Maximizing your Fixed Ops efficiency is more important than ever due to shrinking margins on the front end of the dealership. The service drive tends to hit speed bumps when technicians can’t get to work right away. In this blog, we will outline some simple ways to save time in your service drive.
In many cases, the slowdowns begin right after a customer drops off their vehicle at the dealership. Once the vehicle is assessed and a repair is planned, work cannot be started without the customer’s approval. If this customer simply dropped off their vehicle and is not waiting at the dealership, attempting to contact them is where technicians may hit their first speed bump.
The longer it takes to get the customers approval, the longer the technician is waiting to get started. Not to mention, the extra time the service advisor takes playing phone tag with customers. This brings us to our first time-saving solution: texting. Which would you do first, return a phone call or respond to a text?
Texting is preferred now more than ever. Texts are read within 5 seconds on average and have a 98% open rate compared to emails, which have a 20% open rate. Texting can put a stop to the painful game of phone tag between customers and advisors. Dealerships who utilize texting for work approvals and to communicate with customers will start repairs sooner, therefore increasing service drive efficiency.
Some dealerships have incorporated a texting service but that still requires the service advisor to communicate with the customer via phone to provide updates. The best option is automated texting. This automation gives time back to your advisors and lets them focus on other tasks, like upselling services.
In addition to work approvals, texts can be used to provide status updates to the customers throughout the repair. Automated status updates via text reduce inbound calls by up to 40%. Automated texts will keep customers informed while their vehicles are in for repair, in turn increasing your CSI scores. Furthermore, reducing the number of inbound calls gives advisors more time to schedule appointments, creating a constant flow of customers in and out of service and increasing shop efficiency.
Another key to shop efficiency is removing any software friction points for service advisors and technicians, as discussed in an earlier blog, Friction Points and Your DMS. Updating customers and receiving work approvals via text is a big step in speeding up the process; however, if an advisor or technician needs several systems to complete one task, it may not actually save time.
To truly increase efficiency with text communication, the tool should be built into the DMS to avoid any slowdowns. Having this capability in your DMS keeps service advisors and technicians from having to duplicate their efforts. This streamlines the process for the advisors and the conversation is stored in the DMS for reference later.
Improving shop efficiency can be easy with a DMS like Dominion VUE™. Dominion VUE DMS comes with a suite of Fixed Ops and communication tools, like automated texting, that will help you achieve maximum productivity in your service drive. Put more time back in your service advisor’s day and increase customer satisfaction with Dominion VUE.
Check out TransformYourVue.com to find out about how Dominion VUE’s suite of Fixed Ops tools will transform your dealership.
