Recently I tried scheduling a service appointment at a local dealership. I called three times but never got through to anyone—I was placed on hold, transferred around and sent into voicemail. I don't like to leave voicemails because who knows if the person I'm calling with get the message or even return my call. After three attempts, I gave up and called another dealership.

Dealers measure a lot of metrics but many don't measure the percentage of incoming calls that are dropped or don't connect with anyone who can actually help the person calling.

When a customer calls your service department, they want answers to their questions now. They don't want to wait and see if an advisor will eventually get back to them. The good news for dealers is that when a customer does connect with someone on the phone, there's a 72 percent appointment ratio.

The bad news is that a lot of customers' calls aren't getting through. In a recent CallRevu analysis of 4.2 million phone calls into dealership service departments, 68 percent or nearly 2.8 million calls connected with an agent. That means 32 percent of calls, or nearly one-third of customers calling into your service department, aren't connecting with anyone! For every 100 lost calls, that's 72 appointments you don't have.

I don't know about you, but to me losing one out of every three leads is an unacceptable business practice.

I understand service personnel are busy. Your advisor's primary job is to take care of the customers and vehicles that are already in your service department— you really don't want them playing phone tag with customers. Phone tag wastes a lot of time and is very frustrating for the customer.

The key to fixing your service department phone problems is to figure out how you can reduce the volume of incoming and outgoing calls that your service advisors have to make.

Many dealerships have explored the option of setting up a service-only BDC to answer incoming calls. BDC agents are trained, monitored and use scripts for consistent messaging.

One of the primary advantages of having a BDC is that agents are not rushing through conversations. Do your service advisors take the time to ask every customer for updated contact information? BDC agents can deliver a 90 percent email capture rate for customers. For some dealers, this has doubled the response rate of their service email campaigns.

At first, your service advisors may resist the idea of having someone else schedule their appointments. They like to be in control of their own schedules. But what's best for them may not be what's best for your dealership. If an advisor wants to leave at 5:00 pm, do you think he's going to schedule an appointment for 4:30 pm?

BDC agents set appointments based on customer preferences, not those of the advisor. As a result, dealers typically see a 26 percent increase in ROs and an increase in shop capacity, along with a more consistent workflow.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of having a BDC is the high levels of customer satisfaction. With a 14-second average call answering time, customers are immediately connected with someone who can quote pricing for basic services and schedule appointments.

The downside to setting up an internal BDC is that it can be cost prohibitive. Running a BDC requires a skilled and experienced BDC manager, and staff turnover can be an issue.

Another option is to outsource your service department's calls to a virtual BDC. Virtual agents are trained to use your dealership name when answering the phone, and technology allows them to quote your dealership's pricing and connect customers with your personnel. Outsourcing is cost-effective for most dealers because of economy of scale. A virtual BDC center can efficiently handle calls for many dealerships, as opposed to just one group.

At the upcoming Driving Sales Executive Summit I'll be presenting "Hold the Phone: Why Poor Call Handling Skills are Costing You Money." In my breakout session I'll go more in-depth on virtual BDCs, and will also cover:

• How to overcome bandwidth issues and squeeze the most out of every business opportunity
• Proven benchmarks that build consumer trust and grow relationships
• Bridging the customer expectation gap

My session is scheduled for Sunday, October 22nd at 4:00 p.m. See you in Vegas!

Bill Wittenmyer explains why service is still a huge opportunity although there is a bump in the road that dealers are missing.

We've all heard the forecasts: new vehicle sales are slowing, and the latest predictions for 2018 are that sales may drop to 16.7 million vs. an estimated SAAR of 17.1 million this year. 

I suppose weakening demand could be interpreted as bad news, but a 2.3 percent drop in sales is hardly going to cause any dealers to tighten their belts. Still, if your business isn't growing, it's shrinking, and who wants shrinkage? If you're not growing and defending market share, someone else is. 

The good news is you don't have to rely on new vehicle sales demand to grow your business. Do me a favor and walk over to your service department. Stand there and listen for a moment. That knocking sound you hear is opportunity. 

In fact, right now there's a 'perfect storm' of opportunities converging right above your service lane. Dealerships ready to take advantage of these opportunities will continue growing both their service and sales profits even if overall demand stays soft. Let's examine these opportunities. 

Opportunity #1: Average age of vehicles is increasing 

Although consumers have been buying new cars at a record pace for the last couple years, the average age of vehicles on the road is 11.5 years. This may seem counter-intuitive, but people are either hanging onto their old cars or selling them to someone else who continues to drive that car. 

The problem with new cars is they don't need to be serviced nearly as often as they used to. I take my car in for an oil change once a year. The real opportunity lies in servicing the older cars. Right now, independent repair shops pretty much own this market. For dealers, that means there's a lot of room to grow market share. 

As new car sales slow, I hope to see dealers shift marketing dollars and emphasis away from new inventory and towards service and promoting a better customer experience.  

Opportunity #2: Increased profitability 

Many dealerships are able to leverage technology solutions to streamline processes, increase customer satisfaction and maximize profit margins for every job. Implementing a time-saving process like mobile check-in allows you to be a little more price competitive with independent repair shops. Technology also helps your employees be more consistent with processes such as multi-point inspections (MPIs), ensuring that you don't miss any upsell opportunities.  

Perhaps most important, technology allows you to communicate to your customers all the benefits of getting their cars serviced at your dealership. Price isn't always the deciding factor. Some people are willing to pay a little more for expertise and an awesome experience. It's up to your dealership to provide those things.  

From my personal observations, many dealerships have a lot of room for growth when it comes to leveraging technology to maximize shop efficiency and profits.  

Opportunity #3: Customer volume 

On any given day a dealership sees way more customers in its service lane than it does in its showroom. Some dealerships are doing a great job in nurturing these service relationships. They use exchange or trade-up programs, along with equity mining tools to identify and convert service customers into sales customers. 

Auto manufacturers certainly recognize this opportunity. They are starting to spend a lot more money on digital marketing programs designed to push customers back to franchise dealers for their service needs.  

However, most dealerships have a lot of room for improvement in this area. Is your dealership doing everything it can to proactively seek out more service business, provide a better experience to your customers and convert your service customers into sales customers?  

All of these opportunities are real and happening right now. Is your service department ready to take advantage? They say that once-in-a-lifetime opportunities don't come along every day. As a dealer, don't waste this 'perfect storm' of opportunities by doing things the same old way, and expect to get better results. 

In this week's episode of Witt's Wise Words, Bill Wittenmyer discusses recalls and the opportunities that exist in your dealership to capitalize on them while helping your customers.

ELEAD1ONE partner Bill Wittenmyer shares why all dealerships are texting customers already - whether they know it or not - and why it's important to be compliant and control the process.

ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer explains how to recover wasted time in the service department and add billable hours without adding more techs.

Bill Wittenmyer explains why dealers should change their language when dealing with service customers from appointments to check-in times in this week's Witt's Wise Words.

In this quick vlog, ELEAD1ONE partner shares the key characteristics to look for when hiring successful service advisors. Hint – the answer is probably not what you think. 

In this quick reality check, Bill Wittenmyer shares the importance of testing (and retesting) customer experiences to ensure that they’re solid. You’ll take away tips for inspecting experiences to align them with your marketing message and retain customers.

ELEAD1ONE partner discusses why dealers might be missing the boat when it comes to Fixed Ops customer service by tasking service advisors with the wrong responsibilities. Learn how to free up selling time for service advisors and boost appointment rates in this quick video blog.