Best ideas Recession-proof service

摘要

Fifteen percent more customers use Sharp Automotive, Watertown, S.Dak., for car maintenance compared with a year ago. Why? Written visitor logs in both the service and parts departments that cost pennies to maintain, says service manager Kevin Nelson. Each time a salesperson and customer tour either department, their names, the date, and the department rep they spoke with are noted. At month's end, service and parts both sponsor drawings using the names. Service gives the customer $100 in free service and the salesperson a $100 cash reward. The parts department gives the customer $50 in parts and the salesperson $50. The incentives, says Nel-rnson, have not only increased the number of tours but helped boost, over one year's time, retail counter sales by 57.3 percent and accessory sales by 41.6 percent.