 Problem: Service Appointment setting is a time-consuming process that can often lead to inefficiency and errors.
Agitate: Service appointments are an essential part of dealerships service department business, but they can be difficult and time consuming to manage. Often times, mistakes are made when scheduling appointments which can lead to missed opportunities or customer dissatisfaction. Solution: Lucy AI by DGA Auto is the solution to your appointment setting woes. Lucy is a powerful artificial intelligence software that can schedule appointments directly into your appointment scheduler without any errors. With over 28 years of BDC experience built into the Google AI framework, Lucy is guaranteed to get the job done right. Learn more about Lucy AI By DGA Auto by scheduling a demo of our services: DGAauto.com/Demo Learn more about the future of automotive BDC solutions with DGAMeta: DGAMeta.com
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It is time for the 2022 NADA Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. This years event runs from March 10th to March 13th.
To help you maximize this years event below are the top five tips and suggestions:
As the automotive industry moves increasingly towards a digital future, dealerships are looking for ways to keep up. Dealerships have to compete with online car buying services like Carvana and Vroom, which offer a completely automated shopping experience. But what if dealerships could offer the same level of convenience and automation? Many are turning to the metaverse based technologies as a way to improve customer experience and engagement. By building more virtual communication channels, dealers can provide an immersive and interactive experience that goes beyond the physical limitations of phone calls, texts and emails. Customers can browse vehicles, test drive them, and even complete transactions without ever leaving their homes. The possibilities are endless, and the metaverse provides an exciting new communication avenue for automotive dealerships to explore.
Looking towards the future, DGA Auto is launching the first metaverse based BDC platform designed for automotive dealerships: DGA META. DGA META focuses on three metaverse communication technologies: 1.Automated Intelligence: communication that eliminates human error 2.Augmented Reality: technology that presents us with virtual objects and information in our field of vision. 3.Virtual Reality: virtual environment for consumers. At NADA 2022, DGA Auto will release the first product in our Meta platform: Lucy. Lucy is our Google-powered AI designed to help you manage customer expectations and book appointments in real time so that everyone leaves your service drive happy! With Lucy, your customer can schedule service appointments 24/7 without ever speaking to someone at the dealership or at a call center. She even sends out reminders before each appointment so there are no surprises at drop off! Lucy offers a seamless customer experience:
Click the following link to learn more about DGA Meta, Lucy AI and or the future of BDC solutions: DGAauto.com/Demo Also, visit DGA Auto at the 2022 NADA Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 10th through the 13th at booth 6129N. Setup a VIP appointment to discuss DGA Meta products using the following link: DGAMeta.com Welcome back to DGA’s BDC DIAG ….where we explore what works and then what works even better to expand your customer base. Let’s be clear, not all AI is good AI. I use technology to create time for humans to be human without disrupting my bottom line. If you pick up preview dialing and smart campaigns, your agents will have more time with the customers who want or need it.
You never know how they’ll say thank you. One day, true story, a customer dropped cookies off at her dealership for the DGA agent who’d spent that few extra minutes to listen to her story. She will be that dealer’s customer for life … all because technology gave an agent a few extra minutes to be a little more human at a very important moment. Don’t forget to sort your leads by source - each list should have a unique script and contact cycle. All leads are not alike and your computer is built to keep them all straight. Comparing the results on leads that share a profile will give you much better information at the end of the day. You’re all set to start your auto playlist (pun intended). Sit back and watch the fruits of your labor. Here’s how we do it for our clients at DGA. It ensures that our agents stay fresh and cover all the bases. Your IT department can set the playlist to run in order all day. a. 8:30 am- overnight internet leads b. 10:00 am- 2nd – 10th morning attempt internet leads c. 11:00 am- no-show rescheduling d. 12:00 pm- equity and lease renewal leads e. 4:00 pm- 2nd – 10th afternoon attempt internet leads f. 6:00 pm- appointment confirmation for next day g. Until close- equity and lease leads This DGA Playlist guarantees that new internet leads take priority over all other campaigns, and inbound calls have priority over everything else. Can’t beat that. Nicholas R. Lawrenson Chief Operating Officer O: (239) 221-5230 M: (443) 864-7834 Nick@DGAauto.com www.DGAauto.com Welcome back to DGA’s BDC DIAG ….where we explore what works and then what works even better to expand your customer base. Let’s start today with some frank talk. I’m not in the mood to beat around the bush.
