How a new CRM can save the day at your dealership

If you’re getting serious about choosing a new CRM, you need to ask providers some serious questions about Performance Management.

In our new ebook, “The #1 Thing to Look for in Your New CRM,” we show you all the important roles a Performance Manager plays in making your dealership profitable, and tell you all the questions you need to ask before you sign on the dotted line.

If you already know utilization drives results, and you’re ready to see it in action, schedule a demo with us!

Fill out the form to download our new ebook

Helena Motors

Improving the customer experience and sending internet sales soaring with VinSolutions Connect CRM

The motto of Montana’s Helena Motors is “the way it ought to be.” This belief guides every customer interaction, and treating customers right has been the basis for much of their success.

However, the group was ready to take its customer experience to the next level. It wanted a technology solution to help streamline and track interactions with potential and current customers to personalize the buying journey, as well as increase efficiency. These needs led Helena Motors to look for a new CRM provider that could provide:

  • Unsurpassed workflow and reporting flexibility.
  • Expert guideance and proactive support from a dedicated Performance Manager.
  • Real-time integrations with its other Cox Automotive solutions.
  • One central view for all customer information

Watch how VinSolutions Connect CRM elevated the customer experience and helped drive sales.

Autosoft Announces Integration with Xtime

Integration Provides Robust, Seamless Connection Between Autosoft’s Dealer Management System and Xtime’s Customer Retention Solution

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (October 19, 2018) –Autosoft, Inc., a national dealer management system (DMS) provider, announced a new integration partnership with Xtime designed to streamline management of fixed operations and help improve customer service.

Xtime offers the premier customer retention solution for automotive manufacturers and dealerships. Dealers using Autosoft’s DMS can now automatically manage their shop capacity using Xtime’s automotive scheduling software product without manual intervention to the Autosoft ledger. This partnership simplifies the scheduling process for dealers by enabling Xtime to effortlessly pull appointments, contact information, and vehicle information from Autosoft, as well as push any appointments created from Xtime’s Schedule solution into Autosoft’s DMS.

“Our dealers rely on us for an innovative dealer management system. We are excited to add Xtime integration to our Connect program and give Autosoft customers a revolutionary way to manage their shop’s capacity with easy and accurate results,” said Bryce Veon, President and CEO at Autosoft. “The efficiencies from this integration will help our dealers maximize their profit potential and provide a better customer experience.”

“Since adding Xtime for our scheduling, along with the improved integration between Xtime and Autosoft, our number of appointments has increased, and the time to generate repair orders has decreased,” said Doug Schuett, Service Manager at Hastings Ford Lincoln. “We are pleased with how these enhancements help us deliver the high-quality experience our customers have come to expect over the years.”

Xtime’s primary objective is to develop solutions that help dealers provide superior customer service to their clients with the intention of increasing client retention.

“With continuing margin compression and a flattening automotive retail market, dealers must find ways to boost their customer retention to drive profitable growth,” said Jim Roche, Vice President of Marketing and Managed Services at Xtime. “Xtime’s integration with Autosoft is another way the company has simplified fixed operations, allowing dealers to deliver superior client service to their customers.”

To learn more about how Xtime helps dealers deliver a superior customer experience, dealers can call Xtime at 888.463.3888 (United States) or 877.984.6377 (Canada). Dealers can also email Xtime at  insidesales@xtime.com.  To learn more about Autosoft’s DMS, call 844.888.8200, email sales@autosoftdms.com, or visit www.autosoftdms.com.

About Xtime
Xtime increases customer retention for automotive dealer service departments by using technology to transform the ownership experience. Improving customer satisfaction and retention ultimately drives dealer revenue and profitability. Xtime is committed to delivering the experience consumers demand – an experience which emphasizes value, convenience and trust.

Xtime books 44 million service appointments and processes 120 million repair orders annually. Twenty-nine global OEMs have chosen Xtime to drive that same type of success for their businesses, converting $9 billion in service revenue for more than 7,500 dealerships across three continents.

About Autosoft
Autosoft is a full-featured technology platform offering Vehicle Inventory Management, Sales and F&I, and a dealer management system (DMS) that has been recognized as the All-Time Most Recommended DMS through DrivingSales. With affordable month-to-month contracts and 35+ OEM integrations, Autosoft’s easy-to-use products improve processes and reduce operating costs in over 2,000 franchised automotive dealerships.

Xtime Presents Fletcher Jones Audi with Customer Experience Excellence Award

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (October 16, 2018) – Xtime is proud to name Fletcher Jones Audi in Chicago, IL, as the winner of the second Xtime Customer Experience Excellence Award at Digital Dealer’s Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, NV, October 16-18, 2018.

Xtime first partnered with Digital Dealer in April 2018 to create the Customer Experience Excellence Award, which recognizes a dealership or dealer group in North America that has demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering superior customer service. After receiving and reviewing numerous submissions, Fletcher Jones Audi was selected as the definitive winner, in large part due to their robust retention rates and customer-first business approach.

“Fletcher Jones Audi is delivering on the technology-enhanced experience that consumers have come to demand, achieving 100 percent utilization of online scheduling and 88 percent tablet utilization on the service drive with Xtime,” said Jim Roche, vice president of marketing and managed services at Xtime, who will be speaking at Digital Dealer’s conference on converting one-time visitors into long-term customers. “This emphasis on using new technologies is helping contribute to an overall stellar customer service record for Fletcher Jones Audi — a 75 percent customer retention rate and high praise on DealerRater with 4.9 out of five stars on almost 500 reviews. Fletcher Jones Audi’s emphasis on customer experience excellence fits with Xtime’s ongoing efforts to help dealerships drive customer loyalty and retention, ultimately helping them boost overall profitability.”

