Service: How to Survive & Succeed

No doubt I will ruffle some feathers with this article – but what else is new – I seem to do that every time I write. So, here goes anyway. It is surprising to me how some dealers are doing so badly and others are doing so well in the same challenging economic times. I mean everyone knows car sales are off, but I know of dealers that are doing just fine – still selling cars, still selling service and still profitable. What then is the difference?

I also know of stores – even groups of stores that have cut everything to the bone – they have gone into panic manage mode. When dealers panic manage a store they are cutting their own throat – listen to this – if you are going to panic manage and cut and cut and cut –why don’t you just cut your throat now and get it over with. You can’t save yourself into a profit…you know you can’t. That never works – never has and never will. If you have fat you need to cut then cut it, explain why you cut it to your people and never let the fat come back – you shouldn’t have had it there to begin with – you should have always run lean and mean.

Stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for your own actions. Maybe you got fat and lazy. Maybe you or your people didn’t treat some customers like they should have been treated and maybe because of that they didn’t return and they didn’t refer their family and friends. Maybe your service department isn’t convenient and isn’t competitive and isn’t as nice as it should be. Maybe you should have advertised more for service or had some kind of customer retention tool in place that would make customers want to do business with you. Maybe you shouldn’t have had so much turnover in your sales department and maybe some of this downturn could have been reduced or eliminated…you think?

Ok, now that I got that out of the way – and some of you hate my guts…I say this. Don’t shoot the messenger. You know that some of what I just said fits…even though you don’t like it or want to admit it…it fits. But the really good news is that it isn’t too late for a lot of dealers.

Don’t slit your wrists – and don’t call me up and gripe at me for what I said – instead, take the medicine and go to work with a changed attitude. Here are 5 things that I suggest…read them and decide for yourself if you agree or not. Decide if you will survive or not. And decide if you will succeed or not.

First thing and this is very important. Remember that you are the Leader. The pack will follow your lead. If you are positive, motivating and a believer in success they will follow and you will succeed and attract the best people in the business (cream of the crop) and with all of the bad stuff going on out there today – there will be some good people looking for jobs. If you have one foot in the grave – your people will follow you right to the funeral home. Your job is to be the motivational speaker and the example setter for the dealership – you will be in much better shape when you get through this challenging situation – even stronger than you were before, so go get ‘em tiger, you can do it..

Second, remember that you are a teacher. Teach your people how to sell the right way. Teach them how to give great customer service. Teach them, however, to not be afraid to ask for the business, to know what they are talking about and to know how to get customers into the store the right way – both in sales and service. Teach them how to identify and overcome objections, how to handle customer complaints with a never say no attitude and teach them that every single customer counts today – you can’t afford to lose just one.

Third, focus on customer retention. Get your sales team involved in the customer retention process – it really starts there. Make sure they recommend your service department to every car buyer. Make sure your sales team understands that it is a condition of employment for them to introduce customers to your service department, to pre-schedule their first appointment and make sure they know that if they do these things they will get more ups in the future for more car sales.

Fourth, get competitive, convenient, convincing and for God’s sake get in the tire business. Offer a low-priced oil change (under $20) to attract customers in and then maximize those opportunities when they arrive with menus and inspection reports on every vehicle. Be open early and late and all day Saturday – you have to be open to do business and don’t let your service manager talk you out of it. Look, feel and smell like a tire dealer. Display tires and prices and offer a 20% difference low price guarantee to raise awareness and give customers more confidence when buying tires from you. Remember, 75% of all customers buy their service work where they buy their tires – so for God’s sake, stop talking about it and get into the tire business – and I don’t mean just hanging a tire up on the wall – I mean sell some tires…1 of 7 customers that enter your service drive needs tires – so how well is your store doing compared to that benchmark?

Fifth and last, make your dealership different. Ask yourself why customers should come to your store? Don’t sugar coat it either. Of course, you have certified techs, better parts and warranties, so does everyone else – but what really makes you different to the buying public? Why should they visit your store for service instead of one of the competitors that are out there advertising every day?

Fact is folks; you are the best kept secret in town. I don’t care how “bad” business is – it will only get worse if you don’t have traffic and to get traffic you need to advertise. To succeed today you have to advertise sales and service more aggressively and more competitively than ever before. You have heard this many times in the past, but it bears repeating…the most successful form of advertising – after “word of mouth”, is direct mail to your existing customer database. Don’t cut your ad budget…not now…beef it up right now – again, don’t cut it – things will only get worse. And that’s not all – you have to give customers other real reasons to do business with your store. Offer some form of an owner loyalty club to entice customers to return for service and vehicles. You don’t have to spend a fortune on it – but you have to do something that sets your store apart. My suggestion is to do what most all businesses have done…make car buyers and existing service customers a member of your rewards club, give them points and benefits and special discounts and they will stay loyal in service and eventually buy their next car from you – with no additional  advertising cost needed. When I say be different, I also mean to have some fun with it - play bingo in your customer lounge for a free oil change or car detail to keep customers engaged. Have a new car showing like they used to do in the old days and make a big deal out of it. Invite customers and prospective customers in for appreciation days, and make an event of it – not just a tent sale. Offer free pick up and delivery, and in a broader stroke, do what ever it takes to make customers want to buy from you – in other words what I am saying is simply this - Make it easy for customers to say Yes and hard to say No.

In closing, let me say this. Now is not the time for the weak. Now is not the time for the “I give up-ers.” There is no hero on a white horse out there that will come to your rescue – you are the hero. You are the one that can make your store win or lose. I know it is easy to get down on yourself and your business. I know it is tough – but I heard this old line somewhere and it really hits the nail on the head. Here it is, and it is advice, good advice for every dealer, general manager, service manager and really everyone in the world right now. “You have to be willing to live like no one else, if you ever expect to live like no one else.” In other words, you have to be willing to work harder, longer, be more aggressive, more competitive, more convenient, more creative and more focused now if you ever expect to live the good life later.

That makes sense doesn’t it? The ones that will survive and succeed will be the ones that put forth more effort, invest more money and time and get serious about staying positive and not falling into the black hole of panic and despair. And of course there is risk involved….as it is with everything we do, but you can’t win if you don’t play. Put all of your time, money and everything you have into this and you will survive and succeed – and be stronger than you thought possible. Try to save yourself into a profit, while taking all of your money and time and involvement out and you will fail – and my advice, for what it is worth is this. If you expect to go out of business, are acting like you are going out of business and planning on going out of business – do yourself and all of us a favor and just do it. Go ahead, do it now and save some extra money for yourself that you would have wasted on a dying store… go ahead and put your store and everyone else out of their misery.