As mobile service continues to gain momentum in our industry, I also believe that we will see guests continue to gravitate towards the remote side of our business. As I see it, the reason for this shift I believe is clear: Customers want convenience and do not want to be burdened with the hassle of coming into a dealership unless they have to. I also believe that the desire for convenience with our guests goes beyond the demand for remote services and presents a unique opportunity within our stores that we have yet to realize. What if we not only come to our guests to do business on their terms but what if we also present them with a solution to make the actual transaction seamless and easy as well? In my opinion, this is where the next opportunity lies for all of us.
We all know that subscription services have already entered the automotive space. If you are a high line dealer then you know that many of the features and offerings are now required to have a subscription to use.
For example, let’s look at BMW. Does your customer want a traffic camera, remote engine start, or drive recorder? All of these features and benefits require a subscription. And believe it or not, guests have no problem paying for the use of these features. I know - I found it hard to believe myself! But what I learned was that guests do not mind paying up front for a service if they feel it will benefit them and make their lives more convenient.
Let’s think about life outside of our industry for a minute as well. HVAC companies, plumbing companies, landscapers, etc. all offer packages for which customers can prepay their services ahead of time. This way they don’t have to worry about it throughout the year. Not only do consumers take advantage of these programs, they look for and expect them to be offered.
With all of that being said, I am always looking for what we can do next as an auto group. Then it hit me that subscription packages need to be a focus moving forward. They will be Our Next Opportunity in Fixed Operations.
At this point I began to work on the framework of what I thought we could offer our guests. I believe our true focus with subscription services in Fixed Operations is with mobile service. We began to put some ideas on paper and then started reaching out to some of our fleet customers and mobile clients to gauge interest.
What we found was not only was there interest, but most guests were jumping at the chance to pre-pay upfront for all of their services. From their perspective, it would make the actual experience even more seamless and easy for everyone involved.
On the fleet side it just made sense. Fleets already budget maintenance out per unit for the year so why not pay upfront for all of their maintenance so they are not burdened with it on a daily basis.
It has also been well received by our retail mobile guests as it adds to the convenience of the entire experience. The other benefit I found that you can lean on when presenting these packages is the ability for the customer to lock in pricing. If oil or parts pricing or maintenance rates begin to rise, it will have no effect on guests as they have locked in their pricing with the subscription that they purchased.
This gives fleets and retail guests peace of mind and reinforces the value in purchasing the subscription itself.
Once I knew the opportunity was real, we really got to work to think about what kind of packages we could offer and how we could present it to each guest as we know that everyone’s needs are different. I wanted to make sure we were flexible on what we could offer. I realized that it would be best if we not only had standard options for our retail guests but tailored options for our fleet guests. For example, we need to have packages that are based on engine hours as well as mileage.
We also decided to meet with each guest and each fleet to personalize their package to their needs and driving habits so that they become more engaged and open to the idea. We want it to be clear that our purpose is to offer real solutions instead of the generic one size fits all offerings that they may be used to.
While we are still in our infancy with these offerings, the reception that we have received has been overwhelming. I believe that everyone should start to look at this as a potential game changer within their stores. Dealerships have done an excellent job over the years of forcing guests to do business on their terms and it is time that everyone realizes that the game has changed. We now need to do business on our guests’ terms. Convenience and ease of transaction is what the masses want. We need to realize that this is not a trend and is something that we need to take seriously.
I believe that not only will subscription packages speak to the ease of transaction for our guests, but it will also act as the ultimate retention and satisfaction tool as well if used properly. Our auto group now offers all of our retail and fleet customers pre-paid mobile service subscriptions. I recommend that you and your teams do the same. The future is here, and the time for us to act is now.
I am Nolan Armpriester, The Director of Operations for Kinley Automotive Group in eastern Pennsylvania. I have over 23 years’ experience in Fixed Ops and dealership management with the bulk of my time spent in fixed operations. I am a NADA academy alumni and class president as well as a multiple time employee excellence award winner from Ford Motor Co. One of my biggest accomplishments was building the #1 volume mobile service department in the nation from the ground up as well as helping to develop the next generation of talent for our industry.
