Every conference, webinar, training session, and manager’s meeting you’ll be a part of focuses on the business side of a car dealership. There’s absolutely no doubt that profit and loss statements, the DOC, and all the reporting you do are crucial for a profitable, smooth-running service department. Otherwise, how do you measure your progress throughout the calendar year?

This time ‘round, we aren’t going to worry about setting financial goals. That’s going to be driven home on a consistent basis – so much so that you’ll have nightmares about numbers in the next month or two. Instead, let’s focus on setting some new goals for 2019. Goals you probably don’t measure in a traditional way. Goals that work on one of the most important sides of the industry: relationships.

Set Employee Retention Goals

Alright, so this one you can track with actual data. Year over year, you can determine your service department’s employee churn rate easily enough. It’s no secret that every new hire costs more than $50,000 on average in training and lost sales, but that’s the WHY and not the HOW.

Employee retention is all about relationships. A team member that feels connected and valued isn’t going anywhere unless they’re moving physical addresses at home. My suggestion is to track segments of the service department separately to help understand where there’s a need for improvement.

 Determine your employee churn rate over the past year, then set a goal to improve it by 10 percent. It’s achievable if you’re seeking to improve relationships in the service department.

Set Customer Satisfaction Goals

Whether you’re a service manager, service advisor, fixed ops manager, or dealer principal, you have a responsibility to ensure customer satisfaction. That certainly doesn’t mean the customer is always right, because we all know that’s malarkey. But it does mean interacting with a customer in a way that demonstrates moral character and servanthood.

It can come as a goal to personally greet five customers per day and strike up a short conversation. It may be demonstrated by working in the trenches, assisting valets and writing work orders when the service drive is overflowing. Trust me – customers notice when management is hands-on, and they appreciate it. And when there’s a dispute, the customer wants to be heard and understood more than offered a resolution.

Set Personal Growth Goals

Here’s one I struggle with daily: a personal growth strategy. Yet, I understand and agree there’s a need for it. To show you’re not satisfied with status quo, do one thing every day to make yourself better.

Read a chapter or a few pages of a management book. Spend 30 minutes at the gym before work. Ask a coworker if there’s something you can help with. Mentor a junior team member. Pray daily in your car on the way to work.

If you want to track your progress on a calendar, do it. Don’t beat yourself up for days you miss. Just get back on track today, not tomorrow.

Wondering how personal growth affects relationships? Here’s one thing you’ll quickly learn: focusing on yourself dramatically improves your ability to focus outwardly. When you feel good about yourself, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, you’ll be better equipped in your day to serve others and be attentive to their needs.

Well into the last quarter of 2018, most service managers are looking at the DOC and wondering if they’re going to achieve their target. And if not, how much of a shortfall will it be? All year long, you’ve been staring at the same goals and tweaking your methods to be at or over that magic number. So, what do you do if it doesn’t look like you’re going to hit it? And what do you do if you’re exceeding your goals?

Don’t Focus on the Fourth Quarter

I expect to take some flack for this stance. But think about it this way: if you haven’t been able to reach your monthly targets to this point and you’re looking at missing your annual target, do you think you’ll be able to affect enough change in the next ten weeks or so to catch up?

I don’t mean to sound like a Negative Nancy – just being realistic. And to be clear, I’m not implying that you just ride out the last quarter so you can start with a clean slate in 2019. No, it’s actually the opposite. You’re going to get down to work. Hard work.

On the other side of the coin, what do you do if you’ve surpassed your targets? One thing that’s guaranteed is that the GM and Dealer Principal are

Evaluate Your Targets

Look back at the year to date, month by month, and look for reasons why your numbers are what they are. Determine if it’s one month that’s thrown off your year so far, or if you’re missing targets time after time. If your store is doing well, the same action is required. See if there’s an anomaly that accounts for your success, or if your team’s just killing it overall.

Here’s the point: you need to know WHY your numbers are what they are. Good or bad, you need to understand what’s going on before you can move forward.

