Jim Roche, Xtime’s SVP of Marketing & Managed Services and CBT Automotive Network’s Jim Fitzpatrick discuss how many dealerships are missing out on opportunities for potential earnings from not prioritizing their dealership’s service departments.
In the weeks that followed Digital Dealer in Orlando and The NADA Show 2018 in Las Vegas, one topic that was a part of everyone’s conversation and still has dealers discussing potential growth options was digital retail marketing and the importance behind its integrated technology.
Unfortunately, when new things are introduced to a market, we often forget about the other aspects of a business. In this case, you may have been so focused on revamping the marketing efforts in your dealership, you may have forgotten to spend the needed time and attention it takes to better your dealership’s fixed ops departments.
Service departments within any dealership have been an industry staple. At one point it was always assumed that if your car needed something fixed or tuned-up you would take it back to where you bought it, their team would fix it, and you would be on your way until the next time.
Somewhere along the way service departments at dealerships lost that unique relationship with their customers and they started seeking out other service providers for their car needs. Roche says that it’s time to redirect this way of thinking and bring your customers back in.
“If you are thinking about profitable growth, and you are experiencing the margin compression that we are with both new and used vehicle sales, fixed ops have got to be a major part of your profitable growth strategy,” Roche said when speaking to how there is so much to gain and ways to grow from fixed Ops. See more by watching the full interview above.
