According to a study by Colloquy, there are 3.3 billion loyalty program memberships in the United States, which averages 29 per household. Yes, loyalty programs are everywhere. From grocery stores, to gas stations and fast food restaurants, chances are high that a store you’re about to enter for the first time has a loyalty program. And the one thing that most of these programs have in common -- they are based on transactions. In fact, a study by Cap Gemini found that 97 percent of loyalty programs are transaction based – meaning a customer earns points or rewards based on spending money with the store. But what is loyalty, really?

At its most basic, customer loyalty could perhaps be summed up as follows:

Given the choice to go to any retailer which offers the same product or services, the customer would choose your store over your competition.

Then comes the much broader question:

Why would they choose you?

The growing sentiment is that customer experience is the next battleground for businesses. Customers like to feel appreciated. And, with so many loyalty programs, it seems as if every retailer is – in a sense – incenting a customer to spend money with them.

However, simply spending money with a retailer – even if they choose the same retailer every time – does not a loyal customer make. True loyalty is really reflected in how the customer feels about the company and how they chose to describe the company to their family and friends.

And, to help develop this loyal customer, wouldn’t you agree that there are some things a customer could do besides spend money that deserve to be rewarded? For example, rewarding a customer for a referral. Whether that reward is straight cash (as it is in most cases), or some quantity of reward points, the fact is that the customer behaved in a way you wanted them to – and so you rewarded them.

According to the Cap Gemini study, only 25 percent of loyalty programs reward customer for any form of engagement.

One company that has great success at rewarding customer engagement, not just transactions, is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Their loyalty program rewards members for almost every type of engagement – transactional or otherwise. Follow them on Twitter, post a tweet that mentions their account, like them on Facebook, subscribe to their newsletter, visit their website, subscribe to their online services, and, of course, buy their fights, and you will be rewarded. This list is far from all-inclusive. But their fans love the program and the UFC.

Another example is the pharmacy chain Walgreens, which offers the Balance Rewards program. In addition to rewarding customers for transactions, Walgreens encourages customers to live healthier lifestyles with integrated options that allow customers to connect fitness trackers to their Balance Rewards accounts and actually earn points by exercising. According to Walgreens, 80 million of their 103 million members participate in this offer. How is that for loyalty program engagement?

Those are only a couple of examples of how businesses can become more innovative with their loyalty programs. Rather than having “just another loyalty program” like everyone else, figure out what behaviors you want your customers to show.

In the case of car dealerships, that could include referrals for sales and service, posting online reviews, social media interaction and engagement, attending dealership sponsored events such as owner’s clinics… the list is never ending.

The point is that true loyalty lies in customers that choose you over your competitor AND who are engaged with your business at the same time. Accomplish that and you won’t have to worry about your customer bailing to your competitor because they offer a $19.95 oil change special.

In addition, the more engaged the customer is with you, the more they’ll visit, the more they’ll talk about you to their friends and families and the more they’ll spend. And that’s exactly what a loyalty program is supposed to accomplish.

It’s a well-known fact that retaining customers is less expensive and can be more profitable than acquiring new ones. The reality is essentially, customer churn keeps your dealership stationary. Many dealers blast sales messages across every medium possible – traditional, mailers, and digital; hoping that someone, somewhere will see it and decide to buy a car from them. According to NADA, dealers are still spending upwards of $640 per sale to bring in business on the sales side. And therein lies the problem.

Why spray and pray with your traditional advertising, hoping that the small percentage of people who actually pay attention to your marketing will convert into a sale? Even if you’re the best targeted data marketer in the universe, conversion rates on non-customer lists are low. The fact is that your single largest source of opportunities in both sales and service is sitting right there in your DMS and CRM!