Find the Weak Spot

There’s a chink in the armor somewhere. It doesn’t matter how big or small your store is, nor if you’ve been hitting your sales and CSI targets. There is something that can be improved. Perhaps you have a service advisor whose hours per RO are below the rest, or you have a technician or two that don’t produce hours up to your expectations. Find the weak spot.

Plan for Next Year

It’s about training, coaching, and ramping up. January will be here before you know it, and it’s a fallacy if you think you can flip a switch to start strong in the new year. Don’t focus on the new year – focus on starting 2019 off right, right now.

Encourage Training

I’m of the opinion that product training is mandatory but personal improvement is a choice. With personal improvement types of training, provide access to personal improvement courses and training sessions if they desire. And to start the year off right, why not get as much training done before the busy holiday season kicks off?

Coaching

This is the corrective type of training. Where you’ve identified deficiencies, whether individual or corporately with your team, you should be aiming to straighten them out now. Carve out time for one-on-one sessions if you aren’t doing it already so you can mentor staff to correct behavior and performance issues.

Ramp Up

Forget what October, November, and December sales look like. Your goal is to hit the ground running in the new year, and that’s not easy if you only start the push on January 1st. It looks and feels like desperation if you’re working toward short-term goals. Instead, keep your vision on getting your team productive as you start the new year.

It’s been an up and down ride, folks. What’s happened so far in 2018 has stirred up the automotive industry, from the sales floor to the wash bay. And with it, there have been lessons to learn and information to glean.

Steel Tariffs

In March this year, President Trump announced his intention to levy tariffs against steel and aluminum imports. It caused an uproar in automotive where the effects would be felt on new vehicle pricing, parts manufacturing, and overall demand. In the first five months alone, more than $1.4 billion dollars in revenue was created, but at the potential detriment to the automotive industry. I won’t beat this to death – God knows that’s been done enough already.

But what did steel and aluminum tariffs teach the automotive industry? Once again, this adversity proved how resilient retail automotive is, even through uncertainty.

NAFTA Negotiations

Like steel tariffs, potential auto tariffs have been dangled over NAFTA countries’ heads, like an ax waiting to fall. It’s the uncertainty that’s generated in the NAFTA negotiations that make manufacturers and customers wonder alike: will tariffs decrease consumer demand, raise vehicle prices substantially, or both?

We’ve come through NAFTA talks – now USMCA – a little worse for wear, but in better shape than expected by many. With barely any effect on the automotive landscape, the industry keeps on trucking.

Tesla Woes

The spotlight has been on Elon Musk for years now, trying to turn Tesla into a profitable electric car company. That may happen yet someday, but Tesla production lines struggled mightily to achieve their weekly targets until recently.

What we see from the Tesla situation is evidence of customer loyalty. It demonstrates that car buyers are less likely than ever, on average, to buy a car on a whim. They’ll even pay a deposit and wait more than a year if it’s a product they believe in.

Electric Car Announcements

Aside from Tesla, 2018 started out with buzz about electric cars becoming mainstream in the coming years. While manufacturers like Volvo, Volkswagen, Jaguar, Lucid, Chevrolet, and Toyota are committed to developing electric vehicles for the everyday driver, very few have been produced for the masses. Instead, EVs continue to be premium models targeting the elite.

Slow adoption is partially the fault of the carmakers, but it also shows that car buyers are less willing to adopt new technology quickly. The concept and benefits may be intriguing and attractive, but car buyers are more conservative than they say they are.

There’s Still Only One Sure Thing in Retail Automotive

So far, 2018 has seen an uptick in dealers and manufacturers who see the important role fixed ops plays in everyday automotive retail life. Variables that affect car sales and the uncertainty of a volatile US economy drive home why fixed operations need to be a focus.

It’s all but guaranteed that every morning, at dealerships across the nation, customers line up their cars for service appointments. These customers are an opportunity to increase loyalty and drive repeat sales. But ultimately, it’s the profit the fixed operations departments generate that keep the dealership’s lights on, the dealership staff paid, and the sales department fueled with buyers.

While the variable operations are sensitive to economic, natural, and political changes, the fixed operations side is much less so. Spend resources – time and money – on fixed operations to keep your dealership competitive and profitable, no matter what’s going on around you.

