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The dealership management team at Ron Marhofer knew the sales group needed a more streamlined online-to-in-store process to deliver the best dealership experience to customers. At the same time, they needed better CRM software data to drive sales coaching opportunities and a clearer understanding of the dealership’s customers. With these must-haves in mind, the dealer group turned to VinSolutions Connect CRM. Upon implementing VinSolutions’ CRM, the dealer group gained access to:
With average turnover rates as high as 67 percent for automotive retail salespeople, it isn’t a secret that dealerships have a long way to go when it comes to talent retention management (TRM).
Today’s most successful dealers are proactively creating plans and processes that are transforming their dealerships into places where employees want to work. They’re using all the technology and tools at their disposal to foster a more productive, efficient workforce. Chase Abbott covers the importance of a TRM program and actionable next steps for implementing new retention strategies, including:
Today’s consumers are busier and more discerning than ever, which is why Xtime is constantly striving to help our dealership partners exceed their customers’ expectations. At NADA 2018, we’re showing the new features that will revolutionize the way dealership service departments keep customers coming back.
Meet us NADA 2018 Booth #2923C in Las Vegas to see exciting new features!
Consumer expectations are continuously rising, so retail experiences need to be constantly evolving. When customers go to your service website, they want to see an interface that emulates other best in class online experiences—so they must be engaging, dynamic and efficient.
To ensure that you keep up with changing consumer demands, we perform field studies with vehicle owners. Our findings shape our products so that you deliver the best consumer experience. To better suit those vehicle owner expectations and needs, Xtime is releasing a new consumer experience—starting with the consumer landing page.
The new page is not only clear and appealing—what your customers want—but also increases the number of service appointments. Based on testing, this landing page increased conversion to booked appointments by 31.5 percent.
This new view ensures you see more service appointments and more cars in the service lane. Ask us about the new experience at NADA 2018 in Las Vegas!
Is this the technology your declined services follow-up relies on?
Dealerships know all too well that many customers decline recommended services—58 percent of customers1. There are only three reasons why they didn’t buy immediately: they didn’t budget the time, they didn’t budget the money or they want to shop your price.
Now you can recapture these lost service opportunities.
Introducing Spectrum Declined Services, which utilizes deep integration across the entire Xtime platform to help dealerships realize an average of $4,475 in recaptured decline services per month, as well as an average of $238 per customer2.
Features in Xtime Declined Services include
1Based on Xtime Inspect dealers July 2016 – June 2017.
2Monthly customer pay average on participating dealers September 2017 through January 2018
Helping dealership service customers authorize and pay for additional recommendations can be challenging. With Xtime’s Inspect Online Approvals, service advisors can effortlessly communicate multipoint inspection information and recommended services to customers via email or text messages. Customers can then make educated decisions, instantly review vehicle status reports and approve or decline recommendations in the channels they use most frequently. From desktop computers to mobile phones, Xtime is helping dealerships take better care of their customers by building transparency, all while giving customers the value, convenience and trust they expect.
Xtime Inspect Online Approvals allows you to:
Xtime Payment streamlines workflows and offers consumers quick online and in-lane payment options—ensuring your last customer touchpoint leaves a positive impression.
Integrating with both Xtime Engage and Schedule, check-in and checkout processes have never been easier for both dealerships and customers to:
“It’s one less step the customer has to go through when they come here to pick up their car. In our case, the customers are in a hurry. The quicker the process of picking up their vehicle, the happier they are.”
– Jerry Antoine, Service Manager, John Hine Mazda
Better yet, dealers already using Engage and Schedule are already eligible to use this new payment feature!
Not long ago, Sunridge Nissan in Calgary, Alberta, juggled multiple technology solutions to customer needs. However, the process wasn’t streamlined and was more time-consuming.
Sunridge Nissan has since gone “all in” with Xtime Spectrum—implementing all four products—to not only deliver a better customer experience, but also gain the additional profitability and efficiency that having one integrated system offers.
