*Previously seen in FUEL, the Reynolds and Reynolds monthly newsletter*

By Jessica Quattro

I’ll come right out and say it – customers are disenchanted with the car buying process.

I know, I know… “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

But it’s a serious issue, and it’s one that spans generations. Roughly 25% of Gen Xers say they would rather battle a root canal than negotiate with a car dealer. Think about that… a root canal. Similarly, 56% of millennials say they feel salespeople pressure them into buying something right away. 1 How did we possibly let the car buying process get so painful that consumers would rather have a dental procedure than visit a dealership? Upon close inspection, it’s easy to see the problem is rooted in the execution of the process rather than the core process itself.

To start, salespeople are often limited to approaching customers completely cold or waiting for the customer to make the first move. They can’t proactively jump on a good opportunity because identifying those opportunities requires detailed information beyond a customer’s name and phone number. This leads to customers reacting to most sales interactions defensively, reducing their willingness to buy.

Deeper in the buying process, the typical execution of deal negotiation rubs customers the wrong way. Salespeople spend too much time away from the customer to counteract their lingering feelings of pressure and expectation. Whether they’re at the desk talking over deal points with the sales manager or in transit to/from the desk, the customer is left alone.

An unattended customer is a wild card. Are they shopping your competition? Are they venting to their friends via text? Are they drafting their Google review? Or maybe they’re just sitting there in silence while dealership stereotypes and horror stories swirl around in their head? There’s no way for the salesperson to manage the sales cycle AND the customer’s experience when they aren’t with the customer.

All that to say – the average salesperson is woefully under equipped to effectively manage all aspects of the buying experience.

Luckily, technology is growing and improving to meet these challenges head on.

New solutions are addressing customer pain points by giving your salespeople what they need to manage the buying process – from first contact with the dealership, to negotiations, to signing the deal. Allow me to paint a picture of what this looks like:

1. An indicator in the customer profile visually shows an equity estimate on the customer’s current vehicle, indicating to the salesperson that the repeat customer has positive equity in their potential trade.
2. After settling on a vehicle with the customer, the salesperson skips the “leaving their customer” part of the traditional negotiation process by electronically sending the sales manager key details to start the process.
3. These details lead to a strategic first pencil created specifically for the customer using the details gathered like the finance and payment options they’re looking for and the ballpark trade value based on the equity estimate.
4. From there, the sales manager starts a deal based on what the customer is looking for, rather than a pre-set payment option matrix. All the while, the salesperson is present with the customer and available to discuss the vehicle or answer questions about the process.
5. Once the sales manager electronically sends the deal back, the salesperson easily presents the payment options on their tablet or computer where the customer accepts or revises the options and electronically sends additional details back to the sales manager.
6. The process continues until a deal is settled on, with the salesperson staying present with the consumer, transparently sharing updates and information about the vehicle and deal options. The process is faster, transparent, and streamlined for everyone involved.

CRM technology is being redefined to alleviate some of the tension between you and your customers. This new workflow not only speeds up the sales process, but helps increase repeat buyers and gives the customer a sense of control, ensuring they aren’t left alone while the salesperson runs back and forth from them to the sales manager to negotiate the deal. Furthermore, the most cutting edge CRM technology is allowing the process to expand beyond the four walls of the dealership without sacrificing control or profitability.

To learn more about what else is being done to redefine CRM, read this article about how a redefined CRM can be used to improve teamwork between sales and service departments, deliver better customer service, and increase customer retention.

1    https://www.autodealertodaymagazine.com/322497/87-of-consumers-dislike-dealership-experience-survey-finds

About the Author

Jessica is product planning manager at Reynolds and Reynolds for sales based applications.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Jeff Adams

Everyone knows what the ideal customer experience in the service department looks like: quick, convenient, and transparent. Customers expect the focus to be on them, to be in and out quickly, and to feel like they’re getting a fair deal on every transaction.

What often gets overlooked, however, is to deliver an ideal customer experience, you must first perfect the employee experience.

Employees who are perpetually overwhelmed, distracted, or disgruntled by inefficient processes are simply not going to deliver the kind of customer experience that inspires long-term loyalty. A 2018 Gallup poll found 67 percent of employees experience burnout, with 44 percent feeling this at least sometimes and 23 percent feeling it very often or always.

Another study found that 20 percent of engaged employees (“high performers”) reported feeling burned out. And burnout contributes to turnover, costing U.S. businesses between $150 and $350 billion each year.

