Growing your dealership’s service business isn’t an easy job. With countless auto repair shops trying to steal your customers away and manufacturer-recommended service intervals ever expanding, it’s easy to feel like the cards are stacked against you. But with the right service department marketing, you can bring in those customers you seek.

Now it’s probably not news to you that there are no silver bullets when it comes to marketing. It’ll take effort and consistency to make the tactics included in this article successful. And, once you do bring customers in, it’s up to you to do deliver a great customer experience.

With that said, these seven marketing tactics are a mix of new best practices and old staples that’ll help you serve more customers, more often.

1) Value-Added Incentives

Value-added incentives are all about making your standard services more valuable to your customers without relying on discounts. By including extra perks at no additional charge, you make customers feel appreciated and can stand out from the competition. Many dealerships have done some form of this for years now, such as offering a free car wash with every oil change. But some dealerships take this much further to really set themselves apart and build customer loyalty.

Example: Our product, DriveSure, is centered around value-added incentives. We make it easy for dealerships to add a suite of renewable benefits to regular maintenance services, such as oil changes. Each time a customer comes in for a qualifying service, they receive dealership-loyal roadside assistance, road hazard tire protection, and rental car coverage at no cost to them. When these benefits expire, they simply return to the dealership for another qualifying service to renew them. Dealerships like Lilliston Ford in New Jersey have used DriveSure to grow their service business by 33%.

2) Mobile Alerts

Most of us always have a smartphone by our side these days and that can be great news for savvy marketers. While most of your competition is focused on more traditional marketing channels, you can cut through the noise by marketing through your customers’ phone notifications.

Example: With the DriveSure Digital Pass that your customers can easily add to their smartphones, they can receive notifications when they’re due for service. Even better, dealerships can set up geofencing to deliver specific messages when customers are in certain locations. For example, you could welcome them back when they visit your location or instantly provide them with an offer when they visit a competitor.

3) Text Messaging

If there was one thing that was clear from our recent 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report, it’s that consumers are open to receiving text messages from their dealership. With well-crafted messages and a solid strategy, you can communicate with people through the same channel where they talk with their friends and family. This can help ensure that your messages actually get read while also helping you build a lasting relationship with your customers.

Example: One way to make text messaging do double duty for your marketing is to ask for reviews after a customer visits your service department. Not only do you get one more opportunity to engage with them through SMS, you can also improve your average rating and number of reviews online. We wrote about many more text message marketing examples here.

4) Email Marketing

Even though we have new ways of reaching customers, our 2020 Retention Report proved that email is still king. One of the things that make email great is its versatility. We recommend using it to send regular updates as well as one-off notifications. Regular updates, such as a dealership newsletter, will help you stay top of mind and build a lasting relationship with your customers. Service reminders and other one-off notifications can drive immediate action and assist with increasing your service visit frequency.

Example: Here’s one email template from AutoRaptor designed to help ensure that customers return to your dealership for service after purchasing a vehicle:

Dear [name],

Congratulations on the purchase of your new [make/model]! It was a real pleasure to help you find your perfect vehicle. How many people have you showed it off to so far?

Our team is grateful that you chose to buy from our dealership and we hope that the experience exceeded your expectations. If you think we could be doing anything differently—or want us to keep something up—please let me know.

As a reminder, your first oil change with our in-house service department is complimentary, so I hope we’ll see you walk through the door in about 3,000 more miles.

Thank you again, and enjoy your new [make/model]!

Sincerely,

[Sales rep name]
[email signature]

5) Direct Mail

So far we’ve only talked about digital forms of marketing, but direct mail can still be a powerful tool for dealerships. In fact, giving customers a physical item in the mail is actually beginning to become a stand-out tactic as more and more of our communication moves online. In our experience, direct mail works best when you give the recipient a clear and compelling call to action and pair it with an attractive offer, such as a value-added incentive like we discussed above.

Example: Using DriveSure’s direct mailers similar to the template below, Mazda of Orland Park drove over $100,000 in additional sales across three conquest campaigns.