“It takes a little work to get everyone in your dealership on board and to grasp how it all works, but once you do, it’s very positive,” said Annica. “Making everything easier for every department each day is so worth the time and effort to on-board everyone. Because we’re such a big part of Xtime since we use all the products, it solves so many things for us. Xtime finds a solution to any problem we have.”
With Xtime Spectrum, Sunridge Nissan realizes:
To read more about the ways in which Sunridge Nissan’s partnership with Xtime has boosted their business, click here.
1Data from September 2017
2Data from October 2016 through September 2017
Personnel across dealerships report that switching to Dealertrack makes their lives significantly easier. “The deal flow is easier for sales to track,” Comptroller, Jennica Krebsbach of the Van Horn Group says. “The deal flow into accounting is a lot easier. Once the service department understood the system completely, it was all OK.”
Assistant General Manager, Brett Henkel says that some of Big Two’s personnel had to adjust to Dealertrack DMS’s graphical-user interface — its digital look and feel. “We had to explain that Dealertrack wasn’t going to look like their old system and why we were OK with that,” he says. “The big thing was that Dealertrack didn’t look like the old screen looked. But a couple of weeks in, everyone was relaxed about it. And then it was amazing how comfortable they got with it. Frontline employees picked up Dealertrack amazingly quickly as far as being able to write up a ticket or get it through finances.”
Krebsbach says that since switching to Dealertrack, the Van Horn Group has added seven more stores to the enterprise — but hasn’t had to add any accounting staff to handle the extra dealerships. As part of expanding the company, Van Horn also centralized its intra-company accounting. Relying on Dealertrack, the company has been able to cut in half its 40 administrative positions even while adding several dealerships. “There’s no way we could have done that with the legacy system,” she says. “We didn’t understand how much overhead we were going to save. But there has been huge payback.”
In addition to reduced overhead, new Dealertrack DMS customers are also seeing net profit growth in the first year. Sisbarro Dealerships reported a tripling of net profit in its first year with Dealertrack and credits a major portion of the growth to the DMS transition.
One thing dealership managers appreciate about Dealertrack is the many extra types of data the DMS provides compared with legacy systems.
“We’ve got some unique advantages in reporting,” Bickerson says. “For example, in people performance data. We can show a service manager how each of his people is performing, in terms of their effective labor rate and gross percentage. That can spot problems. We can show, for example, if one employee’s effective labor rate has been dropping over the last couple of months. This is where we help managers spot opportunities for improvement.”
Henkel testifies to the vast improvement in this area for his company under Dealertrack compared with a legacy DMS. “The ability of managers to drill down and get information,” he says, “is incredibly better. Why are expenses up? You can scroll down to what went where, and why. That was something we used to call ‘the mystery.’ You’d have to call the bookkeeping office to figure that out. But now managers can call in from wherever they are and look at that information on their iPad or Surface Pro, in real time.”
Unlike legacy systems that are likely to charge dealerships for each new form or change order, Dealertrack specializes in accommodating special situations as part of the routine of satisfying its dealership customers.
Motorcars of Cleveland, for instance, is a unique operation that depends on delivering an extraordinary customer experience, and Dealertrack helps it succeed. Its service center is open until 3 a.m. on weekdays, and valets note the license number of every car that drives in, relaying it to the service team so each customer is greeted by name. But the key to their success is a revolutionary quick-service “assembly line” comprised of six service stations, which allows customers to follow along with their car, observe the work and even ask questions — all while being in and out in about 30 minutes. To make that kind of enterprise work, Motorcars must use multiple outside vendors and applications that tie together all their business units and also must make it easy to use to maximize employee efficiency.
