Aftersales - the Right Person for the Job, an Opportunity for Growth

Falling aftersales activity in the UK's franchised retailer sector has been well recorded. The decline is attributed mainly to an ageing car parc and the emergence of electric vehicles.

While the IMI's research points to an increasing skills shortage amongst technicians, research by automotive insights experts, REALTime Communications, reveals that improving technician utilisation can help to bridge shortfalls and generate incremental revenue.

Richard Robinson, Chief Operating Officer at REALTime Communications, commented:

"Analysing technician utilisation, we can see undoubted opportunities in aftersales teams across the UK.   Success in utilisation is a two-step process. Generating leads to keep technicians busy and ensuring the most appropriate team member completes booked jobs to maximise productivity.

Our data reveals that workshops that utilise 90-100% of technicians' time generate, on average, £35,000 per year more revenue from Red and Amber work when compared to workshops utilising only 50-75% of technicians' time. An effective Aftersales solution such as REALaftersales is crucial to monitoring and implementing this tracking."

One area where the principle of having the right person for the job shines through is tyres. In identifying a technician shortage in the future, the IMI pointed to Garage Industry Trends analysis of 2021 MOT test data which demonstrated an 11.43% failure rate for EV tyres, compared to 10.45% for ICE vehicles. 

That EVs wear tyres more quickly than ICE cars is seen as a crucial opportunity to offset some of the lost servicing work expected from the emergence of EVs. However, recent REALTime Communications EVHC data revealed that illegal tyres (red work) saw conversion levels fall by 6.01%. Richard feels that having the right resources and processes in place to improve tyre sales, concluding; 

"In the hands of our dealers, EVHCs are identifying millions of £££s of potential work. Too often, this is being missed. Appointing a dedicated Tyre Technician can increase revenues and customer care, releasing other technicians to focus on more complex tasks. 

Nor is it just the tyre sale that is at risk. As with the end of the warranty period, tyre changes can be a tipping point when customers can be lost. Once this occurs, it is so much harder to win them back. Effective tyre sales with a dedicated expert in place can help make all the difference in stopping that loss before it happens and help to increase customer lifetime value.

The right person for the job needs to be part of fresh workshop management thinking to help release the all-important marginal gains we know exist."

*Article Source www.rocketperformance.co.uk