Let’s start with a couple of assumptions: 

1. One of your goals is to increase service customer retention. 
2. You’ve invested in new technologies—like a secure, permission-based text messaging solution—to help reach those goals. After all, you know that while people like to text with businesses, you also need to ensure your team does it safely with everything tracked. (I shared a previous blog with stats about why this is an important opportunity in fixed ops.) 

That said...is your team (including the service advisors) using the new texting technology? Or is it being ignored and worked around? 

For a great many of us, the latter is probably true. But you can change that! Check out these 7 ways to encourage safe text use among your team, courtesy of my teammates, Pogo Parr, Director of Fixed Operations, and Melissa Commons, Business Development Manager: 

#1 - Start at the Top 

If you have a text solution you’re trying to implement, the decision-makers at your dealership are likely believers already. Make sure that support is known throughout the dealership (and especially the service department). 

#2 - Discuss It With Your Team

No one likes being forced into something. So communicate the what and why of permission-based texting through your new solution with your service advisors, service writers and other key personnel. Go beyond talking at them, too. Ask what they think or what they’re worried about. 

Once you know what might be holding them back—which might be a simple misunderstanding—you can address it. For example, are they concerned about customers getting their personal numbers? The right texting solution prevents that.

#3 - Communicate Externally

In other words, get your customers ASKING for it. From your website to signs on your service check-in desks and more, let customers know they can text you for service updates...and so much more. 

Your team may be hesitant to try something new at first, but getting the request from customers can help.

#4 - Build It Into Your Process

Consider where text messages could fit into your current service process, from start to finish. When could a text save time? When would it be useful? Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Incoming calls - Let customers know your service team can text with them. Get their permission to do so, and send a confirmation text (through your secure texting solution) as soon as you’re off the phone.
• Before the appointment - Confirm the appointment via text, tell them where to go / what to bring and remind them they can text back with any questions.
• Check-in process - When customers drop off keys, confirm if they want to receive service updates via text. If they haven’t already opted in, you can send them the initial text while they’re standing there.
• While vehicle is in the shop - Send estimate and gain approval to proceed, continue to share updates of the work (including pictures / videos) and then notify the customer that their vehicle is ready for pickup.
• After the appointment - Find out how their experience was, and give them the CSI survey link. Remind customers of any remaining recommended work, when additional service is due and/or any additional upcoming appointments.

When all this is done through the right official texting solution, the data will be documented as needed for attribution, compliance, etc.

#5 - Get Your Service Team Set Up

When you purchase the texting solution, there should be an app to download for desktop and mobile devices. This allows your team to respond to customers on the device that’s most convenient at the time, and it adds in a layer of permission-based documentation, management and protection. 

Ensure that your advisors, writers and anyone else who will be texting with customers download those apps. This way they’ll be ready to communicate more efficiently and securely as you ramp up the official texting process.

#6 - Train, Train, Train

Rather than using the solution for the very first time with a customer, practice internally first. The key here is getting your team used to texting in the various process scenarios:

• Sign up (and take) the training offered by the vendor - Often includes a Q&A session. 
• Ask your team what other types of training would be helpful - I bet your vendor will help provide them!
• Practice internally - Consider sending texts and videos to family members. Role-play situations among the team. 

In other words, try to make service texting a “habit” for your team. The more you use it, the less there is to "fear."  

#7 - Hold Them Accountable (in Fun Ways)

As Denim Simkins says in his DrivingSales blog about getting service teams on board with anything, “excitement and enthusiasm will go a long way.” You might even consider creating a contest to see which advisor answers the most texts. Perhaps you could match ROs to texts. For example, if an advisor’s goal is to have 8 ROs a day, they should be sending at least 8 texts (one to each of those customers). You can reward those who do!

And remember: Service directors have to be just as committed to texting (if not more so). Committed to getting the team trained and bought in. Committed to making sure the team understands what's expected in regards to texting. Committed to holding the team (and themselves) accountable to the new process. 

The above tips (and commitment) can help your team ease into a new way of doing things in this mobile-first world. After all, if you want to see true success, you need buy-in from everyone participating. That’s how you can really win...whether you’re implementing a text solution or anything else!

Good luck! 

“Make it easy for me.” 

That’s a common request / wish / complaint of almost everyone when it comes to a dealership’s service department, from customers to your own service advisors. If things were “easier” (i.e., processes were more convenient), your team could be more productive and your CSI scores could edge up simply because you made the experience less of a pain for the car owner. 

Mobile messaging, especially permission-based text messaging, is one way to make that happen (here's 8 reasons why). And I’m not just talking about being able to schedule a service appointment via text or chat with a service BDC. I’m talking... 

• Service reminder updates (and being able to hold an actual conversation right then and there via text).
• Customers texting to check on the status of their car (way easier than fielding incoming calls).
• RO approvals (even when the customer is at work).
• Videos or pictures of why you’re recommending a repair (increasing transparency and trust).
• Post-service follow-up (How’s it running? / Any other issues pop up? / Here’s a link to that CSI Survey).

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Tune This Out

Change is hard, especially when you’re juggling so many moving parts (pun intended). But according to J.D. Power’s 2016 CSI study, 22% of Baby Boomer customers, 37% of Gen X customers and 38% of Gen Y customers ALREADY prefer to receive service updates via text or email. 

Those numbers keep growing. In a recent consumer survey conducted by Contact At Once!, we asked close to 1,000 people about their communication preferences when it came to automotive service. (The participants either recently purchased/leased a car, or they plan on buying/leasing in the next 6 months.) Here’s a peek into what we found:

• 88% said, given the choice, they were more likely to use mobile messaging to schedule service appointments.   
• Over 95% of those who recently bought a car and chose to message during the process said they'd prefer to use mobile messaging to communicate with the service department too. (And 70% of all buyers surveyed said they favor mobile messaging for service.)

A friend of mine explained why she’s not surprised at this preference: She usually drops her car off for service because she’s a working parent—no time to waste. Then she’s on the phone for her job all day long, calling prospects or customers herself. If the service department calls her, she has to put one of her customers on hold or ignore the call and potentially delay an additional repair. Text messages, on the other hand, are easy. She’s used to answering her son’s texts during long meetings already!

It’s Going to Happen. Will You Be Ready?

“I see the need for texting in the service drive as very similar to those dealers who believed years ago that they’d never need a website,” says Jeff “Pogo” Parr, Contact At Once! Director of Fixed Operations. “It’s happening, and you won’t have a choice to do it in a year or so. But by then, you’ll be playing catch-up.” 

Obviously, a lack of convenience is not the main reason a car owner will go elsewhere for service. It does play a role, though. A Vennli survey on car dealership service retention notes that people who go to independent service centers find them to “be more convenient.”

So why not take a step closer to car owners and text with them (securely) about their car in the shop? It’s an easy way to make the initial first contact, keep them updated, remind them of their appointments, stay connected and make the entire experience easier, so they’re more and more likely to return even after warranty. 

And if you do it the right way—with a solution that tracks everything in your system, ensures permission-based opt-outs and more—texting can be easy and rewarding for your team. In fact, one of our large dealer group partners implemented outbound text for service and saw their service connection rates double.

Pogo puts it this way: “Would your guys rather leave voice mails and wait, or send text messages and get answers?”

What do you think?

Interested in a secure method of texting, but need help encouraging your service team to adopt it? I’ll be sharing 7 tips on how to get this team buy-in...so stay tuned!