Following the purchase of a vehicle, it’s vital dealerships work to build loyalty with the customer.
In doing so, they’ll stand a better chance of generating more referral business and being the first port of call for the customer come car renewal time.
Despite this, it’s easy to forget the positive impact loyalty also has on service bookings.
The more you prove to the customer that you care beyond the sale of the vehicle, the more likely they are to come to you for services, MOTs and repair work.
There’s plenty of options when it comes to car servicing. Here’s how to ensure you dealership is the only destination customers think of!
Gather and use customer data
With the GDPR rules in full swing, it’s more important than ever that you collect, store and process customer data ethically and securely. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to your advantage to drive service loyalty.
The more you know about your customers, the more you can tailor a service offering to suit their needs and demographic. For instance, if you know they cover significant miles each year and they have a relatively high income on which the ownership of the car depends, an upgraded service pack might give them extra peace of mind.
The same goes for their car. Chances are, you’ll have a wealth of detail about the vehicle they own, and you can use that to personalise their service experience. A high performance car, for example, might need special tyres, and a reminder that they can be purchased via your dealership at a discounted rate will be welcomed.
Take on the responsibility of their schedule
Any car owner knows that remembering to service and MOT your car isn’t easy, and that often means these crucial dates get missed – sometimes with dire consequences.
Just as a doctor would remind a patient about an important upcoming appointment or requirement to book a re-test, you can do the same for your customers.
By sending service and MOT reminders, you’ll save them time – and that’s the kind of assistance they won’t forget in a hurry.
Use a CRM to anticipate their needs
Car dealerships have long used software to keep detailed records of dealings with customers, but today’s Cloud CRM solutions enable you to be far more proactive.
This is particularly useful in the service division, where a reactive approach to customer service can result in an unpredictable flow of work. And that makes scheduling engineer time incredibly challenging.
If you maintain detailed notes and have access to the vehicle and customer data noted earlier, you can start to anticipate service requirements for each of your customers. You’ll know when services are due, and with connected cars entering the market, can even predict ad-hoc maintenance.
This offers two benefits. Firstly, you’ll be always be one step ahead of the customer and can therefore impress them by how your proactivity saves them time. Secondly, the service team can be more strategic with the way engineer time is booked, thus optimising scheduling and ensuring efficient use of their time.
For many dealerships, this will enable them to offer the previously impossible prospect of fixed-price, fixed time servicing.
Wrapping up
We’ve only skimmed the surface of how dealerships can build loyalty with service customers, but if you combine the above strategies with an online service management platform, you’ll create a lean, high-performing service operation that’s hard to resist.
