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We live in a digital-first world — and it’s no longer optional. You need to drive revenue. To do that today, you have to provide a safe, online experience for your customers and employees and completely reimagine your customer’s journey by providing self-service capabilities.  

Self-Service Preference

Put your customer hat on for a moment. You’ve grown accustomed to checking into flights on your phone, getting carry-out food or groceries delivered with a couple of clicks, and even ordering up a ride through an app. If you had to talk to someone each time you needed one of these services, would you still find them just as convenient?  

For the majority of us, the answer is no. In a recent survey, 67 percent confessed preference of self-service over speaking to a live representative. Let’s walk through the options you have to let your fixed ops customer self-serve. 

Scheduling an Appointment

Get it right from the get-go. Self-service should start before your customer arrives at your service department. Appointment booking is your opportunity to make a great first impression. 

Whether through your email and text marketing efforts or social media, make sure to provide a link that directs your customer to your website to schedule their appointment. 

Beyond the ability to book online, really think about the experience your customer needs for proper self-service. They will want choices, including multiple dates and time options. Also consider the information your customer needs to properly care for their vehicle. Provide their service history and any previously declined services alongside recommendations based on their vehicle’s mileage. 

Self Check-In

Part of the self-service appeal is the no-wait factor. When you couple that with the general anxiety your customer may have right now about coming into contact with others outside of their safe space — 54 percent delaying service for this reason — providing the opportunity to check-in for their service appointment from their own mobile device makes complete sense. 

Give your customer the ability to initiate check-in on their phone when they arrive and create a safe process and instructions for dropping off their keys. With this level of self service in place, your customer is not waiting for their advisor, and they can feel confident in their safety when the interaction at your dealership is with their own phone.

Track Service Progress

Your customer may prefer to take things into their own hands, but they still want to hear updates from you during the service visit. Luckily, this can be done digitally and even through self-service. You can use texting and email to send updates, but you may also consider using a tool that allows your customer to see where their car is throughout the service visit. Choose a service that gives your customer the ability to click and check progress as they like while their car is in your shop. 

Online Approvals and Payment

The goal is a seamless service experience that weaves in self-service options for your customer without ever feeling disconnected from the in-shop experience. With that in mind, you want to send the multipoint inspection and any ASRs through links in emails or texts. This way your customer can see what your tech sees through photos or video to help them make a decision. 

Once they’ve signed off, digitally, and service is complete, you can ask them to submit payment in a similar fashion. For your part, make sure it’s communicated to your customer that the online payment is secure. Not only have you provided the ability for them to connect with you in the self-service manner they prefer, you will have proven your determination to reduce in-person interaction and commitment to keeping your customer and your employees safe.

Summary

The majority of people today prefer self-service. Bring this ability to your dealership to show you care about the safety of your employees and customers as well as the desire your customer has to act in their own time and way. The new service visit journey means blurring the lines between online and in-store for your customers by giving them the opportunity to self-serve. 

Visit our Business Continuity Hub for more tools and resources.

Sources: Nuance Enterprise 

Cox Automotive COVID-19 Consumer Impact Study

What is the right move to make at this moment? If you consider consumer sentiment in this time of social distancing, offering valet pickup and delivery service may be the step that makes sense. Darrel Ferguson, Xtime’s director of performance management, and some members of his team recently hosted a webinar, Be Safe Workshop: Valet Pickup & Delivery. They shared recent data along with best practices and how-tos for the valet feature in Schedule. Here’s a bit of what they discussed. 

The Data Tells the Story

The 2020 Cox Automotive COVID-19 Dealer Impact Study tells us there has been a 68 percent decline in vehicle sales and a 57 percent decline in service appointments. Service operations with some type of remote service option have not been hit quite as hard, with a 48 percent decline in appointments, but still a significant number. 

The top reasons customers delay service are social distancing and concern of contact with staff or people outside of their safe environment. Valet service could be your direct response to the concern over contact with your staff. 

While we know a vast majority of consumers say they’re delaying vehicle service because they just aren’t driving very much, 41 percent say they’d be willing to get their vehicle serviced if the dealership picks up the vehicle at their home, takes it in for service or maintenance, then delivers it back to their home. There is also interest in having a tech complete the service at their home according to 30 percent of the consumers surveyed.   

So, where’s the disconnect? It’s consumer awareness. Only 18 percent of consumers know there may be a valet option available to them. Let’s get valet in place for your dealership, then we need to make sure and tell your customers. 

Valet Set Up

Xtime’s valet functionality lives within the Schedule product and can be tailored to your valet capacities. There are steps you’ll want to take, like enabling valet appointments for each Make you service so all customers can select to have their vehicle picked up when scheduling online. You’ll also want to revisit your Rideshare Powered by Lyft spend caps. Some dealers are using Rideshare to take the valet to the customer and then the valet drives the customer’s car back to the dealership. It may be time to reevaluate what you’re willing to spend on Rideshare in order to get the customer’s car in the door —a lot has changed in the last 30 days. 

