With today's fast paced world, it's time for our service advisors to upgrade as well.  In order to stay current and successful they are going to have to make a small change with their follow-up.  It's time to insist that all of your team is keeping up with today's most efficient communication methods. How many times a day do you hear, "No one ever called me?"  Not only can we make this problem go away, but we will have records in our phones or computers to check on our advisors efficiency. It is no longer enough to give a client a time frame in which to expect their first update call.  I mean let's face it, we just aren't as quick to answer anymore.  I've been told by most people in business and the next generation of clients that they prefer a "quick text" to a drawn out voice mail or conversation.  Right or wrong, this is progress. We only need to look at a few statistics to see how important it is that we get with the program.

• 91% of cell phone users keep their phone with them all day long.
• 97% of text messages get read and most are read within minutes!
• Only 43% of e-mails get read at all.
• 2.5 billion text messages are sent every day.

What these statistics scream at us is that when our sound notification goes off for a text, we are trained to look at it ASAP!  (I just stopped typing to read a text, really!) Think of all of the production time we could gain in the shop by getting clients to contact us right away to give approvals for repairs or needed maintenance that wasn't sold on the drive.  

Now I am not recommending we start selling through e-mails or text anymore than I would want someone to sell via a voice mail, but instead, they could send a very brief attention getting message such as:

Please call me as soon as possible to discuss your car.  

Since we know that most clients are feeling anxious about getting their car back and the cost involved, they will call back as soon as they possibly can, which saves your advisors from calling multiple numbers, multiple times and leaving voicemails.  The key is that your clients must be able to reach their advisor easily.  Cell phones are an easy solution or there are computer texting options for you to take advantage of as well! All of your advisors should be prepared for a quick response with complete benefit based presentations and estimates prepared. 

Another example would be just to touch base with the clients as promised even when you do not yet have all of the answers.  So the text may read:

We need a little more time to diagnose your vehicle so expect your next update message between 2 pm and 3 pm.  

This type of message will help clients relax about their vehicle until the appointed time.  Now we all know you could do this with a VM or an e-mail and many clients may choose to continue to communicate through these methods but more and more ARE going to be moving into texting.  Do you ever see the next generation of customers without a phone in their hand?  Just look at the potential to increase production and customer satisfaction scores.