Featured Guests: Elizabeth Stegall, Sales Director at Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and Matt Holling, Senior Director of Ecommerce Excellence at Cox Automotive give their take on the F.I.E.R.C.E strategy from a Dealer Sales and overall Ecommerce strategy.
Summary
New opportunities for fixed ops professionals to achieve rapid growth though digital technology, transparency, and convenience.
As a fixed operations professional, it’s crucial to understand your challenges and opportunities so you can implement strategies that keep profits growing and customers satisfied. Here are some tips to tackle the takeaways from the latest Cox Automotive Service Industry Study.
Prepare for Influx
Rapid growth creates a big opportunity for you. Consumer spend for automotive care is expected to surpass $400 billion in 2025. We’ve already seen a 50 percent hike in service sold from 2021 to 2023.
Tip! To service more cars faster, embrace digital transformation and leverage technology solutions that get ASRs sent by your team and approved by the customer with the tap of a phone to improve efficiencies.
Battle for Share of Service Visits
Dealer market share is now 30 percent, which represents a significant decline from a 35 percent share in 2021. You may be losing ground to the chain retailers and quick lube.
Tip! Stand out from the competition and increase share of service visits by prioritizing transparency and personalization.
Fight Rising Costs
We’re all feeling the pinch of rising costs right now. Compound that with the perception dealership service is less affordable than its competitors, and you have a challenge you can’t afford to sleep on.
Four out of five reasons your customers may not return are cost related:
Tip! Offer service financing to create convenience for your customers and show you care about their day to day need while ensuring cash flow for your dealership.
Overcome Frustrations
Nearly half of dealer customers were frustrated with their service experience according to the recent service study. Convenience was a common theme as one of the top drivers of the dissatisfaction, manifested through difficulty scheduling an appointment and the time investment for maintenance repair or completion.
Tip! You guessed it, go digital. Utilize your service technology to make the service process easy – and fast – from scheduling online to approvals and payment with a tap of a phone.
You’re a fixed operations professional taking the time to understand what’s crucial to your customers and drives efficiency for your team. We’d love to partner with you to help you navigate challenges and smash your goals.
VinSolutions CRM turns customer data into insights, and insights into sales. It’s an invaluable sales tool that your team should be using everyday—but are you always using it correctly?
This webinar will teach managers about the most important things they should do – and not do – to get the most from VinSolutions. Host Joe Webb of DealerKnows Consulting will take you through the high-powered features in VinSolutions and show you how to set up your sales team for success.
You’ll learn:
Chris Benvie, Director of Marketing and Pre-Owned Operations for McGovern Automotive gives his take on the F.I.E.R.C.E strategy from a new and pre-owned dealership’s perspective on how to grow and scale your business in today’s times.
Tap into specialized marketing templates that have proven to drive higher customer engagement and incremental revenue.
VinSolutions Automotive Marketing Platform lets you engage customers with personalized, relevant marketing and target the customers who are most likely to buy – before they even submit a lead.
Learn how successful dealers use Automotive Marketing Platform to boost sales and maximize ROI in this live webinar.
Learn How To:
Our expert panel includes diverse perspectives on Automotive Marketing Platform best practices and optimizations. We’ll offer two live broadcasts so you can pick the date and time that work best for you.
Our Panelists
Laura Beckley
Lead Performance Manager, VinSolutions
Mike Shean
Director, 1-1 Marketing, VinSolutions
Satisfaction with the dealership shopping experience surged, according to Cox Automotive’s Car Buyer Journey Study, from 69% to 75% between 2023 and 2024. Notably, 42% of new-car buyers stated their experience was better than their prior purchase, with dealership satisfaction reaching a historic high of 81%1.
With service being the money maker of the dealership business, there’s no better time to capitalize on the opportunity to turn happy car buyers into loyal customers who trust you for all their service needs. But how? Here are six solid strategies for turning your service department into a profit-making machine.