Find detailed, step-by-step valet set up instructions when you watch the full the webinar . 

Best Practices and Tips

We take some best practice cues from retailers that are putting customer experience first, like Amazon. As an industry we used to sell things based on price. Today convenience may trump price for many of your customers. 

Once such form of convenience is valet service. What we’ve found is that while many dealers may have already enabled this service, they may not have told customers it’s available. Get proactive in your marketing and communication. Take the time to explain what valet service is, otherwise, they may not know or understand. Talk about valet on your website and in your email and text marketing as well as social media. Don’t be afraid to create video and have digital dialogue with your audience about what you’re doing to keep them safe. And when you do, make sure to link the posts back to your online scheduler. 

Now, let’s talk about how to get in front of your audience that may have cancelled or no-showed in the past few weeks. You likely have a large pool from the start of social distancing until now. Calling them and talk about how you can help them get their service done safely with valet. 

Best practice conversations are happening now because you need every car and you need every dollar. Get on the phone every day to confirm appointments. If they’re considering cancelling, talk to them about valet. You can make servicing their vehicle convenient and safe. 

While you’re at it, contact customers with recalls. Selling service may be a challenge right now, but you may be able to find work that does not include customer pay. 

You may also find opportunities to get creative. We’ve talked with some dealerships that have their sales people and other sidelined employees acting as valets, picking up and delivering vehicles.  

Lastly, let’s remember this: coupons are not today’s answer. The reason people aren’t coming in is bigger than price. It’s their health and safety they are concerned with. Make sure to communicate what you’re doing with valet and beyond for your customers so they can feel good about making and keeping an appointment. 

The webinar, Be Safe Workshop: Valet Pickup & Delivery, included statistics, detailed valet set up instruction, and best practices beyond what we’ve catalogued here, not to mention some great Q&A and discussion. Watch the full webinar now.  

Self Check-In Usage & Best Practices

You have an opportunity to show your customers you care about them. When you provide tools like Self Check-In, customers recognize it’s meant to keep them safe and they take notice. It is definitely the right time to explore all of the self-service options available to your dealership, and Self Check-In is available at no additional charge to Xtime Engage customers. 

In a recent webinar, Darrel Ferguson, director of performance management and a few members of his team addressed how to set up Self Check-In and best practices to adopt in your service department. Here’s a bit of what they shared. 

What is Self Check-In?

Let’s start with what you need to have in order to use the Self Check-In feature. Xtime Engage is a robust product that facilitates tablet reception, instant access to declined services, and text communication. Plus, online and in-lane payment. You must have Xtime Engage and Schedule in order to enable Self Check-In. 

Now let’s talk about how it works. Customers that are opted in to receive communication from you will get a courtesy appointment reminder by text or email. Within that reminder, there will be a link that encourages them to click when they arrive at the dealership for check-in. From there, they can review appointment details and sign off, while the advisor completes the process on the tablet. 

We’re having this conversation now because we want to create a safe service department for employees and customers, but there are further advantages: 

• Increase CSI: Efficiency and speed through digital interaction can help increase customer satisfaction.
• Shorter Wait Times: Customers won’t have to wait for their advisor to be freed up.
• Advisor Efficiency: Your advisors will have a head start when the customer initiates the check-in from their phone.

How does Self Check-In Work?

Your customer clicked the check-in link, so now what happens? After your customer clicks, they land on a microsite that populates their personal information, including their vehicle information and appointment details. Self Check-In will walk your customer through a custom process based on your service department operations where they can enter vehicle mileage, let you know if they want to speak to the advisor, and review any instruction from you, such as key drop directions. Once the customer signs off from their device, it will automatically sync with the advisors Engage tablet. 

That’s where the check-in is complete for your customer. However, advisors are encouraged to perform a walkaround after the customer completes check-in to take photos or note any damage.  

Self Check-In Best Practices and Tip

First and foremost, make sure customer emails and phone numbers are correct and the customer is opted into email and text communication to get the most out of Self Check-In.  

Also remember the fully customizable Self Check-In gives you opportunities to convey important information to your customer. When your customer clicks the Self Check-In link, what is the information they need to see? Start with explicit parking instructions. You are trying to facilitate social distancing, and you may have a customer that wants or needs to wait during service. Clear processes and instructions for each type of customer will help everyone understand what to expect when they arrive and show you are taking precautions for their safety. 

Don’t forget to solidify the new processes with your team. What do these new steps mean to each employee? Make sure your advisors understand they still need to review service history to recapture declined services and complete walkarounds so they can email or text pictures with the service estimate to customers. You may also ask your staff to communicate service status on a more frequent basis. 

