DrivingSales
5 Skills that Build Service Customer Loyalty and Increase Customer Retention
Customer retention is much more than just a “buzzword” in the car business today. It should be what governs your day to day decisions when handling customers and training your staff. One of my favorite authors that I like to quote in sales meetings and re-read regularly is Jeffrey Gitomer. I have carried Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know around now for the last 10 plus years because his common sense approach to customer centered ideas are easy to implement for anyone who talks to a customer, especially anyone on your service drive. Providing excellent customer service should be common sense, then how come I am constantly reminded about the phrase “common sense in this business is just not so common.” Here are a few quick tips to help those provide exceptional customer service.
RELATED: 5 No-Fail Ways to Increase Service Customer Retention
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.
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...the customer may remember your name.
Never quote policy
When a customer is upset the last thing they want to hear is your policy 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.
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 them 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.
DrivingSales
Fixed Operations: Winning Market Share
The average new car customer keeps their vehicle for 6.5 years reported by Rian Bosse of BusinessJournalism.org and according to IHS consulting firm the average age of a vehicle on the road is 11.5 years. Where are these customers going for their service and repair needs? NADA reports that the franchised dealer is capturing less than 23% of the “total” revenue potential for labor and parts sales. Here is my point, customers are keeping their vehicles longer so its time to develop a well funded, perfectly executed customer retention strategy and start to earn your customer back. There are two basic fundamentals in service that your team should practice everyday to win in the game of market share.
Previous service experience
This measure is still king of the jungle when a customer is choosing a service facility. When Google teamed up with CriticalMix and performed a market study this spring of 1500 drivers who had their vehicle serviced or repaired in the last six months it showed that a positive past experience is the number one feature for a customer when they are choosing a future service facility. In the same study fifty five percent of your customers are likely to post a review online and a staggering eighty one percent will tell their family and friends about the previous service experience. The importance of delivering a world-class service experience is second to none and you simply can’t have a customer leave your facility with the feeling of inadequate service. More than ever, the time is now, dust of the processes, hold a shop meeting and tune up your department. Make sure your processes are customer centric and discuss any updates that need to be implemented. Get buy in from your team and hold them accountable to deliver a service experience to the level you would expect delivered to one of your family members.
How well do you know your customer?
My wife said to me in passing one day. “I’m a soccer mom, a regional VP of a growing business, room parent and volunteer at our kid’s school, when do they think I will come in for service on my vehicle?” The point is most of your customers fall into this bucket; everyone is extremely busy these days. We better respect their time and not waist it when they come in for service if you want them to come back. In addition a general service reminder will not engage todays customer. All offerings need to be timely and relevant or they will be discarded and ignored. Your marketing strategy needs to be engaging and well rounded. A multi level campaign that not only is a reminder of the needed service but also provides value to the customer or they will breach their contract with you and simply move on.
In reality our customers have many choices and we need to be more convenient to earn their business. Have your team start building a relationship with the customer that can survive the constant noise of every other business trying to lure them in their front door. I believe more than ever that providing a “personal touch” approach will give you the upper hand in keeping your customers coming back.
3 Comments
Mason City Motor company
@Denim, I agree completely. You have to provide a better service than the competition, if they go somewhere else and receive the same or better you have lost that customer. To me advertising is second to taking care of the customer, you know you have a loyal customer when they just keep everything they receive from you since there last visit and prior and say use whatever you can and put the rest in the car for next time. For marketing we really need to segment our customer base, the loyal customer just needs a timely reminder and they will continue, the off again and on again need a bigger call to action and be wow'd when they come so they will move to the loyal segment. Those that chase your loss leaders and buy nothing else, you have to decide if you want to chase them in hopes to moving them up to a loyal customer or cut them loose and take care of the segments to maximize your marketing dollars and service business.
Beck and Master Buick GMC
Thanks for the information/motivation Denim! And you sure identified the most influential customer to gain market share when you mentioned your wife. Everyone quotes the fact that women directly influence 85% of all retail decisions, but I like the research from Ford several years back that focused on the even higher "veto" power women have over those same decisions. Why do you think the number one "satisfaction" brand, Lexus, is focusing on women. When you meet the expectations of women, you exceed those of all the others.
DrivingSales
Great point Roger and I can relate to the level of "veto power" within my household:) I really like the direction Lexus is going and to your point it makes a lot of sense. Thank you for posting I would encourage your feedback on any other topics within our community as well.
