A while ago, I tested an aftermarket quick lube to provide a firsthand comparison with the dealership process. Then recently, I wrote about the firsthand frustration of trying to book a service appointment at the selling dealer and the subsequent simplicity booking with a Midas store. This is a follow-up to that appointment, and it should give you hope in the service department.

How the Midas Visit Went

It was bad. Start to finish, the oil change service appointment was substandard. And if it’s the experience a fraction of car owners have at quick lube shops, it’s no wonder people are so jaded about the automotive industry.

When I arrived, the advisor did not meet my eye nor take my information. He clarified solely that it was for an oil change appointment, then told me it would be an hour to an hour and a half. No signature, no shuttle ride.

I walked to a nearby store where I killed 45 minutes. At 53 minutes into the visit, as I approached the Midas store, I saw my vehicle leaving for a road test. I was very impressed at the efficiency and timeliness, as well as the respectful driving I witnessed. However, I was quickly disappointed as I discovered the car was just going in for its service, not completed.

So, I sat in the waiting area of 5 chairs, staring directly at the front desk, where the service advisor never once met my eye or explained it the time frame. A half-hour later, I was presented a quote for a new HID headlight bulb (not burnt out) and an engine flush. It came along with a lie that the oil light was flickering and there was no oil on the dipstick. Poor schmuck had no idea that I actually know things about my vehicle.

So, I left with a bill lower than the dealership’s cost on an oil change, but with my head hotter than when I visit the dealer.

How Dealers Can Beat the Aftermarket Experience

Service managers, fixed operations managers, and service advisors, customers have expectations for the level of service they receive. The aftermarket industry is often based on beating price, but I can promise firsthand that it’s definitely not the driving factor for your service customers. If you can do a few things really well, you’ll be the go-to choice for car buyers, and you might even draw in some customers who didn’t buy from your store.

Be On Time

The one resource none of us can ever get back is time. Those 53 minutes I waited might not seem like much, but it’s more than enough time to make me hot under the collar. Everyone knows their car won’t go in the minute they arrive. But if you’re going to be nearly an hour behind on an hour-long service, you’d better say something to me when I’m checking in. Or at least give me the courtesy of a call soon after.

‘On time’ means that your customer isn’t in the lounge, tapping their watch or staring at the clock. They know what’s going on and can plan around it.

Be Honest

Nothing will turn your customers away faster than when you’re caught in a lie or stretching the truth. Something as simple as a burnt-out light bulb that isn’t actually burnt out can disprove your trustworthiness and prevent them from ever coming back to your dealership.

We all know it’s the best policy, but it’s so easy to tell a ‘little white lie’ sometimes to cover our butts. It’s surprising how much grace some people will extend when you tell the truth, though.

Be Friendly

Eye contact. Smile. Small talk. They all go a long way to developing a trusting relationship.

Be Different

Let people know that you offer services that others don’t. If you have a shuttle service, a loyalty program, a breakfast bar, or a coupon they can use that day, offer it! When you can show that you truly care for the individuals (and consequently, their cars), they see it. Be different than the other shops that are open just to make a buck.

Your purpose as a service department is to provide SERVICE to the customers. Then, they’ll be loyal, potentially purchasing their next car from your store, and starting the lifecycle all over again. It’s so simple, yet so hard to do sometimes. If you can follow through with these four little tips, you’ll surpass every aftermarket service center around you, and become the default choice for the customer.

Service employees work hard, really hard. The service department is a baptism-by-fire style of teaching, especially in busy domestic dealers where there isn’t time to slowly bring new staff along. It’s a matter of getting a new hire to the point of productivity, whether it’s a service tech, a service advisor, a lot attendant, or cashier.

Productive is good – that’s what justifies the wages, working through costly mistakes, and long days of searching through resumes. But if you think that reaching the expectations for your new hire’s position is where it stops, you’re wrong.

Of all the reasons that people quit and move on is job satisfaction, according to The Harris Poll. Second only to low pay, dissatisfaction is the top motivator for the revolving door in some positions like service advisors and technicians. Those are the resumes you’re always filtering through, right?

