Digital Dealer - July 2018 - 17

DON'T ASSUME YOUR ADVISORS UNDERSTAND THE
BIG PICTURE. TAKE THE TIME TO HAVE A SERVICE
SALES MEETING AND LAY OUT YOUR TWO-FOLD USED
CAR BUYER RETENTION STRATEGY."
es and franchised aftermarket shops are ready,
willing, and able to work on
anything. I'm suggesting
your dealership should be,
also.
There are 267 million
cars on the road in the
United States and that's
increasing every year. Combine that with the fact that
the number of service bays
are declining every year
and you have the perfect
opportunity for fixed ops
growth...if you pursue it.

money. You can't deposit
loyalty in the bank. Forgive
me for stating the obvious,
but you can only deposit
money in the bank, and the
only way that will happen is
when the service advisors
sell something!
Don't assume your advisors understand the big picture. Take the time to have
a service sales meeting and
lay out your two-fold used
car buyer retention strategy:
1: Get them back on the
service drive.

First, let's look at the
low-hanging fruit. I'm talking
about being intentional in
retaining your pre-owned
car buyers-making them
lifetime service buyers. I
see a plethora of new car
retention programs designed to keep consumers
loyal, but rarely do dealers
aggressively pursue their
used car buyers. That's
tragic and doesn't make
good business sense.
The action point is to
give your used car buyers
access to all of the retention
programs available to your
new car buyers. Things like
"Engines for Life," lifetime
warranties, complimentary
roadside assistance for life,
and scores of other incentives to keep them coming
back.
But you can't stop there.
Customer loyalty in and of
itself won't make you any

THE INTENT HERE
IS TO GIVE YOUR
ADVISORS AN OPENING
SENTENCE-A PROVEN
PHRASE THAT WILL 'GET
THEM STARTED' ON THE
ROAD TO A SALE."

ACTION POINT #1:

2: Sell tech-recommended services to keep their
cars trouble-free and fun to
drive...and to keep them
coming back!
ACTION POINT #2:

Secondly, equip your
advisors with word tracks
that are brief and easy to
learn. For example, if you
implement some type of
lifetime engine warranty on
all of your used cars, you
might coach your advisors
to check vehicle history and
say, "Mr. Customer, I see
you are already enrolled in
our Engines for Life Pro-

gram. In order to keep your
coverage intact, you would
want our performance oil
change package, right?"
Or you might have them
say, "All of our pre-owned
vehicles come with Lifetime
Roadside Assistance as
long as you choose our
"better" or "best" oil service.
Which one of the oil change
packages best meets your
driving needs?"
The intent here is to give
your advisors an opening
sentence-a proven phrase

that will "get them started"
on the road to a sale. Most
professional advisors can
take it from there if you can
just give them a starting
point.
ACTION POINT #3:

Lastly, proactively reach
out to "lost souls"-vehicle
owners that haven't been
on your service drive in over
a year. Most folks have their
oil changed twice a year, so
if you haven't seen them in
that amount of time, they've
defected to the aftermarket.
Oh, you'll see them again
if they have a catastrophic
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

failure that's covered under
warranty, but for routine
maintenance, you've lost
them.
Go get them back! How
about a car care clinic on a
Saturday morning? Make it
a grand party with hot dogs
and those inflatable bounce
thingies for the kids. All
fixed ops personnel will be
needed, from "A" techs to
lube dudes to porters. The
centerpiece of the event is
a free multi-point inspection
performed on every vehicle.
Granted, it's a lot of work,
but if you regain 20-30
lost customers, it's a great
success. Plus, you'll sell
lots of labor hours simply by
having your techs get their
hands and eyes on every
vehicle.
So many used cars, so
little time. Go start rounding them up. It's worth it!
My personal thanks to Jim
Lang of Lang Marketing.
For more information on the
Lang iReport, you can visit
langmarketing.com.
CHARLIE POLSTON is an
Automotive Customer Retention and Profitability Consultant
with BG Products, Inc. Charlie
has been with BG's Fixed
Operations Division for over
36 years. He has trained over
7,500 dealers, managers, and
technicians - and has been a
frequent workshop leader at
NADA's annual convention.
EMAIL: cpolston@bglsi.com

J U LY 2 0 1 8

17
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - July 2018