One example of many is frustration around pricing. What seems like a simple task in your service drive could actually turn into a tedious one when information has to be rekeyed, the system is misquoting, and employees are trying to get prices to match between systems. Imagine what happens when that is compounded on other inefficiencies.

So how can dealers respond? Is there a way to improve your employees’ day-to-day job experience and boost retention that will have a positive domino effect on your customer experience?

The answer is yes. In fact, there’s a common denominator that improves both the employee and the customer experience in your service department: efficiency.

Efficiency Transforms Working in Service for the Better

Consider what happens when you build your service department on a foundation of efficiency.

Sure, one big benefit is you can cut costs and boost profitability by saving time, whether it’s by eliminating misquoting with an immediate pricing tool or enabling instant communication between advisors and technicians via real-time notifications.

And yes, you can also increase revenue by equipping your advisors with more customer-facing tools and requiring them to follow a standardized process, including the upsell.

But, there’s another critical benefit of efficiency that too many dealers miss: You can also transform the day-to-day, 9-5 work experience of your employees by eliminating redundancies and tedious, multistep manual processes.

Those processes are ultimately a result of the system running your service department, as well as the various third-party solutions you have in place that claim to make your business run better. But what is happening under the surface?

Is every one of those solutions in perfect sync with the others? Are redundancies like data reentry, which create unnecessary additional work for your employees and increase the chances of a costly error, built into your existing processes?

Is it possible that in your quest to improve your service department, your various solutions are actually making your employees’ jobs needlessly more complicated? They could be slowing down productivity, pulling employees away from more profitable tasks, and ultimately hurting your bottom line.

It might seem counterintuitive, but implementing more solutions does not automatically equal a better work environment.

Allow me to suggest a better alternative: Streamline your approach by investing in a single system that can do all of the above. In other words, build on a foundation of efficiency.

When a single system can handle, and often automate, the workflows within your service department from start to finish, your employees are free to focus on more profitable activities (namely, customer interactions).

Those uses are also more meaningful to your employees’ job satisfaction and therefore less likely to cause burnout.

Conclusion

Focusing on efficiency can transform the job experience in your service department for the better. It can alleviate the most manual, tedious, and time-consuming tasks for your employees, freeing them up to pursue more rewarding activities that make you, and them, more efficient and profitable. A win-win.

Decide today to invest in the single system approach and perfect your employees’ job experience. The benefits will far outweigh the costs.

About the Author

Jeff Adams is a Product Planning manager for Service applications at Reynolds and Reynolds.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Chris Walsh

Online retailing surged in 2020, no surprises there. It’s now a huge part of every sales conversation, as more consumers want pieces of the typical car purchase available to them online. However, only about one percent of consumers are truly purchasing there[1]. Meaning, a very small sliver of customers are ending their car purchase where they started, online. And by default, that also means there are customers who have a blended buying experience, starting online and ending in-store. So dealerships have to be able to serve customers no matter how they want to buy. It’s not an either/or choice – online or in-store. It’s being able to offer flexible online retailing options for every customer and by design, being able to Retail Anywhere. Let’s break this down in five steps.

Step 1: Market Your New Process

You would market a new vehicle on your lot, so why not market how equipped you are to meet consumer needs, even from the convenience of their home? To do this, update your external messaging across the board, including:

• Social media feeds
• Search engine advertising
• Website copy
• Emails
• Direct mail

If you communicate to your buyers you can meet them wherever they are, maximizing on that convenience factor, you’ll remain a candidate on their purchasing list. If not, they’ll move on to someone who can.

Step 2: Get Your Vehicle Listings Ready for Prime Time

Vehicle listings online are a huge piece of the buying decision. If you can’t deliver accurate, up-to-date vehicle specs, why would a customer be interested at all? Your online vehicle listings need the essentials:

• Quality, detailed pictures and videos
• Accurate pricing
• Relevant description with just the right amount of detail
• Similar vehicle recommendations
• Consumer reviews of your sales staff

These may be a given for some top-tier dealers, so to get a little more conscientious, consider what pricing options you have available:

• Rebates and incentives, both national and conditional
• Payment calculator that includes full financing and leasing options, as well as the ability to put a down payment online
• Pre-qualification

When you’re armed with these additional options, it adds a new level of convenience for the customer.

