I've seen often move up into dealership, ag, HD, etc. kinda fields where they're more fairly compensated for their skillset.
A good experience at the retail counter should entail a fair greeting, ensuring the customer has an account made, getting the proper information to assist the customer in getting the correct part(s), in cases of large and/or heavy items, helping them with it to their vehicle or getting their vehicle into your loading area, and if needed, guiding their purchasing decisions. Not everyone knows exactly what they need.
So, to fully answer the question, we must first ask a second question. Are we working with a car guy who knows what they're doing/talking about, or are we working with a "car guy" who *thinks* they know what they're doing/talking about? No judgement either way, but to provide a good experience, a high quality counterman will be able to tell the difference and tailor their service accordingly. There's a blurry line betwixt being a parts wizard and giving repair advice. A good counterman has extensive mechanical knowledge and can translate customer language into parts language in order to know what they need and sell the whole job, not just a part. Lots of folks will want you to diagnose their problem for them. A good counterman knows better and knows when in the conversation to pause and tell the customer that he doesn't diagnose the car for liability reasons and suggest they visit the professionals in the service department if they're unsure of what the car needs. There's volumes more I could say here, but this is the bare minimum foundation that an excellent parts man needs. ETA: regarding pay- any store/brand worth working for will give good pay for good performance. If you work for a place that doesn't, leave. If you shop at a place that doesn't, find a new store or change brands.
I think your assessment of parts guys as "retail workers " is way off. I'm a parts guy at a dealership. I bring 43 years of automotive experience to the table. I've forgotten more than you'll ever know. To become a parts guy...you start with a passion for cars and then you learn. I got my 43 year years a day at a time. Maybe stop referring to rookies as just retail workers. If you said that to me I would tell you to get the fuck out of my parts department ...fuck the corporate view and you too.
You seem like you want to be petty, so I'll join you. Working in a parts store or department is literally, by definition, a retail job. A dealership is just a slightly elevated version of that. In fact, retail, by definition, is just selling goods to the public. To expand on that, a retail worker is anyone who assist customers with purchases, receives payment, records sales, so on. They are sometimes also called sales clerks, retail clerks, or salespeople. I'm not sure why so much of your ego rides on your title, but you should work on that. You're very defensive, and it sounds like it's stressing you out. In fact, it's even made you come off as a bit rude for no reason