Your Service Department Lacks Loyalty
The key to any business is to maintain customer loyalty. As a dealership, you help your customers find the right car for them by building a relationship through trust and great customer service. After the sale, however, your clients may go years before purchasing another vehicle.
During that time, their vehicle will need proper maintenance and service in order to stay on the road. So where are your customers going for service? Are they coming back to you? On average, less than 20% of customers will return to the dealership for service work after warranty. This means that after a car purchase, the majority of customers will no longer be loyal to your service department. This is a problem because, as you know, building repeat customers through loyalty is important. Customers are also 35% less likely to purchase a vehicle from you again if they don’t have their maintenance performed in your service department.
So what does this mean? Your dealership sells vehicles and provides top-tier maintenance services. These services help lead to repeat vehicle sales in the future. If your customers are going elsewhere for service, they may not return to you for their next vehicle. With all this in mind, how do you maintain loyalty through your service department?
Tire Sales & Services Can Be Used to Bring Back Your Customers
When considering loyalty through your service department, tires are vital. Tires play a big role in the functioning of a vehicle and are the only part of the vehicle that makes contact with the road. Tire quality can affect fuel efficiency, vehicle performance, and even driver safety. They are relied upon to maintain proper traction when driving in inclement weather or other unsatisfactory driving circumstances. But over time, tires are subject to wear and tear and will need a variety of tire services. Eventually, tires will also require replacement.
How can you use this inevitable replacement to create repeat customers? The unfortunate truth is that every day, on average, 3 of your customers buy tires from other providers. You understand that the demand is there. Not only that, but you understand the demand is coming from previous customers of your dealership! If you know when your customers were going to buy from a different provider, could that help with customer retention? Knowing when your customers are due for new tires will help you be the first to reach out with an offer. Additionally, knowing their vehicle needs and preferences allows you to provide a specific and valuable offer. According to consumer reports, tire shoppers are more likely to consider the brand, treadwear warranty length, handling, and braking. Utilizing this to provide an informed and well-timed tire offer will increase the chances your customers will visit your service department and therefore, increase the chances they will purchase a vehicle from you in the future.
Loyal Service Customer Lead to Loyal Dealership Purchases
Placing efforts to return customers to your service department can create repeat business for your dealership in the future. Service appointments give you more opportunities to expand and build on the relationships you created when the vehicle was first purchased. Customers who have visited your service department in the last 12 months are 74% more likely to buy another vehicle from you. Don’t view your service department as a revenue stream independent of your overall business – instead, see it as an opportunity to facilitate loyalty with your customers and increase profits on both the sales and service side of your dealership.
sourced from www.tireprofiles.com and www.consumerreports.org/tire-buying-maintenance/driving-forces-behind-tire-purchases-revealed-survey
