This is one of my favorite sayings that have been around for years and I constantly use it in service training today.  The message goes something like this…..

How are you setting yourself up to succeed? What preparations do you make in advance to ensure you are positioned to do well? Really the most successful people are this way because of the hard work they do preparing for the right moment and then when the opportunity opens up they strike. From the outside most of us credit it to being in the right place at the right time but in reality they have been working hard and preparing and waiting for the exact right moment. Typically success is not a virtue of being lucky, it comes at the expense of hard work and preparing. Those who succeed in business are not usually the smartest, best educated (or attended a certain school) or the one who grew up with the most money or had the most resources to funding available. The single greatest influence on who achieves success in business is PREPARATION.

So how does one prepare that will equate to success in the service drive or in the repair shop or in a dealership environment for that matter?

Spend time and effort to develop yourself and your team.

What is the overall goal? Is it hours per RO, GREEN CSI or is it turning a certain amount of hours within the pay period. Whatever the goal is make sure you discuss it and develop a plan or strategy to accomplish it. Then review your team and assess what area you will need to help develop.

Here are a few key areas to start with.

• Knowledge
  • Does everyone not only know the goal but also know how to achieve the goal. Is there training needed in a specific sales technique or does your team need more information or research about a specific service offering to have confidence to sell it?
• Determination and confidence
  • Does your team have the psychological and emotional capability to achieve the goal? Really, are they confident in their own capabilities?
• Interpersonal skills
  • Is your team assertive, do they have above average communication skills, are they leaders?
• Health
  • Is the vigor there to withstand the daily battle? Active and in general good health.

These are the very basic initial assessments that will help you and your teams preparation to win when the opportunity arises. Oh by the way the opportunity is the next vehicle that rolls in the service drive or the next phone that rings. Is your team maximizing their opportunity to succeed?

For those service managers and fixed operation directors that have been at this business for as long or even longer than I have, the above number is an IP Address. Every one of your customers and prospect customers has one. The question is, are you tracking every IP address that does business digitally with you twenty-four hours a day seven days a week? Better yet, Have you sent a prospect customer or an existing customer a specific marketing message based upon the information they may have viewed on your service and parts web site? I would suspect you haven’t and actually you probably just have not realized this just may be the easiest way to capture some extra business.

Here are a few things to think about and then bring up in your next marketing meeting….

• How do I get higher conversion rates?
• How do I get the most out of my budget?
• How do I deliver a highly customized message to the people that matter the most – the ones that are looking for information on a specific service

The answer…. IP address matching, business to consumer matching, email appends and other dynamic matching processes.

If your service and parts offerings are set up correctly on your web site and you are constantly in front of your customer with a digital message directing your customer to a specials landing page the chances are you have a very large amount of unique visitors. Think of theses visitors are those that are in the comfy confines of their own home doing a little bit of research of how much the next oil change service might be on their vehicle. Maybe they are looking for a transmission service and why it should be done. None the less you know through their IP address what they have interest in right now and you should follow up their inquiry with a service special dialed in to what they are researching.

Today’s technology allows digital reporting systems to keep track of every individual who visits a website, based on Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, allowing access to a complete and permanent record of activity-per-visit. While marketers may strive to have website visitors fill out a form, or self-identify via the “contact me” button, the reality is that potential buyers are researching companies and products far in advance of their willingness to identify themselves. Studies show that up to 75% of a buyer’s research is done prior to self-identification.

So don’t wait for the customer to “maybe call” and lets use a dynamic matching process and match your online consumer with your offline database. In the latest research close to seventy percent of those that are viewing your digital specials have already done business with you. Match the incoming IP address with your existing customer database and send them a tailored message that hits on the items they viewed when they were digitally window-shopping you. I can guarantee you your conversion rates will soar, you will get more bang for you buck and your shop will enjoy the added work.

