Author: Kate Shakesheff

Six out of ten service customers have never been contacted by sales departments

Posted on by Kate Shakesheff

Cooper Solutions’ highlights the need for effective customer insight to build relations and maximise car sales opportunities

• 28% of people feel no loyalty towards their servicing dealer
• Nearly 6 in 10 people who have their car serviced by a mainstream dealer, have never been contacted by a member of the sales team at the same dealership
• Just 6% of customers visiting a dealer for a service have been approached by a member of the sales team during a visit

The latest survey by Cooper Solutions highlights that during the typical service lifetime of a car, nearly 60% of owners are never contacted by the sales team of that mainstream servicing dealer. Cooper Solutions is urging dealers to bring together their sales and servicing departments to work cohesively and proactively to nurture relationships and drive sales with the support of FullCycle.

“Franchised dealers have a clear weapon in their arsenal – face-to-face customer interaction,” explains Barry Cooper, Managing Director of Cooper Solutions. “By understanding individual ownership cycles, sales and service teams are in the perfect position to tailor their approach to every customer. This enables them to engage appropriately and deliver a personal and relevant dialogue. An excellent experience for the customer builds loyalty and long-term retention.”
According to the Cooper Solutions survey, 28% of car owners feel no loyalty towards their servicing dealer and only 11% of people would feel any loyalty towards approaching the sales department first, when it comes to buying their next car.

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they would feel more loyal towards their servicing dealer if they were proactively approached by the sales department about their future car requirements, when they brought their car in to be serviced. And there clearly is opportunity as only 6% of those visiting a service dealer actually spoke to a member of the sales team whilst they were there.

FullCycle is a revolutionary customer data solution that provides invaluable ownership insights, including Experian data, to identify customers that are in a prime position to change their vehicle. By bringing together multiple layers of data, sales departments are armed with critical information to harness effective customer relations. As dealers face more challenges to their bricks and mortar business model from online disruptors and a downturn in the economy, it is crucial that they maximise every single opportunity to retain their customers’ loyalty.

Barry Cooper concludes; “The sales and servicing departments of most dealerships are just metres apart, but they’re often a world away from each other when it comes to interacting with customers and maximising revenue opportunities. Now is the time for dealers to make fundamental changes to the way they operate. It is not enough for sales teams to wait for a customer to make an enquiry; it’s time to join-up the two departments to secure future sales.

“With data readily at the dealer’s fingertips, including information such as where the customer bought their last car, when the finance agreement ends, or whether their preference is to buy new, customers can be contacted in a timely, appropriate way. In turn this creates significant potential to turn lost sales into new opportunities.”

Retain service and sales business, preventing your customers from buying elsewhere

Posted on by Kate Shakesheff

The more we talk to our dealers about FullCycle, the more we learn.

Recent conversations have highlighted secure and least secure customers visiting your dealership – those who are most likely to remain loyal, and those least likely.

The least secure customers are those who have purchased their car from outside the network, from an online broker for instance. Whilst they might bring their cars to a specific dealer for servicing, when it comes to buying their next car, they’ll return to online brokers to find the best deal.

By engaging with your least secure customers properly, you can ensure you retain their service and sales business, preventing them buying elsewhere and possibly deserting the brand completely.

Shared responsibility is crucial to ensure service customers benefit from positive sales engagement

Posted on by Kate Shakesheff

The more positive interactions a dealership has with its service customers, the likelier they are to buy from that dealership when the time comes.

The important thing is to already have an established relationship with your customers. It’s not enough to sell them a car and then contact them a few years later asking whether they want to buy a new car.

Dealerships need to be proactive in communication and create a great customer experience from the very beginning. Service customers most often receive aftersales attention on their service requirements. If the service didn’t go well, sales will lose out without even having the opportunity to overcome the customer’s negative experience or perception.

Shared responsibility is crucial to ensure service customers benefit from positive sales engagement.

Don’t wait to communicate!

Vehicle sales accelerate for Bowker BMW with FullCycle

Posted on by Kate Shakesheff

Cooper Solutions’ innovation enables Bowker BMW to maximise service customer opportunities

Blackburn’s leading BMW and MINI Group, Bowker, has extended its longstanding relationship with Cooper Solutions, choosing FullCycle to identify future vehicle sales opportunities. Recently launched, FullCycle is a revolutionary customer data solution that provides invaluable ownership insights. These are enabling all Bowker dealerships to nurture sales opportunities that are passing-through its busy service department, helping to increase short term vehicles sales and build strong relationships with longer-term prospects.

While most dealers have access to the different levels of information needed to build relationships with service customers, that data is rarely available in a form that ensures this is comprehensively and consistently undertaken. FullCycle incorporates dealer data with Experian data, to identify customers that are in a prime position to change their vehicle.

