Service Advertising: 4 Better Ways

It’s time to take a look at the advertising your dealership is sending to your service customers.  I constantly see dealers spending thousands of dollars on the wrong kind of media, the wrong list of prospective customers, the wrong offers at the wrong prices and usually with the wrong information on them. Here are some tips that will help you get more bang for your service advertising buck.

1. After word of mouth, direct mail is the strongest form of advertising for service. It allows you to zero-in and target your customers and entice them to return instead of shot-gunning in the paper, radio or TV. Direct mail has always been strong and I don’t see it changing. Some day we will all be flying around in space ships – but we will still get a mailer in the mail box advertising a special factory authorized space ship sale good this weekend only. And even space ships need serviced, so get the most bang for your direct mail buck by making sure your mailers are clean, easy to read and make sure they are informative and accurate. They should also use a consistent look that builds brand equity instead of changing the look every month and whatever you do, avoid sending anything in envelopes. They are seen as junk-mail and usually don’t even get opened. Use over-sized, flashy cards that stick out in the mail, get noticed and call customers to action.

2. Another area I see dealers waste a lot of money is what I call “customer envy.”  Dealers suffering from this disease often can’t wait to waste money going after another dealer’s customers when he has a gold mine right in his own computer system’s database. There are reports you can run right out of your database that will show that about 50% of your customers that have been in your store for service in the past 2 years haven’t returned in over a year. My suggestion is to go after these ‘lost’ customers and get them back before you go looking for someone else’s.

3. Next, advertise services that make sense. Services that anyone would understand and have some idea of what a good price would be. I suggest an aggressive, low-priced oil change offer since consumers already know they need to have normal oil changes done and they have some idea of what it is worth. I have found that the most effective price-points for an oil change are between $12.95 – 17.95. That is aggressive, no doubt – but, here’s a question - how much money you make on the customers that don’t visit your store – ZERO! Use this low offer to create opportunities, then check their vehicle and sell them what they need.

4. And last, think like a consumer. Your customers already think you charge too much, so the last thing you need to do is prove that they are right. Always make sure you are competitive with local independents on your coupon offers (the other dealers in town are not your competition when it comes to service) and never advertise any service over $99. I also recommend against using expiration dates…you don’t know when some customers had their car serviced last so, let them keep your mailer until they need it.