Dealertrack DMS has been a huge partner in Motorcar’s effort because of its Opentrack feature, which gives customers simple, secure third-party integration with dozens of other software platforms that can serve specific functions within the multi-faceted world of an automotive retailer. In the salesroom, for example, there has been a proliferation of quote-building software platforms that representatives use to help lure buyers. Many dealership groups have written their own software for this purpose. Dealertrack easily integrates with these programs so that the dealership can execute the final deal on its DMS, process the paperwork and ensure information about that valuable customer is either entered for the first time or updated, to help the company deepen and maintain the personal relationship.
For Motorcars, Dealertrack’s flexibility provides the freedom to choose the third-party vendors that work best for its unusual business model. “If we didn’t have this feature, it would be extremely difficult to find people who could work with us because of the astronomical access fees so many DMS providers charge,” Manager, Trevor Gile says.
Dealertrack enables Motorcars Group to close its finances each month in just one and a half to two days compared with 10 or 12 days under its legacy system. “That’s a huge benefit to us,” Gile says. “We not only can close the month faster but we can hold our end-of-the-month meetings faster and get a leg up on what’s happening. We never feel like we’re running behind. We can keep up or move faster than we ever thought possible.”
Shearer, an employee at Motorcars, agrees with her boss that she “wouldn’t want to go back” to closing under the legacy system. “I probably should just get a Dealertrack tattoo which says that. Dealertrack has so many great functions that make it so easy. If someone asks me if I would go back to the same DMS even if it costs less, I would say absolutely not.” Webb Automotive President, Kelly Webb Roberts agrees. “I wish I would have switched earlier, for the entire group,” she says. “DMS shouldn’t be such a burden as it was. In the past, it has bogged people down. I wanted our staff to be able to have a system there to support them and make them efficient, where we can focus instead on customer interactions.”
For more information about the benefits of switching to Dealertrack DMS, check out our guide — DMS for a Digital Age.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (February 28, 2018) – Xtime has partnered with Digital Dealer, the #1 read magazine for franchised automotive dealers and managers, to present the Customer Experience Excellence Award at Digital Dealer’s Conference & Expo in Orlando, FL. April 10-12, 2018.
Xtime’s Spectrum is a technology platform that improves service retention by enabling a superior service experience through dynamic auto repair software. Digital Dealer Conference & Expo recognizes the automotive industry’s most progressive, highest-grossing dealership groups in the country and expects 90 of the top 100 U.S. Dealership Groups to attend.
“We are honored to partner with Digital Dealer to distinguish great customer experience at their annual conference,” said Jim Roche, Vice President, Marketing & Managed Services at Xtime. “Our products are made for the dealer to enhance the customer experience, so this is a perfect match.”
To be considered for Digital Dealer and Xtime’s Customer Experience Excellence Award, the dealership or dealer group must be in North America, have demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering the best customer experience and offer multiple examples of superior experiences of online, in-person, service lane, customer waiting room and in-shop.
The selected recipient will be honored on April 10, 2018, at Digital Dealer 24 in Orlando, FL, and will be featured in Digital Dealer Magazine. For those interested in nominating, you can submit here.
About Xtime
Xtime delivers retention solutions for the automotive retail industry. Xtime, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is the exclusive or preferred provider for 29 major global automotive manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia, as well as leading dealership groups, and services 7,500+ dealerships. Xtime is a Cox Automotive brand. For more information, visit Xtime.com
About Digital Dealer
The Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition is where top dealers go to stay ahead of the technology curve, delivering the largest array of industry speakers, peer to peer opportunities, and exhibit hall offerings – all carefully designed to impart groundbreaking business strategies for your dealership.
Media Contact
Lisa Aloisio
Public Relations, Cox Automotive
404-725-0561
Lisa.Aloisio@coxautoinc.com
We are continuously releasing and improving features to give you the best possible experience. Recently, some of our highlights include:
You can stay informed of what’s new with Xtime University’s Help Library! Simply log into your Xtime account to check it out. From there, you can also see Xtime’s Newest Features, where we share “what’s hot” and key improvements that were made.
Xtime University regularly adds resources to support your success. Be sure to check out instructions, as well as informative guides and videos.
