I’ve talked in past blogs about how service departments, while the top revenue producers in most dealerships, are typically the least visible in marketing – whether that’s traditional, digital, or even on the dealership’s website.  

Well, while it is important to ensure a healthy online presence for your service department, there is one key component that needs further discussion as I have not yet mentioned it very much -- online review sites. It is of vital importance as they are in fact the largest consumer influencer in deciding where to service their vehicle.  

Would you hire a contractor to fix your roof without checking their reviews? What about something as small as buying a new toaster? These days, most consumers search the web for information about whatever it is they are looking for to see what other people have to say about it prior to making a final decision. And that holds true in the automotive industry both in sales AND service. Yet most dealerships focus review-building efforts on the sales side, even though their service drive sees anywhere from 4 to 10 times the number of customers every day.  

According to marketing agency, Vendasta, 92 percent of consumers now read online reviews – up from 88 percent in 2014. An ongoing review strategy is very important as 44 percent stated that a review must have been written within a month of their looking at it in order to be relevant!  

And, perhaps even more important, 23 percent will visit the business after reading positive reviews. Imagine if close to 25 percent of all people looking to get their car serviced in your area chose you… that would make for a pretty strong customer acquisition effort, wouldn’t you agree? 

Online reviews in general help your dealership’s overall reputation. By asking both sales and service customers for reviews you exponentially increase the number of reviews consumers can read. If a positive experience was had, your star rating on Google and other sites will increase, which benefits all departments in the dealership.  

When it comes to vehicle service, there are three primary concerns a consumer will have: 1) Are they going to spend more than at another shop; 2) Will the experience be good; and 3) Can they trust your dealership not to upsell unnecessary repairs? 

So, keep these in mind and work on these points. Cultivate positive experiences and then ask your customers to leave reviews about their service experiences. As a result, that anonymous customer seeking a place to service their vehicle will be more likely to see current reviews, trust them and bring their business to you, over a competitor.

Service customers frequently decline some, or all the recommended services, which can be very frustrating to advisors. While it shouldn’t be a service advisor’s job to “find” things to recommend, it’s certainly their job to notify and counsel customers about any areas identified by a multi-point inspection that need to be addressed. However, with the huge amount of money that is left on the table in service departments everywhere, we could certainly be doing a better job of handling these service declines.

In my experience, working with hundreds of service departments over the years, I have found three key reasons customers decline service and some simple handlings that can help, as follows:

• 1. Trust: Poor consumer perception continues to be a problem at dealerships, justified or not. A high percentage of consumers believe recommendations are simply the dealer (or repair shop) trying to sell them services or products they don’t really need.

Perhaps this is due to a lack of knowledge, or perhaps it’s a simple matter of believing old media reports and thus a poor perception. To overcome this, it helps to go above and beyond in your explanations of any needed service. Simply telling the customer isn’t always enough. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Seeing is believing.” Well, this applies to your service customers. Show the customer what is wrong through pictures or videos. You can easily do this with most smartphones and can then explain and show the customer so they can see it with their own eyes with a simple, “This is what yours looks like. And this is what it should look like.”

In addition, consider doing short videos that explain key repairs and Frequently Asked Questions and post them on your website. This type of content is also great for SEO. A 2013 Google study found that each month, 70 million searches on Google are for aftermarket services. Drivers are also looking online for help on changing oil filters and brake fluid, as well as fixing fuel pumps, and this will only have grown over the past few years.

And, as the study states that 43 percent of drivers perform a search online or on a smartphone when considering where to service their vehicle, it’s more important than ever to connect with drivers whenever and wherever they are searching for their next service.

• 2. Too Expensive: Many customers believe your prices are too high. They could trust you, and understand that they need the services, but are unsure of your pricing, want to price shop the services, or leave to get help from a relative or friend.

The perception that franchised dealer service is more expensive than independents is commonplace, yet there are many benefits for consumers in having their vehicle serviced at a dealership. Service advisors would be wise to have some way to prove value and that your prices are fair. Work out your service department value propositions: OEM parts, technicians trained by the OEM, etc. Some dealerships even take service pricing transparency to the next level and shop the competition for the customer and publish it on their website. Here’s an example:

This transparency certainly helps build consumer trust and could potentially handle any need or desire for the customer to decline simply because they want to shop prices. Note that this chart also clearly lists the dealer’s value propositions and benefits. It clearly illustrates why servicing the vehicle there is the right choice.

• 3. Financing and Payment Options: The customer may trust you and believe your price is fair, but simply doesn’t have the money to pay for the services. While it may seem to be the one objection that can’t be overcome, it can actually be the EASIEST of the three to handle. How? Ensure that every way a customer COULD choose to pay is available to them.

Whether that means cash, traditional credit cards, checks, service financing or Apple and Samsung Pay, the point is to provide your customers with every possible payment option. After all, today it is all about the customer experience, right?

A simple example would be if your dealership doesn’t take American Express, Diner Club or Discover. Perhaps those are the only methods of payment the customer likes to use or has available to pay for the repairs.

In addition, service-financing that breaks the amount down into affordable monthly payments, or perhaps offers 60-days interest-free, can be attractive to a customer who doesn’t want to max out their credit cards, or who lacks available credit.

The above three points do not take much to implement. Service advisors can quickly be trained to handle these situations effectively if you provide them with the resources and tools to do so. As a result, you should see happier customers, decreasing service declines and increasing service revenue.

A recent study by Forrester quantified the monetary effect of increasing customer experience scores by a single percent. The results were quite astonishing.

A single one-point increase in customer experience can mean as much as an additional $873 million per year in revenue for auto manufacturers, and incremental revenue per customer of $48.50.

How many customers does your dealership see in a year? What if you could add an additional $48.50 in revenue to each and every one of them? Luxury brands make out slightly better with an increased per customer revenue of $104.16.

Let’s look at a modest store’s traffic and try to quantify that. If a store is selling 100 cars per month, that equals 1,200 cars per year. Add in service traffic and that dealership could easily be talking about 6,000 transactions per year (if you consider a ratio of service to sales customers of 4:1 -- and that’s probably on the conservative side). That equates to additional store revenue of $291,000 per year, without changing a thing. I’m sure you can imagine what those numbers would mean for your specific store, based on your sales and service volume.

Now that we know the potential financial implications of a SINGLE-point increase, imagine the exponential increase which could be created with a multiple point rise. You may be thinking, “This is all great, but how do I increase my customer experience scores without increasing staff or investing in building improvements?”

 Here are a few suggestions:

1. Be friendly - Take a page from one of the most popular companies with the most loyal brand followers in the world – Disney. Disney trains all employees to understand that when interacting with guests they are “on-stage,” which is why they name their employees “Cast Members.” The idea behind this is that every guest in the park is important, and each “Cast Member” should remember to always interact in a friendly, courteous manner and be as helpful as possible.
   
   Customers should feel welcomed and appreciated. If you do nothing else, this simple mindset – reinforced through training and accountability – could help increase your customer experience score. Employees should always have time to interact with customers in meaningful ways, without the customer feeling as if they are a nuisance, or that the employee has more important things to do. The only customer that matters at any point in time is the one standing in front of you.
    
2. Make it easy – It’s easy for customers to get frustrated with a dealership when there is friction between your goals and how you go about achieving them. Whether this means streamlining your processes, analyzing customer experiences, or assessing individual employee interactions, the goal should be to ensure each department and employee is able to perform their tasks in the most efficient and customer friendly way possible.
   
   Accomplishing this creates a better customer experience and makes your dealership more efficient, allowing for more productivity from everyone. This also creates less frustrated and more engaged employees, who then service your customers better – again improving the customer experience.
    
3. Technology – This could mean one of two things – learning to use the technology you already have more effectively through training and enforcement, or identifying pain points in your dealership’s processes and finding technology that can solve it for you. Technology is only effective if it is used properly and consistently. Make sure that all your staff are trained on each piece of technology your dealership uses and create processes and assessments so they use it effectively.
    
4. Options – In general, people like options when it comes to spending money. Whether you’re shopping for a television, a blender, or considering a larger purchase such as a house or new vehicle, every single retailer will make it as easy as possible for you to complete that financial transaction.

With the advent and adoption of technologies such as ApplePay, consumers want to pay in the way that’s most convenient for them. Checks and cash are not used as often as they were. In fact, many people don’t even carry cash, preferring to use debit or credit cards. And, there will be times when the customer wants to transact with you – especially for needed repairs – but may not have available credit or cash on hand. Having alternatives such as an OEM credit card or repair financing is simply another way to make it easy for customers to do business with you and increase revenue.

Increasing your customer experience by just one-point shouldn’t be out of the question. It will take effort, buy-in, training and, in some cases, enforcement. However, in the end, your dealership will see increased profits, customer retention and loyalty.

We’re well into conference season and some conferences can be quite overwhelming -- Exhibit halls packed with hundreds of vendors all vying to talk to dealers and hundreds of speaking sessions to choose from. Conferences can also be a significant expense for a dealership, especially if multiple employees are sent. However, if planned well, conferences can prove to be extremely valuable and money well spent in keeping dealership staff up-to-date on cutting edge technology and new sales & marketing techniques.

Most conferences offer up a little bit of everything, so knowing how to get the most out of each conference is the key to getting the best bang for your buck. In that spirit, I’d like to offer up some tips:

1. Do your Homework – Most conferences offer mobile apps and online interactive class schedules which you can use to organize schedules. Or, at the very least, the conference will offer an agenda which can be reviewed so you can map out sessions of particular interest or of need for the dealership. Don’t wait until you get to the conference or you’ll find yourself staring at the agenda every hour between sessions, trying desperately to identify where you want to go next. With a little advance planning, your day can go smoothly and will be more productive.
    
2. Divide and Conquer –If you send multiple people it is wise to ensure that the attendees cover as much ground as possible. All too often, attendees from the same stores tend to stick together and attend the same sessions. However, you tend to get more bang for your buck if your staff has an organized schedule and attends different concurrent sessions in order to bring back as much knowledge as possible.
    
3. Come Prepared – Wearing appropriate clothes isn’t about impressing other attendees. Many first-time conference goers tend to overdress for the occasion. In fact, most conference attendees dress in business casual attire, with some choosing to wear polo or button down shirts with their dealership logo. Comfortable shoes are a must as attendees will do a lot of walking to and from sessions and within the exhibit hall. In addition to dress, a preferred method to take notes is important – whether a laptop, tablet, or simply pen and paper… and be prepared to take a lot of them. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by all of the information, and just as easy to forget it.
    
4. Visit Your Vendors – One of the most invaluable and most overlooked practices is to simply visit all of the vendors in the exhibit hall that you already use. Often, your vendors do demos and announce new features or products that you may not be aware of. It’s not always easy for that sales rep who is juggling a bunch of accounts to reach out to everyone personally right away. Conferences are frequently where product launches happen. Simply visiting your vendors and asking them if there is anything new that you should know can put you ahead of the game.
    
5. Visit the Other Vendors – I know that many attendees walk down the exhibit hall rows feeling surrounded by sharks. Trust me. They don’t bite. Those vendors that you aren’t familiar with could very well have new technology that can help your dealership be more productive or sell more cars. Getting to know the resources that are available to your dealership through vendors and any new technology, simply means that you’ll know your options when a solution is needed.
    
6. Relax and Unwind – At the end of each day you may be presented with cocktail networking receptions and/or parties thrown by vendors. If you’re a social type and attend these, make sure to mingle and meet your fellow peers. Some of the best connections and friendships are made at conferences. And, having someone to bounce ideas off of throughout the year is invaluable. As for vendor parties, if you’re a dealer or dealership employee, you’re likely a shoo-in for a ticket -- with one caveat – you need to find out early in the conference what parties are happening, who is throwing them and which you’d like to attend. Many parties have space limitations so if you wait until the day of the party to visit the vendor’s booth for a pass, you may find that they don’t have any left. Get the information and visit them early for your best chance at a pass.

When the conference ends you will very likely be somewhat brain dead! I am sure you will have a bunch of notes, a lot of new knowledge and action items to implement. Don’t be tempted to put them aside and get back to what you’ve been doing. If you do, you may find the next conference rolling around as you wonder what the ROI is as you still have a bunch of notes and action items that you have not yet done anything with from the last one.

Make a commitment to use the knowledge you’ve gained, share it with those at your dealership that couldn’t attend and make changes at your dealership based on what you learned. Only with positive change made through definitive action can a return on investment from a conference truly be realized. To your success!