Dealers should consider an ‘interactive’ service reception to boost profits

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12 March 2013

Franchised dealers should consider undertaking a ‘mini’ electronic vehicle health check (EVHC) in the presence of the customer in the car park to boost take-up of additional required work, according to training and automotive software company BTC managing director Guy Allman.

Using data collected from more than 1,000 dealers who utilises BTC’s EVHC system, Allman calculates £1.5 billion worth of revenue per year is overlooked due to the failure by dealership staff to sell service and parts identified by vehicle health checks.

Allman believes a more proactive or interactive service reception process could recoup some of this revenue.

He will share his views as well as latest BTC statistics when he speaks at AM’s Aftersales Conference at the Hilton Hotel, located in the complex of the newly opened national football training centre St George’s Park in Burton on Trent, East Midlands on April 24, 2013.

The data, analysed from July 2011 to July 2012, showed 46% of work which was either illegal or dangerous, coded as ‘red’ on the EVHC was not re-booked.

Allman believes a combination of a lack of sales skills in aftersales staff and the fact that customers are on the end of the phone and therefore find it easier to say ‘no’ explains why so much additional work is not being undertaken in the franchised network.

Tickets are available to dealers and manufacturers, with a limited number of supplier tickets on sale. To book, please contact Nicola Baxter on 01733 468289, email nicola.baxter@bauermedia.co.uk or visit www.aftersalesconference.co.uk

Aftersales

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h14rry - 12/03/2013 13:07

Guy has really hit the nail on the head here in this article, there are definitely huge revenue potentials being missed with EVHC’s. As mentioned, there is a certain level of onus on the aftersales staff to capitalise on these opportunities, but inevitably some will be missed. To take this concept a stage further, you could remove the element of relying on the aftersales staff to catch every opportunity and replace this with integrating the EVHC system into a dealership’s DMS system where Contact Plans can be set up to catch these missed opportunities and automatically prompt the aftersales staff to follow up the advised works at scheduled dates. This concept is already a reality within the Pinnacle system.
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- Guy - 13/03/2013 16:41
  
  @h14rry - Thanks for your supportive comments. I think it's worth pointing out that our idea is that we conduct a short check on the customers car (tyres, bodywork, lights and levels for example) and then do the full check in the workshop. Our work as a training company clearly shows that the non-franchised sector doesn't employ better sales people than its franchised competition - they simply have an easier sale to make! In the rapid fit market the customer is happy to wait for a quote on their tyres and it's much more difficult to say "no" face-to-face than over the phone allied to the promise that "if you find the same tyres cheaper in the next 7 days we'll refund the difference" (knowing that 99 out of 100 won't check!). After all, it's always been easier to sell face-to-face than over the phone! The good news is autoVHC (our EVHC system) enables dealers to do split templates and measure how successful each approach is. Additionally, we can automate email and text follow up of unsold work which is proving very effective when the advisor has failed. I am looking forward to expanding on this and other ideas BTC has to help dealers satisfy more customers and maximise their sales opportunities at the AM Aftersales Conference
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R Glenister - 12/03/2013 15:45

It's a great idea, one which has been muted for decades but consistently fails for lots of reason's. To just approach a client even if they are at the dealer for some other business is dangerous. 1.The client will be spending their hard earn't and it is a different sales approach. 2.Customers in my experience do not like being sold to without prior warning. 3.It might be an idea to write, e mail, etc prior to the client coming in for a service to advise the client that whilst on site they would be offered a free health check on their vehicle. I am a big fan of up selling if the company has thought it through in turns of what happens when they get additional business and the impact on the wip/courtesy vehicles, and staff delivery. I hope this is not negative but just my experience, it needs to be well thought through before going ahead.
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PeterJames - 13/03/2013 13:46

Info.
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peterjames - 13/03/2013 13:51

Info.
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- Guy - 13/03/2013 16:42
  
  @peterjames - What information do you require?
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