Upgrade opportunities abound but you need a consistent process
Before spending more advertising dollars trying to attract new customers, ensure you have solid procedures in place for “Upgrade Opportunities.” Who can you target?
- Any customers who paid cash;
- Any finance or lease customers with equity or minimal negative equity that can be consolidated into a new loan/lease;
- Service customers (existing Sales Consultants’ or orphaned customers);
- Service customers who did not purchase from your dealership;
- Drive-in service customers with no appointments; and
- Customers who declined service repairs or maintenance.
Tip# 1: Print off a list of all service appointments for the next day and analyze each customer for an upgrade opportunity.
Your CRM should be alerting you of all your service customers that will be coming in the next day so, if this is not a standard procedure, you will need to generate a daily report.
Ensure you include the Sales Consultant’s name or employee number for identification and the dealer code. When the dealer code is not yours, the customer did not purchase a vehicle from your dealership and you will need to determine if this customer should be approached for an upgrade opportunity and who should approach or contact them.
Check the customer’s previous deal to see if there are any refundable protection plans or insurances, the service and warranty history. Estimate the odometer reading based on their last service visit.
Using an equity tool or with the Used Vehicle Manager’s assistance, determine the equity position of your finance and lease customers.
If an upgrade opportunity exists, have the existing Sales Consultant attempt to make contact with the customer when they are in the next day in person or by phone. It’s not advisable to send new hires to solicit an upgrade opportunity to an orphaned customer; send a competent one or a Sales Manager.
Many dealerships use their Renewal/Portfolio Manager to approach or contact these service customers and, some high-volume dealerships have a designated individual stationed in the drive-thru managing upgrade opportunities.
Many dealerships simply send each of these upgrade customers an e-mail offer or a text. Although this is being efficient, it might not be the most effective strategy.
Contact Options:
- In person
- Phone call
- Text
- E-Mail the customer
- Video message
Tip #2: Provide a reason for the contact.
One of the best strategies for approaching a service customer for an upgrade opportunity or contacting them by phone if they left their vehicle for the day is the following.
“Your vehicle came up on a software generated ‘hot list’ as a possible acquisition for our used vehicle department yesterday as a result of your service appointment. Our dealership has been selling lots of vehicles this year and that was quite unexpected. Used vehicles are in scarce supply today and vehicles similar to yours have never been worth more in the market than they are today.
While your vehicle is in for service today, we’d love the opportunity to appraise your vehicle and let you know how much it might be worth on trade for a newer vehicle. With your permission, can I get my Sales Manager to appraise your vehicle today?”
Tip #3: Using this example or your own version, create scripts that can be used for each of the following scenarios.
- An existing Sales Consultant’s customer in the Service Department;
- An orphaned customer in the Service Department;
- A phone call for an existing Sales Consultant’s customer who left their vehicle in for service for the day; and
- A phone call to an orphaned customer who left their vehicle in for service for the day.
Tip #4: Create a procedure to have your service advisors notify you when a customer has come in with no appointment.
Analyze the customer’s equity position and determine if an upgrade opportunity exists.
Tip #5: Create a procedure to have your service advisors notify you when a customer has declined recommended repairs or maintenance.
Again, analyze the customer’s equity position and determine if an upgrade opportunity exists. These customers may be financially struggling and the reason why they may have declined service repairs or maintenance. Some may want to save a few dollars and squeeze the last few kilometres out of their vehicle before they purchase their next one — these are golden opportunities.
Tip #6: Create a procedure for analyzing your current customer base for upgrade opportunities.
These customers are not visiting your Service Department but analyzing your customer base daily will create many upgrade opportunities. Many dealerships have an equity tool built into their CRM or subscribe to an equity tool application to identify upgrade opportunities. Again, be sure to have competent Sales Consultants contact orphaned customers.
Contact us info@wyemanagement.com to request sample contact scripts or visit wyemanagement.com for upcoming workshops and programs.
