After a vehicle is driven off the lot by a happy new owner, as a dealership you can feel moderately secure you'll see them again over the next couple of years for maintenance. But what comes after that initial honeymoon period an owner has with your dealership? Over time it can be difficult to keep the business as vehicle owners feel more inclined to shop around for their services. The key to keeping them coming back is to build a strong relationship from the beginning, and the right digital inspection software can help.
Everything You Need In One Place
It's hard to create a smooth, streamlined experience for your customers when your software isn't streamlined for your 
dealership's use. It's important to have all the right tools, but sometimes you can accumulate subscription after subscription. While they all do something useful for your business, having solutions provided from different automotive software companies can decrease usability and ease, creating unnecessary headaches and costing you more.
Finding a single platform that meets the majority, if not all, of your needs lets the software do what it's supposed to do—make running your dealership easier. An all-in-one platform, like our NextGear product, can give you the solutions you need without having to juggle a library of subscriptions. Send digital vehicle inspections, easily schedule appointments, utilize two-way texting, and more from a single software solution. With a more integrated solution less will be able to fall through the cracks, making your dealership more productive with less effort.
Building Trust and Maintaining Relationships
As an industry, it can be hard to prove the value of regular maintenance and upkeep for owners. We're constantly fighting a persistent stigma that can be tough to break, especially as a dealership. There is, however, a great opportunity as a dealership to build these lasting relationships that not only ensure repeat maintenance and repair business, but also increase the odds of repeat vehicle purchases.
Actively engaging your customers in the repair process is essential for building that crucial trust. Oftentimes, vehicle owners are disconnected, which can contribute to their existing skepticism. The best way to combat this detachment is to educate them in an easily digestible and accessible way—pictures. When customers can see with their own eyes exactly what you're recommending and why, the more likely they are to agree to suggested service. Your digital vehicle inspection software should put things into perspective for customers without making things too overly complicated.
Clear Communication For Everyone
BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY's digital vehicle inspections include pictures, technician recommendations and notes, as well as a red-yellow-green urgency scale. When it comes to communicating effectively with customers, it's best to keep things as simple and clean as possible. With our DVI software, technicians are able to:
- Draw directly on the pictures in order to highlight the specific area or part the customer should focus on
- Provide quick notes under pictures provide helpful context for the vehicle owner
- Assign the associated color to communicate the recommended timeframe a customer should have a service performed
All crucial information is communicated in as easy as 1-2-3 so customers can become experts on their vehicle's health without needing to be an expert themselves. Digital vehicle inspections are not only easily interpreted by customers, they're also easily received. Inspections are able to be sent directly to a customer's mobile device for them to easily reference whenever necessary.
Keep Customers Coming Back
As a dealership, keeping customers in your orbit is crucial to increasing sales across the board and retaining your existing clientele. Your main goal is to make sure vehicle owners keep returning to make vehicle purchases time and time again. Building bonds at a very basic level when it comes to vehicle upkeep helps communicate that you care not only about making a sale, but also about the person behind the wheel. Making the switch to digital vehicle inspections in order to make vehicle maintenance and repair easy, understandable, and accessible to all vehicle owners is important. The more they feel like they're having meaningful, informative interactions with your dealership, the easier selling will become.
