Digital Dealer - May 2019 - 42

S A L E S & VA RIABL E OPS: Fixed Operat ions

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

Inspire Your
Guest to Invest
The primary purpose of
a professional service
advisor is to sell service, or
as Scott Russeau puts it,
"inspire your guest to
invest!"
Earlier this year, I attended one of Russeau's
energy-packed workshops.
(Okay, it wasn't a workshop
as much as it was a workout!) Russeau is passionate
about giving dealership
customers a positive, consistent, predictable service
drive experience-one that
focuses on educating customers and inspiring them
to invest in themselves by
investing in their cars.
Before we unpack the process, let me tell you a little
bit about the man. Russeau,
a high-performance fixed
ops trainer and coach is as
comfortable on the service
drive as he is in the classroom. His credibility comes
from experience: in the
trenches as a technician, on
the front lines as a service
advisor, in leadership as a
fixed ops director, and at the
top as a general manager.
He gets it, because he's
done it!
Here are five takeaways
from the workshop that, if
implemented, will have an
immediate impact on your
service sales success and
hence, your bottom line:

INSPIRE YOUR GUEST
TO INVEST

42

M AY 2 0 1 9

Inspire - Not pressuring,
not begging, not arm twisting, but clearly educating,
communicating, offering,
and asking. A guest who is
inspired takes action; they
purchase.
Guest - An honored,
unique person that invested
their time and energy to
enter your service center.
"Of all the places they could
have taken their car, literally
thousands of service centers
across America, they chose
you," Russeau said.
Just like a guest in your
home, folks on the service
drive deserve your highest
respect and your undivided attention. You've got to
treat them like family. They
are why you came to work;
without them, you are out of
business.
Invest - Informing your
guests about their vehicle
needs and selling tech-recommended service is not
something you do to your
guests, it's something you
do for them. When they
invest in brake pads and a
brake fluid exchange, they
receive increased safety and
stopping reliability in return.
Inspiring your guests to
invest in their vehicle is
done for the benefit of your
guests. They get a greater
blessing by having a safe,
reliable, trouble-free vehicle
that gives power, performance, and that is fun to

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

drive. And don't forget about
saving money. Maintenance
is always cheaper than
repair, and fuel economy
is best when a vehicle is
well-maintained. What a
great return on their investment!
As an automotive professional, you are in business
to make money. So here's
the win-win: the more
tech-recommended maintenance and repair that you
sell, the more money you
make-and the more money
your guests save.
SYSTEM SELLING

Russeau warned against
offering service a la carte
when presenting an estimate. Don't quote a left
outer tie rod for $200 and an
alignment for $100; rather
quote the suspension "system" repair for $300. You
wouldn't do one without the
other, so keep it simple and
quote it that way.
"You're not selling parts
(the rods) and labor (time),"
Russeau said, "You are selling safety, peace of mind,
a smoother ride, reliable
vehicle control, and driver
confidence."
PACKAGE PRICING
TECHNIQUE

This is similar to system
selling, but it is a comprehensive price quote that
includes the primary concern
and related items, immediate safety needs, and

recommended maintenance.
The process is used when
organizing and presenting
the results of the multipoint
inspection to the customer.
First the advisor organizes
the tech recommendations
into three categories: primary and related concerns,
immediate needs, and
recommended maintenance.
Next, he reviews each item
with the customer. Lastly,
he quotes one price for the
entire package.
If the customer says yes,
you communicate with the
tech and he gets to work.
If you get hit with a price
objection, then "sell up"
(read on).
THE SELL-UP PROCESS

The priorities are:
1. Primary and related
concerns
2. Immediate safety needs
3. Recommended
maintenance
Sell up (from bottom to
top) means you might drop
recommended maintenance
from your price quote, but
then you would move related
maintenance items up to
item #1. For example, if the
primary concern was hot
air blowing out of the A/C,
you would move cabin air
filter replacement from the
recommended maintenance
category up to the primary
concern category because it
is a related item.
Likewise, if the technician finds a weak, corroded battery, then battery
replacement becomes an
immediate safety concern.
Therefore, you would move
battery protection pads and
terminal cleaning up from
the recommended mainte-
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