Fixed Ops Journal - August 2021 - F29

FIXED OPS JOURNAL
Read a recap of Part 3, " Turning the
Corner on Collision and Parts, " at
autonews.com/fojforumpart3.
Subaru VP: Don't take customer for granted
J
im Pernas is vice president of fi xed operations
at Subaru of America. He
kicked off the second installment of the
2021 Fixed Ops Journal Forum by
talking about the automaker's approach to customer
retention. Here are edited excerpts on:

What Subaru does well when it comes to
customer retention
We care about our customer fi rst and foremost.
We know the value of a lifetime customer,
and we constantly monitor and measure it. It's a
priority throughout the organization. You have
to focus on retention as well as providing an excellent
customer experience. You can't just take
for granted the customer will come back.

What Subaru would like to do better
Where we could do better is adding capacity
- growing with our customer. We've had the
good fortune of a number of years of successful
sales growth.
And so with that comes more responsibility in
the fi xed operations department to service
those customers. And I'm not just talking about
brick-and-mortar; I'm talking about staffi ng,
Pernas: A goal for Subaru is to add service
capacity to keep up with sales growth.
which is so critical these days.

Why Subaru's " fi rst maintenance complete "
is an important metric in customer retention
Basically, it's getting that customer back one
time within a 12-month period for a maintenance
repair order. If in June of last year a retailer
sold 100 new Subarus, and by June 30 of the next
year 72 of those customers came back for one
maintenance repair order, we would consider
that retailer at 72 percent fi rst maintenance
complete. ( Seventy-fi ve percent is Subaru's
goal; 65 percent is its minimum expectation.)
Why automakers struggle with customer retention
Across
our industry as a whole, including the
independents and other shops, there's turnover
of personnel, which aff ects retention because
people want relationships with their service
provider. Th ere's also a matter of trust. And we
build that as a foundation at Subaru. You have
to have that trust to bring the customer back.
You have to be fair and reasonable in working
with them. And you have to be accountable.

What automakers should focus on to improve
retention
Take a look at what you're spending in marketing
and acquiring new customers, and then
compare that to what you could be spending
just to keep the customers you already have.
Th at return on investment can be quantifi ed in
any size business very, very easily. And I think
that's important. And then to measure that
metric on a regular basis and hold team members
accountable for it. You could adjust pay
plans to that retention benchmark, and then
show continuous improvement.
- Dan Shine
Data analysis helps marketing lock on target
T
o turbocharge its service retention
eff orts, Flow Automotive Cos. in
North Carolina partnered with a large
retail data analytics fi rm. Th e company
takes Flow's customer data and merges it
with its own retail transaction data to create a
more robust view of the dealership group's
consumers.
" We think there's huge opportunity here to
increase the level of sophistication of marketing,
starting with service retention-based
marketing, " Eric Flow, president of management
services at Flow Automotive, told the
Fixed Ops Journal Forum.
Th e partnership with Inmar Intelligence
was a natural because both companies are
based in Winston-Salem, and the leadership
knew each other. Flow asked whether Inmar
wanted to get into the automotive space and
off ered itself up as a guinea pig.
Rob Weisberg, senior vice president of automotive
at Inmar , says the fi rm has been able to
learn a lot about Flow's customers by examining
data transactions from all major North
relevance to them because we understand
who they are as a consumer in a much more
robust manner, " Flow says. " We understand
who needs an off er and who doesn't need an
off er; who just needs a reminder and what
type of reminder. "
To measure its eff orts, Inmar assembled two
Flow: Offers to customers have more relevance
" because we understand who they are. "
American retailers and using them to predict
automotive purchases. Th at data provides insight
and allows Flow to personalize the customer's
experience.
Flow says with customers buying a new vehicle
every three to seven years and visiting
the service department once or twice a year, it
is diffi cult to get to really know clients - especially
if they're spread over 40-plus rooftops.
Inmar's data analysis helps Flow better focus
its marketing eff orts.
" What that looks like to the consumer is just
off ers that may have a much higher level of
similar test control groups. One it marketed
to; the other it didn't.
" We can really measure that marginal eff ect
because that's the eff ect that these advertiser
dollars are creating, " Flow says. " All the other
general market eff ects aff ect both groups the
same. "
Flow says he understands a smaller dealer
with one or two rooftops might not want to
engage with a big analytics fi rm. Instead, that
dealer has to concentrate on creating value for
service customers.
" You have to focus on, 'How do I create that
diff erentiated experience at my store that keeps
customers coming back to me, that makes them
say, " I don't want to go anywhere else " ?' "
- Dan Shine
AUGUST 2021 PAGE 29
http://www.autonews.com/fojforumpart3
Fixed Ops Journal - August 2021

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