6 SECRETS TO DRIVE GROWTH BY IMPROVING YOUR DEALERSHIP S CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Transcription

1 6 SECRETS TO DRIVE GROWTH BY IMPROVING YOUR DEALERSHIP S CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

2 6 SECRETS TO DRIVE GROWTH BY IMPROVING YOUR DEALERSHIP S CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE INTRODUCTION High quality customer experience is a crucial component of any successful company. It is a proven fact, that businesses who emphasize on providing the best possible service to their customers, thrive better than the ones who neglect this aspect. While quality and price carry a lot of weight, when it comes to buying a product or service, however, before and after purchase customer care is also at paramount importance of the overall customer satisfaction. According to Customers 2020: A Progress Report. published by Walker Information, Inc. by the year 2020, customer experience will be the new key brand differentiator, overtaking price and product.in other words, if you are able to provide a high quality customer experience, your business has the winning formula to succeed and thrive. As an important player in the equipment dealership industry, it won t be enough to compete based only on the quality or the price of your service. If you are not able to match your service with proper customer care, you will loose your edge and perhaps your costumers to your competitors. We decided to write and publish this short ebook to help you and your dealership company to get ready for the changes of the present business landscape as well as to prepare you for the future of the industry. Our goal is to provide you with the information and insight that you will need, in order to establish and nurture a satisfying customer experience. These secrets, that we will be sharing with you, are the exact principles that successful dealerships already implemented and successfully use, even under difficult circumstance or under the direst economic situations. We hope that by learning these concepts, you ll be equipped with the knowledge to provide a positive customer experience from which, the entire equipment dealership industry will benefit.

3 #1 PRIORITIZE CUSTOMER EMPOWERMENT Investing resources into the improvement of customer experience can result in major financial gains. Recent studies offered a couple of compelling evidences, that businesses aiming to please customers, experience a direct effect on their bottom line and as a result a higher ROI. Now, the question is, how best improve your system and provide superior customer experience to your dealership clients? Let s explore the ways to empower your customers. HOW-TO EMPOWER YOUR CUSTOMERS Empowering your customers is a simple idea and it is easily executable. All you need to do is to give your customers the power to act on their own. What do I mean by that? Permit them to access needed information, give them the facility to do their own research, as well as allowing them to control areas that are important to them. Each customer has different needs and requirements. The needs of a large factory are not the same as the needs of your neighborhood grocery store. As an equipment dealer, it is your responsibility to empower your customers to have the freedom to explore their options, based on their needs. Needless to say, empowering your costumers doesn t mean, that you should leave them to do what ever they wish and on their own. It means that you need to provide the facility that will allow them to study the areas that are of utmost importance to their business. Do they need to review the invoices and pay their balance online? Do they want to research their service history and request a service appointment out on the field? Do they desire to review rental equipment and its utilization by job site, machine type or even based on their specific serial numbers? What if they want to order parts directly from your website? What if they prefer to pass through to OEM website? These options matter a lot to your customers. Once you empower them to do these things, the result will surely be a superb customer experience. 6 SECRETS #1 3

4 Here are some other areas, where you could allow your customers to explore their options: Finances Your customers should be able to search all invoices, whether in progress or paid. You should also give them the power to initiate payment of invoices. Another important function for them would be, to handle disputes regarding certain invoices. Finally, your customers must be empowered to review all current and closed contracts. Rental As an equipment dealer, your operations will mostly revolve around equipment rentals. Thus, it must not be a surprise to you, that your customers care a lot about the equipment they rent or want to rent. With that in mind, you must empower them to view any available equipment for rent and receive customizable search results. They must have access to information about the availability of equipment,` as well as on the status of their reservations. It will also benefit you to give them the power to initiate a rental request on their own, if they wish to and without the intervention of your service personnel. Service is another area where you can make improvements. Providing your costumers with the ability to do some major Fleet management activities, such as viewing the entire fleet, updating and modifying fleet information and monitoring costs, may bring better and faster results. Service history, including warranty services must also be viewable along with the data relating to telematics with other important features that are directly connected to your customers needs. Parts Breakdowns and repairs cannot be totally eliminated. Therefore, you must allow your customers to find and access parts, they need for their equipment. As an equipment dealer, you must enable your own online storefront, display and sell the products and parts costumers may need. Empowering your customers is not about giving up control of your own customer service. On the contrary, it s giving them the ability to partner with you on receiving the kind of customer service they need and want. It is all about establishing your dealership company as a partner to them. A partner that they can rely on in making their business lives easier through a robust customer experience built on empowerment. 6 SECRETS #1 4