This is one of my favorite sayings when I am helping our team get on the right page about selling tires. Hands down the best way to sell tires is to LOOK like you are in the tire business. To do this you need to put more effort into your staging strategies and make sure your merchandizing is up to date, fresh and clearly marked with information on fitment and pricing. Tires need to be staged everywhere, in your service drive, your waiting lounge and by your advisors desks. If you are putting in the right amount of effort you will realize this is a daily task. Know going into it there will be times when you are straightening your display and cleaning out wrappers that someone has stuffed in there and under your breath you will be cursing, however simply think about how many customers now know you have tires that fit their vehicle and they are competitively priced.

Down the street from one of my stores is a very well known tire retailer chain and I used to watch their guys daily roll out over thirty stacks of 4 high tires with bright stickers on them. This I know took them over a half of an hour to get it set up and they had it down to a science. Why do they do it? They are a well-known tire retailer with the most common name brand of tire on the front of their store. Everyone knows they sell tires. The point is, not everyone is “aware” that they are ready or in need of tires until the moment happens and somehow you want to be top of mind in awareness when this happens.

Here are some well known display strategies that will help you capture more tires sales.

Clean and Orderly – This is going to be a daily task for someone at your store. If you have tires in all the right spots they are going to be touched, moved and ultimately sometimes used as a place to hide a piece of garbage. Keep it clean and not clutter.

Name Brand – All of us have access to name brand tires, leverage your name brand tire you offer such as Goodyear or Michelin for display. This helps customers recall the national advertising done during any sporting event or motorsports event. In addition this helps you display some of the rebates given and marketing point of sale materiel.

What is your tire “motto” – Really what is your message? Are you the lowest price? Do you have “factory” replacement tires? Do you offer free tire rotations after tires are sold? Do you store their winter tires for them? In most cases you probably said yes to all of these and more than likely offer more benefits to buying tires from you. Here is the question do your customers know? Make sure your signage is clear an concise with all of these items simplified so a customer without question knows you have the most to offer.

Know your waiting lounge “hot spot” – Where are you going to get the most of your efforts in displaying your tire message and tires. Every lounge has a sweet spot that is clear to see and is in constant view. This is where your tires need to be along with all of your marketing messages. Remember keep it simple, clear and easy to understand.

Be Creative – Use your imagination and make it fun. One time we took a huge inflatable tire display and put it on top of the dealership and one time we backed two trucks up together and but it in the bed of the trucks so everyone driving by saw this crazy display and knew we had a tire event going on.

Selling tires should be one of those key business fundamentals where the dealer/owner/general manager and the rest of the staff should be involved. Looking at the defection rate there is typically a forty five to sixty percent loss at the mileage band when tires are typically needed, remember the first one to speak of tires will be the first one to sell tires. Develop a solid process and demand excellence.

Having the right display is part of the equation the next is having your staff ready and poised to capture the sale. On my next article I will discuss how to get your staff in to the tire business as well.

Own the tire business and you will own the customer

Even before cell phones, tablets, social sites and unlimited web sites that draw you to eye guzzle hours during the day, the service advisor has many distractions that can be very costly, such as loosing a customer. As a service manager when you are helping a dissatisfied customer, how many times has it come down to bad communication? How many times has your customer told you “I asked him to do this but when I picked up the vehicle it didn’t get done?” Its time to realize that in this high speed, high stressed world communication is more important than ever. Active listening is a skill and unfortunately only active hearing is being used. Really what we are telling our customers, we are hearing you but we don’t care enough to understand. Active listening will solve a lot of your problems in your store, there will be happier customers and employees due to less time consuming mistakes being made. Here are a few good tips and exercises that will help you become the Zen master of listening.

Eye contact / Face-to-Face – This one is easy right? Try it, in the next conversation with a customer or co-worker attempt to maintain eye contact during the entire conversation. You will find, especially within a dealership there are many distractions that will cause you to break your gaze into their eye. How many times have you listened why you quickly click from one screen to another? Hint this is a distraction.

