Parts and Service Online

[bassador]

Disclaimer Right Up Front: I own and operate a Web Design/Development company. 60% of our clients are very satisfied Automotive Dealerships.

Question: So, where's Parts? Service? Over the last 10 months we configured and installed catalogs, shopping carts, online service and parts coupon builders, self maintained Service Advisor Home Pages and MORE!

Only one or two of our dealerships have taken advantage of these features. (and NO we did NOT charge them extra for it, it was a gratis upgrade to their sites!)

The big question is: Why Not?

The few dealerships that did use these features did see immediate results. And we worked closely with those departments to be sure that the information provided was something they could manage, as far as completing the order. We didn't focus on "spark plugs", but Motorsports, Roush or other speciality kits and accessories. Online service coupon builder was amazingly simple to use, but all the coupons were allowed to expire and none were ever updated... *sigh*

Anyone have any ideas why Service and Parts Managers don't become involved in the Internet sales idea? It can be a profitable venue, so...?

Maybe this should have been posted in the Service or Parts forum, but this one seemed the most relevant. HA! It is likely that no service or parts managers will even see this post :-/

[eman]

Hey now!! Slow down, you seem to be defending yourself before you get any responses.

I think dealers are not taking advantage of all the profit centers in the dealership. F&I, Service, Parts. Aftermarket is a huge market for the dealer. The problem is parts managers have a hard time seeing the value in this On-Line selling stuff. Mostly because they have not seen it before or they don't understand it. They have a way they have been doing business for years and why should they change?

The other problem with that is parts managers are not sales people. They don't know how to market the products. It takes 2 to tango as they say. One to manage the process and one to market/sell the product. Most parts people I have ever met are order takers only.

If you want to show the value to a dealer in these areas, you will need to make one very successful (spend time helping marketing this). And then take it to his competitors to show them how it will make them $$$.

This is just my opinion.


William

[jimmuntz]

I think that as long as customers can only make requests that require a call back or return email, they will see little benefit from communicating with the service and parts departments via your Web site.

Unless and until your internal computer systems can be opened up to the customer so that they can actually view available appointment slots and choose the one they want- or look into the dealership's parts inventory and pick and ship the part they want- then the site just adds a step to the process.

I would rather just pick up the phone and ask a live person, rather than start the process with email which only triggers another communication.

And asside from responding to email purchase requests for new vehicles (and performance is spotty here at best), dealerships are not hotbeds for effective email communication. I am certainly generalizing and exceptions do exist, but few have adopted email as the preferred mode of management-to-manager communication, much less communication between the customer and the dealership.

From my perspective, we have a long way to go before the "customer-facing" technology will be available and the email communication culture is adopted by most dealerships.

Any thoughts?

------------------
Jim Muntz
Publisher WD&S Publishing
jimmuntz@dealersedge.com
Phone 800-321-5312
FAX 800-314-4770

[bassador]

When we first started upgrading parts and service areas on our sites, we asked service managers about plugging into their systems to allow real time booking of appointments. They pointed out that customers who were booking a 2 or 3 hour service job would immediately schedule themselves into the first 1/2 hour slot they found. Soooo, after thinking it over, we decided it would be a logistical can of worms.

But something interesting did happen that indicated that customers *will* use the simpler service appointment request forms and parts order forms!

Two of my most aggressive (and therefore most successful) dealerships signed up for mycarpage.com -- when this happened, I expected all parts and service activity on their actual web sites to dry up and be routed thru mycarpage.

Instead, within 30 days, parts and service activity on their sites quadrupled. People were all over the lone $24.95 LOF coupon, service appointment requests were thick, sometimes 5 or 6 a day.. and parts orders increased as well.

We do make it clear that Service and Parts will CALL, not email, in reply and require the customer to give us phone numbers. And this seems to be just fine with the customer.

[cmarinad@rochester.r]

Our previous website had a parts order and a service appointment scheduler. We have found that, once you take out the few "Mickey Mouse" responses, we not only got a very small response from these areas, we got very few hits on those pages. We even had an "ask the expert" section where our local warranty administrator offered to answer parts & service questions for free (ala Click & Clack.) Number of questions in 12 months? Zero.

Having said that, our new site will have a stronger emphasis on our service department. We plan on offering free (automated) email reminders, service specials (coupons), and a more aggressive stance toward selling service in general.

Critical to getting this done is to make sure that our service dept. has 24-hour, IMMEDIATE access to the internet, as well as training on how to use email & web-related features. We have installed a web-ready computer at our service area, and are training our parts & service managers on how to use this machine. We have also set them up with their own email account so that they can get their own mail directly, which should speed things up.

Check with me in about 60 days, and we'll see how this is all working out.

[mbowers]

Dealerships that view the Internet as a passing fad or merely as a way to sell some more cars will either be unpleasantly surprised or sadly disappointed.

Three years ago when we wrote our first dealership Internet retailing article, Web sites were relatively expensive. But the smarter dealers found out quickly that selling parts, especially to European and Asian buyers, was a way to generate enough gross profit to at least pay for the cost of operating a Web site.

Dealership employees who don't use e-mail or the Internet very much themselves have a hard time grasping just how popular the Web is becoming as a communications medium.