Every dealer’s CRM and DMS contains tens – if not hundreds – of thousands of customers who have touched the dealership in some way, sitting there ripe for the picking. Tracking down opportunities can be as complex as precisely targeting and mining your DMS or CRM with a little help from some vendors. Or, as simple as pulling lists of customers based on search queries and hitting the phones. How many orphan owners does your CRM have? Is anybody following up with those previous customers? With an average 70% turnover rate in sales, chances are good that the salesperson who sold that customer their vehicle no longer works for you. Yet, rather than stay in touch with, follow up and potentially get a second sale from a previous customer, most dealers buy more leads, or increase ad spends, in order to fortify and increase sales. A better strategy is to follow up with customers in your database to ensure that they are revenue contributors for as long as possible, while also working to acquire new customers. Dealerships are great at the second part but many fail at continuously working their existing customer base.

Consider shifting some of your focus towards customers who are statistically ready to trade-in that vehicle they bought from you 3 years ago, or who have a college- ready child who needs a vehicle. You may be surprised by the results.

Only then will you start gaining traction and seeing growth. Until then you’ll simply be running in place.

Whether it’s an unhappy customer in the service drive because the repair is taking too long; or a customer in sales for 4 long hours attempting to buy a car and less than happy as a result; or a customer making a post-purchase call to report issues with a vehicle they just purchased; dealership managers can sometimes feel as if they are constantly putting out fires and that everyone is unhappy. Sometimes the problem gets addressed to the customer’s satisfaction -- sometimes it doesn’t. You can’t please everyone, right? So what happens when you can’t?

A study conducted by SDL asked 2,784 consumers if they could recall their major customer experience failure in the last 10 years. Of those surveyed, 76 percent reported that this experience occurred in the last 2 years. Of those, only 55 percent could remember a good experience. The good news is that only 6 percent of those surveyed indicated that their worst customer experience involved the automotive industry. This certainly makes sense when you consider the frequency a customer visits a dealership, as compared to other retail businesses such as grocery stores.

An interesting statistic from the study is that the failures most often happened after the sale (32%). While the remembered successes happened during the shopping or purchase phase. This would seem to align with feedback we encounter from consumers in the auto industry. Think about your online reviews. I would venture to guess that the majority of your positive reviews tell the story of an excellent BUYING experience. While the majority of your negative reviews discuss post-purchase failures.

So, what are consumers saying are their biggest customer experience failures? The top four answers include long waits or poor response times (35%); employees not empowered to assist them (31%); unknowledgeable employees (30%); and conflicting or inaccurate information (29%).

By contrast, the consumer experience success stories showed the exact opposite with the top three being that employees were pleasant and helpful (35%); employees were knowledgeable (27%); and employees empowered (24%).

Something to think about is that these very same traits are directly related to the automotive buying experience. Think about those Internet leads that aren’t responded to at all, or if they are the response is too slow. Or, a failure to give customers the information promised (mainly price). Or sales associates that can’t provide information. The “just get them in” attitude is a relic and customers simply aren’t biting on it anymore. Car shoppers have access to more information and choices on where to buy a vehicle than at any time in history.

When a failure does occur, the younger the customer, the more likely they are to simply walk away and never patronize a business again. The older a customer is the more likely they are to want a solution. These failures are costly, too. Businesses can only win back a customer 20 percent of the time (1 in 5). And, if they do come back, they are 59 percent less loyal than they were before.

In addition, businesses who fail their customers will lose 65 percent of the revenue they would have received from that customer in the year after the fail. The sad part is that, of these failures, 24 percent could have been fixed for less than $20 -- or one-hour worth of work. And it gets worse. 64 percent of failed customers will stop recommending the business and those with the capability to do the most damage to a business’ reputation – namely those with large social media footprints – will broadcast these failures more aggressively. These are the customers that are anti-brand advocates on Facebook, Twitter and online review sites viewing their crusade against a business as a means of HELPING other customers by sharing their poor experience.

The news isn’t all bad, however. While the consequences of leaving a customer failure unrectified can be costly, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The study compared what these customers SAY will win their business back, versus what will REALLY win their business back. The top answer was the same – if the business owned the failure, admitted their mistake and showed the customer that their poor experience helped the business improve.