Find more best practices and tips when you watch the full webinar.   

Visit our Business Continuity Hub for more tools and resources.

Want to find a better way to connect with your customers?

Texting is the #1 channel for customer service preferred by customers in the United States. A technology solution that enables texting creates opportunities for better customer communication across your business.

This infographic will cover:

• The state of business to consumer SMS and MMS texting
• The advantages and opportunities that texting customers through a CRM creates
• Interesting data about average customer response times and the effectiveness of texting

Fill out the form to download your copy of the infographic and start improving your business’ customer communications.

If there is one thing that customers, salespeople and dealership management all have in common, it is that everyone wants a fast, efficient and hassle-free car buying process. No one benefits from inconvenience or inefficiency. But for a dealership to run like a well-oiled, car-selling machine, salespeople need to have the right tools for the job. And in today’s digital retail world, that means a mobile app that gives dealership staff the functionality of a desktop computer with all the conveniences of life on the go.

With robust features and an intuitive user experience, VinSolutions Connect Mobile app brings the Connect CRM experience into the mobile application and puts sales activities directly into the hands of salespeople. Here are three ways your sales team can make the most of Connect Mobile.

1. Monitor Lead Buckets

With Connect Mobile, sales managers can use the app to set up multiple lead buckets, separating those interested in new versus used cars, for example. Having access to lead management through a convenient mobile app helps incentivize salespeople to monitor lead buckets more frequently. And it gives them the tools to react quickly to interested buyers, which is a good thing for both customers and sales.

2. Add New Co-Buyers

Connect Mobile makes it easy to add a co-buyer right from the app. A salesperson can simply scan a customer’s driver’s license with their mobile device to add a co-buyer. Or, if both customers already exist in Connect CRM, a salesperson can simply link their accounts. It is a painless process that can be done from anywhere on the lot. And it’s another reason why Connect Mobile enhances workflow and gives dealership staff more options than ever before.

3. Get More Texting Options

Texting is an important part of car sales. Connect Mobile gives your sales team the texting features they need to keep in touch with customers and provide them with a better buying experience. Instead of manually searching for customer conversation histories, salespeople receive push notifications on their phones so they can access and reply to conversations directly from the lock screen. They can also view and complete text message tasks from a task list, and upload videos and photos directly from their phones.

With more than half of car buyers preferring dealership experience over low price, VinSolutions Connect Mobile app is giving dealers the tools to streamline car buying for salespeople and customers alike. Download the app  today to see how Connect Mobile’s features and improved user experience can benefit your dealership.

Everyone knows that the New Year is a great time to make personal improvements. But, did you know that it’s also the best time to find new ways to your dealership more profitable? Here’s a quick preview of the trends you won’t want to miss.

2020 Trend: Text Messaging for Businesses

It’s no secret—texting has become one of the most common forms of interaction and the preferred method of communication for many people. According to a recent study by the International Smartphone Mobility Report, U.S. customers are communicating five times as often through text messages as compared to traditional voice calls. Businesses, however, have had a difficult time taking advantage of the channel due to legal restrictions and some customer resistance. Now, new dealership technologies are making it easier to give customers the communications they want while staying legally compliant.

At NADA 2020, we showcased several new mobile communication technologies for dealership service departments. Text Marketing is a new marketing channel designed to increase customer engagement and overall marketing conversion through TCPA-compliant promotional text messages. Video, which gives technicians and advisors the ability to record and send video to customers to drive increased transparency and dollars per repair order.

2020 Trend: Rideshare

The most surprising technology trend in recent years might just be the explosion in popularity of ridesharing, which grew out of the broader sharing economy. It lets consumers use a mobile app like Lyft or Uber to hail a ride from an ordinary vehicle owner. While almost unheard of a few short years ago, ridesharing services are now used by a full 30% of Americans, according to research company Gallup.

To help dealerships capitalize on this powerful trend, we are introducing rideshare functionality into our technology. You can demo Rideshare which integrates convenient and familiar customer options within our industry-leading service platform. You can offer on-demand rides to customers without the expense of shuttle services and loaner cars. And because Xtime manages the entire transaction, your dealership doesn’t have to worry about any extra contracts, systems, setups, or transactions.

2020 Trend: Voice-Activated Technology

Voice-activated technology is another important technology trend to watch in 2020. The practice of activating and navigating powerful technologies with your voice is widely used by consumers and the trend is expected to keep growing. Digital assistants, including Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant, are being used by huge numbers of people every single day to get little things done more efficiently. According to Adobe, 36% of consumers own a smart speaker and 91% of brands are investing in voice technologies.