DrivingSales
Fixed Operations: Winning Market Share
The average new car customer keeps their vehicle for 6.5 years reported by Rian Bosse of BusinessJournalism.org and according to IHS consulting firm the average age of a vehicle on the road is 11.5 years. Where are these customers going for their service and repair needs? NADA reports that the franchised dealer is capturing less than 23% of the “total” revenue potential for labor and parts sales. Here is my point, customers are keeping their vehicles longer so its time to develop a well funded, perfectly executed customer retention strategy and start to earn your customer back. There are two basic fundamentals in service that your team should practice everyday to win in the game of market share.
Previous service experience
This measure is still king of the jungle when a customer is choosing a service facility. When Google teamed up with CriticalMix and performed a market study this spring of 1500 drivers who had their vehicle serviced or repaired in the last six months it showed that a positive past experience is the number one feature for a customer when they are choosing a future service facility. In the same study fifty five percent of your customers are likely to post a review online and a staggering eighty one percent will tell their family and friends about the previous service experience. The importance of delivering a world-class service experience is second to none and you simply can’t have a customer leave your facility with the feeling of inadequate service. More than ever, the time is now, dust of the processes, hold a shop meeting and tune up your department. Make sure your processes are customer centric and discuss any updates that need to be implemented. Get buy in from your team and hold them accountable to deliver a service experience to the level you would expect delivered to one of your family members.
How well do you know your customer?
My wife said to me in passing one day. “I’m a soccer mom, a regional VP of a growing business, room parent and volunteer at our kid’s school, when do they think I will come in for service on my vehicle?” The point is most of your customers fall into this bucket; everyone is extremely busy these days. We better respect their time and not waist it when they come in for service if you want them to come back. In addition a general service reminder will not engage todays customer. All offerings need to be timely and relevant or they will be discarded and ignored. Your marketing strategy needs to be engaging and well rounded. A multi level campaign that not only is a reminder of the needed service but also provides value to the customer or they will breach their contract with you and simply move on.
In reality our customers have many choices and we need to be more convenient to earn their business. Have your team start building a relationship with the customer that can survive the constant noise of every other business trying to lure them in their front door. I believe more than ever that providing a “personal touch” approach will give you the upper hand in keeping your customers coming back.
3 Comments
Mason City Motor company
@Denim, I agree completely. You have to provide a better service than the competition, if they go somewhere else and receive the same or better you have lost that customer. To me advertising is second to taking care of the customer, you know you have a loyal customer when they just keep everything they receive from you since there last visit and prior and say use whatever you can and put the rest in the car for next time. For marketing we really need to segment our customer base, the loyal customer just needs a timely reminder and they will continue, the off again and on again need a bigger call to action and be wow'd when they come so they will move to the loyal segment. Those that chase your loss leaders and buy nothing else, you have to decide if you want to chase them in hopes to moving them up to a loyal customer or cut them loose and take care of the segments to maximize your marketing dollars and service business.
Beck and Master Buick GMC
Thanks for the information/motivation Denim! And you sure identified the most influential customer to gain market share when you mentioned your wife. Everyone quotes the fact that women directly influence 85% of all retail decisions, but I like the research from Ford several years back that focused on the even higher "veto" power women have over those same decisions. Why do you think the number one "satisfaction" brand, Lexus, is focusing on women. When you meet the expectations of women, you exceed those of all the others.
DrivingSales
Great point Roger and I can relate to the level of "veto power" within my household:) I really like the direction Lexus is going and to your point it makes a lot of sense. Thank you for posting I would encourage your feedback on any other topics within our community as well.
DrivingSales
The Add On - Impact of Selling Accessories
Looking for a little more gross? How about looking toward a $40B industry. A few of the latest reports show that the accessory industry is on the climb. Close to 9 out of 10 people
that purchase a vehicle will add an accessory within the next 90 days. Over sixty percent will spend over $1500 on average. This all seems good right? Everyone would like to have a little something that makes their vehicle look and feel the way they like it.
Coming from a store where we built a quarter of a million dollar display and outfitted trucks with $8,000 to $10,000 of lifts, wheels and tires all the way to another store where an all season protection package was a big ticket. In short accessories is a mindset. The stores that sell accessories typically have someone that loves them and works hard to offer what is hot in the industry.
Mostly this takes the GM saying this is the way we are going to do business and everyone has to be on the same page.
Most of our OEM’s have come to market with a decent list of add-ons and actually most of them have created a decent profit margin for parts and labor for the simple bolt on and drop in items. Floor mats continue to be the most common add on however in some regions tint has taken over this as the most common add on item.