We’re not perfect and things happen. As you can see, it doesn’t take much to win a customer back or rectify a failed customer experience. The first step towards avoiding these failures is ensuring that the customer experience during the purchase phase is great. Respond quickly, provide information, empower your employees and provide accurate information. Doing these things will exponentially increase the odds that you create brand advocates. When you do fail, simply suck it up, be humble and fix the mistake. That’s all most customers want from a business. Allowing ego or policy to prevent you from satisfying a customer’s issue can result in future revenue loss and seeing these consumers standing on a virtual mountaintop warning others against doing business with you. And it’s much easier to soak in a customer’s praise than silence an unhappy one.

In this age of always-connected consumers seeking instant gratification 24 hours per day, consumer engagement and the customer experience are more important than ever in order to earn that elusive thing: Customer Loyalty. Consumers are more independent than ever before. They’re tired of chasing automated phone systems and having to tell their story multiple times as they get bounced from one rep to another. In fact, a study conducted by Aspect Software has a pretty fascinating conclusion:

Consumers don’t want your help. They want to be able to solve the problems themselves. And, if your company allows that, they will be loyal to you.

Don’t get me wrong. When they are dealing with your company directly – whether that means they’re at your dealership or in a retail store -- they want a great experience. And whether that experience ends positively or negatively is increasingly dependent on one thing – customer service. In fact, 76 percent of ALL GENERATIONS view customer service as the true test of how a company values them as a customer. And, for many, a great customer service is one in which they can solve their own problems without your help. 73 percent said that when dealing with a customer service issue they should have the ability to solve most issues on their own.

How much do they want this? They want it so badly that about a third of those surveyed reported that they’d rather clean a toilet than talk to customer service.

But if you give them the ability to solve their own problem, 65 percent of all generations reported that they left feeling good about both themselves and, more importantly, the company.

Yet, in the automotive industry, we have typically shied away from allowing consumers to do things on their own, for fear of loss of control, decreased gross profits, or perhaps an unwillingness to invest in technology. That’s changing. As companies, including manufacturers, increasingly adopt an online buying process, consumers are getting more used to interacting with car dealerships in the same way that they do an Amazon – online. Consumers won’t want these online interactions, however, to be isolated to sales transactions. You better believe that those customers that actually end up buying their cars online from you will expect interactions with you to continue after the sale and, if you don’t provide that ability, they will find a business who will.

And why shouldn’t we give them the experience they want? All of the technology exists. As an industry, we need to bolster our customer loyalty by addressing the expectations and providing the experiences that our customers desire. Right now, our customers are from a wide variety of generations with differing life experiences and expectations. The day isn’t that far off when every customer we deal with will have no memory of a time without self-service, instant gratification and interaction through technology.

So, let customers interact via text, chat or email. If they want to buy cars online, make sure you have an option for that. Ensure that they can schedule a true service appointment – not just a form that gets e-mailed requesting an appointment that never gets confirmed and that nobody knows about when the customer arrives.

We can’t sit back, stay 5 years behind the rest of the retail world and expect to become a more popular shopping destination. Adopt technology that allows your dealership to operate more efficiently and delivers the digital experience that consumers desire and your business will be in good shape for years to come.

San Ramon, CA – March 14, 2016 --  Performance Loyalty Group (PLG), today announced that H&H Chevrolet of Omaha, NE, has grown its service revenue by simply switching from a complimentary PPM plan and instead selling extended service plans in both service and F&I using the UltraCare dealership branded Prepaid Maintenance Program (PPM). Fifty percent of those plans are sold out of the service drive.

H&H Chevrolet introduced its UltraCare PPM program in February 2013, by including an 18 month plan for free with every vehicle purchase. Between February 2013 and August 2015 the dealership gave away just over 2,000 plans. While improving customer retention was the underlying purpose for providing those free plans, Steve Hinchcliff, President and CEO of H&H Automotive, was surprised when he looked at the customer data the plans were generating. While 88% of customers returned to purchase additional services when they utilized their free PPM, the average service up-sell amount was only $65.24 per visit.

“Complimentary factory scheduled maintenance started to nullify what we were doing with the complimentary plans. So we changed our plans and tried to enhance our maintenance packages around the factory as an enhanced offering. We felt if the customer had more skin in game, there would be a higher perceived value. And it is true, in fact now they are coming back and spending three times as much as they did when the plans were free. Our philosophy is based on customer retention, on the lifetime dollar value, not transaction dollar value. And this is really what our culture exemplifies,” Hinchcliff stated.