1. Boost employee efficiency
The data is clear: people are keeping their cars longer. That’s good news for your shop because older cars typically need more servicing. But an influx of servicing needs can also be challenging for employees who are already at capacity.
This shift in car-buying habits makes it a great time to invest in an integrated service solution, like Xtime, that can bring more efficiency to your business. Xtime lets customers handle every step of their service appointment — from booking online to scheduling approvals and payments. This gives them the flexibility and transparency they crave while reducing administrative work for your employees.
Xtime books 44 million service appointments annually. 2
2. Build loyalty with technology that boosts your bottom line
With car owners hanging onto their keys, you can be their shop of choice for even longer now. Delivering exceptional customer service is one of the best ways to keep your customers coming back again and again… and again. Capitalize on this shift in consumer behavior by delivering exactly what they’re looking for: A seamless, convenient customer service experience that adds value and trust.
Simply put, your customers want to connect with your shop the way they would with their favorite brands — online and on their phones. Deliver that on their first visit, and you’ll probably be seeing their car in your shop in the future.
3. Save time with the right technology
Dealerships capture the greatest share of vehicle service business, but other service providers still account for $214 billion per year.3 That means you have a few billion great reasons to optimize your shop’s capacity so you can grab a share of that business.
When your employees don’t have to worry about scheduling and processing payments, they can do more of what makes your shop profitable — service cars. Time is a precious commodity. Xtime can help you use it wisely.
Xtime has converted $9 billion in service revenue for over 7,500 dealerships.4
4. Reengage customers with solutions that make it easier to say yes
Sometimes customers decline services during their visit. And oftentimes, they just need a little reminder to say “yes” later. With personalized customer engagement technology, like Xtime Engage, you can access critical service information like previously declined services.
Dealers have reported a 3% increase in service retention with Xtime Engage.5
5. Be Proactive with your marketing
There are more potential customers on the streets and Xtime Invite can help you find them. With Xtime Invite, you can filter by service and craft and customize communications through multiple channels to keep your shop at full capacity.
Plus, use the built-in service reminders feature to keep your show rates high. Deliver personalized messaging to give your customers the trust they need to make them feel at ease. And integrate with your scheduling software for a faster, more seamless experience.
Dealers have generated 13% additional new ROs per month with Xtime Invite.6
6. Back up your data
Don’t lose your leads. Make sure your data is backed by CAI First-Party to retain valuable information about who buys from you. Keep that data up to date so you can reach out to customers who have purchased from your dealership within the last 5 years.
In an industry that’s transforming quickly, there’s no better time to transform your shop right along with it. Read Cox Automotive’s Car Buyer Journey Study to get all the insights and data you need to set up your dealership for even more success this year.
Take the next step with a self-guided Xtime demo. Start here.
sources:
12024 Car Buyer Journey Study
2 Data from all Xtime dealers between March 2021 and February 2022.
3 2021 Cox Automotive Service Industry Study
4 Data from all Xtime dealers between March 2021 and February 2022.
5 Data from all Xtime dealers between August 2022 and July 2023.
6 Data from all Xtime dealers between August 2023 – July 2024.
Vehicle ownership is here to stay! This is just one of the many positive trends from the recent Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study which surveyed nearly 3,000 respondents.
We’ve gathered the top five takeaways impacting your service lane.
Download the infographic to make the best decisions for your service staff and your customers.
Inventory is back—and so is your competition. With sales once again
returning to normal, the car buying journey is also seeing a shift as shoppers
change the way they shop, research, and purchase their next car.
With new insights from the Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study, which
surveyed nearly 3,000 respondents, we’ve gathered the top five takeaways
you need to know to make the best decisions for your business.
Download the infographic to stay on top of changing consumer buying
trends
Salespeople often change roles or rooftops. It’s simple to reassign customers in VinSolutions CRM, with just a few clicks. Watch this short video to learn how to reassign customers – and roll back these changes if the salesperson returns. You can also remove users from select or all stores in your group.
