If you are simply handing off they keys when you sell a car, you are losing over half of your profit opportunity per customer.

Lost Revenue Opportunity
Manufacturer reports indicate that average dealerships NEVER see half of new and used car customers in their service department.  Furthermore, most dealers lose 10% of their service customers per year. This equates to dramatic lost revenue opportunity for the side of your business that represents over half of your profit.  If you want to maximize your gross profit opportunity, perfecting your sales-to-service hand-off is imperative.

Cost-Effective Revenue Opportunity
Acquiring new customers is five times more expensive than satisfying your current ones.  “Lost Soul” and “Recapture” advertising campaigns that create a 2-4% response rate are an example of this high cost with minimal return.  Retaining your existing customers is a more cost-effective solution to increasing revenue and profits. Your customers are the most focused and attentive during the vehicle purchasing process, meaning that there’s no better time to attract and maintain service customers.  If you do not effectively execute the sales-to-service hand-off at time of vehicle purchase, be prepared to spend five times more to re-acquire your customers into service down the line.

The Introduction
Before your salesperson hands over the keys of a new car, your customers should receive a tour of your facility and be introduced to key members of your service team. Establishing a relationship early on leads to customer confidence and the desire to have a new vehicle serviced where customers feel most comfortable: in your dealership’s expert hands.

A Well-Informed Customer
Be certain your customer knows exactly where he or she will come for the first service visit. Outline the recommended maintenance schedule for the new vehicle, and place a maintenance reminder sticker in the customer’s window so it is clear when the customer should return for the first visit.  If your dealership requires service appointments, make the first appointment for the customer, jotting down the date and time on a business card.  This process builds trust and confidence with the customer.  Confidence leads to customer retention.

Promote Your Dealership’s Value-Add
Brand new vehicle owners are inclined to take the best care of their cars, so don’t be shy about promoting why your dealership is the best place to keep a new car in tiptop shape.  Take this opportunity to promote that you have factory-trained technicians that know the car inside and out, your convenient service hours, express lane services, Wi-Fi internet access, clean and safe child play areas, complimentary car washes, and whatever else you provide.  In other words, categorically drive home the extreme value that your dealership provides.

New Car Care Clinics
Let’s face it, very few customers actually read the owners manual.  In addition, even if your sales representatives perform a fantastic vehicle delivery, customers cannot remember it all.  That’s why we also recommend New Car Care Clinics.  This gives your customers an opportunity to get all the answers to questions about their new car after they have begun driving it.  In addition, it provides a second opportunity to introduce your service department. Monthly New Car Care Clinics are a great way to build customer confidence in your service staff and let them know that they’re in very capable hands.

Long-Term Results
Setting up your service team for success with the sales-to-service hand-off has a cyclical effect as well.  Customers that visit your dealership for regular service and maintenance are 10 times more likely to buy their next new vehicle from your sales team.  Establishing long-term customer relationships begins with the sales-to-service hand-off, and if done right, will increase both future service and future sales revenue.

Want to learn about Drive-Sure’s proven process for streamlining the sales–to-service hand-off and raising sales-to-service retention rates by 10% or more?  Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation: Online or 1.800.323.5739.

Have feedback regarding this or other blog posts?  Please login to post comments or contact us at: marketing@krexinc.com.

Do You Drive-Sure? Inspect your car monthly to keep it running at peak performance.

We know that you love your car.  If you’re like us, the Spring weather has you even more enamored with your four-wheeled friend and you’re likely sprucing it up for joyrides on warm, sunny days.  While you’re busy washing and waxing, take the time to do a vehicle walk-around to ensure everything is in perfect working order.  As a matter of fact, make a commitment to keep doing our walk-around checks once a month so that your ride is in top shape all year long.  Read on for Krex, Inc.’s tips for readying your car for this season and beyond.

Give It A Good Wash
Washing your own car is a great way to get a good look at the various surfaces, both inside and out.  Removing winter’s residue makes your vehicle look great, but it also helps paint remain in good condition and reduces the likelihood of rust development.  Pay close attention to areas that are often forgotten, like wheel wells and the undercarriage.  Look for spots that require further care, like dings or pieces of loose trim.  If you need help, consult your local new car dealership service department for repairs.

Inside Matters
Bad weather can be tough on a car’s interior, so now is the time to rejuvenate yours.  Vacuuming out abrasive or corrosive debris, like salt, sand or dirt, goes a long way towards both aesthetic and protective car care.  Make sure to remove floor mats before vacuuming and to clean interior surfaces with a mild detergent (we like Griot’s Garage’s line of products).  While working near doors or windows, pay close attention to weather stripping that should be secured or needs replacing.

Proper Working Order
At least once monthly, perform necessary safety checks on your vehicle.  Enlist a friend or family member to help you determine if all lights and signals are in working order.  Run your windshield wipers to ensure they don’t streak, providing a clear view during these rainy spring days.  Check your tires for manufacturer recommended air pressure.  (For more advice on keeping your tires in top shape, read Why Tire Pressure Matters.)

