Having a 1000k+ reviews is a huge accomplishment! It is something to admire, really. However, what is more important is that you are continuing to collect reviews. Where customers want to see new reviews when making a decision. If the review is 90+ days old it may not carry as much weight as a review that was written a few days ago. That being said, here some ways the advisors can easily ask for a review without being overwhelming or pushy! 

Ask for it! 

That’s right. You heard me. I cannot tell you the number of advisors that simply do not even ask for a review! This is a huge mistake. All of that hard work that made the customers day can benefit more than just that customer! If a potential customer were to see that online - how you made their day it can give them a great feeling. Potentially leading them to book an appointment with you! 

In the thank you email

While I am not a huge fan of sending multiple emails - it is okay to add the review in the main thank you follow-up email. Giving them a direct link to your DealerRater page. And if you are not using DealerRater you are MISSING OUT. It is one of the only platforms that enables you to tag an employee in the review! 

This is invaluable as it allows customers to connect with employees! Giving the Advisor a platform to show off their talent! 

Cashiers Office 

Another way to get a review is to offer a simple reminder by attaching a review card to the service R.O. And while the customer might throw away their service paperwork they will at least see the request for a review! 

Bottom Line: You cannot get reviews without asking for them! Think about it too, have you ever been to a booking site for a hotel or resort? Where the reviews will say “this photo must have been taken when the resort opened." the same thing applies to reviews. Where the customer could say “you can tell this positive review was written a long time ago! Worst service ever” And if you do not have many positive reviews written it can have a damaging effect on business! Versus having a few bad reviews mixed in with SEVERAL good reviews. Where the potential client might view this as a one-off bad experience! 

How do you handle reviews? How many reviews do you average a month? 
 

It is not uncommon for the sales manager to put the pressure on the service manager to get the vehicle through the shop. Knowing that for every additional day the car is in the shop, less money is to be made on the front-end. Whereas, service will still make their money and then some with the internal mark-ups (which are necessary to build the business as a whole), BUT there are ways in which sales are actually holding up the process. 

Here are the top things to consider when managing the turn time for pre-owned inventory 

Post Photo Online 

Instead of waiting until the vehicle is in the middle of its State Inspection - forcing the advisor to halt the process - to get a photo. Have your inventory manager take a picture of the exterior (ensuring it is clean), and post it online. Making sure to have “call for price” as it could increase depending on the total reconditioning costs. This will save a lot of time. As well as cause less dissension in the service lane as they are pressured to hit their own benchmarks when pushing units through. 

Keep Sales Informed

Just like keeping the customer informed of the status of the vehicle. The sales managers want the same thing. Where if they were to know the status of the inspection they would not have the need to call back every couple of hours (or days) to ask the same questions causing there to be a delay in the unit getting processed. A lot of the software available to the service writer allow them to make notes. This will come in handy in situations where parts have to be ordered. 

Have a Standard Procedure on Recon Costs

Sure, service would love to make as much money as possible on the unit. However, as we know - this can affect the front-end gross. Where is not necessary to replace all parts of the unit especially if they are in working order. And or if the unit is within a certain price range where is not common to spend the additional money. That being said, it is best to work with the GM and sales manager to ensure that certain things that need to be fixed do not need “clearance” from the either the GM or Sales manager. All of which will help with removing the chance for delays. 

Know Where the Units Are! 

This sounds rather simple, but we can all recall the time where we had not a clue as to where that trade-in from the weekend was parked. Wasting more than 30 minutes to locate the unit only to find out that it is blocked in by a few other vehicles. All of this wastes time. Where some units only need 30-45 minutes to pass through the state inspection. Meaning, the time spent on finding the unit could have been another vehicle done and ready to go! 

Bottom Line: 

It is essential to have a plan of action when it comes to handling reconditioning. Making sure that both sales & service are on the same page regarding the process. All of which will offer a streamlined process. 

How do you handle reconditioning within your dealership? What is one thing you have implemented that has had great success? What is one thing that you have learned? 
 

A little over a year ago I wrote  Emails are Here to Stay. To this day, email marketing is still relevant and an integral part of marketing. However, what has changed is the level of competition we face. Where we have to remember that the customer is receiving possibly hundreds of emails a day. Understanding that we have to stick out from the crowd, which means taking our time to review everything from the subject line to the to customers we send it to! 

No longer is it best practice (which I cannot imagine it ever was) to send the entire database the same email? Especially given that the content was not relevant to the customer. For example, while I shopped at a retailer over 2 years ago, I am still getting sales emails. Only the email is for women's clothing, which is incredibly irrelevant, and ended up with my opting out as they never sent anything regarding their men's brands. 

