Overheard: A great service department vital for customer retention

"The glamour is in selling the vehicle … and the rest of [the dealership] is just byproducts to keep that going. The buying experience might take a day, maybe a week, hours — whatever it may be once you narrow down and figure out what you want. But the ownership experience lasts years, and the ownership experience goes through the service department. [A vehicle purchase] is one transaction. But ultimately, over the time that you own that vehicle, you're going to go back and visit a [dealership] multiple times. And that's what we've got to focus on because when those visits go correctly, I don't have to worry about what your next vehicle is. I own you as a customer for life. That's what our focus is — I want to own you as a customer for life. I don't always want to conquest that next new customer." — Ed Roberts, COO of Bozard Ford-Lincoln in St. Augustine, Fla., on the importance of a good dealership service department for customer retention on the "Fixed Ops Chops with Dave Boyle" podcast.