If you ask me…
The more I look across the vehicle brand landscape, the more one thing stands out – the most underrated brand channel is service.

Brands invest millions into developing and launching a product, only for a routine service visit to undermine the entire experience. Exceptional engineering and inconsistent ownership experiences are not due to a lack of focus. I believe it’s more that brands underestimate where that focus matters most.

This isn’t about aftersales
It’s easy for brands to talk up their aftercare offering. However, service is not a temporary campaign to push revenue, it’s a state of mind, day-in-day-out. The moment you treat service as a revenue stream first and a brand experience second, you create a disconnect, customers don’t separate the vehicle from the experience of owning it.

Surely it pays to focus on the longest and most frequent interaction people have with a brand. For OEM’s reliant on dealerships, it’s vital that core brand values and personality are mirrored via service experiences. I’ve covered this in a previous edition of Flower Power.

Every visit is a brand moment
The strongest automotive brands don’t just design great vehicles; they design great ownership experiences. Every moment of truth – service visit, repair or software update is designed to live up to the expectations created through previous desire-building activities.

That level of consistency doesn’t come from processes alone. It comes from clarity, about what the brand stands for beyond the product.

When service is the differentiator
R.J. Bateman Engineering has been manufacturing self-propelled crop sprayers since 1976, building machines that many in farming circles regard as ‘the’ machine to own. Speak to a Bateman customer and they’ll often happily reel off the models they’ve owned over the years.

However, while the machines inspire loyalty, it’s the back-up, service and support behind them that customers are often quickest to talk about and the reason many keep coming back.

World-class service doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built through the everyday decisions that sit behind the product; anticipating issues before they arise, solving problems before they escalate, and removing friction wherever possible. Because service isn’t there to support the brand. In many businesses, it is the brand.

Legacy thinking is the barrier
For some organisations, service is still shaped by legacy structures. All of which prioritise short-term efficiency over long-term experience. The issue here is that customers don’t see channels or business models, they only see one brand. When that experience feels fragmented, trust erodes, quietly and quickly.

Loyalty is built after the sale
Superior customer care and efficient service throughout the ownership experience provides reasons beyond the experience of the vehicle to remain loyal to the brand. In my experience, that only happens when leadership sees service as a strategic brand channel and not an operational necessity.