But what if those employees weren’t unhappy with how their department was managed, or frustrated with being shut out of decision-making, or rubbing elbows with people who wear ties, not tech uniforms? That’s what happens when you start developing employees who want to take the next step on their career path.

Why Develop in the First Place?

Are you worried that one of your senior techs or advisors is going to walk out on you soon? Unsure if you have someone who can slot in if they do? You need someone trained to step up into the gap when the time comes.

But developing staff has a rudimentary role that can mitigate the loss in the first place. Since many of the people who think about leaving are wondering what comes next in their career, dissatisfied with their current status, why not develop them for their next career step?

Yes, that means you could be training your replacement. Hopefully it’s because you’ve stepped up to YOUR next position too, but you shouldn’t shy away from those optics. Developing leaders from your team shows incredible strength as a manager, plus it wipes the thought of leaving, of dissatisfaction, from their mind.

“What if I train them and they leave?”

Yeah. That happens. You put months of investment into them and they get poached by another dealer. At worst, you’re known as someone who trains leaders too well. At best, you’ll have built your network with people who trust you.

How to Develop Leaders from Service

The idea is that you train those who want to move up the ladder for the next rung up. It’s the next-man-up mentality you find in every branch of the military. There are a few steps to take.

Know Who Wants It

The first step is a conversation with each person on your team. Determine who wants to move up the ladder and who is happy where they are. There’s no need to force advancement on an unwilling participant – they’ll resent it and it will damage their view of the workplace.

Give Them a Mentor

One by one, pair up willing employees with a mentor in a position a step above. You are not exempt. As a service manager or fixed ops director, you should be taking on a mentor as well.

This is a small time commitment that nurtures growth, maybe an hour or two a week. When they get together, it should be to discuss skills and education necessary to take the next step.

Give Them Opportunity

When their mentor goes on vacation or a position opens up, you should be glad to give your team member the chance to better themselves. Let them take the plunge if they’re willing. It’s with a mentorship and development opportunities that you’ll take the thought of leaving the dealership out of their mind completely.

It’s been mentioned several times, yet it’s still a valid point. Customers are choosing aftermarket service centers over their selling dealership seven times out of ten, according to the Cox Automotive Maintenance and Repair Study. The top reason customers are choosing another service provider remains the same:

They simply don’t perceive value at the dealership’s service department.

While there’s no question that customers know OEM parts are the right choice and the dealership has knowledgeable, trained staff that know their car best, they don’t think they’ll get fair pricing on after-sales service.

Whether their perception is true or not, it’s real. And even from someone in the automotive industry who can see through it, here’s an honest example.

Off-Target Pricing

The reason many Mitsubishi buyers choose the brand is the old adage, ‘bang for your buck’. The same goes for this guy whose wife owns an Outlander SUV. When going through the debacle of trying to book a service appointment online (a plague rather than a profit for this store), the recommended service pricing stopped me dead in my tracks. I quickly abandoned the online appointment.

Our vehicle is due only for a basic oil and filter change. All else is up to date according to the maintenance guide, and luckily, the online system wasn’t suggesting anything more other than a tire rotation and brake fluid change for towing use only. Up here, we have winter tires that have just been installed, so no need to rotate the tires, and we don’t tow with it. But the $109.95 service B says it’s for a lube, oil, and filter, cabin filter inspection, and a whopping seven-point inspection. And lucky me, the tire rotation is included for free.

So, a Service A would do, but at the same cost as the Service B. So, for $110, I get an oil change and a seven-point inspection. What value.

Comparatively, a local Midas advertises a $29 conventional oil change or a $59 synthetic oil change. In the details, it includes a tire rotation and a “Courtesy Check including visual brake check, battery, air filter, fluids, belts, hoses and more…”

So, the best the dealership can do is tell me I’m paying $50 to $80 more for my service?

Customers are Discerning

I’m a consumer, just like everyone else. I believe that customers can and will do the exact same seven minutes of research to find a better deal. There are two things that need to be addressed at the dealership.

The pricing isn’t appropriate for the market. Clearly, service management hasn’t done a market pricing comparison to position their department as a value.