We recognized that these voice-controlled technologies could provide major benefits to service technicians, whose hands are constantly occupied, and developed a technology where technicians can go hands-free. A service tech can simply speak voice commands and other information into a headset microphone while continuing to work on a vehicle. This ground-breaking new solution will transform the multi-point inspection process, streamline documentation, improve the quality of service, and promote technician safety. 

Schedule a Demo

You asked, we listened: A recap of Xperience

By Darrel Ferguson

At Xtime, you are at the center of everything we do. Understanding what is and isn’t working for you fuels our innovation and helps us to make a positive impact for your customers, employees, operations, and bottom line through our products. With this clear priority in mind, we recently hosted Xperience, the first-ever Xtime user summit designed to help you improve your business and take full advantage of everything Xtime has to offer. Here is a quick recap and a few of the highlights of the two-day virtual conference, as well as some key takeaways that you can implement at your dealership.

Full Utilization of Xtime

We want you to get the most out of your Xtime products. The know-how to leverage Xtime tools to the best of your dealership’s ability improves the customer experience, your employees’ engagement, and boosts your bottom line. Full utilization of Xtime means setting processes, looking at reporting, holding staff accountable, and ensuring management sets the bar and leads by example. You’ll be able to improve productivity and retain loyal service customers because you are giving them the experience they expect. The goal of 100% utilization is a process, and your Xtime performance manager is available to help you with your utilization goals as they work with you and your team to improve your service department.

Dealer Panel

One of the best sessions from Xperience was our dealer panel, which brought together representatives of three different dealerships from throughout the country to discuss fixed ops. The panel shared ideas on everything from offering rideshare options to text messaging as a way to improve the customer experience and more efficiently follow up on declined services.

One common theme throughout the panel discussion was the importance of adapting to a constantly changing industry. New technologies and tools are designed to make life easier for customers and service department personnel, and implementing those new technologies almost always involves some learning curve. In the end, the panel concluded that fixed ops can’t fall behind other industry experiences that are being pioneered by companies like Amazon and Apple. Today’s customers demand efficiency and a superior service experience. As new technologies make their lives easier, dealerships have to be willing to adapt.

Thought Leaders

During the event, Xtime performance managers and industry leaders shared their thoughts on a variety of topics impacting fixed operations. Isabelle Helms, vice president of research and market intelligence with Cox Automotive, delivered a particularly fascinating presentation on “winning the war for talent” and the impact of employees in fixed ops. 

Her message to dealers: hiring and keeping top talent is more difficult than ever. In fact, nearly 50 percent of service advisors turnover within a year. Even worse, 1/3 of dealership staff employees are not engaged or excited about their jobs. In this climate, it is more important than ever for dealers to connect with their employees. She suggests 10 key drivers to improve employee engagement.

1. Nurture a workplace environment that supports employees’ ability to be successful. 
2. Ensure that employees feel valued for their work through recognition and rewards. 
3. Give employees an opportunity to be heard and take their ideas seriously. 
4. Promote an environment that makes employees proud to work for your company.
5. Help your employees see that your company is headed in the right direction.
6. Give employees everything they need to make a lifelong career at your company. 
7. Nurture a workplace environment where people like and trust their fellow workers. 
8. Offer competitive pay.
9. Give back to the community. 
10. Promote the enjoyment and opportunities of working in a rapidly changing environment.

Our Priorities

Perhaps more than anything, Xperience underscored our top priorities as a company: listening, innovating, and partnering with you to ensure your success.

1. Listening – Our first priority has always been to listen to our dealer partners. As our experienced performance mangers meet with you, they help you to implement and utilize innovative technology to reach your business goals. But they also listen to your feedback so that we can find ways to improve our offerings to better meet your needs. We always encourage you to send your feedback. It’s the reason we send out frequent Xtime surveys. It’s also the reason we recently implemented a Dealer Advisory Board to discuss the challenges in fixed operations that you face.

2. Innovating – We don’t just innovate for the sake of innovation. We evolve and create so you can meet your customers where they are and grow your fixed operations. When we design new solutions, we ask ourselves one question: Does this improve the customer experience? For us, improving the customer experience must focus on 1) customer retention, 2) customer expectations, and 3) dealership productivity. As long as our innovations check all three boxes to give customers a reason to return, facilitating a better customer experience, and leading to a path of increased efficiency and profit for dealerships, we’re doing right by you.

3. Partnering – We are in this together. Your success is our end goal. From our increased client support efforts to events like Xperience, we are dedicated to giving you timely responses to your questions and concerns. We are incredibly passionate about working with you to to grow service revenue, our performance mangers invest time with you individually and our company continues to invest in studies and research to help shed light on industry trends to move you into the future.

If you weren’t able to join us, or if you want a quick refresher on some of the information discussed, you can enjoy Xperience on demand.