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How To Increase Service Department Sales


Even before dealership inventory shortages, consumers were waiting longer than ever earlier betwixt new vehicle purchases – the average age of a car on the route in the U.S. has risen from 9.6 years in 2002 to 12.i years in 2022.

Coupled with ongoing inventory shortages, refining your dealership'due south service department process to generate more revenue can brand a critical divergence in your dealership'due south bottom line.

In this post, we'll share how dealers can amend the profitability of their service section and discuss:

  • Why the service drive has become a key component in dealership revenue and the importance of service drive loyalty.
  • How to grow service revenue and loyalty with actionable tips.
  • How to dedicate a sales team fellow member to the service drive – and equip them with the right tools.

Why the Service Drive Has Become a Central Component in Dealership Acquirement

As vehicles get older, they crave more maintenance, representing a growing opportunity for dealers. Pre-pandemic, service department sales were on the rise, increasing from $fifty.four billion in 2022 to 62.half dozen% by 2022.

While this number declined in 2022 to simply $51.ix billion, 2022 bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, totaling $lx.4 billion past NADA's mid-year report in June. Among continuing inventory shortages, this trend will probable go along as rise prices and limited availability push some customers to concord onto their vehicles longer.

Of form, service revenues are not only key to a dealership's bottom line. Service loyalty as well drives sales loyalty. In fact, Mastermind data finds customers who service at the dealership are almost 2.5x more probable to buy their side by side vehicle from the same retailer. For dealers who want to grow their share of both revenue and loyalty, below are some simple data-driven suggestions on how to run a dealership service section in today'south competitive mural.

Plus, every bit express availability pushed pre-owned auction prices to celebrated highs, the service drive represents a prime number opportunity for dealers to acquire in-need trades and flip existing inventory all from their service bulldoze.

But with service customers typically not yet in-market place and dealership loyalty at an best low , it is critical dealers become alee of their customers and contest to profitably larn vehicles, grow service revenue and promote customer loyalty.


Get the Guide:
30-Question Quiz for Maximizing Revenue in the Service Bulldoze


How to Abound Service Acquirement & Loyalty

Don't be agape to combat them on price.

For i reason or some other, many consumers believe the dealership is the well-nigh expensive place to get their vehicle serviced. This is i of the many reasons why customers stop visiting the dealership service drive in one case their warranty expires – or worse, well earlier it expires.

To avert any comparison-based shopping, dealerships have typically avoided putting transparent pricing on their websites, prompting customers to brand their own assumptions and service elsewhere. Only for dealers to combat customer concerns , they need to address them head on.

While industry data does show a price differential, it's also usually less than customers expect – and that difference can be tied directly into the needs and desires of today'southward consumer. For case, dealers take straight access to the quality benefits of OEM-certified technicians and genuine parts, but for customers with tardily-model vehicles, sometimes information technology'due south just about getting anything done.

Dealers should use predictive marketing campaigns that connect the perceived benefits of OEM people and parts to the customer's desire to accept their vehicle performing at a high level as long equally possible. Instead of being afraid to compete on cost, messaging should focus on your service section's advanced knowledge and abilities as compared to the more generalized service shop downwardly the road.

For example, consumers approaching the finish of their warranty and not withal ready to return to market may be more open to messaging such as, "We accept the good technicians and manufactory-quality parts to proceed your motorcar or truck running slap-up for years to come up," and more than sensitive to suggestions that they would exist sacrificing quality and long-term dependability by entrusting their vehicle to the low-price competition.

Treat service business as a local business.

Rather than trying to reel in conquest service customers from far away, dealerships should focus on marketing to existing local customers and audiences . Enquiry regularly finds consumers are unlikely to travel more than 20 miles for a car service, and well-nigh 3 quarters of vehicle service visits accept place within 10 miles of a customer'due south home.

An inner 10-mile radius is probable the prime territory for your service drive marketing campaigns, kickoff with local same-make owners who have purchased their current vehicle from a dealership other than yours, eventually expanding into other similar owners whose vehicles your technicians are prepared to repair.

Today's social media and digital advertising platforms have powerful geographic capabilities, and your service bulldoze marketing campaigns should exist taking advantage of them to ensure you're non spending marketing dollars trying to sell service visits to consumers who are outside your local market. Leverage the data in your dealership's CRM, DMS and sales platform to hyper target your messaging, prioritizing the customers most likely to visit your service drive.

Transform part of your section for touchless deliveries and time-sensitive services.

Many consumers believe contained mechanics or specialized franchise tire, lube, air workout or restriction shops are much quicker than dealership service drives for standard maintenance services or state condom inspections. Now that many brands have adopted self-self and contactless service models, offering a user-friendly client feel is more than important than ever for dealership service departments to stay competitive.

To keep your existing customers and effectively conquest others dorsum from competitors, dealers need to offer a quick and convenient service experience. Review how each kind of order is handled within your dealership service department procedure and consider setting upward a dedicated service drive or repair bay for those kinds of repairs and marketing it directly against the contest on speed, cost and, above all else, the OEM touch.

How to Integrate Service and Sales

Service conversion , when done effectively, is a tremendously powerful and efficient method of sales prospect generation. A properly managed and data-driven service-to-sales strategy affords numerous opportunities to build revenue in the service bulldoze , including customer lifetime value, dealer loyalty and service drive sales profitability.

This requires not just ensuring your service bulldoze is providing an excellent customer experience, but as well having the right people and processes in place to connect your service and sales departments then you're taking reward of that connection.

Ask yourself: What tools have you provided that dedicated person to identify the best prospects, and how much do they know about the people who will be showing up in your service drive that day? Exercise they take the right resources and authority to structure an offering and shut a auction?

Building a data-driven service-to-sales strategy

To capitalize on the opportunities in your service drive, you need a data-driven sales strategy tailored to and evolving with your dealership'south needs , plus the tools, people and processes in identify to back up that approach.

While there'south no 1-size-fits-all approach, to develop a strategy for optimizing the profitability of your service department, consider:

  • How many service drive RO's are you doing per month?
  • How many people are needed to support selling in the bulldoze?
  • What is your electric current market share?
  • What service conquest marketing are you doing today?
  • What is your service conquest marketing ROI goal?
  • What are your YoY dealer and brand loyalty sales growth goals?

Finally, task your squad to review any upcoming service appointments with the goal of identifying prospects who are out of warranty, over charter mileage or driving a highly profitable pre-owned vehicle . Engage these prospects before their service appointment with personalized messaging including actionable sales offers that include F&I figures. Taking a like approach with Mastermind, our dealer partners report converting service customers into new automobile buyers at a 4x higher activation rate.


Get the Guide:
10 Steps to Identify and Prepare for Service Bulldoze Date


Dealership service drive is a very of import section that should not be ignored. How can you increase service drive profitability?

  1. Use messaging to your advantage
  2. Care for service business as local business
  3. Offer a convenient customer feel
  4. Use information to turn service to sales
  5. Identify possible prospects from service appointments

Source: https://www.automotivemastermind.com/blog/dealerships/how-to-increase-dealership-service-drive-profitability-tips-on-running-a-service-department/

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