Richard Cowell, General Sales Manager, Bowker BMW Blackburn explains; “Like all major franchised dealers we have an incredibly busy service department, with as many as 70 cars booked in for a service every day. Before FullCycle, our workshop facility could inform our sales team who these customers were but couldn’t offer any other information about them.

“Now with FullCycle we know how long they’ve had their car, if they bought it from us and when their finance agreement is due to end. FullCycle puts this information at our fingertips, so our sales team can easily plan ahead and adapt how it communicates with each service customer prior to them arriving at the dealership. By creating a knowledgeable and personal approach, service customers who may have previously been overlooked, are now highly valued sales opportunities that we can build long term relationships with.”

Identifying ‘Service Not Sold’ customers – those that use the dealership to service their vehicle but didn’t actually buy a car from it – has been a key benefit for Bowker BMW. Richard Cowell continues; “If we know a service customer is driving a used BMW X5 and we have a new or newly new BMW X5 in the showroom, we can offer them a test drive. By having greater visibility of our customer’s motoring preferences, the better customer experience we can deliver. Whilst the concept isn’t rocket science, we simply don’t have the time and resources – or the innovation – to bring together the level of information that FullCycle delivers.”

As one of the first users of FullCycle, Bowker BMW and Cooper Solutions have worked closely together to fine tune its functionality, with user feedback a key driver in system updates that continue to come regularly from Cooper Solutions. Barry Cooper, Managing Director of Cooper Solutions concludes; “We set out to bring to market a solution that helps dealers boost sales revenue and our partnership with Bowker BMW played a vital role in making this happen.

“It’s extremely satisfying to learn that not only is Bowker BMW selling more vehicles, it is also delivering a great customer experience, no matter what stage of the buying cycle that customer is at. FullCycle’s ability to deliver customer ownership insights, on an individual basis, has achieved this.”

 

Cooper Solutions invests in talent to drive success of FullCycle

Posted on by Kate Shakesheff

Two new appointments expand the FullCycle development and sales teams

Cooper Solutions continues to invest in the success of FullCycle, its recently launched customer data and acquisition solution, with the appointment of Paul Smith as Senior Account Manager and Bipin Shakya as Senior Software Developer. Both appointments will support the rapid take-up of FullCycle by retailers across the UK.

Paul Smith brings over 20 years’ retail experience, most recently as part of the New Car Management team at North Oxford BMW. Paul has extensive first-hand experience of Cooper Solutions products and their benefits, gained from representing Volkswagen, Audi, Ferrari, Maserati and BMW throughout his career.

Joining alongside Paul is Bipin Shakya who has 12 years’ experience as a software developer, working in the consumer industry for businesses including Casio Electronics and Next Retail. His analytical expertise allows Bipin to confidently lead the implementation of different software development projects, which is ideally suited for the future growth of FullCycle.

FullCycle recognises the various stages in the ownership cycle for all customers, enabling dealers to identify future sales opportunities passing through their service departments which would ordinarily be missed. Both Bipin and Paul will be harnessing intelligent data analytics to help sales and servicing departments work cohesively to secure these sales and crucially, strengthen customer relationships.

Barry Cooper, Managing Director of Cooper Solutions, comments; “The development of FullCycle has become a central part of the way we are helping dealers maximise their profits, by nurturing sales opportunities and building long-term customer relationships. Paul and Bipin’s appointments form part of our ongoing strategy to focus on the future of FullCycle.

“We continue to invest in the quality of talent behind our services. Bipin will play a key role in the development of FullCycle, ensuring we continue to deliver the best digital solutions for retailers. Meanwhile, Paul will be instrumental in ensuring our customers understand the benefits FullCycle can bring, its implementation within retail networks and building on retailer ability to reap greater profits and secure better customer retention.”

Don’t miss out on your easiest sales opportunities

Posted on by Kate Shakesheff

Your service customers are a goldmine, but they might not be ready to buy a new car right now.  So, it’s important that they are engaged with accordingly allowing you to build a relationship with them.

How will you do this?

What do you know about your service customers?

• They are buyers – they already own a car
• They like your dealership – they would probably go somewhere else if they didn’t
• They will give you their time, if approached in a non-threatening manner and the time spent is of benefit to them.

Talk to them! Have a conversation.

You could ask them:

• How long have you had your car?
• What do you like best about it?
• Has it exceeded all your expectations?
• If you were changing it for something else what would you most want in addition?
• What would you most want to replicate?
• Would you be interested in driving the latest model of what you currently drive?
• Or would you like to try something else?
• What are you driving?
• What kind of work are you having done today?
• Are you happy with our service department?
• Where did you buy your last car from?

Establishing a rapport with your customers builds trust and will allow you to establish their wants, needs and timescales. So when it IS time for them to purchase their next cars, it’s you they visit, rather than being tempted by another dealer, another brand, or buying online.