We’re in a numbers game my friends. With an unlimited budget you’d put a dozen more people on outbound sales. This is where technology changes the narrative. What if I told you, you could double or triple your output at the same time you streamline staff, keeping your best business development reps and giving them the “smart” tools they need to shine? A quick review of web to campaign outlines all the “human” steps necessary to integrate a new prospect into a campaign:
Makes me tired just to think about the sweat and labor it used to take to set up campaign prospects. Imagine my relief when I was introduced to “web to campaign,” a smart function that takes all of those steps for me. All I need to do is turn on the charm. Let the computers do what they do best and leave the human interaction to the experts. Setting this up is as easy as copying your phone system’s FTP email address on all leads, and setting the campaign as top priority in your phone system. This will automatically give your new internet leads priority over all other outbound campaigns. Check back in a couple of days to check out our BDC playlist. I don’t know about you, but my teenage daughter’s playlist is relentless. She inspired me, and I’d like to share the results with you. For us at DGA, it’s become the heartbeat of outbound sales and it works, through sheer persistence and consistency. Nicholas R. Lawrenson Chief Operating Officer O: (239) 221-5230 M: (443) 864-7834 Nick@DGAauto.com www.DGAauto.com Welcome to DGA’s BDC DIAG ….where we explore what works and then what works even better to expand your customer base. It’s Wednesday, November 25th. Today I’m thinking about bottom line strategies and of course Turkey….
I have to say I’m getting sold on preview dialing. The numbers are impressive - an average 30% increase in sales, and 40% savings in operations. Here’s the real shocker: dials per hour are doubled. Yes. Doubled. Preview dialing typically creates a pace of 50 DPH - fully 2-3 times faster than manual dialing! Our phone calls start with automatic dialing and end with an agent prepared with information on the customer or prospect. It is the very best human-tech interface we’ve found in the market. It works if your CRM system is in good shape. That’s the topic of another blog. Dealers tell me that one of their favorite features is that preview dialing keeps them in control of the contact cycle, rather than relying on business development representatives to make those important decisions. Later this week we’ll be exploring web-to-campaign strategies, another human-tech victory. Spoiler alert: Web-to-campaign actually takes an internet lead from its lead source, emails the lead to the campaign, and prompts an immediate contact that takes priority over all other outbound contacts. Yes. It does. Nicholas R. Lawrenson Chief Operating Officer O: (239) 221-5230 M: (443) 864-7834 Nick@DGAauto.com www.DGAauto.com Wards Auto provides great insight on how to avoid BDC Pitfalls. Check out the excerpt below and let us know your best ways to avoid BDC pitfalls.
"BDCs are not new to the automotive retail industry. But in recent years, consultants, vendors and auto makers have been pitching the concept. A BDC simply is a separate telemarketing department in the dealership set up to make outbound phone calls to potential customers, as well as handle inbound calls for sales appointments. Most dealers agree their showroom sales people's phone skills can be terrifying. They may be great in face-to-face meetings. But it's a different matter when getting them to answer calls correctly as well as making follow-up calls to customers. The idea behind a BDC is to hire people with phone skills, give them scripts and watch the money roll in..." To read more visit the following link: https://www.wardsauto.com/news-analysis/beware-bdc-pitfalls Check out a great article On The Importance of An Automotive Call Center:
or The Article Excerpt Below From Ask The Manager: MUST #3: BDCS MUST BE MANAGED LIKE CALL CENTERS Many dealers I know created their BDCs by staffing them with a few of their existing floor salespeople and then paying them like floor salespeople (generally on the sold units). Their argument was simply that they needed knowledgeable people to be able to answer customer questions and that they only felt they should pay when this department sold a car. Wrong and wrong. The truth is that your BDC is more like a bank call center than it is a traditional sales team. You don’t need seasoned salespeople to be successful and you should never expect them to sell anything. Their job is to set appointments that show, period. When you compensate a BDC agent on a sold unit you are encouraging them to start “selling” on the phone – something that is not just a bad idea, but also counterproductive. You’ll end up selling fewer units to appointments this way, because your BDC team ends up over-qualifying every prospect. Moreover, when you employ “car guys” in this role, you often get a group that spends too much time answering questions and almost no time setting appointments that show. Like a bank call center, your BDC should be driven by metrics and talk tracks, not selling and product knowledge. In fact, the less product knowledge a BDC agent has the better – it means they can only stick to the approved talk tracks and will spend all of their time setting appointments that show and buy." About The Author: Steve Stauning, creator of The Appointment Culture and an expert in The Customer Experience, is the host of Undeniable Advantage Live!, a monthly live video webcast and customer service training provider hosted at UndeniableAdvantage.com. He is also an extremely popular keynote speaker, writer, and industry consultant. Learn more about Steve at SteveStauning.com.  DGA recently re-launched DGAcares.com. DGA Cares is a platform for our employees to give back. By connecting with our communities, we foster a deeper sense of purpose at DGA. We believe through empowering the voice of the broad spectrum of our workforce, we will invoke positive change in the world.
