Hidden profit opportunities exist throughout most dealerships. Whether those opportunities present themselves through service customers migrating to sales or sales customers that become service customers, all can lead to increased revenue and building relationships with your customers. Many dealers, however, don't incentivize those handoffs, so these episodes…

I realize that we’re all probably sick of hearing about the Takata airbag recalls. Take a deep breath because it’s not over yet! As faulty Takata airbags have caused one of the largest recalls in history, endangering millions of lives, most of us assumed that all the makes and models affected by the Takata recall had been identified and that their owners were…

In my last blog, Technicians are the Key to Dealerships’ Future, I discussed how the race to acquire technicians may just be outweighed by the difficult task of retaining the ones dealerships already employ.

Of course, as consumers keep…

Service departments account for and absorb most of a dealership’s losses in sales and fixed expenses. That is not going away anytime soon. With new car front-end grosses declining, most dealerships will increasingly rely on service business to, well, stay in business.

The problem isn’t a lack of service business, but a shortage of qualified…

In a twist of irony, I’ve come to realize what consumers and dealerships have in common when it comes to vehicles recalls – assessing how important they are. Every day I work with dealerships throughout the nation, trying to get them to understand that recalls are not only about vehicle safety but also about an opportunity to engage consumers at their moment…

According to a recent article in Automotive News, investors and car dealers have shifted their focus to the used-car space because dealers have more pricing and profit controls; something the digital retailing space is forced to focus on.…

Customers don’t necessarily arrive at your dealership expecting a great experience. When it comes to service, many dread a higher-than-normal repair bill. They expect to hear additional maintenance is needed, but don’t want to spend a lot of time at the dealership and can get annoyed if made to wait longer than anticipated.

Whether this…

I think it’s fair to say that automotive technicians are getting harder to find. These days, less people are choosing a career in automotive repair, even though technicians make great money and many need little or no formal college education or previous experience. Look at independent repair facility employment ads and you’ll no doubt find plenty of messages stating, “no…

In the last few years, a war between dealerships and independent service centers over consumers has fueled a competitive fire.  At stake is millions spent by consumers on retail service and, perhaps, the survival of many dealerships.  The marketing weapon of choice used to be retail signage or print advertising, but now it’s all about digital marketing. And, in the digital…

When it comes to sales and service transactions in the retail automotive industry, a main strategy in acquiring new customers or repeat business has always…

I frequently write about how, in my opinion, dealerships would be wise to expand their thinking and change attitudes towards recall customers … and not just recall customers, but all customers

The customer experience is key to building customer loyalty, increasing referrals and securing repeat business. It is also one of a dealership’s most important…

It wasn’t too long ago that most dealers shunned recalled vehicle owners, describing the additional traffic as a nuisance, or they viewed them as consumers who occupied service bays that could be more profitable with other types of business. 

However, changes in OEM recall reimbursement policies, along with revenue data that indicates more than 50% of recall…

If you’re a movie fan, at some point, you will almost certainly have witnessed a scene where a villain sabotages a vehicle. The unsuspecting character gets into their car, fires up the engine and it explodes, dramatically. Or, perhaps the villain messes with the brakes, causing the main character to have a horrible crash. While these are familiar scenes out of a movie, the…

Most of us in the automotive community are painfully aware that our nation is in the middle of a recall epidemic -- and will be for decades to come.  A low percentage of recall repair compliance pushes the numbers of vehicles on the road with open recalls ever higher, with no relief in sight.

The reality is that recalls are like the black plague for vehicles…

It’s a sad fact that current recall repair compliance rates are so abysmal. Most dealers know it., the Feds know it, state governments know it, and the manufacturers know it. Resolving this recall crisis starts with a notification.  But, people simply don’t read recall notices, they discard them as junk mail.

For those that do read them, a second problem…

In 2014, due to safety concerns, Toyota issued a recall notice for a power inverter on its popular Toyota Prius. Nothing abnormal. But for the fact that, even after the recall was fixed, customers continued coming in with issues – hundreds of them – and that’s when Roger Hogan’s dealership decided enough was enough. According to…

There are few things sales managers find more painful than looking into their CRM and finding unanswered sales leads -- whether those leads sat for hours or sometimes, days, each is a missed opportunity. That’s why there are so many outsourced BDC services that provide lead follow-up for dealers, ensuring customers receive a speedy, accurate response. And now, it seems that…

There’s a huge push going on across the nation for subscription-based vehicle services.

First introduced by manufacturers, more than a few dealerships have rolled out similar services for their customers. The general concept is that a consumer can pay a flat-rate monthly fee to drive a vehicle of their choice. The payment includes everything from insurance to service,…

Love him or hate him, Tesla’s Elon Musk is brilliant. As both a businessman and a marketer, he has created a loyal following of brand advocates – some of whom don’t even own the products he sells. There are consumers literally willing to wait years just to purchase a Tesla vehicle. He recently launched a car into orbit, which is now on its way to Mars -- the man continues to…

There is nothing more frustrating to a customer than being told a repair will take X amount of time - only to be informed later that it will take longer. To those who work in busy dealership service departments, this happens frequently. Customers come in for one thing and, during the multi-point inspection, additional issues are found. Or, as can sometimes be the case, a…