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Serra Honda Grandville built a successful dealership based on the fundamentals of good old-fashioned communication (like greeting every customer at the door) and working hard to develop and maintain healthy customer relationships. 

And while these fundamentals will always remain a priority, the dealership is also deeply committed to staying on the cutting edge, including efforts to improve with the help of new technologies. Serra Honda Grandville has used VinSolutions Connect CRM to boost employee performance and maintain a competitive edge. Specifically, Connect CRM has helped: 

• Increase data collection and utilization, including customer driver’s license and email capture rates.  
• Improve lead-to-appointment ratios. 
• Incentivize employees to boost sales through the use of technology.  
• Improve communication with customers.  

See how VinSolutions Connect CRM helped promote constant improvement and drive long-term success.

Oklahoma City Volkswagen isn’t run by a bunch of old school car guys. Its forward-thinking management team is always looking for ways to enhance the value of their investment. And when Robert Lackey was offered a position as the dealership’s service director, he immediately saw ways to apply that philosophy in the service lane. Many of his most immediate concerns were related to service lane employees and their engagement levels.

“On the surface level, you would see employees and technicians walking around in plain clothes or in shirts from other dealerships,” Robert recalls. “There was no pride in the atmosphere. And on the service drive, you’d see service advisors writing customers up that were stuck in the early 90s with literally a particle board clipboard…and a carbon-copy multipoint inspection sheet. There was zero pride, zero process from front to back.”

Based on his experience managing other service departments, Robert knew that our solutions had the power to increase employee engagement by improving processes and ensuring accountability. He got the employee buy-in necessary to fix the dealership’s obvious challenges with a little help from us.

Real-World Results

Service lane metrics have shown the wisdom in Oklahoma City Volkswagen’s investment in our end-to-end solution. The dealership has achieved:

• 2x increase in gross profit in the service department
• 441+ average additional sales per check-in
• 5-point increase in customer service numbers
• 90% multipoint inspection rate
• $831k+ in additional service recommendations captured in one quarter

A Full Suite for Full Satisfaction

While we offer various solutions for improving different areas of the service lane, Robert implemented the full Spectrum Suite because he knew it could help every single fixed ops employee.

As he sees it, “there is no tool in the industry—and you try to piece them all together—that does everything that Xtime Spectrum does.”

Honda of Downtown Chicago is one of the busiest service centers around. Every day—from daybreak to nightfall—cars stream in and out of the service bays. And Service Manager, Joel Adames, counts on us to keep business flowing.

Prior to Xtime, Honda of Downtown Chicago performed well, with a healthy client base and substantial revenue. But Joel isn’t satisfied with “good”—he strives to be number one. That’s why he chose our Spectrum platform to increase customer satisfaction index (CSI) scores, guest return rates, and overall profitability.

“Before Xtime it was hit or miss—you just sat there and waited for business to happen,” says Joel.

The switch brought immediate results. Within the first month, Invite Declined Services campaigns generated over $30,000 in repair order (RO) revenue in the Honda of Downtown Chicago service department.

Real-World Results

Joel believes Xtime is always working to be better since they help Honda of Downtown Chicago with continuous improvements as well through the following:

• Greater profits per RO: The Honda of Downtown Chicago service department currently achieves an average of $725 per RO.
• Additional appointments: Joel and his team captured 64 additional appointments in just one month of working with us.
• Exceptional email open rate: Most marketing emails are sent directly to the trash folder. But, Honda of Downtown Chicago service achieves a 65% email open rate—an impressive figure for any industry.
• Improved email capture rate: A high email capture rate, combined with verification at each visit, leads to more profitable campaigns. Joel says his department previously had an email capture rate between 70% and 80%. Now, that figure has risen to 90%.
• Effective, collaborative strategy: Streamlined processes and actionable data, allow dealership professionals on our team, such as Performance Managers and Account Managers, to collaborate with Joel and his team to implement effective strategies.

A Silent Partner on the Service Drive

Joel admits that managing a service department can bring a sense of isolation. But dealers that work with us get added support managing customer relations, analyzing data, and improving productivity.

“The biggest part of using Xtime for me is being able to see what I’m putting out and what’s coming back in and knowing that it’s working. And with the reporting and being able to see that, you feel accomplished,” Joel says. “You feel a little bit more in control.”

