Everything is moving to digital, does that mean that your location isn’t valuable? New research shows that your physical location could be your most valuable asset in both your offline and online strategies.

DrivingSales is excited to announce that David Bell will be joining us as a keynote speaker during the DrivingSales Executive Summit. 

David R. Bell shows why online retailers are jealous of your location and how to leverage it as strength in your defense against online only retailers. Bell teaches online and offline retailers why “Location is (Still) Everything” for every type of buyer from baby boomers to millennials.

During this keynote session you’ll learn:
-Why Amazon is opening physical stores to compete with businesses like dealerships.
-How to make your physical location a strategic advantage long-term.
-How to build a connected customer experience that increases close ratios.

A graduate of Stanford University and marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, David is an award-winning teacher and researcher. His studies focus on how we use the Internet and related technologies to search, shop and sell – a subject he delves deep into in his bestselling book – “Location is (Still) Everything” (New Harvest, July 2014), which was translated and published in Brazil (2016) and China (2017).

David developed Wharton’s first MBA course on digital marketing and e-commerce, and is Founding Academic Director for Digital Marketing Strategies for the Digital Economy at Wharton Executive Education. He is an investor in several new economy companies including Bonobos (acquired by Walmart), Diapers.com (acquired by Amazon), Harry’s, Jet.com (acquired by Walmart), and Warby Parker, among many others.

His academic articles are published in all major marketing journals – Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Management Science – and his research has been recognized with the Frank M. Bass Outstanding Dissertation Award, three John D.C. Little Best Paper Finalist awards, two INFORMS Marketing Science Long-Term Impact Finalist Awards, and First Place Award in the 2014 Production and Operations Management Society Applied Research Challenge.

A New Zealand citizen, David received his PhD from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Detroit-based Businesses Join to Qualify In-market Leads, Generating Approximately 50 Vehicle Sales per Month

LIVONIA, Mich., July 17, 2017: Valassis, a leader in intelligent media delivery, has developed a new chatbot, helping Detroit-based Feldman Automotive Group drive vehicle sales, while boosting click-through rates that exceed the auto industry average.

Valassis, along with SMART (Strategic Marketing and Research Team), created a new chatbot for Feldman to reach untapped, in-market leads and increase consumer engagement, dealership traffic and sales. The Valassis automotive chatbot targets potential car shoppers within a specific geographic radius of several Feldman brick-and-mortar dealership locations through an advertisement on Facebook’s Newsfeed. Once activated, the bot engages interested consumers through a Facebook Messenger conversation.

After effectively incorporating Valassis’ chatbot into their sales strategy, over a multi-month pilot, Feldman was able to reach nearly 100,000 people and convert approximately 50 vehicle sales each month, directly linked back to chatbot engagements. During the pilot, click-through rates ranged from 4.5 – 5 percent; nearly double the auto industry average.

Valassis’ chatbot provides 24-hour online assistance for Feldman’s customers and is specifically designed to converse in vocabulary used during the automobile sales process. It utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing to determine which consumers are in-market and subsequently qualifies and forwards leads to the dealership’s sales team.

“We’ve seen huge engagement with Valassis’ chatbot,” said Al Gillespie, ecommerce director, Feldman Automotive Group. “Consumers want to be in control of as much of the shopping process as possible and the bot enhances their experience. We know consumers do 90 percent of their research online before setting foot in a dealership. The bot serves the customer efficiently by asking questions before they come in, then provides them with information quickly and easily in real-time. When they walk through the doors they’re ready to make a purchase right away. Valassis’ chatbot also supports the high brand standards we have built here at Feldman.”

“The wave of innovation in artificial intelligence has brought chatbots to the forefront and we have only scratched the surface in terms of how chatbots can enhance the consumer experience and improve business processes,” said Cali Tran, president, Valassis Digital. “Our chatbot is designed to drive authentic, transparent engagement for Feldman’s customers – generate leads and ultimately bring interested shoppers into dealerships. We are excited about our early success and continue to look for innovative ways to improve the consumer experience. Bot development, mobile solutions and our large omni-channel media network with our sister company, RetailMeNot, supports Valassis as truly leading intelligent media delivery.”

To learn more about the Feldman Automotive Group/Valassis’ chatbot, click here.