Here is a very likely scenario for a store that has decided to install tint and shield. This not a high volume sales store and they very much fall in the mid-size dealer segment. They promoted one of their lot techs to install tint and shield. Trained him for 30 days and then set out to sell 100 tints and 25 shields. They had the approval from the GM to spiff the salesman and service writers. In their first month they sold 66 tints and 22 shields. Figuring they sell tint for $150 and have a cost of materials and labor of $55 they make $95 gross per tint. On shield they sell it for $450 and have a cost of $210 for labor and materials they make $240 in GP. In this particular month they created an additional $11500 in gross, not bad right. They soon found out they needed to hire and train another installer.
Keep in mind these results did not happen by chance. They had the dealership on board and spent nearly $1700 in spiffs but they gained $11500. When I asked how this worked out so well the reply from the service director was, “my GM was pushing the process and made sure everyone knew how much he liked the tint and shield business”. Well for a net of close to 10K I bet he liked it even more.
1 Comment
Spork Marketing, LLC
Tint and clear bras are a great source of profitable accessory sales, especially on new (or "new to me") cars. That's a great, actionable tip. Some accessory sales that I've seen work well for dealers and independent accessory shops: - Exhaust systems. This is an extraordinarily popular add-on for most truck owners, and it's easy-peasy to install a cat-back system on a new truck (no grime or rust, bolts to factory hangers). A lube tech could easily handle this with a little training. Axle-back systems are popular on coupes as well. - Tonneau covers. Another popular truck add-on, install is easy for anyone (technician or otherwise). - Lighting upgrades, from adding fog lights to vehicles that don't have them to adding on after-market systems. LEDs are incredibly popular right now, and the mark-up is decent on the quality LED systems (which is all any dealer should offer...the cheap stuff is a CSI problem waiting to happen). Install ranges from easy to difficult, but the harder it is, the more likely the customer is to pay a dealer to do it. The "trick" to all of the above is to offer more than just the factory's accessory brand. You don't want to only offer the Ford Racing (or whatever) exhaust system, tonneau, etc. You also want to be able to offer Borla, Magnaflow, Flowmaster, Corsa, AND the factory's designated system. Be sure to sell them for the same price a customer can find them online...most pricing today is determined by a MAP policy, which means the markup is decent. The cool part about offering all of the above is that you don't have to carry any inventory - most distributors will be happy to drop ship the parts to your dealership. As you say, accessories are a $40billion dollar a year industry. Truck owners in particular spend a big chunk of these dollars on bed liners, exhausts, tonneaus, lift kits, wheels and tires, etc. There's absolutely no reason for dealers to sit on the sidelines in this business.
DrivingSales
The Add On - Impact of Selling Accessories
Looking for a little more gross? How about looking toward a $40B industry. A few of the latest reports show that the accessory industry is on the climb. Close to 9 out of 10 people
that purchase a vehicle will add an accessory within the next 90 days. Over sixty percent will spend over $1500 on average. This all seems good right? Everyone would like to have a little something that makes their vehicle look and feel the way they like it.
Coming from a store where we built a quarter of a million dollar display and outfitted trucks with $8,000 to $10,000 of lifts, wheels and tires all the way to another store where an all season protection package was a big ticket. In short accessories is a mindset. The stores that sell accessories typically have someone that loves them and works hard to offer what is hot in the industry.
Mostly this takes the GM saying this is the way we are going to do business and everyone has to be on the same page.
Most of our OEM’s have come to market with a decent list of add-ons and actually most of them have created a decent profit margin for parts and labor for the simple bolt on and drop in items. Floor mats continue to be the most common add on however in some regions tint has taken over this as the most common add on item.
Here is a very likely scenario for a store that has decided to install tint and shield. This not a high volume sales store and they very much fall in the mid-size dealer segment. They promoted one of their lot techs to install tint and shield. Trained him for 30 days and then set out to sell 100 tints and 25 shields. They had the approval from the GM to spiff the salesman and service writers. In their first month they sold 66 tints and 22 shields. Figuring they sell tint for $150 and have a cost of materials and labor of $55 they make $95 gross per tint. On shield they sell it for $450 and have a cost of $210 for labor and materials they make $240 in GP. In this particular month they created an additional $11500 in gross, not bad right. They soon found out they needed to hire and train another installer.
Keep in mind these results did not happen by chance. They had the dealership on board and spent nearly $1700 in spiffs but they gained $11500. When I asked how this worked out so well the reply from the service director was, “my GM was pushing the process and made sure everyone knew how much he liked the tint and shield business”. Well for a net of close to 10K I bet he liked it even more.