There’s no indication of value. I’d be willing to bet that 3 of 4 people abandon online service appointments at exactly that same point in the process. Seriously, a seven-point inspection at the dealership? I can rattle off two dozen items that are checked visually that could be mentioned, not just a measly seven. If that’s all the care a customer thinks their car is going to get at the dealership, then why wouldn’t they look at the aftermarket provider instead?

I take comfort knowing that the dealers and managers that read this are striving to improve their customer experience. Still, it’s a good practice to go through your online service promotions and the appointment process to see if there’s good reason for customers to choose your service department over the less-expensive yet less specialized competition.

If you saw the product reveal for the Tesla Cybertruck, you’re aware of the famous flop Elon Musk encountered on stage. Not exactly the glorious moment he was going for as the Cybertruck’s ‘bulletproof’ windows smashed rather easily. And on top of the embarrassing faux pas, their all-electric pickup truck was met with mixed, polarizing reviews.

A boxy, angular shape, albeit with some fancy gadgetry and a cool ‘vault’ truck bed, definitely isn’t the style that will fulfill Musk’s vision of an electric vehicle in every driveway. Instead of bringing a product to market that appeals to a broad audience, Tesla has gone for a niche client.

That’s NOT how you should model your service department.

Doing the Basics Well

Trying to go above and beyond expectations might’ve seemed like a good idea for Musk at the time with a truck that’s unlike any other, but it’s very unlikely to be a model for success. The same goes for your service department. You can offer a unique service experience – a shooting gallery in the back 40, Shiatsu massage in the customer lounge – but it doesn’t have widespread appeal. Solid basics, on the other hand, are always in style.

Just like doing the typical pickup truck just a little better and electric-powered would appeal to a wider audience, your service department’s widespread appeal is due to the basics. A friendly and fast greeting for every customer on each visit, a thorough walkaround, honest service recommendations, transparent pricing, and accurate service and repairs are fundamental to success in the service department.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It takes small improvements at the grassroots level to take your dealership’s service department from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’.

Offer Consistent Experiences in the Service Drive

Absolutely every customer that brings in a vehicle should expect the same process on every visit. That means the appointment, the greeting and handshake, the write-up, transportation options, and pick-up experiences should be consistent for all. Test your team to make sure it’s the case.

A variation from the norm creates confusion for the customer. Confusion or uneasiness is never a good thing in the service industry.

Be Expert Communicators

A long-standing frustration for many customers is due to the lack of communication from the service department. Some customers want to know every detail of their visit while others are less interested. Some engage with emails between service visits while others send those communiques to the junk folder. Always err on the side of communicating too much.

A customer who doesn’t feel they’re getting your attention when they need it WILL defect. There are plenty of places trying to take your business away. The last thing you need is to give your customers a reason to entertain other stores. Establish strong phone, texting, and email skills in your team, as well as marketing strategies for between visits.

Keep the Lot Organized and Clear

A small but important detail that can make a huge difference to the customer experience is simply in how easy it is to navigate your lot. We’re entering the winter months, and it’s challenging to keep the lot lanes clear. It’s frustrating for customers when they can’t find parking or they can’t navigate to the service drive doors easily because the lot is a mess.

Task someone with keeping the lot organized throughout the day and clearing the snow from in front of both overhead and man doors.

Tesla seems to have the idea that customers want an automotive revolution. That’s not the case – they just want the what they know to be made better. That includes the service experience.

Don’t try too hard to make your service department outrageously different. Just step up your game and absolutely nail the basics. Customers will love you for it.   

I have some mind-blowing statistics you need to know if you’re a GM, dealer principal, marketing manager, or service manager.

• 78 percent of male American adults use YouTube, as do 68 percent of adult women in the US.
• 72 percent of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate.
• Email click-through rates are 96 percent higher when the intro has a video.

Yes, we all know that video is an effective strategy for marketing. But who has time for marketing the service department effectively? There’s always a new vehicle hitting the showroom, fires to put out with current customers, and deals to close on the sales floor.

Fact is, growth is what everyone desires and it takes pains to make it happen. Those pains are both mental and financial because it costs time and money to kickstart an effective strategy for growth. And although video marketing is important for every part of the dealership, the service department needs to be a focal point.

