Volume 29: What to do about declined services?

Your Customers are Declining Services

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Is this the technology your declined services follow-up uses?

What to do about it

58 percent of services are declined*—How are you tracking and following up on declined maintenance and repairs?

Top Services that Are Declined
  • Fuel injection cleaning
  • Cabin air filter replacement
  • Engine air filter replacement
  • Alignment
  • Coolant flush

Based on averages for pilot dealers over a 2-4 month period (varies by dealer).

Customers declining services at your dealership is nothing new. In today’s fast-paced and technology-driven society, people are busier than ever. But when you think about it, with the vehicle already in the shop, there are only three typical reasons why someone says “no” to an additional service recommendation. Either they didn’t budget the time, the money or they want to double check your recommendation.

After picking up their vehicles, consumers tend to forget about any declined or recommended work. Now couple that with some traditional processes—when was the last time an advisor pulled an old inspection report to see previously declined services? And with poor follow-up, your customers may go to other dealerships or independent service facilities to get that work done.

Dealerships need a reliable process to track and follow up on declined services, and will capture more service revenue by professionally presenting these recommendations.

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That’s why Xtime recently released Spectrum Declined Services, which utilizes deep integration across the entire Xtime platform. After repairs are declined, recommendations are stored and presented through multiple customer touchpoints—from appointment scheduling to vehicle check-in and ultimately to email and outbound marketing. Unlike most major DMS vendors tracking declined services by labor operation code, Xtime’s Spectrum Declined Services are stored by name-specific service or repair, enabling dealers to provide a more customer-friendly presentation of recommendations and increasing approvals.

*Based on Inspect dealers July 2016 – June 2017.

Our Featured Dealer: Manly Honda

Hear the leadership of Manly Honda discuss their successes using Xtime. By providing their customers with a superior experience, the dealership has increased show rates, retention and service profitability.
Service Star: Sunridge Nissan

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Annica Larsson
Service Manager

Prior to implementing Xtime’s Spectrum solutions, Sunridge Nissan in Calgary, Alberta, used a number of different tracking systems to manage all of their customer data. From appointments to recommended services to vehicle history, Sunridge Nissan lacked a “one-stop shop” for all of its needs. Starting with Schedule and then quickly adopting Invite, Engage and Inspect, Sunridge Nissan now enjoys a streamlined dealership thanks to Xtime. We recently sat down with Service Manager Annica Larsson to learn more about why the dealership has been so successful with Xtime.

 

[Working with Xtime] has been a really positive experience. It was an easy transition and it’s fun to be part of the newest technology on the market. We’re excited to see what Xtime does in the future, because Sunridge will want to be a part of it.

Realizing Results

59%

of additional recommendations from inspections

$586

in recommended services per inspection

73%

of ROs inspected with Xtime Inspect

Based on dealer results October 2016 through September 2017.

Why did Sunridge Nissan implement Xtime’s solutions?

We’ve been with Xtime Schedule for about three years now. The initial reason we implemented Xtime was that we wanted a more advanced way to schedule appointments. It initially was really for our call center, which books appointments, as well as for our service advisors. It was nice to sync all of our scheduling solutions into one. Before, we had [multiple systems] and now we just have Xtime—we don’t have to switch back and forth between platforms and it’s very streamlined.

What were the biggest problems Sunridge Nissan was trying to solve?

Before coming to Xtime, we had all these different tracking systems for appointments, vehicle history and recommendations. We used to have all these different programs to do one task, whereas with Xtime, we have one service platform.

We added Engage because [the previous service manager] could see value in upselling with the tablets. You can put all your notes in, customers can see pricing, they can sign right there in the service drive—it is all very beneficial because we’re a dealership that has space/size challenges. We can handle the rush and then go back to our desks and finish up there when the crowd thins.

Invite came up because we were trying to find a way to track declined work and bring those customers back. We have a designated employee in our dealership that utilizes Invite to reach out to all of our customers with declined work. It’s all collaborated together and right there for her to use.

With Inspect, I like that every bit of information is there all the time. We can see what the customer needed and the multi-point inspection, what the tech additionally recommended, you can review the entire history of that customer no matter how much time has passed. We can pull the details anytime!

You have mentioned previously how Inspect has made your shop more efficient—how do you think it has boosted the bottom line?

Everyone can do their job better, more efficiently, because they’re working together. Everything is so quick and easy with Inspect. In fact, we saw about $586 in recommended services per inspection in the past year.

What do you like best about Inspect?

Fifty-nine percent of additional service recommendations come from our inspections. We can see what the customer needed, what the tech recommended, and it all stays right there no matter how much time has passed since an appointment. We can pull it anytime.

Can you describe your experience with Xtime’s Managed Services for marketing?

[Our Managed Services contact,] Erin, is awesome. Just today I emailed her and asked what we could do since our numbers were a little low. She actually had a plan she was already working on and getting ready to send out. Anytime I have a question or idea, we work on a strategy to get our customers back into the dealership and get the email campaigns out right away.

How do you ensure that everyone at Sunridge is using Xtime?

Prior to Xtime, we did everything by hand, on paper, with technicians and advisors running around like crazy. With Xtime, our utilization is now at 99 percent. With Inspect, it was an easy transition. Xtime makes it easy for us to be accountable. We can see in the dashboard what is needed, and who is or isn’t doing what. It keeps us on our toes so that everyone can do their jobs effectively.

How has Xtime contributed to your success?

Customers are coming in and we’re retaining them. We’re seeing a show rate of 87.8 percent. Xtime has contributed to our success in the program—how its operation streamlines everything. On the marketing side, if we want to incentivize customers for specific deals—say, Calgary Stampede or back-to-school—we send it out and get responses from customers right away. It’s so easy!

How have customers responded to Xtime? What do they say about the email campaigns or scheduling or other elements to Spectrum?

More than 17 percent of our customers are scheduling online. Our customers especially like that they can book appointments quick and easy. People respond well to the ease of access and transparency of pricing.

Why do you feel it is important for modern dealerships to use technology?

You have to grow with the new options available to our always growing technology-savvy consumers. Sometimes we get stuck in the old way of doing things, we think it still works, but it isn’t always necessarily the best process now. You have to keep up with technology—don’t stay in your safety zone. Push yourself and the results will be worth it.

Did You Know?

Twice per month we send best practices, interesting research about the automotive service business and informative facts for your enjoyment. Here’s a recap of some of our favorite tidbits.

Customers are five percent more likely to show for service with text reminders.

Changing the message and color of your Message of the Day will improve awareness.

Dealers leave $100K on the table in uncaptured recommended services each month.

Xtime on Bloomberg Radio

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Listen to the Bloomberg Market Minute to learn about over-the-air software updates and how it impacts your service department.

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