SERVICE ME: Service drive selling

Customer Paid Labor is the Cornerstone of Profitability

A dealership that sells 100 vehicles a month, typically has 5 times that number of customers come through the service department every month. Most customers that come to the service department really don't want to be there. They typically come in for 1 of 3 reasons:

• Warranty repair work
• Routine maintenance
• Major repair work, outside of warranty

Ensuring that each one of these customers is presented with the manufacturer's suggested maintenance, as well as additional maintenance that should be performed due to local conditions, is the cornerstone of increasing customer paid labor, and profitability, in a service department. An advanced level of this concept is to present Extended Service Contracts and Pre-paid Maintenance in the Service Drive.

Customer Benefits

• Improves the value and reliability of their vehicle
• Reduces 'surprise' repair bills
• Improves the relationship with the dealership

Dealership Benefits

• Improve service department profit, both initially and over the long term
• Increase customer loyalty over the long term
• Increase customer satisfaction

What's been Done

Most programs designed to sell these services in the service drive, often produce poor, and inconsistent results. The typical program consists of:

• Sticking up 'ask me about' posters in the service drive
• Paying the service advisor a 'spiff' to sell the products
• Holding a meeting or two, 'to keep it in front of them'

When 'nobody asks', and service advisors are 'way too busy' to make an elaborate presentation, the program staggers along.

The Challenge

The major constraints have been:

• Service drive is often a very busy sales environment
• Service advisor reluctance to present to an already unhappy customer
• Service advisor doesn't know exactly what to say, or when, to make the presentation
• Service advisor that doesn't want to be rejected by a customer saying 'no'
• Customers that don't naturally know why they need these products
• Service advisors unclear on exactly what options should be presented to a particular customer
• Poorly executed pay plans and profit allocation

The Solution

The solution is to create a program specifically for the service drive, that addresses the unique challenges of that sales environment.

Continue for details on the Service Drive Sequence Routine Maintenance Sales.

Continue for details on the Service Drive Sequence for Extended Service