A Honda dealer asks how to follow up when customers decline recommended service work. The panel recommends waiting one to four weeks, prioritizing safety items like brakes and tires, asking customers directly when they'd like to revisit the work, and having advisors call personally instead of just using the BDC.
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Hi, my name is James and I'm calling from a Honda dealer in Oregon. My question is about follow up with declined work. I don't really have a good system. I'm trying to find a sweet spot on when to contact the customers so that they come back. Let me know what you think. Thank you.
I think it depends on the brand first of all. So I'm not sure what brand because I would handle Honda. So I would, I would handle Honda different than like Highline. But a lot of times you want to, you want to give them a paycheck or two in between.
So at least two or three weeks.
Man. I would almost say there's more variables than that. Just like so for sure the paycheck part. But like I look at certain declines a little bit differently. So my, the hair stands up on my neck when I hear about people declining like brakes and tires. Like that's the kind of thing where I would call within a week even if there wasn't another pay cycle. I remember as an advisor I always thought that like outside of those like have to get it done now those things where they decline and they probably shouldn't have I found like with this is infinity. So maybe it's a little bit different. But like a 30 day window is usually pretty good. Like if I came a month. But you, you go one or two pay cycles.
Well that is kind of a pay cycle.
Oh, it depends on how you get paid, I suppose. Yeah.
But you've had two paychecks usually. Yeah, you get paid every other week. Some people get paid weekly but for the most part it's every other week.
Yeah. There's also two. But versus when we wrote service like the financing options are ridiculously easy too.
But if you offer the financing and they don't want to do it, like I don't I? The other thing, too, is like, I would just ask them, like, when do you want me to follow up? And then I would. I would log that. But you can ask them so they'll tell you.
I think I came up with the.
Paycheck, that paycheck thing, because I would ask people like, when? And be like, oh, well. And they would start telling you when they got paid and then be like, I'm going to save this much, this paycheck and this much. And so I don't know. I think asking helps a lot.
Did you schedule appointments before they left?
Oh, a lot of times, yeah.
That's probably another way to shore up the declines a little bit, too, is like, you might uncover an objection of whatever it is that the real reason they said no is you're like, okay, so you ask them about their pay cycle, or they tell you about their pay cycle, and then you set it up for the Tuesday afterwards. And if they don't set it up, there's something else.
I would say that the biggest mistake, I think, is that we leave it to chance or we leave it to the bdc and we don't call ourselves. Because, like, in. In my experience, like, when you call a customer and you're like, hey, Christian, how was your. How was your camping trip or whatever it is we talked about? I would kind of write that down. And you're like, oh, we had a great time. Like, oh, that's cool. So I'm just checking on you. I got a little time available and you need breaks. And then I would shut up.
Oh, that's probably a good lesson, too. So before you made your call, you had a couple of ideas of when you could get them in.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. So you're not. You're controlling that whole thing.
It's not like, well, I'm making it sound like I have availability that I didn't.
I'm.
I'm using scarcity.
Yeah, that's great. I like that option, too, is that it's all planned out and maybe at a cancellation or something like that, that you can sneak them in almost. You're doing them a favor.
It's good.
I hope that helps.
Yeah. Thank you. We'll see you next time on Service Driver.
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