According to a 2015 Cox Automotive service survey, 50 percent of customers said that knowing the total cost of repairs and maintenance upfront was a critical component of their service experience. Additionally, the 2016 Cox Automotive Maintenance & Repair Study found that 34 percent of customers felt that the dealer will overcharge them—a perception that can be corrected.
Spend for services, such as an oil change, show that dealership pricing is actually competitive with third-party vendors. Coupled with the superior level of service, having comparable pricing the same on all channels enables dealers to win on trust.
Dealerships build customer confidence when the information is consistent across all channels. And when there is more trust, vehicle owners choose your dealership over an independent repair shop. Even better, these loyal customers will be your advocate and will endorse your services to others.
By pricing all your maintenance services with Xtime, you’ll ensure everything displayed is both accurate and consistent at every customer touchpoint. Whether from service lane, email marketing or scheduling, both dealers and consumers see the same information.
Contact us today to learn more! If you’re a new customer, email our sales team at sales@xtime.com. If you’re a current customer, email DPSAdmin@xtime.com, and someone will reach out.
Many dealerships focus on performing thorough walkarounds and creating targeted marketing campaigns to ensure repeat business, but they may be overlooking a vital part of the service experience—the payment process. Eighty-eight percent of United States adults have stated that they want checkout experiences to be faster, and 50 percent saying that checkout speeds are in their top grievances with retail.1
The checkout experience is the last customer touchpoint in the service visit, and thus one of the most critical elements to leave a lasting positive impression. You can’t afford to undermine an otherwise great service experience by making the vehicle owner endure a lengthy wait at checkout. With Xtime Payment, both service management and advisors can easily manage the customer engagement from write-up to payment—collecting credit card payment in the service lane or sending an online payment request.
By using this new Payment feature, dealers see a boost in CSI and can easily close work-in-progress at month-end.
Dealers with Xtime’s automotive customer retention tool already are eligible to use this new Payment feature!
1Harris poll commissioned by Digimarc corporation, 2015
When Kelowna Nissan Infiniti in Kelowna, British Columbia, implemented Xtime’s solutions, they were looking to increase efficiency and create a stronger relationship with customers. Service Manager John Hughes was familiar with Xtime’s solutions previously and was eager to support Kelowna Nissan Infiniti’s success with Xtime’s auto repair software.
20%
increase in hours per RO with Inspect
$424
per
repair order
99.5%
utilization
rate
Based on results September 2017.
For me, and it’s probably the same dealer-wide, by booking with [the DMS], you can’t do what Xtime allows you to do, such as shop loading. Shop loading is a great feature of Xtime and you can plan your day a lot better and it helps you stretch out your appointments. Booking with Xtime is more user-friendly.
Online training, webinars and the phone-in classrooms are good. They certainly help me get more established with the software and understand how the program works and what other programs are coming down the pipe. I really like the seminars on the new features as they come out. Those are very helpful and they allow us to be more proactive, and more aware of what’s changing.
Less paperwork, less legwork, fewer interruptions. [Xtime offers] better tools that allow staff members to more effectively communicate with each other and with the clients. Everything has a footprint so you can go back and refer to [different details]. You can look at old inspections and you can look at old walkaround photos. For example, [with Engage], we take photos of the cars. We do a five-sided photo with the walkaround, so it holds us accountable for any damage that may have occurred in the shop or anything we can spot later on in a photo that may help us find additional repairs—body shop, wheel reconditioning and so on.
Xtime’s vehicle inspection software has been great. It has helped us to be very consistent in our message to our clients as far as an inspection that will allow us to make recommendations in the same software. The quotes are more accurate, the quotes are quicker, the inspection is much quicker—from the shop to the front end. It has helped our sales and our bottom line. The advisors and the technicians like it because it’s the one tool that they’re both in at the same time, along with our parts department. There are communications aspects of it as well. You can text message your tech, you can text message your parts advisor. It’s a seamless communication process as opposed to running around the dealership, so you’re able to stay at your desk, stay with your client, stay at the car if you’re a technician, and stay at the back parts counter if you’re a parts person.
