Pre-Sell Customers Before the Service Lane
Proactive marketing of factory-recommended services as well as dealership recommendations prior to the customer arriving in the drive not only pre-sells your service business, but displays your expertise at keeping their vehicle in top performance.
To accomplish this, you will need a plan of action and some automation to make such pre-selling practical, largely hands-off, and effective. Your audience must include new and used vehicle customers, current service customers, those you haven't serviced in a while, and those which declined some of your recommended services. Today, most dealers attempt to do this with a "blast" direct mail or email offering one-time service specials like a lube oil filter or brake special hoping customers will see a coupon that is applicable to the service they feel their vehicles need. Although this plan does result in a spike in service, it is only temporary.
A more assertive, retention-building approach practiced by many of today's successful dealers is to proactively inform customers of their vehicle's service needs, based on service intervals, previously declined services, and other factors, before they arrive on the service lane. This strategy builds their service business using a planned, continuous program designed to pre-sell customers on using their dealership for these services.
Technology available today makes this straightforward by automatically creating messages and offers specific to the customer's vehicle make, model, mileage, and individual needs. Each communication is then delivered to the customer in their desired format (e.g. phone, text, email, etc.) with an appropriate link to details about the recommended services.
Here are the basics for getting started:
Put into place an automated service reminder program that sends service-due notification based on the vehicle's service history within the dealer management system (DMS) and factory/dealer recommendations.
Link each communication (i.e. email) to a recommended service menu, based on vehicle make, model, and mileage.
Include a link into an automated service appointment system. Some systems will automatically log the customer into your appointment system with preloaded customer and vehicle information. The customer then simply needs to confirm the date and time. The idea is to make it easy for your customer to do business with you.
Communicate periodically other recommendations based on vehicle history within your DMS, such as previously declined services, recall notifications, seasonal services, etc.· Review recommended services at write up if the customer did not respond to your proactive recommendations. Consider placing a video terminal in the customer lounge so customers can again review the recommended services and "why" explanations.
Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
(229) 251-2462
