4 Simple Ways to Improve Communication at Your Dealership

Establishing good communication for your dealership not only saves you time, but also can be a pathway to earning you more money. From your service advisors to your technicians, everyone has a busy day ahead of them most days—and sometimes when you're busy, something's got to give. For a lot of dealerships, that can mean communication gets overlooked. However, the more attention you pay to the way your dealership is communicating not only internally but with your customers, the easier everyone's job becomes. 

Stop Wasting Time on Phone Calls

Have you ever had to play an endless game of phone tag with a customer? It's annoying, isn't it? The communication delays interrupt your technicians' workflow and create a hassle. If you've ever had to take a vehicle off of a lift while you wait for a response, you know how frustrating it can be. 

The thing is though, it doesn't have to be this way. Texting is infinitely better at helping your dealership communicate better with your customers. While customers may not have time to step away from a busy day to return your call, they can easily text your shop. Sending approval requests allows your shop to get the answers they need, when they need it. Additionally, texting enables your dealership to better communicate with the customer throughout the entire service process so they never feel out of the loop. This increase in transparency via a change in your communication tactics can make a big impact on your customer service, which can help you build trust with new and existing customers alike. 

Pictures are Worth More Than You Think

Sometimes the best way to communicate is with a photograph. Many of your customers aren't vehicle experts, that's why they turn to you. It's likely they know very little about the inner-workings of their vehicle and how to detect when something's not quite right. What might be clear to those of us in this line of business isn't always clear to them—but what if it could be?

Explaining services and recommendations doesn't have to be met with blank stares from vehicle owners getting service done at your dealership. Digital vehicle inspections can help you bridge the communication gap with your customers and more easily educate them on the health of their vehicle. 

Each digital inspection allows your technicians to take pictures of issues and recommendations, illustrate where the issue is directly on the photo, and provide a written explanation about what is wrong. They can also assign a red, yellow, or green indicator to the photo so customers can easily visualize the level of attention the issue requires or doesn't require at the moment. 

Digital vehicle inspections allow your service advisors to better explain what's happening with their vehicle, making communication between dealership and customer, and even sales, that much easier. 

Automation is Your Friend

An easy way to improve your dealership's communication is to simply rely on automation to do it for you. There are so many little things that need to be communicated to keep your dealership's customer service top notch, but they don't all need to be done by hand. Smaller things can be left up to automation. 

Appointment reminders are a great way to ensure that customers keep coming back for their routine maintenance services time after time, and it's something that can be fully automated. Keeping that communication flow even when customers aren't currently in your shop for service is crucial to winning that repeat business. 

Additionally, you can request reviews from existing customers automatically. After their service they can be texted a link to leave a review of their experience. Having vehicle owners share their experience online can help start the conversation with any prospective customers that may be considering bringing their business to you. 

Make the Most of your Metrics 

If you've been sending emails to your customers but you don't know how they're performing, you may not be communicating as well as you think you are. Having an eye on your email performance can make or break whether or not you're communicating effectively and efficiently. With our dashboard you can see exactly what's working and what isn't so you can make sure your message is resonating with your customer base. 

Improve Your Communication Today

Having poor communication with your customers could cost your dealership in the long run, so what are you waiting for? Get in touch with a product specialist today so you can start communicating effectively and efficiently.