Harvesting Profits: Autumn Opportunities in Your Service Drive

As leaves begin to fall and jack-o-lanterns light up porches, your service drive faces its own set of tricks and treats. Just as homeowners prepare their houses for autumn, vehicle owners are readying their cars for the changing season. Is your service team prepared to harvest the profits growing in fall maintenance? Here are a few ways to ensure your service drive is prepared.

Cultivating the Autumn Maintenance Catalog

From battery strain due to cooler temperatures and visibility issues due to the rainy season, fall brings unique challenges for vehicles. Many drivers may not consider these seasonal needs until they are facing a problem. Educating your customers is the first key. Your service team can brew up success by reminding customers about fall-specific maintenance such as:

• Battery health checks.
• Tire pressure and tread inspections.
• Brake system examinations.
• Fluid level top-ups.
• Wiper blade and headlight replacements.

Each of these services represents a chance to boost your average RO value. However, these opportunities will vanish if your team isn’t prepared to catch them.

Harvesting the Right Services

While identifying fall-specific maintenance needs is crucial, the real skill lies in effectively offering these services to customers. Just as a skilled farmer knows when and how to harvest each crop, your service drive needs a strategic approach to presenting seasonal offerings. The first place to look is at your online service scheduler. Does it prompt customers with upsell items to purchase? Make sure your appointment and check-in software are updated with seasonal offerings so you don’t miss these opportunities. What about in-store? Update your service menu to include common fall services the customer may not have thought of. Using a targeted marketing program, you can send specific seasonal offerings to vehicle owners based on type of vehicle, age, and mileage.

Additionally, ensure your service advisors are well-trained on fall-specific maintenance needs. This isn’t just about upselling; it’s about providing value-added services that genuinely benefit your customers as they prepare for the changing season.

This approach helps you transform routine visits into comprehensive service opportunities. And the benefits can be substantial: average repair order values often increase, customer satisfaction improves, and you gain a competitive edge. Moreover, it helps mitigate risks for your customers and fosters long-term relationships, positioning your dealership as a trusted partner in year-round vehicle care.

Growing One-Time Fall Visits into Lasting Connections

Many dealerships fall under the curse of losing a one-time seasonal visitor. Often seeking specific fall services like battery checks or winterization, these customers represent a golden opportunity for long-term engagement. By leveraging advanced service and targeting technology to track these visits and prompt follow-ups, you can transform these sporadic visits into a steady stream of repeat business.

But what’s truly at stake here? By letting these customers slip away, you aren’t just losing a single transaction – you’re forfeiting decades of steady income, word-of-mouth referrals, and wasting marketing dollars. Each one-time visitor represents a potential lifetime value of thousands of dollars in service revenue. By focusing on turning these seasonal visitors into repeat customers, you can turn a common challenge into a significant opportunity for sustained growth and profitability.

The Fall Service Cornucopia: Leveraging Technology

In the world of auto maintenance, advanced service and targeting technology is your almanac. It can help you:

• Track seasonal trends in service requests.
• Identify customers due for fall maintenance.
• Notify customers of targeted recommended services automatically.
• Monitor the performance of fall-specific promotions.

By embracing the right technology, your dealership can see higher customer satisfaction and harvest additional profits.

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