Ever felt unhappy with your career? Of course, you have at times. But we’re talking today about a deeper type of job dissatisfaction than having a bad day or a rough week.

Over the Labor Day weekend, the business research group The Conference Board released details of a recent survey. In the American workforce, job satisfaction has risen to its highest rate since 2005. It’s a promising trend – that is, until you look at the scores.

The Conference Board discovered that 51 percent of Americans are satisfied with their jobs or careers, up from 49.6 percent three years ago. Let that sink in for a second, and think about how it relates to the dealership you’re in right now.

Of every two people you work with, one of them isn’t happy about their work. In a 50-person service department team, 25 people would rather do something different with their life to the point that they say their dissatisfied. That may even be you.

How Can You Discover Who Is Dissatisfied at Work?

There are those typical indicators like a bad attitude and poor performance. For service advisors, you might notice a decline in work orders written while in a technician you could find a higher rate of comeback repairs. But these could be attributed to other things such as problems in their home life.

The best way to find out who loves their job and who struggles to find satisfaction in their work is this: ASK!

If you’re in a management position, and assuming you are satisfied with your work, it’s incumbent upon you to find out if the people on your team want to be on your team. It can feel personal when people tell you they’d rather be doing something else, but it usually isn’t – it’s a matter of personal development more than anything.

Once you know if people aren’t happy doing what they’re doing, what can YOU do about it?

Ever Considered Cross-Training?

No, not like CrossFit. I’ve written before about each person training for the role above them, much like the military does. And that might be the case with your staff; that simply training for advancement will provide the fulfillment they want out of life.

But the automotive retail industry is unique in its structure. There are different positions within departments as well as between departments. It’s possible that simply exposing someone to another role will provide satisfaction, or it might help them appreciate the role they have. I’ve lived it – here are some of the cross-training opportunities I’ve had:

• As a high-school graduate, I started washing cars, then cross-trained as a shuttle driver.
• As a shuttle driver, I cross-trained as a service advisor until I was ready to take on the job.
• As a service advisor, I learned the role of dispatcher (we called it tower operator, but no tower), then took on that role when it became vacant.
• Then a couple years later, back to service advisor, with exposure to the sales floor on weekends. A year and a half of selling later, I settled into the service advisor role.
• Learning a bunch as an advisor, I had an opportunity to be a service manager for a time. Finding it wasn’t a good fit, I went back to the advisor role yet again.

I know, it seems all over the place. But job dissatisfaction was handled by my management well, allowing me opportunities to try new things and, ultimately, discover which role fit me best at the time.

The Bottom Line

Job dissatisfaction is a major problem still, and The Conference Board doesn’t foresee it getting much better in the near future. Don’t lose your staff to opportunities elsewhere because you don’t know they’re unhappy right now. Talk openly with your staff and see if there’s a way to keep your good people within the store, and in a role they thoroughly enjoy. Cross-training might be the ticket.

In every dealership I’ve worked for – and several others I’ve had the pleasure of visiting – the customer experience in the service department was always emphasized. How a customer perceives your department is invaluable if you plan to develop long-standing relationships with your customers. But there’s a factor I’ve personally seen that creates a dissonance for the customers, and it had nothing to do with the service department.

Rather, not the service department alone.

One scenario I’ve been witness to. A salesperson approached the internal service advisor with their customer in tow, scheduling their delivery. The salesperson wanted an unachievable target and the service advisor scoffed at the salesperson. Now, in a busy service drive, the salesperson and internal advisor tee off on each other in a heated argument. And yes, the sales customer was present as well as several service customers.

Who was right and who was wrong in this scenario? Is it the salesperson to blame or the internal service advisor? Both.

The Image You Project

Disagreements happen in the dealership environment. You spend more conscious hours at the dealership than you do at home with family. Getting on each other’s nerves is bound to happen. But it’s not about the disagreement at all, but how it’s dealt with.

A customer should never witness a dispute between dealership staff. In my opinion, it should result in disciplinary action to parties involved in the argument. The damage that happens is so much more severe than the momentary anger that’s displayed and the customer’s discomfort at that point in time.

