Digital Dealer - September 2017 - 40

By Charlie Polston
Automotive Customer
Retention and
Profitability Consultant,
BG Products, Inc.

// Fixed Operations

What Ever Happened
to the Sales-to-Service
Introduction?
A college buddy of
mine relocated to the
Deep South many years
ago. We've stayed in
touch with each other and
in a recent phone
conversation he was
telling me about his
car-buying experience
earlier this spring.
Let me tell you at the
outset that he is not a
gear-head, a car guy,
nor a dealership aficionado. He's just a typical
customer that buys a new
car about every 10 to 12
years.
In short, the overall
buying experience was
excellent. The salesman
was a 10-year veteran of
the dealership, he found
just the vehicle that my
friend wanted, and the
manufacturer incentives
made the selling price
attractive.
The delivery process
was informative and frankly, exciting-the vehicle's
connectivity, multi-media
accessibility, and creature
comforts blew him away.
He and his wife took delivery during their vacation,
so they were unhurried
and treated the delivery
40

SEPTEMBER 2017

like a date. Their thinking
was, "Hey, if we're gonna
spend $50,000 then we
want to enjoy the experience and live in the moment!" This was only their
third new car in over 30
years or marriage, so why
not make the most of it?
Forgive me for stating
the obvious, but just a

They drove off the lot
feeling awesome with
a car that looked great,
smelled fabulous, ran quietly, and practically drove
itself. And they all lived
happily ever after! Ah, life
is good.
Good for everyone except the technicians, good
for everyone except the

WHO IS THE BIGGEST
LOSER? THE CUSTOMER!
IF YOUR SALES TEAM
TREATS THE SERVICE
DEPARTMENT LIKE AN
AFTERTHOUGHT OR A
NECESSARY EVIL, THEN
THE CUSTOMER WILL,
TOO."
gentle reminder for those
of you that "live at the
dealership": buying a new
car is a big deal for most
Americans. It is an event.
It is a milestone.
The salesman did a
seamless handoff to the
F&I sales person, whose
presentation was informative and not pushy. They
were given options and
choices in a non-threatening, open environment.

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

service advisors, good for
everyone except the parts
guys. Good for everyone
except the service manager and parts manager.
None of these people will
ever see my friend unless
he has some type of vehicle failure that's covered
under warranty.
Good for everyone except the general manager
and the dealer principal.
They'll never make any

money off my friend
because new-car gross is
very low (or even sometimes results in a loss).
Good for everyone
except the general sales
manager and the sales
staff. They'll never get a
chance to sell my friend
another car; chances are
they'll never even see him
again!
Why does everybody
at the dealership lose?
Because my friend never
got introduced to anyone
in the service department!
He wasn't taken to the
service drive, didn't meet
a service advisor, wasn't
shown how to approach
the service drive, wasn't
instructed where to go for
quick-service...I think you
get the idea.
Furthermore, he wasn't
taught the value of factory-certified technicians,
factory-manufactured
parts, or specialized
lubricants and fluids only
available at the dealership. Nope, there was
none of that kind of talk.
There are going to be
somewhere around 17
million new cars sold this
year. I'm guessing that
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - September 2017
