Ensure your team tailors their outreach to each customer's
unique wants and needs, avoid "bait-and-switch" offers
and include actionable messaging offers that account for
your dealership's available inventory, as well as any pre-
selling options.
3. STRENGTHEN YOUR ACQUISITION
EFFORTS ACROSS THE DEALERSHIP
In addition to fueling sales and loyalty efforts, the
service drive provides the perfect opportunity for
dealers to acquire in-demand, high-quality trades while
maximizing revenue through selling the trade customer a
replacement vehicle.
To support acquisition efforts, break down the barriers
between service and sales teams. This starts with a well-
managed process with support from the top-down,
staffed by the right team.
Develop a robust service-to-sales process guided by
either a dedicated sales manager or a well-connected
BDC. This person's or team's focus should be to identify
prime trade and buy-back opportunities, such as those
in an equity position, or customers that decline or agree
to large repairs, and engage them with messaging that
kickstarts the trade experience.
To guide your efforts, assess your local market to
identify areas of opportunity and customer trends to
guide your acquisition efforts. Analyze:
• Which vehicles have you sold the most – and the least
– in the last 30, 60, 90 days? What was the average
gross of those sales?
• What is the make/model/trim availability in
your market?
• What inventory is already on its way – and how can
your team supplement those vehicles?
Serving as a main point of customer contact between
dealers and buyers throughout their vehicle's increasingly
long lifespan, a well-connected service department and
data-driven approach can fuel sustainable dealership-
wide success, supporting sales efforts, pre-owned
acquisitions, customer retention and more.
Interested in learning how Mastermind can help
your dealership close more deals and acquire more
pre-owned inventory?
Contact us for a free demo.
2. REGULARLY ENGAGE CUSTOMERS TO
FUEL DRIVE SERVICE-TO-SALES EFFORTS
AND BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY
The service drive also empowers dealers to stay top-
of-mind with buyers before they return to market,
empowering their team to build customer loyalty, fuel
conquest efforts and inform future sales discussions. But
to overcome delivery delays due to inventory shortages,
sales and service teams need to be thinking ahead to
engage customers before they arrive for service – and
before they return-to-market.
Appoint someone or a team from sales, service or even
your BDC to act as a service-to-sales liaison. In this role,
this person or team is tasked with proactively identifying
and engaging service-to-sales opportunities and loyalty
customers that pose a risk of defection by analyzing data
from your dealership's CRM, DMS and sales platform.
While every dealership will have a slightly different
approach, the basic strategy is:
• Review all service appointments for the next three
days and identify the best prospects who are:
° Out of warranty
° Over lease mileage
° Experiencing a new product design
° Approaching end of lease or finance term
° Serviced-not-sold
• Make outreach to them, first with a phone call and
next with an email follow-up that includes their offer.
• Attempt to get in front of all target customers that
have appointments for the current day with an offer. If
you miss them, leave a worksheet with a hand-written
note in the vehicle or with their service advisor.
LEARN MORE
automotiveMastermind.com
Wholesale used vehicle prices for
February 2022 remained 37.6%
higher than 2021, emphasizing
the importance of buy-backs and
trades to auto dealers
Manheim Used Vehicle Index, 2022
800.801.0018 | info@automotiveMastermind.com
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