1 Comment
Spork Marketing, LLC
Tint and clear bras are a great source of profitable accessory sales, especially on new (or "new to me") cars. That's a great, actionable tip. Some accessory sales that I've seen work well for dealers and independent accessory shops: - Exhaust systems. This is an extraordinarily popular add-on for most truck owners, and it's easy-peasy to install a cat-back system on a new truck (no grime or rust, bolts to factory hangers). A lube tech could easily handle this with a little training. Axle-back systems are popular on coupes as well. - Tonneau covers. Another popular truck add-on, install is easy for anyone (technician or otherwise). - Lighting upgrades, from adding fog lights to vehicles that don't have them to adding on after-market systems. LEDs are incredibly popular right now, and the mark-up is decent on the quality LED systems (which is all any dealer should offer...the cheap stuff is a CSI problem waiting to happen). Install ranges from easy to difficult, but the harder it is, the more likely the customer is to pay a dealer to do it. The "trick" to all of the above is to offer more than just the factory's accessory brand. You don't want to only offer the Ford Racing (or whatever) exhaust system, tonneau, etc. You also want to be able to offer Borla, Magnaflow, Flowmaster, Corsa, AND the factory's designated system. Be sure to sell them for the same price a customer can find them online...most pricing today is determined by a MAP policy, which means the markup is decent. The cool part about offering all of the above is that you don't have to carry any inventory - most distributors will be happy to drop ship the parts to your dealership. As you say, accessories are a $40billion dollar a year industry. Truck owners in particular spend a big chunk of these dollars on bed liners, exhausts, tonneaus, lift kits, wheels and tires, etc. There's absolutely no reason for dealers to sit on the sidelines in this business.
DrivingSales
70 Million Automotive Repair Searches
While you are sitting there enjoying a strong finish to the end of a great month and want to have a little shock or a serious reality check try this – grab the nearest device and perform a search. If you are a Honda store type “Honda tires” or if you are a Nissan store type “Nissan brakes” and your potential customer should be directed right to your site where they can find out how much a set of tires are or how much it will cost to have a set of factory brake pads installed. Once your customer knows the cost and estimated time to complete the service, they will be able to set an appointment online at their earliest convenience and come see you.
If this happens, realize you are in the minority. Unfortunately when the majority performs this search, the aftermarket owns the first non-sponsored search results that come up. The aftermarket is out performing us in this area. Our customers have more exposure to their products and services digitally, and therefore have a greater opportunity to do more commerce.
Here is the scary part … the latest numbers show 65% to 70% of people will do research online before doing business anywhere. First, we need to identify where our greatest opportunity is. In this case as it pertains to automotive service and repairs there are two types of searches: a branded search and a non-branded search. A branded search example such as “Ford wipers” or “Dodge tires” is the area we need to concentrate our efforts. This type of search represents close to 20% of the total searches made, but we own less than 1% of the business.
All of our websites need to have more content. In short, SEO is about creating high value; unique content and putting it on the Web in a way Google can find and value it. Also think about this, our websites need to be mobile friendly since the average person performs over 100 mobile searches daily. This way when someone is looking for “Ford Brakes” they will have the opportunity to do business with you.
Game plan, start with your in-house Internet Manager. For the last few years Owners and Dealers have lived in this area and have dedicated a lot of time and energy to make sure when someone is looking for a “Ford truck” their dealership pops up first. Once you have found your Internet Manager behind his 60” screen and super computer ask them how much time of their day is dedicated toward the sales department and how much of their time is spent toward service. I would be shocked if any spend anytime with service at all and is really is not their fault. There is a lot to do for sales and typically their income is tied only to sales revenue.
We are in a time where Fixed Operations needs to have a digital presence more than ever. Dealership Internet Managers could lend their efforts to service so we can play in this world that has been owned by the aftermarket.
Today we are talking about 70M searches imagine what increase we can expect of the years to come. With that in consideration how big of a slice of that pie do you want?
13 Comments
Launch Digital Marketing
Couldn't agree more when it comes to the lack of love that fixed ops receives when it comes to digital marketing. However suggesting that it's up to the "Internet Manager" to be the person to address the issue is a bit short sighted. Ultimately the decision to peruse a fixed ops digital marketing strategy should come from the ownership / gm / operation director in collaboration with the fixed ops director / service managers to be planned and executed by the marketing team or yes...the overworked and under appreciated Internet Manager. The strategy needs to be intentional and have achievable goals. Having an Internet Manager start building dozens of random pages on their website to satisfy potential fixed ops related searches probably isn't the most efficient way to begin.
