A brand is more than just your OEM’s logo slapped on the website or POP Marketing. In fact, customers know who your manufacturer is, but do they know who or what your Service Lanes Brand Message is?

More often than not when looking at various dealers websites, there isn’t anything that sticks out. All of the coupons (if there even are any) all look the same. And there is nothing that says who or why you should service at “ABC Service Center.”

Or in some cases, there is the occasional video of “why service here” where no one watches the whole thing. (when is the last time you watched an entire brand video on YouTube?)

Instead of capturing who and what your brand is on your website the customer is left reading the reviews - using them to shape their opinion of your brand. Something we have to remember too is that the customer is not servicing their vehicle every month or once a week. Therefore, it takes that much longer to change their perception about your brand if they have had a less than perfect experience.

Think about it for a moment. If the customer has a bad experience at a restaurant - sure s/he might write a bad review. But that bad experience does not shape their views on the restaurant industry in a whole, no? Why? Well, the customer goes to the next venue mostly forgetting about their bad experience.

Whereas, in our industry, the service intervals for many could be as much as 6+ months apart.  And so when the time comes for them to do service again they will go back to their last visit, which in some cases might not have been so pleasant. Sure, you might have reached out to the customer to apologize trying to rectify the situation. However, the damage is already done, and the customer will think twice before s/he returns to the dealership.

That is why there is so much emphasis and focus on what your “brand is,” which can make or break keeping the service customer!

Here are some tips/suggestions that can help identify who and what your brand is:

• Do your service advisors know what your brand stands for? Does your brand logo have a meaning?
• Does your service lane or dealer have a “slogan”? Might sound cheesy, but successful brands have a message or a theme that is recurring in all of their campaigns. While the OEM has one, which many require being visible in the showroom - do any of the advisors know what it is?
• If you do have good reviews - are they visible on your site? This will surely help with converting the customer who's on the fence about returning.
• Bottom line, there are so many places to choose from, and your customer will choose what is best for them. So it is essential to have a consistent brand image that translates well to the customer.

What is your brand image? Do you have a slogan that is part of your brand logo?

Branding your Service Center is more than just having a “why service here” video on your website touting that you have OEM certified techs. Customers want more than that and they want to see who is working for you looking to see how they are rated. Most importantly if the advisor is rated!

There are best practices for collecting reviews that will brand the service center. The two top platforms to collect reviews are DealerRater & Google+ Here are the best practices to start branding your service center with reviews.

First, Let’s Update the Website

It sounds simple. Have the employees reviews listed online. But more often than not many dealers do not have any reviews posted on their site. Not even on their social media pages other than if a customer were to review them on FaceBook or Yelp.

If the customer can see 1000+ positive reviews on your website that are directly associated with customers experiences with specific advisors the review becomes that much more valuable. It allows the customer to connect with the advisor.

In fact, because of the branding, DealerRater offers for your service lane there is the opportunity to receive “DealerRater Connections” as the customer “connects” with you for services on an individual basis with an advisor as they’ve read your reviews!

They even offer the ability for the connection to be sent directly to both the advisor and the managers via email.

Check Out

How often does the customer leave happy at the cashier’s office? Or (better yet) at the advisor's desk for those who take payments in the lane!? That is the time to ask the customer to review his/her experience online.

Albeit, the customer is still going to receive the OEM survey. However, that survey is not “branding” your store. In fact, the OEM more often than not does not even include your reviews or customer feedback on their corporate site for your store. They don’t have any reviews, actually.

Thank You Email

Despite asking the customer in the lane to complete a review for you, it never hurts to include a link to your DealerRater profile in the follow-up email. This serves as a gentle reminder for the customer to hop on and complete a quick review on their experience at the dealership. I will offer, however, that it is not best to send out an additional separate email as the customer might get turned off with too many emails.

The bottom line is this: branding is everything, and it starts with what people see online. If they see positive reviews that are directly associated with the people that are representing your brand, then it creates an incredibly valuable image. One that lends it self in hand when customers are choosing their next service center!

Do you have your reviews listed on line? Do you use DealerRater with great success? What is the best way you have branded your service advisors & service center with online reviews?

