1. Ken Cumming Aftersales Development Manager

2. How to improve absorption

3. Absorption = Aftersales Direct Profit Total Overheads In order to improve OR

4. Total Overheads - reduction Key focus since 2008 Deep cuts throughout industry How much more can you realistically cut and still flourish?

5. How to improve absorption Absorption = Aftersales Direct Profit Total Overheads OR

6. Focus on Aftersales Departmental profit Bodyshop DP Parts DP Other DP Service DP __________________ ____________ _____________

7. How to grow service department profit

8. Service Direct Profit Cost reduction Margin Improvement Volume Increase

9. Service Direct Profit Cost reduction Margin Improvement Volume Increase

10. Cost Reduction Staff – Service advisors – Technicians Systems

11. Service Direct Profit Cost reduction Margin Improvement Volume Increase

12. Margin Improvement a.Labour rate increase b.Discount when invoicing

13. Margin Improvement a.Labour rate increase b.Discount when invoicing

14. Margin Improvement a.Labour rate increase Simple to do Immediate impact

15. Margin Improvement Your customers may be shopping around – what are they being offered? Know your competition – Get on “fast fits” marketing list Do your staff believe you offer value for money – Get them to check the market- staff perception – Customer perception Price the job not parts and labour

16. Margin Improvement a.Labour rate increase b.Discount when invoicing

17. Margin Improvement b. Discount When Invoicing Wrong time to negotiate- work completed Who authorises discount? Does it improve customer satisfaction ? Negotiate at the time of booking!

18. Workshop Loading Taking the booking Price clear and bold on the job card Price agreed at booking- confirmed at drop off Additional work agreed and annotated on job card Final invoice matches everything agreed….reduced discounting But who should do take booking? Take it away from the advisors

19. Workshop loading Do you operate a “call centre” or split the role? Specialist people Different skill set to advisor Never ‘too busy’ to make calls Leaves the customer facing team facing the customer Fill to capacity

20. Margin Improvement - summary Price to your market place- research Split the advisor and CRM role (call centre?) Negotiate at the time of booking Compare price on the job card to invoice price and discuss any differences 1-1’s with all staff by service manager

21. Service Direct Profit Cost reduction Margin Improvement Volume Increase

22. Volume Growth Only 2 opportunities Get more customers through your door Get more out of those that already visit your business

23. Volume Growth Only 2 opportunities Get more customers through your door Get more out of those that already visit your business

24. Getting more customers through your door

25. Lapsed customer campaigns Press adverts Special offers Do they really attract new customers or even old ones back? You don’t need more customers- you need to hold on longer and stronger to the ones you have.

26. Getting more customers through your door Wikipedia describes customer retention as: The activity that a selling organisation undertakes in order to reduce customers defections. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact an organisation has with a customer and continues throughout the entire lifetime of a relationship.

27. Getting more customers through your door What is the key to customer retention? ACTIVITY - Ask for it and explain why! Ask your sales customers to come back for servicing, MOT and repairs Ask your workshop customers to come back again. Does every customer leave your dealership with a strong message and reason to come back?

28. Customer Retention Much of our retention activity is driven through the database Who in your business is responsible for the database? Everybody?....... Then nobody! Make one person responsible for policing it. Do the basics everyday with absolute conviction. Make sure every customer on the database has a ‘plan’

29. Database management InitialDailyMonthly What state is our database in? Was every customer created correctly? Cars sold last month- do they all have MOT and service dates? Was every vehicle created correctly? Cars sold 11 months ago- did they all have MOT and service dates? Did every customer that we saw have their information updated? AT NO COST…just daily routine and focus

30. Database Management Third Party data cleanses….. Fixes the symptoms but not the disease 3 – 4 years later …pay for another cleanse unless you fix the root cause. These are worth it IF you have sorted the root cause and want to shorten the time lag

31. Database Management Using your database to get more customers through your door.

32. Getting more customers through your door The sales Funnel

33. Getting more customers through your door The Sales Funnel Contacted Booked Contactable The Aftersales Funnel LEAKAGE

34. The Decision Tree

35. Getting more customers through your door Have a SHARED plan…… Have suitably trained people ready to handle the objection

36. Getting more customers through your door How big is your opportunity – What customers are due to have work done? – Check the ‘customers due’ list from your DMS What is your success rate on getting them booked in? How many customers object and say no?Why? What can you do to improve it?

37. Reminder Process

38. Benchmark your success rates with other sites and look for improvements Are the reasons for customers saying no valid? – Are all staff trained in objection handling?

39. Using your database to grow your business Back in your businesses today the workshops will have customers 9 out of 10 customers in workshops are there because they were invited (ask!) If we only invite 75% of the opportunity then we will not succeed If we don’t use the right people to make the call we will not succeed We should manage the service leads the way we would manage sales leads. Database quality is the cornerstone of retention

40. Database – Lost Opportunity report The information should chase you… you shouldn’t have to chase the information

41. Volume Growth Only 2 opportunities Get more customers through your door Get more out of those that already visit your business

42. Getting more work out of the customers I see Every manufacturer has a health check VSR VSC Health Check etc

43. Getting more work out of the customers I see Hot prospect Plan the conversation Second face – Duty of care call Don’t sell - offer good advice eVSR systems

44. The structure of the service department

45. Structure Key success to this is the role of the service manager No longer the most technical person on site The key to success is management of the team Stay out of the office and work with the team Customer service is key Staff coaching and development is critical to success – Very few can do it or actually do it

46. Service Manager as a coach Visuals of performance – Department and individuals Team talk – YTT – Quick (5 mins) Individual 1-2-1’s – Weekly and monthly- different focus – Regular In the diary 5 areas of strength 1 area of improvement

47. Review document

48. “Top Gear” style leader board

49. How do Improve my absorption? Can one person do all that is now required? Or should we look at the responsibility – Front of house manager – Workshop/technical manager

50. In Summary How to improve absorption

51. Absorption = Aftersales Direct Profit Total Overheads

52. How to Improve Absorption It will not improve by itself – Its needs activity – not “focus” Pick the area you believe you can grow – Who, What, When, Where, How – Milestones – Lead and lag indicators Someone needs to own and be responsible for it. What will be different to yesterday?

53. Key actions Find out your areas of weakness and strengthen them- fact not feeling ! Make the performance visible - Department and individuals Regularly review team and individual performance against the required level Review Database focus – single owner outside of aftersales Review Reminder activity – draw it out and look at it Remove workshop loading from the service front desk Prepare for health checks and second face them– who is best? Make sure every job card has an agreed price on it Measure your used car retention- Sales dept should be aware Ask how many hours have been sold with the same frequency of asking how many cars have been sold. (how many hours booked in for tomorrow?)

54. In Summary Aftersales is a simple business complicated by many views and opinions on how to make it work Here’s mine……… 3 areas for absolute dedication Database Reminder activity VHC/VSR/Additional work Driven through a motivated manager and an able team that knows what is expected of them.

55. Thank you