Would you like to feel in control, like Joel? Schedule a demo to learn how your dealership can capture declined services, improve customer experience, retain clients, and grow profits.

Written by,

Tracy Noonan Fred

Vice President & General Manager

Fear is a funny thing. In humans, it generally evokes one of two well-known responses—fight or flight. In a split second, our instincts kick in and we decide whether to confront the source of fear or simply run away. In recent interactions with dealerships, I’ve sensed a lot of that same fear surrounding changing customer expectations. I’ve also learned that when things get scary, dealerships have the same choice as people—they can confront the fear or run away from it. 

Changing Customer Expectations

Consumers have been groomed to expect on-demand experiences where they are in control. They want to pick and choose, in à la carte fashion, the goods and services they consume. In addition to quality and value, they now demand convenience, transparency, and trust. According to the 2018 Cox Automotive Service Industry Study, 20 percent of consumers list pressure to buy additional services on a service visit as their top frustration while another 10 percent list unclear pricing. As a result, customers are regularly declining service recommendations and want to be able to handle them on their own terms in the future. 

A Tendency Toward Paralysis

Sadly, many dealerships are choosing not to confront these changes in consumer expectations and, as a result, find themselves frozen in fear. Their reasoning is understandable—they only know that they should change, but don’t exactly know what to change. With no one to guide them through this process, they worry that they’ll end up making the wrong changes. In their words, the devil they know is better than the devil they don’t know. They accept that the industry is changing around them, but decline to make adjustments to their own processes.

An Openness Toward Change

Of course, there are those that choose to fight instead of fleeing from changes in customer expectations. Those that fight understand that dealerships have always operated in an environment of change. They are open to change and view it as an opportunity rather than a threat. In addition to a more productive mindset, these dealerships often enjoy more useful partnerships with technology vendors that nudge them toward the future. Along with their partners, change-oriented dealerships are creating on-demand experiences in their service departments.

Putting Data at the Fingertips of Staff

One thing dealerships can do to meet changing customer demands is to put data at the fingertips of their staff members through the use of technology. Consider the following benefits of various dealership technologies that make information more accessible to both customers and staff:

• Using technology to track and promote past declined services helps dealerships recapture an average of $7,026 per month.*
• 55 percent of car owners are more likely to schedule service at a dealership that provides online cost estimates.
• The use of tablets in the write-up process has a significant positive impact on satisfaction and CSI.**
• In-lane write-up tablets also increase customer retention rates from 63.9 percent to 70.5 percent. ***
• 67 percent of service customers say they will definitely return when they receive text message updates, compared to 55 percent when updated by phone.

There’s no getting around it—customer expectations are changing to favor a more on-demand experience. Successful dealerships will view that change as an opportunity and will avoid being paralyzed by fear. By putting more information at the fingertips of dealership employees and customers, those dealerships will deliver the experience that today’s customers have come to expect.

*Based on Xtime dealers who have been enrolled with declined services since September 2017 and with Inspect go-live date before September 2017

**Analysis of survey data from J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw Hill Financial, 2016

***Xtime, based on 89 dealers using Engage and Go-Live date before 5/1/2015, 216,332 VINs and 463 Service Advisors. Vin based retention based on May-July 2015.

Ferman Volvo Cars of Tarpon Springs, Florida, is widely known for its dedication to customer experience—one of many reasons that they were voted Xtime’s very first recipient of the Customer Experience Excellence award at this year’s Digital Dealer 24 conference in Orlando. Service Manager Matt Ketchum attributes this award and Ferman Volvo’s reputation for customer service to the simple rule he learned in grade school: treat others as you want to be treated.

https://vimeo.com/288825182

Matt, who has worked with dealerships for nearly 15 years, has worked with businesses that used Xtime’s products and those that didn’t, and said that the difference is vast.

“I started [my career] with a dealership that used Xtime, then made the move to Volvo, where Xtime’s suite was used as well,” said Matt. “But for a brief while, we used another tool and then ended up coming back to Xtime. One of our healthier success points is that is allows us to have great communication with our customers.”