DrivingSales
Jason - you are right and heading exactly the direction I wanted this conversation to go. This is much bigger than the Internet Manager and the Service Manager this needs to be a store initiative with like you say intentional and achievable goals. Really the point of my topic is to get this collaboration to happen. As I see it the Internet Manager would need to oversee this undertaking and determine what it would take to be aggressive in the area due to their knowledge and expertise. Then with the buy in from DP's and GM's develop the game plan of who does what and what it will take to help improve the current performance. Jason thank you for your reply and spot on comments.
Xtime
I agree, this has always been an area lacking any attention. DP's and GM's need to start thinking like the owners of independent shops do, service is their only income. That type of urgency is what is missing. Franchise dealers know they will get a certain percentage of business from warranty, some loyalty, and people that just moved to the area. These are limited though, warranties expire, loyalty can be tested, and people become with other service options. If a DP or GM looked at service as the sole income line, they may address it in a more urgent sense and offer a more "service oriented" web presence.
Cobalt
Great article, Denim. I couldn't agree more. Dealers should own the maintenance and repair market. Compared to aftermarket chains, they deliver superior service and most are competitively prices. They just need to get the word out through digital marketing - the aftermarket chains dominate the SERP for maintenance terms. I recently came across a Car Dealer Insider article about dealers who achieve 100% service absorption...the common thread: they execute on a professional marketing plan.
BOB BELL AUTOMOTIVE
I think the topic here should shift to how does a local dealer influence online service shoppers to do business with them and not the big chain service stores. I agree that a sharp Web Presence Manager with good SEO skills can rank well for local service terms like Baltimore Nissan Service or Brakes. Take the "Baltimore" out and Its near impossible to out rank the big players in any service related search. In my opinion and experience we have to resort to a well planed, funded and executed PPC strategy and leverage Facebook targeted ads and dark posts to drive traffic to our service department. And lets not forget to educate the service shoppers that dealers service departments offer a great value over the one size fits all big chains that in the long and short run do not offer the value and expertise that most dealers service departments can. If we want our share of local service customers its time to think outside of the box to get their attention. You will be very frustrated if you think that any amount of content you create will out rank the big players but keep in mind that good relevant content on your sites will be of value to your services shoppers and Google.
DrivingSales
@BRUCE and @ALYSON these are great points and this is the direction our Fixed Operations need to go. We are at the precipice of this very topic. My thought is, our service departments need to carve out a portion of their current advertising budget and shift it to this. Guide for service is 3% to 3.5% of total gross income is budgeted for advertising. This is typically eaten up by archaic factory direct mail and the cost of coupons along with another non OEM product to help wrap or cover the remaining data base. SO with that in mind what kind of budget would it take to be aggressive in this segment and being mindful of the economic model that service is following how do we accomplish this. Thank you for all your input!!!
Sunnyside Toyota
Great article!!! You are absolutely right and I, for one, never thought about it. After reading the article I thought back to my interactions with the fixed ops.....There is not that much. Times are changing and we need to have our Parts and Service centers as digital as the front house.
Spork Marketing, LLC
In my opinion, there is a HUGE opportunity for dealers to sell parts online. However, there are some structural problems that most dealers need to address: 1. Most parts departments want to sell parts over the counter for MSRP + 10%. This practice is still very much hidden from the consumer, but times are changing. If a consumer checks dealer part pricing either a) online before they visit the dealership or b) standing in the service drive while they're looking at their repair quote, the consumer is probably going to feel cheated. I think consumers are absolutely willing to pay more for a part that's available right now, so I do not believe parts managers need to "drop their pants" to sell parts...but the days of retail + 10% are almost certainly numbered. Parts managers who fight that reality will struggle to be successful online. 2. Most service departments are focused on repairs rather than installs. I believe there's a massive market for "do it for me" accessory installation, either after-market or OEM. However, many service departments are setup to do expensive repair work, so they're not cost competitive with dedicated performance or off-road shops. A dealer might want 6 hours at $150 an hour to install a lift kit, while a local off-road shop might do a flat fee install of $499. Dealers can absolutely compete here - they can assign lower-level technicians to do part installs, and make consumers schedule installs instead of providing work on the old 'first come first serve' basis (as is their current process) - but it requires a new mindset at all levels. 3. Most of the "spec" websites provided to dealers by the major CMS providers (who shall remain nameless) simply aren't equipped to help parts and service departments sell their wares online. Parts departments need an honest-to-goodness ecommerce system, and service needs a robust system that integrates part information, install info, and provides quotes. We're probably a few years away from a comprehensive solution to this problem, but when it arrives I think it will be a boon to fixed ops. There's a lot of money to be made selling and installing accessories - all it takes is a desire to attack that market.