Isn’t Customer Retention the Top Priority?

For the record, video isn’t going to be a massive revenue generator in the service department. What it does is keep the customers coming back. The cost of attracting a new customer is five times higher than retaining a current client. If you’re looking solely at retaining a customer through their ownership with the intention of selling them their next car, you have around five years of engagement that needs to happen.

Video engages customers better than any other media. Microsoft research shows that an average attention span is eight seconds. After that, they’re moving on to something else. Aside from a video, there’s very few ways to grip someone’s attention in eight seconds.

How You Can Use Video Well

If you aren’t already keeping in communication with your current service customers with a message specifically from the service department, that’s where you start. It has to be meaningful to the viewer, so no gimmicky or sloppy videos should ever go out. There are two types of video to create:

• Short clips, 15 seconds or less. These short messages are perfect for quick branding messages and special announcements, like a headline on a news story. They’re to capture a viewer’s attention.
• Longer clips, from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Think of these as explainer videos, an opportunity to build value for your customer with more detail about a brand or topic.

Develop a Cache of Content

For the service department, explainer videos are a goldmine. Your service advisors are constantly fielding questions about why certain services and repairs are necessary. Video clips can authoritatively show the why and how behind popular services like fluid flushes, timing belt replacement, tire services, and so on.

This cache can be linked to or embedded when service reminders are sent out. They’re perfect for seasonal service campaigns. They’re excellent for a service advisor to send a customer who has questions during their visit.

Get on Social Media

Your sales team will almost assuredly post new model videos on the dealership’s Facebook page. Your service team should be there too. Your service videos should consistently be posted for engagement with customers. And in every post, give the customers a way to respond if they want to book a service appointment.

Make It Shareable

Videos posted directly to Facebook are much more likely to be shared than from another video source. More than 10 times as likely. That means you should be posting natively to Facebook as well as Youtube. Don’t expect a ton of shares, but the ones you get dramatically increase your reach.

Video for the service department should ideally feature your service team. Some manufacturers have video resources that you can use, but they’re just not as engaging for the customer. Keep the production value high and put out consistent video, and your current customer base should realistically stick around.

I intended to write about the renewed importance of service videos on a dealership’s website. A resource I had lined up changed my topic in about 15 seconds. You might ask how that happened, and the answer is simple: the website didn’t load fast enough.

Funny enough, the page I waited for was a Think With Google report about the value of Youtube video ads. The page continues to have a spinny circle over a blank white screen. That led me to research how long a customer will wait for a website to load before leaving and not returning. It’s not long.

According to a MachMetrics report from last year, it’s all about the load time on mobile. The average page takes 22 seconds to fully load despite the enormous upgrade to mobile phone capabilities. But the more surprising statistic is that 53% of users will leave a website if the content they seek takes longer than three seconds to load.

You can debate how accurate that stat is, or fume about how impatient some people can be. The fact remains that surfers demand speed. If you think of your own expectations when browsing the World Wide Web, you’re likely to find the same trend. If a page takes more than a few seconds to load, you tap your toe, then tap the back button to find a new page.

But what can you do about it?

Above the Fold

If your web pages are slow to load, the best thing you can do is have the important information load first. In advertising, it’s called ‘above the fold’. It refers to the first thing a reader would see in a newspaper before they unfolded it. On websites, it’s the content that displays before the reader has to scroll down.

You need a hook above the fold. It’s the first part of the page to show up, and it has to have some type of valuable content for readers to consume. It gives your website a little longer to load while holding attention. Every page needs to be optimized on mobile and desktop for this.

Reduce Page Sizes

MachMetrics shows that the average automotive site size is 2.1MB. That’s rather substantial and a big reason pages take a long time to load. Your designer should be able to demonstrate aptitude for their job if you request that all web page sizes are reduced. Ideally, keep them under 1.3MB for faster loading.

This can be done by reducing image sizes especially. Use JPG, PNG, and GIF images that offer great quality with small file sizes. Reduce the image size so it will appear clearly on the screen but isn’t compressed.