Step 3: Maximize Communication

Would you be surprised if I said only 53% of dealer websites met consumer expectations[2]? Good news is you can do better. One piece that’s emerging more in recent years is chat messaging, and given that 72% of chat messages are inventory related[3], it’s in those short few seconds where you need to appeal to the customer with the most appropriate and opportune information.

Establishing this type of convenient communication method keeps the conversation evolving from simple research to a purchasing decision in an organic way, and it’s the easiest and non-intrusive way to gather relevant information from potential buyers who may never step foot in your showroom.

Step 4: Build the Deal

At this point, your foundation is laid, so now it’s about building the deal. With a single system built to work together, the data and pricing are right every time. Use your Desking tools to simply build the deal scenarios and send them to the customer using the communication methods mentioned earlier to keep the deal progressing.

Once the customer accepts a deal option, this means they’re accepting an actual deal, not a hypothetical quote or estimate. Because it’s already been ran through your DMS, it’s not subject to change.

Step 5: Seal the Deal

This is your money maker, your cash cow. F&I drives critical profit for your dealership, but in an online setting, it can be difficult to maintain. Instead of allowing customers to browse on their own, you need to provide a virtual, interactive menu presentation that allows your highly skilled F&I manager to actually sell the customer on any aftermarket products. You can then walk your customer through the electronic document signing process or give them the option to complete the forms on their own.

And finally, funding the deal. This is one of the most resistant parts of online retailing, but there are legitimate security and speed advantages to doing so. With eContracting, you have the potential to secure same-day funding, eliminating interest and shipping costs and saving valuable time – no matter if the deal is signed in-person or remotely.

Digitizing this process also means your F&I manager knows which lender will fund the deal much earlier in the process, making preparing forms quicker and simpler.

The Retail Anywhere Sales Process

Taking the leap to invest in innovation is never easy, but history shows that dealerships who do so benefit. Nowhere is it clearer than in a Retail Anywhere sales process. By creating a more satisfying and more cost effective sales experience, you don’t just keep sales going, you create brand new profit opportunities. Why? Because you’ve introduced an experience that’s more convenient, more transparent, and more customer focused. That’s an undeniable advantage you can’t ignore.

[1] Digital Commerce 360

[2] Deloitte

[3] Gubagoo

About the Author

Chris Walsh is executive vice president of sales and all sales leadership at Reynolds and Reynolds. He is focused on delivering a top-tier suite of products and services to customers from an experienced and highly trained salesforce. During his over 30-year career with Reynolds, he’s built an accomplished background in sales, support, operations, and business development.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Cory Coler

QR (short for Quick Response) codes have been around since 1994; however, it wasn’t until almost three decades later they became more of a solution and less of a novelty. In fact, QR codes are being used more frequently by retailers now than at any other point in history.

The reason for the surge? Growing demand for mobile technology — fueled by the pandemic and the need to provide a safe and hygienic customer experience — has propelled touchless options. QR codes are no longer just a convenience. They provide solutions to problems we face in many retail environments today.

What are the benefits of QR codes?

Hygiene

Hygiene is one of the primary reasons QR codes are seeing such high interest right now. It’s dawning on consumers everywhere that contactless business interactions are the best way to maintain a safe distance and stay healthy. A great example of this is the QR code menu in restaurants. You’ve likely seen them — usually a small sticker or laminated QR code on your table. These replace the single filthiest thing you can touch at a restaurant: a paper menu. (I’m talking filthy as in 185,000 germs per square centimeter.)

Accessibility

Smartphone and recent QR code statistics show 91% of iOS devices have a built-in QR code scanner (Android isn’t too far behind). As older devices are retired and taken out of rotation, that number continues to grow. A study done by Juniper Research suggests 1 billion smartphones will have QR code access by the year 2022. Many people are already walking around with the ability to scan a QR code in their pocket. Don’t believe me? If you’re an iPhone user: simply open your camera app, point the camera at the QR code below, and tap on the notification that pops up. Voila!

Versatility

QR codes have many different uses. They can power anything from simple business cards to more complex touchless payment systems. They enable Wi-Fi authentication, stand in for printed airline boarding passes, and can even be used for service appointment check-in. They are quicker and easier to use and packed with important data. This means less manual entry, less duplication of information, and less room for human error.

Improved Customer Experience

Let’s get specific and look at your service check-in process… By incorporating QR codes into this area of your dealership, customers don’t have to key-in any numbers, wait in a long line, or meet with an advisor face-to-face to signal they’ve arrived for their service appointment. Giving customers the option to check-in using a QR code not only benefits them, but is great for operations as well. It streamlines your check-in process, reduces friction at the check-in counter, and allows advisors to spend more time assisting those who truly need help, which leads to more personalized customer experiences.