As an off-topic example, when I travel I use USAirways. By booking through the Web site I not only get a variety of fare and schedule options, I can look at the plane's seating chart and pick my own seat. When I book the old fashioned way through a travel agent, I invariably wind up spending more time and money and sitting in row 44 or higher.

So why shouldn't automotive customers be able to schedule their own service appointments. If USAir can block out the seats they don't want me to sit in, it should be a fairly easy programming adjustment to block out certain time segments so that oil-change-only customers slot themselves into more appropriate appointment times.

Unlike Jim, I'd rather not have to wait on hold to speak to a live service advisor or parts counter person.

[jimmuntz]

Mike and I really do not disagree on this issue. If I could truly make my appointment online without talking to anyone or waiting on hold, I would be enthusiastic. I enjoy buying merchandise online and perfer it to phone or fax ordering.

But Mike is right- if airlines can let you choose your seat, it is not a long reach to think that dealers could let customers block repair time based on menus and time estimates.

He is also correct is stating that dealership staff (in general and DealerEdge users obviously excepted) do not use Internet technology enough in their business and personal lives.


------------------
Jim Muntz
Publisher WD&S Publishing
jimmuntz@dealersedge.com
Phone 800-321-5312
FAX 800-314-4770

[bassador]

I've heard that a couple of companies are working on that very idea (mycarpage and I'm sure Cobalt must be) but have run into a few problems with direct service scheduling. And that would be nice from a consumer point of view, but I'm not sure those departments would even use it.

Even the very simple tools ,that are easy to use and take less than a half hour each month to update.. such as online service and parts coupons are ignored. Yet the few dealerships who do use them, do get business from them...

I have even had dealerships specifically tell us NOT to post anything for service and parts, because they "didn't want to deal with it". Consumers looked high and low on those sites trying to contact those departments, then finally used the generic contact us form to try to get information from those areas of the dealership.

[robs007]

We have been doing parts and service on our website from the start. As a matter of fact it started with parts. We have been very succesful at it, in my opinion. You do have to make it as hassle free as possible for the customers, our site is set up so they can order directly from the site, either by searching our inventory, or by entering the part numbers we have supplied them in a quote. We also take service appointments, let them pick 2 times, we really haven't found many conflicts with this, if there is we make a phone call, otherwise an email conformation is sent. We have found the majority of service appointments made are for easy things like oil changes. It also gives an opportunity to upsell. UCS is coming to the party by make realtime data available. Right now customers can review there complete service history, check recommended services and get recall notifications in real time on our site. Our new car inventory is also searchable in real time, if the car gets sold, it automatically comes off the site. They also offer the ability to let the service customers check on the status of there repairs in real time, seeing what work has been done, even receive an email when the car is complete with a link to there final invoice. Don't get me wrong, this stuff does take the dedication of the departments to keep things going. Failure to respond to emails leaves customers very unhappy.

[BBingham]

There is a simple solution to this. When a dealer makes a selection regarding their technical partner, select a partner who understands the dealership business model, personnel, manufacturer relationship, and ALL of your profit centers. There are things he/she should look for in that partner. I will not list them all here. However, to address this specific topic, I will define a few of the items.

Your technology partner should provide a business plan that integrates ALL profit centers with the advantages of the internet. This should also be accompanied by a document describing the scope of effort required by BOTH parties to create PROFITABLE internet marketing. A clear definition of any and all interaction with the DMS should be spelled out as well.

Also included in this document should be a timetable for implementation and training for the different profit centers to come "online". Not many dealerships (or any complex and dynamic business) can handle a complete change of processes in several departments at once.

Your technology partner should also be able to define what services will be available in the future from their company and how they will integrate with the DMS companies' activities in the future (their days are numbered). There should also be a plan to wean a dealer's dependency upon any company that is remarketing the dealerships prospect base (lead vendors, etc.).

This area is more subjective, but will tell you much about the company you are previewing. If your gut tells you that this section is more fiction than prediction, you know what to do with their proposal.

Your technology partner (DMS companies included) should always clearly define a 1, 2, and 3 years or more plans for your relationship. In this time of rapidly evolving technologies, if they cannot accomplish this easy task adequately, they are one of those 3rd party vendors that will fall.

In response to the broad statement about all 3rd party technology vendors falling by the wayside (previous posting), if it were not for the few of us that are and will continue to be successful, most dealer groups would continue to build a huge prospect base for the manufacturers. They would certainly continue to have their profit centers attacked by companies that are providing them potential buyers, and the manufacturers.

The NADA reports that there are currently 22,000 dealerships in America. They predict that half will be gone in 10 years. Americans are on an average buying cycle of 2-3 years. The way you build your prospect base, manage retention programs, protect and market your profit centers in the next 2-3 years will define if you will survive merger mania.

There is nothing wrong with being a dealer who has decided not to prepare or embrace the current consumer shift. You do not have to integrate your dealership with the technology of the internet. Just make sure sell your stores while the economy is hot and franchises are selling at record numbers. Take the money and enjoy!


------------------
Bruce Bingham
bbingham@thirdcoastmedia.com
www.thirdcoastmedia.com