Think about that new sales customer, following their salesperson to the internal service advisor. Will they be comfortable coming to a service department where they’ve witnessed hostility between coworkers? Will they refer their family and friends? What do they now think about their salesperson after seeing their darker side?

And what about other witnesses? The service customers who saw it – will they feel like it’s a stable place to bring their car? Is there an angry tech in the back, throwing wrenches at cars? Are they the next person to be yelled at?

An argument must never, never, ever be in front of your clientele. It’s extremely damaging to the positive image you’re trying to project.

A Deeper Problem

What we all know is that interdepartmental relations at dealerships are commonly strained, to put it mildly. Sales hates on service, service bashes sales, and the parts department is everyone’s whipping horse. And let’s not even mention collision repairs – no one ever talks about the body shop.

The fluffy, feel-good message is this: we all have to work together as a team. It’s easier said than done, and that we know is true from our personal and professional lives. Yet, in the dealership environment, it’s so easy to develop a culture where each department believes it’s superior to the others.

However, customers don’t view a dealership as a mall – several small businesses in one location. They view it as one entity and rightly so. For that purpose, there can’t be anger, dissonant messages, or even staff talking badly about each other.

How to Deal with Disputes

There’s a biblical model for dealing with disputes in a community, and it’s extremely applicable here.

The first step is for a one-on-one meeting between the two. When one person offends the other, it’s not appropriate to tell everyone around you how horrible the other person is, how deeply you’re hurt, or repress the problem. The correct response is to seek out an opportunity for a conversation alone so you can both carry on with nothing between you. That’s the adult thing to do anyway, wouldn’t you say?

If that’s not successful, assisted peacemaking should be sought. What that means isn’t running to tattle on the other person. It’s inviting one or two other trusted people into the conversation as mediators. They can help guide the conversation and point out when there are flaws in an argument. This could be a co-worker, team leader, or a manager with the ability to be neutral.

It’s only after those methods have failed that management needs to be brought into the equation. Lay out the problem for them. At this point, it’s out of your hands. It’s like a judgement in court – abide with whatever the decision is from them.

The point isn’t to find someone at fault but to work harmoniously together. It’s easier to go to work in the morning when you aren’t afraid to look someone in the eye. Work goes smoother when you don’t have to be concerned about your customers witnessing blow-ups around you.

 Customers take notice of positive environments too. That’s where they want to do business – wouldn’t you?

Ever invested in the stock market? I’m not talking about relatively safe investment portfolios, bonds, or a few shares in Google. The type of investing I mean is the stuff dreams and nightmares are made of – IPOs that will either skyrocket or plummet, a leap of faith in a startup with a great idea, or an investment during a crisis with hopes and prayers it will turn around.

It takes a certain kind of person to make investments of this magnitude and scope. You need to be willing to take a huge chance on success…but that also means an even bigger chance of failure.

There’s something you’ll notice about the people who invest in high-risk stocks: they NEVER put all their eggs in one basket. They’re looking for a home run on each and every investment, but they’re prepared to lose from time to time – maybe more often than they win. What it all comes down to? Finding a Golden Egg.

What Does Investing Have to Do with Dealership Life?

Rolling the dice on high-risk stocks is much like dealership marketing. The purpose is to capitalize on the next big thing before the competition does, earning more business and the resulting income. But not all marketing strategies will be successful, that’s obvious. A millennial demographic in San Francisco may not respond to the same ad portfolio as a middle-age executive profile does in Manhattan.

The risk is calculated and based on knowing your clientele. It’s just like an investor doesn’t put millions into a stock willy-nilly – they’ve done their research. But until the campaign is in full swing, there’s no way to really know how strong the response is going to be.

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

All content providers, marketing agencies, and social media marketers will have their own opinion about what’s best for your business. They’ll do their research and give you suggestions on what they think is your best chance of success. Strangely enough, they think their own product is going to be the solution for your problem.

But as you can learn from the volatile stock market, you’re going to win some and lose some. That’s why choosing one aspect of marketing, one demographic, or any other narrow metric is not a good idea.

