Tag Archives: marketing

Follow up to the Public Relations Specialist article

I have had a few calls from people about last month’s article. The main question was how you would go about setting up this type of program in a store. I will try to outline the steps I would take to develop the Apple Experience in the service drive.  What we suggested was a way to get more millennial and newly graduated college students into our business. How would you create a wow buying experience for the customer after they purchased their car? How would you set up a brand new profit center by developing a public relations manager? How would you get better penetration on F&I products? And finally how would you pay for it all. Let’ drill down on some of these things in a little more depth.

First step is to advertise for recent college graduates. Let them know this is a manager training program. You may want to hire more than one as the program grows. I would start their salary at 600.00 per week plus commission. In order to offset this cost I would have the company I buy my F&I products from contribute part of this expense. I’m sure they will have no problem with this because this person will be selling their products full time and the penetration should go through the roof. If you have an agent or customer Retention Company or really any other company that is doing business in your store they can contribute as well. All of these people will benefit in the long run and what’s wrong with someone paying the dealer to do business in their store.  Think about it, if that cost is split three ways you are hiring a college grad in a management position for 200.00 per week. If it is split with more vendors it will be even less. As this person gains more experience they can be worked into other departments and now your management program is up and running.

The second step is setting up the program. Everything we want sold should be laid out on an I-pad. When the customer comes in for service we pull them up and we have a list of what they purchased in F&I and when they bought their car. We will know when they go out of warranty, or when their service contract expires. Did they purchase a prepaid maintenance package or other products like key fob coverage, wheel and tire coverage or ding and dent. The public relations manager can then review the benefits of each product with the customer even showing a short video on the value add for any of these products. If the customer doesn’t have time for a review we can email a feature benefit presentation to them so they can look at it at their convenience.  Think of a business development center for your F&I products. The public relations manager will make a commission off of each product he sells.  We could also wrap it with an equity mining tool and he could be commissioned on car sales as well.

The third step would be the sale of accessories. Everyone wants to sell more aftermarket products. Tires, batteries, and wiper blades could be advertised in a target marketing campaign. Sell bed liners to truck customers, wheels, rain guards and window tint to customers on the anniversary of their purchase. The PR manager could get all the op code declines and develop a coupon campaign that could go out nightly. With all the information from the DMS at his fingertips he can easily spot when a customer is ready for an upgrade. All of this marketing could be done on-line with just a little help from a graphics department.

Even the question of who manages and trains the public relation/ manager trainee can be answered using one of your vendors. Any vendor who is currently in your DMS could easily work with your F&I provider to develop this program. They could hire, train and supervise and then when you decide to promote them to another department, they could do it again. It really is a low risk, high rewards proposition for any dealership.

The last step is truly the public relations part of the program. This person will be the liaison between the service department and all of the other departments in the store. If you have a rewards program, a customer website, a customer app, weekly coupons, a lifetime engine or powertrain component all of this can be reviewed and sorted out either in person or through email communication. This person’s success will be based on their ability to develop a good relationship with the entire data-base and develop your store into the customer’s dealership for life.

– Jack Garrity

NADA100 Convention in New Orleans

Join Dealership for Life at NADA100 (Booth #6115) in New Orleans January 26 – 29, 2017 and see how your dealership can benefit from our full range of dealer branded retention and marketing products. Since introduced in 2004 we have become the leader in administering lifetime powertrain, lifetime engine, and rewards programs for dealers all over the US and Canada. Our process is designed around many of the best practices used in the loyalty business today. Some of which include, individual customer web sites, retention generated custom email campaigns, interactive customer mobile app, full DMS integration and monthly in-store sales/service training that is unmatched in the industry.

What are you doing to retain your customers? Are you rewarding your customers? Stop by booth #6115 and talk to the industry leaders.

“Our business has grown 320% in the last ten years due in large part to the loyalty and marketing programs designed by Dealership for Life. Their efforts and results have had a significant impact on every department in the dealership.”  Chip Doetsch – President of Apple Ford Lincoln

“Now that we have been on the program for ten years, it works as advertised. Eight out of ten customers come back to our service department compared to three or four for the average dealer.” Ken Shreve – President of Hamilton Hyundai

“With over 30 years of experience in the automotive customer service and repair industry, Rick’s dealerships achieved sales to service customer retention at over 90%, making it ranked #11 in the nation” Rick Manring – VP of Fixed Operations

Stop by booth #6115 and talk to Chip, Ken, Rick and the rest of the industry leaders.

Expectations!

expectations blog

An expectation is something we think about but maybe we unconsciously take for granted in establishing our dealership’s culture, or the way we conduct business on a daily basis. Do we really take the time to fully understand exactly what this word means? We should, because it is an important key to our success as an automotive retail dealer!

Consider that at birth even a baby has expectations…they expect to be fed, have their diapers changed and to be held and spoken to.  Once starting school the same individual has the expectation of a decent education, a roof over their head and food on the table.  As we become adults we learn to have expectations about life and everyday tasks.  When you go to an airport you expect to get on a plane, leave on time and arrive safely at your destination.  Eating out you expect your waiter to be knowledgeable, considerate and provide you with exceptional service. You expect all businesses to treat you with respect and appreciate your business. If at any time your expectations (real or imagined) are not met.  You find alternatives.  Most often this means you go to another business that meets your expectations.

In the Automobile Retail business it is the same.  Our customers have expectations. Ones we are all familiar with are that they can find the vehicle that suits their needs, get a competitive price, a fair appraisal on their trade, be treated with respect and appreciated.  We know that when any of these expectations are not met you most often miss the opportunity of doing business with this customer. If you are a dealer you know all this and you strive everyday to meet these expectations.  In other words, you are very similar to all other dealers in your market.  Your very existence depends on your employees stepping up every day and doing what is expected to perform in your business culture.

The question is how do you set yourself apart from all the other dealers?  We think about this daily and are always searching for the “next best thing”. The only way to be really different is to exceed expectations!  Accomplishing this task is an ongoing quest for most dealers.  If the dealer down the street puts in a car wash, you have to have one.  If they install a playground for kids, you have to also install one.  This is a constant tit-for-tat that has existed since Henry Ford started building vehicles. The only way to be really different is to exceed their expectations. The solution is very simple and it’s right under your nose.  You have the means to truly stand out among the competition if you look around at the opportunities you have to earn your customer’s business and create more opportunities to increase your existing profit centers.

A simple solution to truly exceed your customer’s expectations and wow them with how different you are is to supply them with a package of benefits that you will provide as a part of obtaining their business that makes their ownership experience a safe, economical, and rewarding one.  These benefits can be as basic as complimentary car washes, oil changes, tire rotations and inspections.  Coupled with an ongoing rewards program that gives your customers a reason to return to you for all their automotive needs is a winning formula and will exceed their expectations.  When you do these things you have moved the customer experience at your business to another level.  A level that truly makes you different and gives your sales customers more reasons to return to your dealership and allow you to provide everything they need during their period of ownership.

Roy Olive – Corporate Training Director