“Recommendations” for Getting Out of the Oil Change Business
If you’re running oil change promotions but not inspecting the vehicle, and/or effectively selling add-on recommendations at the front counter, you may be unintentionally in the low-margin oil change business. The good news is that all hope is not lost. If you missed the sales opportunity at the front counter, but entered the recommendation into your shop management software, an automatic recommendation email can be sent.
At some point most every shop will offer a competitively priced oil change as a promotion. Oil change promotions can be a great way to allow consumers to become familiar with your business, so they remember your shop when their car breaks later down the road (pun intended). Research shows that it’s an effective strategy for new car dealerships where upwards to 90% of consumers that get their oil changed also visit for repairs. The key is to effectively staff your oil change business so that consumers have a positive experience and want to return.
Promotional oil changes also allow your shop to inspect the vehicle and make other more profitable recommendations. It’s important to enter those recommendations into your shop management software so they can be followed-up on and referenced the next time the consumer visits.
Of course, you’re not going to close every recommendation sale during every visit. That’s when automatic follow-up emails can can be one of the most targeted and effective campaigns you can use. The Mitchell 1 SocialCRM product automatically sends your recommendations to the consumer based the “Service by” date entered. The recommendations are first included on the thank-you email sent just after the visit. Secondly, recommendations are included on automatic and targeted email campaigns based on the “Service by” date you entered for the recommendation. And finally, the recommendation is included in the OEM Maintenance Reminder email triggered by the OEM scheduled interval. Since they are due for their OEM scheduled service, the recommendation from their last visit is also included.
Recommendations are included on the following Mitchell 1 SocialCRM emails:
- Thank-you email
- Recurring Target Market email
- OEM Scheduled Maintenance email
- For more information on how to sell recommendations, see Elite’s Auto Shop Idea Center: 5 Easy Ways to Drive Up Your Shop’s Sales
- Learn more about the SocialCRM shop marketing service
