Powering Thriving Dealerships with Dealer Service

Service-To-Sales Link

It’s probably no surprise that 97% of dealers agree a good service department is key to driving new-car sales.

After all, successful dealerships embrace the challenge of building long-term loyalty across all aspects of their stores – not just in the showroom. Their management teams know that while sales often start relationships with consumers, positive service experiences develop those relationships to drive repeat maintenance and repair visits, and positive online reviews and new sales. As the industry continues to shift toward order and wait, it’s even more critical that dealers build relationships that elevate their brands and attract and retain their customers.

First Impressions

Auto buyers often view service departments as a reflection of a store’s overall brand. In fact, nearly half strongly agree their impression of a service department plays a significant role in shaping their decision on where to purchase their next vehicle.

This underscores the importance of ensuring positive, repeatable brand experiences in service lanes … and in the sales and marketing funnel that guides customers there. Overall performance has less to do with what dealers and service techs know and more with what they do – or don’t do – in their interactions with customers.

The Basics

When asked about their last service visit, auto buyers reported their dealers were missing many basic and essential points of interaction before, during and after their visits. While some of these actions might seem commonplace, our data suggests they aren’t. Covering the basics is the first step toward building positive, meaningful consumer relationships. With the fundamentals in place, there’s opportunity to enhance satisfaction and in turn, drive improved retention that drives more customer-pay work.

The Handoff

Perhaps more surprising is how few auto buyers were provided a trade-in value for the vehicle they were servicing, given information on new vehicle offers, introduced to a member of the sales team or offered to trade in the vehicle they were servicing.

The value of the service lane in boosting both new and CPO sales is significant. Dealers who focus on processes that directly impact the service-to-sales equation can take full advantage of the customers in-hand and seize the collective opportunity they bring. The handoff can be to new sales or a dealership’s CPO sales.

What do all these actions have in common? Not costly outlays or reconfiguring of floorplans. The priority is to simply create a culture and process that engage customers and help keep them in the family.

Dealership Strengths

While there’s some work to be done in enhancing auto-buyer perceptions, traditional dealership service departments were seen as “better” in most of the product/service areas we asked about. Dealer service departments are seen as more knowledgeable and a higher-quality option, especially when it comes to tools, technicians, diagnostics and parts. But, when it comes to routine, low-tech offerings, independent repair shops have a perceived advantage over franchise stores.