Keep It Simple...... Happy Service Customers Spend More Money!
Want more money to be spent at your dealership? I know seems like a dumb question but there are some simple small things you can do for your customers that will make them more willing to spend money at your dealership.
According to a study done by Edmunds, service revenue makes on average 53.7% of revenue for dealerships in the United States.
Here are some ways to maximize the service revenue.
First, think like a customer. Look at what experience a customer would have when they set up service with your store. Take it step by step. Go to google, and type in your dealership's name and service. Or your dealership's make and service. See what your customer would see if they did the same thing? Where are you on the page? Is there a specific link for service? Does your Google Business page come up with a link to service? Are there specials for service on your Google Business page? Take your "I am a manager at the dealership and everything looks great..." hat off. Look at it like you just moved to your town. Does what you see make you want to "click"? If not, get your SEM/SEO, web provider on the phone. Ask them how do I make this easier for my customer to know what we do? If they don't have a good answer maybe it's time to look for someone else.
After you have found yourself on Google. Click to through to your site. What is that experience like? In a study Google did for Lexus they found that over 70% of traffic going to dealership websites is going there for service. Look at the site. If you were going there with a service question could you easily find what you are looking? Is there a "specials" page? Are there "specials" on the specials page for service?
Now try and schedule service. Is there a "schedule service" link on your site? When you click the link, is it easy to use? Does it ask a bunch of questions that would annoy you if you were a customer trying to schedule service? Do you have to enter your Vin or other info that you wouldn't have with you and it would be a pain to find and make the process cumbersome?
Let's say you are someone who wants to "talk to someone...". Is there a separate phone number for service? Call it! Call the dealership and see what the experience is like. Is there an auto attendant that I have to push 4 buttons to get to service? When you do get to someone, are they friendly? Would they make you want to come into the store? Oh, also, imagine that there is some crazy issue with your car that you are calling about. Something that is making it so you can't use your car and you are desperate to get it fixed. Would you feel like the person on the other end of the phone was going to be helpful in getting your life back on track?
Ok now for the "Make it Easy" part. Do you make it easy for your customer to get their car to the dealership and go on with their lives while you have their only mode of transportation?
Do you offer pick-up and drop-off services for all your customers? Not someone you grab from a department and put in a van for the day to drive people around. But a real-life pick-up and drop-off policy or service? In a study done by HopDrive they found that 89% of customers find service pickup and delivery very appealing. They also found that 80% of customers would switch to a dealership offering pickup and delivery. Do you let people know you do this for them EVERYWHERE YOU ARE TELLING YOUR DEALERSHIP"S STORY!?!?!? Here is the MONEY part of this whole thing! In the same study, they found customers spent an additional $275 per RO when they had pickup and delivery service available to them. Do the math, how many RO's do you do a month? Let's say you just got 25% of those people to use the pick-up and drop-off service. What would the $ be at $275 per RO time 25% of your monthly RO's? Guessing that would be a big number!
Now here is the plug for recalls. CHECK EVERY CAR THAT COMES IN THE BAY FOR A RECALL! CARFAX states that 1 in 6 cars in the US or roughly 55 Million cars out there have an open recall. So again, do the math. Think about how many ROs you do each month. Imagine that let's say only 10% of your cars had a recall. The average recall is a little over $250 in the US. Again, multiply 10% of your RO's by an extra $250, guessing again that would be a big number!
So the big takeaway from this would be to make it easy. Really look at your process and make things as easy as possible for your customer. Look at the real experience people have and make it as easy for the customer as it can be.
Ok, now for the salesy stuff. What is your process for getting customers with recalls into your store? With a well-thought-out process, recalls can help dealers grow their customer base, help with retention/CSI, increase their average RO $'s and make HUGE profits.
We would love to talk with you about your process. Even if you think, "Hey, my team is great. I am sure we are doing everything possible..." Set up a call. Worst-case scenario you help your team learn something new they can add to their awesome process. Best case, you realize there is a ton of money out there in your market waiting for you to grab it.
Click the link, set up a 15-minute call with our team to go over your process, tell you a little about what we do and see if we can help you drive more customers into service, make more per RO and make more money over the next 12 months