Our first campaign is called “Care Makes Us Stronger”. CARE is a call to action. When we CARE as company, we define our greater purpose. When we define our greater purpose, we become more inclusive. When we become more inclusive, we become more diverse. When we become more diverse, we become a stronger company. Let’s CARE together. Find out how at www.DGAcares.com  DGA/Xtime Partnership & Shop Loading 101 DGA has shared over 300 clients with Xtime since 2008 when we launched our Virtual BDC service-Inbound Reservation Center. We have found that dealers do not fully optimize the capabilities of Xtime’s shop-loading. Shop loading & capacities are two words foreign to MAJORITY of dealers. With proper shop loading, a dealership can maximize the number of appointments each day, limit waiters in the morning, and evenly distribute the work from morning to afternoon. This increases the time your Advisors have with the customers, gives your technicians more time with the cars, and will boost your RO count. I’ve met with many Fixed Operations Managers that believe their customers only want morning appointments or believe they have 70% walk-in customers, and this is usually not true. This is an excuse given by Advisors that schedule their own appointments. Customers will allow you to manipulate your shop loading if you simply tell them your first available appointment is in the afternoon rather than the morning.  Most aggressive dealers will over load the mornings and will run out of work in the afternoons. In the example below, the dealership books one appointment every 15 minutes for each advisor and books 4 waiters every 15 minutes. 90 minutes into this Saturday, the dealerships will have 36 appointments and up to 24 waiters, and this doesn’t include walk-ins. Saturday mornings are notorious for walk-ins, so let’s factor in at least 10 more walk in customers before 9:30 am. Now the dealer has 46 cars, at least 30 waiters, and the dealership wants to complete 100 cars on Saturday. 46% of this dealers RO goal is already in the service department, and we’re 15% through the day.
 DGA limits the first 2-4 time slots to allow for walk-in traffic to arrive without creating a traffic jam in the service drive. DGA drastically limits the waiters in the morning to naturally fill the morning appointment times with drop off appointments. (BDC DIAG NOTE: Customers will book drop off appointments and wait, but this is a numbers game. We’re looking for optimized efficiency, not perfection.) DGA will drastically increase waiters after 1:30 pm to overload the afternoon with quicker maintenance items leaving the morning for major maintenance, brake work, and repairs. 90 minutes into this Saturday with DGA’s shop loading expertise, this dealer has 24% of their daily goal in appointments 15% into the day, and only 14 waiters.
 This example is a more balanced day. It’s more efficient for the dealership and the customer experience is improved. A dealer should never fear losing their customer because they guide them into an afternoon appointment rather than a morning appointment. Furthermore, DGA’s shop loading will allow for you to squeeze emergency situations into the schedule when they occur. Try squeezing a customer into example 1, and you will end up losing several customers rather than the one. At DGA, we love the auto industry. We enjoy sharing our years of experience, and we’re extremely proud to have booked over 4 million appointments. Please contact us directly to learn how we can help you! www.dgaauto.com/demo Thank you! Nicholas Lawrenson COO DGA www.DGAauto.com |
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