Best Practices in Fixed Operations—Implementing Call Monitoring

The Profits of Service

In today’s competitive marketplace many dealerships will rise and fall on the revenue generated by the Fixed Operations division. Additionally, the future success of the Sales side is directly related to the service experience your callers receive. About two out of every three callers reaching your dealership will ask to speak with someone in Service or Parts. Unfortunately, 20 percent of these callers will never reach the department or agent they need to assist them with their needs. Today’s consumer values time, quick responses, and good relationships more than ever. A missed call, a promised “call back,” or an unintended connection to a voice mail system could lead to significant loss of revenue. A dealership with proper phone processes in place can ensure that not only is their service exceptional, but so is their income potential.

A typical service advisor will speak to more of your customers in a day than a salesperson will speak to in a week. Each conversation has the potential to impact not only your bottom line, but your Customer Service Index (CSI) as well—both with long-term benefits and consequences. The caller’s experience determines your income potential in the short run and over time. Consider that a service advisor writing just 15 Repair Orders each day will generate more gross profit for your dealership than a salesperson who delivers 25 cars in a month. Service advisors have, by all standards and measures, the biggest impact on gross profit in your dealership.

The Keys to Long-Term Income-The Retained Customer

A retained customer will call your Fixed Operations twenty times for every one call to Variable Operations. Not only will this caller’s “journey” directly impact your Service Repair Orders and your Parts Department, but just as importantly determine the likelihood of keeping that customer in the buying cycle. The value of a retained customer can have huge impact! They average four Repair Orders a year, a vehicle purchase every 42 months, and produce family and friends referrals. Consider that at an average of $250 per RO, and $2,500 per vehicle purchase (not including referrals leading to more sales), the five year value can add up to $7,500 or more per one retained customer. That’s a lot to lose over a poor call experience!

The keys to increased customer retention, and higher Customer Service Index (CSI) scores, are hidden in the daily conversations your team members have with your callers. The visibility into your caller’s real experience is a crucial aspect of daily operations; by listening to each call in its entirety, your dealership can unlock valuable data that management can put into use immediately. The phone can totally support a great dealership experience, or it can literally undo it. Even setting the sales cycle aside, according to the latest NADA statistics, while Fixed Operations only accounts for 12% of the total revenue, it produces over 60% of a dealership’s net profit.

Charlie Polston, Fixed Ops Trainer and Columnist, BG Products, Inc., states:
 
“Dealerships typically gross 5% on new cars, 12% on used cars, and 38% on parts. Yet, you gross a whopping 70% in the service department. Therefore, the quickest way to increase gross is to sell service!”

“To further make the point, consider the closing rate of ups to sales in variable operations…it’s about 30%. (For every 100 people in the front door, you sell about 30 cars.) But, in fixed operations the closing rate is 100%! Every person that walks through the service door produces revenue for the dealerships!”

These facts give credence to the significance of Fixed Ops income, and the importance of keeping that customer in the buying cycle. A superior experience will generate additional long-term revenue. Strong Fixed Ops is a win-win, and an oil change is not just an oil change anymore.

Visibility to the Phones Means Opportunity to Act

Each phone call into Fixed Ops has income potential, and each call holds actionable data. A total phone management system allows your dealership a view of missed income, misquoted prices, understated availability, un-appointed callers, and personnel training opportunities. Most importantly, each inbound phone call is a chance to “react, retain, and train.” Not all call management strategies are equal of course, but those who provide alerts to the above are invaluable. Custom alerts, with criteria set by your dealership, that are delivered in real-time to key team members allow for quick reaction based on gathered data points, and become assets you really don’t want to do without. Tools for evaluating your team with coaching and training opportunities become second nature in your daily operations, and that means seeing your strengths and fixing processes that don’t work. Dealerships who utilize call monitoring in Fixed Ops just as in Sales are ahead of the competition.

What is Call Monitoring? Why is it not Call Tracking?

Many dealerships have call tracking systems in place, but the difference between tracking and call monitoring is valuable. Call tracking is simply taping or listening to calls from customers to the dealership. Call monitoring is not only taping/listening to calls, but gathering the call data and the information discussed on that call. This translates into actionable information delivered to the dealership. Not only do dealerships have visibility into opportunities, the “caller’s journey,” processes and people, they are prepared to act on the data. Call monitoring allows the dealership to get all of the information from the start of the call to the end. As mentioned, the income opportunities in Fixed Ops are so significant that it makes sense to implement this tool not just in Sales, but in Fixed Ops as well.

Call monitoring goes beyond the boundaries of call tracking by expanding the quantity, quality, and detail of usable information to maximize Fixed Ops opportunities and team building, which then translates into better processes for better income.

More Data. More Visibility. More Profit.

Call monitoring will provide your dealership with the following detailed information for each applicable call event (if it doesn’t it is time to switch to a partner with expertise in the arena):

• In-depth overview of the call in the form of a human-interpreted transcript
• Basic call information: date and time of call, toll-free number and ad source called, caller’s name, number and state
• Advanced call information: agent(s) handling the call, department(s) called, appointment details
• Real-time alerts when calls meet certain criteria: same day appointment, scheduled appointment, opportunity, customer service issues
• The call volume per department
• The alert closure rate
• Department employee phone skills and stats
• Agent phone skills and stats

It is this additional information provided only by Call Monitoring that allows you to maximize on new opportunities, recover lost opportunities, and monitor your team’s skills and productivity on several levels. This will help your dealership’s Fixed Ops team grow, saving you money, preventing losses in the future, and putting the customer back into the sales cycle.

Strong Phone Strategy is Key to Profitability

Striving for complete call management means monitoring and gathering KPI’s and using the information to act. By improving your phone processes, the skills of your team, recovering opportunities, preventing future leaks, and gaining customers back into the sales cycle, your dealership is well on its way to stay ahead of the competition. Leveraging your phones for revenue gain and not allowing for the leaks that happen every day on calls will have your Fixed Ops be the back bone of your dealership.

Posted with permission by:

Robert "Chip" King, CallRevu LLC

chip@callrevu.com