Reaching, Attracting and Retaining Service Customers Never Let Them Forget You

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2 Feature Reaching, Attracting and Retaining Service Customers Never Let Them Forget You By Trey Hiers As I talk to dealers about the new challenges of customer relationship management (CRM) coming out of the recession, I like to quote leadership consultant Patricia Fripp: It s not your customer s job to remember you. It s your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don t have the chance to forget you. Of course, the first hurdle is getting people to be your customers in the first place. Only then can you work on retaining them. And that s the real challenge for Service Departments how do I continually reach, attract and retain customers to maximize my revenue and profits? Reaching the Right Customers There are a number of ways to make sure you are reaching the right customers and technology can help you do this more effectively and efficiently. First and foremost, your DMS database needs to be up-to-date, especially if you are using the name, address and data stored in your DMS to market to existing customers. If you re not already verifying customer addresses and updating your DMS database when customers bring their vehicles in for Service, that s a good place to start. Moreover, if you re using a third-party CRM application to market to Service customers, you ll want to make sure any customer data changes you make in your DMS are reflected in that tool, preferably without having to re-enter information. You may also want to check with your DMS or CRM tool provider to find out what services they offer to update your databases with recent address information from various postal, governmental and commercial databases and registries. A small upfront investment in a name file cleansing service can save your dealership large sums of time and money, especially in reducing the amount of returned mail and wasted postage. Second, since your DMS database only contains your current customers, how are you supplementing that database to reach out to new customers? How are you reaching out to the thousands of abandoned customers who lost their Service Department after their dealership closed last year? If you re relying solely on marketing campaigns from your OEM, you might think about a more focused marketing approach for your dealership. Consider working with an advertising firm or marketing services company that may be able to tap other databases to help you smartly target consumers not already in your DMS database, yet who may be likely candidates to have their vehicle serviced at your dealership. That s the real challenge for Service Departments how do I continually reach, attract and retain customers to maximize my revenue and profits? p. 12 MARCH / APRIL 2011 Fixed Ops Magazine

3 Third, the medium is (almost as important as) the message. If you re working with a marketing service, they will help you craft a message with a compelling call-to-action for consumers to visit your Service Department. That same marketing service should be able to advise you on the right channels to use (radio, direct mail, , social media) to reach the right customers for your message. Attracting Customers to Your Service Drive Now that your marketing message has reached a solid group of current and potential Service customers, how can you make your dealership more attractive to consumers? Focusing on the processes in your Service Department can pay big dividends. Most consumers today are pushed to their limits in their work and personal lives. They are looking for and need your Service Department to be convenient and accessible. Otherwise, they ll head straight for the local independent repair shop. So ask yourself: Do you have convenient Service hours, including evenings and weekends (Saturday and Sunday)? Do you have a quick service lane for oil changes and tire rotations? Or do customers need an appointment for basic maintenance services? Can a customer schedule an appointment online? Can they view their Service history online? Is your Service greeting process professional, speedy and efficient? Are your Service Advisors hidden behind a desk or are they able to greet customers and write repair orders alongside the vehicle? Are you giving accurate estimates for customer pay work? Is your Parts Department stocking the right parts so that you can complete most repair jobs the same day? What convenience services do you offer: car washes loaner cars pick up and drop off service a Service loyalty program? All of these dealership attributes can impact whether consumers who receive your marketing message will actually decide to have their vehicle serviced at your dealership. To make your dealership more appealing for Service, first find the weakest areas where you can have quick wins before you move forward to tackle the more challenging or costly items (adding online Service scheduling to your website before you add later weeknight or expanded weekend hours, for example). Second, in attracting consumers to your Service Department, your reputation counts both from word-of-mouth and what s said online. What you do inside the four walls of your Service Department impacts how your operation is perceived outside those four walls. Most consumers today are pushed to their limits in their work and personal lives. They are looking for and need your Service Department to be convenient and accessible. Otherwise, they ll head straight for the local independent repair shop. p. 14 MARCH / APRIL 2011 Fixed Ops Magazine

4 To make your dealership more appealing for Service, first find the weakest areas where you can have quick wins before you move forward to tackle the more challenging or costly items (adding online Service scheduling to your website before you add later weeknight or expanded weekend hours, for example). As more consumers take to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to share their opinions about your dealership with their friends, they re also letting their friends friends and neighbors neighbors know, too magnifying the impact of how your dealership is perceived, positively or negatively. A number of technology providers and industry consultants will advise that you need a reputation management service to help you boost your online ratings. While that strategy can help you respond once a negative review is written, it s also important to remind yourself that most negative Service experiences are due to weak processes or tools in the dealership. So you ll also want to examine your Service Department processes to get ahead of any negative reviews. In dealing with online reviews, your first step is to simply be aware of what s being said about your Service Department. Begin by regularly looking at your reviews online on websites like Yelp.com, DealerRater.com, Edmunds. com and so on. Also review your traditional CSI reports from your OEM and any other CSI data you have. The next step is to look closely and seriously at what s being said. If you see a common trend in complaints, that s a good place to start fixing your processes so that you stop negative comments before they begin. When you see trends in customer praise, be sure to reinforce those positive behaviors with your staff, too. In today s world of social media, protecting your reputation and helping ensure that your Service Department remains a trustworthy, attractive and convenient place to do business is even more challenging. Retaining Customers by Building Relationships According to data from the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), the average age of cars and trucks on the road is now 10.3 years five to seven years past most cars warranty expiration. It s those later years, when components begin to wear down and must be replaced, that mean the most to your Service Department in terms of higher revenue and profitability per vehicle. That s why customer retention is so very important to the success of your Service Department. Service retention is really all about building customer relationships. If you re taking the right steps to reach customers, attract them to your dealership and provide a pleasant, convenient Service experience each and every time the customer visits, you re well on your way to building lasting relationships with your Service customers and maximizing your return on relationship (ROR). Your charge, then, is to make sure that your customers never have a chance to forget you. You ll want to develop a plan of consistent, timely follow-up communications that can be used with existing customers while they are in your Service drive and well after they ve left reminding them of the remarkable Service experience you provide, as well as the other vehicle services and knowledge you can offer (car care clinics, for example). The service CRM tool you re using may have pre-built schedules that can be tailored to meet your needs. Or, you may find that working with your CRM provider or a consultant can help you develop a consistent, repeatable and measureable set of Service CRM processes and communications that will deliver the results you want in retaining Service customers. Finally, once that customer does appear again in your Service drive, it s one more opportunity for you to deliver extraordinary customer service, so that the cycle of reaching, attracting and retaining customers can begin anew. Trey Hiers is Vice President of Marketing at The Reynolds and Reynolds Company. His background includes more than 20 years of experience in selling and marketing to automotive dealerships, combined with experience in product development and product management. He also has played a leadership role in the sales and marketing of Reynolds products and services internationally. p. 16 MARCH / APRIL 2011 Fixed Ops Magazine

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