When the customer isn’t right – for your business

One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint.

She didn’t like the fact that the company didn’t assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight;…

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You have all the tools. A good web site, a contact management system, lots of inventory new and used. You have invested in people of all stripes. Lot attendants, sales people and managers. Everyone seems ready to go. But you are not selling like the old days. Your cost per up is through the roof, perhaps you wonder how long you can hold on.

The truth is, you may be ready to answer yes to the title question. If your team is in place, why not tweek your process just a…

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“What You Expect”



(This is a follow on blog post from a previous post titled “Crunching Your Service Numbers.”)



This is part of the daily “Must Do” list for every Service Manager. You cannot go through the day without checking progress. To do so would be a sure recipe for disaster. Just ask the Captain on any ship or the Pilot of any airplane. They will not start the engines without a plan much less leave the harbor or take off from the airport.



As a Service… Continue

Hi

Some of you on these pages know me and my company. Viral Marketplace features different ways that a salesperson or dealer can manipulate the Web and their digital footprint to lower marketing costs and improve your effectiveness.

Of course our AdzZoo marketing program is changing the way that Dealerships are marketing, the reason for this message today is…

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The greatest single feeling of accomplishment you can experience as a Trainer is one where someone you are Training suddenly…Gets It.



And right in front of you… before your very eyes, there is a Change.



See, in Training, change is mostly slow, frequently subtle, hard to see and sometimes hard to measure. It requires energy, time, committment, belief, knowledge, skill, communication, background, application and mostly… Will Power.



So, when someone “Gets It” and… Continue

Yesterday I had the privilege of addressing a room of Service Managers and Factory Personnel. And I have to believe that everyone in that room was there to find or gather some new information that would help them take action on something that might be causing them some problems at their Dealerships.



Why would you attend if you had no hope of getting something, right? I hope that everyone one of them got something that they can use right away at their Dealership this week, something…

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The number one area that your Customers would like you to improve in is… Communicating with your Customers.



Most of you reading this would say “We do communicate with our Customers all the time! We call them; we send them emails…why we even have a monthly newsletter that we send out. What more could they possibly want?”



Maybe…just maybe…they might want you to communicate with them the way they like to be communicated with…whaddya think?



Have you asked your Customers… Continue

I was traveling recently when I noticed a young man standing in the same line as me for the San Diego flight. Like many of you traveling and spending a lot of time in airports, I become a "people watcher" to pass the time.



As I have "aged" (a kind word for getting old) I find myself watching younger people, especially the kids. I think that children, who are mostly excited to be traveling and filled with boundless and seemingly endless amounts of energy, are the most fun to watch.… Continue

It is not enough to measure.



That's right, I said it.



Measuring your numbers is a waste of time if you don't do anything with the numbers you measured. In order for the numbers to mean something, you must do something with them. It is not enough to just gather and store the information.



"You must measure what you need to manage".....and...."you must inspect and evaluate the efforts of your people daily" says Don Reed, CEO of DealerPro Training… Continue

In the movie “Saving Private Ryan”, an Army unit is sent to resuce the last surviving brother for a mother in waiting. The team is successful and Private Ryan returns home to live a life of fulfillment.



Nice story. Great plot. Excellent movie.



What has that got to do with Fixed Operations and Service Advisors?



Well, it is more about what you are not doing than what you are doing. And “Saving NewBee Advisor” could just as well be titled “Saving Every Advisor.” But I… Continue

Getting profitable. Wow. How cool would that be?



You come into the store the first day of the month, open the door to your office, turn on the lights, sit at your desk and open the drawer that you keep your last months financial statement in and read through it until you come to the page that has the final numbers....and you smile a little self satisfied smile....when you realize "we paid all of our bills before we even opened the door this morning."



Sounds like a science… Continue

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“Maintain your hours per C/P Repair Order (RO) at a minimum of 2.5” says Don Reed, CEO of DealerPro Training Solutions.

If you are currently at the national average of 1.5, then this might seem a bit of a stretch. It’s always a stretch when it’s as big as an elephant. And we know how to eat an elephant, right…..one bite at a time.

So, let’s break it down into bite sized pieces.

In the pursuit of HPRO the first thing we must have is well trained personnel. This means…

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“Maintain a 6 to 1 ratio of C/P RO count to total vehicle sales” says Don Reed, CEO of DealerPro Training Solutions.

That sounds simple enough. If you are currently selling 100 New and Used a month, then that pencils out to 600 Customer Pay Repair Orders per Month, not including Warranty and Internal. It’s the CP RO count we are after.

So, you just realized that your RO count is low, right? What are you going to do about it? If you are thinking that you need a big production…

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When you first get that customer’s information and they are unable to make a commitment at that time what is a realistic timeframe to keep trying to contact that customer. Most ”experts” will say 120-180 days, but in today’s faster moving decision process for the customer do you really think they are still in the market? I would have to say “No”, please keep in mind that this is my opinion. The first 1-24 hours is the most important. If you can respond to someone as they are…

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I know this question seems ridiculous; of course you wouldn’t. This would not only be harmful to the customer and any of their passengers, but would also affect unsuspecting future owners who will be impacted by a decision they did not make. And then there are the legal ramifications! There is legal precedence for the customer not being held responsible for making safety-related decisions; one court in California ruled that the customer is not qualified to determine what is safe and unsafe, and… Continue