Every car that’s in your shop today will need service and repairs in the future. True? So, the question is: Will they come back to you?

Here are a few tips you can apply during the customer visit to increase sales and get your customers to return to you:
• Make sure that you review the service history on all cars coming in for service or repair. If possible, review the history before the customer arrives, so you can review at time of write up.
• Discuss any notes or recommendations made from the last visit at the time of write up.
• Inform all customers at write up that you always give the car a multipoint inspection, and that if it is OK, any discoveries will be presented and discussed with them.
• Make sure that each car gets some sort of multipoint inspection. Think of this as going to your doctor. You may be going because of a pain in your shoulder, but the doctor is still going to check all your other vital signs; blood pressure, your lungs and heart, your eyes and ears, etc.
• Tell the customer everything that the tech finds on the car, good and bad.
• Any recommended future work, such as a timing belt, should be discussed in detail, and you should give the customer a time frame to get it done. Tell the customer that you will put it on the calendar, and set up a system where the customer receives a reminder call in addition to any service reminder you send.
• Book the next appointment for service. I have heard every excuse from coast to coast that this does not work. That the customer does not know what they will be doing 4 or 5 months from now. Well, it does work. Your dentist, doctor and eye doctor do it. Why? Because it does work. But don’t just book the appointment; set up a system where the customer will be notified by service reminder card, email or text, and also receives a phone call a few days prior to the appointment. Tell the customer that if the day is not good when you call, not to worry, because they can just reschedule. Try this with your best customers first, and take it slow, but do it. It works.

This article was contributed by Joe Marconi of Elite. For additional help increasing your shop’s sales, learn more about Elite’s industry acclaimed Masters Service Advisor Training Program.