Under The Hood
A quick look under the hood can make all the difference in how your car runs throughout the year.  Make sure you have plenty of windshield washer fluid to get you through the coming months.  Batteries are just as likely to fail in extreme heat as in cold, so visually inspect yours for signs of corrosion around the terminals.  Check your oil for level and cleanliness; according to the manufacturer’s recommendations in your user manual.  Additionally, search for other signs of fluid or corrosion under the hood.  Any sign of fluid, corrosion or insufficient oil warrants a call to your new car dealership service department for a more detailed inspection.

If you’re not comfortable performing your own vehicle Spring cleaning or walk-around, stop by your new car dealership.  Their service experts are not only trained in vehicle inspection, but they can assist by letting you know precisely what maintenance your car needs and when, helping you can stay on top of your car’s care.

Having the correct tire pressure is crucial for driving safety.  Incorrect pressure can affect your car’s handling, braking, fuel economy, your comfort while riding and the life of your tires.  Tire pressure is measured in pounds per square inch (psi) and each manufacturer recommends the best psi for their vehicles.

Why Does Tire Pressure Change?
Tire pressure (psi) is influenced by a variety of factors including normal air loss through the tire, payload, temperature, and damage to the tire. Tires will naturally lose 1-2 psi per month due to regular wear and tear. Additionally, tire pressure changes with ambient temperature – about 1 psi for every 10-degree change in temperature.

What Happens When Tire Pressure Changes?
Tire pressure that’s too high results in less tire touching the ground.  In turn, this creates a harsher ride as well as compromised traction and the ability to stop quickly.  A tire overinflated by as much as 6 psi can be damaged more easily when tires run over potholes or debris. Over time, overinflated tires lead to excessive inner tire tread wear, decreasing the overall life of tires.

Overinflated tires decrease traction and cause premature center tread wear. Underinflated tires generate heat and cause premature outer tread wear.

When tire pressure is too low, too much of the tire is in contact with the road.  Underinflated tires wear prematurely and have the potential to overheat. An underinflation of only 6 psi may seem insignificant, but actually represents about 20 percent of a tire’s recommended pressure and could lead to tire failure or reduce the tread life by as much as 25 percent.  Underinflation actually causes a tire to bend more as it moves, resulting in a build-up of excessive heat, an increase in rolling resistance and a decrease in fuel economy by as much as 5 percent.

How to Ensure Proper Tire Pressure
First things first, learn the recommended tire pressure for your vehicle.  Contrary to popular belief, this information is not found on the tires themselves; this number refers to the maximum allowable air pressure, which is often higher than what the manufacturer recommends.  Look inside the driver’s door, the glove compartment door or the owner’s manual for the recommended air pressure for your vehicle.

Choose a time of the month to check your tire pressure and stick to it.  Associate it with another automotive task, like vacuuming the interior, so you won’t forget.  For accuracy, use a high quality tire pressure gauge and check pressure when the tires are at air temperature and haven’t been driven more than a few miles.

Lastly, remember to check all four tires, don’t assume the fourth is fine just because the first three are at recommended pressure.  And every now and then, check your spare tire, too, to ensure it’s ready for use.

If you’re uncomfortable checking your own tire pressure, your local new car dealer service center can check and adjust your tire pressure for you.

Checking your tire pressure regularly keeps your tires in top condition and just might save you a little cash now that gas prices are soaring.  To get more reassurance for your tires, check out Drive-Sure Road Hazard Tire Protection Benefits.

Consistently performing multi-point inspections leads to long-term customer retention.

Missing a singular opportunity to thoroughly perform and discuss a multi-point inspection leads to more than just one missed sale.  If the technician doesn’t catch worn brake pads during an inspection, the immediate lost opportunity might only represent a $100 loss.  However, if that customer defects to a competitor for the repair not properly identified by the technician, what is the financial impact?  National averages show that every lost service customer equates to an average parts and service opportunity loss of $2200.

Taking this a step further, let’s say that each of a dealer’s technicians hurries through just one multi-point inspection per day.  An average dealer that has 10 technicians could be jeopardizing as much as $22,000 in future parts and service revenue each day!

These same lost opportunities apply when a service consultant misses the chance to properly communicate needs uncovered by the technician’s multi-point inspection.  Ensuring that your service consultants are communicating inspection results to every customer is just as vital as the multi-point inspection itself.

Consider the same scenario, but imagine that time is taken to thoroughly perform and discuss a multi-point inspection at every service visit.  This process builds customer trust as customers see maintenance and repair items move from green to yellow to red over time.  This trust leads to fewer declined services and long-term customer retention.  This increased customer retention equates to an additional $2,200 in future parts and sales revenue per customer.

A thorough and well-communicated multi-point inspection leads to impressive advantages in terms of customer-retention and your dealership’s future revenue.  Make sure your technicians and service consultants understand just how vital this responsibility really is.