6) Online Advertising

Online advertising can be a great way to get in front of customers. We recommend starting with Facebook Ads and Google Search Ads. Google Search Ads can help you ensure that your dealership gets found when people make relevant Google searches. Facebook ads are a great way to get in front of new people, and can even be customized to show specific ads to your customer list.

Example: The example below comes straight from Facebook, showing one way dealerships can use Facebook ads to show off the experience of their technicians.

7) Get the Sales Department Engaged

Last but not least, one of the most important automotive service department marketing tactics happens entirely at the dealership. If you can get your sales people to talk up your service department and introduce new buyers to your team, you’ll have a much better chance of creating a lasting relationship that keeps them coming back.

Example: One of the most effective ways to do this is with a well-executed sales-to-service handoff. We have a free guide that walks you through exactly how to master this technique.

What marketing tactic works best for your dealership’s service department? Let us know in the comments below!

What’s the easiest way to turn your dealership into an engine of profit?

Keep more customers coming back for service, more often.

Okay, maybe it’s not all that “easy,” but it is possible.

In fact, nearly 2,000 dealership service department customers have spoken, and what they had to say on the topic might surprise you. It’s all detailed in our 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report, and it’s loaded with valuable, actionable guidance to help make customer loyalty and retention not only a possibility, but your new reality. 

Let’s take a look at some of the findings.

Why Would Customers Go Elsewhere For Service?

We’ll start with the big one. In what was perhaps the report's most eye-opening revelation, we found that a single bad experience at the dealership puts it at risk for losing any customer, regardless of their loyalty.

Those with no allegiance jumping ship, totally understandable. But when nearly half (49%) of those who self-identified as “extremely loyal” customers said that they’re likely to consider leaving if they have just one bad experience at the dealership, we did a double-take.

No do-overs...even from our most staunch supporters. Seems a bit harsh, but perhaps it’s just the wake-up call we need right now.

On a lighter note, we can take solace in the fact that a quarter (24%) of the extremely loyal group said “nothing” would make them consider going elsewhere.

Here’s the high-level view of what might cause customers to go somewhere else for service:

And now the full view, breaking the responses down by customer loyalty:

Leaving for a lower price was the most popular choice among everyone (excluding the “extremely loyal”) with 46% of the 2,000 participants saying price is a big factor. When you break the numbers down by age, and 56% of consumers under 34 told us they would consider leaving their dealer service department for the lowest bidder.

Our main takeaway here is this:

For dealerships that effectively delight customers and prove value, the findings indicate that the vast majority of respondents would keep coming back — if the customer experience remains consistent and superior.

The fact that over half (53%) of all those surveyed said just one bad experience could send them packing is indeed a daunting prognosis, but certainly not incurable. Now’s the time to make sure you’re doing everything possible to create a memorable experience that retains and increases service traffic by implementing proven tactics and best practices.

But Enough About Dealership Defection…

What are the factors that influence and encourage customers to come back to your dealership for service?

Some of the responses here might provide you with much-needed validation. Others might illuminate areas for improvement.

Customer Service is Big, Quality of Work is Bigger

When asked to rank several items by how important they are when determining where to go for vehicle service, “quality of work” was the clear winner. Second most important was “price,” with “quality of customer service” nipping at its heels.

This is mostly good news for dealerships, many of which already pride themselves on the quality of their work and their service. However, it does highlight what service managers already know, low-cost competitors always pose a threat.

Overcoming the Price Factor

Sometimes, dollars and cents just make sense.

It’s a bottom line world, after all.

That said, there are ways dealership service departments can differentiate themselves and stand out from their competition, regardless of price points.

Focus on quality and make it known that the price your customers pay is well worth what they receive. You are the foremost experts and caregivers on their specific makes and models, no one else.

By emphasizing the competency of your technicians, ensuring your staff is delivering a delightful experience, and adding a valuable package of unique vehicle owner benefits that customers won’t find with cheaper competitors, many dealerships have no issue overcoming the price factor.

We found this is especially true for more senior customer segments, who don’t care as much about price as they do the quality of work and service.