Diversify your marketing portfolio, tackling three important aspects.

Do What’s Worked in the Past

Traditional marketing tactics like print ads, television and radio. It’s worked for dealerships and car companies for decades. The world is moving on from these media types, but there’s still value within these areas. Continue to put a small portion into traditional marketing techniques but do it selectively. Choose only the stations or papers that have proven in the past to be successful.

What Works Now

Today’s marketing is about digital marketing: paid ads on Google, social media campaigns, and a professionally developed website with fantastic content, for example. This should take up a fair portion of your advertising budget because it’s modern and successful across a wide swath of demographics.

Take a Long Shot

Put money into advertising that isn’t yet mainstream. Your marketing team has some ideas – tap into them. Is it to do with augmented reality or video stories? Can you collaborate with another successful company near you to increase both your businesses? Dedicate a portion of your marketing and advertising budget to explore the realm of opportunities to find the next big thing – your Golden Egg.

It’s like a diversified investment portfolio. Do what works well, but keep an eye on the horizon for opportunities.

Think with Google always provides interesting tidbits. From an August 2018 insights report, their research tells us that “84% of Americans are shopping for something at any given time and in up to six different categories.” Shoes and razors to kitchen appliances and car parts. Americans are constantly looking for their next purchase, and with a minimum of one in four people starting their search on their smartphone.

Yes, you already know people search their phones – you probably do it too. But finding the cheapest kitchen gadget on the Amazon app is very different than sourcing a local provider for a product or service.

How It Plays Out

Here’s a scenario with a shopper – pretend it’s you. As you walk up to the five-year-old Honda Civic or Chrysler 200 you drive, you notice your taillight is busted. That simply won’t do, and you certainly don’t want to get pulled over for something as simple as a broken taillight. Before you even get in the driver’s seat, you whip out your iPhone 7 Plus, unlock it, and search Safari or Google for “parts for Honda near me”.

Four types of search results are displayed, all jumbled together. You have the manufacturer’s website in there, dealership results, local aftermarket parts suppliers, and online parts retailers. Which one do you pick?

Like most people, you disregard the top results – the ones with ‘Ad’ listed on the corner. Because you live a busy life, you’ll usually pick the most convenient option from the first page of results. It might not be the cheapest option, but you’ll sacrifice a few extra dollars for immediacy.  The trouble is, how do you get to be a top result?

Relevant Content Marketing is the Ticket

That’s right, content marketing. It involves putting relevant, searchable information in front of the users’ eyes. But how does that tie into driving dealership traffic from the service department?

Here’s the rub: more people search for auto service and parts-related information every day than for new cars.

So, if you’re looking to create relationships with more customers that will eventually buy a car from you, capitalize on the larger market. Go after service customers and you’ll be nurturing relationships with your next sales customers.

What Type of Content?

Figure out what your customers are searching. Google Trends is a good place to start. You can narrow down the geographical area for more precise search results. Then use those keywords and topics to create dealership blogs that people actually want to read.

For service-related content, have posts with keywords like ‘Chevrolet oil change’, top accessories, services to have the dealership perform, and so on. Write parts-related content with search terms like the aforementioned ‘parts for Honda near me’ or questions like ‘does the dealership charge more for parts’.

Answer questions people have about service, parts, and the dealership itself. The content needs to have meat – substance that people will read and find valuable. And it must have a call-to-action in it, telling the reader how they can respond.

Why Create Content?

It’s simple. The TWG research shows that 80 percent of smartphone users will buy when they get easy answers. If you aren’t the search result that gets them their easy answer, there’s a very high likelihood they’re buying from someone else. A dealer that will get their future business and develop rapport. A dealer that will get their business when they need a car next.

Be a dealer that makes good on smartphone and online search results.

In sales and service, there are times you know a customer just isn’t going to buy. There’s no way. Sometimes you can tell by reading their body language, and others outright tell you they don’t plan to buy today. They might tell you they plan to buy a new car in three or four months, or they’ll perform that necessary service add-on during the next visit.

What happens? As commission-based sales professionals, those are leads that should be followed up on. More often than not, they’re swept under the rug and the service advisor or salesperson chases the next carrot they see, and that customer never buys.