In fact, selling the plans resulted in three times the customer up-sell which has now risen to $222.16 per service visit, an increase of $157.00 over what the complimentary plans were generating.   

The dealership now averages 138 plans sold per month with an average retail amount of $254.77, producing an additional monthly revenue over $35,000. Besides being a great revenue generator the PPM plans are also a powerful retention tool as well with over 71% of the plan purchasers returning to the dealership for ongoing service.

According to Hinchcliff, three things have contributed to the success of selling the PPMs rather than giving them away for free. First is the perceived value to the customer. Second is selling the plans out of his service drive -- more than 50 percent of the PPMs are now sold directly by service advisors. And third is offering an added bonus of a dealership gift card, which is perceived by the customer as an additional discount.

Hinchcliff went on to explain that when he started offering PPMs in his service department he began to see better upsell numbers. “We decided that we had this wonderfully busy and customer rich service department that would benefit from offering customers a good plan to save money, while also giving us the fulfillment of retention. We are not real big on making a large profit per transaction, but see a huge value in the lifetime value of the customer,” said Hinchcliff.

An example of how the process works at the dealership is if the customer is in for an express service of some kind the service advisor will say, “Here is your quote for service, but by the way, we are giving away a $25 gift card with our PPM programs and you have a choice of 3, 7, 9 or 12 oil changes for X amount. Which is already a discount on what you are currently paying. And, you also get the $25 gift card to spend at our store. So in effect, you are winning twice.”

According to Hinchcliff, the key to the whole program is retention, not making money. He does not make a huge profit from selling each package but the value is when the customer keeps coming back. “Our goal is to have the customer for a long time and get repeat and referral business. We feel the number one reason car dealerships are not well thought of, and that customers defect to the independents, is that most consumers think it costs too much money. The traditional car dealer strategy is just not that workable. I did not create this idea of retention. You have to look at the fact that selling cars is not like selling groceries. A vehicle is not something the consumer needs to purchase every week. So our pricing has to be reasonable in service. Successful groceries stores, for example, cannot exist on exorbitant prices as customers simply will not come in,” Hinchcliff stated.

UltraCare is a web-based technology that auto dealerships use to create, manage and market their own PPM plans. These plans can be sold in both the service lane and F&I. There is no third-party administration, no sharing program revenue or forfeiture, and no service claim submission requirement.

Dealers interested in finding out more about UltraCare or any of Performance Loyalty Group’s innovative sales, owner retention technologies and sales acquisition products, can visit Booth #3623C at the 2016 NADA Convention and Exposition, March 31-April 3, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, call: 800-608-2080 or visit: http://www.performanceloyalty.com

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About H&H Chevrolet:

Founded over 85 years ago by Augie Hinchcliff and Joe Haney H&H Chevrolet is part of H&H Automotive Group. Today, the Hinchcliff family continues to conduct business in the same manner in all their Omaha locations. H&H remains focused on customer satisfaction and volume selling.

About Performance Loyalty Group:

Established in 2001 and headquartered in San Ramon, California, Performance Loyalty Group (PLG) specializes in customer loyalty and retention programs for the automotive industry. It has designed and implemented custom loyalty (LoyaltyTrac®) and prepaid maintenance programs (UltraCare®) for over 700 individual and OEM automotive clients. PLG is the leading supplier of retention-based solutions dedicated to the automotive industry in North America. For more information, please visit: http://www.performanceloyalty.com.

An excellent article on Customer Experience Insight shared an analogy that resonated with me as it can be applied to automotive salespeople. The article compares salespeople to trees and states that only 10 percent of salespeople are considered evergreen; are strong and productive no matter what business and/or the economy is like. They nurture their relationships with their customers which return that loyalty. The next 40 percent are more akin to deciduous trees. They do not cultivate relationships with their customers and do not earn their loyalty. Instead, these salespeople continuously seek out new customers and rarely earn any repeat or referral business. The remaining 50 percent are pegged as barren trees and have no sustainable relationships or connections with their customers.