All we ever talk about - it seems - is response time, engagement rate, closing rate, set-rate, show-rate the list goes on. And while I am not saying that the above is not important (because it is very important) what I am saying is that Dealers might be missing the point.

The point of we spend so much time worrying about leads and where they come from, response, time, engagement rate, set-rate, show rate, close rate (even writing it twice can be annoying, really) but why haven’t we taken the time to understand and review when those leads are hitting the CRM?

The busiest time for lead traffic based on a year over year study showed that between the hours of  12:00 - 2:00 pm was the busiest time.

77% of the appointments for Internet Leads (OEM, Third Party, & Dealer Website) were booked between the hours of 8-5PM

By the way, this is not an argument entirely for an amazing BDC Manager schedule, either. Rather it was a wake up call to optimize the success rate and ROI for all of the money being spent on leads - with several stores spending over $10k a month in leads.

In order to work with the data, we used a year over year lead data on third Party, Dealer Website, & OEM leads. Once we exported the leads we broke down the traffic times by using the timestamps on the lead submissions. Breaking it into three sections - 12AM - 7AM | 8AM - 5PM | 5-11PM.

It was found that 85% of the leads (OEM, Third Party, & Dealer Website) came into the CRM Monday - Friday 8-5PM. With less than 12% of the leads coming in after 7PM.

Taking it a step further we exported the appointments report for internet leads YOY - using a report that timestamped the time in which the appointment was created. In addition to whether the appointment showed or sold - breaking it down, again, by third party, OEM, & Dealer Website.

77% of the appointments year over year were booked between the hours of 8-5PM with a show rate of 72% and a sold rate of 58% with the busiest time for booking appointments being 12:17PM (to be precise) with more than ¾ of the appointments being booked between the hours of 12-1PM (lunch time, no?)

Appointments booked after 5PM - 12AM had a show rate of under 48% - where the top source of leads derived from OEM & Third Party (please note that I am referring to the lead that came in after 5PM that booked an appointment that day had a *slim* show rate).

If the leads come in between the hours of 8-5PM there had to be a reason, no? Well - there is a reason - 60%+ of car buyers today use their mobile phone. No longer does the customer need a desktop to surf the web. Therefore, it is considered best practice If paid search (SEO/SEM) is strategized to be spent during certain hours than you should see an increase of leads during those hours.

Google bases your “busy” hours based on web traffic - why haven’t they shared this yet I wonder? - so why not take advantage of it? Or maybe we are just ignoring it?

That said, we switched our BDC hours to 9-6PM - one rep working the graveyard shift 11-8PM (with me the BDC Manager working 8-5PM), and we have seen a *significant* increase in not only our set rate, but our sold rate!! This has been a *huge* game changer.

Tired of not hitting your monthly goals? Frustrated that your specials aren't adding enough to the bottom line?  Now Imagine if you had an appointment booked online that included additional services & products. This sounds like a home run, no?

I encourage you to test out your service scheduler reviewing the appointments for the month. Looking to see if the customer has selected one of your special offers! If your customer cannot select the special you are offering for service then how do you expect it to work?

If the advisor is aware of what s/he has selected and or if they have opted for the special then it helps prep them for the customer's arrival. Allowing the advisor to focus on other services s/he can sell to the customer. All of which helps them reach their monthly goals!

Here are some other key strategies that will assist you in up-selling online:

Online Marketing

Have an up to date service menu with special offers on your website. Another avenue to upsell products and services is including your OEM’s part store on the website. Allowing the customer to pre-purchase items to be installed at the time of their service appointment.

Product Demos - Yes, Demos on the Website

Have the hot products visible online! Videos are a very effective way to sell the product. The video does not have to be super long, either. Take for example brakes. If you have a special from the OEM for front/rear brake jobs then why not put a simple, quick video offering a brake special! “Take a break for brakes!” - have fun with it!

At the Dealer  -  Visual POP Marketing in the Service Lane

You spent all this time getting the website updated to increase traffic, right? Which in turn led to more appointments, no? Yet you do not have the specials posted in the lane anywhere!  This is absolutely hurting your advisors chance of up selling the item!

If your advisors do not know what the specials are than they are going to sell it! Not to mention, if the customer asks about the special s/he saw online, and the advisor is unable to answer their questions it devalues the special!

