Times are tough for the American automotive industry. Top automakers have closed hundreds of dealerships as they retool amid the global economic crisis. Dealers that remain are looking to their parts and service departments to make up lost sales revenue for 2009, and possibly even for 2010.
To accomplish these goals, automotive service consulting firms suggest that dealerships look to three top business priorities: customer service, convenience and follow-up.
Dealers may think they have customer service well in hand, but the truth is that customer service isn't efficient and effective unless its process is transparent - that is, clearly understood by the employees, but virtually invisible to the customers.
A process is made up of a series of actions, done in a specific order that will create consistent results when followed. Processes define what different parts of the organization do.
Good processes clearly tell an employee how to go about his or her job and how each worker contributes to create a consistent result. Good processes shouldn't restrain employees; they should be seen as "best practices" to follow for achieving the desired end result.
Thus it pays dealers to take a look periodically not only at the bottom-line revenue from their service and parts departments, but the ways in which those departments go about their tasks. Automotive service consulting firms estimate that dealers can increase their profits without having to increase their volume if they'll inspect their processes for actions that waste time and money.
Convenience offers a major area where dealerships can increase their customer loyalty, according to many automotive service consulting companies. It's a business axiom that it costs much less to keep a customer than it does to obtain a new one.
Thus it becomes imperative to give customers a solid reason to stay with the dealership in good times and bad, rather than go chasing after the lowest-price vendor. Whether it means opening satellite sites for automotive service, or adjusting hours to meet customers' peak demands, convenience means precious time for service clients, and precious dollars for dealerships. Convenience will keep customers around long after their warranties expire.
Follow-up forms the last of this trio of tools for surviving tough times. Automotive service consulting firms stress that it's the service department that's responsible for keeping customers for the dealership. Customers see the automaker and the service department as one entity. In their minds, the service department has the duty to keep their make and model of vehicle on the road.
That's why follow-up after service appointments is crucial to sustaining business. If the customer is happy with the service department, he or she will be more likely to stick with the same automaker when it's time for a new vehicle.
Good follow-up contacts the customer within 24 to 48 hours of a service appointment. Whether it's an automated message or actual person-to-person calls, the point is the effort to contact the car owner and make sure that everything went well.
Automotive service consulting firms say it's particularly important to convey the sense that the customer is important, and that the service department - and hence the dealership - genuinely wants the customer's feedback on how well the service was performed.
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