In addition to Xtime’s recognition, Fletcher Jones Audi also was one of only 13 dealerships to receive the Magna Society Elite Award, Audi’s award for outstanding customer service, earlier this year.

“At Fletcher Jones Audi, offering the gold standard in customer experience is paramount. We pride ourselves on providing excellent service, and we strive to secure repeat business by exceeding our customers’ expectations at every step of the process. It is an honor to be recognized by Xtime’s Customer Experience Excellence Award for our efforts,” said Dave Donnelly, service manager, Fletcher Jones Audi. “Our success is enhanced by our technology-driven service center powered by Xtime, which plays a central role in enabling us to offer our clients the best car ownership experience possible.”

For more information on the Xtime Customer Experience Excellence Award, visit https://www.digitaldealer.com/conference/customer-experience-excellence-award/. For more information about Xtime, visit https://xtime.com/ 

About Xtime

Xtime increases customer retention for automotive dealer service departments by using technology to transform the ownership experience. Improving customer satisfaction and retention drives dealer revenue and profitability. Xtime is committed to delivering the experience consumers demand – an experience which emphasizes value, convenience and trust. Xtime books 44 million service appointments and processes 120 million repair orders annually. Twenty-nine global OEMs have chosen Xtime to drive that same type of success for their businesses, converting $9 billion in service revenue for more than 7,500 dealerships across three continents.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion. www.coxautoinc.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.

Learn about the impact of advertising fraud and discover how you can protect your digital investment.

If you’re employing digital advertising in your marketing strategy, you know what a powerful tool it can be and how it makes it easy to track your return on investment. But with the rise in advertising fraud, who’s protecting your investment? This white paper will tell you more about why it’s more essential than ever to understand the risks of fraud, stay one step ahead of fraudulent practices, and discover what Dealer.com is doing to protect dealerships.

Learn about Dealer.com’s strategic approach to advertising best practices.

In today’s digitally driven world, it’s more important than ever for dealers to maximize the ROI from their digital advertising investment.

Google’s Dealer Guidebook was designed with the goal of helping dealers to utilize Google’s products and channels to generate and capture shopper demand efficiently and effectively. Learn how Dealer.com can act as your dealership’s very own automotive advertising agency, helping you to achieve success through a digital advertising solution built upon twenty years of dealer-focused innovation.

Learn how Dealer.com SEO completes your digital marketing strategy

Learn how an SEO partnership with Dealer.com can help you own the search engine results pages where it matters most.

At Dealer.com, we bring the auto industry’s largest SEO team together to serve your unique dealership goals. Through agency-grade execution, unsurpassed capability, and a complete commitment to your success, we help you craft a search strategy that integrates with your complete digital marketing plan.


LEARN MORE ABOUT CAR DEALER SEO

Ron Marhofer Auto Group

A better customer experience and more sales with VinSolutions Connect CRM.

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:

  • A high degree of sales workflow customization and data reporting. 
  • Real-time integration with other Cox Automotive software solutions.
  • An intuitive lead management platform that is easy to use.
  • Proactive management support from dedicated Performance Managers. 

Learn how VinSolutions Connect CRM elevated the customer experience and helped drive leads and sales

Improving Employee Retention Strategies to Increase Profitability

Employee retention is one of the biggest elephants in the room at dealerships around the country.

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:

  • Calculating the business impact of high turnover rates
  • Best practices in talent retention management (TRM)
  • Key first steps in creating a strong recruitment and retention strategy

Fill out the form to watch the webinar & and start improving employee retention

Volume 31: NADA 2018 Edition

MEET US AT NADA BOOTH #2923C IN LAS VEGAS

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!

THE NEW CONSUMER EXPERIENCE

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!

RECAPTURING LOST SOULS JUST GOT EASIER

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

  • Collect maintenance and repair recommendations
  • Re-present customers with previously declined services and capture more approvals in the service lane
  • Enable appointment takers to view, recommend and sell previously declined services to customers
  • Greet vehicle owners with details and history at check-in
  • Identify, target and discount commonly declined services

1Based on Xtime Inspect dealers July 2016 – June 2017.
2Monthly customer pay average on participating dealers September 2017 through January 2018

MEET CUSTOMERS WHERE THEY ARE—ONLINE

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:

  • Leverage additional service recommendations (ASRs) identified during the multipoint inspection process
  • Automatically capture data on ASRs within all of the Xtime Spectrum platform
  • Quickly access and view inspection results directly within Xtime Schedule
  • View parts and labor pricing for ASRs
  • Customize emails and text messages for additional details
  • Eliminate “phone tag” and ensure tracking and accountability with dated approval requests
ACCELERATE THE SERVICE CHECKOUT WITH XTIME PAYMENT

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:

  • Accept credit card payments in-lane when customers retrieve vehicles
  • Create stronger relationships between customers and advisors, from the write-up to payment
  • Streamline pickup processes and eliminate cashier bottlenecks
  • Email and text payment requests and receipts directly to customers
  • Accept major credit cards from a secure microsite

“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!

https://vimeo.com/239699526
SUNRIDGE NISSAN STREAMLINES CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS

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:

  • $505 average RO1
  • 59 percent uptick in additional service from recommendations2
  • $586 in recommended services captures per inspection2

To read more about the ways in which Sunridge Nissan’s partnership with Xtime has boosted their business, click here.

https://vimeo.com/256149249

1Data from September 2017
2Data from October 2016 through September 2017