How many times over the past 10 years have you heard the following words/phrases…. customer loyalty, owner loyalty, customer retention, reward programs, loyalty programs? The folks at Twitter use the term “trending” to describe popular stor

The decline in new car sales that began in 2008 had a predictable outcome: less late-model vehicles on the road and on the service drive. The bad news: J.D. Power and Associates says there are 63 million vehicles on the road under five years old. Thi

In my last column in the August 2012 issue of Dealer magazine “So Ya Wanna be a Technician,” I provided a dose of technician reality for the unwashed. “Technicianing,” fortunately for you Mr./Ms. Manager, is a type of physical and mental addi

Consumers are motivated by many factors that influence their automobile-buying decisions: price, prestige, creature comforts and resale value, just to name a few. Likewise, there are many reasons why vehicle owners purchase preventive maintenance ser

Ever heard this one? What’s the difference between a puppy and technician? At 12 weeks the puppy stops whining. Budda bing, budda boom. I am guessing that most reading this column have never functioned as a full-fledged master technician, plowing t

Make it happen where it counts I’ve been taking a hiatus from parts lately and doing a lot of service lane work, both for manufacturers and dealer clients. Now that business has come back somewhat, everyone seems to have gotten religion again (as i

It’s no secret that service customer retention in new car dealerships is dismal, actually pathetic. Hang around a new car service reception area and note the age of the vehicles. They are relatively young compared to the average national fleet of s

Twenty years ago, I was doing some consulting work for a Chrysler dealership in the Midwest. Day one was simply an on-the-drive observation day, I stood near the advisors to simply watch and listen. Mid-morning, a vehicle approached the service drive

A couple weeks ago, I was conducting a heady Service Manager Performance Group, where we discussed good ideas, why we keep lousy employees, why we have lousy applicants and whether we were paying as much tax as a secretary – you know, real up-to-da