As the weather heats up, sales traditionally tend to cool down in the dealership. We’ve all been there. This year, though pent-up demand has caused sales to soar for some, economic uncertainty still looms over many car buyers, and it will be prudent to focus on multiple revenue streams.

So, how can your dealership weather the uncertainty and keep profits steady?

My recommendation: focus on service sales.

Even as many people are still spending much of their time at home, a dependable car continues to play a critical role in daily life. Your customers need their cars to commute to work if they are essential employees, to run important errands and to provide safe travel if public transportation isn’t available.

Service and repair thrive during traditional slumps, and this summer is no different. Here are some helpful tips to boost your service revenue and make this a summer to remember.

Market your customer safety steps

Staying healthy is on everyone’s mind these days. Implement measures and processes to keep your customers safe, then communicate what you’re doing through targeted customer emails and mailers.

Online service scheduling and payments help reduce unnecessary contact between your customers and staff. They also deliver a hassle-free experience that today’s customers often prefer.

You can also offer contactless pickup and drop-off, and extend service hours so you can accommodate more customers while eliminate over-crowding.

Some service centers are taking it a step further and moving closer to a fully no-contact model to handle minor repairs or service. This idea is modeled on the pit crew in a race that surrounds the car and gets repairs done fast, all while the driver sits safely inside the car.

You can also help customers feel safe and secure by touting extensive sanitation procedures, including regular restroom cleanings, face shields in front of service desks and vehicle wipe-downs after service.  

Create a special sanitizing service package

The idea here is to offer a special deep cleaning service that kills bacteria on hard and soft surfaces of vehicles.

I’ve seen a few dealerships do this with great success, including a couple that offered this service for free to first responders. What a great way to help your community and create goodwill. You can bet many of those people will remember this and become loyal customers.

Make sure to use an EPA/FDA approved cleaners and widely market what you’re offering.  Lean on your CRM to pull targeted marketing lists to spread the word to current customers and leads. Prominently display the package on your website and post it across all social media channels.

Create special summer driving packages

The family road trip is making a comeback. According to travel app GasBuddy, nearly 1 in 3 Americans are planning to hit the road this summer. And that number could go up, especially later in the summer.

In our experience, the top three performing summer service campaigns are the same ones you’ve probably been doing for years. These are a radiator/coolant flush, air conditioning check and oil change/multi-point inspection.

This year, the messaging needs to be tweaked to emphasize the cleanliness of your shop and communicate in the way customers feel most comfortable. This is where all those measures you’re taking to keep customers safe come into play. Talk about what you’re doing in every communication so customers can be reassured that you are putting their health and safety first.

Keep in mind that most people are not mechanics and they often don’t know why a service needs to be done. Tailor your marketing messages to the “why” and “how often” and avoid industry jargon.   

For best results, practice multi-channel marketing. Drop a mail piece or send an email and follow up in a few days with a phone call to ask if they would like to take advantage of their special offers.

There’s a huge space right now for your dealership to boost profits by being innovative with service. Despite travel reductions, you can lean on service sales and out-of-the-box thinking to stay strong through uncertainty and keep summer sales steady.  

The benefits of having a mobile check-in and MPI process in the service department have been widely confirmed. You’ve probably heard all about the three “T’s;” specifically transparency, timing and trust.  

However, one of the biggest unsung benefits is the considerable increase in the usage of the “declined service” op codes. Customers declining service is nothing new. But, a mobile service process makes it easy for you to reach out to recent customers so you can recover that lost revenue. Dealerships that are effective at this process see anywhere from 10 percent of declined services brought back within seven days and up to 25 percent of declined services brought back within a month.

What would that mean to your bottom line? In a larger-than-average dealership, you could discover that you have $400,000 in declined service work every month, and be able to bring back $100,000 of that revenue.

Four best practices to incorporate into your declined service follow-up process include:

1) Eliminate manual logging  

Do you know the top five declined service op codes in your store? Many service managers either don’t know the answer or would be guessing if they did answer. If you don’t know what to go after, you can’t create a strategy to go after it. This is the first and most critical step to recovering lost revenue.