Faster Service

Giving customers the option to use a QR code makes for faster service and response time, which leads to more satisfied customers and ultimately, higher backend profits. Saving five minutes per customer may not seem like much of a difference; but, after 20 customers, that’s almost two hours of saved time and labor.

It’s no surprise consumers are more satisfied with businesses who are mobile-friendly, especially since many remain cautious about their health and safety. But more than that, using QR codes in different areas of your business, like the service check-in process, provides a level of digital convenience customers are used to in their other interactions. And, it elevates their experience with your dealership. It’s time to say goodbye to long lines and wasted time… and hello to the flexibility and convenience only offered through QR codes.

About the Author

Cory Coler is a member of the fixed operations product planning team at Reynolds and Reynolds. He began his career in the automotive industry in 2001 at a Toyota retailer, becoming an ASE Certified Advisor and Toyota Certified Assistant Service Manager. In 2005, he joined Reynolds’ Service Price Guides (SPG) department in Tampa, Florida and quickly became a subject matter expert for the product. In 2014, he transitioned to his current role in Product Planning where he is responsible for the enhancement and design of several fixed operations applications.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Chris Walsh

Nobody saw 2020 coming. It flipped our world upside down in a matter of days, and some of us are still trying to put our heads back on straight. But the aftereffects that late 2020 and early 2021 brought are even more surprising. Despite sky-high car prices and minimal inventory, shoppers are in fact out there. And there’s a lot of them. In this article, I want to highlight current and upcoming car buying trends you need to know so you can better position your dealership to not only capture these shoppers but to maximize each opportunity.

Trend #1: Rise of Couch Shopping (figuratively)

For years, consumers have started the car buying process online in the form of research. With more information at their fingertips, this convenience is the catalyst for most purchases. 2020 spurred consumers to adapt their buying habits even further. No longer did they want to step foot in the dealership. They wanted more and more aspects of the traditional car sale available to them in a remote setting.

The challenge is making sure your dealership still has some control in the process, keeps the customer engaged, and maintains compliance along the way. A retail anywhere approach allows you to serve your customers no matter where they are, without seeing a dip in profits or efficiency.

Trend #2: Frictionless Is Here to Stay

Though this somewhat falls under the couch shopping trend, a frictionless experience is an entirely different beast and deserves its own recognition. Historically, consumers have been prone to value convenience. 2020 put this into overdrive. This means setting up your F&I managers so they can sell in an online environment; because yes, even if the customer isn’t in your store, you still need a full, transparent, and compliant F&I experience.

The tricky part is consistency and accuracy throughout the process. What happens when your customers want to start online but end in-store? What happens when you a co-buyer located in a different state? Do you find that your F&I managers have to reenter everything the customer already started online because it didn’t carry over? Or maybe the information just isn’t accurate so they have to spend time reviewing what’s right and what’s wrong.

When a customer wants a blended, online to in-store car buying experience or the transaction starts and stops at different points for whatever reason, your dealership needs to be able to pick up exactly where the customer left off. No rekeying of data, no missed signatures. Simply finish the deal, grab the keys, and go. That is the frictionless experience consumers expect.

Trend #3: Used Vehicles Are Flying… Off Lots, That Is

Saying used vehicles are a hot commodity right now might be stating the obvious, but sometimes the solution isn’t as obvious. Let’s address the elephant in the room: chip shortage. With less new vehicles being produced on the manufacturer level, dealers have no choice but to scrounge for used vehicles in order to keep their lots full. I recently drove by a local dealership, and they had less than ten new cars. It’s truly frightening to see.

Additionally, consumers are opting for used over new in general. As new vehicle prices climb, used vehicles are simply more appealing. The quality of vehicles has also improved over the years, so used vehicles aren’t carrying that negative stigma anymore of being outdated or rundown.

To acquire inventory, most dealers are looking outside of their four walls. What gets overlooked are those used vehicles already in their store or database. When you have a predictive analytics engine that can identify likely trade-in customers, that is your most cost effective way for acquiring what you really need. The data fueling the engine identifies only those with the highest likelihood to make a move, so you’re not wasting time on those who simply aren’t interested.