I’ve done it myself on both sides of the coin: sales and service. In extremely rare instances, with customers that you’ve obviously connected with well, they return to you and request the sale. 99 percent of the time it’s a lead gone cold.

The cost is great, though – much greater than the single sale that isn’t made. That’s because it happens with most salespeople and service front-end staff, compounding the problem.

There’s Evidence!

I have another client in a dealer group that is on the verge of proving it. It’s all relative to website traffic and how follow-up call campaigns are performed.

The scenario is this: a dealership notices their sales numbers are slipping and renews a fervent push for their staff to make follow-up calls. That’s common practice in the automotive industry. There may by a spike in delivered units, but that’s not the metric that’s being watched.

Three to four months after the strong push for follow-up, online traffic reaches an all-time high. The reactionary follow-up campaign has had limited immediate success, but it certainly has an impact months later. Customers, especially repeat website visitors, can be reached to generate future sales also.

The numbers? Three months after, traffic is higher than ever. Four months after follow-up, website traffic is dropping up to 15 percent per week. That say a lot when you’re receiving hundreds or thousands of website visitors per say in an urban area.

What’s the Message?

You already know this. Follow-up is important. For dealership success and sales success for individuals, follow-up can’t be a campaign. That’s what my client is trying to prove to his management.

Reaching out to leads that aren’t ready to buy today isn’t annoying. Sure, it takes time to complete, but most salespeople have the time to invest in a few calls every day. Customers appreciate when a salesperson follows up to make sure you haven’t bought yet, let you know of a unit you might be interested in, and casually asking for referrals. It’s part of a relationship that started the first time the customer contacted YOU.

It’s not the easiest thing to train new habits into seasoned salespeople, but follow-up is one aspect they likely understand and see value in. For new hires, follow-up training should be done under supervision, helping them properly engage with previous leads and keeping the dealership at the front of their mind.

There’s no need to test the numbers. We all know the value in follow-up. Make it part of every day for every customer-facing team member in your store.

For those who still have cable TV, manufacturer and dealer ads continue to dominate the commercial breaks. Video advertising makes sense – there’s a message to convey along with imagery that just isn’t as effective in other media forms. For decades, commercial ads have been a high-performing way to create brand awareness and announce new models or redesigns.

But television isn’t what it used to be. Over the course of 2017, 3.4% of cable subscribers cancelled their plans. On the flip side, Netflix reported that nearly 2 million people signed up for their services in the first quarter alone. That’s a massive shift, and it’s because if widespread and inexpensive availability of streaming video. Netflix, HULU, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now – for a relatively low cost viewers can watch what they want in a mostly uninterrupted manner.

The Problem with Cutting the Cord

That’s a problem for advertisers. Dealerships who have a limited advertising budget aren’t getting the results they once did. Car companies need to find a different way – a more effective way – to let potential buyers know about their products.

Here’s the rub: driven by the millennials, the cord-cutting trend is simply an evolution. Those customers are still out there. They’ll still need to buy a car, lease one, or sign onto your car subscription service. And it’s up to advertisers to find an effective way to do it.

Where You Go From Here

Think With Google released a report about this exact topic. The U.S. Navy, who advertises extensively for recruiting, shifted their resources. Their current advertising is 70% TV. Next year, it will be 70% made-for-digital video.

What does that mean? The Navy created 60 short videos from 6 to 15 seconds in length, then strategically placed them in short series. Think about watching a YouTube video and seeing the ads come up – say, three per 10-minute video. A three-clip series can be placed in that video, like a story within a story.

That might seem like a stretch for dealerships with small budgets compared to the U.S. Navy. But it doesn’t take much to scale that idea to be usable. According to Think With Google’s report, there are three things that you need.

Brand Perspective

Catch your viewers by surprise, showing them something they don’t already know. A drone shot of a car driving down a coastline isn’t effective. A six-second video of a mother cleaning up a Cheerios spill with her Honda Odyssey’s built-in HondaVAC tells a story that also gives prospective minivan buyers a surprising detail.