In your sales department, your salespeople are the face of your dealership. It’s not uncommon for sales managers to hide behind one-way glass in their towers, or some other out-of-sight office.  For the most part, the only contact the customer has is with the salesperson. The quality of that first, and all future interactions with your dealership, could very well be dependent on the customer experience that your salespeople provide. It’s all well and nice to think that your dealership’s customers are loyal because of your dealership. However, that’s not very accurate. The fact is that customers are loyal to your business because the staff at your business provide an exceptional customer experience. Not just once, but consistently, EVERY time.

If customer retention is so important (which it is) then why are managers so focused on salespeople getting the next up so that they can get the next sale? Yes, new sales are important. But, don’t you think the focus we put on that next sale is adopted by our sales staff? How about instead encouraging, motivating and training your sales staff that all customers are equally important – whether they bought a car 2 years ago or walked onto the lot for the first time 5 minutes ago.

Don’t forget your past customers, because they may very well still be your present customers in service. Set aside time for your salespeople to regularly check in with previous customers. There’s nothing more irritating to an owner or sales manager than to discover that a previous customer just bought a new car somewhere else – especially when that previous customer brings their new vehicle (bought from a competitor) into their service department!

In today’s environment, consumers demand more personal attention and expect tangible appreciation for their business. Loyalty programs, great customer experiences and expedient solutions to problems are no longer luxuries, but expectations.

Every loyal customer seems to have a different reason for why they’ve chosen to be loyal. Perhaps one had a memorable moment, while another simply had an employee go above and beyond for them. Well, because loyalty is given on such a personal level, it must also be earned that way. There is no magical formula for earning everyone’s loyalty. Just like everyone in your dealership is motivated in different ways, so are your customers. The trick is finding out what motivates each one.

So, how do you discover the “thing” that shifts someone from being a customer to being a loyal customer? The one thing that’s great about loyal customers is that you can always count on them to weigh in when you ask questions, such as formal surveys, or responses to social media posts. They respond for one simple reason: they care about your business and want it to succeed. Perhaps not every response is positive. That’s OK. The simple fact that they responded is their way of trying to help your business become better for them individually. Think of your loyal customers as a built in focus group. They are the ones you can count on when you really need feedback. Many customers are simply indifferent and are not very likely to respond. But, those that do, and do so with meaningful and thoughtful responses, are the people you should be listening to.

Another way is to make things personal. I heard this great story about a salesperson that, through the suggestion of a sales trainer, started calling 5 unsold prospects daily – people that visited the dealership, spent time with the salesperson, but ultimately left without purchasing. He called and invited them to lunch.

What did this accomplish for the dealership and salesperson? Two things: It instantly made the salesperson memorable in the customer’s mind. And, it made the dealership stand out as one that valued and wanted to earn that customer’s business. When the General Manager of the dealership got wind of this, he informed the salesperson that, should anyone take him up on the offer, the dealership would pay for it. In this salesperson’s whole time at that dealership, calling 5 people every day, only one customer actually accepted the offer and went to lunch with the salesperson.

However, think about it this way -- How many people did the salesman effectively take to lunch? Every one he called! Each of those customers got invited to lunch, it was only because they declined that they didn’t get a free lunch. In the customers’ minds, the salesman effectively took over 1,000 people to lunch. He helped make himself and his dealership stand out. And, in the end, it only cost the dealership $30. I only wish he had kept track of how many of those invitees actually returned and bought a car from him. That would be an interesting statistic.

The point is that this outreach wasn’t an e-mail blast. It wasn’t a “thank you for coming in” phone call. Nor was it a greeting card. It was a genuine human engagement, personalized to a single individual. There is absolutely no reason why this technique couldn’t be applied to existing customers in service or sales. It had very little to do with the fact that he invited them to lunch. And had nothing to do with buying or servicing a car But, more to do with the fact that there was a personal outreach to a customer, with an offer personalized to them.

