It’s time for a mid-year review. Remember the automotive service marketing objectives you put into place at the beginning of the year? How are they working for you? Are you on-track to meeting your goals? Are you ahead or behind where you wanted to be?
Depending on the answers to these questions, you may want to consider making adjustments to your marketing plan for the second half of the year. As you take stock and plan your next six months, consider the following areas of opportunity upon which you can capitalize.
Retention—The retention measurement that makes the most sense is the one that measures the share of your customers’ business within a year. Start by separating your customers into the following categories:
- Number of times your customers have come in during the past 12 months
- Number of customers doing all their service with you
- Number of customers added in the last 12 months
What are you doing to retain your customers? Are you providing the best service in the market and going the extra mile to keep your customers happy? Consider loyalty programs and perks to show your commitment to a long-term relationship.
Unique opportunities—Warranty work affects us all and Toyota corporate is learning all too well how much cost is associated with it. For the dealer, however, warranty work can be a gold mine. Some dealers are saying that close to 40% of recall customers were new to their dealerships. Recalls are a great opportunity to make an impression on customers who are NOT typically working with the dealership. Train your team to spend some time to convert each recall customer into a long-term fan. Have your service manager meet every one of them—such as you might with the sale of a new car. Target them with a segmented letter or make a phone call to address the opportunity. Every dealership has warranty opportunities!
Older model programs—The units in operation most associated with dealership loyalty (newer cars or cars under warranty) have diminished significantly, and it will be quite some time before service opportunities are where they were several years ago. Create a strategy to become the new home for all older model vehicles. You have master technicians who have been with you longer than the age of some of those older vehicles! Who better to fix those vehicles? Loyalty or older model programs that can be quite profitable do exist. Make sure your writers know how to sell the program and be willing to give a standard discount/benefit package.
Marketing—Separate your marketing investments into what has produced a direct result versus what has kept your name in the marketplace—and track the results for each category. This will allow you to look at what each investment yields in order to determine whether or not you’ve invested your marketing dollar wisely. If you haven’t already, plan through the end of this year—and even include all of January 2011. Most people give up on the last and first months just because they didn’t have anything planned. These are wasted opportunities if you have not prepared for them.
Technology assessment—Embrace the technology that comes your way as long as it helps you to manage your customers and your employees better. Too many companies are telling clients to do things because “this is where the market is going” or “your competitor is doing it.” Be careful about experimentation. Conduct some research and make sure that any technological expenditure fits within your budget and is a long-term solution, not a short-term jump on the latest bandwagon.
Email marketing—Dealerships set high expectations for e-mail because they are sold on the concept that it can replace direct mail. E-mail marketing is cost efficient and a great way to directly reach the small segment of your customers who actually respond to e-mail. However, our average client has e-mail addresses for only about 21% of his or her customer base. If you use e-mail marketing, make sure you incorporate it with direct mail and other solutions. To maximize your e-mail marketing efforts, create an e-mail collection process. Ask your customers how they prefer to be contacted. That will give you a good indication how to really reach your customers.
Spend your time being a great manager—This is an old school concept. Because most service managers are being pulled in so many different directions, they can’t do any one thing well. This is an environment where managers can stray from their core purpose of taking care of customers and managing the shop. Be sure not to lose that perspective when faced with additional expectations and responsibilities. Every purchase you make and every partner you work with should strengthen your position within the dealership, not give you more work.
Tags: budgeting, Customer Retention, Direct Mail, e-mail marketing, Marketing Plan, service marketing