Starting with Schedule as a way to allow its customers the added convenience of scheduling appointments from various channels, Ferman Volvo quickly added Inspect and Engage. Ferman Volvo’s Fixed Operations Manager made the decision to install the platform in order to add a layer of transparency to the way in which they interfaced with customers.

“You have to remember that we’re a very intimate dealership, so what I like about Spectrum is that as soon as the customer sees you pull out the tablet, they’re right there with you, getting involved in what’s going on with their cars,” said Matt. “The tablet also encourages us to do a proper walk-around and not get lazy about doing so! The old way of doing things wasn’t as engaging, and I find a lot more guests get involved on the service lane thanks to Xtime.”

Matt added that the importance of retention tools to transition customers from the sales floor to the service lane became apparent early on in his career.

“When I first started in the car business, I was in sales,” he said. “I had no experience at first, but an older salesperson told me that when you tell a customer, ‘Follow me,’ they’ll do that. Engage is the equivalent of ‘follow me.’”

Xtime Engage strengthened another trait of Ferman Volvo—customer involvement. While most service customers are used to dropping off their cars and being as uninvolved as possible, Engage allows the service team to develop more meaningful relationships with each person who walks through the door.

“It’s not always about selling—it’s about getting to know the customers,” said Matt. “We probably know more about our guests than anyone. If the relationship isn’t there, you’ll never see them again. Engage has enhanced that because it gives us more time to talk to the customer and build that relationship while still being methodical about the vehicle walk-around.”

From the dealership personnel side of the business, Matt pointed out that with Inspect, they can better engage with customers and more explicitly discuss car needs, from immediate to upcoming.

“Our guests can look at what service work will be provided in an organized, itemized way, with full transparency,” said Matt. Because of that, they know we’re honest, there’s no bait-and-switch, and they’ll be back to see us because of that transparency.”

Having one technology platform to resolve all of its service needs has provided an element of convenience to customers and dealership personnel alike by working together in tandem and being customizable to Ferman Volvo’s needs.

“Using one platform is so important, because having all of your tools integrated frees you up to do more things, like service more guests but in a quality way,” said Matt. “Technology has made us all more efficient across the dealership. It equates to higher CSI scores and boost retention rates. Having Xtime’s suite, which integrate so well together, makes the flow so much easier.”

Soon, Ferman Volvo Cars will add Invite to recapture lost souls to its business.

“If a customer comes to us consistently for service, they’re a lifer—they’ll continue to come to use for service, or when they need another car, and so on,” said Matt. “But for the others who might not come to us as consistently, we can target them with deals and coupons. As for customers we’ve lost, we offer the most aggressive deals we can. I truly believe that once we bring them back here, they’ll become loyal customers.”

Ferman Volvo Cars’ dedication to its customers is one of the many reasons it was awarded the first-ever Xtime Customer Experience Excellence award at the 2018 Digital Dealer 24 conference.

“I think we won because we try our best every single day,” said Matt. “We put our guests before anything else. You treat others how you want to be treated and you never lose sight of that. I think that is what makes us stand out is that we don’t look at our guests as dollar signs—they’re family. Also, we don’t let compliments go to our heads. It’s nice, but we don’t get too relaxed when we receive accolades—we continue to strive for the best.”

Matt, having worked with dealerships with and without Xtime’s solutions, said that it is imperative for modern dealerships to be open to change, mostly in the form of employing technology to solve any issues preventing a business from providing anything less than a superior experience to its customers.

REAL RESULTS IN REAL TIME

Xtime’s solutions have helped Ferman Volvo Cars realize the following success over a six-month period*:

• 85% customer retention rate: “Dealerships have to be competitive now, so were very active in our marketing initiatives in addition to treating customers the way we do.”
• 10.4% retention benefit: “We know our customers, so we know what they want. Adding Invite gives us more control over what we’re sending and track the results in real time. That’s something we didn’t have before. Unless it’s a must-have-now service, nothing we suggest to customers is a sales pitch—it’s something to keep in mind for when you come back. It makes customers feel in control and it helps us maintain the relationship with them.”
• 96% show rate: “Schedule is so easy to use, and it enhances the communication with our guests. We have 80-year-old customers who know how to use it and it makes a difference in the way people have control over their appointments.”
• Average RO of $781 per customer: “We’re honest, and Xtime provides the tools to show our guests that we are honest. We can tell them what services are in immediate need, what will be needed in the near future, and so on—it’s not all about selling, it’s about building that relationship.”

