Pub. 14 2015-2016 Issue 3

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S 9 new jersey auto retailer W W W . N J C A R . O R G your A-technicians decides to move to North Carolina next month, you don’t have time to wait for the apprentice/ student to learn to that level. Having a long list of names that you can target is better than frantically calling around for talent. I also rarely see top performing shops hiring the unemployed for anything other than entry level positions. Have good facilities I am not talking about gold plated fixtures or marble floors, but if your waiting area is reminiscent of a State office you will be fighting a hard battle to out-perform your peers. There is no limit to expectations of our customers in amenities that are now expected. But even if you do not have the most modern facility you can have the cleanest. I can get an instant read on dealership attitudes and morale just by counting the weeds in the lot, the peeling paint, and the broken light fixtures. If an owner, manager and/or employee walks by and sees broken or dirty facilities and does nothing, that speaks to me AND it speaks to your customers. Pride in your work environment carries to your team and your customers. Make it easy to do business with you Your locationmay ormay not be convenient to your clients in their daily routine. Your task is to overcome those obstacles. There is one item that gives dealerships an advantage over after-market competitors – loaner vehicles. Having a seamless process for providing loaner vehicles can improve CSI, customer retention and financial results. This means that the advisors have whatever loaner software you use on their computer and have been trained in completing the rental agreement. The perfect operations also have plenty of parking for customers. While most of your customers may drive right into your service lane and not need parking, insufficient p a r k i n g c a n b e very frustrating for customers. I understand that some dealerships are in metro settings with limited space, but you can overcome a shortage of parking with valet services. Ot he r conven ience s have become commonplace for many shops, such as online scheduling. In the next few years, this will expand to other payment options that allow customers to review their invoice online or via mobile and pay it before arriving at the dealership. Finally, the perfect Fixed Operations Department also has to have the ability to receive customers for a minimum of 12 hours a day. That means having an advisor or someone staying until 7 or 8 PM to properly write-up customers. Have a process and stick to it Top pe r formi ng Fi xed Ope r at ion s Departments make it look easy. That is because they have a defined process and follow it. From how the phone is answered, how the customer is greeted, how maintenance is presented, how delivery is handled and everything in between. Of course a sales process will generally improve results, but it is often remarkable how all the other customer interactions will improve. If your Fixed Operations follow consistent processes your customers will learn and that familiarity will make them more comfortable and more likely to visit and buy from you. Ideally, all of the dealership’s processes should be transparent to the customer through technology. Systems that would allow customers to interact with their advisor, automatically provide updates, and give customers additional opportunities to buy services or products is a dream that is starting to become a reality. Rob Campbell is an Analyst with The Mironov Group. His role with the firm is to compare the performance of dealerships and to suggest operational improvements to increase customer experience and profitability. He can be reached at 732.572.3900 or via email at rcampbell@ mironovgroup.com .