Learn how Drive-Sure’s proven processes to encourage multi-point inspections on each maintenance service AND provide measurement tools to track success: http://www.krexinc.com/request-more-information/

With this in mind, we share wisdom from Winston Churchill’s “Five Distinct Truths” about decision-making. At minimum, success in decision-making requires:

(1) That there is full authority to make the decision.
(2) That there is a reasonable prospect of success.
(3) That greater interests are not compromised.
(4) That all possible care and forethought are exercised in the preparation.
(5) That all vigor and determination are shown in the execution.

Tony Robbins is credited with saying, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten”. But, in today’s competitive automotive industry, we believe, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you WON’T GET what you’ve always gotten”. The competition is fierce, customer expectations have increased, recommended service intervals have extended. Now, more than ever, you have to make ACTIVE DECISIONS to SUCCEED. …And, more than anything, we want you to succeed!

We hope you find this guideline for decision-making useful. As always, please share your feedback by commenting below, via email @ contact_us@krexinc.com, online http://www.krexinc.com/request-more-information/, or on facebook https://www.facebook.com/KrexInc.

The training modules were created to ensure timely training of new employees. Yet, feedback from Krex dealers indicates that the training modules are also an excellent tool to measure that current employees follow best practice procedures. “Nice job on the video content and production. Our Managers and Service Consultants will all utilize them. Thank you for continuous quest for excellence! Mahalo!” – Lance Ichimura, Director of Variable Operations, Servco Auto Leeward

Each training module has two main components:

• Short video (7 minutes or less) geared specifically toward new car dealerships
• Online quiz with certification

All training modules are completely free. Existing Krex dealers can access the training modules from the training tab within the dealer.krexinc.com web portal. The training modules are also available on Krex, Inc.’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/DriveSureKrex/feed.

Based upon the overwhelmingly positive feedback, additional training modules will be launched throughout the year.  As with everything we do, all training modules will be focused on helping new car dealerships increase customer retention, prevent customer defection and exceed customer expectations.  Currently scheduled modules: “Executing an Effective Walk-Around”, “Inspecting and Selling Tires”, “Processing Road Hazard Tire Claims”, “Providing Drive-Sure Benefits”, and “Sales Department Training”.

We look forward to hearing additional feedback regarding our online training videos.

We will share best-practices and encourage you to do the same (by responding to our entries within the comments box below).  We hope that you find this to be a valuable forum and source of information.

-The Drive-Sure Team

1) L.L. Bean – When faced with a financial need to close a call center in 2009, the company opted to let employees work as home-based agents instead of out-sourcing calls so that the company could maintain a consistent customer experience.  (They also have priced-right products and a lenient return policy.)

2) USAA – The financial institution began letting customers make deposits by simply snapping a picture of the checks with their iPhones and using an app to e-mail them to the bank.

3) Apple – The company pioneered a new approach to the buying process by giving their associates the tools to scan products and process payments anywhere within their stores – gone are the days of waiting in long check-out lines.  (By the way, their customers can “go green” by choosing to have their receipts e-mailed rather than printed.)

4) Four Seasons – With the luxury business travel industry hit hard in 2009, the high-end hotelier began cross-training back-office employees so that customers would not notice when they may be understaffed.  (A human resources manager could be manning the spa desk.)

5) Publix – The employee-owned grocery chain completed the installation of an automated inventory replenishment software system reducing “out-of-stocks” by 19%.

What can new car dealers learn from these service giants?

It might be easy to draw the conclusion that providing a consistent customer experience; making it easy for customers to buy; and having the right products at the right time are the keys to excellent customer service.  (In many instances this may be the case.)  But, being a Customer Service Champ is really having a customer-centric philosophy.  What does that mean?

• knowing what is important to your customers
• knowing how your customers make buying decisions
• doing everything that you can to give your customers what is important to them

This sounds simple enough.  But, the execution is much more difficult than the theory.  It takes a concerted effort from everyone within a Fixed Operations department to make customer service the top priority.  And, in most cases it takes some deep soul searching to identify current practices and processes that are NOT customer-centric.  If we are honest with ourselves, the history of a typical new car dealer’s Fixed Operations did not have customers at it center.  (It was more likely to have the manufacturer or the sales department at its core.)

Yet, as with anything worth doing, the reward is worth the effort.  Taking steps toward becoming a Customer Service Champ will create loyal customers that work as ambassadors for your organization.  Imagine hundreds of your customers telling their friends and family members why they will never have their vehicles serviced anywhere other than your dealer.

What is the first step toward becoming Customer Service Champs?

The first step toward becoming a Customer Service Champ is knowing what is important to your customers and what influences their buying decisions.  (By the way, this does not mean review your CSI Survey results.)  Ask your loyal customers why they service their vehicles at your dealer.  Ask them what would make their customer experience better.  Then (after you are really feeling good about what they tell you), ask them when and why they go elsewhere for anything related to their vehicles.  (Yes, ask your loyal customers this question – the answers may surprise you.)

How can we help one another be Customer Service Champs a bit quicker?

Most of you have been “around the block” a few times.  So, let’s share some best practices that are already helping to exceed your customers expectations….  What are you doing differently (and most importantly better) to take care of (and keep) your customers?
(Please post your response to this question in the comment box below:)