Car dealerships quickly learned how essential their service departments were as the coronavirus pandemic shut down the country in March 2020. Our cars became more important than ever before. Families started taking evening drives just to get out of the house, ride-sharing became an unnecessary risk, and weekend trips to hike or fish or swim became the highlight of the week.
In these times, we’re reminded that when we care for our vehicles, they care for us.
COVID-19 aside, consuming, analyzing, and digesting automotive industry data has been one of the fundamental pillars to Reunion’s success. Through all our data obsessing, scrutinizing, and safeguarding, we never could have predicted a global health pandemic, but we’ve always known that we want Reunion to be sought after as a problem-solver in the industry. To do that, we had to challenge our services, our products, and ourselves.
Identifying Fixed Ops as an Opportunity for Growth
When we read the telling statistics from COX Automotive’s Fixed Ops study, we knew we needed to be doing more for our partners. While Reunion has always supported the endeavors and initiatives of fixed ops, we all know we can do it better. The impact of service department retention, value, and necessity is undeniable, and the importance a fixed operations department can make on the overall health of a dealership resonates.
One of the core values of Reunion Marketing is Continuous Improvement. The root of the value resides in a philosophy that there is always a way to improve and grow. Having identified fixed ops as an area where we can improve, we now have to take steps to move beyond our “fixed mindset” and invite growth. With that motivation, we can give our partners the best service possible.
Fixing Fixed Mindsets
If you’ve never heard of the term “fixed mindset” here’s your psychology lesson for the day. Psychologist Carol Dweck spent her career studying human motivations and arrived at the conclusion that there are two basic mindsets that humans use to navigate the twists and turns of everyday life. We either reside in the “fixed mindset” or invite the “growth mindset.”
With a fixed mindset, people believe their qualities are fixed traits and therefore cannot change. These people document their intelligence and talents rather than working to develop and improve them. When you adopt a growth mindset, you believe your talents are developed through hard work, good strategies, and the input of others. Having a growth mindset is having the confidence that you’ll make it through — regardless of fumbles, falls, or failures.
Applying the Growth Mindset to Fixed Ops
Reunion has been fortunate to work with hundreds of dealerships in our 5 years of operation. And we’ve heard the same song and dance many times: “Marketing emphasis and dollars have to go toward new vehicle sales.”
Understood.
We’ve worked hard and developed SEO, SEM, and Social advertising strategies that drive the leads dealers need to close deals. But in 2020, the script has flipped. Dealers can’t afford to stick to a fixed approach — they need to invite growth to adapt in these uncertain times.
Reunion has been working hard on our PRO Drive fixed ops marketing solution because we know it’s necessary for our partners to continue to grow and prosper.
Along with the insightful interviews featured in the upcoming season of our KPI Cafe web series, our blog posts the next several weeks will embrace the change and growth happening within our industry and tackle all things fixed ops. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get ready for all the insights and data you’ve come to expect from us so your dealership can achieve the most out of every marketing penny.