The same philosophy applies when marketing with the auto arena. Wherein, if you sell pre-owned vehicles (as I am sure you do) sending them OEM parts coupons for NON-OEM customers regarding service is not relevant. And the age-old cheap/free oil change is not going to work either. Where great, they came in (non-OEM which does not count for retention) but it cost the dealer money on what otherwise could have been a cash customer! 

That being said, here are some best practices when it comes to emailing the customer! 

• Tuesday’s & Thursday remain two of the best days to send an email campaign. 
• The subject line should not be more than 30-40 characters! Anything longer than that can not only be cut off within their mobile platform, BUT more importantly, no one is reading all of that text! Lastly, make it stick out. 
• Do not send the same message to the entire database! Break it down into groups! OEM (within warranty), OEM (out of warranty customer pay), NON-OEM, & lastly your OEM retention customers, who will lap over with the two main OEM groups. Where the OEM will offer that “x” amount of customers sold within the last year have to have 2 visits to meet their retention standards. 
• Have strong call to actions. But not too many. You want the customer to have a clear map of what to do! One of them being a “click-to-call” option. Allowing the customer to call directly

Bottom Line: take a minute to look at what you're sending! Make sure everything is correct. Looking at the email as is if you were the customer. 

What has been one of your most successful subject lines? 
 

Dear valued customer.  Okay, let’s back-up one step. For those that receive emails or letters that say “dear valued customer” do you ever sit back and wonder why you’d receive something like that? Where if you were so valued why they could not bother to use your first name? And no, it is not about ego or that “how dare they not know my name,” but instead it's about being transparent without being overly cliche. 

In a recent post, I talked about over sending emails, and part of the issue with using “dear valued customer” aka buzz words is that it can turn the customer off. Especially (as mentioned above) if you are over sending emails! 

Think about it for a moment, here is a sample workflow for after the service appointment: 

1. Dealer Thank You Email w/ Review
2. OEM Dealer Thank You Email 
3. Dealer Email Asking for Review
4. OEM Dealer text/email pre-survey survey 
5. Dealer Phone Call/Text
6. OEM Email reminding them of survey thanking them again 
7. OEM Survey 

Besides that being way, way too many emails, calls, and texts for an appointment (which when you sit back seems a bit silly) have you ever taken a minute to look and see what the content was in the email? 

Here is are some common examples of the text and emails that go out in between the pre-survey surveys.

Email 

Dear Valued Customer, thank you for servicing your vehicle here with us at (dealer). We appreciate your business. If there are any concerns, please feel free to contact me? We look forward to seeing you on your next visit. 

Text 

Thanks for servicing your vehicle here with us at (dealer). We appreciate your business. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. 

While you might think this is a good thing. It might not be. As you are asking the customer 3-4 times if they had a good experience. They could probably write about their experience on getting too many surveys, calls, texts & emails! 

That said if your OEM sends out a text or pre-survey survey than it is not necessary for you to call those who have already completed the OEM pre-survey and/or have left feedback on social media. What you can do, however, is comment on their feedback - with a personalized response - thanking them for their review.  And use that saved time by calling customer who has not submitted anything or those that have submitted an issue. 

As for the template(s), try and condense your content into one cohesive piece of correspondence. Where you can ask them for a review and if their experience was less than pleasant the ability to speak with the manager. Less is more. 

Bottom line: asking for feedback is crucial, BUT chasing for feedback on what was an otherwise good experience is not necessary. In fact, it is best to use the instances in which case the customer did complain or have an issue to better understand if the breakdown was a one-off or it was a personnel issue that needs to be addressed. 

How do you handle the “after” service correspondence? 
 

In a recent blog post, I discussed the importance of listening to your team's phone calls. The idea that it can assist us in working with our employees. Empowering them to handle the objections we face on a daily basis! However, if we do not have the calls to listen to, then it makes it that much harder to isolate any issues that might be present. 

Here are some top reasons to provision local lines using them in all email marketing! 

A Provisioned Line for Email Campaigns 

When is the last time you checked your email creative to make sure that the number on the email is the right phone number? If not, you could be missing out on potential customers! Best practice is to include a recorded line in every campaign that is sent. Especially given that click-to-call is continuing to increase and surpass lead form submissions. Making sure to use different lines, and not a new line for each email. But a line for sales blasts, service, and/or other campaigns. If you work with different vendors to send email blasts, then you should have a line provisioned for each vendor. 

