Sales, Sales, Sales. Everyone is so focused on moving metal. How can we move more cars out the door this month they ask? What about getting cars back in the doors and onto the service lifts to generate fixed ops revenue? Service and parts are often (and sadly) overlooked when it comes to marketing and advertising for a dealership. It is time to turn that around. Why should you be marketing your service department?
For one, service usually is the profit center that keeps the lights on and the water running in a large number of dealerships. Service also tends to be far less expensive to market because so many dealerships use the major platforms for their sales efforts. Lastly, It can be tough to persuade a prospect from going to a competitor or buying a competing vehicle. It is far easier to persuade a current vehicle owner to come to your service department with the right message and offer, especially if they have had a less than optimal experience elsewhere. Let’s look at a few ways you can add revenue to your fixed ops department.
Pay Per Click
It’s sad to say, but most dealerships skip right over this and allow the bigger corporate, general repair and maintenance shops to dominate this sector. Jump on a search right now and type in a vehicle your dealership sells plus the word tires. For example – “Chevy Malibu tires,” does your service department show up? Are the ads showing at the top of the page dominated by an OEM and a large corporate repair shop? Most likely! For a few dollars your service department can easily gain greater awareness and drive additional revenue by going after service ads on the major pay per click platforms.
PLUS, with many of the top PPC platforms you can upload a list of email addresses and target ONLY those people with both display ads AND search ads. Doing this with search ads is a fantastic idea because it allows you to target only the service customers in your database. This has been known to drive down the cost per click incredibly, allowing your budget to go far. You can also retarget visitors to your website who go to the service pages for info, but do not book service.
People spend 1/3 of their day on social media and Facebook being the #1 social media platform (and the owner of Instagram) means your opportunities are excellent. Why? Facebook has a very robust ad platform, especially when it comes to automotive. You can target vehicle owners within a specific area with an ad for your service department. For example, it recognizes about 100,000 Nissan vehicle owners within a 30 mile radius of San Francisco. If you’re a Nissan dealer in SF, how many of those potential 100,000 owners do you think you could reach?
Just like with the PPC platforms above, you can also upload a customer list to Facebook and target just those people depending on any criteria you choose. Want to target only lost clients? Simply upload that list to Facebook and create an enticing ad to attract lost clients backs.
Outside the Box
Another great way to increase your fixed ops revenue is by implementing a newer technology known as ringless voicemail. This is a legal way for you to leave a message on a customer’s cellphone voicemail box without their phone ever ringing. All your people have to do is answer the inbound call to schedule service. There are many providers of this service so make sure you do your homework before choosing one. You’ll want to find a company that is automotive focused and has proven, repeatable results. Many companies who offer this service will simply take your recording and list and hit play and report once the campaign is over. The top notch companies offering ringless voicemail will be able to track callbacks vs message volume and provide you insight into how your team is handling the calls to ensure you’re maximizing every opportunity possible.
Whichever route you choose, make sure you find a reputable and reliable vendor who knows what they’re doing and focuses on getting you results, not just traffic and clicks.