This is an excellent way to not only have consistency but to also upsell adding to the bottom line!

Bottom line - start selling your products online. This will motivate the advisors to keep selling. In addition to believing & buying into the offers you put out each month!

Do you upsell online? If so, what special/offer has given you the most success? Do your offers help generate revenue helping you achieve your goals?

We have all been there - that is trying to get a repair estimate, but are unable to find the pricing online!  And good luck calling the Service Center! The same age old tactic of “the best thing to do is just to come in” is still the main go-to phrase in selling services. The problem with this mentality is that for every dealer that is afraid of pricing is the dealer (Service Center) who puts pricing online. Of course, they make sure (in most instances) to disclose that the special pricing is based on a particular vehicle.

Here are some top reasons that you should offer service menus online:

• Not showing prices at all online can cause for not only a high bounce rate but fewer customers! Customers have been educated and have several resources at their fingertips.  If it is a customer that has purchased from you  - and there was a proper sales to service handoff - the customer will most likely understand the value in using an OEM certified technician. Not to mention, because s/he has had good experiences they are likely to return regardless if the service is more expensive.

• Customers want to know the value s/he is receiving. That said, it is a best practice to show the competitors pricing on the website. This way the customer can see the value that they are receiving; or why your shop is more expensive. In most cases, your oil change is actually less than the big box stores such as pep boys and Midas.

• The word transparency is overused. I get that. But at the same time, customers do want to know what an estimate repair cost is whether it is on the phone or on the website. Apps like Repair Pal & Open Bay are already doing this! Now I understand that when it comes to more tedious repairs that the customer will need to *understand* the costs associated with it.

• Showing pricing online actually makes your coupons more effective. If you get a coupon with “10% off any repair,” but you do not know what the cost is how likely are you going to use the coupon? Probably not. When is the last time you checked your click & print rate on dealer website coupons?

Dealers wonder why we lose so many deals to Jiffy Lube, etc. - I get it - but it comes down to the fact that they aren't afraid to show pricing. Bottom line - we cause the heartache when it comes to pricing, and it is not worth the frustration it ensues. Instead, let’s be competitive, but realistic and get pricing online!

How do you handle service pricing? Do you have success without having a service menu online? If so, what do you use online?

Texting is an integral part of business whether we like it or not. Texting is also not relevant solely because it's what Millennials want, either. In fact, recent statistics have shown that the number of “click to call” continues to increase on mobile devices. A large part of that number is, in fact, millennials. 

The fact of the matter is that our devices have offered a new means of communicating. And with a new means of communication comes the Fear of Missing Out, frustration, indifference, excitement, results, & issues - prompting the question - quite literally - what and how does texting affect the sales process? What is texting? 

Texting in its Primitive form 

One of the most important things I want to mention is that in no way has texting *replaced* all other aspects of communication. Instead, think of texting as an enhancing the communication you already have with your customer. 

Studies show that customers need an average of 5 touches before s/he is ready to fully engaged (i.e. securing the appt) with the average time to close the lead being four days. Think about it - you have emailed, called, and now what’s next? Another email or call? With 77% of leads coming in between the hours of 8-5PM* customers are shopping between regular business hours. They are at work, no?  I strongly encourage you to review your analytics -  looking at your busy times. What time are customers on your website shopping? 

If the busy hours are between 8-5AM, the customer might not be able to speak on the phone. Answering emails on their phones isn’t necessarily easy, either. Especially depending on how the email was sent and whether or not it hit their junk folder, no? 

The one thing that is sure to be seen whether s/he responds is a text message. That’s right. 98% of the text messages sent are read within two minutes*. The customer will have it on their minds, and until s/he deletes that message they will continue to see that message every time s/he opens their messages, which is an average of over 141 times a day! You get the picture. 

So if texting is the *hottest* mailbox - how do we approach it? How do we capture that market? What is that market? 

Often I think - in so many ways - we over think what texting is and should be. There have also been grave concerns over the legal aspects of texting - i.e. opt-in’s, CRM texting vs. personal phones, etc. But when you break down those instances whether it was a text or email there still would have been concerns with legal issues, no? 

