Five Ideas That Dealerships Should Be Communicating to Their Customers to Optimize Service Operations
By Lloyd Schiller
I earn my living working with and for automobile dealers. They are my only customers. I work with good dealers who are already typically doing a good to excellent job in many areas. But the best dealers are the ones who constantly want to do better, and they ask us to "help them get to the next level." So the things that are said in this article are not said to raise alarms or somehow denigrate the job America's dealers do, because overall, I think you do a darn good job. This article is simply intended to create some additional awareness and sense of urgency, so here goes.
Let's first dispel some myths about dealerships before we move to the five ideas. Many dealerships hold themselves in high esteem based on their factory training and technical competence. But according to a 1998 survey of 123,000 retail service customers, customers love independent shops and pretty much disdain dealers in almost every category. The areas that dealers excel in are the caliber of repairs with driveability, engine and automatic transmission concerns. The dealers who seemed to exceed their customers' expectations were Saturn dealers and high-line dealers (Acura, BMW, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz).
Where customers feel that all other dealers seem to fail is in customer handling and customer convenience. There may be many real and perceived reasons for this. Dealers must address all of a customer's concerns. Dealers are the "court of final appeal," meaning dealers can't pick and choose to do only the simpler maintenance work. Doing highly technical work in the same shop as maintenance work may cause customers to feel that dealerships are slow, unresponsive entities. If an oil change only takes 20 minutes, why does a water leak take three days? (We know that they are extremely time-consuming, miserable jobs that require finding, sealing, curing, road-testing, water-testing and then repeating these steps until the leak is fixed.)
Unfortunately, some dealerships confirm the customer's beliefs that dealerships are slow, unresponsive entities due to poor customer-handling techniques and processes. Some treat customers with arrogance based on some feeling that their technicians, equipment and knowledge allow them this privilege. (I can't think of many things that personally make me any angrier than this one, especially when the dealership fails to fix my problem right the first time.)
If dealerships are truly to be considered the best place for all of a customer's service needs, then they need to earn that consideration. So besides employing the best-qualified technicians along with the best training and equipment, what should dealers offer to accommodate their customers?
1. In all words, actions, signs and personal accommodations: appreciate your customers! They are the life-blood of your business. They want and need your help. Treat them to a big smile; treat them with dignity, courtesy and respect. These accommodations and practices cost nothing, but they are the fabric of human relations. "Polite & Professional, Polite & Professional, Polite & Professional." Want negative responses and reactions? They're plenty easy to get. Try not smiling. Start your sentences off by saying things like, "I'm not going to..." "Our company policy is..." and "I don't have to listen to that kind of language..." Have negatively-worded warning signs like, "Not responsible for..." and "Customers prohibited from..." and you'll get plenty of negative responses.
2. Everyone is time-poor these days. Accommodate your customers' convenience needs. Successful retail businesses have figured out how to accommodate these needs: 1-hour photos, 1-hour eyeglasses, 30-minute pizza deliveries, e-mail, faxes, overnight deliveries, customer-convenient days and hours. The dealership service department that is not open on Saturdays is terribly out of step in most metropolitan areas. And being open until at least 7:00 p.m. for customer pick-up/drop-off is also imperative in many areas.
3. Accommodate your customers' price needs on maintenance items. There's not a reason in the world that an oil change, alignment, tune-up, coolant flush, etc., needs to cost more at a dealership than at a quality independent or quality mass merchandiser. And yes, customers will spend a little more at a dealership for maintenance when they're already in for warranty or recall service, but they resent it. And when they don't have to be at the dealership, guess what? They go elsewhere, 74% of the time on a national average basis.
Fix the vehicle right the first time! It is a sign of customer disrespect and possibly lack of caring by either the service advisor, technician, or both when you don't fix it right the first time. Customers say this is their most important criteria due to the extreme frustration and aggravation incomplete work creates. I think mistreating the customer is a much worse sin than not fixing the car right. Either way, fixed right the first time should be certainly an extremely high priority.
5. Have a clean, pleasant service facility. What your service facility looks like says a lot to your customers about how you feel about them. It says a lot to your employees, too. Employees will typically be happier, more productive and work longer in a really nice facility vs. some dirty crap-hole with outdated furniture, outdated dusty posters, dirty restrooms, etc. Poor environments breed hostility. Human behaviorists have known this for years. And I'm not saying all of us don't have a favorite locksmith, diner or other business that's old and dirty but as comfortable as an old pair of shoes. For most expenditures, customers have proven time and again that the real volume goes to the bright, airy, clean, modern facilities.
So what's the secret to a dealer who has a truly excellent service operation vs. a plodding, mediocre, "we're still struggling to earn a high net profit and our CSI is still a few points below Zone Average" dealer? Here's a real blinding flash of the obvious: It's attitude! The dealer and management team who establish tangible, measurable goals and are continually examining and critiquing themselves to see how they can be better than they are now will reach and exceed their goals. The dealers who have no goals or action plans other than "show up and open up," or simply use some mediocre Zone Average Benchmark to reach average rarely do. And if they do reach average, what the heck did they accomplish? Who wants to be average? Who wants to do business with an average business or person? Achieving excellence ain't easy, but easy ain't fun. Challenging is fun. Enjoy the challenge in reaching for excellence!
Lloyd Schiller is president of Dealer Service Corporation, a fixed operations and consulting management firm. lschiller@dealeronline.com