About Valassis

Valassis is a leader in intelligent media delivery, providing over 58,000 clients with innovative media solutions to influence consumers wherever they plan, shop, buy and share. By integrating online and offline data combined with powerful insights, Valassis precisely targets its clients’ most valuable shoppers, offering unparalleled reach and scale. NCH Marketing Services, Inc. and Clipper Magazine are Valassis subsidiaries, and RedPlum® is its consumer brand. Its signature Have You Seen Me?®program delivers hope to missing children and their families. As wholly owned subsidiaries of Harland Clarke Holdings, Valassis and RetailMeNot, a leading destination for digital savings, are partnering to connect retailers and consumers through meaningful digital, mobile and print promotions.

I had the chance to interview Bill Playford about car subscription services, and how they're going to change the marketplace. Take a look what this insider had to say.

• Give it to me straight, do you like the idea of car subscriptions, or is it just something you've come to accept?

1. I live about thirty minutes from our children’s school, and our property adjoins more than 300 acres of farmland. For my family, having two vehicles is a necessity. Finding a place to park on nine acres of land isn’t a problem. But, for the more than 80% of Americans who live in urban areas, something as simple as where to park a vehicle is an expensive problem. 
2. I believe it will be the extrinsic factors such as stagnant wages, congestion charges, emissions and safety regulations, along with ballooning insurance costs that will drive consumers to fractional ownership, then eventually to autonomous vehicles. I don’t like the idea of a shrinking middle class or the death of loud V8 engines, but it’s something I’ve come to accept. As I mentioned in my previous post, we don’t have to like it.  

• What are the pros and cons of this, for automotive dealers?

1. The cons are fairly obvious. All of the quibbling over website design and DMS regulations will cease to mean anything when the retail model as we know it collapses. 
2. There are several pros for the dealerships that are forward thinking and business minded enough to survive the transition. 
   1. Luxury, high-line, classic, and exotic dealerships will likely be safe, or may experience a slight uptick in business. These types of vehicles are emotional purchases, with buyers well-heeled enough to drive them through any economic conditions. They will also cater to those who seek the nostalgia of gasoline, stick shifts, and analog controls. Even though everyone has a smartphone in their pocket, some still choose to wear a wristwatch.
   2. I believe car dealers to be among the most resilient business owners in the world. There are already dealerships who want to stay ahead of the coming transition. In fact, just a short time ago, one of our dealerships discussed working with us to add fractional ownership to its portfolio of products and services. Instead of letting the Silicon Valley set and the OEMs dominate the space, dealerships have a unique opportunity to convert millions of existing buyers before someone else does. These dealerships will likely remain key players in the suburban and exurban markets as autonomy takes over the city centers. 
   3. Dealerships in rural markets will most closely resemble today’s dealership model, as fractional ownership and autonomous vehicles are largely impractical for these markets. The best of these dealerships will become e-commerce distribution hubs to serve the urban markets where traditional dealerships evaporated. Mink, Louisiana didn’t receive landline telephones until 2005, so this is a pretty safe bet. 

• How much time do you think we have before things like Flexdrive are inevitable?

1. Flexdrive is demonstrating that the technology already exists to offer such services, as the hardware and software infrastructure to make it possible have existed for a few years. The real hurtle (or barrier, depending on your standpoint) is the economy. Many economists have predicted a significant market correction that will happen sometime between now and 2020. That market correction, in conjunction with the record amount of off-lease customers from the SAAR boom years, will drive the demand for these services as it promises a model for a lower overall cost of ownership.

• What should dealers be doing to prepare for this type of innovation?

1. After working with dealerships big and small all over North America for the last ten years, I can say most simply won’t make it. It’s been predicted that up to 80% of vehicles may be off the road by 2030, and production can fall as much as 70%. We all saw what happened during the great recession, and that might be a cakewalk by comparison. 
2. The dealerships that will thrive in this new environment will be the model of efficiency, with every square inch of their lots monetized in one way, shape, or form. Inventories will be optimally populated by early forms of artificial intelligence, that will maximize inventory turn and profitability based on any given market. Walk-in, Internet, and phone traffic will also use similar technology to offer a nearly infinite combination of messaging, timing, and personnel assignments to predictably manage all potential and existing customers. The once lauded expert sales people will rapidly become legends in their own time, as the last people who want to be sold bought their last car. As a result, profit margins will surge.