Roseville, Sacramento & Folsom Hyundai, Sac CDJR
I couldn't agree with this more. I have been in the automotive industry forever and can't remember the last time we talked about how the service department is being marketed online. I look forward to sharing more of this with my current employer to see what we can do to get more of the focus on SEO/PPC for the service department. I have already gone through and started making some improvements to the service pages on the websites, but there is a lot more work to do! Thank you for sharing!
DrivingSales
Hi Everyone thank you for a great conversation on a very important topic. We chose this topic for our community white board topic. Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU-0nDeZ6Q
Callsavvy
This is a great topic to discuss. To me the main crux here for dealers is not just online marketing, PPC, SEO, although these are important channel in today's digital market, but how do you live interact with all these customers at the first point of contact. If we look at a dealership's internal support structure for receiving customer queries resulting from these digital interactions we will see that 99 percent of dealers do no offer any kind of a digital service desk (AKA the Service Internet Department). Most of these interactions that begin with a search that lead to a dealer's website end up generating a phone call into the service department. If your dealership has a inbound BDC setup then you got it somewhat covered, although costly, however if the call is coming into the service drive itself and being answered by a Service Advisor, who is juggling multiple tasks all at once then we can pretty much gues the results. Retentions and profits start at hello. The first impression is the last. So to summarize in agreeing with the post that yes we need to invest more resources in online marketing which may entail social, search, and PPC, but we also need to invest in setting up complimentary digital support structures to make sure that we get a solid return on all digital investment and no customer interaction ever goes to waste. It is high time for an Internet Service Desk.
Goderich Honda
Driving sales to the dealership is much easier than you think. We can send out more post cards, emails, follow up calls, print ads etc etc. not saying that we should stop this, but there is a much more effective and cost saving procedure that every dealership can do. It's called a "Service walk". Every customer that purchases a vehicle from the dealership MUST be introduced to the service manager. He/she will give the new customers a tour behind the scenes of the facility. Starting with the appointment process, menu board, advisor introductions, parts department tour, special electronics for diagnostics, introduce shop foreman and all techs noting their training and qualifications, special equipment (alignment machines, sand blasters, detail department, tire storage). Thank them for deciding on your dealership and ask them if they have any other vehicles in there family. We do off makes as well. We fortunately have over 90% retention with 85% repurchasing new vehicles. I'm not suggesting we don't advertise, we do that too, just don't rely to much on it. Get back to what our customers want. TRUST!!!!!!
DrivingSales
@doug really like the idea of getting back to the core value of TRUST. Those type of actions help customers see the "Black hole" that their car goes into and help them feel better about the service department. The service walk is key, unfortunately, I see less do it right than i see those who do it good. This might be a process issue, commitment level whatever the excuse is we all need to get beyond it because customers nationally are leaving at an accelerated rate after warranty time period expired. Im glad to hear your exceptional rate of retention that is top of the list. Great work!!
DrivingSales
70 Million Automotive Repair Searches
While you are sitting there enjoying a strong finish to the end of a great month and want to have a little shock or a serious reality check try this – grab the nearest device and perform a search. If you are a Honda store type “Honda tires” or if you are a Nissan store type “Nissan brakes” and your potential customer should be directed right to your site where they can find out how much a set of tires are or how much it will cost to have a set of factory brake pads installed. Once your customer knows the cost and estimated time to complete the service, they will be able to set an appointment online at their earliest convenience and come see you.
If this happens, realize you are in the minority. Unfortunately when the majority performs this search, the aftermarket owns the first non-sponsored search results that come up. The aftermarket is out performing us in this area. Our customers have more exposure to their products and services digitally, and therefore have a greater opportunity to do more commerce.
Here is the scary part … the latest numbers show 65% to 70% of people will do research online before doing business anywhere. First, we need to identify where our greatest opportunity is. In this case as it pertains to automotive service and repairs there are two types of searches: a branded search and a non-branded search. A branded search example such as “Ford wipers” or “Dodge tires” is the area we need to concentrate our efforts. This type of search represents close to 20% of the total searches made, but we own less than 1% of the business.
All of our websites need to have more content. In short, SEO is about creating high value; unique content and putting it on the Web in a way Google can find and value it. Also think about this, our websites need to be mobile friendly since the average person performs over 100 mobile searches daily. This way when someone is looking for “Ford Brakes” they will have the opportunity to do business with you.