5 # 2 EXCITING WAYS TO IMPROVE CLIENT ENGAGEMENT Giving your customers the power to explore areas of utmost importance, will certainly help you in building stronger relationships with them. But to provide the best customer experience, your team must be equipped to improve engagement with the clients, resulting higher sales for your business. The primary way to do that is by employing a well-structured Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution system. Normally, dealership companies are already using some sort of software and other online tools to manage their CRM functions. Most of these tools work well, but the best CRM systems enable employees to exceed customer expectations by gaining and sharing crucial customer information across your business. Imagine the result in client engagement when your CRM employees are well-aware of all the relevant data needed to service their customer. Here are some qualities of a highly-effective CRM system/provider. FOCUSING ON FOUNDATIONS This is where most dealership companies go wrong. They think that a good CRM is all about having the latest technology. Yet, even the most advanced CRM tool is worthless, if the foundations are not laid out properly. With that in mind, you must first be able to identify your business goals, pinpoint which key business areas and processes need improvement and based on this information, build a plan to reach those goals. AUTOMATED TECHNOLOGY THAT SUPPORTS SALES PROCESSES Building client relationships and maximizing follow up on sales are critical aspects of every equipment dealer organization. With that in mind, your CRM system must have the capability to give your sales team the tools they need to become more productive, while focusing on building deep customer relationships that ultimately result in actual sales. The key here is to ensure that every opportunity will be used in enhancing new and existing customer connections. In other words, you must ensure that your sales personnel is always part of the conversation and updated on all critical points. This is where a strong automated CRM technology can come into play. Your CRM system must enable your sales team to easily monitor the journey of each costumer and at every step of the way. 6 SECRETS #2 5

6 DEPENDABLE SYSTEM ON HANDLING CUSTOMER SERVICE When customers encounter any problem, they immediately want solutions and they want it to be resolved yesterday. In other words, the tolerance and patience of your costumers waiting for answers from your dealership company, is quite short. In respect, you need a CRM system that will allow you to deliver consistent service and support anytime and anywhere. This could be achieved through the cloud integration of your systems. INTEGRATED FIELD SERVICE PERFORMANCE OPERATIONS One of the biggest struggles for equipment dealership organizations, especially those with operations at various locations sometimes hundreds or thousands of kilometers apart, is the red tape and bureaucracy. However, when solving problems for customers, time is always of the essence. That s why a great CRM tool has the capability to integrate service operations all into one system. Doing this will massively transform the way you service your customers in every step of the way. By allowing every main player in your equipment dealership organization to access accurate real-time data on every customer, the level of service provided to each client will surely become high on every touch point. Improving client engagement is a core operation of every thriving equipment dealership organization. Thus, implementing a robust CRM system that allows you to automate your sales process, access the information you need on cloud and integrate field service performance operations, should not only be optional. Truth be told, nowadays is a must! 6 SECRETS #2 6