What Services Do Customers Want From a Dealership?

The significance of the 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report can’t be overstated. It’s the only one of its kind—conducting research exclusively from those already getting their vehicles serviced at a dealership.

That makes this next point even more impactful.

44 percent of respondents prefer to get all their vehicle service needs performed at a dealership.

As for the remaining 56 percent, it’s the type of work needed that factors heavily into their decision for where to take their vehicle. The top five services that those consumers prefer to get from a dealership are:

          1. Manufacturer-recommended maintenance (77%) 

          2. Electrical issues (63%)

          3. Unknown issues/check engine light warnings (63%)

          4. Oil changes (63%)

          5. Transmission work (57%)

The three services they’re least likely to prefer to have done at a dealership are:

          1. Battery replacement (18%)

          2. Body work (21%)

          3. Tire rotation or repair (33%)

Since people are less likely to return with issues related to batteries, tires, and brakes, it underscores the importance for service advisors to identify those issues while the customer is already at the dealership. Not only can this prevent the customer from going elsewhere for those services, but it also gives dealerships an opportunity to avert future issues for their customers before they even occur.

We Now Return to Your Engine of Profit

Ultimately, consumers who both purchase and service their vehicles at a certain dealership are also likely to buy their next vehicles at that same dealership, thus bringing in a new sale and more profits from services.

With nearly half the consumers in our study already planning to purchase their next vehicle at the dealership where they service their current one (and 45% undecided), every future service visit is another opportunity for your dealership to wow your customers and earn their repeat business.

Now that you know what keeps them coming back for more, and perhaps most importantly, the things that drive them away, you’re poised to become the only one your customers depend on for maintenance, tires, and repairs.

To dive even deeper into the unique perspectives of your target customers and discover the secrets to dealership service department retention, get your full copy of the 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report here.

It's widely known that dealerships still have a lot of ground to make up when it comes to selling tires. According to Modern Tire Dealer, auto dealerships still handle just under 10% of the total tire market as of 2019.

But what about the customers that are already coming to you for vehicle maintenance? Surely they are buying tires from your dealership, right?

Well, yes and no.

According to our recently released 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report, auto dealership service customers do buy tires from their dealership. But not nearly as many as you might think.

How Many Dealership Service Customers Buy Tires at the Dealership?

In our survey of nearly 2,000 dealership service customers, only 31% purchased their last set of tires from the dealership. This means that less than a third of the customers coming to your dealership for service will come to you for tires too. Even for customers who stated that they were “extremely loyal” to their servicing dealership, less than half (48%) purchased their last set of tires there.

Why aren’t more of them buying tires from the dealership?

One answer may be that they don’t even know their dealership sells tires. Nearly a quarter (24%) of the people we surveyed selected “I’m not sure” when asked if their dealership sold tires. For those extremely loyal customers, that number fell only a few points to 20%.

If 20% of a dealership’s most loyal service customers don’t even know if they can buy tires from the dealership, it’s no wonder why so many aren’t buying their tires there.

Where Are Dealership Service Customers Buying Tires?

You may be wondering, for customers who aren’t buying tires from the dealership, where are they going instead?

According to our survey, they’re overwhelmingly going to tire stores (59%). Big-box retailers such as Costco and Sam’s Club also enjoy a decent portion of the market at 20%.

With such a large percentage of your existing customer base not buying from you, tires represent one of the most significant opportunities to grow your fixed operations. Let’s face it, you have much more to offer your customers than the competition.

The question is: What can you do to make sure your customers know this too?

Here’s what we think.

What Dealerships Can Do to Earn More Tire Business

Every time a customer takes their vehicle somewhere else for tires, you lose business. First, you lose the initial revenue from the tire sale. Second, you lose the opportunity to earn repeat or add-on business.

Don’t let them get away!

Talk About Tires and Tire Services More

If your customers don’t know you sell tires they won’t come to you when they need them. So, at the very minimum, we recommend you start talking about them more.