Repeat concerns – I know you understood the first time so there is no need to repeat what you understand to be true. Here is a hint, sometimes - well all of the time its not about you. What you are really doing is showing your customer you understand their issue and then in return they feel better that they have had a chance to get their point across. Simply make sure you use some common sense when doing this. If a customer says “I cant afford this” you would reply with “I understand this is not within your budget” for an example.

Be attentive – but not over the top – Breathe, be relaxed, keep an open mind and be attentive. Sometimes everyone is so eager to please you will interrupt to solve the problem. It might be the right solution delivered at the wrong time and then ultimately the wrong decision in the customers mind. How many times have you offered a solution in the heat of the discussion to have the customer rebuff your offers and then later in the discussion you come to the same decision you offered 15 minutes ago. In this case the customer simply wanted to be heard and express their point. Here is a hint, let them vent and all the time make sure you are being attentive and then at the right pause offer your solution.

So for the next week, after a conversation finish with a summary statement. You will clarify each party obligations almost guaranteeing there will be follow through. When you are dealing with a customer and do this it might feel a little awkward but simply explain you are doing this as an exercise. Active listening is a skill and just like shooting a basketball it takes a lot of practice to perfect. Providing a great experience is the goal, it starts with listening and ends with listening. Your customers and co workers will appreciate the extra attention.

Who remembers the last air conditioning change over? Actually I can remember my first conversion from R12 to R134a. I remember the parts department now carrying 2 types of refrigerant and anytime there was a repair made to the air conditioning system the vehicle needed to be retrofitted and the customer questioned this every time. I also remember crystal clear the look on my service managers face when he realized that he needed to buy a new air conditioning recovery machine to handle the new refrigerant. Who remembers in the early nineties a pound of R12 or R134a costing about sixty dollars in Freon alone?

At the shop we vaguely understood the need for change, however our customer did not. Now why do I have to retrofit my vehicle? Was a common question when selling the air conditioning repair and it wasn’t for several months until the mainstream customer understood there is a new refrigerant that is better for our environment.

It seemed last time this change came with no warning. Vehicles were suddenly equipped with the new R134a refrigerant and all the shops had to quickly adjust. In addition the customers were not as aware or understanding as they are now so during this transition our customers will be more knowledgeable.

According to the Mobile Air Conditioning Society (MACS) there are nine vehicles that are currently equipped with this refrigerant with more to come. They are the Cadillac XTS, Chevy Spark EV, Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Honda Fit EV, Jeep Cherokee, Range Rover and range Rover Sport.

Just like on the last change over there will be some service issues such as a vehicle being recharged with the wrong refrigerant and some of the oils will not be compatible. So you will need to look at your product line and determine when you need to be ready to service the product. The new refrigerant R1234yf or “twelve-thirty-four” is not required until 2017 so we have some time to be aware and prepare by buying an additional machine to complete the evacuation and recharge and as our manufactures make the switch over to comply with the new greenhouse gas standards.

Right now we are upon a time within the automotive industry where there is constant change. For instance, try to keep up with the latest recall, are parts available, what models are affected and what is the newest repair procedure. Now imagine being a customer with limited information and a lot of hearsay. In addition to knowing the latest and greatest information an advisor is expected to have the answer to most every automotive question. A service advisor today has to know everything mechanically on the vehicle along with all the electronics and new features and then convey with confidence their knowledge to the customer. In short our customers want to talk to the subject matter expert in all areas of the vehicle. When this expectation is not met there is frustration and confusion that will result in poor customer service satisfaction causing poor customer retention.

Here are some common traits of the top training programs that help you keep your employee engaged and learning, therefore serving your customer better.

#1 explain the big picture and future direction

A recent study highlighted that a training session based on the “big picture” or showing the future direction of the department helped the employee understand the overall objective and be engaged in assisting accomplishing the goal. A continuous training program helps the employee evolve and when preformed correctly keeps the employee engaged with current issues. The strongest method to get that engagement is to have the employees help design the content for training.

#2 Recognition

Everyone likes to have a sense of accomplishment. Through a well-defined training program you can reward your employee for their accomplishment. Essentially you are able to fill up the emotional bank within the employee that will give them the feeling of accomplishing a hard task that ultimately will reward you for time to come.