Want to boost your sales 24% and add $106,000 per year to your bottom line? Well, here’s the deal: It’s all about the customer experience.

A lot has been written about how industry disrupters are currently threatening market share. These online auto buying sites provide consumers with an easier, friendlier way to buy a car. This isn’t, however, something proprietary to them. The simple fact that they leverage technology to facilitate these transactions is nothing new. AutoNation, itself, has spent millions of dollars to provide customers with a similar buying process. But what, exactly, is truly being sold here? It’s the customer experience. Think of Amazon, Apple, Disney and Nordstroms. In fact, most businesses in other industries have jumped on this phenomenon in a big way – so much so that consumers now expect this top-of-the line customer experience in every business transaction.

A recent article on Loyalty360.org provides some very interesting data on this, including the 2015 DrivingSales Consumer Experience Study, which estimates that dealerships could sell 24% more vehicles simply by improving the car buying experience. And, a study by MaritzCX went a step farther and actually quantified the additional revenue a dealership would see at $106,000; simply by focusing on the customer experience. I highly doubt there is any dealer that wouldn’t enjoy a 24% lift in unit sales and an extra $106,000 per year added to their bottom line.

The customer experience is all encompassing. In many cases, whether or not that customer returns, is simply determined by how the customer feels at the end of the sales transaction. You see, it’s not all about crossing the “T’s” and dotting the “I’s.” But, more about how the customer FEELS at the end of the transaction. Your process could be smooth as silk, negotiations handled smoothly, the customer in and out of finance, with the salesperson doing a complete delivery on a pristinely detailed car, and yet the customer could still leave the dealership feeling they had a less then great experience. The fact is that the customer experience in your dealership needs to encompass anything that affects a customer -- from ensuring that your website has all the information they are searching for, to providing good, fresh coffee, to making sure the showroom is clean and that you have adequate staffing to ensure an efficient and attentive experience for each and every customer, every time.

Of course, if your dealership is stuck using outdated computers, sharpies on foursquares and skimps on amenities for customers, it will be extremely difficult to achieve the experience that most consumers desire.

A great way to begin to transform and improve the experience for your customer is simple – invest in new technology! I know. The thought of outfitting your sales staff with iPads may not seem like it would provide any ROI. That being said, would it surprise you to learn that in the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study, it was revealed that consumers reported a higher customer satisfaction rate when tablets were used in the sales process?

Today’s consumers are digitally savvy and expect the same from businesses. Whether we’re talking about providing information online so the consumer to get a head start on their vehicle purchase prior to coming into your dealership, or ensuring that your receptionist provides a good welcome over the phone and in person, it’s time to embrace any technology that enhances the buying experience for customers – both in the dealership or online. Don’t be afraid of these changes, or balk at the investment. An additional $106,000 per year in revenue should quickly return any initial investment and deliver dividends for years to come. Of course, you could continue to do things the same way as you always have -- then watch while your customers start gravitating to either these disrupters or, perhaps even worse, your competitors.

It’s getting more difficult to earn and keep loyal customers. Consumers these days have so many choices for their shopping needs that it only takes that deep discount, or shiny bauble, to lure them to your competition.

As businesses scramble to create positive customer experiences by ensuring superior customer service, consumers increasingly realize they are in control of that shopping experience. And, they aren’t afraid to flex that decision making control and take their business elsewhere.

So, what then do consumers want from businesses in exchange for their loyalty?

A recent article on Business2Community shed some light on that subject with a list of the 8 things that greatly influence what consumers want in exchange for their loyalty, based on a compilation of results from several studies. They are:

1. 77% of customers want a great product.
2. 73% of customers want kind customer support.
3. 69% of customers want to be recognized by brands.
4. 69% of customers would stay with a brand for loyalty rewards and points.
5. 64% of customers want shared values with brands.
6. 62% of customers want online content from brands.
7. 48% of customers say that their first purchase is what determines their loyalty.
8. 41% of customers want personalized emails based on their browsing and purchasing history.

Almost half of consumers surveyed stated that their first purchase experience will dictate whether they stay a customer. After their experience, they must feel that they received a great product, feel appreciated, get rewarded for their loyalty and feel that the brand shares their values. In continuing and strengthening the relationship, consumers want to see online content and receive personalized and relevant communications based on their purchasing history.

This customer lifecycle is no different regardless of if that business is a restaurant, or a car dealership. The fact is that we can get so focused on the next sale, or customer, that we forget about the one that we just purchased or serviced their vehicle. These customers can easily feel abandoned by the business if that attention is redirected away from them.

According to the article, 20% of your loyal customer base will comprise 80% of your revenue. Of course, if you aren’t actively trying to retain your customers, you’ll be continuously spending money in order to acquire new ones -- who may or may not become loyal to your business. If there was a clear definitive report that showed that 80 percent of your revenue was coming from existing customers, and only 20 percent from new ones, wouldn’t it be unwise to just focus on the small piece of the pie?

There is a constant stream of advice from industry experts concerning customer loyalty and retention. While most of the advice is on point, a large piece is typically missing in the bigger picture. In order to increase market share, businesses must be aware of what their competition is doing. Turning a blind eye to pricing and marketing tactics of the dealership down the road can easily cost sales or service business. Savvy dealers check out what their competition is doing. But, these mystery shops or research data is usually limited to their franchised competitors, not independent repair facilities, which is a mistake.

A recent roundtable discussion published by Loyalty360 included key executives of some large independent repair franchises. It provides interesting insight into the mindsets and strategies they are using to build customer loyalty and keep customers coming back.

The roundtable included Robert Falconi, CEO and John Wiegand, SVP of Operations with Precision Tune Auto Care; along with Tom Tracy, SVP of Marketing for Monro Muffler Brake & Service;  Ralph Yarusso, SVP of Operations and Business Development for Grease Monkey; and Ryan Rose, Director of Automotive Strategy for Clutch. In this roundtable, several questions were posed to the group including:

1. What is your brand’s biggest strength with customer experience? Tracy indicated that they focus on thoroughness in their inspections in order to prevent further issues down the road. Yarusso stated that it was the consumer’s desire for quick service done right. Falconi recognized the bad reputation that repair shops have gained and stressed that ethics is their most important value proposition. While Rose indicated that using customer data to analyze consumer behavior is key to effective marketing.

1. What’s the most significant customer challenge your brand faces? The group’s answers to this question revolved around providing a consistent customer experience across all of their facilities. Staffing the stores with the right people who understand the importance of providing an excellent customer experience is challenging for Precision. Monro focuses on being clear with their customers on what they should expect, then delivering on those promises. While Grease Monkey strives for chain-wide consistency in experience.

1. How is technology impacting your brand’s customer experience? These groups are integrating and utilizing technology across the board to enhance their customer’s experience, including the use of tablets by advisors, digital menu boards and mobile friendly websites with appointment setting abilities. They recognize that consumers have access to more information and conduct research as to the best place to take their vehicle. So, they work to ensure that their information is easily accessible and helps convince consumers to choose them.

1. What role does data play in your marketing strategy? These independents recognize that data is an incredibly effective tool when used to communicate with customers in relevant and personalized ways. Wiegand shared the importance of using data to lure back customers who haven’t come in for service in some time. While Rose shared the importance of integrating data from many sources, including POS systems, vehicle databases, and even social accounts.

It is a sad fact that in the eye of the consumer, these independent service departments still have the edge in their ability to provide a complete service experience. The 2015 annual survey of Consumer Reports subscribers found that independents outscored dealership service for overall satisfaction, price, quality, courteousness of the staff, and work being completed when promised.

However, most independents lack the ability to perform major service repairs, or recall work. That being said, it’s very easy to lose sight of just how important quick service type ROs are. These all provide these independents with the opportunity to interact with and touch a customer. Every service performed at an independent versus a dealership is a lost opportunity (and revenue) for a dealership.

So, take note of the strategies that independents are using to attract and retain customers and consider implementing similar strategies to help improve the customer experience at your dealership. Otherwise, you may find your customers visiting less frequently and miss out on a great deal of revenue and countless opportunities.