Here are a few ways to do that:

1. 1. Tell your customers about your tire offerings and their warranty coverage at the sales-to-service handoff. This is a key action in building loyal customers. Because, as you know, getting a vehicle owner into your service department for their first service visit makes them more likely to continue coming to you for all their vehicle’s needs.
   
   Download this checklist to learn about other best practices for this critical point in the car buying experience.
    
2. 2. Remind your customers of the recommended service schedule for tires. With extended recommendations for oil change frequency, tire rotations may now be your best opportunity to see your customers more often.
    
3. 3. Add them to a digital reminder campaign. We recommend sending emails, or text messages to your customers (a method that was verified to be preferred in our survey) to remind them to have their tires rotated. You could also add seasonal reminders like putting on snow tires once the temperature drops consistently below 45°F.
4. 
   4. Setup a geofencing campaign that targets your nearest tire competitors. Using this approach to catch customers at the right place at the right time keeps your dealership top-of-mind when your customers’ buying intent is highest — for example, when they’re on the property of a competitor.

If you’re successful in getting your message out, you’ll begin to make your dealership the place your customers think of when they need tire services. But, if you really want to be successful, we recommend finding ways to truly differentiate your dealership from the competition with a reason to return.  

Introduce Value-Added Services Focused on Tires

Programs like DriveSure, which offers a renewable set of benefits included with oil changes and scheduled maintenance services, help dealerships drive more tire business with perks including:

• Road hazard protection:
  Free tire replacement or repair of damage due to road conditions or debris.
   
• Roadside assistance:
  Complimentary tows to their dealership and not the competitors’.

When customers run into trouble, these kinds of programs make it convenient and easy to come back to their dealership for help.

This approach has worked incredibly well for the Parts and Service Director at Kastner Honda. He’s leveraged DriveSure to sell more tires at three separate dealerships: read his story.

____________________

If you’re serious about gaining traction in the tire market, customers have to think of you when they think of tires. Remind them of your tire offerings often and make it easy for them to come back when they’re in need.

For more customer insights and tips for getting customers to return to your dealership, download a copy of our full 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT
DriveSure by Krex, Inc.
Bill Springer
President
847-753-9955
wgs@krexinc.com

DriveSure Releases 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report

Northbrook, Ill., July 20, 2020 — DriveSure, a customer retention product designed for new car dealerships by Krex, Inc., has released its 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report. This free, 36-page report explores the factors that cause customers to return to their dealership for service, as well as the ones that may drive them to the competition.

“Getting customers to return to dealerships for service is critical to success — both for maximizing fixed ops profits, and for generating new car sales,” said Bill Springer, President of DriveSure. “We conducted this survey because we wanted to better understand why vehicle owners return and why they don’t — and offer some perspective into what dealerships can do about it.”

For instance, according to the report, tires continue to represent a substantial growth opportunity for dealerships. Less than a third of survey respondents reported purchasing a set of tires from their dealership. Even among customers who identified as extremely loyal to their servicing dealership, only half of them buy tires there.

“For many dealerships that means there’s money left on the table,” said Springer. “Not only are dealerships losing the tire sale to a competitor, they’re losing the opportunity to upsell or cross-sell — and more importantly — they risk losing that repeat business.”

Other key findings from the report include new information that suggests dealerships may not be keeping up with consumer preferences for service department amenities, fresh data about strong preferences for SMS messaging, the factors most likely to make vehicle owners go elsewhere for service, and more.

Survey contributors included nearly 2,000 U.S. vehicle owners who activated or renewed DriveSure benefits in the last year and who currently take their vehicle to a dealership for at least some of their service needs.

For details on these insights and more, download the 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report at https://drivesure.com/2020-dealership-service-retention-report/

About DriveSure

DriveSure makes it easy for new car dealerships to offer unbeatable vehicle maintenance and bring customers back for service, tires, and unplanned repairs—all without complicated loyalty programs or profit-cutting discounts. We empower our clients to offer a unique set of benefits with every oil change that sets them apart from the competition and helps them build long-term relationships with customers. Learn more at drivesure.com.

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Snacks. Coffee. WiFi.