Creative Perspective

Implementing ads in streaming video is only effective if you’re showing your creative to the right people. It takes hard work and research by your marketing team to identify and incorporate it. As an example, if someone is watching a music video, a 10-second clip of the Toyota Entune radio would be good placement for audiophiles. Or if the video is about a video game review, there could be an ad for rear-seat entertainment systems on the Dodge Durango.

The creative – meaning the video ads – needs to be in harmony with the video it’s placed in.

Media Perspective

It’s a package deal. Each part of the media and advertising strategy need to work with each other. A customer watching a six-second bumper needs to be able to relate the ad with the odd TV commercial you still do. And the bumper video should reflect the same production value and theme as your 15-second ads.

Honestly, an individual dealer will have a very difficult time doing this on their own, and many shouldn’t even try it. A marketing company is the best choice to undertake the strategy. But it’s very important to know what results you want, and the composition of your marketing strategy.

To each their own. Maybe you feel confident sticking with your traditional marketing strategy, despite the research and unquestionable shift away from TV and newsprint. But if you’re feeling the hurt already, flip your marketing script. Jump in the deep end with both feet with made-for-digital videos.  

Dealership service departments slow down during the summer months. Kids are out of school. Summer holidays happen. Overall, there’s just a sense of relaxation as people enjoy the weather, a break from the norm, and hey – even dealership personnel are entitled to some time off too.

But September is right around the corner. It’s back-to-school time. Everyone’s just settling back into their routines. Credit cards are recovering from a harrowing onslaught of summer activity charges. October is when things really get into the swing of things.

Then October rolls around. Seasons change to crispy fall weather and there’s Halloween.

November has the whole Thanksgiving weekend.

Then Christmas takes over December.

We All Have Our Excuses

There’s something every month, and what follows it up? An excuse. There’s always an excuse for why things are like they are in the service department. There’s a holiday or someone’s away on vacation. It’s school summer break or it’s too cold outside. And they truly play a role in how the service department operates. Yet, they are all just excuses.

I’ve used each one of the excuses I’ve mentioned, most of them truthfully. It’s easy to justify why the department’s performance isn’t growing or isn’t achieving quite as much as it could – or it could be about my personal performance too.

There’s a crude phrase about excuses that rings true here…

“Excuses are like… ahem… rear ends. Everyone has one and they all stink.”

Excuses aren’t any good to anyone. What they do is attempt to deflect responsibility away from the individual or department. But if you have an excuse, there’s a very good chance your inner lawyer is at work, helping you justify your position. And if your inner lawyer is at work, you probably should be doing something differently.

When’s the Right Time to Step It Up?

There’s no time like the present. You’ve missed enough opportunities already.

Here’s the thing about the summer excuse – and I know, we’ve been ragging on summer a bunch. Summer offers excellent opportunities if you gear your service department toward the right target. Emphasize air conditioning services and subsequent repairs. Encourage pre-trip inspections and subsequent repairs. Intentionally book service appointments spread across slower weeks, then implement accessory spiffs for your service staff.

Looking forward, make the fall months about routine maintenance and vehicle safety. If you have snowy months in your climate, take on a winter tire drive or alignment specials.

In the spring, get back to suspension work and vehicle detailing packages. And when summer rolls around next year, start it all over again.

Whether your service department naturally slows down in certain periods of the year or not, there’s literally no good reason to let off the gas as a department. You have customers out there that need the products and services you have. Your dealer principal expects your hard work every day. No excuse changes their expectations. But here’s what you can do instead of making excuses.

1. Turn excuses into challenges. If the service department normally has a slow couple of weeks once school lets out (or in), make it your goal to buck that trend. Here’s where intentional scheduling really comes into play.
2. Make service ads fresh for every season or month. It’s super important to keep your ads catchy and fresh so they don’t become old hat to old clients and potential customers.
3. Have a plan for slow times. Have your BDC or service staff call customers with declined services or missed appointments. Forge forward to catch up with outstanding recall notices.

There’s always an excuse you could use. If you’re looking not just to make a paycheck but to either make a difference or get noticed for a promotion, ditch the excuses and look for solutions instead.