*From October 2017 – March 2018

To guarantee that Spectrum delivers not only that customer experience, but also an efficient service department, Ferman Volvo Cars works in partnership with Xtime Performance Management to find areas of opportunity and improve utilization. Every 30-45 days, dealership management connects with its dedicated performance manager to review Xtime reports and to create goals that ensure Ferman Volvo Cars consistently improves show rates, profitability and performance. In these webinar consultations, the performance manager will also go over newly released features and provide any needed support.

“I cringe when I hear people complain because they don’t know how to use the tools,” said Matt. “The support Xtime offers is second to none. They’re engaged with their partners. I wouldn’t want to work at a dealership that doesn’t use Xtime.”

Shaun Del Grande, President of Del Grande Dealer Group (DGDG) in San Jose, California, knows how to take care of customers. In his 17 years of business, he and his team have built DGDG into one of the largest privately held dealerships in the San Francisco Bay Area, comprised of 14 locations. The key to their success, Shaun feels, is a trusted partnership with Xtime that allows them to utilize the tools in a way that best serves vehicle owners.

“Servicing a car for consumers today has been a challenge in a handful of ways, from making the appointment to the experience inside the service drive to the pickup and delivery,” said Shaun. “Xtime has provided a lot of ease for us in making the user experience—our guest experience—better, faster and more efficient.”

Having previously used a number of services from different providers, Shaun felt that there was a noticeable disconnect in the way those solutions helped DGDG personnel care for customers and their vehicles. With a need to enhance and streamline processes, as well as help advisors engage with customers through every step of the service process, DGDG turned to Xtime.

“Our initial love affair for Xtime was always tied to a service scheduling tool for ongoing communications with customers,” said Shaun. “After that, it became sort of a no-brainer for us to really look at the whole suite of services Xtime had to offer.”

To overcome the notion that taking a car to a dealership for service is an impersonal experience, DGDG wanted to enhance the way its service professionals communicated with each client. The challenge in a busy service drive, however, was how to spend ample time with each customer without creating a backlog in the service drive. DGDG’s partnership with Xtime introduced tablets to the service drive, which streamlined the walk-around process. DGDG now uses tablets in all 14 locations.

“The tools that Xtime provides makes it a lot easier when we’re with a guest because we’re using devices that they feel comfortable with, so it feels like it’s more of a collaborative discussion and not just us trying to sell them anything,” said Shaun. “We’re utilizing technology that helps bridge the communication gap and creates trust between us and our guests. It creates validity with what we’re presenting.”

A TRUSTED PARTNERSHIP

DGDG’s successful partnership with Xtime not only helps the dealership increase business, but also helps create stronger partnerships between service advisors and customers. Specifically, the use of Xtime’s platform allows DGDG to take control over managing appointments, a start-to-finish customer experience, technician communication, ethical upselling and more to ensure the vehicle ownership experience and advisor performance both achieve peak levels.

“Service advisors in general have a tough job—I think anybody in the business understands that,” said Shaun. “People are bringing their cars in either because something’s broken or needs maintenance, but either way, it’s going to cost money. So we want to give service advisors the tools to be able to provide the best guest experience. The last thing an advisor wants is an upset customer or to under-deliver what the customer’s expectations are, so every time we’re able to provide our advisors with more tools, you see utilization skyrocket. Once you see utilization increase… then guest experience improves and then the advisors are happier because the customers are happier.”

DGDG’s partnership with Xtime has allowed them to realize the following results:

• A 71.9% one-to-30-day show rate: “Show rates in the service drive are critical, and that starts with the process. Schedule, Xtime’s automotive scheduling software, has been a critical part of our show rate numbers because it expedites our ability to confirm appointments via texting and emailing. More importantly, it has made consumers more diligent about getting in touch with us about appointments because [Schedule] makes it so easy.”
• A 8.5 percentage point retention benefit increase: “Everything that we talk about at DGDG is, ‘What is the guest experience?’ That’s our holy grail. So if we can utilize technology to make [the process] easier, make it faster, make things easier for customers to understand and provide transparency, that’s going to result in repeat and referral business. Xtime absolutely helps us do all of this and more.”