I also have to mention getting vehicles ready for prime time. When you do in fact get your hands on used inventory, you first have to get it into retail condition. Most dealers think their reconditioning process is just a few days, but in fact, it averages around 12. I don’t think we need to do the math, but the longer a vehicle sits in recon, the longer it takes for you to see a return (if there is one at all), and start the process all over again. As demand increases, your recon process should be automated, transparent, and streamlined if you want to keep up.

Trend #4: Deals Trump Loyalty

Customer loyalty used to be fairly strong. Shoppers would tend to stick with a certain brand, and even sometimes a specific dealership. I hate to say it, but that ship has sailed. In a recent study, over half of the brands analyzed had a less than 50% brand retention rate. This means consumers are no longer shopping based on brand or dealership. They’re shopping based on price. They simply want the best, well-rounded deal, even if that means sacrificing a little bit of the experience.

What this means for you is optimizing your digital ad strategy and online presence. Working with a dedicated partner to identify conquest opportunities will be critical this year as more consumers opt for a new brand. You want to make sure you’re the one they pick. And keeping your current customers doesn’t hurt too.

Your Next Move

Trends definitely come and go, but I believe what we’ve seen this past year and a half are more than just trends. It’s the new way of life and doing business. The dealerships that fail to address the changing car buying landscape will eventually fall to the wayside. So think about these trends, adoptions, and how they will continue to shape our industry moving forward.

About the Author

Chris Walsh is the executive vice president of Sales at Reynolds and Reynolds, overseeing all Sales leadership for the company. His focus on delivering a top-tier suite of products and services for Reynolds customers, developing the company’s Sales talent through intensive on-the-job and classroom-based training and education, and equipping that talent with a data-driven approach and actionable market insights, all combine to position Reynolds Sales for long-term success. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Ohio University.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Jody Huff

Service managers, you know your advisors are busy. You know they play a pretty significant role in your success. In fact, nearly 75% of calls into a dealership are for parts and service. That’s a lot of potential revenue on the other end of the phone!

But to be honest, they are faced with a lot of distractions throughout the day that can have major implications on how well these incoming service calls are handled. From in-person conversations with appointment and walk-in customers, to playing phone tag with customers about their vehicle status, to selling additional work your technicians, it’s a constant battle of trying to balance all of these day-to-day activities.

However, with the right tools in place, their jobs can become more streamlined and less distracting. Follow these three simple tips to better handle phone calls in service.

Automation

Think about how many times your service advisors receive incoming calls from customers asking for updates on their vehicles. Or how many times your advisors have to place outgoing calls for appointment reminders. While these are valuable to your business, your advisors could be spending their time doing much more profitable tasks.

You can automate these cumbersome processes with a 24/7 self-service line for incoming calls and automatic voice notifications for outgoing calls. Customers will be able to stay in the know, on their terms. From parts arrivals and RO statuses to ready for pick-up and appointment reminders…. These manual tasks simply go away, allowing your advisors to focus on building relationships and generating more revenue.

Mobility

How often are your service advisors actually available to take incoming phone calls? We already established that 75% of calls are for service, but here’s a few more facts that will get your wheels spinning. First, it’s important to recognize that 77% of dealership calls are from new customers…. That’s new business. That’s new revenue. This sounds great in theory; but, here’s the kicker, nearly 20% of calls into the dealership are missed or unanswered. That’s revenue down the drain just because the phone wasn’t picked up.

To help prevent missed calls in service, you can “twin” your advisors’ desk phones to their cell phones. “Twinning” is basically mirroring what happens on their desk phone so that it also happens on their cell phone at the same exact time. This is especially useful when advisors are talking with a technician, checking on parts, or even on their lunch break. With new revenue on the line, you can’t afford to miss these calls.

Dialed-In Information

This is probably the most important aspect of the phone call, but it’s often overlooked or taken for granted. Caller ID changed the way everyone navigated the telephone, but you’d be surprised how many dealerships are still operating without it.

A lot of dealerships are still answering calls with basic, impersonalized questions. Not only do you first have to identify the customer (how many Jon Smith’s do you have to sort through to find the right one?), but then there’s additional wasted time trying to identify and sometimes understand what the customer is calling about.

A customer profile screen that pulls directly from your DMS and immediately displays before the phone is even picked up solves all these problems. You should be able to see customer history, vehicles owned, customer lifetime value, upcoming service appointments, and even web and marketing activity that tells you exactly why a customer might be calling based on their recent interaction with your website or emails.