Read more about John and Kelowna Nissan Infiniti’s success and increase in the bottom line here.
Watch just about any sitcom and you’ll notice something: when everything goes wrong for the main character, it’s almost always because there’s been a miscommunication. Sometimes aliens or zombies are involved, but usually it’s a standard case of mixed signals between two people.
Miscommunication is a common source of conflict for film and television writers because it’s a common source of conflict in our lives. Look at the many ways interpersonal communication has evolved in recent years. We can get ahold of anyone, anywhere. Yet we still manage to send the wrong signals. When it’s a “What time are we meeting again?” text sent to the wrong friend, you might miss the movie. When it’s a thousand offers emailed to the wrong prospects, you will lose a lot of business.
Dealerships have more opportunities than ever to connect with customers through email thanks to technology like TargetPro, which offers powerful email automation and segmentation tools. But dealers often fall short of making that email connection meaningful. The more you take advantage of those opportunities — and the technology that makes connecting more efficient— the more you’ll stand out from your competitors.
Here are three ways to make sure you never miss the mark in your automated emails:
Prepare to Get Personal
Something we see all the time is dealers resting on their laurels with their email campaigns. They think they have a great offer so they over-use it: Every customer gets the same reminders, the same messaging — but the messages don’t account for the differences in customers’ place in the buying cycle, their preferences or their lifestyle.
Change your mindset from mass email campaigns to segmented email campaigns. Getting something relevant into your customers’ hands once a month is a good goal to start with. It doesn’t have to be a sale or a coupon; it could be information on safety ratings for a new minivan, or tips for how to get better gas mileage during summer road trip season. Just make the connection and make sure it’s relevant to the recipient.
Make New Friends, but Keep the Old
Customer acquisition is historically a top priority for dealers. It’s a big investment of time and money, so you’ve got to do it right. But don’t focus on customer acquisition at the expense of customer retention.
If you’re a newer dealership, you probably don’t have a lot of prospect contact info to work with yet. That’s alright; you can use direct mail, social campaigns or events to start gathering email addresses — but don’t stop there. Look for critical indicators that help you segment new leads accurately. Then focus on building lasting relationships with each segment. Soon, customer retention will help pay for customer acquisition.
If you’re not a new dealership, take a look at your customers marked as one-time sales. If those customers are not hearing from you, they won’t be motivated to spend more money with your dealership.
Test, Tweak, Repeat
Of course, email automation isn’t helpful if your emails aren’t compelling or appealing.
Too often, dealers devalue the message and design of emails, usually because the creative seems like an unnecessary cost. You have to look at email marketing as an investment rather than an expense. When you don’t have expert resources in-house, outsourcing the creative and/or the data analysis is your best option.
Don’t be afraid to test and tweak your emails — just make sure you focus on one thing at a time. If your open rate is low, changing up your subject line might help. If people are opening the email but not clicking through, try a different call to action. If small tweaks don’t make much of a difference, it could be the message that needs a closer look.
Drip campaigns evolve along with your customers, so never go too long without looking in at the results.
Here’s the bottom line: Your business is not a sitcom where a new miscommunication every week is something to laugh at. Use the rapidly evolving technology and avenues of communication to make new and lasting connections with customers.
Download the PCG Research report on TargetPro and learn the benefits of data-backed marketing automation.
Learn to use segmentation and different communication channels to drive customer satisfaction and retention. This webinar will help you engage more effectively with customers post-sale. Move from one-size-fits-none marketing to marketing that stays relevant throughout your customers’ life-cycle.
Buying a dealership CRM is a big decision. The CRM plays a more important role in your dealership than ever, and the right CRM can mean the difference between getting results and making excuses. So it is critical that you do your homework.
This guide helps you make the right choice to build efficiency and drive sales. You’ll learn:
