Mileage Melange
BY AUGMENTING BASIC vehicle purchase information with odometer data and wear patterns gleaned from service and maintenance visits, a Tampa, FL Ford dealer and service center has created a predictive database designed to spur return visits.
Bill Currie Ford began to upgrade its 20,000-name database last month by incorporating elements of Ford Motor Co.’s Around the Wheel program. The program, which tracks wear patterns, allows the dealer to mail out service notices that include historical charts detailing typical wear to brake pads and tire treads, according to Tom Banaszak, director of fixed operations for Bill Currie Ford.
However, this is not the only recent improvement in the system. Banaszak brought the database program in-house a year ago, resulting in substantial cost savings. For example, a 6,300-piece mailing in January would have run just under $13,000 if the former outside managers had handled it. The total costs in January were $2,881-and $2,000 of that was reimbursed by Ford for using FileMaker Pro software.
The in-house database also allows the dealership to do one-off targeted mailings. For example, Bill Currie Ford once unloaded 160 Ford Explorer “takeoff” tires by targeting 500 Explorer owners with wear patterns indicating that they would soon need new tires. By offering a special price, they unloaded all 160 tires on the basis of one mailing. “We would have sold more, but we ran out,” says Banaszak.
While he would not give the details of what went into the predictive algorithm, Banaszak did say that the database looks at mileage counts between the last few visits in calculating a customer’s average daily driving total. This allows the dealer to take out one-time periods of either exceptional use or non-use.
“We try to time the arrival of the mailing to the need for service maintenance, determined by the customer’s [projected] mileage,” says Banaszak. “Some of the letters arrive with a projection within a mile or two. One guy accused us of sending someone around to look at his odometer.”
Sometimes the estimates are off, and customers call to “correct” the database’s figures. This allows the predictive model to be recalibrated. An on-site reservation-maker is more than happy to record the information-and try to schedule an appointment for a maintenance check at an appropriate time.
The year-to-date loyalty rating-whether a customer returns within a one-year period-stands at 76%. In Tampa’s competitive auto service environment, this says a lot.
“There must be seven dealers you can hit with a rock [from the showroom],” says Banaszak. “If a customer comes in to me more than once, there must be something he likes.”