You’d be surprised how far this dialed-in information can take you. It might seem small, but it really changes the big picture for the better.

Next Steps

Phone calls in service are critical. Following these three simple steps using a fully connected phone system will dramatically improve your phone game. If nothing else, consider implementing a service BDC to help with service phone traffic. Having a dedicated team for appointment reminders and follow-up will still allow your advisors to do what they do best: upsell.

About the Author

Jody Huff is the Vice President of Sales Development at Reynolds and Reynolds and has been with the company for over 26 years. Jody’s alma mater is Texas A&M University where he earned a BBA in Marketing.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Todd Polak

Running a successful business is no simple task. It requires detail, planning, and strategy. And when you put it all into action, your dealership’s people, processes, and technology must work together to be your best.

However, time and time again I see dealerships that claim to be focused on long-term success forget one of the most important pieces of that effort – reporting.

Whether they are using Excel spreadsheets or building their own in a reporting tool, they are relying on a method that doesn’t align with the long-term success they’re striving for. Simply put, the tools are in place, but the strategy is missing.

The truth is, the right reporting can have a big impact on business success. It means the difference between simply seeing your gross is down this month and seeing a way to fix it. Or finding out how much you profited on a sale versus understanding its true profitability by looking at the entire lifecycle of the full deal.

Especially when you implement technology with a profit-centric focus, reporting should be the first place you turn when looking to maintain long-term profitability, success, and efficiency.

Here are 3 keys to success that take your reporting to the next level and allow you to make more strategic business decisions.

1. Have access to accurate and key business information at any time.

If it takes a day, a week, or longer to view a report, you’re at a disadvantage. Not only is the information no longer current, someone is spending valuable time putting it together when their expertise could be used in better ways.

You need already-built reports you can access in a matter of seconds. Timing is everything, right? When you can see how your dealership is performing today, good or bad, you have the ability to make strategic decisions to impact it.

Whether you’re in the dealership or on the go, being able to see what’s holding up contracts in transit, which open ROs should be closed, or the status of unbooked deals gives you the visibility to hold people accountable and run a more profitable business.

2. View reports that provide insight, not just numbers.

Looking at a spreadsheet can be overwhelming or confusing. The more data you have, the more crowded the report, and the harder it is to take anything away from it.

When it comes to building your reports in a tool, you might have a little more insight into the basics. However, it shouldn’t be your job to know how and where to manipulate the numbers to see the information you want. You could be missing important hidden trends that you don’t know how to find.

Reporting is only as useful as the takeaways you can get from it. To take your reporting to the next level, it must be presented in a way that is easy to digest and understand. No confusion, no hidden trends.

Using colors and signals to call out problems and successes, drill down capabilities that connect your data, and intuitive reports that know what information to combine all allow you to understand your performance, not just review it.

3. Identify profit opportunities with ease.

Being able to see where your dealership’s profit opportunities are is a huge advantage when trying to run your most profitable business. But, you can’t have opportunities without access and insight.

Without access to reports in seconds, the profit opportunities would be behind you, in the past, unattainable. And if you take away insight, sure, you might be able to see your reports in seconds, but that means nothing if the data is confusing.

You see, when you can combine access and insight, you have a reporting tool that shows profit opportunities you can actually leverage. It’s one thing to review information, but what sets you apart is the ability to act on it.

Effective reporting can show you what is beneath the surface. It knows what to look for and where to find it. No one has to spend time compiling anything.

Therefore, opportunities like the profit potential of sending deals to your best F&I manager are easy to see. With information like that in mind, you can be strategic about which deals go where and end the month more profitably.

Conclusion

Reporting is more advanced than ever; now it’s time for you to capitalize on what it has to offer. Although your business may be successful today, the icing on the cake is having a reporting solution on your side to provide you the access, insight, and opportunity to run your most profitable dealership yet.

About the Author

Todd Polak is a product planning manager with Reynolds and Reynolds. He is currently responsible for business employee management applications, GAS, security management, and general systems. He joined Reynolds and Reynolds in 2012, working with the remote software implementation department specializing in accounting and payroll products and installations.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Tim Yalich

Do you find yourself questioning whether online retailing is really worth the hassle? Be honest, do you secretly hope it’s a trend that passes after the pandemic ends?

