In late December, we posted an article titled, “How Do You Increase Service Department Sales?” In that article, I noted that there are only three ways to do this, the most difficult being to increase the number of customer-paid service transactions (customer R.O. count).  Up To Speedreader feedback indicates this is a high-priority subject, so today I’ll discuss one way to increase your customer R.O. count.

What follows is a no-cost or low-cost approach. The NCM Retail Operations team has proven that when executed flawlessly, these four activities (not listed in any particular order) will increase a service department’s customer R.O. count by at least 10%:

1. First Service Visit Process: Proper execution of this step involves ensuring that, during the final delivery of a new or used vehicle by the dealership sales department, each customer is introduced to the service department, and a first service appointment is set and logged into the DMS or service reservations system. An appointment reminder must then be sent out, followed up by a telephone appointment confirmation a few days prior to the appointment date.

2. Next Service Appointment Process: This practice was originally developed by the dental profession. During the “Active Delivery” step in the Service Road to a Sale process, the service advisor must establish the next service appointment with the customer. The appointment is logged into the DMS or service reservations system, a next appointment sticker is affixed to the inside driver’s side windshield glass, and the advisor hands the customer his business card with the next appointment date and time printed on the back. As with the prior activity, an appointment reminder must then be sent out, followed up by a telephone appointment confirmation a few days prior to the appointment date.

3. Follow-up on Appointment No-Shows: This process requires a telephone call to every customer within 30 minutes of a missed service appointment. During this call, the service advisor or appointment coordinator attempts to schedule another appointment with the customer, either immediately or in the very near future. A “no-show log” must be continually maintained, indicating the success (or failure) in contacting the customer and the final disposition of the contact.

4. Follow-up on Declined Repairs or Maintenance: When a customer leaves the service department after declining to approve recommended repairs or maintenance, a process must be initiated to contact the customer and attempt to re-sell all, or at least part of, the recommendation(s). Experience tells us that there are numerous reasons why a customer declines service recommendations. It is important that someone (preferably the service manager) other than the involved service advisor make these follow-up calls. The purpose of the call is to identify and overcome the customer’s objection to approving the recommended service(s) and to establish a new appointment. One of the keys to effective execution of this process is to clearly document everything related to the declined service(s) on the original repair order. A “declined service log” must be continually maintained, indicating the success (or failure) in contacting the customer and the final disposition of the contact.

In my 25 years of consulting in the retail automotive industry, I have rarely found dealerships that do an effective job performing each of these four activities. Why? I think it has a lot to do with the culture of the service department; specifically, the lack of accountability management…and even more specifically, the way we set and manage expectations. What do you think?

If you're not already using the above processes, I encourage you to begin now.  Use the next 30 days to see how these low-cost processes can increase your service customer R.O. count, then let us know how it's working for you. Next month, I'll share other proven strategies to increase your customer-paid service transactions, so stay tuned for Part II! 

To learn more about the professionals of NCM Associates, visit our Team page at www.ncm20.com.