Game plan, start with your in-house Internet Manager. For the last few years Owners and Dealers have lived in this area and have dedicated a lot of time and energy to make sure when someone is looking for a “Ford truck” their dealership pops up first. Once you have found your Internet Manager behind his 60” screen and super computer ask them how much time of their day is dedicated toward the sales department and how much of their time is spent toward service. I would be shocked if any spend anytime with service at all and is really is not their fault. There is a lot to do for sales and typically their income is tied only to sales revenue.
We are in a time where Fixed Operations needs to have a digital presence more than ever. Dealership Internet Managers could lend their efforts to service so we can play in this world that has been owned by the aftermarket.
Today we are talking about 70M searches imagine what increase we can expect of the years to come. With that in consideration how big of a slice of that pie do you want?
13 Comments
Launch Digital Marketing
Couldn't agree more when it comes to the lack of love that fixed ops receives when it comes to digital marketing. However suggesting that it's up to the "Internet Manager" to be the person to address the issue is a bit short sighted. Ultimately the decision to peruse a fixed ops digital marketing strategy should come from the ownership / gm / operation director in collaboration with the fixed ops director / service managers to be planned and executed by the marketing team or yes...the overworked and under appreciated Internet Manager. The strategy needs to be intentional and have achievable goals. Having an Internet Manager start building dozens of random pages on their website to satisfy potential fixed ops related searches probably isn't the most efficient way to begin.
DrivingSales
Jason - you are right and heading exactly the direction I wanted this conversation to go. This is much bigger than the Internet Manager and the Service Manager this needs to be a store initiative with like you say intentional and achievable goals. Really the point of my topic is to get this collaboration to happen. As I see it the Internet Manager would need to oversee this undertaking and determine what it would take to be aggressive in the area due to their knowledge and expertise. Then with the buy in from DP's and GM's develop the game plan of who does what and what it will take to help improve the current performance. Jason thank you for your reply and spot on comments.
Xtime
I agree, this has always been an area lacking any attention. DP's and GM's need to start thinking like the owners of independent shops do, service is their only income. That type of urgency is what is missing. Franchise dealers know they will get a certain percentage of business from warranty, some loyalty, and people that just moved to the area. These are limited though, warranties expire, loyalty can be tested, and people become with other service options. If a DP or GM looked at service as the sole income line, they may address it in a more urgent sense and offer a more "service oriented" web presence.
Cobalt
Great article, Denim. I couldn't agree more. Dealers should own the maintenance and repair market. Compared to aftermarket chains, they deliver superior service and most are competitively prices. They just need to get the word out through digital marketing - the aftermarket chains dominate the SERP for maintenance terms. I recently came across a Car Dealer Insider article about dealers who achieve 100% service absorption...the common thread: they execute on a professional marketing plan.
BOB BELL AUTOMOTIVE
I think the topic here should shift to how does a local dealer influence online service shoppers to do business with them and not the big chain service stores. I agree that a sharp Web Presence Manager with good SEO skills can rank well for local service terms like Baltimore Nissan Service or Brakes. Take the "Baltimore" out and Its near impossible to out rank the big players in any service related search. In my opinion and experience we have to resort to a well planed, funded and executed PPC strategy and leverage Facebook targeted ads and dark posts to drive traffic to our service department. And lets not forget to educate the service shoppers that dealers service departments offer a great value over the one size fits all big chains that in the long and short run do not offer the value and expertise that most dealers service departments can. If we want our share of local service customers its time to think outside of the box to get their attention. You will be very frustrated if you think that any amount of content you create will out rank the big players but keep in mind that good relevant content on your sites will be of value to your services shoppers and Google.
DrivingSales
@BRUCE and @ALYSON these are great points and this is the direction our Fixed Operations need to go. We are at the precipice of this very topic. My thought is, our service departments need to carve out a portion of their current advertising budget and shift it to this. Guide for service is 3% to 3.5% of total gross income is budgeted for advertising. This is typically eaten up by archaic factory direct mail and the cost of coupons along with another non OEM product to help wrap or cover the remaining data base. SO with that in mind what kind of budget would it take to be aggressive in this segment and being mindful of the economic model that service is following how do we accomplish this. Thank you for all your input!!!
Sunnyside Toyota
Great article!!! You are absolutely right and I, for one, never thought about it. After reading the article I thought back to my interactions with the fixed ops.....There is not that much. Times are changing and we need to have our Parts and Service centers as digital as the front house.
