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Posts with service tag.
The Shiny New Tool Loses Luster: When The Belt Is Full

Come on, let's admit it. If someone launches a new tool, application, service, widget, doohickey, gizmo or gadget, we'll all explode. We are so full of tools, you likely feel like the Craftsman section at your local Sears…

Fact is we can probably expect more and that is what keeps pushing the bar forward. With the store closures, OEM staff reductions, agency layoffs and more you can likely look forward to more consultants, new software, increased industry service providers and just plain more 'stuff'.

And considering how most owners, GMs and GSMs buy stuff, there may be cause for more companies wanting to get their piece of a smaller spend pie because they're 'new, shiny, better, sexier or have great advertising'. Folks, we're not using all the tools you have currently, even if you don't really know how to use them in the first place (Ok, you can put all of your hands down because we know you haven't seen your so-called rep in nearly a year who promised the latest training you needed months ago).

More than ever, it's not about sticking with who you already have, simply saving a buck or not taking meetings with new vendors (excuses today are a penny a dozen). Simply put, you get what you pay for. If you are saving $200 a month between one service and another, you had better know what you're missing. If you're not investing in your staff's education/training (yes, I hate that word but the old guard will understand it), you might as well lower your unit forecast by 25-40%. And if you're not willing to take 'another meeting', you might as well hand a few extra dollars to your competitor down the street and take the rest of the week off.

Overwhelmed by technology? Don't ignore it, please! Don't understand something? Get a non-manager in your office that will use the tool/service and get THEIR take on it first hand, don't just give them a sell sheet and have them make a decision.

Over the next couple weeks, IM@CS is going to take a deeper dive into services available to the industry and write 'em up. We'll cover mobile, chat and inventory to start and see where it takes us. We hope to clear up misconceptions, especially around price since nearly everyone seems to be completely misguided on saving a buck versus being more effective. And then we'll try to take it from there…hope you get to use the information in profitable ways!!

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

What Innovation Matters Most Right Now?

Are you excited by the latest technology in the newest model arriving at your showroom? Were you going crazy waiting for FedEx/UPS/USPS last week for your latest iPhone? Can't believe that your newest CRM ties your site, third party leads, phone calls, mail automation, showroom visits and more together? Didn't have to break traffic laws a week ago since you Tivo'd the first 10 minutes of the NBA finals knowing that you'd work late? All that is absolutely fantastic, but it's not the innovation that matters most.

Nothing that technology delivers, nothing that (supposedly) makes our lives better, nothing that is guaranteed to make our businesses run like clockwork matters until someone understands it, knows what to do with it and ultimately figures out how in hell to apply it, will mean anything…until there is a reason to use it in the first place.

In other words, why use Tivo (as good as it and DVRs are!) if you don't watch, let alone care about, anything on television?

What you care about getting done, so that you move closer to your dreams, goals and ambitions, should be the driver in using technology. The greatest innovations we can use best centers around communication. SImple. Period. Communication!

If you don't have anyone to communicate with and nothing to communicate about, technology means nearly nothing. As passionate as you can be about the latest $400-$4,000,000 items that center around innovation and technology aren't worth the patents they're built from until there is a real reason behind them.

If you're in business and plan to stay in business, use the latest and greatest but please have a purpose first. And make sure the purpose dovetails with process. Are you one of the stores that works on one CRM for 'the floor' and one for 'the Internet'? Why, why, why, why, why? Oh, I see…you like keeping other companies in business more than you want to save your own…ok. Got it!

One race matters and it's not to the sales title. It's the human one. Nobody will care about you until you show that you care about them first. Then you build a relationship (read: listen). Then use technology until the cows come home to communicate, track, follow up, excite, invite, connect, compel, validate, reward, incent, share, promote and so on and so on. And never make the technology more important than the relationship or the message. People ignore MASSIVE amounts of otherwise compelling content. We call it advertising (and most of it sucks people…especially in the auto industry).

For now, stick with the best innovation you have no matter what: your brain. Use it wisely, use it well, use it regularly…

And see you at the finish line!

