Your Dealership's MVP
Invest in who is most important to your customers.
I will try to evidence how vital this MVP is to the health and success of the entire dealership by using a personal story. My wife and I have owned quite a few SUVs in our 30 years together, and most of them have been routine ownership experiences. However, about ten years ago, she found a specific OEM brand that she liked, and we have stayed in that brand switching to higher trim levels, with the last two being top-of-the-line trim packages. Of course, these trim packages are costly vehicles that can be very expensive to fix. As you can guess, we have had a much different ownership experience in these higher trim packages than we did in any of our prior purchases.
The first bad experience was electronic and a known issue that took months to get to the root cause and fix. The second was comprehensive cooling system issues that left us stranded many miles from home. Each time we had to drive over 7 hours home with no air conditioner on the interstate at high rates of speed. Our son was a travel baseball player, so those trips were always between June and August. Finally, in our latest high-end SUV purchase with the same OEM, we had to replace the heads at 65,000 miles. This lengthy service visit came with its own set of challenges. Now, two years later, it happened again; this week, on our way to the mountains for Christmas in this same SUV, cylinder 4 began misfiring as soon as I pulled out of the driveway.
So, what's the point here? Here was my aha moment. As we were pulling out of the dealership in our loaner compact car, for which we are grateful in today's market, my wife said, "I will only buy and service my vehicles from the dealership where Jimmy Stockstill works." Then it hit me; she meant it. Who is Jimmy, you ask? Jimmy is the dealership's Service Director, her MVP. He was at two different dealerships in our time knowing him, and he took exceptional care of us even when we did not buy from his dealership. Now 'taken care of" is a very loose term and must be broken down. However, I don't want to miss this critical message in her declaration before I do. For my wife, Jimmy, the service director is more important than an OEM brand, carefully thought out targeted advertising, or the OEM's attractive incentives. More importantly, Jimmy has more impact on her next purchase than the owner of the dealership, the GM, the GSM, or anyone else for that matter. Now consider for a moment that the reverse impact of a poor Service Director would also be true. All of those other factors I listed are very important don’t get me wrong. They also may get you the initial sale but if you want that long-term repeat loyal customers your Service Director, and his team, is your MVP.
Now back to Jimmy. The first service experience where we had dashboard and computer issues took three months to get the right parts and fix our vehicle finally. We did not buy this vehicle from the dealership, but Jimmy made sure it was covered, we had a loner, and we were updated often. He made our experience noteworthy, and I wrote the OEM to tell them so. The response I received back from the OEM led me to believe the dealership and Jimmy would be recognized for their excellent customer service.
The next issue mentioned was the Condenser/AC system. Even though it was a known issue, the OEM did not want to cover it all, but Jimmy was able to get most of it covered and put us in a very nice loaner with frequent updates and a full explanation of why this happened and how they would fix it.
Jimmy was at another dealership, and when our next SUV started missing with only 65,000 miles, we found Jimmy and took our vehicle to him. He helped us work with the OEM to discover the known issue, get it fixed under the powertrain warranty, and put us in a very high-end loaner for the extended service visit. Knowing our history with the OEM brand, he ensured we had his cell to stay updated and check-in if needed. He represented his dealership and the OEM with pride and excellence.
Finally, this week when cylinder 4 misfired, Jimmy got us in that late afternoon, diagnosed the problem, so we understood our situation, tried very hard to find us an SUV but just couldn't, and finally found us a loaner in this supply depleted market. Knowing Jimmy, knowing how to find him, and knowing how he is always eager to help made this disappointing Friday afternoon nightmare more bearable. Thank you, Jimmy.
We all know the service department is more important now than ever, and many facts back that up. Fixed ops absorption is key to the dealership's overall long-term health. Service retention is necessary, starting at POS through lifetime ownership touchpoints. However, none of that matters if the service experience is subpar. Every dealership needs an empowered Jimmy. How do you create a Jimmy? It starts with hiring, promoting, training, equipping, and compensating your Fixed Operations leader AND his teams. No longer can we see or refer to Fixed Ops as the back of the house. It is the other FRONT. By all accounts, the most important FRONT. This will be one of the most critical transformations you can go through in 2022. My wife won't buy another vehicle or service one without calling Jimmy first. Wherever he is, that is where we go. The message here is Jimmy, and the team he leads, is your MVP!!!