• What is a mistake dealers are making when it comes to this type of innovation?

1. The biggest mistake that dealerships can make is feeling like it’s too far fetched to happen. There are so many examples of dominant companies that had the opportunity to adapt, but utterly failed to see the writing on the wall. Companies like Kodak, Nokia, Compaq, Blockbuster, and MySpace went from market leader to life support in just a few years.
2. The second biggest mistake is not embracing the change. Dealerships already have the first mover advantage. They just don’t realize it yet. 

• Who should we be watching out for to take the lead in this space?

1. The OEMs are already uniquely positioned to take advantage of this market shift. GM’s acquisition of Cruise and VW’s acquisition (via Audi) of Silvercar send a signal that the manufacturers look to capitalize before outsiders can make a significant impact. GM has already rolled out a subscription service with Cadillac, while BMW offers ReachNow, and Daimler (Mercedes Benz) offers Car2Go  We all need to remember that the OEMs control the hardware, meaning once they decide to make it difficult, they can as soon as the next vehicle lifecycle begins. 
2. Clearly, Silicon Valley startups pose an existential threat. Thanks to their perceived hostile nature to the auto industry, I see them mostly as acquisition fodder for the established players.
3. Cox, smartly, opted to strategically partner with a dealer group to roll out Flexdrive, allowing it to get a footprint quick. Like the airlines, the retail conglomerates tend to fall in line with each other. It’s easy to imagine that CDK and Reynolds & Reynolds could be on the hunt, given that their DMS duopoly is under serious threat. 

• Are you seeing dealers have concerns about this, and if so, what are their biggest worries?

1. I can’t speak for all dealerships, but I can say that among DealerKnows dealer clients, only one has shown interest, and that’s only after reading my original article. Most dealerships are coming to grips with a collapsing retail market, and are trying to find ways to maintain the record sales of the past few years. In other words, they’re trying to find magic bullets to fight the current threats, while a completely impervious threat looms on the horizon.

How brilliant marketers find and follow what makes their stories different in a world full of average content

DrivingSales is excited to announce that Jay Acunzo will be joining us as a keynote speaker during the DrivingSales Executive Summit. 

We've practiced the best practices. We’ve tried the tried-and-true. But deep down, we have this creeping feeling our branded content is slightly better at best and copying competitors at worst. Noise competing with similar noise.

What if we could break from all that? What if we created more original, more inspired work? What if we could proactively shape the market instead of constantly react to all the generic advice out there?

In other words: What if we were the exception?

In this fast-paced, inspiring talk, award-winning podcaster and former Google and HubSpot brand-builder Jay Acunzo will challenge us to break from conventional thinking. He'll share stories of innovative marketers who rejected best practices to succeed — and the simple but powerful thinking that guided them. You'll learn how to make a daunting leap between average and exceptional seem more like a smart strategy, and you'll realize the best way forward doesn't require any "guru" or "growth hack."

In the end, you’ll walk away ready to create more differentiated content that grabs attention and drives bigger results despite all the noise. In a world overrun with commodity content trying to reach people, your secret weapon will be knowing how to resonate.

Are you ready to be the exception?

Jay Acunzo is an award-winning podcaster, dynamic keynote speaker, and a guy bothered by conventional thinking. Working as a digital media strategist at Google convinced him that the tried-and-true often leads to stale work. As head of content at HubSpot, he developed a passion to see marketing as a craft-driven profession. Now, as the host of the audio documentary series Unthinkable, Jay spends each week telling the stories of people and companies who break from the convention to do exceptional things.

Over the past decade, he’s built content strategies from scratch for startups, produced attention-grabbing series for publishers and challenger brands, and even scaled a venture capital firm through narrative podcasting. His work has been cited in courses at Harvard Business School, by writers at the Washington Post, Fast Company, and Forbes, and by investors on TV’s Shark Tank.

Today, Jay hosts shows and works with teams who aspire to be the exceptions to all the noise in their niche.

NORTH HILLS, CA (July 20, 2017) – Southern California’s Galpin Motors today announced its Chairman and CEO, Bert Boeckmann, was presented with Ford Motor Company’s first “Dealer Hall of Fame” award in recognition of his lifetime of achievement, outstanding performance and inspirational leadership. Additionally, Galpin Ford received over 12 additional awards including being recognized as the number one Volume Ford Dealer for a record 27 years in a row.

“The objective criteria is really, which of the dealers in this top volume group are universally admired, respected and loved by folks at Ford Motor Co., Ford Credit, by their employees and especially by other Ford dealers?” asked Mark LaNeve, Vice President – Marketing Sales & Service, Ford U.S., to cheers from Galpin employees during a taped awards ceremony. “It was my great honor to induct Bert Boeckmann into the Inaugural Ford Hall of Fame.”

Boeckmann joined Galpin in 1953 as a salesman, and by 1957 at the age of 26, Boeckmann was general manager of the company. By 1968, he became president and majority stakeholder and the rest is history. Today, Boeckmann is widely recognized as the most honored and successful automobile dealer in America. He has achieved a record of success for a single franchise, single location dealer that is unparalleled in the automotive retail industry and he constantly sets new industry standards for excellence.

“My father is the most honest man I know, the hardest working person I know and sincerely cares about every customer and employee!” said Beau Boeckmann, President and COO of Galpin Motors. “Without his dedication to our customers and employees, Galpin would not be where it is today. I’m thankful to Ford for their support and recognition, and I couldn’t think of a better first-time recipient than my dad.”

Galpin, which celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, has always been a pioneer in the dealership industry, which is due in large part to Boeckmann’s leadership and forward-thinking. In the 60s, Galpin began leasing cars to individuals before dealerships were even leasing to companies. In 1966, Galpin opened America’s first in-dealership restaurant, The Horseless Carriage, which is still a success today. The dealership also coined the term “Galpinizing” for its world-renowned custom vehicles.

Today, Galpin operates 12 franchises, in addition to its customization shop Galpin Auto Sports.

For more information, please visit www.galpin.com or www.galpinautosports.com.

About Galpin Motors

Galpin Motors, home to the world’s largest volume Ford dealership for the 27th consecutive year, was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. Galpin is comprised of a family of quality automobile brands that include Ford, Lincoln, Honda, Mazda, Subaru, Volkswagen, Volvo, Jaguar, Lotus, Aston Martin, Kia and Spyker. For additional information on Galpin Motors and Galpin Auto Sports, contact Marketing Manager Jeff Skobin at 818-778-2255/jeff@galpin.com, visit the dealer at 15505 Roscoe Blvd., North Hills, Calif. 91343, like on Facebook at Facebook.com/GalpinMotors or visit www.galpin.com

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positons in electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 202,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.

It has never been easier to be average.

This post was written by Jay Acunzo, who will be speaking at the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit in October.

When we start to do anything new, it can be a struggle. We don’t have all the answers we need. But today, with just a little bit of effort, we can find them and ascend quickly to “average” status.

Want to learn how to drive more leads? In seconds, 188 million pages are there waiting to tell you. Thinking of picking up a culinary skill? Watch a YouTube video about literally any dish. The world is your oyster. Or your bruschetta. Or quesadilla. Or–brb, I need a snack.

In the Information Age, we can hack our way to junk and copy our way to passable before we’re just a tiny burst of work away from average. That wasn’t so bad! We’re already there! And — good news! — more of that helpful stuff is poured into the world with each passing second.

Yes, it’s never been easier to be average. But it’s never been harder to be exceptional.

To be exceptional, quite literally, you have to be an exception. You have to do things a little bit differently.

You can’t just follow the list, but the problem is, all those lists are so … ubiquitous…

They’re so … tempting…

They’re so … mysterious…

(It didn’t, by the way.)

So if being exceptional means being an exception, I have good news: Everyone already is. Everyone has a unique combination of experiences, aspirations, hopes, fears, beliefs, and skills.

But not everyone trusts that. Not everyone uses that.

I think it’s time we all did.

I think it’s time to be better than the average. It’s time to break from all the conventional thinking. It’s time to be exceptional, not “good enough,” not “gets the job done,” and certainly not “but I have numbers to hit.”

So how can you do that?

Trust your intuition.

The things that shot you up to average are external. The one thing that gets you to exceptional is you. There are no lists or YouTube tutorials to get you there. You can’t “best practice” your way to extraordinary. In a noisy, increasingly commoditized world, the only real differentiating factors are the individual and the team, in other words, people.

We all have access to the same tools and tips-and-tricks. More than ever, the things that make you an exception matter.

Trust your intuition.

So what does it take to do that and succeed? That’s what we’re exploring with Unthinkable.

Unthinkable is a collective journey to answer that one question. However, rather than end with a 12-step plan or 7 tips-and-tricks, we’re backing up a step from the moment of action to examine the way in which we prepare for it.

How can we be more specific and concrete in the aspirational anchors we throw out to the world? How can we better pull from the right influences to inform and improve our work? How do we create and take advantage of the right experiences in our lives and training in our work, both when they’re directly and indirectly related to the task at hand?

If we each had our own Iron Man suits, then most people and resources out there focus on playbooks and prescriptions for exactly how we should use then. Well what if we learned how all the parts worked? Then we could use them however we wanted — each of us in a way that’s an exception to every other person and moment, because every person and moment is an exception.

Yes, it’s never been easier to be average. So maybe it’s time we aspired to do the hard part. Let’s go.

Listen Here

We here at DrivingSales offer our condolences to the families of those involved. Alan Ram was an industry insider who will be missed by many.

Alan Ram, 53, and passenger Krista Buchanan, 22, have been killed after a plane crash near Falcon Field Airport.

The aircraft that crashed was a Lancair Evolution, which Ram was piloting.

Ram was a successful businessman in the automotive space who owned Alan Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions. His business focused on increasing individual and dealership productivity in the industry

Ram served as a Marine early in his life and was about to get married. Ram owned many planes, including the Lancair Evolution that went down Monday afternoon.

Mesa police and fire crews were dispatched to Longbow Golf Course just before 5 p.m. Monday when the plane crashed on the 10th hole fairway.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane reported mechanical trouble and couldn't reach the nearby airport.

Ram was talking with the Falcon Field Airport Tower seconds before the crash. Audio of that conversation indicates Ram was experiencing electrical issues.

Here's the conversation:

Ram: And Falcon Tower, Evolution 571JM.

Tower: 571JM Falcon Tower, you're number two...just a two mile final, Runway 22 Left, clear to land.

Ram: Runway 22 Left. And I'm still quite a bit to the west of you. Is it okay if I cross midfield and drop in to a left downwind for 22 Left?

Tower: 10-4, that's fine.

Ram: Alright sir, I'm having, still having an electrical issue. I had one on Friday and I'm... I'm about to go dead. So I'm just going to cross over and make left- Lost of audio.

This investigation is ongoing and has been turned over to officials from the FAA.

This post was written by Jay Acunzo, who will be speaking at the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit in October.

The other day, I was scrolling through some Facebook comments (mistake #1) on a thread about whether self-driving cars would become mainstream. I was blown away by how the debate wasn't whether they'd happen but what reason would prevail for why they wouldn't. Everyone seemed to jump right to the reasons to NOT believe -- or perhaps they even relished in immediately shooting down the very thought.

I take for granted working in tech and, mainly, with startups my entire career thus far. I think the best part of the startup world is the collective openness to new possibilities. Whereas most people scoff "no chance" at something new and crazy, we say, "what if?"

Damn, I love those two little words so much.

Self-driving cars? No chance they replace regular cars, right? Too much infrastructure and they could crash! "Yeah but what if?"

You're a media company, but you aren't gonna run any ads? That'll never work. "But what if?"

Artificial intelligence? I mean, have you SEEN Terminator? Or... "Yeah, but what if?"

Virtual reality? Augmented reality? Machine learning? Clean energy? Electric vehicles? Noooo chance. "BUT...what if?"

Here's another: WHAT IF you chose to be optimistic? WHAT IF you broke from conventional thinking, if only in your mind at first? WHAT IF you allowed for new possibilities?

This post was inspired by the following episode of Unthinkable, Jay's podcast about people who question conventional thinking at work and trust their intuition instead. You can listen below or subscribe to the show here (iOS users) or here (Android users). 

Listen Here

Written by David Bell who will be speaking at DSES in October.

