http://www.dealersynergy.com 267-319-6776

http://www.bradleyondemand.com

Video is one of the most powerful tools a dealership can use to establish strong communication, captivation, clarity, rapport and build trust. Here is an example of a dealership using "Real Time" Video communication via Apple FaceTime with a Service Customer and the Service Writer! Forrester…

Many times, many of your in store problems can be fixed by doing one simple thing. Change the culture of the store with the customers and with the employees,

I worked at a large Jeep stored that gave out a loaner car for every customer that came into service for anything including an oil change. Meanwhile we had a shuttle van that was used more as a parts van than a shuttle. I noticed many of the loaner invoices showed car being brought back with 10 miles or less on them. At the time,…

Throughout my 40+ years in the automotive business, I always thought there would come a time when I would leave and take a 9am - 5pm job with holidays, multiple weeks of paid vacations and other normal job aspects. It never happened. No matter how bad of a day I might have had, I always found myself driving home thinking to myself ow much I loved this business. 

In my years as a mechanic, I love fixing cars. As I rose through management I loved fixing problems with customers,…

Those words were actually said to me but I'll get to that in a little bit. 

Well the dog days of summer are upon us. The showrooms are filled to capacity and your next available service appointment is in two weeks! Every marketing piece you've done has been a home run. Your biggest problem is where to park all these customer cars and all the managers can think of is how sweet their commissions are going to be. Some are even thinking that, at this rate, I can retire in a couple of…

Recently, Chrysler announced that they reached their goal of having 80% of their stores opened on Saturday. In the pre-Fiat days, the number was closer to 60%! How exciting! What are the other 20% of their stores doing being closed? How can you NOT open your service department at all on Saturday? Even if they are there to support the sales department, they need to be open. Unless of course you have a CBA saying you must be closed which, in that case, the person who negotiated the contract,…

Back in the 1970's, I cut my teeth in the car business pumping gas and being a mechanics (yes we were called mechanics then) helper. I learned quite a bit and it set the foundation for a wonderful career in the automotive industry. 

One of my early lessons in customer service was provided by my old boss. Our oil change cost $9.95. A quart of oil cost about $1.10 back then. The store I worked at was an Exxon franchise. Now our customer could go into the chain supermarket right next…

The #1 thing that drove me crazy in stores were the phones. I would spend days, weeks, months, planning a marketing strategy to make our phone rings and then I would end up answering most calls myself, setting up appointments, and answering status calls(my least favorite call to get!).

I've watched service advisors look at their ringing phones and NOT answer it. When I saw that, it required, what I called, an immediate training session with the advisor. As like most of you who…

(I wrote this article a couple of weeks ago while in the service waiting area of a franchised dealership in Eastern Washington; though in order to fully grasp my points, imagine that I wrote it from your dealership.)

The little things are all that matter.

I’m here to get my wife’s new car serviced. Just a couple of small items we noticed when we bought the car. One was placed on a “We Owe” and one was discovered during the delivery. The salesman was (of course) very…

Fixed Operations account for about 12% of the total dealership sales; however, it produces 60% of the overall net profit.  Warranty claims equate to 30% of the total volume in the service department...with that understanding, one will deduce that the warranty department in your dealership accounts for 20% of the total net profit of the dealership!  When you have…