Scheduling Next Appointments

[bam]

How many of you schedule "next" appointments for oil changes? In other words, after you've changed the oil for a customer, you give them a card (like a doctor's office) with their next appointment date three months out and then you put that appointment on your computer schedule. A few days before their next appointment, you call and verify.

My advisors are resisting the idea. They say it would be a logistical nightmare because of mileage variances. They think very few would actually come in or need to come in exactly three months from the last date and we would be facing a multitude of no-shows and schedule changes.

This idea is being pushed by our consultant and our owner. I tend to agree with my advisors but was wanting to hear from some that have actually tried it.

[pjpeery]

"This idea is being pushed by our consultant and our owner. I tend to agree with my advisors but was wanting to hear from some that have actually tried it."

i have been there .. you are caught between the consultant and the owner .. i would suggest that you try what ever they want done .. why? well why did the owner bring in a consultant in the first place ?

just my suggestions

paul

[GMFXDOPSMGR]

BAM,
I have this process inplace with our Rey Rey system. Set the lof ops up with the correct criteria, it prints on the bottom of the invoice, the cashier hi-lights it, we pull the date 3 days from the appt, call the few that are there, bingo. EASY!
We have a lot of older customers that just like to be called for this type of thing, and it helps sell rotates, gets the customers back in for other maintenance items also and builds trust. The advisors spend less than 20 minutes a day, usually in the afternoon when things get slow. If we get no answer or the customer does not have a recorder to leave a message, we mail. If we have an e-mail address, we send it that way. All of this can be set up in our system. It works.

[OUROBOROS]

half way house - use a good follow up system - I use newgen but I have used other good ones too. Advisors know that asking for more business after taking money is about as comfortable as 2 hours of R/O reviews per day (... oops .. sorry!) - equally there is no real way to make this accurate or meaningful unless all customers have date only drivers (no high mile guys)

The real reason it works is because it FORCES your advisors to talk about MAINTENANCE not just oil changes - that makes good sense... forcing 25 new systems at some morale deficited employees... that is crazy. get them to Pick 3 new systems and then implement, refine, discard the garbage, get buy in... THEN take the next 3.

Dealer question for smart ass consultant part 1... " I love this idea of yours Bill... I am absolutely 100% in favour of enforcing a policy of asking for appointments at time of vehicle pick up.

I was just wondering though - given the fact that this system is one of uniform enforcement, wouldn't that be in contradiciton to the targeted selective approach required if we ascribe to the high profit , lean production principles of the Pareto rule? If so, I have just mandated that 80% of my appointments are going to people who are not contributing to the goal of making profits .... or am I missing something here??"

ah... just an idea....Celery again...

[This message has been edited by OUROBOROS (edited 10-11-2006).]

[Lhansen]

Scheduling the first (at time of sale) and next(at time of service) seems to be big in the industry right now. I agree with the comments that individual driving habits vary greatly and can make this tough to do. If you ask for an approximate monthly mileage and schedule a "contact" rather than a hard appointment, you might have success. If you have a BDC, all the better! For some customers, certain days of the week will always work and they don't care if they are a little under (or over) the suggested mileage intervals.
It's all about getting the customers in the habit of returning to YOU for their service needs.

Thanks!

Linda


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Linda Graham Hansen
Auto Dealer Focus
www.autodealerfocus.com

[topshop]

It would only be a nightmare without a good system in place. As far as the date goes, good software should be able to predict it based on miles driven if the car has been in more than once before. Or, you can do a little algebra to figure it out. All at 3 months would be...well...silly. Calling a few days before the appointment would be mandatory. Considering that some shops are getting as many as 80% of their appointments this way, it is certainly doable. Meet with your staff and figure out a plan to do it, then refine it as you go.

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Tom Ham
AutomotiveManagementNetwork.com

[LIFESENTENCE]

If you're a GM shop, with GM pushing these extended mileage service intervals, you're next scheduled appointment could be a year away!