7 # 3 FIND WAYS TO INSTANTLY CONNECT WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS In 2016, it was estimated that 62.9 percent of the worldwide population already used a smartphone. It is expected to grow to 67 percent by the year In other words, it is predicted that 7 out of 10 people will be holding a smartphone in their hand for most parts of the day. This is according to a research compiled by Statista.com. These numbers are certainly good news for equipment dealership organizations. If most of your customers are using smartphones, than it means that you now have a direct way of reaching out to and communicating with them. One way to do this is through messaging. This is certainly an area that you must exploit considering the following statistics: 50% of your bottom line can be affected by how you communicate with your customers. Between 2015 to 2016, the largest customer complaint that businesses received was caused by the lack of communication. 75% of your customers would rather receive a Text Message updates on the status of their repair, than a phone call. 90% of Text Messages are read within the first three (3) minutes of receiving them. This data is based on the report compiled by contactatonce.com. It clearly shows how important is for an equipment dealer to take advantage of the fact, that the way to reach out and communicate with their customers, is already within their hands. Here are some suggestions on how you can engage your customers using Text Messages and other smartphone features. Signing and approving estimates on their smartphones. When repairs are needed, simply send photos and videos straight to the smartphones of your costumers. Engage and communicate with your customers with the basic 2-way Text Messaging. Create and send digital Multi-Point Inspections (MPIs) to the smartphones of your costumers. Use the smartphone of your costumers, to see real-time interactive route maps for service and pick-up or drop-off points. Allow customers to pay for services by using their smartphones. Having a consistent flow of communication with your customers is crucial in building a professional relationship with them. Instead of complicating things more than what is needed, why not step back and see how you can maximize the resource that is already in the hands of your costumers? Yes, I am talking about their smartphones. 6 SECRETS #3 7

8 # 4 TAKE YOUR ONLINE MARKETING GAME TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL Digital transformation is already here. Equipment dealership organizations are expecting that it will revolutionize the entire dealership industry. That is according to majority of the 133 respondents to a recent survey conducted by Associated Equipment Distributors and XAPT Corporation. With that, most equipment dealers are already taking the necessary measures needed, in order to go digital. The most affected area is how they conduct their business online. A huge chunk of the global business landscape has already moved to the internet. Prospects, as well as potential customers can now be found online. To engage with them, you need to go where they are. You should also try to attract them and to convince them to consider you as their service provider. You must also prepare your website place, if ever they decide to pay you a visit for further information. So, here s a question for you: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how prepared are you when it comes to your online services? If your score is less than 5, you have a real problem that needs to be remedied immediately. If you score is higher than 5, remember that innovation is always ahead of you and requires you to always be updated on trends and new innovation. To help your dealership company thrive in this digital age, consider the following tips. BUILD THE RIGHT FOUNDATION The dynamics between a dealership organization doing business locally and one that is doing business online is totally different. There are a lot of factors that come into play, when conducting your business online. Thus, the right foundation is needed. One critical area for any equipment dealers is their website. For a moment, assume the position of a prospect visiting your site. Let s say that your website has limited functionality, not at all user-friendly and genuinely looks like a cluttered mess. On the other hand, the website of your competitor has an elegant layout, user-friendly navigational features and has all the functionalities needed. Who do you think will have a greater chance to get that prospect as a client? 6 SECRETS #4 8

9 ATTRACT YOUR IDEAL CLIENT Once you laid down the foundation, by taking care of your website, the next task is to bring people, who might be interested to work with you, to it. Like any equipment dealership organization, you need to market yourself, in order to bring in new customers as well as to keep the existing ones content. For this reason, you need to increase your visibility in the sight of your ideal clients. Here s where the powerful features of the digital transformation can come into play. There are online marketing tactics that will allow you to appear on top of search results using search engines like Google. You can also engage your potential clients through effective campaigns on social media platforms. To gain additional exposure, you can also perform automatic inventory postings on other industryleading websites. ENGAGE YOUR PROSPECTS Bringing them to your website is one thing, making sure that you ll be able to engage with them, is another. This is where building the right foundation will bring the desired benefit. If you did the hard work upfront of preparing your site, making sure it s user-friendly, functional and with a clear layout, than you can almost guarantee that your prospects will have the best user experience possible. Surely, they won t hesitate to come back, explore and consider buying the things and services you offer. Engaging your potential clients in your website gives you the leverage to finally convert them into buyers. Thus, make sure that your dealership website is set up for nothing less than total success. DEVELOP CUSTOMER LOYALTY Your dealership website must be able to facilitate your interaction with your customers, even after sales. This will give you the ability to seamlessly create loyalty among your customer base, while also expanding your social presence. Having the right online tools in place can help your dealership organization to reach and interact with your ideal clients. All you have to do is to embrace digital transformation and prepare your website accordingly. 6 SECRETS #4 9

