Count Your Competition

Here’s a challenge. Tomorrow morning on your way to work pay attention to all the independent service centers that are out there. Count how many places you could go to get an oil change, or brakes or tires. Go ahead - count them, I dare you. You don’t even have to count the other car dealers…they aren’t really your competition, at least not for service- it’s the independents that you should be worried about. Count them.

As you count and count and count all of the independents that are out there stealing your customers, think about why your customers left you and why they go to these places. Could it be because you weren’t convenient or competitive enough? Were you too difficult to do business with, not quality conscience enough or just plain old didn’t show your customers you cared about them?

Losing customers has never been a bigger deal than it is now. You know what I am talking about. Warranty work is declining, maintenance intervals are stretched and the competition for your customers is fierce. If you want to succeed or even survive you have got to do something different than what you have always done and you have to increase customer retention. You have to change the way you think about your customers, your business and your future.

Start by answering this question – Would you do business with you? Call your store and pretend to be a customer – Would you do business with you? Drive into your service lane, look at your facility and your staff and see how long it takes to get greeted – Would you do business with you? Look at your signage, prices and offers. Look at your customer waiting area and restrooms – Would you do business with you?

By thinking like a customer you will quickly see what you need to change. My guess is you will change some of your service prices and offers. You will probably clean up some service advisors desks and maybe remove some negative signs that are hanging in your service drive. You may even clean up the restrooms or update your customer lounge. You would probably get into the tire business in a big way – making your store look and feel and smell like a tire store so customers know they are at the right place for all their automotive needs.

Lots of stores are adding some kind of owner loyalty club to make customers feel special and to entice them to return for service. Send out aggressively priced service reminders and mailers to get your lost customers back. Maybe even publish a dealership newsletter. Wouldn’t you like that stuff if you were a customer?

All of these changes are taking place simply because you started to think like a customer. Remember, you have to change your philosophy a bit to make all this work. Focus and invest more of your time and money on keeping your customers and less on attracting new ones.