From marketing to scheduling to the check-in, DGDG believes that most critical element of their success with Xtime has been the ongoing support they receive well past the sales and implementation process.

“There’s a million vendors in the automotive space, and we get calls every week for a new product that’s heralded as being the latest and greatest,” said Shaun. “The most critical question to ask, in our opinion, is will they be our partner? Are they flexible? Once they sell us something, are they still going to be there to support us? What does the rollout look like? How patient are they on helping troubleshoot, or are they just selling a product and expecting it to work? The implementation of technology on the business side can actually take longer than it does even on the consumer side, so making sure that our technicians, advisors and managers really understand the tool in its totality is critical. Xtime has done a great job at that for us.”

After what has been a long, snowy winter here in Kansas City, spring is finally here! For many of us, that means it is time for an annual dose of spring cleaning. Spring cleaning isn’t just for the storage shelves in your garage and that closet of random items, though. Most dealership CRMs could use a good spring cleaning too.  

For a CRM to do your dealership any good, your team has to actually use it. Just like the miscellaneous pile of poorly-writing promotional ink pens and out-of-date pizza menus keep you from getting to the one thing you actually need in the junk drawer, the clutter that piles up in your CRM can keep you from being able to properly use the tool.  

Your dealership and your customers are always changing, so the way you use your CRM should always be evolving too. There are three key areas in your CRM that could probably use a good spring cleaning: your data, your processes and your training.  

Your Data  
In conversations about CRMs, you’ve likely heard the phrase, “Garbage in, garbage out.” It is said often for a reason; it’s true, and it’s important. Keeping your data tidy is critical to CRM success, and the cost of failing to keep your data clean is high.  

Bad data costs quickly add up. First, there are the opportunity costs. With missing or inaccurate data, such as a wrong phone number, you miss out on sales opportunities. Second, there are the wasted marketing costs. Sending customers promotions in the mail can be a valuable marketing tool – but only if you keep their physical addresses updated. If customers addresses aren’t up to date, you might as well be tossing dollar bills out the window. Finally, there are the lost productivity costs. If your salespeople are directing half of their follow-up to incorrect email addresses and phone numbers, half of their time is wasted.  

Even the most stringent of CRM users likely accumulate some garbage data over a year’s time, so take stock of what you have and clean up what’s not right.  

Your Processes 
Your CRM should work for you, not the other way around, which is why we allow VinSolutions Connect CRM dealers to fully customize their CRM processes whenever needed. Since our processes allow for so much customization, dealers often ask me what the best process is. The answer, though unsatisfying, is that the best process is the one that your people will follow.  

There is some trial and error involved with getting processes right, so do some spring cleaning of every process you have built in your CRM. You may find that you don’t need some of the processes you currently have, or that there are big gaps that you need to build new processes to fill.  

Start your process spring cleaning by looking at overdue tasks. Too many overdue tasks often indicate that your processes are overly complicated or unrealistic. On the flip side, if you do not have any overdue tasks, your processes are probably not complex or thorough enough.  

Your Training Programs  
I see many dealerships begin and end their CRM training with new hire onboarding. Training new hires is critical to CRM success, but new hire training alone isn’t enough. To keep utilization high, CRM training must be ongoing. High CRM utilization means high ROI, so it is worth cleaning up your training programs this spring.  

To begin your training clean up, think about common problem areas in your dealership. Could the root cause of any of those problems be solved with training? For many dealerships, key CRM issues are caused by poor utilization, not the tool itself.  

A good CRM is always changing, and people are forgetful, so it is critical to work regular training into your staff’s responsibilities. Be realistic about it, though, and start small. If you only have training once a quarter currently, try shooting for once a month.  

It’s also important to take advantage of the training resources you have at your disposal. At VinSolutions, we offer online training sessions, an annual user summit and regular consultation with Performance Managers. The dealers that are most successful with their CRM are the ones who take advantage of all of this training and take it seriously.  

This spring, give your CRM a good spring cleaning, and start seeing even greater success.