How To Turn Vehicle Buyers Into Aftersales Customers

Selling a vehicle should not be the end of the customer relationship. Once a buyer drives away, there are future opportunities to bring them back to your dealership for servicing, MOTs, repairs and other aftersales work.

The challenge is making sure customers think of your dealership when that work is needed. By introducing aftersales early, keeping customer information connected and maintaining communication after the sale, dealerships can build relationships that continue beyond the initial vehicle purchase.

Introduce Aftersales Before the Customer Leaves

The vehicle handover is a valuable opportunity to introduce your aftersales services.

Rather than waiting until a service or MOT is due, make sure customers know what support is available from your dealership from the beginning. Explain the servicing and workshop services you provide, how they can make a booking and who they can contact when they need help.

Where appropriate, you can also discuss when their next service or MOT may be due and encourage them to return to your dealership when the time comes.

This gives the customer a clear next step and positions your dealership as somewhere they can continue to rely on after purchasing their vehicle.

Keep Sales and Aftersales Connected

A customer should not feel like they are starting again when they move from your sales department to your workshop.

Keeping customer and vehicle information together gives different areas of the dealership greater visibility of the relationship. Your aftersales team can understand the vehicle and customer they are dealing with, while previous interactions can be recorded rather than information becoming disconnected between departments.

Using a dealer management system to manage sales, CRM and aftersales activity can help create a seamless customer journey across the dealership.

Stay in Touch After the Vehicle Sale

Customers may not need your workshop immediately after buying a vehicle, which makes ongoing communication important.

Relevant contact helps keep your dealership in mind when servicing, MOTs or maintenance are needed. The key is making communication useful and timely rather than contacting customers simply for the sake of it.

Accurate customer and vehicle records give your team the information needed to identify opportunities for future contact and continue developing the relationship after the sale.

Give Customers a Reason to Come Back

Communication can bring a customer back to your dealership, but their experience will determine whether they continue returning.

Make it clear how customers can contact your aftersales team and book workshop work. Once they return, good communication and a professional experience can help turn that first aftersales visit into an ongoing relationship.

It is also important that the experience feels connected. Customers who have already bought a vehicle from you should feel recognised as an existing customer, rather than having to start from scratch every time they deal with another department.

Turn One Vehicle Sale Into a Longer Customer Relationship

The opportunity to create an aftersales customer starts before the vehicle has even left the dealership.

Introducing your aftersales services during the sales process, maintaining accurate customer and vehicle information, keeping in touch and making it easy to return can all help extend the relationship beyond the original vehicle purchase.

DragonDMS brings CRM, vehicle sales, workshop, parts and accounts together, giving dealerships greater visibility across different areas of their business. With customer information available across the dealership, your teams can provide a more connected experience from the initial enquiry and vehicle sale through to future aftersales visits.

To find out how DragonDMS can help you manage your dealership and build longer term customer relationships, get in touch with the Dragon2000 sales team to arrange a demonstration on 01327 222 333 or at sales@dragon2000.co.uk.

Dragon2000 have been helping vehicle dealers and garages drive their businesses forward since 1995. As an established dealership software and car dealer website provider, we help customers increase profits and reduce costs through our dealer management system, dealer websites and mobile apps. Contact our sales team today to find out more.