Time and Money! How you ask me to spend or invest both will determine my willingness to continue shopping at your facility. So here are some ideas that will help improve your process and consideration for a customer's time:

Pre-packaged parts

Run a report on how many of each maintenance services you perform each week, determine the parts (i.e. oil filters, air filters, and timing belts) need for each type, and pull those parts into a package that is ready when the technician needs it. This will save your customer some time and improve relationships at the parts counter.

Zip - check out

I don't know about you but when I get off work I want to relax. The last thing I want to do is stand around in a dealership waiting in line to check out and pay for my car. So many dealers have set up a Zip Check Out page at their Dealer Web Site so customers can view their bill and pay on line. If you not yet hooked up on the web, you can use an old fashioned device to gather the customer's credit card information and complete the paperwork in advance: It's called the telephone.

Waiter Beepers

When a service is going to take more than 45 minutes, many dealers provide a shuttle to nearby shopping centers or restaurants. They also provide a long range pager that notifies the customer that the shuttle is on the way to pick them up. This is a feature that customers love!

Mobile Service

To ensure that customers aren't tempted to stop at Jiffy Lube, some larger dealer groups have a dedicated van that provides on site maintenance at the customer's home or work. This is rarely a huge profit center, but it maintains the connection with the dealer so loyalty is increased.

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