Local is Always Better 

If you had the choice of calling an 800 number versus a local number which would you choose? In most cases, the customer would prefer to call a local number in the hopes of speaking with an actual person! No one wants to press a million buttons or talk with a robot that just doesn’t understand what you are asking! Only to get asked the same questions when someone answers the phone! 

Tracking. What’s Hot What’s Not! 

Vendors always tout that their email blast is the next best thing! That they drive so much traffic to the store! Or that they sold “x” amount of cars due to their email blast! This all sounds great, and while you can see the traffic in Google Analytics. What you cannot see is the number of calls you are getting if the number is not tracked! If you use a local provisioned line, however, you are then able to see how many calls you are getting!

This is essential to understanding the impact of the campaign! As you can get all the traffic, you want on your site for service, BUT if they are not calling or converting than it is not effective. Click to call is becoming an essential/pivotal feature for a customer in today's marketing arena! Do yourself a favor and add a provisioned line and see what kind of results you are getting! 

Bottom Line: Yes, you can look at the google analytics, and yes believe it or not service is one of the top converters for traffic on your site. But you will not know the actual success of the campaign without recording the calls! 

Do you provision local lines to use for campaigns? If so, has this assisted you in making changes or better understanding how to approach your marketing? 
 

There is nothing (I mean nothing) more annoying to a customer than getting multiple - pointless - emails both before and after their services. Not to mention the countless emails sent in between. Emailing still remains a vital marketing source for building the business. However, both CRM & DMS companies are starting to tighten the ropes regarding how and when you can communicate with your customers. That being said, here some best practices to visit before sending out too many email campaigns, which runs you the risk of high opt-outs!

How Many Customers?

When is the last time you checked either your DMS or CRM to see how many emailable customers you had? If you do not know off the top of your head (roughly) the number of emailable customers, then you could be missing out!

The other thing to consider when looking to see how many emailable emails you have is the number of actual *emailable* emails. Where sure, your DMS might say that you have 27k records, BUT only 18k are still opt-ed in emailable emails. For the records that are opted out, there is always the option to send an “opt-in” piece or move on.

OEM vs. Other

For those who sell pre-owned vehicles, which is almost every single dealer - do you send those that purchased a pre-owned non-OEM vehicle an OEM themed service email? Next time work with whichever vendor or marketing company you use, and break down the list sending it to OEM vs. NON-OEM, and create an offer that makes sense for both. While this may cause additional work in the beginning - sending a direct message that makes sense will only increase your chances of getting an ROI.

This is especially true when it comes to sending OEM maintenance interval coupons, which is entirely irrelevant for a non-OEM purchaser.

How do you handle this? Or do you send the same message, and hope for the best?

Your DMS Customers are Most Likely in Your CRM

For those that use a DMS and CRM, your DMS sold customers, or those that have serviced with you are likely in both systems. That said, it is essential to ensure that you are not sending the same customer 8-10 emails a month because you are using two different vendors to send each database an email campaign!

That being said, the best practice is to work with VIN based vendor out of the DMS who will send to only those who have had a transaction with the dealership. And as for the CRM, you can send a sales blast with a service element.

Create a calendar

The best way to make sure there is not any confusion as to what is being sent out when is to have a calendar for both sales and service. Making sure that all marketing (emails) are carefully thought out and executed. This way you lessen the risk of over sending to the same customer, which as mentioned above will increase your opt-out rate. And as we know, once the customer has opted out the chances of getting them back in the game are highly unlikely!!

Bottom Line:

Know your database! Understanding what you have to work with regarding both the DMS & CRM will better assist you in knowing what tackle first. This also helps you in understanding opt-out rates between new and prospective customers. Do not be stubborn and not speak with the sales managers. Remembering you are all marketing to the SAME people! The customer easily can see the disjointed marketing efforts between sales & service.

How do you handle and plan for marketing campaigns in Service? Do you send the same customer multiple emails from both systems? What are some of your best practices?

There have been some great conversations highlighting the importance of scheduling the first service appointment. Posing the age old question who schedules the first service appointment? Which is more relevant than ever in today’s market with new car sales slowing down. 

The answers have offered everything from using the BDC, service advisor, to the sales consultant. Everyone has a different way of approaching the first appointment. However, at the end of the day what does matter is making sure that the appointment is not only booked but that they show up! As it has a direct impact and correlation to service retention. 

Here Are some things to consider when handling scheduling the first service appointment:

When is the last time you checked how many new service appointments to expect for the month?

We know that the number of sales affects service. But what we might not be paying attention to is how many new service customers should be making their way into the service lane at the beginning of each month!  You should run a report entailing how many new customers you should be expecting in service.  If you had a slow month a few months back, then you can expect a smaller increase in service. 