Spork Marketing, LLC
In my opinion, there is a HUGE opportunity for dealers to sell parts online. However, there are some structural problems that most dealers need to address: 1. Most parts departments want to sell parts over the counter for MSRP + 10%. This practice is still very much hidden from the consumer, but times are changing. If a consumer checks dealer part pricing either a) online before they visit the dealership or b) standing in the service drive while they're looking at their repair quote, the consumer is probably going to feel cheated. I think consumers are absolutely willing to pay more for a part that's available right now, so I do not believe parts managers need to "drop their pants" to sell parts...but the days of retail + 10% are almost certainly numbered. Parts managers who fight that reality will struggle to be successful online. 2. Most service departments are focused on repairs rather than installs. I believe there's a massive market for "do it for me" accessory installation, either after-market or OEM. However, many service departments are setup to do expensive repair work, so they're not cost competitive with dedicated performance or off-road shops. A dealer might want 6 hours at $150 an hour to install a lift kit, while a local off-road shop might do a flat fee install of $499. Dealers can absolutely compete here - they can assign lower-level technicians to do part installs, and make consumers schedule installs instead of providing work on the old 'first come first serve' basis (as is their current process) - but it requires a new mindset at all levels. 3. Most of the "spec" websites provided to dealers by the major CMS providers (who shall remain nameless) simply aren't equipped to help parts and service departments sell their wares online. Parts departments need an honest-to-goodness ecommerce system, and service needs a robust system that integrates part information, install info, and provides quotes. We're probably a few years away from a comprehensive solution to this problem, but when it arrives I think it will be a boon to fixed ops. There's a lot of money to be made selling and installing accessories - all it takes is a desire to attack that market.
Roseville, Sacramento & Folsom Hyundai, Sac CDJR
I couldn't agree with this more. I have been in the automotive industry forever and can't remember the last time we talked about how the service department is being marketed online. I look forward to sharing more of this with my current employer to see what we can do to get more of the focus on SEO/PPC for the service department. I have already gone through and started making some improvements to the service pages on the websites, but there is a lot more work to do! Thank you for sharing!
DrivingSales
Hi Everyone thank you for a great conversation on a very important topic. We chose this topic for our community white board topic. Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU-0nDeZ6Q
Callsavvy
This is a great topic to discuss. To me the main crux here for dealers is not just online marketing, PPC, SEO, although these are important channel in today's digital market, but how do you live interact with all these customers at the first point of contact. If we look at a dealership's internal support structure for receiving customer queries resulting from these digital interactions we will see that 99 percent of dealers do no offer any kind of a digital service desk (AKA the Service Internet Department). Most of these interactions that begin with a search that lead to a dealer's website end up generating a phone call into the service department. If your dealership has a inbound BDC setup then you got it somewhat covered, although costly, however if the call is coming into the service drive itself and being answered by a Service Advisor, who is juggling multiple tasks all at once then we can pretty much gues the results. Retentions and profits start at hello. The first impression is the last. So to summarize in agreeing with the post that yes we need to invest more resources in online marketing which may entail social, search, and PPC, but we also need to invest in setting up complimentary digital support structures to make sure that we get a solid return on all digital investment and no customer interaction ever goes to waste. It is high time for an Internet Service Desk.
Goderich Honda
Driving sales to the dealership is much easier than you think. We can send out more post cards, emails, follow up calls, print ads etc etc. not saying that we should stop this, but there is a much more effective and cost saving procedure that every dealership can do. It's called a "Service walk". Every customer that purchases a vehicle from the dealership MUST be introduced to the service manager. He/she will give the new customers a tour behind the scenes of the facility. Starting with the appointment process, menu board, advisor introductions, parts department tour, special electronics for diagnostics, introduce shop foreman and all techs noting their training and qualifications, special equipment (alignment machines, sand blasters, detail department, tire storage). Thank them for deciding on your dealership and ask them if they have any other vehicles in there family. We do off makes as well. We fortunately have over 90% retention with 85% repurchasing new vehicles. I'm not suggesting we don't advertise, we do that too, just don't rely to much on it. Get back to what our customers want. TRUST!!!!!!
DrivingSales
@doug really like the idea of getting back to the core value of TRUST. Those type of actions help customers see the "Black hole" that their car goes into and help them feel better about the service department. The service walk is key, unfortunately, I see less do it right than i see those who do it good. This might be a process issue, commitment level whatever the excuse is we all need to get beyond it because customers nationally are leaving at an accelerated rate after warranty time period expired. Im glad to hear your exceptional rate of retention that is top of the list. Great work!!
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