Scheduling the next oil change.

I get a little bit of kickback from shops about this and I want to get into the impact this can have and why it’s so important.

When I teach shops how to do this I often get excuses about how they’ve done this before and it wasn’t received well. They say customers didn’t like it. They booked them and the customers forgot.

It’s very important to not have an all or nothing attitude about this. How many things in life work 100% perfect every time? The fact is I would be surprised if even fifty percent of your customers allowed you to prebook the oil change. Maybe it’s only twenty or thirty percent.

Let’s do the math

Let’s say you only do a hundred cars a month and twenty percent say yes. That’s twenty cars a month that you’re not spending marketing dollars on to get back in the shop! When you consider most shops spend over $100 for every new customer acquired, that’s a bargain. You’ve potentially saved $2000/month in marketing costs!

Most customers extend the wait before their visit longer than they should. You put that oil change sticker on their windshield. Then they go another 500-1000 miles past their oil change. That extends their visits a month or two longer.

By prebooking and reminding them, you will have a great impact on your car count. It will make it more affordable maintaining the car count you want. It’s also going to be easier to increase your car count.

The worst thing a customer can say is “no.”

If you have the ServiceIntelligence program we automatically calculate the next date they should be in. It’s based on the interval of the oil change plus the miles driven per day. It does the math and gives you a date, let’s say January 15th, for when the customer needs to come back in.

Present the report to the customer. Ask if they understand how it prevents you from ever selling them something they don’t need. They’re going to have the most affordable maintenance plan money can by.

Hopefully, they’re shaking their head and say yes.

You say: “Ok, I want to help you avoid the mistake many of my customers make. I put the oil change sticker on their windshield and after a few weeks, they see right through it. One day they look up and see that they’re a thousand miles past when they should have come in. By this point, you’ve caused irreversible damage and wear to your engine. Your vehicle will not last as long as it once would have. If you allow me to take assist you in this, I’d like to pencil you in the calendar for January 15th. My system will send you a reminder five days before, and a day before. You can call us and we can schedule for a more convenient time like the 18th or 19th.”

By explaining it this way you’re explaining how you’re taking better care of their vehicle. People will start saying yes. It will allow for a culture of clients that lets you manage their vehicles very carefully.

Make sure that all of your advisers on your team are asking to prebook the appointment. It will have a great impact on your car count.