It seems these are staples for most dealership service department waiting areas. But are those the amenities that keep your customers loyal to your service department? Probably not.

Are they convenient and nice to have? Yes, but it’s what you offer beyond the basics that can really influence customer retention and satisfaction.

In an effort to help you determine what your customers are looking for, we asked our 2020 Service Retention Report respondents which amenities at their dealership they value most.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway was how varied the responses were. There were some clear winners, but there’s definitely not a silver bullet when it comes to service amenities. Keep reading to see which amenities are in high demand and where dealerships might be falling behind consumer preferences.

Which Amenities Do Service Customers Prefer?

We asked nearly 2,000 dealership service customers from across the country to identify the three amenities that are most valuable to them from a list of 12 common (and not-so-common) offerings. Here’s how they responded:

1. Online appointment booking
2. Free road hazard tire repair/replacement
3. Free renewable roadside assistance
4. Vehicle pickup/delivery
5. Shuttle service
6. Rewards program
7. Late-night hours (open after 6 pm)
8. Free Wi-Fi in waiting area
9. Sunday hours
10. Snacks/drinks in waiting area
11. Dog-friendly waiting areas
12. Referral program

Like the offerings themselves, their preferences varied widely. The top eight amenities are preferred by nearly a quarter of recipients or more. However, no single amenity is identified by more than half the participants as one of their three most valued.

What does that mean for dealerships? How can we meet customer expectations when preferences are so varied?

In short, this shows us that dealerships that offer a wide variety of amenities are likely delivering better experiences for their customers (vs. those that only offer a select few). We know that you might not be able to offer everything, so we took a deeper dive into this data to uncover some of your best opportunities for pleasing your customers.

Where Should You Spend Your Amenity Budget?

When we compare the list of dealership service customer preferences to the amenities that dealerships actually offer them, we can begin to see some opportunities. We discuss those below and how we think you might best benefit from them in your dealership.

1. 1. Wi-Fi and snacks are offered most often, but aren’t necessarily considered a high-value amenity to customers. As we mentioned in the introduction to this article, having free beverages and internet are now basic expectations for anyone who brings a vehicle into your service department rather than valuable differentiators. Luckily, these amenities are easy to implement.
    
2. 2. Customers like the convenience of online appointment booking. Nearly 45% of our survey respondents place it in their top three most valued amenities. Dealerships seem to have already picked up on this preference as about 75% of our participants told us their dealership offered it.
   
   If your dealership isn’t offering it yet, the time has come to start. There’s a wide variety of technology available, like Setmore Appointments or TimeTap, which have platforms built specifically for the automotive service industry.
    
3. 3. Vehicle pickup/delivery is preferred over shuttles for all age groups except those 55+. For that age group, shuttle services were valued slightly higher.
   
   At the time of our survey, not many dealerships seemed to be offering pickup or delivery. However, with COVID-19 restrictions and concerns regarding public health becoming top-priority for customers, we’re seeing it pop up more and more in recent months.
   
   Because it is so highly valued among our respondents, we recommend that dealerships continue their pickup and delivery services indefinitely.

1. 4. Free road hazard tire repair/replacement and free renewable roadside assistance are the second and third most valued amenities respectively.
   
   It might seem challenging to find a way to offer these benefits to your customers, but both are included with every DriveSure activation and renewal. These are also the kinds of benefits that make it easy for dealerships to encourage loyalty and bring customers back to their dealership for other services or unplanned repairs.

Bringing It Into the Real World

Some dealerships have it all (like these), but if you don’t have the budget to offer golf simulators and salon services, here’s where we recommend you should start:

1. 1. Cover the basics with free Wi-Fi and snacks. Despite not being the most valued, we still recommend having your bases covered. Try partnering with a local company or two to stock the products that people love most to help differentiate your waiting room.
    
2. 2. Play up the convenience factor with online booking and drop off/pick up. These are the amenities that service customers value most. If you don’t offer them, it’s possible you might start losing your customers to somewhere that does. Plus, you want to make it as easy as possible to make an appointment with your dealership and these offerings lower that bar considerably.
3. 
   3. Provide value-added perks like free renewable roadside assistance and tire coverage with every oil change or scheduled maintenance service. It’s benefits like these that will truly differentiate your dealership from the competition and keep your customers coming back again and again.