#3 Blended learning approach

Every employee learns differently, different topics and types of skill development require different approaches. Training room or online training, management led or instructor led are all variations that will help break up the monotony. Try different approaches and increase the variety.

#4 Senior Leadership Support

This is the most important element and when I say “support” I don’t mean they simply sign off on the training program, they are fully engaged and involved and actively participate. This type of engagement validates the training for all the employees and shows the employees the management team believes in the program.

When it comes to building your fixed ops business there is little doubt that increasing your percentage of customers retained is the number one area to review and improve to determine your long-term success. Notice I used the phrase “long-term” because we all know that we can increase sales or pricing and see an immediate increase, we can sell more widgets or we can implement a production spiff and these techniques will boost the bottom line. In addition, every vendor has a tool that has been designed to “increase retention” and they typically help but I warn you, even the best tool will fail if your staff does not treat the customer with exceptional customer service. 

RELATED: Interview with Jim Roche: The Biggest Mistake Dealers Make When It Comes to Customer Retention

The number one factor that drives a customer back to your service department is a positive past experience.  Your employees drive this and its time to refocus your training efforts back to some basic steps or techniques in how to take care of customers properly.

Show genuine interest

Customers like to have their concern acknowledged and want someone to have an active interest in fixing their concern.  Some easy ways to accomplish this would be acting with urgency or maybe anticipating their needs. A front line staffer that does not take interest in my needs will genuinely miss me on my next service.

Make it personnel

Offer a personalized greeting or use their name regularly.  This is a simple and common skill that has a huge pay off. Make a comment about the sticker on the back of the car, talk about the upcoming trip they are planning on taking or simply make sure they know you are there to take care of all of their needs.

Never quote policy

When a customer is upset the last thing they want to hear is page 5 section 4 sub section 1-2 of your policy manual because quite frankly I’m sure your policy is what created this upset customer. Try telling them what you can do for them and figure a way you can help with the situation. Become a problem solver and determine how you can help the current situation.

Make a commitment and keep it

This is really important in a couple of areas. Follow up communication – If you tell someone you will call him or her with an update, you better call him or her ten minutes before that time. Appointment reservation – if a customer is taking the time to set an appointment you better do everything possible to follow through. For a good laugh look up Seinfeld episode rental car reservation.

Invite the customer back

Just like it says in the classic customer service training video, “The Guest.” Invite your customer back just as if your best friend was leaving your house and you wanted to watch next weeks football game with them as well. In this case your really setting the expectation to the customer that you “want” to help them next time them come in for service.

In your next training do a little role-play in these areas and watch your team become comfortable with these skills. When everyone in your organization is on the same page, you win. Customer retention will soar and customers will become loyal.

When it comes to building your fixed ops business there is little doubt that increasing your percentage of customers retained is the number one area to review and improve to determine your long-term success. Notice I used the phrase “long-term” because we all know that we can increase sales or pricing and see an immediate increase, we can sell more widgets or we can implement a production spiff and these techniques will boost the bottom line. In addition, every vendor has a tool that has been designed to “increase retention” and they typically help but I warn you, even the best tool will fail if your staff does not treat the customer with exceptional customer service. 

RELATED: Interview with Jim Roche: The Biggest Mistake Dealers Make When It Comes to Customer Retention

The number one factor that drives a customer back to your service department is a positive past experience.  Your employees drive this and its time to refocus your training efforts back to some basic steps or techniques in how to take care of customers properly.

Show genuine interest

Customers like to have their concern acknowledged and want someone to have an active interest in fixing their concern.  Some easy ways to accomplish this would be acting with urgency or maybe anticipating their needs. A front line staffer that does not take interest in my needs will genuinely miss me on my next service.

Make it personnel

Offer a personalized greeting or use their name regularly.  This is a simple and common skill that has a huge pay off. Make a comment about the sticker on the back of the car, talk about the upcoming trip they are planning on taking or simply make sure they know you are there to take care of all of their needs.

