Part one of this topic was published here on January 19, 2012. In that article I discussed the four no-cost or low-costactivities that, when executed flawlessly, will increase a service department's customer R.O. count by at least 10%. Today I’ll address several other proven strategies to increase your customer-paid service transactions. These are not necessarily all the strategies available, and there is no particular order in which the following strategies are recommended.

• Manufacturer-sponsored marketing – Although this is usually 100% billed to the dealerships, over the years several of the manufacturers, through pressure from regional parts and service representatives, have mandated dealer participation. Some dealers are resentful, even though the quality of the merchandising programs are typically first rate.

• Prepaid Maintenance Agreements sold by F&I – These agreements can come in all sizes and flavors depending on the provider (manufacturer, third party, in-house program). However, by design in most dealerships, this product does not normally receive a priority focus by the F&I producers.  

• Coupon books for free or discounted services – Following the delivery of a new or used vehicle at some dealerships, the service manager mails out coupon books to the customer. Coupons typically relate to maintenance services, high visibility competitive repair, substitute transportation, detailing, personalization, etc.

• “Tires for Life” (Giveaway or Deep-Discounted through F&I) – These programs have been around awhile, but they are beginning to increase in popularity with dealers. It seems dealers are now believers that the customer becomes loyal to the service facility where he obtains his first set of replacement tires.

• Free Inspection Clinics – If properly designed and executed, devoting one Saturday per calendar quarter to this merchandising activity will usually result in an easily measurable and very strong ROI.

• Third Party Customer Lifecycle Marketing – Today there are numerous providers available who specialize in segmenting, marketing to, and measuring success with existing and potential service customers. Typically, these providers utilize both direct mail and digital marketing, targeted specifically to both the perceived and demonstrated buying frequency of the customer.

• Customer Loyalty (Rewards) Programs – Originally patterned after the frequent flyer programs with which commercial airlines have had much success, loyalty (rewards) programs are continually gaining favor with franchised auto dealers. Why? It’s been proven that they significantly improve customer retention. There are numerous providers of these programs, and some dealers even manage their loyalty programs in-house.

• Service Business Development Centers (BDCs) – Not to be undertaken without a lot of planning, process documentation and training, the Service BDC concept has proven to be very effective in building and sustaining R.O. count, particularly in the high-line stores. Today there are also independent providers who offer a wide range of Service BDC options to dealers who are not ready to face the challenge of implementing an in-house Service BDC.

Each of these strategies, when analyzed independently, has produced varying degrees of success for numerous NCM® client-dealers. If you're thinking about employing any of these strategies in your automotive dealership, remember that each has its own cost structure which must be evaluated against the incremental improvement in transactional quantity that you expect to achieve.  If you need help with this analysis, give us a call at 866.756.2620.

If you're already using any of the above strategies, tell us how they’re working for you by posting a comment here.  Also, because the purpose of this blog is to build a community for sharing ideas and best practices, email us at ncmi@ncm20.com if our readers are free to call you directly for further information.