Just a few years ago, Manly Honda in Santa Rosa, California, was using the dealer management system (DMS) for service appointments. While appointments were being made, Service Manager Luke Ammann noticed that processes were inefficient and that the service department could bolster its customer service experience.
“We needed a better appointment process,” said Luke. “Our DMS didn’t give us the tools that we needed to follow through and stage our appointments correctly, and promise times were being missed.”
Additionally, there was increased downtime and staff hours weren’t being used effectively, with most appointments were being made in the morning. Luke added, “We were busy in the morning and afternoons we were slow, and technicians weren’t busy.”
To guarantee that the Manly Honda service department would reach its full potential, Luke first implemented Schedule, Xtime’s automotive scheduling software. The team was able to manage the shop better and offer customers convenient online scheduling. Since then, Manly Honda has incorporated the full Spectrum package. Spectrum, Xtime’s comprehensive software suite which offers dealers solutions to auto repair marketing, automotive customer retention and vehicle inspection software, —all auto repair software products working together to drive more volume and retain customers.
“[Spectrum] has helped us be able to interact with the customer in the driveway, have the advisor do the multipoint with the iPads, being able to target declined services, being able to email [vehicle owners],” he said. “Basically, the whole program has helped take a load off of my plate because I’m able to work with Xtime to do all the stuff that I used to do manually.”
Manly Honda also utilizes Xtime Managed Services to create and send timely emails to vehicle owners on various needs, from recalls to reminders to declined services, enabling the service department’s high show rate and customer engagement.
“[Our Managed Services representative] Robin has been excellent, coming up with emails to go and offer them to come back—their first appointment, their reminder appointments, their six-month missed appointment,” Luke discussed. “Everything that they have done has pretty much been flawless.”
REALIZING RESULTS
Spectrum enables Manly Honda to enhance interactions with customers and manage technician hours efficiently. The service department has realized*:
- 19.3% increased service retention
- 14.33 to 1 customer pay ROI on lost souls
- 1,879 vehicle inspections monthly
- 94.5% show rate
*From July 2016 – June 2017
XTIME HELPS MANLY HONDA TO:
- Drive more service business. “We increased our appointments from 75 to 80 appointments a day to 120. We found that the afternoons were not being utilized with our appointments. [With Xtime Invite, we were able to] offer special promo codes to have people be able to come in the afternoons or on a Wednesday or Thursday.”
- Increased technician effectiveness. “I feel that [Xtime] has increased the productivity and [decreased] the downtime of a technician waiting for a part to see if it’s in stock… The technicians don’t have to wait for what’s the recommended repair to be sold—they’re notified as soon as it’s sold by the advisor.”
- Win back lost souls and market to customers for previously declined services. “Xtime has contributed to our success by being able to integrate with our system and target customers who have not [visited] in 12 months, 15 months. Being able to market to the customer, being able to offer them something to get them into the store if they have an open recall, have past services that are recommended—it’s a way for us to efficiently keep track, go after and remove the customer if they’re not an active customer.”
- Connect with customers and ensure strong show rates. “The most positive thing about the Xtime program is the communication we have with our customers, whether it’s email or texting. Having a quick way to interact with the customers by not having to pick the phone up has helped us. It has also helped customers be reminded that they have an appointment.”
- Bring more processes into one powerful system. “Being able to eliminate some third-party vendors that we were utilizing to now have everything incorporated into one program has been very efficient for our parts manager and myself.”
“Xtime’s software system works well with all the systems that we have in place right now, from [our] tire program to our DMS. Having Xtime do four of the major areas, we’ve cut out a lot of vendors that we used to use for other items. Now it’s all incorporated into one program to where we can follow everything, from recommended repairs to appointments to appointments kept.”
Luke Ammann
Service Manager, Manly Honda
Manly Honda operates with the belief that consumers don’t just want speed and efficiency, they expect it.
“It’s important for dealerships to utilize the latest technology because our customers are utilizing the latest technology,” shared Parts Manager Bob Bradbury. “They expect more, they expect things faster. I think being a dealership, people expect that they’re going to come here and that they’re going to spend more money than if they went somewhere else, which makes it even more crucial that we do it in a timely fashion, we do it efficiently, we do it with great customer service.”
Having held positions as both an advisor and technician at the dealership, Luke knows the importance of a seamless and robust system.
“I really think the Xtime program and Spectrum have been very valuable tools,” said Luke. “The amount of response, the amount of dollars per RO, the technician involvement and the parts department involvement have made us all come together more as a team…It’s a great system, utilizing it in the driveway, the inspection part for the technicians, the schedule part and the marketing have been awesome and it’s something that we hope to get even better with in the future.”