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Service Marketing - An Absolute Must!

Almost every dealership realizes the importance of ensuring that their customers

return for service after the initial sale of the vehicle, but very few truly follow through the entire life cycle of a customer to ensure that they do. Beginning at delivery, many dealers provide the customer with a complimentary first service to ensure they return for the service, and partly because the manufacturer's survey will ask customers if they did. The reality is this, after the first service, the sales department feels that they are no longer responsible for anything that has to do with service. In fact, many service departments do little more than try to provide a good experience to ensure the constant return of the customers, which leaves most dealers with a mere 15-20% of all of their customers returning to the dealership for service. Think about it for a moment, only 1 or 2 out of 10 customers that buy a car from you ever return for service. We honor and have huge respect for those dealers that have a 30-40% retention ratio and the possibility of a 70-80% retention ratio seems to be an astronomical impossibility. First things first, you must determine from the customers that you sell vehicles to, what percentage are "out-of-town" buyers. These would be buyers that, no matter how wonderful your service operations, sheer distance alone would prevent them from coming to you for service. For most dealerships this would represent approximately 10%, which leaves 90% of the customers you sell to as potentially regular service customers. This quick calculation indicates that 50-75% abandon your dealership for service to go elsewhere. Why?

They don't know everything that you do - Usually beginning right at the point of sale, they leave and immediately go to an aftermarket accessory specialty shop and have a few hundred or even a thousand dollars worth of accessories installed. When you ask them why they went elsewhere, you'll discover that they didn't know you sold and installed accessories. After the initial sale, customers assume that you really only provide warranty repairs. Assume nothing - ensure all customers are aware of every service you provide!

You are inconveniently located - As compared to whom, and why? There are certainly a lot of aftermarket facilities, both national chains and local independents, which are located closer to a customer�s home or office. If you are located in an AutoMall or well away from the residential and professional core, this may be true, but you are not moving overnight so you need to overcome this objection. (Should this be �obstacle�?) This can be handled reasonably well with shuttle vans, loaner vehicles, extended hours, etc., and make sure your customers are aware of whatever you do.

Your prices are too high - Review your pricing. If you are not competitive with the aftermarket facilities in your market, you should do whatever you can to become so. You don't have to be the lowest price in town, but you certainly can't always be the highest. Have items on display that are priced. Signage and other point-of-purchase materials that contain prices demonstrate your confidence in the product and price, and customers see it. If one facility has a sign stating brakes from $99.99 while another doesn't promote a brake price at all, who would you assume has a higher price?

You're too slow - Often a big complaint. Aftermarket facilities have done an excellent job at convincing the customer, through actions, that they can get you in and out faster. Time is a valuable commodity for everyone, and your customer doesn't necessarily need an oil change in 30 minutes, but they certainly won�t wait a week to come in and leave it with you for the day either.

Understand your own market - Your competition is not the other dealer! They have the same retention problems you have; your competition is the local garage, an aftermarket chain, or merely an aftermarket local facility. Find out what they do differently and imitate and implement as much as you can - it is obviously what customers want.

Ask for the business and earn it - Most importantly, you have to express to the customer that you actually want and value their business, and provide it in a way that doesn't encourage them to look for another service provider. Simply doing the work isn't enough; there are too many options for a customer to choose from if you drop the ball.

Give them a reason - Many dealerships have implemented a maintenance reminder program consisting of letters and maybe phone calls, but you must always be doing more for your customers. Washing every car that comes in for service, free fluid top-ups, even if it�s not a regular service visit, are a couple of ideas.

Look to the future - If you are the only dealer/aftermarket facility washing customers� cars today, tomorrow everyone will be doing it, and now you are no better than anyone else, you are not offering anything more. These are a few of the reasons that customers go elsewhere for service. It is your job is to ensure that everything you do, everything you say, everything you stand for outweighs all of the above factors, and creates an environment where your customer will tell you when something isn't up to par rather than abandon you.