More dealerships are responding to service customers' need for speed by expanding their express maintenance operations. These lanes aim to complete oil changes, lube jobs, tire rotations and inspections in 30 minutes or less.
Fast service can benefit a dealership's fixed operations as well as time-pressed customers. Designating employees, parts inventories and service bays to handle routine maintenance can relieve a shop's bottlenecks. It also can greatly boost service sales.
Fixed Ops Journal contacted service directors and industry consultants who have spent a lot of time in the fast-lane trenches. They offer these tips on tuning up express maintenance operations.
1. Be flexible. When you advertise your fast-lane service, make sure potential customers know they don't need appointments. Then make sure you're fully equip-ped to handle the workload.
2. Have the right team. Fast-service experts recommend assigning a two-technician team and an adviser to every vehicle that comes through the express lane.
3. Have the right tools. Your lube techs should have basic tools and a tool cart, including equipment for wheels and tires to make rotations quicker and easier.
4. Compete on price. In your market, "call the independent shops to find out what they charge for the services you plan to offer," advises Ken Rock, customer care manager at Auto/Mate Dealership Systems, a dealership software provider in Albany, N.Y. "Match those prices, or keep them very competitive."
5. Build on your brand. "Your dealership's main advantage," Rock says, "is that you use OEM parts. Customers may be willing to pay a small premium for that advantage, but "small' is the key word here."
6. Upsell, but do it right. Joe Carroll is a division manager at M5 Management Services, a dealership consultancy in Pelham, Ala., that specializes in fixed operations. He says a quick-service operation should aim to sell 60 percent of all services the adviser recommends the customer have done.
"The adviser should show the customer a menu of services the manufacturer calls for and ask: "Would you like us to take care of that if it needs it?' " Carroll says. "That way, you already have authorization. If you don't present it, you'll never sell it."
At the same time, Rock says, remember that service customers are suspicious of efforts to sell them work and products they think they don't need.
"We are here to advise the customer on the proper way to care for their major purchased equipment," he says.
"Don't lie, don't try to scare them. Verifying that something is really needed, and not just guessing," is an essential part of that process, Rock adds.
7. Make the wait less painful. Waiting areas, including those for quick-service customers, should offer free Wi-Fi service and cellphone chargers, Rock says. "It's no good trying to charge for something that everyone else gives away," he says.