Learn more about what your customers are looking for in our 2020 Dealership Service Retention Report.

Service writers do a lot of things.

They answer the phone and greet your customers. They master dealership technologies. They cross-sell and upsell. The list goes on and on.

But, of all the things they do, the most important is managing the relationships with your customers — and that’s not an easy job.

Communicating customer needs and complaints to technicians and delivering updates to customers, for example, can sometimes require heavy-duty translation skills. “My car is making a whirrrrr-thunk-thunk noise when I turn on the air conditioner” is probably not a checkbox on your intake form.

Yet they do it, and they do a great job of ensuring your customers’ service needs are properly looked after every day. The best of the best keep your service customers coming back, offering upsells, cross-sells, and more.

Service writers have a unique ability to handle these hard-to-measure parts of your business. But how do they do it?

Encouraging loyalty, ensuring comfort, and delivering convenience are skills that are hard to master — requiring spot-on interpersonal skills, communication, and action. All of which need to be supported by a team that pays attention, takes things seriously, follows up, and delivers.

When it comes to your service writers and your success, you want your customers to:

• - Like them

- Trust them
- View them as experts

So, we’ve provided a few ideas to increase sales and satisfaction in your dealership service department with these tips for training top-notch service writers. Here’s how to get your customers to:

1. Like Them

Your service writer’s first sale should always be to sell themselves. Help them get their relationships started right with a friendly greeting.

Train them to smile, say hello, and introduce themselves to everyone who steps foot — or drives or calls — into your service department. Doing so will open the door for them to ask a question and start a conversation.

Common advice for breaking the ice includes:

• Paying a compliment
  “I watched you drive up. Your smoked tail lights look really sharp.” 
   
• Asking an opinion
  “So, we got a new flavor of coffee last week. You’ll have to let me know what you think.”
   
• Offering help
  “You seem a little lost. Can I help you find something or someone?”
   

Sparking up a conversation allows you to get on a first-name basis with the customer. “By the way, my name is Alex, and you are?” Now, the relationship is between “Alex and Jo” not “dealership and car owner,” which is a step that opens the door for a superior customer experience that starts to build trust.

PRO TIP: It’s never too early to start building relationships between your customers and your service department. Get our Sales-to-Service Handoff Checklist to master that all-important first intro with new buyers.

2. Trust Them

The best relationships are built on a foundation of trust. Break it, and everything falls apart.

Teaching your service writers how to gain the trust of your customers can take a little bit of work, especially if these habits don’t come naturally to them. The good news is, we’ve already covered the first step: a warm, welcoming greeting.

With that out of the way, here’s how to help your service writers get your customers to trust your front-line crew quickly:

• - Teach them how to respond to questions and inquiries with genuine interest and compassion. This can mean consciously engaging and listening actively to what a customer is saying. It can help to repeat relevant information and answers back to them or ask questions for clarification.
   
• - Taking notes is also important. Doing so will help to show your customers you care and encourage further relationship building.
   
• - The final piece is to teach them how to handle objections and complaints with diplomacy. Nothing breaks trust faster than a non-response or combative attitude from a hot-headed, overconfident employee.
   

In our experience, reaching out in a personalized way — through the communication method your customers prefer (e.g. mail, email, mobile app, and/or text messages) — is a great way to reach customers exactly when they need you.

3. View Them as Experts

Despite not being the one turning wrenches, your service writers know a lot about the biz. Helping them present themselves as experts to your customers will convey that all of your staff are capable, knowledgeable experts.

The best thing you can teach them is how to control the conversation. They should begin by:

• - Asking the right questions. Sometimes an open-ended question is the right way to go — like when you’re trying to understand a repair problem. Other times, a yes/no response will get you the information you need (without distraction).
   
• - Focusing the conversation on the solution to the problem, not the price of the repair. Bringing price into the conversation too early can deter a customer from agreeing to the service that is needed or can cause them to seek out an alternative.
   
