Inevitably, the service department in December is a frustrating enigma. It’s next to impossible to predict the ebbs and flows, the staffing schedule over the holidays, and how the weather is going to play out. It would be easy to just play it by ear, writing off any sort of strategy, but that’s not exactly a recipe for success.

You could dump major resources into marketing the final month of the year. But that could prove challenging to justify for a month that’s typically less than stellar. Also, it’s tough to judge how well marketing performed in a time period so disrupted by holidays. Lets’ face it – December 24th, 25th, and 26th is a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, and New Year’s Eve is the following Monday. You’re really just working or the first few weeks of the month.

Instead of just winging it for the month of December, strap your team in for a wild ride to year end. Be intentional and implement a bold strategy on a shoestring budget (relatively speaking) to keep the shop full throughout the month.

Go Mobile

We’re talking a broad picture here. Whether you do your marketing in-house or farm it out, cast a net with a mobile marketing strategy. Snap up keywords related to services and repairs with ‘near me’ or ‘in YOUR CITY’ and pump a bit of money into it.

Think with Google has a Shopping Insights tool to help you figure out what’s important to people in your area. Pick rather specific services and products to advertise to keep the budget small yet effective in the mobile market.

Push Notification Blast

Have an app for your store? Good – use it. This will cost you next to nothing to use for your service marketing strategy. Send out an offer to your current customers for either a minimal holiday-time discount on a service with high profit margin, or a giveaway works too. Whatever you do, DON’T stack a discount on top of a loss leader like an oil change. You’ll have customers take advantage of the deal with no chance to upsell.

One tip about push notifications: don’t overdo it. Keep them infrequent so customers don’t gloss over as soon as they see them. You want to keep them fresh.

Offer Referral Bonuses on Seasonal Services!

For a few bucks per RO, you can KILL IT this December by offering referral bonuses to your staff. Pay the people you work with for bringing in their family, their friends, their acquaintances, their kid’s softball coach’s grandmother – anyone and everyone.

Set the criteria, and I suggest rather liberally, but make it on seasonal services. Choose items like cooling system flushes and winter tire packages. Pay your people either a flat rate per RO for these referred customers, an extra spiff if they’re first-time customers, and an opportunity to level up if it’s more than a threshold you’ve set (like $500).

Honestly, it’s probably the best advertising your money can buy. Sure, it’s going to be a challenge to get the GM or DP to sign off on it (because why wouldn’t your staff already do this?) but it’s going to be extremely rewarding if December is shaping up to be quiet.

A side bonus: you keep your staff happy when the service department is hopping. For advisors, technicians, and even managers, there’s nothing worse than going to work when you know you’re not making money but have to be there anyway. If there’s money to be made, it makes working during the holiday season palatable and maybe even enjoyable.