That being said, I do offer that it is best practice to use a CRM platform to text your customers. Not only is this a safeguard compliant practice but it also provides the owner analytics behind the usage of texting. In addition to offering the ability to manage what your consultants are saying. It is not about being big brother. I mean, we record inbound phone calls - so why wouldn't we record texts? 

The best way to get started with texting (which I argue that your consultants are already texting using their mobile phones. Just ask.) is to use it as a means of confirming appointments or keeping the customers updated for their services if they’ve already opted in. 

Once you feel like you’ve got a handle on how your store is using texting you can educate, train and implement texting as another facet of communicating with your customers who are looking to purchase a vehicle! 

What are your thoughts on texting? How has texting changed the way your store interacts with customers - whether good, bad or indifferent? 

*please message directly for links to the studies

The profit margins in the service lane remain high and are every dealer's biggest asset. Yet to maintain the profits we have to be competitive with pricing. Noting that not everything has to be less expensive so long it is relevant, and the value is translated to the customer. Not everything that is cheaper is the *best*  option - where more often than not if there are *excellent* reviews the customer will opt for the more expensive service. 

Here are five ways to be competitive with pricing: 

Online Comparisons 

Best practice is to list the major services your service lane offers online. Posting the competitors pricing (using shops that are within reason). Where if your pricing is only a few dollars more - and the customer has previously serviced with you - then s/he will most likely return. And if asked, the pricing is supported with local pricing. Informing the customer that your techs are OEM certified, and training to work exclusively on your vehicle make. 

Mobile Apps’ 

For those who still have mobile apps - with geofencing - you can pick targeted locations such as big box retailers, which will push a notification to the customer's phones. This is invaluable when it comes to tire & brake sales. If the customer is headed to PEP Boys or Jiffy Lube and receives a coupon for tires cheaper than of what the big box guy is doing it might prompt them to visit the dealer. If this customer is in your assigned customer base - from the OEM - it could assist with the retention requirements. 

Meet or Beat Competitors Price 

This is mainly for oil changes. It does not hurt to have a coupon in your email blasts (to non-sold customers), which might urge the customer to look and see what your pricing is in relation to your competition. As I mentioned above, you might be a little bit more expensive, but if you are willing to match or beat their oil change offer it can lead to the dealer landing a new customer. 

Building Banner (It really works)

If you a store with a repair shop in your backyard you can always consider placing a banner on the side of the service bay. Allowing the customers at the neighboring store to see your low oil change price. This has proven to be very effective with our one store. Where customers at the adjacent location have literally pulled out, and driven into our store. Servicing their vehicle with us. This has resulted in a few extra sales a month as well. 

Rewards that Translate 

Letting the customer know ahead of time what their rewards would be on that service is a great way to build value. Expressing that not only are we less expensive, BUT you will also earn up to $3 dollars back per service. Not to mention, if you are wanting to upsell a major service you are able to use their rewards dollars as an “additional” discount, which builds value with the customer. 

How are you competitive with pricing? Do you use “Meet or Beat Your Competitor Pricing Tactics?”

Recalls are easy money, right? Several dealers are already taking advantage of recalls as a means of up-selling other services. Including the sale of a new vehicle! If you are not currently taking advantage of open recalls here are some helpful thoughts & marketing ideas that will assist you!

Customer Information

When selling the vehicle - originally - or with a customer who came in for service should always give their email to the advisor. But if there is skepticism the advisor can always use the line “in the event there is a recall we can immediately notify you via email (even text) long before you will receive your letter in the mail," which allows you to quickly and efficiently communicate with the customers who have an open recall. Even including a coupon in the email offering a spring/summer/fall/winter package.

Marketing

If you have marketed via email, you should use a dedicated BDC rep or manager to call the customers who have opened/engaged with the recall email. Obviously not telling the customer that they’ve opened the email. Instead, offer “Mr. Customer I wanted to make sure you have received your recall notice? Are you available now or later today for us to address the recall.”

More often than not you will secure the appointment especially since you are not up selling on the phone saving that for the lane.

Internal Management

You want to make sure you have a manager or BDC rep keeping track of the “recall” campaign. Making sure that all of the customers have been called. Including keeping track of when the appointments are booked for the advisors ensuring that the customers will not have a longer than usual wait time (depending on the service demands).

