The 6 Factors That Impact Where Women Get Their Car Serviced

With this Women’s Wednesday we will focus on the Service Drive at your store.

Women buy a car about once every 6-7 years, but they visit the service lane several times a year. The good news? This is where on-going loyalty is developed. The not-so-great news is that 42% of women report they no longer go to the service department where they purchased their vehicle. And, you will never know it is their LAST visit, because they may smile, pay the bill, and never say a word, even though they have made up their mind not to return. As the Big Data Authority on women's dealership experiences, the top 6 reasons are:

Not satisfied with the experience
Did not like the way they were treated
Inability to get the problem fixed to their satisfaction
Cost to service the repair
Hours + Location not convenient
Lack of concierge services

DID YOU KNOW?

While 79% of women would recommend the service department to friends and family, less than two-thirds report not receiving follow up communication. Are you and your web provider optimizing platforms to provide educational tips and stay connected with your customers, post visit? Stay in touch by being her trusted advisor 365/24/7 – not just the 3 days a year she is in your store. How? Visit here.

Increase loyalty by paying attention to the little things, like:

Provide Ultimate Respect: Provide respect+treat women graciously every single visit. This builds rapport, trust and loyalty.
Key Concierge Services: The #1 requested concierge item from women is a courtesy car. This shows you understand the inconvenience when the car is undergoing maintenance and repair overnight. Services like Wi-Fi/TV, café and play area for children also help deliver a quality dealership experience while women+families wait.
Best Ear Forward: Your top listeners are the Service Advisors - or, should be. Why? To hear what women are saying and not saying. Your best listener behind the service counter makes female customers more comfortable to ask questions concerning repairs and, when triggered or upset, provides a space to problem solve and get the issue handled and move on.
No Threatening CSI “Requests”: Careful about strong-arming your clients with comments that sound intimidating regarding CSI, like: “Leave all 5’s or call us first before submitting”. This can sound completely inauthentic and uneasy to women.

For the Top 2014 Brand as Rated by Women when Servicing their Vehicles, click here.

Want to Sell More Cars and Distinguish your Dealership to Women? Click here to learn more.

Did you receive a Free copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here to download

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Comment by Michael Baker on May 1, 2014 at 8:24pm: When conducting an exclusive employee Female x 25 staff collectively,in an open Round-table at our Large Ford store in the early 2000's, prior to sequential Presidential awards, I asked numerous and anonymous in response inquiries, as to what elements/actions/practices would position our Dealership to be more female 'centric'. Wow, what an eye opener for the employees as well as the customers in insights. With management support of denoted constructive suggestions, many were implemented and cascaded ASAP.

Comment by Anne Fleming on May 1, 2014 at 4:01pm: Bernard, yes, I fear that CSI - once a tried and true measuring stick has become a monetary stick of haves and havenots. It is unfortunate and its application no longer works in most dealerships. Thanks for your comments.

Comment by Bernard London on May 1, 2014 at 3:26pm: Anne. Great article! You raised some good conversational points. In all my years of service management, trainer and consultant I am still amazed at the ignorance of many service departments who do not understand the importance and value of their "women" clientele. Service advisers seem reluctant to talk about their operations and processes when in reality they should be talking about it more to their female customers. Noticing that conversations are much more in depth with their male clients when the customers they should be spending most of their time with are women. Women need help in this arena as the knowledge level of automobiles and automobile service / maintenance procedures and processes may not have been nurtured over the years as it has been with males. So your notes in item #3 above are spot on. With regard to them leaving and not returning because they were not satisfied with a part or part of the process, dealers must wake up and realize they must ask, wherever possible, how the entire service visit went. If they do not ask, they will never know (until it is too late and their RO count drops!). I also like your comment about the C.S.I.. How phony and flawed is that process!. There are quite a few blogs popping up now among various groups that it is time to change the obsolete,(corrupt) system we have now. I fully agree!.

Comment by Brian Bennington on April 30, 2014 at 10:46pm: Another "Women Wednesday." Got it! (But, I did like the illustration you used last week.) Here you've given us a solid traditional post. You'll never go wrong discussing how women like there servicing. Dealers can learn a lot from your expertise. There's great business opportunities for them incorporating methods to enhance their female customers' satisfaction. Throughout my sales career, I was continuously aware that keeping women happy, not only brought them back to me, it made them much more willing to refer their friends. Good stuff!

Comment by Anne Fleming on April 30, 2014 at 3:34pm: Micheal -- appreciate your comments. Our business is a platform to educate, inform, contribute and make a difference. We keep to the data and facts. We find that judgement, subjectivity + opinion just gets in the way. :)

Comment by Michael Baker on April 30, 2014 at 3:21pm: Anne, You are always so spot on in your conveyances and yet do very gender 'unbiased' in your shared objective information. As a humble friendly female Dealer of past, I did realize so many operational benefits via a non- patriarch processed approach in all departments. With service operations in particular as you site here. If only most Male GMs would only wake up and 'smell the roses". If they want to generate more revenue immediately, they must.