• - Helping customers to ask the right questions. Often, customers don’t know what they don’t know. A skilled service writer will spot this and steer the customer — and the conversation — in the right direction. Thus, helping both you and your customer reach a solution faster.
   

The dealerships we work with put a lot of power in the hands of their team. For example, offering DriveSure’s vehicle maintenance benefits with every oil change shows customers that their team understands the inconveniences that can be associated with regular service and unplanned repairs.

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Great service writers can drastically improve your dealership’s customer relations and profitability. After all, happy customers spend more with you and they tell their friends about their experience.

Setting your expectations during your training can get you most of the way. There are just two things to remember for getting it all right: be consistent and at the end of the day, let your service writers be themselves.

If you want to learn more about how you can help your service writers create lasting relationships with your customers, get in touch.

A Cox Automotive survey from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak reported that 29% of fixed operations customers planned to delay scheduling service appointments. And, according to the data, at least that many did.

We saw more than a 55% drop in the weekly number of closed repair orders from March 1 through April 8, 2020. Not surprisingly, other organizations are also reporting drastic drops in dealership sales.

The good news is, this downturn won’t last forever. In fact, we believe the data is already starting to look up.

There will be one difference, though. The rebound in appointments likely won’t happen as dramatically as the drop. People’s concern for their safety and others’ will mean they will return to “life as normal” with caution.

But this hesitancy gives us time to prepare.

We’ll get to what you can do to make sure your customers’ return is met with top-notch service later in this article. But first, here’s why we think service departments have an advantage over after-market competitors.

A Dealership’s Secret Weapon: Trust

Right now, people are holding each other and the businesses they support to a higher standard. Even after limits lift, people won’t really be willing to venture out until they feel safe.

This creates a distinct advantage for fixed operations. Why? Dealership service departments are seen as trusted service providers for people’s vehicles.

Because of this, dealership service departments have an opportunity to extend trust to include personal safety. Not only does this ease the minds of their customers, but it also gets them in the door feeling confident they’re in good hands.

Nurturing a feeling of safety is also a positive step toward creating long-term, loyal customer relationships — the main goal of any service department.

Below are some ways you can lean on your existing relationships to build the trust of your customers. We look at two opportunities to help service departments continue to meet customers’ expectations and adapt to changes post-pandemic.

1. Focus on customer convenience

The biggest question people are asking right now is: When are we getting back to normal? But, all the evidence and opinions suggest that we’re not going to.

Instead, it seems there’s going to be a new normal.

Some dealer responses to directed health measures — like wearing masks and gloves, using steering wheel covers, repeatedly disinfecting, and putting up partitions — will likely be shorter-lived. Others will drastically influence what a customer perceives as essential.  

Because of this, we encourage you to review all the changes you’ve made to your daily operations and identify which ones you and your customers could benefit from if they were permanent.

We predict many amenities, like the ones listed below, will soon become staples on your service menu — if they haven’t already:

- Mobile servicing
- Pickup and delivery
- Electronic payments and signatures
- Recorded multipoint inspections
- Customer-preferred communication methods

These kinds of approaches make servicing their vehicle convenient for customers. So, adding them to your service department can bring big advantages.

For example, these conveniences can also help your customers get past well-known scheduling hurdles (such as your location).

We’ve already seen shifts like these change the way dealerships operate. For example, in cases where dealerships use kiosks to facilitate the transactional part of a service visit, the job of a service advisor has become much, much more important.

The kiosks haven’t replaced service advisors. Instead, they have allowed them to focus on their most valuable skills. With the basics covered, service advisors can better facilitate relationships and directly manage concerns – all of which help your customers build trust in your dealership.

YOUR COMEBACK MOVE:
Now is your opportunity to try and work out the kinks in your new approaches. Not only will your customers feel like you haven’t missed a beat, doing the work now will allow you to continue to differentiate your dealership from your competition in the future.

2. Amp up your customer communications

Post-coronavirus, people will be connecting in a variety of new ways. Managing your relationships with your customers will be the key to keeping your dealership top of mind and coming back strong.

