Batteries can be an easy sell in some ways ­because all customers ­understand the basic importance of the battery. Good battery = car starts; bad battery = car doesn’t start. Unfortunately, many customers aren’t in the market for that new battery until the previous one officially, and inconveniently, dies.

Therein lies the opportunity to both sell more batteries and remove unneeded stress from a customer’s life. Why wait for a battery to die? As part of regular battery maintenance, go beyond the surface (and surface charge) to really explain a battery’s full state of health to the customer.

A convenient way to ­accomplish this is through a conductance test with a battery analyzer.

These handy tools are able to measure all of a battery’s vitals, such as voltage, cranking amps, cold cranking amps, Ohms, state of charge and internal impedance. Combined with other info, a conductance test will go further than simply noting “good” or “bad” and detect cell defects, shorts or open circuits.

Non-Invasive

Using a battery analyzer is fairly simple: Hook it to the battery and follow the instructions. From there, the analyzer will excite the battery with a signal and electronically gather information about the battery’s conductance. In addition to acquiring more in-depth ­information about the battery’s health, unlike a load test, this information is gathered without depleting the battery any further.

Taking Its Temperature

Conductance tests are affected by temperature, ­especially cold temperatures, so remember to ­account for it.

Prescription To Sell

These tools can also ­improve your ability to ­illustrate the need for a new battery to a customer, as some battery analyzers will print the results directly to a receipt that the ­customer can keep (some ­customizable with your company logo), similar to a sticker reminder for an oil change. For those that do not have a printing function, you’ll want to take a second to jot down the results for the customer because those stats are your best sales tool.

Regular Checkup

Also note that conductance tests are most effective at showing trends over time. Making this part of a regular vehicle checkup and building a battery condition history for a customer will improve effectiveness and customer service.

Peace Of Mind

When batteries age, their internal components gradually wear out due to ­corrosion, disintegration, shedding, depleted electrolyte, etc. All of these factors hurt the battery’s ability to restore its conductance, which means degradation and failure are around the corner.

Basically, there is a lot of room between good ­battery = car starts; bad battery = car doesn’t start. Customers will be receptive and thankful if you take just a few minutes to explain how that battery is truly performing and help them avoid that cold morning, when they are already late for work, and their fading battery leaves them stranded.