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

When A Spade Is a Spade…And Knowledge Is Only Part Of The Game

Too often in sales we live off of past glory, or lack of. While past performance is not an indication of future results, it may just be what many people look for (look up the definitions of comfort and settle). So, salespeople, what are YOU doing to change your reality? Waiting for the next sucker?

Business has changed. Has your team changed with it? Take a look at your paycheck before you answer. Many people talk about change the way they will talk about the Laker's win tonight: as a passing interest. Change has to be constant, supported, visualized and cemented with goals. Don't find example with those businesses and individuals that aren't making it, challenge yourself and your organization by following only the ones that are.

Being someone that exercises change means that some times you're morph won't be noticed, or may be doubted and misunderstood. Confidence and influence are signs of change. Knowledge is the foundation, true. Only constant application, focus, modification and evaluation breed real change. Add regular accountability and you have nothing short of change.

What's the difference between the person who comes in on time and reads the brochures and the one who comes in a little earlier to walk the inventory? Or the sales pro that peppers conversation with technology buzz words versus the person that actually takes personal time to understand and use it?

Today a GSM related a great story to me about a salesperson that wrote postcards to clients every day. They were personalized, had value, reminded the owner of money-saving tips for their car and more. Is it any surprise that salesperson exceeded all expectations? Is it any surprise that the person built a large business? Is it any surprise that the person came from outside the auto industry?

Calling a spade a spade is only part of the game. Anyone who's listened to the news and repeated it to someone else know that. Knowing is only part of the game. What game do you want to be in? If you'e in sales, you need to excel. Who what you want, know how to get it, know when you want it by and don't accept anything less.

If you do those things, you don't have to be like the rest of the people. People will still question you…even question your past! Let them…you'll figure out what they're focused on. Stay focused on the prize! Nobody ever got far looking backwards…

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

If You’re Living By Service…Don’t Die By Service

We don't touch on service much here…time for a little breather!

More dealers than ever are floating (or simply sinking slower) on the revenue from their service department. This trend should be supported with an overwhelming conviction to completely satisfy customers. The risk is just too large to lose clients both on the front and the back end of the store.

Things being what they are, it should come as no surprise that achieving such a goal is as far away as the next 20 walk-in customers. Equally as daunting, many service directors have had their budgets and discount capabilities slashed when exactly the opposite should be done. At the same time, it would be great to report that at least some budget has been thrown over to the web for marketing. But the jury that we could ask on that one was laid off.

Folks, don't kick the gift of traffic in the mouth! By the same token, don't give away the farm either. Instead live by balance, planning (yes, plan ahead, execute on the plan and don't change the ding-dang plan) and accountability. Make sure that your service marketing completely and clearly explains the benefits of servicing at your dealership, tangible perks (VIP club, fixed pricing or discounts, upgraded loaners, pick-up/drop-off, etc), guarantees and anything else that puts you up a level.

Get your customers to write up their positive experiences (and to offset the bad ones) on sites like DealerRater, CarFolks, MyDealerReport, Yelp, Google, etc. Provide maintenance clinics at your store (since you're already doing new owner events every one to three months, right?) to help your customers get more for their money and feature your parts and accessories. And then set up service scheduling on your site to make it easier for your customers (TimeHighway, XTime, UDC, MyCarPage).

This is not rocket science, it's customer sense. Over the past two days I've been told about two completely different examples related to service departments:

One via a friend in Michigan talking about his BMW. The service light came on, he called the dealership 30 miles away and the service writer informed him how to avert the visit (the 'fix' worked). He could have still had my friend drive to the dealership, get a complimentary inspection, spend time at the store with -insert a salesperson's name here-, and sent on his way with a $30+ charge. Instead they created a customer for life (with the exception that the service writer didn't get his email/text address, log the call in the CRM and create a GREAT follow up for the event).

The other you'll have to read for yourself here on Edmunds' Inside Line which is just plain astonishing.

Now is the time to go the extra mile, not cut off a few inches. There's nothing worse than stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny. Do what it takes to deliver the best experience everywhere in your dealership. And start with your next customer…

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results