Emerging technology has changed the way businesses interact with customers in a variety of ways, from online to in-person. Central Valley Nissan in Modesto, California, was eager to introduce technology to the service drive in order to boost business. In doing so, they also found that Xtime’s solutions created a more modern, efficient and professional experience for both customers and dealership personnel.
“A lot of what I was seeing was customers waiting by themselves at the advisor booth, then seeing the advisors out walking quietly around the customers’ vehicles,” said John. “And the customers were looking at the advisors like, ‘What are they looking at?’ What are they thinking about my car?’ But there was no real interaction there.”
The way that we did business before Xtime was very impersonal and kind of transactional,” said John McSherry, Executive Manager of Central Valley Nissan. “Xtime helped us with a real, consistent process to get us into the digital age of dealing with customers.
Accurate information is the cornerstone of a business’s good reputation, and studies show that tablet usage in the dealership service drive immediately establishes trust between customers and service advisors. Before Engage, Central Valley Nissan advisors had to expend substantial efforts to ensure customers had all of the information they needed in order to make educated decisions on their vehicles. According to John, being able to take care of customer needs from a driver safety and vehicle longevity standpoint—as opposed to purely a sales perspective—was key to building lasting relationships.
“What we didn’t want was a customer saying, ‘Do I have a recall on my vehicle?’ and then us checking and saying, ‘Oh, yeah. It’s right here. We forgot.’ We would look really unprofessional if we did that,” said John. “If we bring that information out later, it looks like we’re just trying to sell them something they don’t need. [Engage] allows us to have a more informational process instead of us just selling stuff.”