Never quote policy

When a customer is upset the last thing they want to hear is page 5 section 4 sub section 1-2 of your policy manual because quite frankly I’m sure your policy is what created this upset customer. Try telling them what you can do for them and figure a way you can help with the situation. Become a problem solver and determine how you can help the current situation.

Make a commitment and keep it

This is really important in a couple of areas. Follow up communication – If you tell someone you will call him or her with an update, you better call him or her ten minutes before that time. Appointment reservation – if a customer is taking the time to set an appointment you better do everything possible to follow through. For a good laugh look up Seinfeld episode rental car reservation.

Invite the customer back

Just like it says in the classic customer service training video, “The Guest.” Invite your customer back just as if your best friend was leaving your house and you wanted to watch next weeks football game with them as well. In this case your really setting the expectation to the customer that you “want” to help them next time them come in for service.

In your next training do a little role-play in these areas and watch your team become comfortable with these skills. When everyone in your organization is on the same page, you win. Customer retention will soar and customers will become loyal.

Are you the low price leader? Do you constantly have a $19.95 oil change special? My question is, why do you feel the need to give away your service and parts profits?

I recently received an advertising piece from a well-established dealer in my area. As I was reviewing their piece, I noticed their oil change price did not seem to be at an extreme discount. Upon further review, I read the reasons why I should choose to do business with them and actually I really liked their message. They acknowledged the fact they are not the low price leader instead they highlighted the “value” to choosing them for service. Items such as using factory original equipment parts, factory trained technicians, many plush amenities, loaner vehicles, proven history of a reputable business history just to name a few.

This left me wondering; what customer demographic will respond best to this message? Does our millennial generation care about those items instead of simply getting a low priced oil change?

I remember a Warren Buffett quote that rings true “Price is what you pay, value is what you get."

All too often in stores this is what I see: we do not sell the “value” of doing business with you right now!!! Take a look from the customer's perspective...does the perceived value out-weigh the price they are paying? In most cases building value costs you nothing – it's simply sales 101 and sell the value of YOU and YOUR product, then provide exceptional service and build a relationship. Your customer will walk away feeling the price they have paid meets their perceived price expectation.

Here are a couple of topics to keep in mind for future sales training.

• Price is a numerical evaluation of how much they value what you are selling
• A simple percent increase in price optimization can increase profits by ten percent
• Those who compete on price typically win the race to the bottom
• Remember, when there is an objection it is most likely an “understanding the value” question and not based upon price.

Are you the low price leader? Do you constantly have a $19.95 oil change special? My question is, why do you feel the need to give away your service and parts profits?

I recently received an advertising piece from a well-established dealer in my area. As I was reviewing their piece, I noticed their oil change price did not seem to be at an extreme discount. Upon further review, I read the reasons why I should choose to do business with them and actually I really liked their message. They acknowledged the fact they are not the low price leader instead they highlighted the “value” to choosing them for service. Items such as using factory original equipment parts, factory trained technicians, many plush amenities, loaner vehicles, proven history of a reputable business history just to name a few.

This left me wondering; what customer demographic will respond best to this message? Does our millennial generation care about those items instead of simply getting a low priced oil change?

I remember a Warren Buffett quote that rings true “Price is what you pay, value is what you get."

All too often in stores this is what I see: we do not sell the “value” of doing business with you right now!!! Take a look from the customer's perspective...does the perceived value out-weigh the price they are paying? In most cases building value costs you nothing – it's simply sales 101 and sell the value of YOU and YOUR product, then provide exceptional service and build a relationship. Your customer will walk away feeling the price they have paid meets their perceived price expectation.

Here are a couple of topics to keep in mind for future sales training.

• Price is a numerical evaluation of how much they value what you are selling
• A simple percent increase in price optimization can increase profits by ten percent
• Those who compete on price typically win the race to the bottom
• Remember, when there is an objection it is most likely an “understanding the value” question and not based upon price.