10 # 5 HOW-TO DIGITALIZE YOUR COMPANY S BUSINESS DOCUMENTS As mentioned in the previous section, digital transformation is already our reality. It has been changing the way dealership organizations do business. One important quality of transforming your dealership company into a digital entity is migrating most of your business processes online. This includes your business documents. The days when countless sheets of paper are being used and stored in company premises, will be a thing of the past. Though there are still some who believe that papers won t be totally gone, there are also several compelling reasons why your equipment dealership should go paperless. MOST ERP SYSTEMS HAVE LIMITED FORMATTING CAPABILITY One of the biggest challenges for dealership organizations is handling the varying needs of stakeholders, when it comes to document formats. There are different legislation about electronic formats. Customers, vendors and other concerned parties have their own required formats. Sadly, a lot of ERP Systems, or any other computerized system for that matters, are not able to handle these varying requirements. By going paperless, you can implement any changes needed without wasting resources on reprinting or throwing away unacceptable formats. IT WILL STREAMLINE AND OPTIMIZE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION With a paperless system, a dealership organization can simplify the process of communication between them and their stakeholders. No need to send paper documents back and forth for signature and pay postage stamps over and over again. A paperless system allows you to remove any red tape, while focusing on the core of your business operations. In addition, you can customize each document based on the requirements of the concerned party. You can have the exact format and layout needed. If there are any changes needed in the layout, you can also implement them quickly. SAVE MONEY By digitazing the documents of your dealership company, you ll be able to save a lot of money. You will be able to save on postage, printing and on paper while also be able to increase the efficiency of your staff. 6 SECRETS #5 10

11 # 6 INCREASE EFFECTIVENESS OF WORKERS AND ASSETS IN THE FIELD Excellent customer experience is largely influenced by the performance of your employees. If your workers and assets in the field can operate at the highest level of effectiveness, than you can have the assurance that your customers will also receive the best possible service from your dealership business. Now, the question is: How will you ensure that your workers and field assets are operating with efficiency and effectiveness? Here are some useful suggestions. CLOSELY MONITOR YOUR FIELD AND FLEET OPERATIONS Performances of staff in the field can sometimes become irregular. That s why it s very important to closely monitor your field operations as well as your fleet. Doing this, will allow you to streamline your processes. You might find that it is benefit to remove repetitive tasks, increase the productivity of your people while providing excellent service to your clients on every job site. OPTIMIZE RESULTS THROUGH WORK MANAGEMENT AND SCHEDULING Employee schedules can be pretty hectic and there s always the possibility that some tasks might be forgotten. To avoid this, you need to have a strong work management and scheduling system, that will allow you to get the best results from the effort and expertise of your staff. A cloud-based platform, where all the related functionalities, reports and analysis can be accessed at once, is the preferred choice of a dealership company thriving to succeed. 6 SECRETS #6 11

12 Americas XAPT Corporation 5301 Blue Lagoon Drive Suite 200 Miami, FL 33126, USA P: +1 (305) E: EMEA XAPT Kft. Rétköz u Budapest Hungary P: E: info@xapt.com APAC XAPT Solutions Pty Ltd Level 2, 50 McDougall Street Milton, QLD 4064, Australia P: E: info@xapt.com NFG Headquarters New Frontier Group Technologiestrasse 8/2/ Vienna, Austria P: office@newfrontier.eu NAXT Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Equipment Dealers is the flagship product of XAPT Corporation. NAXT delivers continuous improvements in Rental, Sales, Service and Finance that increases bottom line growth and improves efficiency within months. As the leading global provider of specialized business services for equipment dealers, XAPT delivers sustainable value through consulting, software and IT implementation.