In our new reality, communicating effectively with customers when they aren’t physically in front of you will be expected. So, investing in a communications approach that helps you better correspond with your customers will be more important than ever before.

We recommend building a strategy that helps you reach your customers in their preferred channel. Maintaining a robust communication approach — that meets your customers where they are — will help you make them feel comfortable coming to you for service.

Here are a few things to think about:

Jumpstarting dropped communications
If your relationships have been on pause for a while, restart them by reaching out. Encourage those who have delayed maintenance during the pandemic to schedule an appointment. Your invitation to return will be critical to getting past-due customers back in the door.

Highlighting what has changed
Tell all of your customers about your dealership’s changes. Explain what you’re doing to protect them. Let them know they have options for ensuring their safety and that maintaining their confidence in your business is top priority. 

Sharing what makes you different
To stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to do more than let your customers know you are prepared to keep them safe. Go beyond baseline messages of safety and give them additional reasons to return to your dealership. What makes you the best choice? Use your strongest value-added drivers in the messages you send.

YOUR COMEBACK MOVE:
When connecting and reconnecting with customers, don’t limit your outreach. Send an email, drop a text, mail a postcard — but don’t stop there. Consider all of your options for personalizing your customers’ experience. There may be some you’ve never tried before.

How we’re helping

At DriveSure, we’ve always been focused on helping dealerships add value in ways that get customers to return for service consistently and often. Dealerships that offer DriveSure benefits will continue to have a unique advantage in getting customers to come back for service.

Our benefits are exactly the kind of reassurance your customers will be looking for coming out of these uncertain times. In fact, we know just how important peace of mind is for drivers, that we extended coverage for anyone whose benefits expired in March and April.

We also know how important connecting with your customers will be in getting back to business. That’s why we’re working with current customers to ensure they can hit the ground running with effective direct mail campaigns and other outreach strategies when they’re ready.

For dealerships not currently offering DriveSure, we’ve made it easier (and more affordable) than ever to add new unique value to their service centers and get in touch with all the customers who are now overdue for service.

Our industry has been through rough spots before, but we’re confident that the dealerships who focus on customer value and effective communications will come out of this stronger than they’ve ever been. 

Focus on safety and communicate your value

At the end of the day, risk of exposure to COVID-19 still has people postponing or skipping maintenance and repair services. We don’t know exactly what recovery from the decline will look like, but what we do know is that when you care for people, the rest will follow.

Northbrook, Ill. — DriveSure, a customer retention product designed for new car dealerships by Krex, Inc., has compiled data on closed repair order volume to help new car dealerships understand and respond to changes in demand for vehicle maintenance and repairs as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep across the nation.

The data, a seven-day moving average of the weekly number of closed repair orders per dealership, is a compilation of nearly 100 new-car dealerships across the United States. The data is updated daily to help dealership general managers and service directors everywhere understand the rapid changes in the market. Already, reporting dealerships have seen a 40% drop in closed repair orders since late February on average.

“This is a time of uncertainty for all of us,” said Bill Springer, President of DriveSure. “We are sharing this aggregated information to help dealerships get some clear answers and be able to make decisions based on trends they are seeing relative to other dealerships throughout the United States.”

In addition to this data, DriveSure will be offering and curating tips for minimizing the long-term negative effects on fixed operations.

“We know dealerships will be relying heavily on service revenue as vehicle sales sharply decline,” said Springer. “This information will give decision makers an opportunity to stay ahead of changes to service demand as much as they can and come out strong on the other side.”

Interested parties can sign up for DriveSure’s weekly data updates or visit www.drivesure.com/covid19 for the latest information.

About DriveSure

DriveSure makes it easy for new car dealerships to offer unbeatable vehicle maintenance and bring customers back for service, tires, and unplanned repairs—all without complicated loyalty programs or profit-cutting discounts. We empower our clients to offer a unique set of benefits with every oil change that sets them apart from the competition and helps them build long-term relationships with customers. Learn more at drivesure.com.