Knowing what to expect for the month as far as new customers go will help you better plan your marketing efforts. Perhaps spending more in advertising working on customers who have not been in the lane for the last year. Especially given that these campaigns yield lower ROI's. But even a small success can balance the numbers for the month as far as retention goes.  

A Sales consultant handoff can make for a good experience 

The sales consultant should have shown the customer the service lane during the purchase. Explaining all of what your service department has to offer - in addition to scheduling their first appointment. But to take this a step further, if the sales consultant were to call them 6 months or so (after their purchase) and confirm their first service appointment it could assist with the show rates! As the sales consultant would hand-off the customer when they arrive for their first appointment. 

If you are not hitting the retention on first appointments - something is not right! 

As mentioned above, sales effects the number of new customers making their way into service. That said, it is essential to know what percentage of the customers are making their way back into the service lane for their first appointment. If you are not tracking this than you could be missing out on thousands of dollars! You will also see trends in so far as if the sales consultants doing a proper hand-off. If the sales consultant is not telling the customer about service and its benefits than their likelihood of coming back is not as good! 

Bottom line: 

Check your numbers! If they are low, then take a moment to work with the sales consultants and service advisors to devise a plan that makes sense. A plan that works for both the store and service! Making the sure that the sales consultant remembers that if the customer completes all of their services with you their chance returning for sales will be much higher! 

Who books the first appointment at your store? Have you tried the sales to service hand-off for the first appointment? 

Customer service is vital. We get that. But one thing we might not notice or suspect as much is the very fact that not everyone has proper phone etiquette. In fact, some of your best Advisors could be the absolute worst on the phones! Just because you are great in front of a person does not mean you can handle objections or have the patience to listen to a customer explaining their issues. 

Here are some of the top reasons to listen to your service calls! 

It is Not About Being “Big Brother” 

Listening to phone calls is not about being “Big Brother” where you are trying to intimidate your advisor into thinking their every move is watched. Or that the reason you are listening to their phone calls is directly correlated to their performance. Instead, one of the best ways to approach this is to offer that you want to assist them. Working with them (not against them) when it comes to providing excellent customer service. 

Offering that sometimes something as simple as listening to their calls can have a profound impact on their success!

Customer Vehicle Issues 

We know that when a customer is describing an issue over the phone that they need to come in for an appointment. What we do not always get, however, is that the customer needs to feel that the advisor is working with them. Taking the time to understand his/her needs. Even if that means listening to some bizarre remake of the mechanical issue they are experiencing! (have you heard some of those commercials?!)  In doing so, the rapport is built on the phone (much like it is in sales) and the customer trusts that the advisor has their best interest at heart. 

This situation - had the advisor not been in tune or interested - could have ended entirely different. Where the customer was unable to explain their issue as the advisor was interrupting them or worse talking over them to try and tell them that it is just best if they bring the vehicle in! 

Booking the Appointment 

It is much easier just to say “sure, come in we are open until 6 PM” than it is to get their information (asking if they have serviced with you) and book the appointment, right? Sure, it sounds much easier! But in the end, it isn’t! 

Using this method of “get off the phone as quickly as possible” can lead to working with too many RO’s at once. And we know what that can lead too “bad customer experience,” which means that the dealer has the chance of getting a bad survey. 

Not to mention, if the customer has serviced there and is not asked about it, then s/he might not feel as valued. And why would the advisor want to handle a call (working with the customer) to suddenly give up that customer as they do not have their information or an appointment scheduled? Seems kind of counterproductive, no? 

Bottom Line: 

Listening to calls will not only help the advisors deal with objections but the more confident you are in handling phone calls, the better off your advisor will be! Not to mention, it will help pinpoint and find issues you are having that you might not even be aware of! In the end, it is all about offering the customer an excellent experience. Everything from their website visit when booking the appointment, to their phone call, and last but not least their appointment at the dealership! 

Do you listen to calls? If so, how has this helped in offering better customer service? If you do not monitor and/or listen to calls - why not? 
 

Contrary to the title conquesting in service can, in fact, increase revenue. However, merely increasing revenue can not only be short-lived, but it can also have other hidden ramifications. OEM’s have tight policies regarding customer service in a time where your transactions are under a microscope. Where OEM’s send a survey within 24hrs in addition to the pre-survey survey you might be sending out. And let’s not forget the phone call you might be sending too! 

That said, before conquesting in service you should consider the following points. Working with your dealer to comprise a plan that makes the most sense: 

Why do you need to increase service? What is Your Current Absorption Rate? 

