Customer retention and facial hair
We are proud to be the media partner for the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association’s (TADA) Digital Dealer conference series that took place in September in Toronto, London and Ottawa. As part of this role, we attended and covered all three events. Hats off to TADA for a well organized and well attended series of sessions.
While there were a number of interesting takeaways from the conferences, there is one that really stuck with me, and challenged what appears to be some degree of conventional wisdom.
One presenter was speaking about customer retention in service, and said that despite warranties getting longer, there is still a tremendous drop-off in customer retention at the three year mark specifically. It had long been thought that this drop-off was linked to the high number of 36 month warranties in the market, but the continuation of the behaviour in the face of lengthening warranties suggests otherwise.
Obviously, the challenge of retaining customers in service is impacted by many factors beyond the warranty period. That is not news. But this comment did suggest that the warranty period may play less of a factor than previously thought. We look forward to continuing to look into this as we expand our fixed ops coverage in coming issues.
On a completely different note, it is now the time of year when the leaves change colour, the nights get cooler, and otherwise rational, reasonable men suddenly decide that growing a moustache is a good idea. Notwithstanding how ridiculous many of us guys look with a furry upper lip, I want to remind everyone that Movember is right around the corner.
Movember is an annual, month-long campaign during the month of November, intended to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other male health issues. You can learn more at ca.movember.com, the official Canadian website of the Movember foundation. You can also learn more and get involved by visiting
www.friendsoflgm.ca, a website that is home to LGM’s initiative to unite the automotive industry in support of Movember.
As stated on their site, LGM is endeavouring to create the world’s largest Movember fundraising network and raise $1 million dollars for men’s health, prostate and testicular cancer. Canadian auto dealer and Affaires automobiles magazines are pleased to help spread the word. Look for the LGM insert that arrived with this issue to learn more, and see how you can get involved.
