2 minute read
Point-of-sale systems
from Modern Tire Dealer - February 2023
by EndeavorBusinessMedia-VehicleRepairGroup
modern system can help and it can lead the user to put in accurate and complete data, but in the end, the user has to do his or her part.
Second, moving away from data, I would note modern systems can allow a tire dealer to go paperless, which greatly improves efficiency. Also a modern system can help with business analytics, such as identifying the type of customer walking in the door, what the customer wants and is willing to pay, suggesting add-on services and recommending service intervals based on vehicle service history analytics, etc. Again, that requires good data input to get a quality result.
MTD: Does your product offer a feature that allows dealers to communicate by text with customers? What are some best practices dealers should use or employ when communicating with customers through texting?
and parts suppliers in the supply chain for inquiries, ordering and back-office reconciliation. It is a feature that in many dealerships is not used frequently enough.
Many of our customers have put together training programs with our help and have offered incentives to staff to encourage this new type of workflow.
When successful, the dealership has improved profit margins, lowered costs and improved the return process of products not sold.
Adams (MaddenCo): First, the data input into the system must be good. A modern point-of-sale system will not make up for incomplete or inaccurate data input. A
Andreoli (Andreoli): Yes, via a few different third party-integrated products — the most used being AutoTextMe. It is most important not to abuse your customer’s trust by using their mobile number for mass marketing text messages, unless the customer has specifically opted in for marketing messages.
Text communications are best used while a shop is actively servicing the customer’s vehicle. These types of texts provide value to the customer by answering customer questions, alerting the customer to the status of a repair, providing a quote or providing a payment link.
Hopkins (ASA): Yes, we do. Texting should provide two-way communications, outgoing and incoming, with the ability to store the communication in a customer’s historical records. Texting can be expanded to send reminders of upcoming appointments, status updates during a day (i.e., parts on order, vehicle is ready), allow for text-to-pay with a secure link to credit card processing and automated thank you messages at day’s end. Dealers should also give customers the opportunity to opt out of text.
Fischer (Kerridge): Yes, Our VAST software and CarSide inspection tool offer the ability to text customers the result of inspections, send quote totals and even allow customers to pay via text-to-pay.
We train our customers to text the inspection results, showing what has passed and describing what your dealership recommends. Your service writer or salesperson will see within the point-of-sale software when the customer is viewing the (vehicle) inspection. At that point, you should call your customer since they are already looking at the text, so you can discuss the results.
Adams (MaddenCo): We offer texting capabilities within our point-of-sale module and our service bay scheduling module.
Best practices would include not overusing the texting functionality. That said, real-time and automated texting capabilities can keep customers informed and allow a dealer to get feedback on the customer experience and send (customers) future promotions.
MTD: What will be the next frontier in tire dealership point-of-sale systems?
Andreoli (Andreoli): Point-of-sale systems will continue to require further integration into other systems to support the business. A new frontier in our industry is smarter machinery in the shop. Today, there are actually robots changing tires. Point-of-sale systems of the future will need to communicate with the smart machines being leveraged in the bays. This will be increasingly important.
Hopkins (ASA): Data mining with business intelligence tools will continue to grow in importance and expand with features prompting sales staff at the counter with
