When implementing a successful service menu system, the advisor has one presentation to make to the customer, but that presentation has two very distinct parts. Part 1, or the first half of the presentation, is the Manufacturer Recommendations. These recommendations are the easiest “sale”, if you will, in the dealership. This is when the advisor simply lets the customer know what their owner’s manual says they should do.The second half of the service menu conversation presents your additional Dealer Recommendations. Similarly, there are two parts to your dealer recommendations. First, the Preferred Recommendations appear on the top right of the service menu. They are the services that you’ve learned from experience with your local environment and road conditions as well as from your knowledge of vehicle performance are important to a vehicle’s long term performance and reliability. Second, the Additional Services, on the lower right of the menu, can be recommended at the advisor’s discretion based on the walk-around or conversation with the customer.
So, what make’s an ideal set of Preferred Recommendations? First and foremost, you want the keep the list short enough with a reasonable price point so that the recommendations don’t immediately scare the customer or raise suspicion. Beyond that here are 3 keys that make good guidelines for setting up your recommendations.
1) Recommend the services you truly believe improve a vehicles performance and reliability. If you’re just trying to sell something, skip it.
2) Eliminate any manufacturer recommended services from the Preferred Section. When you include services in the Preferred section that the manufacturer also recommends, you’ll often end up with duplicated recommendations and therefore overpriced menus that often raise customer suspicion. For example, you typically want to exclude Cooling System, Transmission, and typically Brake Fluid services.
3) Make sure recommendations apply to ALL vehicles… so you wouldn’t include Transfer Case or Differential Services because they don’t apply to all models.
Use these keys to optimize your Preferred Recommendations. The last thing you want to remember is that the manufacturer presentation is the most profitable presentation, so let your advisors get used to presenting Manufacturer Recommendations to every customer before you start adding Preferred Recommendations. In reality, when advisors are consistently presenting to 50% of their customers, that’s a good time to introduce your Preferred Recommendations.
Here’s to maximum profitability on your service lane!