A great system, both process and software, will allow you to offer much more than service reminders. It should track any customer information that would result in additional maintenance work over the life of the vehicle or additional sales opportunities like lease or warranty expirations.

How much sooner would an owner react if they received a personalized e-mail from your dealership regarding a manufacturers’ recall and how it affects their vehicle? A specific special tied to the recall might be a priority appointment time or a free transportation voucher.

How effective is this e-mail process? Recently a Bay Area dealer implemented a program offered by OnStation. It took a few days to populate several thousand missing e-mail addresses within their database, however the day after they went live and sent their first e-mail communication, they had 24 online appointments set. That is power and effectiveness of e-mail communication if done properly.

Thank you’s and CSI surveys should be completed as soon after the customer leaves the dealership as possible. A very inexpensive, non-confrontation method for this is a simple e-mail, fully automated and personalized. The survey is sent the same day the customer receives the service work, which is when they are most likely to be dissatisfied.

A great system will receive the response and flag any responses that fall outside of acceptable parameters for an immediate alert to the service manager. This enables the service manager to immediately address any concern, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.

Including the fixed operations side of your business in your customer relationship management program from the beginning or by adding it to an existing program is proven to increase customer retention, lower ad cost and increase profits for all departments.

Vol 2, Issue 7