Keeping track of the campaign will also - as you know - help assist in future campaigns as you will have a good idea on what the ROI was!

New Customers

There will most likely be a few new service customers! This is as good as receiving a golden egg! So be sure to offer them a complimentary “rewards” account - not saying give away hundreds of dollars worth of services. But perhaps offer them some coupons or even just one free oil change. This will assist in increasing in PMA or ACB (assigned customer base) customers.

How do you handle recalls? Join the conversation today!

People (and yes, *many* not just the millennials) will forgo their favorite store to save a few dollars - so why do you expect service customers not to?

The hard truth is that they will, unfortunately, go to a one stop shop - such as a big box retailer - to save a few dollars. Often not having a good experience, but at the end of the day and a bad review on Yelp later they’re still “winning.”

Before throwing the towel in, however, there is a way to combat the pricing war. Video marketing is the it factor - but not a video “selling” a product or a service. Instead, a video advertisement that appeals to emotion and logic where the customer will subconsciously believe that your service center is the logical decision.

When you just use language to sell a product with a “pitch to the customer - who is automatically bias - s/he will have made up their minds within seconds where s/he has already defected from your sales pitch. So you have to change the way you sell by offering two choices. That is both a logical and illogical option.

For example, in a service advertisement it would go as such:

“You wouldn’t trust a plumber to be your primary physician, right? So then why choose a repair shop where you do not have to be certified? Yikes. (Physician with a stethoscope in background popping your hood) Make the right choice and hire one our award winning professionals to repair your vehicle. Giving you the peace of mind you deserve both in the shop and on the road.”  (pan in with shot of your lounge area showing all awards and certified techs - smiling with the customer)

People want to believe that s/he has made the decision of choosing what is best, and when presented with a logical and illogical perspective more times than not s/he will choose the logical option.

Some might argue it is nothing more than a political ad tuned auto campaign. But the fact of the matter is decades later video marketing with both a logic, and illogic perspective that appeals to emotions remains highly effective.

I will leave you with this thought - think about it - people know that a dealer sells cars and has a service center, right?

So why then continue to promote what people already know? It just doesn’t make sense. Creating a video with two options - yours being the right, logical, option just makes sense.

Would you or your dealer consider an ad campaign based on this? Who has already done this with great success or shear failure?

Reviews and social presence are an integral part of doing business in the digital world we live in. Collecting those reviews, however, is the challenging part. Everything from training the service advisor on the platform to the consistency in collecting those reviews. All of which assists in building a reputation that maintains and creates new business.

So Many Options So Little Time - Which Review Site, though?  

There has been a lot of discussion in our store as to which platform is best for reviews. Whether that is focusing solely on Google or Dealer Rater. We focused on using Dealer Rater having had great success.  Using the Dealer of the Year Award - 5 years running - as a means of building business and collecting reviews from new and current customers. Giving the Advisors talking points when handling phone calls, emails, and customers in the lane.

Part of getting the Service Advisors on board was not easy, either. We approached the Advisors expressing the value of building a relationship with their customers and taking the time to remember their names as they enter the lane. Making sure they had cards to hand out to customers as they are leaving. But It was not until one of the advisors got their first referral - Dealer Rater Connection Lead - that their excitement gained momentum, which has turned into 25+ 5 star reviews a month for the past two months. Having a direct impact on our business.

One of the other reasons there has been a focus on Dealer Rater is because it is the one trusted platform where the employee can be reviewed. Allowing the employees to build their own online reputation as a part of the store's overall image. Even allowing the Advisor the ability to receive connections (as mentioned above) - leads - that have led to sales, and most importantly new, happy customers! And as we all know, loyal & happy customers often spend more money.

Google is important, though right?

Google is very important, and if you have a GMAIL account, and are searching for a service center - your friend's reviews will populate, which can have a deep impact. That said, in our follow-up email we ask our customers to give us a review on Dealer Rater - posting it to Google, too. It is a catch 22, but in the meantime, we believe Dealer Rater is an invaluable tool that has benefited us greatly. 

How do you handle reviews? Do you have a social media manager? Anyone else have great success with using Dealer Rater?