January 27th, 2012 | Written By: Chuck Patton
There’s a new trend on what philosophies dealership’s should use to drive customer retention for service departments so they can maximize service profit and ultimately retain customers. The trend is a so-called smarter marketing that is based on an data algorithm. The theory basically professes that advanced data logic will be used to market to the customers with the right message, at the right time and to the right person in order to drive in service traffic for less cost. You are essentially only marketing to the customer when their vehicle is due for service.
This strategy sounds great, but it’s an important trend to monitor before making the jump. Many manufacturers’ service programs are heavily promoting this “right-time” strategy and if you are on one of those programs or if you are being pushed towards one, it is important that you understand the pro’s and con’s.
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Posted in: Branding, Direct Mail, E-mail Marketing, Marketing Plan, Segmented Marketing
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June 22nd, 2011 | Written By: Traffic Builders
Challenge
A Ford dealership, in a top 25 market, wanted to avoid its service being viewed merely as a commodity. Service marketing here had been Ford-focused with no real difference between the national brand and the individual dealership. The dealer had a reputation for quality expert service, but this wasn’t able to be communicated in their manufacturer-crafted marketing. Even though they did not have the newest facility or amenities, they felt their highly skilled, friendly technicians knew how to project value and confidence with customers.
Similarly, this dealership wanted a marketing partner who shared their personal-touch philosophy. Other marketing companies they had worked with in the past were absentee and difficult to work with. Furthermore, the service manager wondered how someone who had never visited his dealership could really help him improve repair order traffic. He wanted a marketing partner who would manage his service advertising effectively so he could spend his time with customers on the service drive. Read Full Post »
Posted in: Branding, Case Study, Marketing Plan, Segmented Marketing
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June 22nd, 2011 | Written By: Regina Green
While it’s far from being an exact science, there are a few unbreakable rules for successful and effective marketing. And while many of them are common sense, there are a few that seem to have been forgotten by many of the marketing programs being offered by automotive manufacturers. These programs often ignore these rules in order to increase their revenue by cutting corners—all in the name of “targeting the right customers at the right time.” But breaking common rules of marketing can lead to disastrous results for a dealership’s service department.
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Posted in: Best Practices, Customer Retention, Direct Mail, E-mail Marketing, Segmented Marketing
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July 1st, 2010 | Written By: Eric Johansen
October is Car Care Month, and maintenance for the upcoming winter weather should be a priority for prudent customers who treat their vehicles as long-term investments. According to RLPolk*, a survey of U.S. consumers shows 64% said they were “very or extremely likely” to keep their current vehicle longer due to economic conditions. Also, 81% of the 713 interviewed said they intended to take better care of their vehicles. Since the average repair order for older vehicles is about twice that of vehicles three years-old or less, this provides an opportunity to reach a segment of the market that has traditionally been relinquished to the aftermarket — a segment that can be very profitable.
A recent review of 18 months of data for a large midwestern import dealership group (119 dealerships) showed that over a 12-month period, repair orders for vehicles with less than 60,000 miles had an average amount of $137.00. Vehicles with over 60,000 miles had an average repair order amount of $277.00.
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Posted in: Best Practices, Segmented Marketing
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November 1st, 2009 | Written By: Chuck Patton
In down times, like we’ve all just experienced, dealerships often rely on service departments and fixed operations to ride out the storm. I recently sat down with Pat Arnotte, service director of Porter Automotive Group located in Delaware. His shop has shot to the top ranks of service departments in the northeast United States.
Chuck Patton: Pat, tell us a little bit about your background, and how you came into this industry.
Pat Arnotte: Well, my mother was actually a controller in the car business for more than 40 years. From the time I was 12, I washed cars in the summertime until I got a driver’s license and started to deliver parts and work my way up the parts side. At 22, I was a parts manager, and was parts and service director by the time I was 26. I’m 43 now, and have been doing it ever since.
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Posted in: Best Practices, Marketing Plan, Segmented Marketing
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August 15th, 2009 | Written By: Chuck Patton
Retention might be the single-most overanalyzed but underachieved goal in the automotive market. We spend thousands of dollars per month to drive in the same customer today who bought from us yesterday. The definition of retention is open for interpretation, as is the approach to address it. But have you ever really drilled down to the core of the word retention and asked why it is important to your business?
The definition of retention, as given by Random House, is simply to keep possession of or to continue to hold or have. The bottom line is to understand that retention is profitable… very profitable. So much so that every automotive dealership should make it priority one. Your goal should be to create a process that earns a larger share of customers over the long –term and not simply a share of the market in the short-term. If you are on pace for the long haul, you will still see a lot of short-term benefits. You must approach one customer at a time and feel confident that they are your customer for life.
The direct marketing business always discusses repetition or frequency as a means to retain a customer. Retention does not just mean you reach out to your customers a lot or mail a lot. It also means you have a consistent, simple brand message that resonates in your market. That message must appeal to your market, and brand your dealership over any other. The predominant message in the automotive world is price, price and price, especially in the service department. However in your business model, you have been constructed to be more focused on value and quality but your marketing may not be conveying that to your customer.
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Posted in: Best Practices, Customer Retention, Direct Mail, Segmented Marketing
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