Your service department could be making money on recommended work – if it was actually recommended to the customer.

We said “IF.”

One of the common reasons services show as being declined is, the customer did not know about it – either because the service advisor failed to tell them or because the wrong person was told.

The latter case occurs when someone other than the vehicle owner picks it up, speaks with the service advisor and never tells the owner about the recommendations.

The good news is, there is an effective solution for both scenarios.

Declined vehicle service reminders from TEXT2DRIVE™ are automated text messages sent to customers to give them a gentle nudge about the recommended maintenance that was declined.

A Top-Down View Of All Declined Services

The declined service interface offered by TEXT2DRIVE – a full-featured communications platform designed with dealerships in mind – gives you a top-down view into all pertinent details about each customer including:

• Date range of declined services
• RO numbers
• Customer’s information such as their phone number
• Name of the service advisor
• Work done on the vehicle
• Recommended work the customer declined

Declined Service Best Practices

One critical piece of information provided in the service interface is the previously sent notifications complete with dates sent. It is never a good idea to bombard a customer who was just at the dealership with multiple text messages in one week. You do not want to aggravate customers by sending them an excessive amount of reminders. Be careful not to over text customers. Doing so will drive them away rather than compel them to get service done at your dealership.

This is one of the best practices shared by Arlington Nissan Service Manager Nick Ruffalo, who is has found the reminders to be helpful both for recapturing declined services and uncovering which service advisors may not be offering recommended services to customers in the first place.

Nick, who uses the declined services interface on a daily basis, runs the database of customers through the software on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He waits until the following Monday to contact customers because Saturday is one of the dealership’s busiest days.

Nick monitors which customers respond and the reasons they give for declining. He often finds that they ask which services were declined. As mentioned previously, they were never made aware of the recommended services in the first place.

One point Nick emphasizes is that you should always make sure your service staff is inputting the declines into TEXT2DRIVE so that you can follow up with them. If you notice a low number of declined services in the system, it is a good indication the service advisors are not entering them.

To summarize, when using declined service reminders:

• Do not over text customers; once per week is sufficient
• Run the database of customers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
• Monitor which customers respond and their reasons for declining
• Make service staff aware of the importance of inputting declines into the system and follow up if they fail to do so

Recapturing Declined Services

There are several ways you can recapture previously declined services. Bringing them up during inspection of the customer’s vehicle is a natural and fluid approach. Promoting them throughout the vehicle service experience helps drive home their importance.

Declined vehicle service reminders are a smooth, non-intrusive method of stressing the importance of getting the services done while also targeting customers who declined and keeping your dealership top of mind for performing the maintenance.

The pre-built templates can be personalized with the name of the customer, service advisor, dealership and the dealership phone number. They are user-friendly, making them easy to set up for any employee regardless of their level of tech proficiency.

Given these benefits, it is no wonder dealerships that used declined service reminders from TEXT2DRIVE generated an average RO total of $409 for customers who received the automated text messages.

Keep Service Revenue Where It Belongs

According to the Cox Automotive 2018 Service Industry Study:

• 67% of service visits are made at places other than the dealership – for example, a body shop, general repair service station or Quick Lube.
• Franchise dealers lose $15.9M annually due to straying customers.
• $266B is lost across all franchise dealers; this loss includes declined services.

Recapture your customers and increase service revenue with declined vehicle service reminders from TEXT2DRIVE. See the feature in action by scheduling a live demo today.

Other Ways You Can Increase Your Service Department Revenue:

1. TEXTING COUPONS GENERATED AN EXTRA $168,000 FOR OUR DEALERSHIP
2. TEXTING SAFETY RECALLS EXCEEDS A MONTHLY AVERAGE OF $161,000 FOR US
3. IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO AUTO DEALERS: TEXTING INCREASES REPAIR ORDER ROI
4. VIDEO IS PROVEN TO INCREASE A DEALERSHIP’S REPAIR ORDER REVENUE
5. PREVENT OEM REPAIR SCHEDULE CHANGES FROM SLOWING DOWN YOUR PROFITS