A PLAYBOOK FOR STRENGTHENING OEM RETENTION
As a fixed ops-focused auto industry event, the conversation at NCM Fuel the Future centered on how dealers can influence customer behavior, protect margin, and grow fixed ops with greater precision.
During the breakfast education session, “How To Take Control of OEM Retention and Fixed Ops Growth,” Rick Ulin, NCM Academy Director, moderated a discussion with Jesse Forbes, Sales Director, Automotive at Inmar Intelligence, and Amy Reynolds, Senior VP, Marketing & Customer Engagement at Flow Automotive Companies. Together, they explored how dealers can rethink retention strategy, align marketing to OEM requirements, and use smarter offer governance to drive measurable results.
Watch the full session to hear the complete conversation and learn how dealers are applying more disciplined retention strategies in today’s fixed ops environment.
RETENTION IS A PROFITABILITY LEVER
Speaking from her own experience at Flow Automotive, Amy opened with a clear reminder that retention directly connects to profitability, sustainability, and long-term customer value.
Dealers operate in a market where traditional brand loyalty has shifted. Customers who once identified strongly with a single OEM now make more transactional decisions, especially after warranty coverage ends. That makes each service visit more important. Dealers have to earn the next visit by understanding the customer, the vehicle, and the moment.
PRECISION MATTERS MORE THAN PROMOTION VOLUME
From a data & technology standpoint, Jesse emphasized that dealers often lose control of retention when marketing stays too generic. Broad service coupons may create activity, but they rarely tell dealers which customers needed an incentive, which would have returned anyway, or which offers protected long-term value.
A more effective approach starts with customer scoring. By evaluating factors like likelihood to return, likelihood to spend, distance from the dealership, ownership stage, declined services, and future revenue potential, dealers can match the right offer to the right customer for the most cost efficient outcome.
OFFER GOVERNANCE PROTECTS MARGIN
As a seasoned fixed-ops industry educator, Rick steered the conversation to further define and address offer governance: the discipline of setting clear rules around who gets an offer, how much they receive, and why.
As a cornerstone of the Inmar automotive solution, Jesse articulated how this approach helps dealers avoid unnecessary discounting while still investing where an offer can drive incremental revenue. It also creates structure across campaigns, so marketing decisions are tied to customer behavior, OEM scorecard requirements, and measurable business impact.
THE SERVICE LANE HAS TO CLOSE THE LOOP
Highlighting a critical operational point, Amy affirmed that marketing can bring the customer back, but the service experience determines whether retention improves.
If advisors do not understand why a customer received a more aggressive offer, they may treat the visit like a low-value transaction instead of an incremental win. Training the frontline team helps connect the campaign strategy to the customer experience and keeps the retention plan from breaking down in the lane.
REAL RESULTS COME FROM ALIGNMENT
Amy brought the strategy to life with a real-world example from one of Flow’s most competitive service markets where retention was slipping despite active marketing. Using Inmar’s platform, Flow was able to better align offers to OEM criteria, then used that framework to reduce ad hoc outreach and unify email, text, and phone communications around a more consistent retention strategy. The result was a five-percentage-point retention lift over six months.
FINAL THOUGHTS
OEM retention growth requires better data, smarter offer rules, aligned execution, and measurement that shows what actually moved the needle.
For fixed ops teams, the path forward means using the data they already have to personalize engagement, protect margin, and turn every service interaction into a stronger retention opportunity.
That same shift is explored in Inmar’s Intentional Consumer Playbook for Dealership Service, which looks at why service customers are choosing differently and how behavior-driven data can help dealerships influence decisions before customers defect.
Fill out the form to learn more about how Inmar’s Automotive Solutions help dealers bring that strategy to life through audience selection, personalized incentives, advanced analytics, and measurement built to support more effective customer engagement.