Find a Video Host

Recently, Ryan Gerardi explored video hosting on AutoConversion.net. Because video takes up tons of space on a server, most automotive web service providers don’t want to host those files. However, you can control the user experience if you control the hosting. That includes load times as well as ad placement.

Youtube hosting is free, and a great way to get started with video on your website. But when your goal is to do video better with more intentional analytics and better load times, a provider like Flick Fusion should be on the agenda.

The bottom line: your website load time is more important than you think. The average automotive site takes 9 seconds to load. Over half of shoppers leave if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. Can you afford for more than half of your potential clients to never walk through the digital door?

Like all industries, customers are heading online more often for automotive service. The 2019 J.D. Power Customer Service Index Study shows a 40 percent increase in online appointment scheduling since 2015, and that pace is increasing. Whether you’re a service manager, BDC staff, or general manager, you know how important it is to offer internet scheduling for a service department… but are you doing it right?

Most dealerships have gaping holes in their service appointment scheduler online.

I’ve had the opportunity to check out dozens of internet appointment schedulers for franchised dealers. Typically, they fall into two camps: over-simplified and overly confusing. There are very few that actually guide a customer to booking their service visit accurately.

Why Accurate Appointments Matter

An online appointment gets customers through the door where a service advisor can properly advise about the visit, so why does accuracy matter online? It’s really simple: Valuing the customer’s time. If your service appointment scheduler is designed as a lead generator rather than a tool to empower customers to book their appointment, it’s failing. The main reason that a customer is booking an appointment online is for convenience, so the experience must continue that way.

Picture booking your service appointment online for an oil change and tire rotation. Then, when you’re in the service drive, the service advisor informs you that your car is due for timing belt replacement, coolant flush, valve adjustment, or some other time-consuming service. Your visit has gone from under an hour to a whole day unexpectedly. Speaking from experience, it’s aggravating and a reason customers choose to avoid dealership service departments altogether.

What’s Wrong with Simple Schedulers

Your basic appointment scheduler offers a list of selectable services – tire rotation, oil change, wheel balancing, coolant flush, alignment, and a few other services. Once the customer ticks off the checkboxes and submits the appointment details, they have an idea in mind of what their service visit looks like.

That idea might be totally wrong.

These basic appointment schedulers miss an invaluable aspect – the manufacturer’s required and recommended maintenance. That authoritative stance informs customers what the manufacturer suggests they need based on their service interval – no more and no less.

The Complex Appointment Scheduler Isn’t Any Better

Unfortunately, many complex scheduling systems are difficult to navigate. And while they offer a more comprehensive listing of services based on mileage and time, they confuse customers. What should I choose – normal or severe service? Do I really need my brake fluid changed? What’s included in the A service?

Complex appointment schedulers often command a ‘safe’ response from the customer, which is the least they can do for their interval.  

What a Good Appointment Scheduler Looks Like

I get it. Some of the appointment schedulers are on manufacturer-designed dealer websites and you don’t have much choice. The best systems, though, offer interval-based appointment suggestions as well as customizable service requests. Remember, you want to make it easy and convenient for the customer to book an appointment with you, not irritate them with hard-to-navigate processes.

What You Can Do

Whether or not you can change your appointment scheduler, there are a couple of things you can implement that will boost your customers’ confidence when booking online.

Add Service Descriptions

What’s included in an oil change? How often is a tire rotation recommended? What does a wheel alignment do? Why does engine coolant need to be changed? Your average customer doesn’t know the ins and outs of auto service. Reduce their skepticism by linking your services in your appointment scheduler to service description pages or popups. Companies like Fixed Ops Digital do a fantastic job of this.

Call Every Appointment

Whether the customer has accurately booked their appointment based on their interval or not, you should be calling to confirm every appointment. First, it confirms that you’ve received their appointment and it’s booked in the DMS. Second, it gives you an opportunity to review any services that are due so the customer can book their day accordingly. And third, it puts a face to the dealership which establishes trust before that customer ever sets foot in the door.

Online appointments are growing in popularity. Make sure your dealership is doing it right to prevent pushing your customers to the aftermarket service providers.

We know that a dealership’s fixed operations departments are the profit center. New and used vehicle sales can fluctuate wildly but vehicle servicing and parts sales are relatively constant. But we also know that service departments could be better.

The Service Industry Study by Cox Automotive last year 70 percent of vehicle owners who purchase from a dealer DID NOT visit the dealership’s service department in the past 12 months. Those cars still need service and repairs, don’t they? It’s telling when 7 out of 10 take their cars somewhere other than the selling dealer for upkeep.

And one of the top reasons for choosing someone other than the selling dealer shouldn’t come as a surprise: the dealership isn’t the most convenient place to service their car.

You Can’t Move the Bricks and Mortar

Obviously, if a customer lives and works outside of your neighborhood, it’s not possible to make travelling to your store more convenient for them. You can’t uproot the service department and move closer to them. It’s realistically only 20 percent of the clientele that fit into this box, though, so why don’t the other 80 percent find your store convenient?

Service departments have used shuttle drivers and loaner cars for decades to make it easier to bring a car in for service. Sadly, even these valuable services aren’t appealing to everyone – they can actually draw out the visit. The customer still needs to bring their car into the service drive then return later on to pick it up. It satisfies many, but there are still those who can’t take the time necessary for a dealership visit when there’s a quick lube shop on the corner.

Can You Bring the Service Department to the Customer?

Manufacturers including Ford and Toyota have been piloting programs to service vehicles through mobile technician programs. It may be just basic services like oil changes and tire rotations or repairs. BMW has taken an opportunity catch up on outstanding recalls with mobile technicians. YourMechanic has been doing mobile repairs since 2012.

Can your dealership go mobile?

There can be plenty to consider when starting out with mobile technicians. Who will go on the road? What types of service and repairs can your store perform on site for the customer? How will you deal with payments, a service vehicle, the tools, parts, fluids, lifting equipment? And who will write the RO or add lines remotely?

There are certainly challenges to overcome for mobile service techs. But consider that after buying a vehicle, you can expect more than two thirds of your customers to disappear after three years. If your store isn’t servicing them, who is? That’s lost service revenue.

But even more than service revenue, your losing a source for vehicle sales. If your dealership doesn’t find a way to service the customer’s car conveniently, your chances of selling them their next vehicle are slashed from 74 percent to 35 percent. They won’t buy their next vehicle at your store, and you’ll lose them as a source of referrals and valuable reviews.

Mobile servicing isn’t for every dealership. But if there’s a possibility that it can work for your store with just one technician on the road, it’s worth exploring. Perform a cost analysis to determine if it’s either a  break-even proposition or a money-maker. If it is, you’ll be giving your customers a reason to continue being loyal.

Three extensions to the service department, three voice mails. Booking an appointment to purchase winter tires and rims, a $1400 touch before taxes, and I have to leave a message? After speaking with a couple of friends, they echoed the experience in varying degrees. And after speaking with colleagues, they honestly didn’t think there was a real problem.

Training and coaching in the automotive service industry have focused on new ways to contact and communicate with the customer. But is the old standard, the telephone, falling to the wayside?

Some Context

Someone I know recently purchased a new vehicle and had a fantastic sales experience, albeit without a service introduction at delivery. Now they need winter tires for their new vehicle and asked me to help source them and make the appointment. The parts department was very helpful, pricing out the set of tires and rims and including the installation costs as well. And then I was transferred to a service advisor’s line to book the appointment.

No answer. After five rings, voice mail. Thinking, “They must be busy, I’ll try again in a minute,” I called back shortly. Same thing. That’s a little annoying. And once more, about a half-hour later yet. Finally, I left a message around 8:30 am.

When I still hadn’t heard anything by 11 am, I called once more. This time, after holding for the receptionist for about two minutes, a service advisor FINALLY picked up. The appointment was hastily booked like an order-taker, and it was over in less than a minute.

Here’s the cherry on top: around 1 pm, assumedly when she returned from her lunch hour, I received a call back from my earlier voice mail message. Yes, more than four hours later.

I’m betting I’m not the only one who sees a problem here.

Standards in Dealing with Phone Calls

I know that this type of response to service phone calls isn’t the norm, but it’s prevalent enough that two friends I spoke with had similar experiences at other dealers within the past year or so. It’s just not good business. When customers don’t think you’re trying to serve them or you’re too busy, they’re not going to wait for you. They’ll go elsewhere. Chris Riley, owner of AutoWise.com, reports that shoppers who don’t receive a response to an inquiry within 10 minutes will continue searching for another service provider.

• Phone calls should always be answered within two rings if at all humanly possible. That means an idle shuttle driver or service tech should be able to pick up the phone and ask the caller to hold at a bare minimum. Ideally, it would be the service advisor, service cashier, warranty administrator, or service management that would take the initiative.
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• Every caller should feel like they’re getting your full attention as if they were a customer in person. Don’t rush them off the call or accept interruptions. Demonstrate that you value their business.
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• Return phone messages in a timely manner. While that’s up for interpretation, it isn’t acceptable to return a call more than four hours later, or even two hours. What if that caller’s vehicle was in the shop, or it was a response to a quote you’ve given a customer? You’ve just delayed their repair by half a day. Strive for less than 30-minute callbacks.
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• Hold times in all departments should be under a minute. Affiliated Communications says that customers start to get angry after holding for 60 seconds, and every additional second affects their opinion of your store.

Service managers, you know your service advisors are busy. But if you’re going to improve your retention rate, phone calls are a great place to start. Audit your team as they answer calls to see how they’re doing. Encourage them to maintain strong phone call skills by reminding them of why it’s so important.

The average time it takes to recondition a used car is 10 days. A vehicle depreciates approximately $10 per day. I’ve personally seen the process take as long as 42 days, and on more than one occasion. The faster a car can be reconditioned and put on the used car lot, the better it is to turn a profit.

And while most readers will think that used car reconditioning is an excellent reason to have a service tech dedicated to sales department work, I think it starts well ahead of used car preparation.

It starts with the trade-in appraisal.

Edmunds reports that in 2017, 43 percent of car deals involved a trade-in. Yet, nearly every one of those deals is to replace a current vehicle. Around half of your car buyers aren’t trading in their car, and it’s more often than not due to the trade-in value.

Trade Valuations Can Hurt

Naturally, a customer who buys a vehicle despite dealing with their old vehicle on their own sees like a victory, and every rolled unit is a success. But if they haven’t taken the opportunity to have their trade appraised by the dealership, it’s likely they have the perspective that the dealership won’t give them a fair trade valuation. That’s not a good place to be.

And when they are getting an appraisal, it’s common that the sales manager is looking for a way to steal the trade – or that’s how the buyer feels.

Be Transparent with Appraisals

If you could give a car shopper a clear reason to trust the trade process, wouldn’t you be more apt to close deals, and wouldn’t you have access to more used cars for the lot? The answer is a resounding yes.

Here’s what could work. Picture a vehicle lift that’s dedicated to the sales department. When the salesperson is asking whether a trade is involved, they mention that they can do a comprehensive appraisal that aims to get them the best trade value possible. It needs to be clear that they’re working for the customer at this point.

When the trade appraisal is happening, a service tech dedicated to the sales team puts the car on the lift and performs a thorough inspection. Having the owner present is huge at this stage and offers multiple opportunities to build the relationship. “Wow, you’ve taken great care of your car!” “It looks really nice, and the undercoating you’ve had applied will really help build value for the next owner.”

Not only does this build value for the customer, but the dealership knows exactly what they’re getting into. It eliminates the guesswork in an appraisal where you’re building in a contingency for the unexpected. You can be more confident in the cars you’re buying, plus you can bump up trade appraisals for customers without getting stuck with a turd.

Why a Dedicated Tech?

Couldn’t you just have a service tech do an appraisal though? On a slow day in service, yes. But if it’s busy, it’s impossible to find an open hoist to have a trade-in checked out or a tech free to do it. And anyone who’s been around for a while knows that when sales is busy, service usually is too.

It’s an investment to have a dedicated sales hoist and technician, although they could also be your accessories installer. Every store is different and the devil is in the details. However, the benefit of higher, more accurate trade appraisals is certain to build trust with customers and boost new and used car revenues.