Often, it’s the service department that keeps the dealership doors open during down sales cycles, but this is only achieved when the dealership drives continual traffic, convinces customers that service is a prioity, makes doing business easy for the customer, and delivers an outstanding experience.

Small changes in the customer experience can translate to small changes in the number of customer pay repair orders or the number of hours per repair order, either of which will add up to a considerable amount of money over time.

Year-over-year customer pay repair order count is up on average at most dealerships, so it is up to dealers to make sure the additional repair orders are maximized.

The service experience starts long before the customer arrives in the service department with a problem. The sales team and F&I team can be the first impression for many service departments. Your F&I department should be offering some type of preventive maintenance program. The question every dealer needs to ask is: Do I want service or maintenance programs to be a profit center for the F&I department, or do I want it to drive loyal customers to the service department where you have more profit potential over the life of the vehicle?

Once a vehicle is sold, whether new or used, the sales team should introduce the customer to the service department and even encourage the customer to set their first service appointment. Not all customers will schedule that appointment, so you must mine your database and communicate regularly with all sales and service customers. That communication can be in the form of direct mail, e-mail, phone calls, or even text messages, but it has to be regular and ongoing.

Today, dealers have to move beyond pushing out service coupons or incentives and use available technology to make the customer experience smooth, convenient and enjoyable. Dealers can start doing this by offering customers the ability to set service appointments completely online.

Once the customer arrives at the dealership, the advisor should know the complete vehicle history and be prepared with any recall or maintenance recommendations. A multi-point inspection should be done with the customer noting any and all damages and reviewing the options available should anything noteworthy be found.

Once the repair process begins, every service advisor must have a reliable, quick way to reach the customer. When an e-mail address is provided, some systems allow the dealership to send photos along with an explanation of the work needed and all pricing information. This gives the customer the ability to share the information with a spouse, parent or even a friend and quickly make a decision.

Once the approval is received and repairs are finished, the customer should experience the same top-level service when they pick up and pay for the repairs. Does your service advisor walk the customer to the cashier window to answer any last-minute questions or do they point them to a window and send them on their way? In the service department, the last impression at the cashier window is just as important as the first impression made in the sales department. 

Vol. 6, Issue 4