If you answered yes to those questions, you might be disappointed to learn that digital retailing probably isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, about 20% of consumers would like to complete their next vehicle purchase entirely online. 1

You might have some apprehension about taking your processes online – especially in your F&I department. The good news is, you don’t have to sacrifice F&I profitability or compliance to bring your customers a digital experience. But, it’s not enough to simply offer online options for customers, you have to be able to actively sell in order to see success. Three simple tips can help ensure your F&I processes are up to par for a digital retailing environment.

1. Keep customers engaged.

Many customers are focused on the purchase of the car itself and do not have vehicle protection products top of mind. How do you get customers to look at products and maintain your backend profit if they’re not with you in person? You might be tempted to send them a link to a site where they can browse F&I products on their own. While it can be great for customers to educate themselves, it usually takes talking to an F&I manager to actually close the sale.

Even if you are engaging with customers, it can be tough to interest them in vehicle protection products when you’re only able to have discussions over the phone or worse – email. While you’re trying to present important information, your customer could be at home multi-tasking, distracted, or even willfully ignoring your calls and messages. Use of video conferencing can help capture a customer’s attention with face-to-face interaction and allows you to use visuals when explaining product options. This can improve your customer’s understanding and your ability to sell to them.

2. Pay extra attention to compliance.

Extra vigilance is required when completing transactions remotely because additional rules come in to play on top of the already extensive regulations required for in-person F&I. For your transactions to be compliant, your customers must use proper technology that allows them to fully participate in the process and receive proper disclosures. Use technology that documents your customers are in fact receiving required information and electronically completing paperwork.

In addition, as with traditional F&I, regulations are constantly changing, and it’s easy to miss signatures or other important information when reviewing documents. Technology that alerts you to missing information can help ensure paperwork isn’t rejected for compliance reasons. The last thing you want is to reach out to a customer to re-sign a document when they thought they had set themselves up for efficiency by completing everything remotely.

3. Complete as much of the process online as possible.

Customers choose to buy online for many reasons, but convenience is usually a big incentive. Try to make the process as simple and easy as possible for them. The more of the transaction you can execute electronically, the better. Due to some state regulations, it’s not always possible to sign the deal completely electronically, but signing some paperwork digitally is better than none at all. Make sure you also have a way to provide electronic documents to customers once the deal is complete so you can be as transparent as possible and customers don’t end up with stacks of paperwork delivered to them.

The F&I process can be complicated in-person and may seem even trickier to take online, but the potential backend profitability and increase in CSI, if you’re doing it successfully, is worth the effort. Following the above tips can help you get off on the right foot with your digital retailing efforts, so you don’t have to figure out best practices through trial and error. Your employees and your customers will thank you for it.

1 The Changing Automotive Landscape From In-Store to Online

About the Author

Tim Yalich is the senior manager of product planning at Reynolds and Reynolds for F&I solutions including eForms, Menus, eContracting, and the docuPAD® system. Tim started working for a large automotive retail group in 1992 supporting F&I and administrative systems. In 2000, he joined Reynolds as an F&I product manager. He is responsible for building F&I solutions for dealerships, establishing business relationships with market vendors and financial institutions, and spearheading the business development of advanced technology solutions such as the docuPAD system.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Tim Eckert

With the growth of online and contactless payments, businesses everywhere are providing efficiency and convenience to customers by adopting an online payment system. In order to get customers to pay online, they need to be made aware you offer online payment options. If you don’t promote it properly, you may miss out on opportunities and even end up losing money down the line.

Here are five things you can do to encourage your customers to pay online:

1. Use signage in the dealership. Post eye-catching signs around the dealership that make your customers aware of the different payment options. You can also staple a flyer explaining online payments to customer ROs or invoices. Many customers are interested in paying online but are simply unaware that they can do so. It is your job to bring about that awareness.

1. Promote the security of online payments. It is understandable that customers think twice before paying online. Therefore, it may take some convincing to make your customers comfortable with online payments. Let them know that it is safe by promoting the ways their information is protected, like encryption of card data and secure vaults that mask card information from malware. You can also display this security information in your store or staple it to ROs and invoices.

1. Use express check-out lanes for customers who paid online. Some people are driven by incentives and time-based rewards. Set up an express check-out lane so that customers who have paid online can come in and complete check-out in a matter of minutes.

1. Let your other solutions help. Use your CRM to send emails to service customers encouraging them to pay online and explaining the payment process. Include links to the payment portal so they can easily get there.