If your service absorption rate is above 73 percent than there is nothing to bark at. That is a solid number. If you are at or below that target number, there could be a correlation to a decrease in cars sales and an increase in the number of vehicles that are out of warranty where the customer pay is obviously lower on those RO’s. Take some time and review the absorption rate for the last 12 months rolling. Looking to see if there is a trend or just spikes. 

Assigned Customer Base 

OEM’s tend to push customers into to list whether they have serviced with you or not. Usually not outlining their marketing efforts to those customers unless you pay to play with the list. However, you do not always have to spend thousands of wasted dollars to acquire these customers as the ROI is very minimal. Instead, there less expensive alternative ways to acquire new service customers within your ACB using social media campaigns is one of them.  

That said, instead of sending a blanket campaign to all of the customers on the ACB OEM list - target specific customers within the list focusing on certain years and models.  This will not only help yield better results, but it is a more targeted cohesive plan giving you not just a service customer, but also a new purchase! 

OEM Mailers vs. Third Party 

We already know that mailers have a very minimal return. And in other cases (for current customers) sending a mailer can be beneficial as it will help you update your database using the “return to sender” as a means of weeding out old customers. At the same time, sending a mailer to a noncustomer who might not even be aware of your brand is not only not as effective, but the ROI is not there. As mentioned above, stick to a more targeted cohesive marketing strategy embracing social. Not only will you spend much less the ROI will be stronger.

Marketing Plan - Following Up! 

Having a marketing plan is great! What is not so great is spending money on a marketing plan to then only not have a plan of action on following up with those customers who are engaged. And by that, I mean coming up with a plan to call those that have opened and clicked-through on your marketing. 

Bottom Line: Conquest programs should have a thought out plan making sure all fronts are covered. More so, conquesting service customers usually have a low return on investment. Spending thousands of dollars on a mailer for conquest customers may not make the most sense. Instead, social is another avenue to take, which can offer a lower more cost-effective means of acquiring not just new service customers, BUT a new sales customer as well!  

Do you have great success in conquesting new customers? If so, what campaigns have you had great success with? 

The Auto Industry is a world of its own. A world within the franchise arena. Yet each and every store has its own understanding, methods, and perspective on what the brand experience means, and how it should translate to the customer. 

Everything from the Meet & Greet, Rewards Program, Amenities, CRM they use - down to the POP marketing that sits within the lane is different. No two dealers are alike other than the facade on the exterior. That said, there can often be a breakdown in the customer's experience. 

One of the best examples of franchise brand experiences is the Airline Industry. You might not fly every day, BUT - if you stay with one airline, you become accustomed to the way they do things. You know what to expect. Everything from booking the ticket (using their mobile app) to the time you check in at the airport to boarding the plane. 

The same cannot be said, though for the Auto Industry. This is especially true when it comes to servicing your vehicle, and the rewards programs dealers have. The goal - as you know - is to have not just brand loyalty, BUT dealer loyalty! This is why every aspect of the customer's experience has to be on point. There is no room for error in today’s market where every aspect of the transaction is under a microscope. 

The more orchestrated the experience is for the customer, the less distracted they are (or discontent), the less discontent and distracted they are the more they focus on what's important. That is you upselling and working the customer! 

Here are the top things to monitor to ensure the customers brand experience is the same: 

Omnichannel Experience (Mobile to Desktop)

Whether the customer is booking an appointment online using their iPhone or using the desktop the experience should not just be familiar, but expected. Booking an appointment should not be any different in so far as the path in which the customer takes to book an appointment. As soon as the customer gets frustrated they will most likely exit. All without having booked an appointment. 

Sell the Service. Not the Product. 

At the end of the day, selling the *experience* (for upsells) is far more important than the product itself. In fact, it is an added bonus. Not just for the customer, but for the service lane. If the customer is relaxed, they are much more likely willing to open their wallets and make the impulse upsell purchase. 

Have a Signature Check-In or Check-Out 

Some hotels offer their guests that warm fresh cookie at check-in. Imagine doing something similar. The customer check-ins in and as they make their way to the lounge they are enjoying that nice warm cookie. And as you make your way back in to check in and offer upsells they are *warmed* up and, perhaps, more willing to make that extra purchase. Not saying it will work every time. But believe me, they will remember that cookie! 

Bottom Line: As much as it is discussed and/or spoken about it is imperative to stand-out from your competition. Solidifying one or two key components will make you stand out. Having your customers remember their experience! 

How do you define your brand's experience? What is something you offer that is different?