With a mobile check-in and MPI process, when the service advisor makes recommendations, and the customer declines, the advisor must check either yes or no.

This simple automated prompt results in a massive increase in the logging of declined services. A store with manual logging sees an average of seven to eight percent of ROs logged with declined services. Stores with a mobile process see an average of 30 percent of ROs logged with declined services.

In addition to knowing where the lost revenue is, automated logging of op codes reveals which repairs your advisors are having trouble selling. This provides training opportunities so you can quickly improve performance and reduce the number of overall declined services.

2) Provide visual proof

Most mobile service department applications provide technicians and advisors with the ability to take photos or videos of worn parts. Make it a habit to text or email your photos and/or videos to your customers for their review. Seeing is believing, and people are far more likely to approve a recommended service when provided with visual proof. If they don’t approve the repair right away, send visual proof again a week later.

To accompany the videos and photos, provide additional information on why it’s so important to get the repair performed sooner rather than later—whether it’s a safety issue or another reason.

3) Address declined service and recalls at check-in

More and more tablet check-in tools integrated with a CRM list previously declined service recommendations at the beginning of the process. It’s a great time to revisit what the recommendation was and explain why it is needed.

As for recall information, lane applications with strong real-time recall data integration provide the opportunity to alert customers of safety issues, even before the lane and multi-point inspection occur. An estimated 25 percent of vehicles on the road today have an open recall. Dealers utilizing their recall data are seeing a 50 percent increase in customer pay overall.

4) Multi-channel follow up

Don’t place the burden of follow-up entirely on your service advisors’ shoulders. Today much of the declined service follow-up process can be automated. Service advisors can record a friendly service reminder that can be automatically dropped into the customer’s voice mail at pre-determined time intervals after the customer’s visit.

Meanwhile, have BDC agents reach out to connect in-person. One highly effective approach is to create a report with the top five safety op codes and prioritize those first. Incorporate a sense of urgency into your follow-up scripts.

In addition to phone calls, follow-up with personalized emails and texts. Send visual proof again. Send a coupon as an incentive. Eventually that customer will get the repair done, the only question is, will they bring their vehicle to your shop or take it somewhere else? Be persistent to keep your dealership top of mind when it’s time for service.

Every declined service is a missed opportunity for both revenue and relationship-building. Fortunately, mobile tablet technology has made it easy to log op codes, win customer trust and be persistent with follow-up. Perfecting this process will recover thousands of dollars in lost fixed ops revenue every month. 

How many vehicles do you sell out of your service lane every month? What if you could doble that amount?

These days you need all the sales opportunities you can get. Next to digital leads and inbound calls, the service department provides the most sales opportunities. For every opportunity that comes in on the sales side, you may have three, five or even nine opportunities in the service department.

This is the low-hanging fruit. All it takes is the right in-store process, commitment and technology to create a vehicle exchange or trade-up program. With this type of program, we have seen dealers boost their overall new and used vehicle sales by 10 percent or greater within the first six months.

Here are the steps involved in creating a vehicle exchange program:

Find the Opportunities

Hire or assign someone in your store to be a vehicle exchange specialist. Every single day this person reviews all the day’s service appointments, ROs, vehicle details and the customers’ equity positions. The goal is to identify and target the best candidates to approach.

Not only should the customers be in an equity position, but they should also have vehicles that fit the profile you’re looking for. If you’re a Mercedes dealer, you don’t want to approach the owner of a 2008 Jeep with 140,000 miles. Your service advisors should also be aware of your used car stock plan and the top 10 makes/models you’re looking for.

Identify the best appointments in terms of equity position and vehicle type and do most of the preparation for the purchase offers before the customer arrives.

Dedicated Personnel

A vehicle exchange program requires dedicated sales personnel, so reward your best salespeople with permission to work in the service lane. That’s the kind of attitude you need to have about these opportunities—because they really are the best opportunities. I know of a few dealers that moved their used car buyer’s office to the service department.

When a vehicle arrives, this dedicated salesperson does an appraisal of the vehicle and completes the final details of the purchase offer. Then, they print out the purchase offer and either approach the owner of the vehicle if they’re waiting or place the purchase offer on the seat of the vehicle. This is a great, no-pressure method for starting a conversation. 

The Purchase Offer

The goal of the purchase offer is to create awareness and some pain in the customer’s mind. The best purchase offers compare the cost of ownership for their current vehicle to the cost of ownership for a new vehicle. If you can finagle it so that it clearly shows the cost is less to be in a newer car, the sale almost becomes a no-brainer.

Follow up is critical. You may get a lot of customers whose knee-jerk reaction is to say “no,” when first presented with the opportunity. But when they go home and look at their worksheet, they may start to think about it. A new car. Cheaper to own.

Follow up is critical. Create a process that includes email and phone scripts.

Goals and Expectations

A successful vehicle exchange program requires goals and expectations. As a general manager, you need to be clear and concise as to how many purchase offers and sales you expect to make off the program every day, every month and every year.

If you’re a 40 RO per day store, start with ten offers and two sales per day. If you’re a 200 RO per day store, 50 offers and five sales per day is completely achievable (I have seen it firsthand).

Make the goal realistic and attainable, but don’t sell yourself short, either. Remember that your service lane is one of your best lead generators.

Demand to see copies of every purchase offer with comparison worksheets, notes and outcomes on a daily basis. Review these deals in your daily save-a-deal or make-a-deal meetings. Keep your team accountable.

Feed the Monster

Once you have a successful vehicle exchange program up and running, you want to promote and market it. The more people that come into your service lane, the more sales opportunities you will create.

We recommend multi-channel marketing programs with a focus on the following types of service campaigns:

1. Defector prevention
2. Custom service/repairs
3. CSI surveys

Include information about your vehicle exchange program in all marketing communications, and send them to targeted lists, including all customers in an equity position. 

John Wooden once said, “Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be.” I would argue that in today’s business climate, failure to change is absolutely fatal.

A vehicle exchange program requires some process change and a different mindset, but the good news is you will see results quickly and they’re easy to track. Within six months, expect an overall boost of 10 percent in new and used vehicle sales, if not significantly more.

Atlanta, GA – April 10, 2018 – ELEAD1ONE today announced that its DealBuilder digital retailing platform was honored with two 2018 Automotive Website Awards (AWA) at the NADA Convention & Expo. Additionally, ELEAD1ONE’s Service1One service retention suite took home an AWA award in the Fixed Ops category. The three awards were presented to ELEAD1ONE at a ceremony hosted by PCG Companies on March 22nd at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

“Digital retailing was a major theme at NADA this year, and the response to our rollout of DealBuilder was incredible,” said Bill Wittenmyer, Partner with ELEAD1ONE. “We are thrilled that forward-thinking dealers are embracing this new technology as a way to attract new customers and improve their car-buying experience.”

PCG Companies’ Vanguard award is a new category this year, presented to companies and products leading the way in new developments in the automotive industry. A statement on the AWA website summarizes why ELEAD1ONE received this prestigious honor:

“The portable DealBuilder Showroom and the Online app provide all the tools for dealership personnel to manage the buying process. It is structured to be convenient and satisfying for the consumer and yet, highly informative for dealership management. A key separation factor of DealBuilder is that the financial calculations are done with ELEAD1ONE’s industry-leading desking suite, and payments are calculated to the penny in all 50 states and counties in the U.S. DealBuilder can truly facilitate the entire process - automated and streamlined – all the way through loan and lease documentation and delivery.”

DealBuilder is a digital retailing application that guides customers through the entire car-buying experience, while allowing dealers to own the leads and retain control throughout the process. DealBuilder can be used either in-store with DealerBuilder Showroom, or on a dealer’s website with DealBuilder Online. The Showroom and Online versions are synchronized for a seamless online to offline experience. Both apps are fully integrated into ELEAD1ONE CRM and can be used on a desktop, mobile tablet or smartphone.

According to PCG Companies, ELEAD1ONE’s Service1One platform distinguishes every important step in the dealership service experience, from intake to repair completion, while streamlining operational processes and incorporating crucial marketing tools to help dealers capitalize on every possible sales opportunity.

The Service1One suite centralizes every component of service drive technologies into one comprehensive view; including online service scheduling, lane applications, multi-point inspections, shop management, automated marketing and service advisor training.

For more information about DealBuilder and Service1One, visit http://www.elead-crm.com.

About ELEAD1ONE

ELEAD1ONE, the benchmark in automotive software, helps dealers bridge the gap between sales, service, and marketing operations. The company’s automotive-only contact center, CRM, and service drive technologies are the foundations of their unique suite of products that drive its clients forward through strategic business advantage. Headquartered in Georgia, ELEAD1ONE has over 1,500 employees nationwide and serves more than 8,000 dealerships across the United States and Canada, including six of the top ten dealer groups.

ELEAD1ONE continues to lead the industry standard by providing insight to the community, identifying trends, and through the continuous development of personalized retail solutions that help dealers operate more profitably. For more information, visit our Website, like us on Facebook, YouTube, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Dealers are great at creating expectations. They advertise their dealerships as family owned, friendly, hassle-free and low-price leaders. These promises are what motivate the customer to call in the first place.

Then the expectation gap opens up. Typical problems that dealerships run into include:

• Calls getting put on hold, transferred to voice mails, routed to a carousel of wrong persons, or worse, disconnected
• Customer does not get the information they called for, such as a price quote
• Nobody returns the customer's call

When these things happen to your customers, your dealership instantly loses credibility. You promote how easy it is to do business with you, but that's not what customers experience.

It's not difficult to fix your phone processes, but it does require a strategy. Try these tips to help bridge the customer expectation gap at your store.

Get a Call Analysis

If your digital marketing strategy is effective, you are receiving more calls than ever before. Approximately 50 percent of car shoppers who use their phones to browse inventory find it easier to "click to call" rather than fill out a lead form.

Phone leads outnumber Internet leads by four to one and are probably your best, low-funnel leads. If you don't have the personnel and training in place to handle this increased call volume, you are likely losing money.

Do you know how many inbound calls your dealership receives each day? Do you know how many are answered? Most dealers find a call analysis very eye-opening. If you've never had one done for your dealership, I highly recommend it.

Consider a Virtual BDC/Call Center

Many dealers believe their staff should be answering phones and having those initial conversations. This would be great if it actually happened or if these calls were handled properly. The irony here is that if your employees are doing their jobs, they are often away from their phones and with other in-store customers.

Another reason why dealers are hesitant to have a BDC is that their sales managers and service advisors want to be in control of their own scheduling. That's because they want a schedule that's best for them and not necessarily what's best for the dealership. If a service advisor wants to leave at 5:00 pm, do you think he's going to schedule a 4:30 appointment?

Dealers that have committed to setting up a BDC or outsourcing their calls to a BDC service rarely go back to the 'old way.' They immediately see the benefits, including:

• More phone calls answered
• More sales and service appointments
• Shop capacity is maximized
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Big reduction in employees playing phone tag with customers

I realize that setting up, staffing and managing a BDC can be an expensive proposition. Many dealers find it's cheaper and more efficient to outsource their calls to a professional BDC service.

Sell Expertise, Not Appointments

In many dealerships, this may require a paradigm shift. It’s important to understand that you are selling information and expertise, not appointments. Your dealership advertises a hassle-free experience, but when a customer calls to ask a price, most times the salesperson refuses to give it to them. Instead they try to sell the appointment. That's not exactly hassle-free.

I've worked in the car business for many years. I used to agree and be a whole-hearted believer in selling the appointment. But the mentality of today's shopper has changed, and this is no longer the best approach.

For one thing, car shoppers research online extensively. Before they call any dealers, they know the model and make of the car they want. They know the price range they believe is fair.

By the time they call your dealership they're in the process of elimination. When a customer calls they want to confirm three things:

• Inventory availability
• Pricing
• Whether you are someone they want to do business with

If it’s difficult to do business with you over the phone, the customer immediately thinks, "What's it going to be like when I get there?" Consumers already have trust issues with car dealers. Don't make it worse by playing games with them.

I'm not saying just to quote a price and be done. Every phone call is an opportunity to sell yourself and your expertise, and to sell your dealership's value proposition.

Remember that when a customer calls your dealership, you've got one chance to make a great first impression. Ensure that your phone processes quickly connect customers with your staff. Give customers the information they’re looking for, and they’re more likely to do business with you in return.

When it comes to increasing service revenue, there is no shortage of areas to consider – improving process efficiency, expanding facilities, hiring more technicians, just to name a few. With an ever-expanding list of action-items, many dealerships are overlooking one of the easiest ways to increase service revenue and the best part – it doesn’t involve spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in remodeling or new-hires.

The low-hanging fruit in most service department lies in declined service. No, seriously. If you don’t have a rock-solid process for recapturing declined services, your dealership is likely leaving a large amount in missed opportunities (and future sales) on the table. The good news is this is a relatively easy fix and a surefire way to add to your dealership’s bottom line.

Traditionally, most dealers only track accepted service business when it is listed on the repair order and entered into the DMS. Few dealers even bother to record declined services due to the difficult task of manually entering codes for services or repairs customers don’t even want.

We all know that you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Declined services account for a significant amount of missed opportunity in service, and as profits shrink on the sales side, dealers can no longer afford to let these dollars slip through the cracks.

Customers decline services for one of two reasons: they either don’t believe you, or they can’t afford it at that moment. Does that mean they will NEVER opt for that particular service? Not necessarily, and if you take the time to educate and build a trust-based relationship you stand a much better chance of performing the service than the independent service folks down the street.

The key reason you aren’t capturing these service opportunities is likely simple. Your service advisors need a better process for capturing the data you need – every declined service for individual customers that visit your service drive. Modern, affordable tablet technology can bridge the data gap, enabling the service advisor to quickly and easily document declined services during the multi-point inspection.

With a solid tracking process in place, you can focus on addressing the root problem – customers likely decline in the first place due to lack of trust or lack of money. Both situations can be overcome. Let’s focus on the outcome you can control – your relationship with the customer. Provide them proof of the problem with a personalized, video documenting the reason for each of your repair recommendations. Give your service advisors the power to completely eliminate disbelief from the equation by showing a set of bare brake pads alongside a new set. The beauty of video is, at that point, the customer no longer needs to believe you – they can see for themselves.

Now that you have overcome one of the two obstacles (you still can’t fill an empty bank account), what do you do with that video evidence and declined service information after the customer leaves? Remarket to them!

It’s time to think beyond serving up a generic service coupon. Modern consumers expect accurate, personalized marketing. Leverage the physical proof that the vehicle needs repairs, along with the necessary documentation to remarket to the customer. The return on this style of marketing is incredible and far more efficient than traditional efforts.

Look, we’re all seeking ways to grow our bottom line in ever-changing markets. The added value in recapturing this lost business is a compelling story itself, but this new technology provides an even more compelling opportunity – the chance to rewrite the stereotypical narrative of a customer leaving the service desk feeling scammed and heading right down the street to a competitor.

Each of these visits represents the unique opportunity to build stronger relationships based on transparency and trust. Every customer experience has the potential to result in a positive referral or a negative referral where consumers tell their friends to avoid your shop. What story will your customers tell?

Bill Wittenmyer explains the concept of why dealerships should train their staff to "eat the big frog first" in this short video blog.

Atlanta, GA - October 31, 2017 - ELEAD1ONE announced today the release of a free eBook for auto dealers, titled "Fix Your Phones & Boost Profit in Your Service Department." The eBook presents a compelling case on why dealers need to address phone processes and improve customer communications in the service department. 

In a recent CallRevu analysis of 4.2 million phone calls into dealership service departments, 68 percent or nearly 2.8 million calls connected with an agent. That means 32 percent of calls did not connect, representing 1.3 million missed opportunities3. Approximately one out of three people calling into dealership service departments aren't being helped. 

"Today's consumer is accustomed to on-demand buying experiences delivered by companies like Amazon, as well as on-demand information delivered by smartphones and social media," said Bill Wittenmyer, Partner with ELEAD1ONE. "The majority of dealership service departments are not meeting their customers' expectations when it comes to connecting quickly, getting questions answered, setting appointments and solving problems. If dealers want to stay competitive they need to fix their phone processes." 

"Fix Your Phones & Boost Profit in Your Service Department" explores technologies that dealers can implement, as well as best practices to follow, to improve communications with customers. Technologies that increase customer connections include online scheduling, texting and virtual service BDC solutions. Best practices such as dedicated call answering, service advisor training and adopting transparency in pricing are also covered. 

The eBook includes real-world examples from dealerships including the Gettel Automotive Group in western Florida and Berglund Luxury Auto in Lynchburg, VA. Both dealerships bridged their customer communications gap with solutions outlined in the eBook. 

To download the eBook visit: https://hubs.ly/H08-VTj0 

 For more information visit www.elead-crm.com or call 855-983-9470.  

About ELEAD1ONE 

ELEAD1ONE, the benchmark in automotive software, helps dealers bridge the gap between sales, service, and marketing operations. The company’s automotive-only contact center, CRM, and service drive technologies are the foundations of their unique suite of products that drive its clients forward through strategic business advantage. Headquartered in Georgia, ELEAD1ONE has over 1,500 employees nationwide and serves more than 8,000 dealerships across the United States and Canada, including six of the top ten dealer groups. 

ELEAD1ONE continues to lead the industry standard by providing insight to the community, identifying trends, and through the continuous development of personalized retail solutions that help dealers operate more profitably. For more information, visit our Website, like us on Facebook, YouTube, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Customer Experience Improvement Drives 15 Percent Increase in Fixed Ops

Atlanta, GA – October 23, 2017 - ELEAD1ONE announced today that its inbound call center service delivers a 70 percent appointment set rate for Florida-based Gettel Automotive Group. Of an average 7,200 inbound calls to the group's 22 stores every month, more than 5,000 total appointments are set. This is significantly higher than the industry average of 30 to 50 percent appointment set rate.

Along with other improvements, the call center has helped drive a 15 percent same store, year-over-year increase in fixed ops gross for the last eight years. Additionally, ELEAD1ONE's call center agents answer 100 percent of the total inbound calls to Gettel's service departments, with an average time to answer of just seven seconds. Recent industry research shows that in the average dealership, 25 percent of inbound service callers never connect with a dealership employee, causing dealers to miss service opportunities.

"ELEAD1ONE does a wonderful job of taking care of our customers," said Fred Bartholomew, Fixed Ops Director for the Gettel Automotive Group. "Their call center agents are provided with scripts and training, providing a consistent experience to our customers day in and day out, which is important."

Eight years ago Bartholomew spearheaded efforts to improve the customer experience across all of Gettel Auto Group's service departments. The first step was to ensure that customers' inbound calls were being answered. "Our dealerships then were similar to a lot of others; the calls were not well managed. It was difficult to get through to people or customers were put on hold, sent to voice mail or the phones just rang," said Bartholomew.

To address the problem Bartholomew created an internal call center just for answering inbound service calls. Over the next seven years Gettel's call center grew from four employees to over a dozen, plus a full-time manager. "I really liked what we did, but it was very expensive," said Bartholomew. "Among agents, there is a fair amount of turnover and training required, so we had to pay for a good manager. Then there's the cost of all the IT issues associated with doing it yourself."

In 2016 Bartholomew heard about an inbound call center service offered by ELEAD1ONE. He visited the call center, watched the agents in action and decided to make the switch. "I honestly hated to close our call center down, but ELEAD1ONE can provide economy of scale that we could not compete with internally," said Bartholomew.

The inbound call center is one of several initiatives that Bartholomew implemented that has improved the service customer experience in the Gettel Automotive Group. He says the improvements have resulted in a 15 percent same store, year-over-year increase in fixed ops gross for the last eight years.

Another initiative Bartholomew implemented to improve the customer experience was service advisor training. With far fewer calls coming into the service department, the Gettel Group's service advisors are interrupted less, have more time to pay attention to the customers in front of them, and can be proactive about the things that generate more revenue. "Skilled advisors should not be spending their time setting appointments; that's an administrative task," said Bartholomew. However he does encourage his advisors to make important calls such as answering customers' questions and notifying them when their vehicle is ready for pick up.

Of an average monthly 7,200 inbound calls to Gettel Automotive Group's service departments, ELEAD1ONE's call center agents set more than 5,000 appointments for a 70 percent appointment rate. Another 18 percent of inbound calls are transferred to a specific advisor or flagged as requiring an immediate call back, and 12 percent of calls are transferred to other departments in the dealership. Additionally, call center agents send appointment confirmation emails and follow up on missed appointments, helping to maximize shop capacity.

The significant reduction in call volume has resulted in less tension in the service drive. At first Gettel's service advisors were reluctant to give up control of setting appointments, but quickly realized their fears of losing customers were unfounded. "Our advisors love it," said Bartholomew. "They used to get overwhelmed with constant interruptions and call backs. You can really see, feel and hear the difference now in their attitudes. They are less stressed and that shows in the way they deal with customers."

Another way the call center contributes to a better customer experience is that now appointments are set based on customer preference, not on advisor

preference. When service advisors set their own appointments they may tell a customer that Saturday is not possible if they are not planning to work that day, or that 3:00 p.m. is the last available time because they want to go home early. "ELEAD1ONE doesn't care who the appointment is for or, if it's at 7:00 a.m. or 4:00 p.m., they are unbiased," said Bartholomew. "Our workflow is more even and consistent, and our early evenings, Saturdays and Sundays got much better."

Additionally, the call center agents are trained to conduct surveys and collect customer email addresses. In February 2017 Gettel Automotive Group purchased a Toyota store, which happened to have a dismal 51 percent email capture rate in the service department. "In five months that increased 15 percent to a 66 percent email capture rate," said Bartholomew. "That's still not ideal, we like to be above 90 percent, but in a short amount of time that's a great improvement."

Email capture rate is critical because it's an easy and cost-effective way to communicate with customers, and email marketing is an important part of Gettel Automotive Group's customer retention strategy.

ELEAD1ONE's inbound call center service has played an important role in Gettel Automotive Group's strategy to improve the service customer experience at all 22 locations. "Service advisor training plays a key role too, but it's impossible for advisors to be proactive when they are always stressed about having to return calls and feeling like they are behind," said Bartholomew.

About ELEAD1ONE

ELEAD1ONE, the benchmark in automotive software, helps dealers bridge the gap between sales, service, and marketing operations. The company’s automotive-only contact center, CRM, and service drive technologies are the foundations of their unique suite of products that drive its clients forward through strategic business advantage. Headquartered in Georgia, ELEAD1ONE has over 1,500 employees nationwide and serves more than 8,000 dealerships across the United States and Canada, including six of the top ten dealer groups.

ELEAD1ONE continues to lead the industry standard by providing insight to the community, identifying trends, and through the continuous development of personalized retail solutions that help dealers operate more profitably. For more information, visit our Website, like us on Facebook, YouTube, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.