1. Motivate your employees to suggest online payments through contests. Word of mouth is your most powerful tool. If you’re not seeing an increase in online payments, this may mean there is room for your employees to do more to excite your customers. Run a contest in your service department that awards service advisors based on the number of online payments their customers make. This creates incentive and motivates employees to discuss online payments with customers.

By following these tips, you will excite your customers about the online payment option and offer them a quicker, more positive experience in your dealership.

About the Author

Tim is a Product Planning manager at Reynolds and Reynolds for the ERA-IGNITE platform, Business Office applications, Document Archiving solutions, Networking solutions, and ReyPAY®.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Brad Schaefer

It’s common for dealers and vendors alike to regularly revisit best practices for pre-owned sales. Everyone wants to unlock new ways of capturing some additional profit!

What’s easy to overlook is what goes on before a used vehicle ever makes it to the lot: the reconditioning process.

The national average cycle time for reconditioning a vehicle is 12.2 days – that is, it takes nearly two weeks from the day a vehicle is acquired to the time it’s ready to go on the lot. Most dealers have a hard inventory turn time in the range of 45-60 days, meaning your salespeople have a month to a month-and-a-half to sell the vehicle before you wholesale it.

This has been the norm long enough that, on the surface, most dealers probably don’t see an issue. That’s just the business. If you have a decently performing sales staff, the process, while imperfect, seems to work as well as it possibly could, right?

Wrong. The truth is, you lose significant profit opportunity every day a vehicle spends in reconditioning, and it turns out that several days’ worth of reconditioning time is totally unnecessary.

The Time and Money Lost in Reconditioning

How does this loss occur? Reconditioning is a dealership-wide process riddled with inefficiencies and opportunities for delays and bottlenecks. A few real-world examples include:

A trade is not properly stocked in.

A wait in deciding if a vehicle should be retailed or wholesaled.

Technicians can't get to the inspection because customers' vehicles are considered higher priority.

Delayed approval for requested repairs.

Holdups in performing the repairs themselves.

Waiting for back-ordered parts.

Waiting on outside vendors to complete their jobs and pick up or drop off vehicles.

Fixed ops personnel simply forgetting about the vehicle altogether because there's no customer asking about it.

These problems are exacerbated by the fact that reconditioning is a multi-department effort that remains manual, disjointed, and often out of sync. There’s back and forth and finger pointing due to a lack of transparency. There are no metrics for tracking how effective each step is. And let’s not forget a vendor’s role in the process: They typically don’t provide services on-site, and too often your priority isn’t their priority.

What’s the true cost?

So, what’s the true cost of a manual, inefficient, time-consuming reconditioning process?

It’s estimated that every day added to the reconditioning process is another $50 lost per vehicle. If your dealership is average, running a 12.2 day recon cycle time, that’s $610 total per vehicle.

Let’s assume you move 100 used vehicles through the recon process every month. That’s $61,000 lost monthly because of the recon process ($732,000 annually).

Or maybe your dealership hits a couple of roadblocks during the process – a rescheduled vendor pick up, delayed parts delivery, busy employees – and your cycle time gets pushed back another 3 days. That’s another $150 per vehicle, $15,000 per month, $180,000 annually.

You can start to see how these delays really add up!

Overcoming These Obstacles

The pitfalls built into the reconditioning process – manual, disjointed, prone to error and delay – may seem insurmountable. Fortunately, focusing on your processes and diligently tracking them makes it possible to implement impactful change.

Imagine a single, intuitive application governing the entire process from beginning to end. It tracks every vehicle, electronically dispatching jobs and automatically assigning vehicles to the next department as jobs are completed, providing a digital platform for managers and vendors alike. Perhaps most importantly, it reports live cycle times so you can spot the bottlenecks in your process in real-time.

When it comes to maximizing profit on your pre-owned inventory, dealers who take a step back to reassess their whole approach, from acquisition to sale, have an opportunity. Automating the various workflows within the reconditioning process until you have one seamless, cross-departmental process will empower you and your employees to resolve delay-causing issues immediately upon discovery.

Interested in revamping your reconditioning process and cutting down on all the wasted money? Check out our eBook to learn more about the value of automating workflows for cycle time savings.

About the Author

Brad Schafer, the director of ReconTRAC® at Reynolds and Reynolds, has more than 25 years of industry experience, having held leadership roles at large dealer groups. Brad is one of the founders of ReconTRAC, a reconditioning software solution. With this solution, Brad has limitless reconditioning expertise and knowledge he uses to help dealerships across the country reduce their cycle time and optimize processes.