Very exciting times of late with June 16th being the day Amazon and Wamart announced acquisitions that preview the future of retail and commerce. Amazon, the online-first behemoth, bought Whole Foods for $13.4b. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer with about $483b in sales, purchased Bonobos for the relatively modest sum of $310m. Bonobos, founded in 2007 as Bonobos.com by two Stanford MBA classmates and initially online-only, has the distinction of being perhaps the first Digitally Native Vertical Brand, or DNVB, for short. The DNVB starts online, then adds offline as appropriate, and often as a “showroom” that is heavy on experience and light on inventory for immediate sale.

All this activity happened against the backdrop of dire predictions by Credit Suisse: 2017 is likely to see 9,000 imminent store closings.

So, offline appears to be “dead and dying” yet “alive and thriving” at the same time!

Understanding this (apparent) paradox is the key to the future of retailing. In my view, the offline world will not disappear, but it will be dramatically reshaped from a “large footprint, selling plus fulfillment environment” to a “small footprint, experience-centric environment.”

Earlier this week while attending Alibaba’s “10th Netrepreneur Conference” in Hangzhou, I heard Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, express the idea quite eloquently: “offline assets contribute greatly to any online business.”

In fact, the old retail mantra of “location, location, location” is evergreen, but with a digital economy twist. Legacy retail is about location of stores, and e-commerce is about the location of customers. The retail experience of today and the future is about determining the location—online or offline—of appropriate set of retail experiences, products, and elements that will delight customers.  

Getting this “location” decision right will determine the success (or otherwise) of everyone involved in the retail space. Interestingly enough, the world’s most valuable company, Apple, offers a preview of the gains to be had from controlling customer experience. Some of us are old enough to recall Apple as a company with miniscule market share and on the verge of collapse. Among the many things Apple has done right, bold entry (as a manufacturer), into the retail space has proven to be one of the most prescient and beneficial.

I look forward to discussing the new “location” elements of retail and all they entail, with all of you in the fall!

David Bell.

Being in the service department can be a challenge. There's always a million things to do, and never enough people to do all the tasks. There's high turnover in many service departments, and training is often fast and less thorough then most managers would like.

But there are a few easy ways to make sure your customers feel great about their service experience, things that seem incredibly obvious, but that many service departments haven't really implemented!

1. Make sure each customer gets greeted. 9 times out of 10 when I pull my car into a service bay, or walk in a door, I wait at least 2 minutes before I'm even greeted. Even if you're on the phone, mouth "I'll be right with you" to let the customer know they are acknowledged. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but it baffles me how often I walk into a service department and am not even looked at!

2. Explain processes and procedures. It's a fine line between letting a customer know what you need to do, and talking down to them. Don't make them feel stupid for not knowing the inner workings of their car, but ensure that they have a grasp at what needs to be done, and why.

3. Be honest and transparent. This is something the auto industry gets dragged over the coals for all the time, and working to start making changes needs to happen today! I hate going into a service department and having an advisor tell me I absolutely have to do this or that, or my car will be ruined. I work in auto, I have a grasp of what is dire and what would just be a good thing to get done. I especially hate when service advisors do things without my permission! I think making each interaction honest can only help the auto industry as a whole. Instead of "You HAVE to do this" we could say "I also think you should get this done sooner or later. We can do it now, or you can bring it back in when you would like to have us look at it." Simple, little things will really go a long way.

4. Keep to your appointment schedule. If you advertise online that you have a certain day and time open, stick to that! Working hard to make sure that appointments are met, and that cars are done on time really helps your customers trust you. I called a dealership a few months ago and asked to bring my car in for an oil change the following day. I asked if I needed an appointment, and the man on the phone assured me I didn't, that it wouldn't be busy, and that they'd get me through quickly. When I pulled my car through the service bay, the attendant came and asked if I had an appointment. When I told him about my phone call from the day before, he said "Oh, well we don't have any room for people today. Sorry." I was SO UPSET! When people call for appointments, just make the appointment and then STICK TO IT!

5. Go the extra mile. Don't be afraid to go the extra mile, offer to shuttle people back to work if you can, throw in a tire rotation or car wash with oil changes, etc. These little things may feel like they're unimportant or unnecessary, but customers will notice. 

Trying these simple service tips may help your dealership get the trust and loyalty of customers, which is what you need to get service to the next level!